🧘♂️ In the teachings of Shri Sai Baba, this inward journey leads to Self-realization, detachment from worldly distractions, and ultimately, liberation. The Shri Sai Satcharitra offers profound insights into this transformative path.
🔍 Instances from Shri Sai Satcharitra
- 🕉️ Antarmukhata – The Gateway to Brahma-Jnana
“Since human senses are naturally outward-bound, a person seeking self-realization and immortal life must turn his gaze inwards, and look to his inner Self.”
- Antarmukhata (introversion) is a core qualification for attaining Brahma-Jnana.
- The seeker must reverse the flow of attention from external objects to the inner Self.
- This marks the beginning of true spiritual inquiry.
- 🌾 Grinding Wheat – A Symbolic Teaching
“Hold fast to the handle of knowledge of this mill, as I do, and do not wander far away from the same but turn inward to the Center, and you are sure to be saved.”
- The mill symbolizes the grinding down of impulses, desires, and ego.
- The act of turning inward is likened to centering oneself amidst the chaos of worldly existence.
- This allegory teaches detachment and purification as steps toward Self-realization.
- 🙏 Inner Worship – A Devotee’s Practice
“Introvert our mind, turn it inward, give us discrimination between the Unreal and the Real and non-attachment for all worldly things and thus enable us to get Self-realization.”
- Hemadpant advocates inner worship as a means to spiritual liberation.
- The prayer to Sai Baba is for discrimination (viveka) and non-attachment (vairagya).
- True worship begins with stilling the mind and focusing inward.
- 🔄 Prayer for Liberation – Hemadpant’s Appeal
“Restrain us from the outgoing of our senses to their objects and introvert us and bring us face to face with the Atma (Self).”
- Liberation from the cycle of births and deaths requires control over the senses.
- Hemadpant’s prayer emphasizes the need to face the Atma directly.
- Self-realization is impossible without checking the outward tendencies of the mind.
🌌 Conclusion
The journey inward is not a retreat—it is a return to the source. Through the teachings of Sai Baba, we learn that introversion is not isolation, but a sacred alignment with the Self. As we turn our gaze inward, we move closer to the truth, peace, and liberation that lies within.
"I draw to Me, My man from far off or even across the seven Seas to Shirdi, like a sparrow with a string fastened to its feet"-Shirdi Sai Baba, Indian Spiritual Guru-God 