The Vedhas are countless - 'Anantho Vai Vedhaah,' it is said. Why countless Vedhas are necessary to lay down the path of spiritual progress? Let us take an example. To make a child understand the meaning of one word, the parent or teacher uses often a whole barrage of words. Explanation means elaboration, repetition, re-emphasising. So, to make clear to humans of average intelligence or no intelligence, it became necessary to have a number of supplementary or complementary texts and scriptures, and since their number is immense, they came to be known as Aanantha (countless). The aim of every Vedha, to lead people from the animal stage through the human into the height of divine self-realisation. The same purpose has Swami's Teaching what also is countless that every human being with different stage of intellect, education and development would find there guidelines for the realisation of the Self, for whatsoever spiritual and worldly experiences. 

    Vedha means 'that which makes you know.'  The cosmic principle is amenable to the mystic formulae and sound patterns that the Manthras (sacred formulae) of the Vedhas represent; the four fundamental urges of human (Dharma, to be righteous; Artha, to earn and accumulate; Kaama, to desire and get the desires fulfilled; and Moksha, to expand and get liberated from the 'here and now' into the 'ever and everywhere') get sanctified and sustained by the Vedhic path. 

    The Vedhas elaborate the Sanaathana Shaashtra (the primal science of the spirit). That science results in the removal of ignorance, the gaining of knowledge; not the knowledge of material, worldly things, which changes and gets superseded every few years. It endows the seeker with the knowledge that is the key to the entire gamut of knowledge.  

    Nothing remains the same in the Nature even for a moment. The sweet dish that is cooked now becomes stale and stinking a few hours. Other types of changes happen in other fields, other things and beings.

    Human not only expects these changes, but prepares also to face them. A new-born babe must grow in weight, in movement of limbs, in the intake of food, and the output of energy through activity. Or else, parents become anxious and run from doctor to doctor.

    In a normal babe, there is no desire (except the instinctive desire for food, drink and maternal protection) to agitate it. The babe is the inheritor of immortality; so it is unaffected by anxiety, that haunts the adult. The babe is sheer equanimity - an unshaken as in state of Samachiththa. 

    In its philosophical sense Samachiththa means, a consciousness established in the absolute Brahman, and as a consequence, above and beyond the storms and stillness of the world of duality. This constant consciousness of the reality is the fruit of Yajna (selfless sacrifice), the Vedhic symbol of Thyaaga (renunciation) by Swami  -  "not by the intellect, nor by progeny, nor by wealth, but, only by renunciation can immortality be attained." 

    Without sacrificing, human cannot live. Every individual does undertake sacrifice but he does not know that he is sacrificing. One should have sacrifice as the aim and one should enquire into what is permanent and what is not permanent and enquire into what is to be given up and what is to be accepted. Looking at things from a worldly aspect, if we do not give out the breath that we take in we cannot live; if we do not give out the food that we take in after digesting it we cannot live; if the blood is not constantly moved from one place to another every instant we cannot live. That is why it is said that what you cannot get by your knowledge and effort can be got by sacrifice.

    To the same truth has reached the modern science. Quantum mechanics views the entire Universe as a quantum superposition of many states which do not measurably interact on macroscopic scales. It predicts at least three types of phenomena that classical mechanics and classical electrodynamics cannot account for: quantization, quantum entanglement and wave-particle duality. When the particle is moving through the slits, its behavior appears to be described by a non-localized wave function which is travelling through both slits at the same time. Yet when the particle is observed it is never a diffuse non-localized wave packet, but appears to be a single point particle. So by modern physics  the particle too 'he is not it'. The particle by observation is both he and not he, neither true nor false.... (Reet's compilation from,

Sathya Sai Baba. Geetha Vahini, Chapters V, XIII and XXV;

The Divine Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba. "Brahman and Bharat as the Theme of the Discourses that will follow." Summer Course in Spirituality and Indian Culture. May/June 1974, Brindavan;

The Divine Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba. "The Vedhic Rite," 10 October 1974, Prashanthi Nilayam;The Divine Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba. "Diamonds In The Dust," 25 October 1974, Prashanthi   Nilayam).

    Namaste - Reet

Swami teaches.... (1 - 2 May 2005) 

Vidya  - the Door Open to the Real Self

     Swami  liquidates  barriers of race and religion, aimed only at restoring dharma and establishing the unity of faiths and peoples under the awareness of universal love and brotherhood.

