(Based on the Bhagvad Gita and the teaching of Sri Satya Sai Baba)

Who has not heard of the Bhagavad Gita. This work under review goes a step further many that have been written on the Gita. First Sri Satya Sai Baba or Sai Krishna as some address Him has added an extra dimension to this eternal classic. It is Sri Baba’a commentaries that are juxtaposed between the texts of the Gita that guide the seeker to his goal.

Sri Satya Sai Baba as Krishna chants the Gita to a temporarily feckless Arjuna in an unbelievable context – the battlefield of Kurukshetra, which as Sai says is also symbolic. For Kurukshetra represents our own body-mind complex that is the field (Kshetra) of action (Kuru – actor to do). The Pandavas (including Arjuna) represent the divine modalities (Samskara) while the Kauravas indicate the demonical tendencies in us. The conflict is between good and bad tendencies, which dictate our action. Thus as explained by Sri Satya Sai Baba, a Mahabharata war goes on in the mind of every individual.

The Gita as Sri Swami says is a scriptural verdict of dharma against wickedness. It is the highest mystic truth that harmonizes action, knowledge and devotion (Karma, jnana and bhakti) Sri Swami as Krishna provides the clue to the light in the dark labyrinth of life. The Bhagavad Gita is one of the triple canons (Prasthana thraya) of our Sanathana Dharma and the quintessence of the Upanishads. When mankind throughout the world is facing crisis after crisis everyday, this divine song of Krishna becomes even more valid today. This book could also be called a Crisis Handbook. First it enables the common man living in the mundane world to cope with situations of stress and inner conflict which he has to face everyday. Secondly it guides the spiritual seeker (from the neophyte to the evolved) to find his path towards God Realization. The publishers are to be congratulated on bringing out this special interpretation of the Gita.

The supreme and the incomparable divinity of Bhagawan Baba is known and validated only through the experiences of devotees — not so much of witnessing the transformation of invisible divine energy into material objects, but involving the transformation of their hearts — their attitudes towards life, their approaches to their work and their value systems. Hence, Transformation of the Heart, the first book brought out by Judy Warner, has become one of the most valuable references in Sai literature.

The divine doctor Baba demonstrates how He cures them by proving how He can, if He wills, make the impossible possible, tacitly impressing upon them that they are at best, the most efficient instruments through which He treats patients, and not the basic cause of their cures. For example, on 1st October, 1994 in Trayee Brindavan, He revives Venkatesh of Nigeria after he was declared dead by a doctor. In January 1978, a comatose woman who in spite of the efforts of ten specialists, infusion of 155 units of fresh blood and multiple units of frozen plasma over a period of several weeks, suffered a cardiac arrest. She was resuscitated but continued in coma! The doctor prays to Swami and talks to the comatose patient for recovery. The woman recovers and leaves for her home within a week. An Argentinian doctor cured himself of chronic sinusitis and arthrosis of cervical spine by using Baba’s Vibhuti : In Australia, an anaesthetist injects 20 units of syntocinon before delivery instead of after delivery and is terrified at the outcome : a powerful and sustained uterine contraction within a minute that will kill the fetuses! He prays fervently and the drug does not act! Swami controls the very nature of the drug instantly! But after the delivery, the drug does act exactly as expected!

Such medical miracles lead to the transformation of hearts of these doctors (18 of them in about 10 countries) and they become more patient with their patients, more positive in their outlook, more understanding and adjusting with respect to their subordinates etc., and begin to use prayer more and more as an important curative agent.

The transformation of an eminent British ophthalmic surgeon is dramatic and even brings on a smile in the reader: He insists on bringing a case of expensive alcohol and reserves A.C. accomodation in a 5- star hotel with a swimming pool etc., And he begins calling Swami ‘Sir’! But within 15 minutes of being with Swami, asks the taximan to take the alcohol, decides to stay in the Prasanthi Nilayam Ashram.

Another doctor, after dream visions of Baba gives up the addiction to cigarettes (30 per day for 25 years) and becomes a teetotaler and vegetarian as well.

Summing up, these stories "describe a grand historic event — a world teacher brings Heart into a field which has long been tempted by money and position…" This book is indeed a great work, a wonderful yet highly credible account of actual experiences of the Divine Avatar Baba and so a must in the collection of Sai books by Sai Devotees, for it is a great reinforcer of faith in our beloved Lord.