Swami teaches.... (12 - 13 April 2005) 

   Training the Attraction of the Grace of God*

    Swami's Teaching guides the path to the new (more exactly ancient, Vedic) spirituality. The first characteristic of this is concept of unity in diversity. The second is that all we are the One expression of eternal Atma. Therefore, the life is also eternal, as constant flow with different forms and fluctuations. The main conclusion from Swami's Teaching for humanity is if we are all One expression of Atma, we need to stop our competition and struggle with each other. Through the glasses of Atmic reality, humans' struggles turn against humanity themselves. There is an urgent need that His Teaching would become the pervasive spirituality for whole humanity.

   Increasing the power of technology and science (both, with positive and negative results) causes the increasing the content of life's energy-informational potency. Human's consciousness as seeking the own existence on a higher level, as seeking the new possibilities, experiences concern to own true reality as a great spiritual opportunity. 

     The Reality which sustains the Cosmos and the Cell is the same one, the all-pervasive Consciousness, named Brahmam. When this infinite vastness is spoken of in relation to Cosmos (Jagath, the Superflux), It is the Paramatma (the Overself) and it is the Atma (the Self) when it is conceded as the core of individual beings. All three are one entity, but they 'appear' different and
delude the short-sighted. This characteristic is known as Maya.

    When the "urge to become," namely Maya impels Brahmam to project itself, it appears as Eswara or God when associated with satwa guna, as Jivi (human and living beings) when associated with rajo guna and as Prakriti (Nature) when associated with tamo guna. Brahmam is the basis of all three.  Maya is the mirror in which Brahmam is reflected as Personalised God, Human and Nature.

    Become attached to God. Feel His Presence, revel in His Glory.  He has none, but if you love Him deeply, you will be concerned about Him, just as if He is your Lord and Love. God will serve you; He will save you and be by your side ever - only you have to cultivate your character and polish your interior so that He might be reflected therein. Let His Will be done - this should be your guide-line. Just as you prescribe minimum qualifications for every profession, the minimum qualification for Grace is surrender of egoism, control over senses and regulated aahaara and vihaara (food and recreation).

    The external is the creation of the internal. Brahmam has manifested Itself as all this. God created the world. Human, through yearning, imagination and intensity endows God with a form and name, and a large bunch of attributes. But, God is above and beyond human traits and characteristics known as Gunas. Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, "I have no need to engage myself in any activity. I am busy acting, in order to promote the well-being of the world and its inhabitants."  Five fields in the attainment of this Samathvam (equal mindedness) have distinguished.

    1. The field of natural ups and downs (Prakrithika). One has to welcome both summer and winter, for they are both essential for the process of living. Birth and death are both natural events. We cannot discover the reason for either birth or death. They simply happen. 

    2. The field of social ups and downs. One has to welcome with equal mindedness fame and blame, respect and ridicule, profit and loss. Fortune is as much a challenge to one's equanimity as misfortune.

    3. The field of knowledge with its ups and downs. Until the summit of knowledge wherefrom one experiences the One which has become this vast make-believe, there are many temptations and obstacles that lead the seeker astray. The Gita defines a Pandit who has gained the awareness of the same One in all beings.

     4. The field of devotion with its ups and downs:  there is a great deal of racoon and fanaticism, prejudice and persecution, which arise out of ignorance of the sameness of the God, through various rites and rituals, modes and methods. There is only One Omnipresent God.

    5.The field of actvity with its ups and downs must be sanctified by divinising the purpose. When work is sublimated into worship, defeat and disappointment will not dishearten. Success will not promote pride; it will lead to humility and gratitude for grace. Work performed as duty, as due from us to society, to its service, brings the reward of joy.

    The Lord had announced that He showers Grace on inner purity, not outer pomp. When one has established himself in equal mindedness, the Lord installs Himself in heart: His voice becomes the conscience that guides at every step. Through yoga, fortitude must be acquired; through japa (pious repetition), sense-control must be earned; through Sadhana, the mind should be filled with peace. Human must be a yogi always, under all circumstances (sathatham yoginah), says the Gita.  Faith in God can ensure equanimity and balance. Knowledge must develop into skill, which must be directed and regulated by a sense of balance. Or else, skill degenerates into 'kill'.

