A
CATHOLIC PRIEST MEETS SAI BABA
Don
Mario Mazzoleni, a Catholic priest, was destined to meet Sathya Sai Baba, and
after a few interviews with Sathya Sai Baba, he was convinced that Baba was
Jesus Christ and is God, come in this present human form. He has written a book
‘A Catholic Priest Meets Sai Baba’ running into 280 pages, in which he has
given the complete description of his transformation. The book is available at
Sathya Sai Books & Publications Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam. The author hereby
reproduces the Foreword, written by
Mazzoleni.
FOREWORD
Many
of my friends were alarmed when they learned of my intention to write a book
about Sai Baba. They were aware of my convictions about this being who is human
only in body. With brotherly concern, they variously advised, begged or
beseeched me to publish it under pseudonym, imagining the unhappy consequences I
might encounter from the ecclesiastical hierarchy.
I
asked myself that I should have no fear in saying what my own eyes have seen.
Why should I be afraid to make known what this poor heart of mine experiences
before an extraordinary presence? Should I feel guilty for what I have
discovered during these years, and be afraid to announce it? Certainly not! On
the contrary, I feel quite fortunate. Necessitas enim mihi incumbit: it is not
possible to resist the impulse of Truth, and woe to me if I should remain
silent!
I
write this book dedicating it above all to the Church preciously because I could
not let pass, without pointing out to Her who is my Mother, a piece of news
which can no longer remain unknown, hidden by indifference, fear, or by general
confusion. This work is an undertaking which has made use of me, I would say,
only as hired manual labour: I consider its contents the work of Another. It has
been written above all for my bishop, Pope; and then for all my fellow bretheren,
for my superiors, and for all those who throughout the centuries try to work in
the services of, and in the search for, Truth.
Contrary
to what those friends of mine fear, I hope - and my heart is certain of it -
that these reflections will sound like a call and a warning for a greater
spiritual re-awakening.
This
era - the era of Sathya, the era of truth - is, in my opinion, a unique moment,
which will change the historical and religious order of nations. Certainly the
most extraordinary characteristics of this study, in an age in which there is so
much talk about sects and religious factions, is that in all the things I have
discovered these years, I have found nothing which would prompt an aversion to
our religion, nothing which would obstruct our faith. On the contrary!
Everything I have meditated on has brought me that much closer to the mysteries
I had been celebrating, often without knowing them thoroughly. And it is
precisely to Sathya Sai Baba that I owe the renewal of my life as a priest!
In
short, my hope is this: that the same thing might happen for many of my fellow
bretheren, whom I have found tired, strained and disappointed.
I
am grateful to all those who have offered me precious suggestions, in particular
to Professor Pierantonio Di Coste, who encouraged and supported the drafting of
this book.
I
place this book at the feet of Him who inspired it - the only begotten son of
yesterday, of today, and of always, the immutable Truth - in the hope that this
fruit which He alone has the right to gather will be pleasing to Him and that He
will accept
it as an offering for His greater glory.
November
23, 1990
Don Mario Mazzoleni
The
author would now like to narrate some of the incidents from the book :
Don
Mario writes in his book: “It happened a few months after my return to the
area Bergamo. It was 1980. An acquaintance told me that a great Guru by the name
of Sai Baba was coming to Italy. With the hunger I had for masters, that seemed
like a golden opportunity.
Sai
Baba : Who was that? The name meant nothing to me, but I managed right away to
get my hands on a little book which was supposed to be the brief biography of
this personage. It was a book written by an American, a certain Shulman, who was
recounting his personal experiences of being close to Sai Baba in India. I read
it lazily at first, then ever more avidly. The things I was reading were so
unheard of that it made me think that perhaps the writer had just dreamed up
this wild fantasy just to reawaken the appetite in the reader who were tired of
being astonished.
Not
long after, I discovered that there was another book in the market by another
author, Howard Murphet, that dealt with the same subject. It was called ‘Sai
Baba, Man of Miracles’. I bought it and read it with the same voracity as
before - except that this time, I could no longer doubt the authenticity of this
individual, for it was highly unlike that two authors, one Australian and the
other an American, could be coming up with the same lies or inventions. In
addition, all of the phenomena and explanations they discussed were amply
supported by the studies I have been pursuing.
I
read many more books and was looking for a sign from Him or a call from Him. The
moment my eyes rested on His words, I felt an instant thrill which transported
me mysteriously into a divine atmosphere.
“I
am yours, whether you like it or not; you are Mine, even if you hate Me. I am in
you, you are in Me. There is no distance and no distinction. You have come home.
This is your house. My house is your heart. Why fear, when I am here? Put all
your faith in me. I shall guide and guard you.”
Forgetting
that I was sick, I rushed to a travel agency to book a flight to India. Final
destination; Puttaparthi, the place where even now Sai Baba spends most of the
year.
