One day an Indian family came to the ashram: a husband, wife and two children. They were eager to have an audience with Sathya Sai Baba in order to consult with him on several serious issues. They asked an acquaintance, who worked in the administration of the ashram to intercede on their behalf and ask about a personal meeting with their Sai Baba.
In the earlier period of Sathya Sai Baba's life, when there were still not so many people around him, such situations were quite possible. Subsequently, he became so popular that it was impossible to arrange individual personal meetings. Each time, to invite or not to invite a person to a personal conversation was the exclusive choice of Sathya Sai Baba himself. However, in those days one could ask someone to arrange a personal meeting.
So, this Indian family turned to an acquaintance who worked in the administration of the ashram and asked him to help in organizing an audience. When the administrator turned to Sathya Sai Baba with the request, he immediately said that both children in this family were blind. This surprised everyone present, because Sathya Sai Baba was not familiar with this family before and none of those present knew the children were blind.
Several days passed, but Sathya Sai Baba did not extend invitation for this family to have a private conversation. A few days later, Sathya Sai Baba approached his assistants and told them that in her previous life the mother of the blind children had pierced the eyes of her adopted children in anger, and as a result of this, in this life her two children were blind. Hearing this revelation, everyone was surprised how much Sathya Sai Baba knew not only about the present life, but the past lives of people.
In most cases, people perceive situations superficially without understanding the underlying causes of certain events. When problems start, the question arises: if I did nothing wrong, why am I suffering? Most often, people perceive their life as limited within this incarnation. Thoughts and actions committed in the past literally build all the circumstances of life in the present. Everything that happens in this life is shaped by what a person has done in many previous births, but it is quite difficult to remember exactly or consciously to know the actions of your past lives.
Nowadays, more and more people receive various mystical experiences associated with visions of their past incarnations. The big question is how accurate these mystical visions and sensations are. Quite a lot of people enthusiastically say that they were Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt and great Lamas in Tibet in past lives.
Quite often, past life visions are based on inflated egos. People want to be special and great, so ideas arise that it was you who was Alexander the Great or Cleopatra in a past life. However, the reality of your past lives may be completely different and what the ego may whisper is likely to be very far from the realities of your past lives.
Sathya Sai Baba accurately saw the thoughts, states, energy, and karma of a person, so he built his communication with everyone based on what he knew about the depths of the inner world of a person. Sathya Sai Baba understood the inner world of the audience member so deeply that the person himself could not know about himself and not even guess some of the hidden labyrinths of his own subconscious.
It might seem that Sathya Sai Baba is too kind and gracious in his dealings with some, and yet very harsh with another, but there was a deep reason for everything. Such situations constantly happened around Sathya Sai Baba. He could easily heal one person and ignore the problems of another. Each of his actions had its own mysterious and deep meaning. Of course, some, not trying to reflect on the deep meaning of his actions, might resent Sathya Sai Baba, accusing him of being merciful to some and supposedly hard-hearted to others.
There are many things you can ask someone else to do for you. Someone can fix your computer or car, and there’s no need to do it yourself. You can ask someone to collect useful information for you, so you don't have to do it personally. But there are other things, essential things, you need to do only on your own, for example: change your attitude toward yourself, realize your purpose in life, be aware of your dreams, practice meditation, mantras, and prayers.
Krishna, Buddha, Christ, and Sai Baba cannot meditate for you and realize your destiny in life; you must do all this on your own. All actions of Avatars such as Krishna, Buddha, Christ, and Sai Baba take place in the world of duality, but those actions take place in the spirit of non-attachment. The action of the Avatar is based on wisdom and perfect knowledge of the situation. In past lives, you have accumulated karma, which determines everything that happens to you now. Karma is an information flow that exists completely objectively, regardless of whether you accept it or not. It is quite obvious that Sathya Sai Baba lightens the karma of people, but part of the karma still needs to be worked out on your own.
Karma is accumulated by the individual soul over a large number of past lives. Karma exists only for the individual soul. Not only every action, but every thought creates a new karma, and it can seem impossible and unattainable to free oneself. Figuratively speaking, having worked off the old karma this afternoon, in the evening you accumulate a new one. What to do? Where is the exit from the cycle?
Being aware of yourself as the True Self places you outside the accumulation and cycle of karma, as if you are freed from cause and effect. One who performs an unconditional action, as in they feel no selfish attachment to the outcome, turns that action into a meditation and is protected from the accumulation of karma because the intention is selfless. One who is in the flow of the True Self performs actions in love and compassion for all people, feeling the presence of divinity in themselves and everyone else.