    All spiritual endeavour has its aim the attraction of the Grace of God on ourselves. The stone is not worshipped as stone; it is the symbol of the God that cannot be pictured in His abstract, attributeless, Nirguna (Formless) aspect. The idol is of great help in concentration, as was proved by Raamakrishna Paramahamsa, Meera, Thyaagaraaja and a large number of other seekers.

    Another Hindu belief is that food, when it is offered to God and then taken as consecrated by His acceptance, is activated by Divine energy and is freed from all evil influences that might adhere to it. This helps the attitude of dedication, and encourages the conviction of the constant Presence of God as an inseparable guide and guardian wherever you may be. 

    We go to a temple and stand before the main shrine, strike the bell hung there; the sound will draw the attention of the Lord to the supplicant just arrived. The bell must be accompanied by a sincere prayer from the heart.

    Repeat the Gayathri - it is a universal prayer. It has three parts, dhyaana - meditation on the Glory of God as the illumination immanent in the worlds, upper, middle and lower (Om Bhuhbhuva-swah; thath savithur varenyam); it has Smarana or picturisation of the Grace (bhargo devasya dheemahi) and Praarthana, prayer for compassion for the sake of liberation, through the
awakening of intelligence that pervades the entire Universe, not to any particular name or form of that intelligence; and so, all can use it.  There can be no fanaticism, no hatred, no rivalry, if the Gayathri is adhered to; its japa will clarify the passions and promote Love. 

    Service is the best school for training equanimity. Through seva you realise that all beings are waves of the Ocean of Divinity. No other saadhana can bring you into the incessant contemplation of the One-ness of all living beings. You feel another's pain as own; you share another's success as own. To see every one else as yourself and yourself in every one, that is the core of the saadhana of seva. Again, seva makes the ego languish for want of food. It makes you humble before the suffering of others, and when you rush to render help, you do not calculate how high or low his social or economic status is. In seva there can be no high or low, for Sai is in all. Sai receives your seva, to whomsoever you may offer lt. Swami is the nearest to him/her who calls on Him and sees Him in all beings.

   The service that you render must reward you, not only with your satisfaction, but with the satisfaction and relief of those whom you serve.  You should have the joy of the recipient as your objective.  Human is endowed with the equipment of senses, reason, feelings, passions and detachment, so that anyone may keep away from the enticement of pleasures and spend the life in helping, serving, sustaining and saving fellow human beings. 

    Intolerance is the product of anger, hate and envy. Try the best to suppress the first appearance of anger. The body becomes warm, the lips twitch, the eyes redden - so, when you get the intimation, drink a cup of cold water, sip it slowly, close the door and lie in bed, until the seizure passes away, and you laugh at your own folly. This may appear difficult, but you have to practise it. For the consequences of your yielding to anger will be so disastrous that you will have to repent long for them.

    What is most needed today is a total effort to manifest more tolerance, more humility, more brotherliness, more compassion and deeper awareness of the springs of joy and peace that lie within the heart of each one. Love is the solvent for the hardest of hearts. Without love, free, full and selfless, no spiritual saadhana can succeed. Without it, bhajan  is waste of breath, sathsang a waste of time and meditation a selfdeception.  Bhajan, sathsang and meditation done with a mind soaked in love, can confer peace, joy and wisdom. When the rain drop falls into the sea, lt gets the name, form and nature of the sea. So, too, when the individual merges in the vast concourse of humanity and feels one with all, he is endowed with the name, form and nature of Divinity.

    If you have confidence in your strength and skill, you can draw upon the inner springs of courage and raise yourselves to a higher level of joy and peace. For, confidence in yourselves arises through the Atma, which is your inner Reality.  It is from the Atma that you draw all these equipments for spiritual progress. (Reet's compilation by Sathya Sai Speaks.  Vol. 7. "Stagnation in the same class," Chapter 2 and "Jumping to conclusions," Chapter 37; Vol. 13. "No bumps, no jumps," Chapter 18; Vol.18. "The Yoga of Samathvam," Chapter 19).

  PS:  *The Grace of God can be explained also as  human's the state of harmony with the Cosmic Conciousness (the Real Self, Swami's Cosmic Form).

    In past ages, Avathaars rid the world of evil, by destroying the few fanatics and ogres who wrought it. But, now fanaticism and felony reign in every heart. The number of evil persons is legion; no one is free from that taint; all are wicked to some extent or other. Therefore, every one needs correction; every one has to be educated and guided into the right path. Every being is a pilgrim destined to reach Maadhava (God) and merge in Him; but most people have forgotten the road; they wander like lost children, wasting precious time in by-paths.

