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.  

Tenzin calls from Varkala

By Terry Reis Kennedy

Tenzin calls from Varkala in Kerala and tells me about his Seer who lives on the beachhead does predictions by reading the ashes he scatters on the sands from his hand stove.

Tenzin urges me to find out about my love life, says the women in ancient India used to read their husbands' faces looking through sieves. Aha, so this is where I get my obsession with sieves, past-life karma with straining tea leaves, poppy seeds and husbands.

I say I will go to the Super Bazaar later and buy more sieves for my kitchen window, to hang beside the knives. No need for hand stoves and Seers.

Early Morning

(Terry’s New Signboard) 

Early morning,

heliotrope sky

above the ashram.

From the inner sanctum

the harmonium breathes

as worshippers stir

You awake.

Temple bells ring.

Bird songs flood my heart.

So many creatures

praising You.

What of defeat, what of death?

I am ecstatic.

Dalai Lama on Scientific Proof of Benefits of Meditation

By Terry Reis Kennedy

According to His Holiness, he has always enjoyed science. He had a telescope when he was a boy living at Norbulingka, his summer palace in Tibet, and he would look out from a rooftop perch staring at the “specimens” below, trying to understand them. 

At the time he did not know that he was revered as a “living god” by his people. His observations of birds and the nature that surrounded him, taught him about the impermanence of life, the renewal of what appeared lost, and he later came to see that the contemplative life often led to the same conclusions as the scientific life.

In 2005 when he spoke at the Mind and Life Institute in Boulder, Colorado, USA, he shared how meditation was a benefit to many, not just to people practicing the spiritual life.  

He said, “Another area where a critical perspective is required on the part of the scientists is the ability to distinguish between the empirical aspects of Buddhist thought and contemplative practice on the one hand and the philosophical and metaphysical assumptions associated with these meditative practices.

“In other words, just as we must distinguish within the scientific approach between theoretical suppositions, empirical observations based on experiments, and subsequent interpretations, in the same manner it is critical to distinguish theoretical suppositions, experientially verifiable features of mental states, and subsequent philosophical interpretations in Buddhism. This way, both parties in the dialogue can find the common ground of empirical observable facts of the human mind, while not falling into the temptation of reducing the framework of one discipline into that of the other.”

As a child I was fortunate to grow up surrounded by nature. I enjoyed four distinct seasons, bright starry nights when I could observe the movement of the moon across the sky and winter days when I could watch the clothes on the line stiffen into icy ghosts.  In my little way I learned about “Science” and loved it. 

I find Buddhism as broad and diverse in its interpretation of meditative states, as is science in its observations of functions of the mind..

Kundun, the Presence of the Buddha, said, “I believe, a close cooperation between these two investigative traditions can truly contribute toward expanding the human understanding of the complex world of inner subjective experience that we call the mind.”

Based on our own experiences with meditation, most of us who practice going deeply within and listening to the inner guidance, report that our lives improve.  We have better relationships and peace of mind, for instance.

“Already the benefits of such collaborations are beginning to be demonstrated,” the Compassionate One reported, “By invoking fundamental ethical principles, I am not advocating a fusion of religious ethics and scientific inquiry. Rather, I am speaking of what I call "secular ethics" that embrace the key ethical principles, such as compassion, tolerance, a sense of caring, consideration of others, and the responsible use of knowledge and power—principles that transcend the barriers between religious believers and non-believers, and followers of this religion or that religion.”