Swami teaches....Part 22

 

Link to Swami Teaches....Part 21

 

Swami teaches.... (6-8 April 2005) 

    Swami's Highest  Miracle - Love Tames the Elephant 

    The Lord is devoid of attachment or hatred. He comes on a Mission and is bent only on that task. It is His nature to support the right and admonish the wrong. His task is to restore vision to human, to turn human's footsteps along the path of morality and selfcontrol, so that human being may achieve Self-knowledge.

     Krishna drove the chariot of Arjuna during the fateful days when the fortunes of the Paandavas were decided at the point of the sword. Imagine, the Lord of the Universe holding the reins of Arjuna's horses!

Through His Teaching Swami holds the reins of His devotees' and followers' mind  for their own benefit and happiness.

    The attempt to darken the splendour of Swami can never succeed, except by one means: Suppose Swami-splendour is indicated by a line of a certain length. Efforts to shorten it by wiping or erasing it will not make it shorter. But if you draw by Its side a longer line, then, automatically, it will become shorter. So do the things that Swami is doing, on a grander and more impressive scale, then the fame of Swami will certainly diminish. Of course one must have the qualification and the authority to enter on that attempt. However, time should not be wasted in such games: it is best spent in realising one's Divinity and serving society.

    The person who can make Swami give up His task in fear has neither yet been born, nor will ever be born hereafter. A dog barks at his own reflection imagining it to be a rival. Other dogs, not knowing the reason, take cue, and the whole area is drowned with barking. Some bay at stars, but the stars are unmoved. 

    It is said that Swami tries to attract people by miracles; the miracles are not 'performed' in order to exhibit power; they just happen, and serve as evidence of the power. Love is Swami's highest miracle. Love can make you gather the affection of all mankind. Expand your heart so that it can encompass all. Do not narrow it down into an instrument of restricted love.

    Swami's power cannot be a subject for a university examinations; it is a subject for universal examination. This power is limited only by His Own Will. But when a near and dear relationship is established, one can delve a little deeper into the Swami Mystery. That is the highest achievement possible.

    Intelligence being the special mark of humans, every effort must be made to amplify and sharpen it so that it may be a fit instrument for understanding the inner and the outer worlds. Along with intelligence, character has to be cultivated in equal measure, for then alone can the intelligence be used to serve society. The readiness to renounce one's pleasure in order to relieve the burden of another is a prime virtue of character.

    Education is to be valued not as a means of earning one's livelihood, but as the essential requisite for a happy, peaceful and progressive life leading man from the animal stage of existence to the presence of the Divine. One who lives for the sake of eating is indeed a great sinner; one who lives for the sake of reaching the full awareness of own innate Reality is blessed. 

    Your master is own heart, where God resides.  All of you are Divine in reality; differences in name and form are but temporary and external. 

   There are four chief types of people. Those who see only good in everything and everyone; those who see the good as good and the evil as evil; those who see the good as evil and the evil as good; and, lastly, those who do not see the good at all, because even the good they see they transmute into evil. Of these one can tolerate the first three, perhaps, but the fourth type is definitely demonaic.

    The Lion is the King of Beasts, the Monarch of the Forest. Human too is a beast, like the jackal, the cheetah, the tiger and the lion. The elephant is the largest of the animals; its footprints are bigger than those of any other. The lion and the elephant are mortal enemies.

    There is a deep lesson that Nature teaches you through this: The Mind is the elephant that tramples through the jungle of life, restrained by no fear, regulated by no rule. But, the elephant is dreadfully afraid of the lion who symbolises Buddhi (the intellect).  All have to bend before the throne of intellect, which confers the highest Bliss. The mind is dumb before the dictates of the intellect; but, before the sense and their demands, it acts as instigator. Make the mind subserve the intellect; then, the path  towards God is straightened and smoothed. Progress is to be judged by the quantity and the quality of work done.   

