Shiva Shakti Swarupa – Embodiment Of Siva & Sakti

Sathya Sai Baba announced himself as the emodiment of Shiva Shakti (aka ‘Siva Sakti’) and cured himself of various ailments that afflicted his body for 8 days in 1963.

You know I declared on the very day when I decided to disclose my Identity, my mission, and my Advent that I belonged to the Apasthamba Suthra and the Bharadwaja lineage (gothra). This Bharadwaja was a great sage, who studied the Vedas for a full one hundred years; but, finding that the Vedas were endless (anantha), he did penance (thapas) for prolonging life, and from Indra he got two extensions of a century each. Even then, the Vedas could not be completed, so he asked Indra again for another hundred years. Indra showed him 3 huge mountain ranges and said, “What, you have learned in 3 centuries form only 3 handfuls from out of the 3 ranges that make up the Vedas. So give up the attempt to exhaust the Vedas. Perform a ritual (yaga) instead, which I shall teach you; that will give you the fruit of Vedic study, full and complete.”

Bharadwaja decided to perform the ritual; Indra taught him how to do it; all preparations were completed. The sage wanted Shakthi to preside over and bless the ritual. So he went to Kailasa, but the time was not opportune for presenting his petition. Shiva and Shakthi were engaged in a competitive dance, trying to find out who could dance longer. Eight days passed thus, before Shakthi noticed Bharadwaja standing in the cold. She just cast a smile at him and danced along as before! The sage mistook the smile as a cynical refusal to notice him, so he turned his back on Kailasa and started to descend. To his dismay, he found his left leg, hand, and eye put out of action by a stroke. Shiva saw him fall, came up to him, and consoled him. Bharadwaja was told that Shakthi had indeed blessed him and his ritual. Then, Shiva revived him and cured him, sprinkling water from the Kamandalu. Both Shiva and Shakthi granted him the boons of a sage (rishi); they would both attend the ritual, they said.

After the ritual was over, they were so pleased that they conferred even more boons on the sage. Shiva said that they would take human form and be born in the Bharadwaja lineage, thrice: Shiva alone as Shirdi Sai Baba, Shiva and Shakthi together at Puttaparthy as Sathya Sai Baba, and Shakthi alone as Prema Sai, later. Then, Shiva remembered the illness that had suddenly come upon Bharadwaja at Kailasa on the eighth day of waiting in the cold on the ice. He gave another assurance. “As expiation for the neglect that Shakthi showed you at Kailasa for 8 days, this Shakthi will suffer the stroke for 8 days when we both take birth as Sathya Sai and, on the eighth day, I shall relieve her from all signs of the disease by sprinkling water, just as I did at Kailasa to cure your illness.”

It was the working out of this assurance that you witnessed today, just now. This had to happen, this stroke and the cure. The assurance given in the Thretha era had to be honored. I may tell you now that the poor, forlorn devotee who had to suffer the stroke that I took over was a convenient excuse, which was utilized. You see, a railway engine is not made available to haul just one car; when a number of cars are ready, then the engine is put into action. So too, the disease had to be gone through, the devotee had to be saved, the assurance had to be carried out, the mystery had to be cleared, the Divinity had to be more clearly announced by the manifestation of this Grand Miracle. All these were accomplished by this one incident.

Let me tell you one more thing: Nothing can impede or halt the work of the Avathaara. When I was upstairs all these days, some people were foolishly saying, “It is all over with Sai Baba,” and they turned back many who were coming to Puttaparthy! Some said I was in samadhi, as if I were a spiritual aspirant (sadhaka)! Some feared I was the victim of black magic, as if anything can affect me! The splendor of this Avathar will go on increasing, day by day. Formerly, when the Govardhanagiri (a mountain) was raised aloft by the little boy Krishna, the cowherd maids and boys (gopees and gopalas) realized that Krishna was the Lord. Now, not one Govardhanagiri but a whole range will be lifted, you will see! Have patience, have faith. Tomorrow morning, I shall give every one of you the Namaskaram Blessing that you missed today. (Ref)