    Recognise that God and you are one. There will then be no need to describe God as father, mother, guru and the like and confound oneself. We should strive to reduce the bondages created by such relationships as father, mother, etc. We should aim at realising that basic Unity that underlines and sustains everything. The only relationship that lasts forever and does not
change is the association with the Atma. "The eternal resides in every being in the world as a fragment of Mine", says the Lord in the Gita. You are not even a separate spirit. You are a fragment of the Divine.

    As the clouds form droplets and fall upon the fields which they choose to foster, the Formless Absolute individualises Itself, assumes Form and comes down in the midst of humanity to save and sustain, That is the secret of God Maadhava coming down as maanava (human), the cloud taking pity on the crop, parching in the Sun. Once the rains come, the Sun has its uses. So too,
when the grace of the Lord is gained, then ego and greed can be put into useful channels. The mental clean up is easier to perform through service in all its forms. Service is a primarily spiritual discipline.

    The Lord, it was said, punishes some and favours others. Really the Lord does neither. He is like the current in this electric wire. It rotates the fan and makes one's life cooled; it operates the electric chair and makes one's life shorter. It has no wish to allay the warmth of the atmosphere; it has no eagerness to kill. The Lord's Grace is like the wind that blows. Roll up your sails and the boat lies limp and lame; unfurl them, it moves faster and faster. It is like light; one person does good using the illumination; another executes an evil plan, with its help. Have an "inner day," though an "outer night." Let the light within, shine. The Vedhas teach this Truth and impart the discipline needed to attain this fortune. Not set aside the commands of the Vedhas: they are the authentic voice of the Lord as heard and recorded by purified intellects. It is best to trust to the experience of sages, who were filled with compassion and who were moved by that compassion to illumine the path of liberation. Faith in the Vedhas irrigates the heart and makes it yield the harvest of Universal Love.

    Bhakthi (devotion) involves dedication, with nothing held back; not even a wisp of ego should remain. His command alone counts; His Will prevails. Bhakthi is unconcerned with all that is unrelated to own ideal. He is deaf to the call of hunger and thirst; he misses steps in logic and he calculates wrongly while dealing in the market place. Naaradha says that those full of the liquor of ignorance stumble after the shadows of the world, while those drunk with nectar of wisdom never move away from the Highest, which they have discovered as themselves. Bhakthi must soften the mind and keep it receptive to the higher emotions for perception of Divinity.

    The term "daiva" (Divinity) means wholeness and immanence. Divinity is immanent in the Prakriti (whole of creation), which cannot exist otherwise. The energy that is present in every object in Creation is derived from the divine (Sat-Chit-Ananda). Divinity represents the unity of Sat-Chit-Ananda and Prakrti. In modem parlance, this may be stated as: Matter plus Being is
God.

    Recognition of this basic unity calls for earnest and continuous striving. In the pursuit of this fundamental quest, four major obstacles have to be overcome. 

Vol. 20. "God and you are One," Chapter 15.

     PS: Spelling of names as in original texts.

    Wealth can never provide permanent happiness. Spiritual wealth is the true wealth. Human is not able to enjoy true happiness due to the greed for money. No doubt, money is necessary but it should be under certain limits. One may also have wife/husband and children, wealth and property and enjoy family life for some time. But such happiness is not true and eternal. It is but an illusion to think that money, wife/husband and children will give happiness.

    Human desires to live in peace in this unstable world. Human strives to find assurance, security, and peace in wealth, status, or scholarship. However, wealth, comfort and status won't give peace. Peace takes birth in the heart. A heart full of love gives peace and security.

    Once a person, after listening to many discourses on Ramayana, was asked to tell the name of Rama’s consort. He replied, “Mrs. Rama”, as he did not remember her name. Such is the sorry state of affairs and delusion into wordly actions. 

   As it was mentioned, bliss originated from own heart. So, turn your vision inward. That all-pervasive God is present within and without. When you develop inner vision, you will automatically experience eternal bliss. However, the inner vision is impossible to obtain without following the moral and ehtical principles.

    Only a moral life can be called sacred. Human is a sacred being.  God as the Indweller guides and directs human life as Anthar-aatma, the inner-conscience of every human being. You will be guided by your conscience, which will always lead you properly.  