    Mind, Speech and Action are the three instruments assigned to human. The mind is the breeding ground for all thoughts of 'do' and 'do not', all impulses of 'will' and 'wont'. It collects and treasures every impression that the senses inflict on the consciousness and is easily enslaved by glitter and glamour.  It jumps to conclusions. It listens more to the chatter of silent conversation with the ego, and it cannot overcome the confusion caused by it. It seldom weighs the pros and cons.

    Today, most of  humans have not awakened to the seriousness of this problem. One is perpetually engaged in gossip centred on others, winnowing their conduct to discover vices, and dwelling on their faults and failings. The mind gets polluted thereby. Human being transforms the mind into a newspaper, highlighting hold-ups, crimes and conflicts of the day and giving place for the same, day after day. The mind undergoes a series of shocks and knocks, which weaken it. Even trivial incidents agitate it for long. Then how can it be used for the ultimate purpose of liberating us from becoming slaves of the senses?

    Speech, one of the chief reflector of mind's action is produced cheap, but it has high value. It can elevate as well as demean person. Listening to a speech, a zero can rise into a hero or a hero can collapse into a zero. It can inspire or plant despair. It must be true and sweet, not false and pleasant.

    Frenzy, fanaticism and gusts of anger have to be controlled, for they lead to disasters whose range is beyond calculation. By constant practice, these can also resort to the vow of silence.  Be conscious that every word we utter or hear will leave an impression on our consciousness, and provoke reactions which may or may not be beneficial. Every action has its reaction on oneself and on others. This is the law of nature.  

    There are many who attribute the unrest to religion and who prescribe irreligion as the remedy. The fault lies not in religion, which always insists on self-control and purity of intentions, brotherhood and service, but in the human heart which is tainted by greed and lust. The accusing finger is pointed at the multiplicity of religions in Bharath, but even people who follow one religion fight frantically among themselves.

    The followers of one and the same religion may torture each other and slaughter innocent lives with bestial glee. Religion is not responsible at all. The unrest is due to want of religion, rather than the plethora of religions. It is blind fanaticism that is to be condemned; not, religion that is against it. Love of country can also be tainted by fanaticism; it has led human to destroy by the atom bomb innocent millions living in another country, hoping thereby to secure the safety of the country one loves. The plan and purpose of the ancient religions of India are to plant the seeds of Love in the human heart so that they may sprout into saplings of endurance, and blossom into tolerance, yielding ultimately the fruits of Peace.

    Bharath has, from time immemorial, sought to infuse in the individual, the lesson that human being can be free only through realisation own identity with all mankind and all beings, alive and inert. Human being is kin to all, that is the teaching of Sanathana Dharma (eternal religion). 

    Let's touch another today's actual problem caused by human mind's desire to wrong experience of lust as unruly desire. 

    On the plea that increase of population is harmful to the progress of the country, limiting births artificial means is adopted as a policy and practices are being propagated on a national scale. This is an absurdly wrong step.  What you have to do is to discover means of growing more food, by, to give one example, utilising the vast sources of underground water. Artificial means of preventing conception will promote licentiousness and bring down on the country bestial promiscuity. Those who encourage these dangerous tactics must rather encourage sense control and self-restraint through Yoga and Seva, methods advocated in the scriptures by sages who knew the calamities that are the consequence of irresponsible fatherhood or frustrated motherhood. The innocent, ignorant victims of this campaign, can well be educated to master their lower urges and sublimate them into more beneficial channels. Without mental preparation and determination these artificial methods may cause insanity and other complexes, ill-health and manias.

    Through the campaign for family planning, they are persuaded to adopt means by which they have no responsibility for the consequences of that indulgence. The best method for family planning is the ancient one: making human realise through Saadhana (spiritual discipline) his/her innate Divinity. 

    There is no need for family planning when the mind is strong, steady, pure and free. It has to be given rest, so that the waves can subside and serenity established. The sages prescribed manana (meditation, rumination) after shravana (listening to constructive counsel) and nididhyaasa (putting the counsel to practise) with just this in view. When  lust, hatred, anger and greed are eliminated, the mind obeys our will and can be used for higher purposes. 

