Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba once described the power of Maya in a metaphorical way. He said, “God is the Master of maya (delusion; illusion; ignorance). Maya is like a terrible dog standing guard at the entrance of the God’s home and does not allow outsiders to come near Him. If you are earnest about reaching God, there are only two ways. The first course is to put on the form of the Master. Then the dog does not harm you at all. This is known as saroopya, that is, assuming God’s form. But you should not make the slightest mistake; otherwise the dog will not spare you.
“The second course is to cry out for the Master in a loud voice. He will hear your cry. He comes to you, receives you with open arms and, holding your hand, leads you inside with overflowing kindness. This is called sameepya, that is, being in closest company with God. The dog will not do any harm to you, as you are with his Master. Being God’s pet dog, maya obeys Him. If He Wills it not to give you trouble, you will not be touched; you will know no fear.”
What a simple and beautiful parable Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai has given us! He has revealed how He, of His own violation, surrenders to His devotee. How easy is the second course! The devotee has only to call God most earnestly, with all his heart, with agony in his voice, with yearning suffusing his whole being. This is nama smaran. Millions of Sai devotees have found through personal experience that God responds to nama smaran and presents Himself before His devotee with boundless mercy and compassion.
Baba’s exhortation is that incessant nama smaran of a deity so elevates the devotee that he attains the form of that deity. Bhagavan says that incessant smaran of Lord Sri Rama’s name by his brother Bharatha, resulted in Ramayana, in the latter looking like Sri Rama to all. A similar thing happened with Uddhava in Sri Maha Bhagavat who did uninterrupted smaran of Lord Sri Krishna’s name.
-- Book Tapovanam – Chapter 16