If
what I had understood was true, I could not afford to reach the end of my life
without having seen at least in the flesh. ‘Him who called Himself’ the
mother and father of the whole human race.
The
moment of the close counter was drawing near, I was full of misgivings because I
had read that it is not easy to meet Him, and some times even to see Him. The
books I was reading said that often, when seekers get there He is some place
else and seems to elude them.
No.
This could not happen. It was not I who was going to see Him: it was He coming
to me to draw me to Himself.
“You
did not choose Me, No, I chose you.”
The
best thing to do, after discovering Sai Baba, is to study Him. Nothing in my
life has given me as much joy and filled me with so much bliss as studying this
person. This in itself is extraordinary. When in school I was forced to study
such personages as Napoleon, Cavour, Mazzini, the emperors of ancient Rome, or
the Popes throughout history. All I got out of it was an overwhelming boredom
and a fervent desire for the end of class. But when I devote myself to the study
of Sai Baba, His work, and His teaching, I never get tired of it, even when
studying things that I already know (or think I know). In fact I always benefit
from it: it is always uplifting and refreshing.
For
me, to study Sai Baba meant, first of all to see Him, then to investigate His
activities and third to understand His thought, His message. Although I expected
to take these steps one at a time, I soon discovered that they are not
separable. Sai Baba began to be a message from the moment I first saw Him.
Because of this, someone who sees Him has already an enormous gift. I don’t
say this rhetorically, because the things you understand upon meeting Him may be
enough to revolutionize your life, but they still are only an infinitesimal part
of what you did not understand at that time and will gradually discover in the
course of subsequent events.
Just
as in the case of Jesus, His identification as the Messiah did not come simply
from His declarations, but mostly from His work of salvation. In the same way
Sai Baba does not worry about making everybody know who He is right away, but He
works in the hearts of men, redeeming them.
In
the same way there are many people who charge Sai Baba with indifference to the
sorrow that weighs upon the world, and they ask themselves, “If He is so
powerful, why doesn’t He eliminate all suffering there is in this world?”
These people would like to change the mission of the divine incarnation.
Jesus Christ did not change the sorrowful state of the world either, neither in
His own time, nor afterwards. Everything that had to happen: bloody revolutions,
wars, destruction, prosecutions, poverty, epidemics, etc., it all happened to
schedule.
Even
at His birth all the children under two years of age were slaughtered, by the
insane command of a criminal king who was afraid he would loose his kingdom. The
same kind of thing had already happened at the time of Krishna: Kamsa had all
his sister’s children killed, because she had been told that her eighth son
would suppress - his wicked uncle.
It
is never the task of the Redeemer to resolve human errors with a magic wand.
Doing so would ensure that the errors would continue to be committed. It is not
the mission of an elementary school teacher or of a parent to do the student’s
home work. If that were to happen laziness would triumph, diplomas would be
given unjustly and degrees would soon prove deleterious to the whole society. No
one amongst us would willingly go to a doctor who had received his certificate
by buying all his degrees: The project to perfect society is based on
understanding one’s own errors and on the efforts we make to avoid them.
No
human being has the authority to declare that God can only incarnate a certain
way, or that He cannot choose to spread His message as He wills, not only
through prophets, but also incarnating as the Christ, that is, as Avatars. It
would be unforgivable theological and philosophical absurdity to deny the Divine
Power the right to take a human form in other epochs, among other nations, and
in other physical forms. On this point there can be no contrary dogma, because
this truth is self-evident, and even a child can understand it: God cannot be
limited by anything; much less by a human mind. If we want to have some mental
concept of God, the first attribute we must give Him is all possible freedom.
Artong
Jumsai is a person of high intellectual and moral stature. In the course of a
lecture he gave at Odense, he asserted: “In all my years of research, I have
never found a programme as complete and effective as the Sathya Sai Education in
Human Values. It is a programme which offers real results in transforming
children. The person who created or invented this programme must really be a
genius”.
Don
Mario Mazzoleni, was fully convinced about Baba’s divinity and he came out
with the book ‘A Catholic Priest Meets Sai Baba’. After the publication of
the book, he writes in his own words.
One
certainly did not have to be a seer to predict that when this book was
published, there would be a reaction on the part of the Church hierarchy. The
author’s aim was in fact to awaken some interest, of whatever kind, in a great
voice from the East, which is announcing a time of redemption for our ailing
human race. To tell the truth, I did not imagine that the Church would have
recourse to such anachronistic measures. Those measures led me to wonder
seriously (in other words, it was not pure fantasy) what my reaction would be
if, instead of an excommunication delivered by express registered mail, guards
had come to my door, with orders to burn me at the stake in the public square…
Don
Mario was given an appointment with the Bishop on 16th March, 1992,
to have a dialogue with him. In the end of the conversation Mario told Bishop,
“I would like to tell you (and I meant in the plural) one last thing, before
we end this conversation; this conversation which demonstrates how that divides
is always how the truth is interpreted, not the truth itself, which is pure. Why
don’t you take into consideration the fact that many people who have gone to
Sai Baba have felt an impulse to renew their own Catholic religions faith, which
is what Sai Baba himself
suggests.