    The very first sadhana one must adopt is the cultivation of inner silence, to put an end to the endless dialogue with the mind. Let the mind rest for a while. Do not project on the mind irrelevant details and pollute it with fumes of envy and greed. Do not agitate it every moment by your non-stop dialogue.

    There are other three ways of calming the mercurial mind'

    1. Regulated breathing (Praanaayaama).
    Inhale and exhale in a measured manner, watching its symmetry and balance; that will diminish the eagerness of the inner tongue to wander into conversation. Finally it will give up the tendency, for good.

    2. Engage yourselves in loving service of the diseased and the distressed. Undertake to teach a few children who have no one to guide them. Let your thoughts and activities be self-less and sincere. The itch to communicate to the mind will be healed thereby. By this activity energies are more fruitfully engaged in serving one's fellows than in talking and discussing with one's wavering mind. 

    3. Instead of talking and discussing with one's wavering mind experience spiritual exercises, some one or more of them, resorted to in earnest and with regularity. It can be the repetition of Name, recitation of mantras, chanting hymns or practice of yogic postures. The Gaayathri Manthra can well be resorted to for this purpose. It is certain to yield quick results.  

    Some words about the methodology of service. 

    Very often individuals (and even institutions) trespass into the realm of others, compete with fellow workers, and sometimes try to establish superiority, by means fair or foul. Power and position have to be deserved, before they are desired. Those who seek to serve others and promise to cure their ills must have the equipment to diagnose the illness and determine the drug.

    Service is a difficult and discriminating process; mere amateur enthusiasm hampers rather than hastens progress. Learning the technique of service, cultivating the impulse to serve, these are steps in equipping a person for leadership.

    Those of you who have had the privilege of serving your unfortunate brothers and sisters will stand witness that there is no discipline equal to Service to smother the ego and to fill the heart with genuine joy.  A wave of service, if it sweeps over the land, catching every one in its enthusiasm, will be able to wipe off the mounds of hatred, malice and greed that infest the world. Attune your hems so that it will vibrate in sympathy with the woes and joys of your fellowmen. Fill the world with Love what  will warn you against advising another to do something which you yourself are unwilling to do; your conscience will tell you that you are telling a lie.         

    The process of living can be reduced to the formula, "Situation plus effort" or "Challenge plus response." So too, "Self multiplied by infinity is God," whereas "mind multiplied by infinity is Hiranyagarbha or Cosmic Will." The mind can act as a bridge leading person from the tangible to the intangible, from the personal to the impersonal. 

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks.

    Vol. 9. "Elephants and the Lion,"Chapter 18;

    Vol. 13. "Expand the heart," Chapter 21 and "The Sai Religion," Chapter 23;

    Vol. 15.  "The triple purity," Chapter 42).


Swami teaches.... (9 April 2005) 

   The Roots of Unity of Religions. Sai (Universal Cosmic) Religion

    We often contemplate about unity of all religions and Sai religion as the universal religion of Love. What is the basis of this religion and what is the basis of other religions? Why there is a need of one and alone religion of Love. Swami's explanation concern to religions is a serious scientific work of the modern time what every Swami's devotee and follower would be properly know. How without this explanation to practice and experience  Swami's Teaching? The topic is  serious and actual. Here one can find the answer to the many 'man made' controversial problems of religions.  

    The abstractions of faith received concrete form and got crystallised into specific identifiable names and forms. Each new attitude or aptitude, each new concretisation, became a special sect and every theory enveloped itself in its own shell. Thus the one Vedhic religion became the parent of a number of sects and sets of belief, like Gaanaapaathya (centering around the concept of Ganapathi), Shaaktheya (centering around the concept of Cosmic Energy as the expression of the Divine), Soura (centering around the Sun as the source, sustenance and goal of spiritual achievement), Chaarvaka (centering around the concept of pleasure and material prosperity) and Veerasaiva (centering around Shiva as the inner motivator of all beings). Every one of these sects, and many more besides, elaborated their own rituals and modes of worship, their own priorities in spiritual attainment and their own body of doctrines about the individual, the objective world and God.

