Samuel H. Sandweiss, M.D., has practiced psychiatrist for over 40 years and is currently living in San Diego, California USA. He has been a Medical Director of a psychiatric clinic and has taught at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry.
Author of three books about inner transformation, Sai Baba: The Holy Man and the Psychiatrist, Spirit And The Mind, and With Love, Man is God, he and his wife Sharon oversee Birth Day Publishing Company, providing information about inner transformation in books, videos, and over the internet.
In over 40 years of psychiatric practice — after treating thousands of people in emotional distress and being familiar with many modalities of psychiatric treatment and psychiatric medications – and in the process of a 40 year search into the spiritual dimension of life–I have become firmly convinced that we must understand a very important fact if we are to truly find peace in this life.
Yes there is a place for psychiatric treatments and for psychiatric medications–but at the core it is important to develop understanding and deep conviction THAT WE CAN transcend suffering and limitations. This strength comes from awareness of our Divine nature–that’s right, that we can become aware of our oneness with divinity!
This is a hard fact to understand and absorb for many –so I’d like to proceed slowly and with the help of the books that I have written along the way. My understanding and experiences about our Divine nature comes from my relationship with Sathya Sai Baba–and I have also learned from him that one needn’t be devoted to him–you can keep your own chosen and familiar form of divinity along this path. So, although I will draw on my experiences with Sathya Sai Baba you will see that the experiences and the stories are very similar to the ones found in your own traditions–and there is no need to change your chosen faith or religion as you come with me along my journey to find out if Soul really exists – if we are really divine.
Let me begin by showing you the opening paragraphs of my 3rd book, “With Love, Man Is God.” You can find free written and audio material on links below.
OPENING PARAGRAPHS OF THE BOOK, “WITH LOVE, MAN IS GOD.”
Introduction
What greater task and mission in life can a man have than the contemplation of the supreme person? To save oneself from downfall, the only exercise needed is listening to the glorious narrative of the lives of Avatars. When you do so, all sin is washed away.
Sathya Sai Baba (Bhagavatha Vahini, chap. 35)
As a young psychiatrist wondering about the mysteries of man’s mind and about the extent of its capabilities, I came upon a holy man in India named “Sathya Sai Baba.” While I worked day and night in my office, seeing people with anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and dementia, I heard that Sai Baba taught about another possibility of man’s potential—that With Love, Man Is God. Hearing about man’s divinity while closely witnessing his frailties and weaknesses seemed incongruent. In this atmosphere, I deeply wondered about man’s latent greatness. Could Sai Baba demonstrate a higher level of consciousness of peace and love that would bring lasting joy? Young and full of fire, I determined to find out for myself. Though skeptical, I was driven by a feeling of awe about life’s mysteries and the promise of man’s hidden potential.
Thus, the journey began. Inquisitive and open minded, I traipsed off to India in search of God! In the course of that remarkable adventure, I became convinced of Sai Baba’s divinity, and on closer inspection, of man’s divinity.