Bishop
: “I will make a comparison which, of course, is perhaps inappropriate for
your position: even an assassin can be the instrument of salvation for someone.
This does not make him any less an assassin.”
Mario:
“To be honest, your example seems to me ill-chosen”
On
24th May Don Mario received a registered letter by express mail from
the Vicariate of Rome. The contents of the letter are as follows :
n
The Bishop of Bergamo has informed the Vicariate of Rome, in a note of December
17,1991, that the writings, the public declarations and the - to say the least -
disconcerting ideas upheld by the Priest Don Mario Mazzoleni in regard to the
Indian teacher Sai Baba, whose convinced follower he declares himself to be,
excite significant astonishment and scandal among the faithful;
n
The Priest, on November 23, 1990, dedicated the book entitled ‘A Catholic
Priest Meets Sai Baba’ to the Catholic Church, a book which, though it begins
with the praiseworthy intent of seeking the action of the spirit of God in every
man and in every religious experience, ends up disowing the truths of the
Catholic faith;
An
attentive reading of the book reveals that the author has lost his Catholic
faith in the holy trinity and in Christ as the only saviour, and, specially in
the letters addressed to a friend (pp. 210-213 & 216-217), the unicity of
Christ the saviour is expressly denied;
The
assertions more ever that accept Sai Baba’s claim to be a divine incarnation,
that defends his works, miracles, sayings, doctrines, are grave affirmation
against the faith;
n
The public declarations of
Don Mario Mazzoleni have caused confusion and scandal because of the fact
that they come from a priest who continues to exercise his ministry in the name
of the Catholic Church;
Since
the good faith of the writer shows clearly from the tenor of the book’s
dedication, it is all the more necessary to call the priest back from error with
an urgent request to cease causing scandal and to return to the doctrine of the
Church.
INVITES
The
Priest Mario Mazzoleni to retreat from his heritical doctrinal positions, to
cease causing scandal and to explicitly retract his error within the suitable
time of 3 months; with the warning that if the retraction is not forthcoming the
cardinal will have to proceed to declare excommunication latae sententiae (in
the broad sense) for heresay according to Canon Law 1364, and subsequently to
bar the priest from the exercise of the power of his office, until he returns to
the Catholic doctrine.
He
further invites the same priest to a personal interview on the subject, in his
office at the Vicariate of Rome on the day June 3, 1992 at 10 a.m. or else on
June 6, 1992 at 12 noon.
Camillo Card Ruini
Vicar
General
Don
Mario Mazzoleni replies :
Most
revered Eminence,
In
the present letter, I intend to entrust to writing what perhaps will come out
less clearly in our meeting.
First
of all I would like to express my gratitude for the attention that has been
bestowed on me, and for allowing me to clarify in person the reasons for what I
have done. One might say that I was anxiously awaiting this call, because
regardless of the decisions that my superiors may make in my case, I wish to
communicate to them an experience which continues to leave a beneficial mark in
every day life.
Sri
Sathya Sai Baba’s message is based on an unlimited ecumenism, where ecumenism
does not mean the suppression of the different religions in order to make one
chaotic hodge-podge religion, but rather the constant search for the points that
different religions have in common. The goal of this search, as the greatest
Master says, that there be only one religion, the religion of love.
When
one studies Sai Baba’s teachings, as I have been doing for 12 years, one
constantly sees that his goal is not to find another religion, but rather to
elevate the level of human consciousness. He does this by directing everyone who
comes to him toward a life full of truth, righteousness, peace, love and
non-violence. He tells the devotees who come to his Ashram to put into practice
intensely the fundamental principles of their respective religions. Often the
people who have turned to him are not practicing any religion, or else they have
strayed away from their own church. The real miracle that I see constantly
repeated, is the desire those people experience is to return to practicing their
faith.
I
beg you, Eminence,
let us not shut the door on these people: they are living rather through
a delicate moment, and for our Church it would surely be a gesture of
noble outreachy, as well as practical evangelism, to include them in our fold.
Sai Baba does not want new churches, He wants to fill the ones that already
exist.
I
know that the Church is seriously worried about the formation of new sects. But
I can unconditionally
guarantee that Sai Baba has given clear directives that new religious
communities should not be created in oppositions to the official ones. If groups
of devotees gather in centres, this is to be only in order to carry out
charitable works and to study sacred scriptures. Let me point out that Hare
Krishna or Jehovah’s Witness or the Seventh Day Adventist will never set foot
in a Catholic church to participate in Sunday worship, but I assure you that
there are many devotees of Sai Baba who are praying in our Parish churches with
renewed fervour, and that they take communion with a mystical zeal rarely found
among normal Christians. Sai Baba’s devotees gather once a week in order to
pray and sing, but their worship is directed towards the same God that is
worshipped in the Churches.