    The purpose of these codes and modes was, in all cases, to purify the mind and practice of high moral virtues. But this was soon ignored and importance came to be attached to superficial conformity and outer purity. The craving for personal aggrandizement and power made every sect, faith and religion, rigid and dry. There is a great need today to discover the inner spring of all faiths, the spring that fertilises the outer rites and ceremonies.  

    The religion of the Hindhus stressed the Unity of all creation and declared that the diversity we experience is not a true picture. But since faith in the One come into awareness only to a mind clarified to the utmost, the religion had soon to posit duality, and even multiplicity, with deities for every facet of the whole. The most widespread of these qualities is the Shaivite and Vaishnavite faiths, centered around the Shiva and Vishnu aspects of the One. 

   Religions attempt to implant holy ideals in the human's heart, but human being does not allow them to sprout and grow. The egoistic craving for power and competitive success has, in most cases, persuaded  to use religion as an instrument of torture and persecution. Instead of uniting mankind in a common endeavour, it has become a system of walled enclosures, guarded by hate and fanaticism. So each religion is an armed camp sunk in self-aggrandizement, trying to wean others into itself and preventing defections from itself. Religion, therefore, is being condemned as the root of chaos and conflict. In spite of great progress in many other areas of life, religious animosity is aflame even today in many parts of the world.

    It has to be emphasised that religion is not the root cause of this state of affairs. The factional fights and fanatic hatred are due to the unruly ego that is given free play. Religion strives to destroy just this vicious tendency. It has to be supported, not condemned. What has to be condemned is the narrow, perverted attitude of hating those who do not agree with you or who hold different opinions of the mysterious force that animates the universe. Religious wars and conflicts breed in the slime of ignorance and avarice. When people are blind to the truth that the human family is one indivisible Unity, they grope in the dark and are afraid of strange touch. The cultivation of love, alone, can convince man of this truth that there is only one caste - the caste of Humanity, and only one religion - the religion of Love. Since no religion upholds violence or despises love, it is wrong to ascribe the chaos to religion.

      Islam has the Shia and Sunni sects; Christianity has Catholics and Protestants. But however deep the cleavage, no sect denies God and no sect extols violence and falsehood. Names may be different, the facets emphasised may be different, but the Almighty Providence is denoted as Absolute and Eternal. The terminology may be different but the concept is not different.

     Zoraastrianism, the Paarsi religion, was founded by Zoraaster, who wanted that human should ever have the Fire of Wisdom blazing in his consciousness so that evil thoughts and tendencies might be reduced to ashes. It has to infuse all thoughts, words and deeds with the illumination of virtue and vigour, it must destroy all worldly desire and render human pure for entry into the heaven of freedom.   

    In ancient Bharath were several directions of belief to the Supreme, what were as different aspects of the one and same.  

    1. Shankaraachaarya was the first among the interpreters of the Vedhas who founded a school of philosophy and laid down the path of spiritual discipline. He established on secure foundations of logic and intuition, the truth that there is only One God and that all else is an appearance of the One Reality. This is the adhwaitha philosophy or faith, that explains the individual nature and God in perfect harmony.

    2. The adhwaitha philosophy seemed to the majority of individuals too simple a solution to satisfy their inner urges. They could not grasp the truth of their inner Reality of Oneness. Their emotions and activities had to be sublimated by disciplines of devotion. Therefore, Raamanujachaarya commented upon the Vedhic texts and religious scriptures from a new point of view. This made the adhwaitha take on a special outlook called visishta (special) adhwaitha (non-dualism). The path of devotion was laid down to enable human to merge with God. God is loved by the bhaktha (devotee) for His sake and not for any incidental benefit or blessing. Complete surrender to the extent of the annihilation of one's own individuality is also beyond most aspirants.

     3. Madhvaachaarya declared that the jeeva (individual soul) will remain ever separate from the Universal, and there can be no merging.  Adoration and worship leads to the  fulfilling Grace of God.

