We are happy to present the Twenty-Ninth issue of ‘Sai Aura’ commemorating the Lunar New Year Day for Karnataka, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, and Punjab friends and ‘Ram Navami’ festival dedicating ourselves to Sainath Parabrahman, who is close behind our thoughts.

When Lokmanya Bal Gangadhara Tilak met Sainath Parabrahman incognito as a peasant, Maharaj reportedly said – That government governs best, which governs least. In the same vein, is that leader – political or religious- who leads the least?

Most conventional ideas of leaders – be it in the context of a nation, a congregation, or an extended family – are based on a top-down concept. A strong leader lays down the law, which all subordinates are enjoined to obey without question.

Sai Maharaj laid down this model in those days.  This model of leadership paves the way for authoritarianism, the antithesis of democratic legality. The alternatives to strong, top-down leaders are leaders who see that their primary job is to make themselves redundant as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Several descriptive terms have been given to what might be called the art of redundant leadership. In the context of the Western philosophical tradition, one of the earliest examples of this concept is the fourth-century BCE Greek thinker Socrates and his dialectical method based on question and answer, whereby pupils would solve a problem through their reasoning, with minimal guidance from the teacher. Sainath Maharaj followed a similar approach.  When a devotee offered his obeisance to Sai Maharaj, his problems would be answered instantaneously as Lord Sainath is none other than ‘Guru Dakshina Murthy.’  This is the experience of all Sai devotees even after 106 years after his ‘Maha Samadhi.’

Sai Maharaj used the Socratic method – which sometimes is subsumed under the term heuristics derived from the Greek term ‘heurisko’ meaning – to find or to discover – is often referred to as the ‘Slave Boy Demonstration.’

Asked to prove his statement that “All knowledge is recollection,” which he based on a belief in reincarnation, Sainath Maharaj sent for Nanavalli, who was considered a queer person.

Having ascertained that Nanavalli did not know mathematics, Sai Maharaj drew a square on the ground and asked Nanavalli how its area could be doubled. Nanavalli said it could be doubled by doubling the lengths of the four sides.

Sai Maharaj pointed out that this would quadruple the square. Nanavalli attempted several solutions until, learning not from the answers Sainath Maharaj gave him but from the questions he asked, Nanavalli arrived at the correct conclusion: to make a diagonal of the square the base of a new square.

Sainath Maharaj sought to show that the ability to arrive at the right answer was innate; all that is needed is a ‘Guru’ or a ‘mentor’ who asks more questions than hands out answers till a solution is reached, making the role of the mentor redundant.

“Do not come to me to show you the path. You must find your path, your way,” Guru Dakshina Murthy in ‘Kritha Yuga would make devotees comprehend the acolytes who would meditate on him.

Ramana Bhagavan of Tiruvannamalai charted a similar journey of self-discovery, which makes the tutor irrelevant.  The Masterpiece of Sri Narasimha Swamiji, published in 1929, introduced Ramana Bhagavan to the world titled ‘Self Realization,’ is based on the above concept.

Sainath Maharaj uses the concept of two paise ‘Dakshina – ‘Shraddha’ and ‘Saburi’ to help the seeker achieve Satori or Kensho. Ken means Seeing, and Sho means Essence. Kensho, or Satori, is the experience of enlightenment derived from seeing within.

Sai Maharaj advocates ‘Silence’ to see within. Sai Maharaj advised Kaka Saheb Dixit, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” The question has no right or wrong answer. No master nor pupil, no Sainath Maharaj or Nanavalli, no leader or follower. Just the silent resonance of singularity.

With Baba’s blessings, we wish a happy ‘Ugadi’ and ‘Rama Navami’ festival time to all our Guru Bandhus, contributors, and readers.