By: Smt.Usha Ranganathan
One day Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji gave me a significant message – ‘I am in you and you are in me’ which encompasses Sai Baba’s message – “Do not keep at a distance from me. There is no difference between you and me. Whosoever regards me in this way, he is indeed fortunate”. (Sai Satcharitra Chapter 15, Ovi 67-73).
Everyone is Sai Baba – that includes me, yourself, our friends, and all you come across in life. Swamiji stressed that everyone has the potential of Sai Baba explaining that fire can be produced by a stone taken from the bottom of a river and that a candle can light up a place that has been dark.
Of course, the qualities of Sai Baba – wisdom, courage, joy, life force and compassion – are more manifest in some Guru-bandhus than others, but Swamiji’s message ‘I am in you and you are in me’ means that we have their qualities deep inside, in a latent state waiting to be tapped.
Even now in 20th century, the spirit of equality has disappeared with ordinary people and the ‘divine’. There is no better example of this than the belief in some sub sects that women should not chant Vishnu Sahasranama, as if women did not deserve its merit!
Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji was an ardent votary of reciting Vishnu Sahasranama. He suggested that the seeker could choose anytime and anywhere to chant Vishnu Sahasranama and invoke the blessing of the Supreme Being. He said this is very dear to Sai Baba and there is no gender bias for its recitation. Vishnu Sahasranama is not ‘pick and mix’ religion.
‘I am in you and you are in me’ – this is a message of great hope. It means that you and everyone else can become indestructibly happy, that we have enormous untapped potential, that we are capable of progress even in the most difficult of circumstances, often in ways that we never imagined.
We can overcome the differences that separate us. We are all equal. A person is not great because of his social standing, fame, academic background or position. Swamiji proved this fact time and again.
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