    Pictorially Adhwaitha (1) posits that the rivrer and the sea is one 'entity.' The Visishtaadhwaitha (2) posits that the river is an integral part of the sea. Dhwaitha (3) points out that the joy derived from adoration and worship is enough to draw the fulfilling Grace of God.

    There were other seers, too, who laid down paths towards the same goal. They announced that the universe belongs to God and that human should not desire to accumulate or appropriate any portion of the Divine Treasure. They advised that the sapling of devotion must be protected from the pests of sloth, doubt and fanaticism by the cultivation of valour and vigilance.

    Buddha investigated the behaviour of human's mind and intellect  and discovered remedial disciplines; he analysed the vagaries of the mind which lead into the whirlpools of desires; he analysed the ways of reason.  He preached surrender to dharma (righteousness), to compassion and to Buddha (the Enlightened One).  All things and beings are holy in their own right and are but pilgrims on the road to Realisation. Any Injury inflicted on any of them is an intervention in that sacred journey and so has to be scrupulously avoided.

    The Sai religion, if the name of religion in its literal sense of binding human to God is accepted, is the essence of all faiths and religions, including those like Islam, Christianity and Judaism. The motive behind the formation and propagation of all these different faiths is the same. The founders and propagators were all persons filled with love and wisdom. They sought to train the passions and the emotions, to educate the impulses and instincts and direct the faculty of reason to paths beneficial to the individual and society.

    Swami considers that practice of these disciplines is much more essential than blind faith in a bunch of philosophical theories. No one has the right to advise others unless one is already practising what one preaches. First establish the reign of love between the various members in your own home. Let the family become a centre of harmonious living, sympathetic understanding and mutual faith.

    Lokah samasthah sukhino bhavanthu (May all people everywhere be happy). This is the consummation of Vedhic thought since time Immemorial. The same consummation belongs to the declaration of Cosmic Harmony expressed through the Divine Love as motto to Sai Religion. In content it is the Universal Cosmic Religion what connects not only the worlds religions but  many standpoints of modern science.

    The holy duty  is to be ever aware of the Aathman (Divine spirit) that is installed in every living being. Cast away the vice of egoism, the evil of greed and the poison of envy. When you seek joy from something outside you, remember that a far greater joy lies in wait within your own inner consciousness. When you are afraid of someone or something outside you, remind yourself that the fear is born, fed and fertilised in your own mind and that you can overcome it by denying it.  Faith in the Almighty God is the impregnable armour that the saadhaka can wear; and peoples of all lands are saadhakas, whether they know it or not. 

    When a religion wants to extend its influence it has to resort to vilification of other religions and exaggeration of its own excellence. Pomp and publicity become more important than practice and faith. Swami wants that the votaries of each religion must cultivate faith in its own excellence and realise their validity by their own intense practice. That is the Sai religion, the religion that feeds and fosters all religions and emphasises their common Greatness. (Reet's compilation/extracts from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 13. "The Sai Religion," Chapter 23). 

    PS: The spelling of names is as in the original source. (For example,  Aathman, not Atman, Vedhic, not Vedic, etc.).


Swami teaches.... (10 - 11 April 2005)

  Towards Adhwaithic Awareness 

    The world today is caught up in political stratagems and atheistic anarchy. Humanity is sick, afflicted with wickedness and hatred. The most effective cure for this illness is spiritual saadhana and progress, which can restore the genuine virtues of humanity.

    Today, science has overwhelmed the world. Marvels unseen, unheard and unknown to human in previous centuries are astounding mankind one after the other.  

    One of the latest scientific discoveries, for example, is human's mind control by the help of devices. (http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050317_brain_interface.html  as reference).

    Our brains may compare with computers. Brain-computer interface systems, now in experimental stages, are becoming increasingly more powerful and applicable. However, the experiments show a positive results.

    It is clear to neuroscience that  when we use whatsoever tool, be it computer or spoon, we learn to use that tool and install the properties of that tool into our brain.   