     Swami directed: "O mind, chant the glory of the Guru's feet, which can take you across the treacherous ocean of samsara." All the life and every activity is as a touch of the Divine. The quest for Atma Vidya or knowledge of the real Self is essential in every human being.   

    The human body is a world in itself. Blood flows through and animates every part of the body. God is 'flowing' in and through and activating every spot in the world.

   Humans' present condition of incompleteness is the consequence of the activities during previous lives. The future condition is being built on the basis of  present deeds and desires, thoughts and feelings. This does not mean that one should not seek and secure assistance from others for promoting one's good fortune and avoiding misfortune. Such assistance is essential nearly for all. 

    "By means of Vidya and Thapas, human is transformed into a purified soul." Such is Swami's words. Vidya has two aspects: Baahya Vidya and Brahma Vidya. Baahya Vidya provides the wherewithal for human livelihood. Human being can study many subjects, earn valuable degrees, acquire higher and higher jobs and manage to spend the life with no worry and fear.  Brahma Vidya endows all human beings with the strength which enables them to discharge successfully the duty they owe to themselves. It lays down the path which leads both to joy in worldly relations and bliss in the life beyond.  Brahma Vidya is superior to all the Vidyas available on the Earth. Brahma Vidya has the divine potency to liberate everyone from bondage and makes aware of the Omniself, the Absolute, the Parabrahma. Vidya is the process of acquiring knowledge; Thapas is the known. The first is indirect, it is the means. The second is the goal, the end.

A bird cannot fly on one wing. No human can be rendered holy or purified without Vidya and Thapas. 

    Thapas does not mean positioning oneself upside down, head on the ground and feet held up. Nor is it the renunciation of possessions, properties and family and emaciating one's body, holding the nose to regulate breath. Physical actions, oral assertions and mental resolves - all three have to be in unison. The thought, the speech and the act all have to be pure. The effort must be undertaken for satisfying one's inner yearnings, for the contentment of the self. This struggle is the essence of Thapas. 

    This vivifying inspiration cannot be got through the perusal of books. It can be gained only when one mind-element contacts another mind-element. Scholarship and culture are not related as cause and effect. However learned one is in worldly knowledge, unless one's mind is cultured, the learning is mere junk.  

    There is one Law guiding and guarding this world - the Law of Love. The essence of this law humans can obtain through Vidya. Each nation or community has joy or grief, good life or bad, decided by the derived from its activities. The 'bad' too is  'good' in reverse. It serves to teach what has to be avoided. Neither 'bad' nor 'good' can be pronounced as 'absolutely unrelieved' states. Vidya reveals and makes clear that 'good' and 'bad' are only the reactions caused by the failings and feelings of the mind.

    One must be able to judge the difference between one 'good thing' and another that seems to be 'better'. But it must be understood that the 'better' is not harmful to the good. Just as 'unrighteousness' prods to cultivate 'righteousness', troubles induce to manifest compassion and charity. Compassion has as its inevitable seed, suffering. If there were no wrong and no suffering, human would have become either stock or stone. One who has no capacity to weigh and to respond to the call of agony and pain is like a blind person who cannot distinguish between what is good and what is bad.  

    The pure consciousness becomes apparently limited into a variety of individuals. In deep sleep, the variety disappears and each individual lapses back into this "is-ness". Pictorially the names Ganga, Krishna, Indus are all lost when they enter the sea.

    They are thereafter called "the sea". The Jivi (Individualised Soul) who is eternal and immortal is born again and again, as a transitory mortal; he continues to accumulate activity, prompted by inherited impulses and the activity produces consequences, which he must shoulder and suffer.

    Yogis who are turned away from the objective world can attain the Parabrahmam, with Its Splendour of Realised Knowledge, in the pure clear sky of their hearts.  We can know  the Parabrahmam by a single test. That which remains, after everything is negated as 'Not this,' 'Not that' - that is Brahmam.

    This is the Truth that all aspirants seek. Attaining It, they get the status of emperors and can travel wherever they like. (The Self that is in the human body cannot lead the body, so long as it is under the illusion that it is identical with the body. It is only by throwing away this illusory feeling and becoming disengaged from the body that the Self can gain control over the situation).    

   For attaining Atmic Wisdom one would be aware of values and relative importances of powers, qualities and objects what is one of topics of Vidya.  

