BhajansDotCom's video: 17th Century Hymn on Crucifixion of Christ

Audio Credit: Radiosai Global Harmony Picture Credit: A Photo of Materialisation by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba - (See full story below) JOHN HISLOP AND THE IMAGE OF JESUS This is the story of Dr. John Hislop of Mexico. Ever since his sixteenth year, he was attracted to spiritual pursuits. He was an earnest aspirant who was deeply engaged in the search of the truth. He came into contact with eminent personalities and spiritual thinkers like Dr. Annie Besant, Jiddhu Krishnamurthi, Paramahamsa Yogananda, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, Swami Sivananda and experts in the Buddhist system of Vipassana, and for years, progressed in the path of spiritual enquiry following their guidance. But at the end of it all, he realized that the sweet fountain of love in his Western heart had gone dry and it held now nothing but dreadful emptiness. In 1968, he heard for the first time about Sri Sathya Sai Baba, came down to Puttaparthi and had His darshan. At the very first sight of Baba, he sensed that He was the root of all spiritual wisdom and awareness. He clearly felt that God Himself had entered his heart as love and that abiding love was truly Baba. As a result of his elevating experience, he could develop the rich insight of viewing the whole universe as suffused with love. On the eve of Shivaratri in 1973, Baba took Hislop and some others into the Bandipur forest in the district of Mysore. By about noon, they reached the guesthouse in the forest. At dusk, with the help of some forest dwellers who acted as guides, they walked a long distance until they reached the sands of a mountain stream. They sat in the sand bed of the river for rest. Swami picked up two small green branches of a bush, placed one across the other in His palm and asked Hislop what it was. Hislop said it was the cross. Swami closed his palms over it and gently blew three times on it. When He opened His palms, the cross bore the image of Jesus! He gave it to Hislop and said, "This is exactly how Jesus Christ looked at the moment he gave up life. It does not look at all as imagined by painters or as described by writers. He had no food for eight days. His stomach was empty and drawn inwards; his body became dry and his ribs became prominently noticeable." Hislop stared at the cross in speechless wonder. Baba went on, "This cross is actually made out of the same wood of the original cross on which Jesus was crucified. It took me some time to search for and find that 2000 years old wood. Every bit of the original cross has disintegrated and merged with the constituent elements. I had, therefore, to gather these elements, and when I had collected enough to make this cross, I materialized it. The image of Jesus as you see on this cross is the same as the one at the time of his death." After a few weeks, Hislop and his wife went back to Mexico. As the image on the cross was very tiny, the facial features of Jesus were not clearly visible. Walter Woolfe, one of Hislop's friends, took several colour photographs of the image of Jesus, part by part, enlarged them and made a larger picture out of them. The finished picture was extraordinarily touching, arousing boundless kindness and compassion. The photographs were all arranged on a table so as to reveal the intricate and minute carving on the image. Viewers wondered at the creative power of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai. Until that day, the sky was absolutely clear all along the Mexican coast. But all of a sudden, without any warning, a flash of terrible lightning flashed amidst dark clouds. Strong winds gathered speed in a few moments and threatened to smash the window-panes. Door curtains were flying. In the midst of this chaos that developed all of a sudden, Mrs. Hislop recalled, "It is now 5pm and to-day is Friday, the same day and time of Christ's death by crucifixion. What is happening now before our very eyes had been described in the Bible too." She produced a copy of the Holy Book and read the relevant section, "At the moment Jesus died on the cross, there was a great storm with thunder and lightning filling the sky. The decorated hangings of pictures and photographs on the wall in the room flew away." Everyone present there in the home of Hislop felt delighted at witnessing a phenomenon too wonderful for their imagination. On the next day, the San Diego Tribune reported the heavy storm that had suddenly occurred quite unexpectedly. Hislop and his friends felt that there must be some sort of relation between the sudden recurrence of the out-of-season storm that had reportedly occurred 2000 years ago, and the cross, materialized by Bhagavan Sai Baba. When Dr. Phanibanda reported this incident to Swami, He confirmed that the incidents had actually occurred and that they were truly related as guessed by Hislop and his friends. Story Credit: 'Thapovanam' Sri Sathya Sai Sathcharithra by "Santisri" Jandhyala Venkateswara Sastry With Love & Light The Bhajans.Com Team Music for the Soul @ Bhajans.Com