    The patients were asked to perform certain tasks – such as opening and closing their hands and scientists determined what brain signals were associated with these movements. Then the signals from these movements were matched up with movements of the cursor on the screen. For example, the thought of opening of the right hand might move the cursor to the right. The subjects were then asked to move the cursor from one spot to another on the screen by thinking about making the movements.

    The patients had some difficulty at first, but each was able to control the cursor with their thoughts and with over 70 - 100% accuracy after a few minutes. By research group leader Daniel Moran of Washington University all  patients were able to control the computer cursor using imagined representations of motor movements.

    The study was the first to prove that sensors placed on the surface of the brain can 'react' to the thoughts. One at Brown University and Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc., is working to develop a system called BrainGate.

     In this-one patient pilot study, a sensor is implanted on the surface of the primary motor cortex, the area of the brain responsible for movement.  The sensor, smaller than a penny, has hair-thin electrode probes that penetrate about a millimeter into the brain and are designed to pick up electrical impulses from the motor neurons.

    The participant performs cursor-moving tasks with own thoughts. The system works without long training and a user can operate the computer without requiring great concentration. In addition

BrainGate system is principally capable to use eye movements to control a computer.  

    This example by modern neuroscience shows to nonbelievers to them who still are hesitating that the human thoughts can act as instruments. When it is so, then the spiritual awareness and experiences are the reality, which can change our quality of life towards higher stage of development.

    People have faith in the results given by scientists of the calculation of planetary distances and sizes. They believe the displays of devices. But, they hesitate when confronted with conclusions arrived at by investigators into the inner space, into the inner regions of the spirit - those who have seen and shown, experienced and enjoyed the truths they proclaim. 

    When thoughts is possible to put under control of devices, then certainly is more easier to put the thoughts under control of one's own mind  blissed with awareness by Swami's Teaching. 

    What is the essence of Swami's Teaching? It is the teaching of unity of Divinity inherent in all diverse forms and beings. It is the directions towards the realization of Self for all human beings. It is the spiritual outlook to the Universe what liberates human being and creates the peace in his/her mind. (The modern science step -by- step reaches nearer and nearer to this outlook). It is an emotional transformation of Vedic wisdom as message to the humanity from the Divine Heart. 

    Love for Swami should not degenerate into fanaticism. (Fanaticism based on the language one speaks, the region in which one is born and narrow loyalties to social and economic isms are spreading fast. In the 5000 years of human history, fifteen thousand wars have soaked its pages in blood. That is the measure of the brutality). Swami has no limits or restriction; He is in all, for all.   Whatever the Name and Form one addresses, Rama, Krishna, Christ, Sai, etc. -  they all belong to the same God. To assume that God responds to one Name only and can be adored in one Form only, is a sacrilege. Believe that all who revere the Lord and walk in fear of sin are your nearest kith and kin. Their outer dress or language or skin-colour, or even the methods they adopt to express their reverence are not important at all. The variety should not hide the unity of Divinity inherent in all of all human beings. 

    Human is certainly the crown of creation, who is born weak and dependent. The culture and traditions of the society, family, country and religion, that is to say, history has its impact on human's  life and thought. It moulds the individuality and endows with loyalty and affinity, with a nationality.  Human being grows not as an isolated being, but with the consciousness of the divinity in all, which culminates in the experience of unity.  

    Today the world is far from this experience and afflicted with formidable problems and fast-spreading fear - fear of war, of famine, and of demonic terrorists, problems of racial, religious and regional conflicts, of economic recuperation and survival, of student indiscipline, of credal clashes, of frenzy and fanaticism, of power-grabbing and extreme egoism. In these conditions each one yearns for lasting joy but does not stop to discover from where it can be got. It is not available anywhere outside.  When one sees own Self, one does not notice the objective world. When one pays attention to the outer world, the inner Self remains unnoticeable. So, the only remedy remains: attitude of non-attachment to the outer world.   

   The Adhwaithic awareness, that what we witness is but a super-imposition of our own mind on 'Reality; it is the best cure; and service is the most effective sadhana. Our deeds reveal our motives; our motives design our habits; our habits decide our character; our character determines our destination.

