Sai Baba on Time and Place of Death

By Terry Reis Kennedy

When I first came to live in the presence of my Guru, Avatar Sri Sathya Sai Baba, one of the things I wanted to know was what happens after we die.  Every day I would hike up a steep hill inside the ashram to a little library and try to master this subject.  This was long before the present library existed, long before Internet.  Invariably in the afternoon heat I would fall asleep and wake up in time for Darshan. I didn’t learn a thing. Then in one discourse I heard Swami say that after death everyone’s experience was different, just as it was after birth.

Beloved Mother Sai said, “Man is stalked ceaselessly by death; it may pounce any moment on its prey.  He is not conscious of this companion; he has not learned how to meet him and rob him of the fruits of his exploit.  The Atma does not die; only the body dies.  When man knows this, death loses his sting, death is not feared; death is but a welcome voyage into the known harbor.”

It seemed to me that I had died many times in this lifetime alone.  Yet, there was always a resurrection. I came back from the so-called deaths and took up life again as if it were brand new.  Eventually, I accepted that whatever death I was destined to meet, I would meet it gracefully.  And Swami’s words were comforting, confirming my own outlook.

He said, “If you are asked, what happens to man after death, you can point to yourselves and declare: ‘This is what happens’; they are born again.”

For a while I had fancied just blowing up in a plane.  It would be fast, I reasoned, and fairly inexpensive, sparing those who would have to pay for after-death services.  But that was forgetting that God calculates differently.  Puttaparthi Krishna said, “No one is competent to determine where a certain thing should take place. Life may end in a town, in water, or in a forest. Each one’s life will end in the place, the manner and the time prescribed for him. This is inescapable. This is according to the operation of Nature’s law based on the pairs of opposites in life—what ever has to happen, how, and what time and in what manner, has been predetermined and the mere fact that I am near by will not serve to alter them.”

Oh, I didn’t like hearing that.  So, I took comfort in other words he spoke, “The Lord, however, is a witness to all happenings.  In some instances He gives prior indications and warnings.  When these are heeded, the person concerned gets sanctified.  When one disregards them, he forfeits his sanctity.”

Over the years I learned to heed Sri Sathya Sai’s inner guidance.  I have been forewarned about many events simply by going within and communing with him—my Highest Self.  Hopefully, at the time of leaving my body, I will do exactly that.