Quasar
Beauty and healing are in the eye of the beholder.
Develop the inner eye, not exterior sight. Follow the commands of God, which will set your feet on the path of silence and steady sadhana. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba,
Satya Sai Baba revealed a new dimension of remembrance and healing through His photographs. I felt a living current of grace, each image echoing the formless healing I had once received. These photographs became alchemy and healing equal to the dreams I once received in solace. He revealed a path of healing that many disbelieved, while many also experienced it themselves. I could not measure the worth of 35 years and so many photographs of Him that I took myself. Photography is still a fresh language, and only He decides whether an image will resonate beyond me. When it did, I felt deep gratitude and trusted the receiver to find the value of the task Satya Sai Baba had requested, as written in the Sankalpa Blessing
I obtained my long-term visa to India thanks to my anti-poverty non-profit and a lesser-known published essay. Satya Sai Baba himself Blessed that essay, which was included in a collection of stories presented to him on his 75th birthday. He later appeared in a dream and gave me this task, which He expressed in the "Sankalpa Blessing." Based on these factors, I received a long-term visa from the Indian High Commission in Canada in 2002 to complete the experiences presented in the contents.. As with all projects, I began with good intentions....But I soon became aware of what living near an avatar really entails. I had to rely on my secular education, along with the “PHD”(sic) in “hard knocks” to pass through the gauntlets. I wasn't in a rush to publish anything I might regret. No one showed interest in publishing or valuing the work except a few who knew of it and managed the visas. There were other guardians of His Blessings to whom I owe many thanks. The question is whether His overt Hand Blessings hold value beyond the person who received them. None of His representatives on both sides of the controversies surrounding His passing wanted anything to do with it. A Christian perspective. In my case, without the blessing, there would have been no book, no sharing, no stories. Without the dreams and constant support of the Avatar Himself, as the subject is controversial to many who claim to channel or represent Him. I claim He represents Himself and that His words and actions had meaning. The premise is whether others value His Blessings to others as they value their own. Satya Sai Baba created the experiences and insights—a lifetime's worth of processing and development. This perspective came from my personal death experience with Christ. Later, while living in Puttaparthy, diverse perspectives, interwoven with the mystical power of dreams, visions, and intuition, gradually revealed the meaning of these photographs. Sai Baba's Sankalpa blessing, with the books, seeding through an inner vision, and countless dreams and photographs urging me forward through 35 years. All validating my insights and feelings. Years later, after countless chapters, the dream of Satya Sai Baba signing the second draft sustained me through the challenges of living at His feet. I carefully discerned spiritual matters, kept silent about inner experiences and dreams, and occasionally mentioned healings I received. I explored misleading concepts that obstruct inner peace, from new-age therapies to ancient practices, drawing on experiences including catastrophic illnesses, inner visions, and troubling interactions with people who claimed they were "acting in Him," had received messages from Him, or had lied about messages they had received. These experiences, in all their archetypal meanings and behaviours, opposed His voice and written teachings. Relying on true dreams and visions along with my intuitive guidance and following the heart, I arrived at photographs of Him that offered balm and healing reflection. They became the portal to the worlds. The intuitive guidance focused on nurturing my inner wisdom, the healings I received directly from Him, and the events surrounding the receipt of the photographs. The photographs of HIM were timed to convey multiple meanings related to the healing experiences I was guided to record. This healing lifted wounds and brought realizations that may add insight to the controversies surrounding His advent. The traumas I experienced after recovering from those who use spiritual inflation to gain control are explored in these archetypes, and how the photographs aided in healing those seen and unseen betrayals to truth. I revealed as little as possible about my personal journey, including only snippets to further the stories as they unfolded. Secular and spiritual laws and their convergence are also explored, as these societal issues were at the heart of dharma and truth. ilana Sophia
The beauty of flowers and trees became my focus. On my walks to "darshan," I’d photograph a flower to calm my mind before meditation, quieting my inner self. The aim was self-awareness, keeping my "shadow" still so as not to influence or be influenced by others, except in a supportive way. This was about avoiding the mental games often played in spiritual circles. This meditative choice arose from my personal death experience with Christ and the solace I received from nature. Another amazing result was capturing photographs where the Avatar was subtly visible within the trees, reflected on the glass, between Him and me. It was a wonderful Leela for Him to time the photographs and gift a reflection that resembled a painting, as if the glass’s reflections were also a canvas for expression. (A past time I gave up long ago) I received these insights and gifts from Him, as acknowledgements related to my mindfulness and goals while living at His feet. By focusing on the symbolism of flowers and trees in my mind, I was able to observe how people responded to me when these thoughts were predominant, all while internally chanting the Gayatri mantra. The guidance I received was always to keep my dreams and divine visions to myself, a practice that resulted in miraculous healings that saw me through illnesses, a car accident, and instances of betrayal on my path to meeting the Avatar. A path that led to silent seva, only known to the Avatar. During my stay there, this approach helped unveil people's true selves based on their reactions to the flowers within the context of my thoughts. This journey revolved around maintaining a sense of detachment from others' influences and refraining from imposing my own shadows of power, knowledge, or past pain on them. It highlighted how individuals tend to see what they want to see, or see only themselves, and are often blind and deaf to the true essence of a person. This idea or act —whether effective or not, of "seeing into another's business" uninvited—is precarious, as you never know whose information you're accessing. I learned this the hard way in my 1st experiences with claimants of “channelling Him” and the suffering it led to for being infected by their interferences. I realized simply the idea that one could know or see into another without knowing oneself was a fool’s journey. What you do with that insight is the real revelation and test: the use-is-abuse theory. When meditation is pure stillness, without a single thought, what people saw revealed themselves without me needing to pry; I focused on keeping my shadow still. I called it the philosophy of flowers—a concept held for years and part of what led to the avatar's photographic reflections. It was a way not to exploit Him, but to remain silent about His unbidden healings, a true grace to experience, especially when "guided from the heart" into very harsh experiences.. SSB's gentleness is reflected in the flowers. His grace reflected in the trees…How people treat flowers reveals themselves. Do flowers even have karma? Do we know people by their fruits?