    The mind is the instrument, the fly-wheel, the thickest comrade of human. Through it, one can either ruin oneself or save oneself. Train the mind to dwell on the inner equipment rather than the outer attractions. Use the mind to cleanse the feelings, impulses, attitudes, tendencies and levels of consciousness. Let it not accumulate dirt from the outer world and deposit them within itself. If it is attached to work the consequences of work get attached to it. Unattached work is the purest; it does not encumber the mind with elation or disappointment. 

    The Vedhas declared aeons ago that the Universe is the Body of God, expressed through mind's feeling Oneness of Reality as Unity Consciousness. The motherland of Vedhas is Bharath. She is as the eye of the Universe, as she has the most correct vision of the Cosmos in the context of Time. This is also the reason why sages, saints, divine personages and incarnations of God appear in this land and proclaim their message to humanity.  

    (Einstein, met a famous poet once and wanted to know from him the secret of his popularity and fame. He led Einstein into his library and drew his attention to the Bhagavad Geetha, the Rig Vedha, the Brahma Suuthra, the Upanishadhs and commentaries of Shankara and confessed that they had granted him the wisdom that shone in his poetry. But, many scientists still deny spiritual values and holding fast to the belief that seeing is believing). 

     The Vedhas are inspired by the holy spirit of Divine Mercy; they seek to transmit to humanity the secrets of a happy life here and of Liberation for ever. They are the source of spiritual knowledge over the millennia for all mankind. When the Vedhic treasure house is explored with intelligence, the essential nature of the Self becomes clear and when that is recognised, human being  becomes eternally happy and full of peace. 

    The Vedic scriptures speak of Pancha Pranas (five vital airs) that energise the functions of the human body. More vital than these are the five sustainers of the of inner health and strength, the Upapranas - Sathya, Dharma Shanthi, Prema and Ahimsa.  Of these, Prema (Love) is the basic
element, the motivator of the other four.

    The body is a house given for rent; the owner is God. The body is a vehicle that even gods aspire to possess. Gods seek to come into human form so that they could utilise the intelligence, discrimination, detachment, etc., that the human body alone is capable of exercising, to realise the Ultimate Reality, which when known makes everything else known. The body is the castle from which one can fight against the foes of attachment and egoism; it is the boat by which one can cross the sea of change and chance. The realisation of the reality, through spiritual discipline is an arduous enterprise, as fraught with calamity, as playing with fire or duelling with tigers or battling with barbarian hordes. The Upanishads have compared the aspirant's path to a razor's edge.   

   Buddha's father decided that Buddha should get attached to the world and the senses; he built around his son a wall and a garden of delight and pleasure; but Buddha escaped into the atmosphere of detachment, to discover the secret of human sorrow and devise a cure for it.  

    A strong will is the best tonic; the will becomes strong when you know that you are a child of immortality or a person who has earned the Grace of the Lord.  For those who rely on the Supreme Doctor, His Name is enough drug.

    When faith in God is absent, the strong will dwells in a latent form and even worship, bhajan, puuja, good works - become meaningless automatic ritual, done under social compulsion. Inner transformation, can be acquired only when these are done with faith. Faith can grow only from the root of inquiry. We have to encourage inquiry by the members of Sai groups and other Swami's followers whom we contact and welcome their efforts to gain first-hand experience.     

    Transmuting 'human being' into 'God' and experiencing that Aanandha  is the one and only achievement for which life is to be devoted. The efforts we make in our own places are directed to bring this Swami's advice as goal into the awareness of each person. (Reet's compilation by Sathya Sai Speaks.

     Vol. 6. "The supreme physician," Chapter 29;

     Vol. 7. "Sathya Sai Seva," Chapter 18;

     Vol. 15. "Three in one," Chapter 57;
     Vol. 18. "Love is the only offering I accept," Chapter 23;
     Vol. 29 "The devotee's ordeals and God's grace," Chapter 49).

 

    PS: A brief illustrative scientific information, entwined with the article - in black.   

   

Namaste Reet

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