I and My Father are One, banner in Prasanthi Nilayam ashram, Christmas 2015 celebrations


Pic courtesy: Radio Sai

This is from New Testament (Christian) scripture, John 10:30, http://biblehub.com/john/10-30.htm, and are the words Jesus spoke to those who were aggressively questioning him.

Given below are the verses John 10:30 to 10:38 (from above biblehub.com link):

"I and the Father are one."

The [persons-opposing Jesus] picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"

The [persons-opposing-Jesus] answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God." Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS '?

"If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God '?

If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father."
--- end John 10:30 to 10:38 ----

In response to the above words of Jesus, those opposing Jesus tried to seize him but Jesus eluded their grasp!

There is so much convergence between Jesus' words of the Father (God) being in him and he being in the Father (God), and that both Father (God) and he are one, and what Bhagavan said and taught, and the Advaita teachings in the Upanishads/Vedanta! Bhagavan would refer to us listeners of his discourses (as I have heard LIVE so many times in Sai Kulwant Hall, Prasanthi Nilayam) as Divya Atmas (Divine souls/beings), and say that we are all God (but that we, or most of us at least, are caught up in the delusion that we are this limited body (and mind), and so should make efforts to get rid of this body-consciousness delusion and thereby experience our divine consciousness).

I think the core gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) as well as some of the non-canonical/apocryphal gospels (e.g. gospel of Thomas) fit in very well with teachings of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, as well as devotees' experiences of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. However, it must be said, the theological stance of most Christian theologians (e.g. Prof. Miroslav Volf of Yale Divinity School) that humans being creation are separate from the creator (i.e. we are not God and that God is OUTSIDE of us), does not accept the Advaita teachings of Upanishads and Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

But then there is huge commonality in the Love all Serve All type of teachings of Bhagavan and what is preached/taught by leading theologians and heads of the Christian community worldwide. This commonality is something that I love and enjoy, and am deeply thankful about :-).

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On the Facebook page associated with this post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/1687966568086580, brother Sai Das provided two more Bible verses which have great similarity with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's teachings about Awareness/ I am I (Nenu nene in Telugu):

John 8:58, http://biblehub.com/john/8-58.htm: Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."

Exodus 3:14, http://biblehub.com/exodus/3-14.htm: God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

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