I
am acquainted with all the Sathya Sai Baba centres in Italy. Many times I have
exhorted there members to simplify their exterior rituals, which derive from
their sympathy for the exotic world of India, and to ask their parish priests
for permission to meet in the parish church to pray and sing the praises of the
Lord. Unfortunately, misunderstandings and prejudices keep them away,
nevertheless there are now many priests who contact me in order to find out more
about Sai Baba and his teachings. In these last months I have received
innumerable letters of appreciations, most of them from Catholics. The
dissenting voices (which as always, are the noisiest) make up a tiny minority.
What
grieves me most in this whole experience that I am going through, is to see the
extreme superficiality with which Sai Baba and his message are being addressed
by the Church. Meanwhile millions of people of every nation, race and religion
are continually overwhelmed by his astounding greatness, and I see the most
erudite and intellectual people surrender one after the other to what they have
seen with their eyes and felt in their hearts.
Eminence,
I do not want to get involved in defending the theological positions I have
expressed in my book. I realise that they are open to discussion, and that they
may be “disconcerting”. Believe me, it was not at all my intention to create
scandal. If this has happened, it is due to my ingenious zeal, I shall try to
make amends. I promise that if I am allowed to continue my ministry as a priest
I shall hold no more public lectures, nor will I give
interviews to the media about Sai Baba. In all these years I have never
contaminated my ministry with any theories foreign to our doctrine.
Given
that the only thing that really matters to me is that our church come to know
Sai Baba in a serious way, without divisions, I declare myself available to take
part in any committee that might be set up to study Sai Baba thoroughly. I am
willing also to take part in any trips to visit Him, as long as they are
undertaken with a scientific attitude without prejudices. It may be useful to
say that I am in contact with doctors, physicists and scientists who have been
studying the Sai Baba “phenomenon” for years.
Whatever
measures are taken in my regard, I declare that I shall always be happy to serve
the Church in any other way through consultations or studies, because I shall
always feel that I am united with Her.
Devotedly,
in the Lord,
Sd
: Don Mario Mazzoleni,
Rome,
June 3, 1992
Don
Mario writes, “When I spoke to the cardinal about Sai Baba and His mission
of ecumenism, He interrupted me, almost worried, in order to say. There can be
no ecumenism, because the whole truth has been revealed only in Catholicism”.
These
words wounded me more than the threat of excommunication.
Don
Mario further expresses, “As the author of the book in question, I reaffirm
that I have not lost my Catholic faith. On the contrary, after my encounter with
the great ‘Indian Master’ Sri Sathya Sai Baba, I feel that I live it with
greater intensity, in a spirit of real communion with all other religions. These
all share the one goal of reaching the same God, who transcends all changing
names and forms.
Between
the two alternatives I am offered, either being exiled from the institution of
Church, or else being exiled from my conscience, I cannot and will not select
the latter. Institutions do not accompany anyone beyond the grave. While the
only reality that one can present to God is one’s conscience. The Lord who
‘examines the heart’ is our judge: if in my case I have committed or am
about to commit an error (by refusing to retreat), I beg His forgiveness and the
light to rectify it; if I am acting in accordance with truth, may He forgive
those who condemn me”.
Eternal
praise be to the Christ, to Him “who was born from the father before all
ages,” Him who outlives all the good and wicked actions of man and who will
never die.
On
Thursday September 24, 1992 the fateful letter arrived. This time it was fully
formal decree of excommunication.
The
final words of Don Mario Mazzoleni :-
“Here
we have come to the end of my history as a priest. This is the chapter of my
life which will now be filed away. I felt that I owed this explanation to the
reader, even though the affair is of no longer of any concern to me: to be
suspended from certain ceremonies, said to be divine, certainly does not
preclude access to the Divine. I can no longer go to Mass, no longer lose myself
in the warm atmosphere of a midnight Mass, to be moved by the sweetness of
Christmas Carols, but I can always speak heart-to-heart with the Lord, pray to
Him, love Him, meet Him. Everyone can, because of this, even ‘atheists’ know
how to pray. This is the real consolation, which no one will ever be able to
take from me; there is not a single person in the whole world who can pry you
away from God.
To
belong to a religious institutions does not automatically mean that one belongs
to God. To be in harmony with the Divine, one must respect the conscience of
every person and listen to one’s own. At that point one can say: if God is
with us who shall be against us? “Why fear when I am here?”
Mario
Mazzoleni
(Entire matter has been taken from the book ‘A Catholic Priest Meets Sai Baba’ by Don Mario Mazzoleni).