    You can find proofs of this in the Ramayana, the Bhagavatha and the Mahabharatha. The Ramayana depicts the triple qualifies of Sathwa, Rajas and Thamas. Every human is a repository of desire, anger, and greed as result from the body what Ramayana describes well. The relevance of the Ramayana is not confined to a particular time, place or circumstances. It is of universal significance for all times to all countries, not to India alone. 

    The ideals and sacred objectives established in human hearts shine forever. People over the world can realise the sacredness of the Ramayana and comprehend its inner significance through deep symbolism represented in this ancient epic, actual forever.

    By the way, what is the meaning of the name Puttaparthi? Parthi means effulgence. So, Puttaparthi is the place of effulgence. It is the beacon of light. Earlier it was called Puttavardhini. Putta means anthill. There used to be anthills and snakes everywhere. The Ramayana has a close relationship with anthills in the sense that anthills grew over its composer, sage Valmiki. He was completely covered by anthills, and snakes were moving in and out of them. There are many snakes of wicked qualities in the anthill of your heart. When you do namasmarana (remembering the Divine name), all the ‘snakes’ of bad qualities will come out.  Be one young or old, rich or poor, everybody has to do namasmarana.  Do it with full mind and total dedication. Sing the glory of God wholeheartedly without any inhibition. You may not have any musical instruments for this. It is enough if it emerges from the core of your heart. Take care that you do not have evil thoughts as they will produce discordant notes. Then will you become the recipient of Divine Grace and energy.

    If one has to live upto an ideal, one must be prepared to face many ordeals, difficulties, calumnies, trials and tribulations. These ideals have continued upto the present day to glow in the hearts of the people because they have been upheld inspite of vicissitudes and ordeals. Aeons may come and go, continents may appear and disappear, people may pass away, but ideals and values remain a perennial source of inspiration to the world.

    What cannot be achieved through physical prowess, the strength of numbers or the power of wealth, can be accomplished through the power of Buddhi (intelligence). Viveka (wisdom) is the hallmark of intelligence. One acquires wisdom by adherence to Truth and the pursuit of Dharma (righteousness). But the light of wisdom is derived from the Buddhi. The illumination of the Buddhi is due to the Atma (the Indwelling Spirit). That Atma is the foundation. It is Brahmam. It is Paratatwa (Supreme Cosmic Principle). It is the Paramatma (Omni-Self). It is the Avataric principle.

     Usually people can derive no benefit if the Formless Absolute remains in Kailasa or Vaikunta (the heavenly abode of the Lord). It is extremely difficult to comprehend the Formless and the Attributeless Absolute. Therefore, for example, Rama-Avatar appeared in human form to enable humanity to experience the Formless in a form which is accessible and helpful to them. 

The descent of the Avatar means the Divine coming down to the level of the human to bless and rescue those who cannot rise to the level of the Divine. The ignorant assumes that because the Divine has descended with a human form God has lowered Himself to the human level. This is a case of bending and not kneeling down. It is an act of benediction and not of submission.

    This profound truth is contained in the Upanishadic dictum: "Tat Twam Asi" (That Thou Art). "Uniting That with This" is the meaning of this declaration. "Prajnanam Brahma" (Brahmam is Cosmic Knowledge) is another declaration which is designed to remind human of own Divine essence and enable to merge in the Divine. "Ayam Atma Brahma" (This Atma is Brahmam) is the third declaration expounding the same basic purpose of Religion, namely, to make the individual realise his oneness with the Supreme. The dictum "Aham Brahmaasmi" ( I am Brahmam, the Absolute), is the final declaration by the Self-realised person, that in reality, there is no difference between person and the Absolute.

    Celestial spheres are revolving and disintegrating; time is fleeting; age follows age; era succeeds era; bodies that have taken birth, grow and end. Through the process of giving up great things can be achieved. Cultivate detachment, and the Lord will attach Himself to you. The past is beyond recovery; those days are gone. But, tomorrow is coming towards you. Resolve to sanctify it with Love, Service and Sadhana. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 24. "Ideals of the Rama Avatar," Chapter 6; Vol. 25. "Perennial message of the Ramayana," Chapter 16;   Vol. 35. "Redeem your life by Namasmarana," Chapter 7. Bhagawan Sathya Sai Baba. The Divine Discourse, "A Heart expansive as the ocean is necessary." 3 March 1999, Brindavan).