   The renouncing of evil deeds, the giving up of desire are accomplished by manas or mind. The objectives of human life have to be gained only through that. As a result of persistent training, it will learn to obey your interests. The Chiththam (inner consciousness), on the other hand, presents before you past and present experience and invites you to see things in perspective and judge them against that background. Equanimity has to be attained in and through this process, that goes on in Chiththa.    

    So the Chiththa  is the source and support of resolution. All resolutions, decisions and plans are the products of the Chiththa; they are of its form. That is when death overtakes a scholar of all Sastras, he becomes but the equal of ordinary people. The mind cannot free itself, as the Chiththa can. The Chiththa discriminates between resolutions; it tests them as duty and not-duty and justifies with proper reasons the classification it has made. There can be no proper Karma without Chiththa.

    Dhyna is superior than Chiththa. Dhyana is the fixing of the Buddhi (intellect) on the Divine. In Dhyana, all agitations cease, all modifications are unnoticed. (On account of the effect of the Thamoguna, and even of the Rajoguna, all created things like the waters, the hills and mountains, the stars and planets, people, all are agitation-bound, change-bound).

    Vijnana (Jnana) is better than Dhyana. Jnana based on scholarship steeped in the Sastras is referred to as Vijnana. It is attained by Dhyana and, hence, it is more valuable than Dhyana.

    Superior to Vijnana is Balam ... Strength, Fortitude, Vigour. It illumines the objective world, it sharpens the Prathibha or Intuition. Prathibha is the power by which you can sense the Consciousness in all knowledge objects. Now there is one thing superior even to Prathibha: Annam, Food, Sustenance. It is the support of life. It is life that makes possible all activity of human being.

   Thejas or Illumination is higher than Intuition, Prathibha or Food. Thejas is Fire, heat and light. Thejas creates water and water produces food. Thejas can make even Wind lighter. It shines as lightning and sounds as thunder.

    Akasa is superior to Thejas, remember. It is through Akasa that sounds are transmitted and heard. Love and play are products of Akasa. Seeds sprout on account of Akasa.

    Smarana, memory, is superior to Akasa. Without it, all experience is meaningless, all knowledge is waste, all effort is purposeless. Nothing can be experienced without the help of memory.  It can be said that memory creates the Akasa and other objects. 

    Thus analysing the value and relative importance of objects and powers, human must give up identification of self with the physical body. Human's nature keeps on changing from moment to moment. The changing mind veils the true nature of the Self.  Due to this ignorance, human sees duality in this world, and begins to relish change. Through Atmic wisdom acquired by Vidya is possible to be aware, recognise the real Self, Reality. A person aware of the Self  rises  to the  noblest, laughing, playing and moving without regard to the comforts, luxurious needs of the body. The wind, the lightning and the thunder have no permanent existence. So too the particularised Jivi appears as separate for a time against the background of Brahmam and gets merged in It, at last. 

    The universe, willed by Iswara, is the embodiment of Ananda. Prakriti or nature, Ishwara, and Brahman appear to be different but their oneness can be recognised by the Rasa (thick, sweet juice which emerged from the Ocean of Milk) prevalent in all of them. These have been divided for the purpose of understanding. They have been given the names 'Mukti Dhama', 'Vaikunta Dhama' and 'Goloka Dhama' what correspond respectively to Moksha or liberation, Bhakti or devotion and Jnana or wisdom.

    Mukti Dhama is the name given to the path wherein one enquires about the various forms and names visible in creation, which being impermanent, lead one to realise that Satchidananda that is, Nirakara or the God without name or form, is the essence of reality. In this way, one reaches the aspect of Yoga and through Yoga one attains Mukti. This path is, therefore, called the 'Mukti Dhama'.

    When one surrenders one's ego to the Lord, thinks of Him and Him alone at all times, one would be following the path of devotion and this is named 'Vaikunta Dhama'.

    If one develops noble ideas in all the three states, namely the gross, the subtle and the causal, and enjoys continued bliss recognising the oneness of everything and developing fully the feeling of the identity with Brahman, one will be following the path named 'Goloka Dhama'.

   The purpose of life is to make contact with God within, who is truth, light, love and beauty and to take from that Universal source the inspiration for a meaningful and purposeful life of serving. 

Sathya Sai Baba. Vidya Vahini. Chapters V, VI and XII;

Sathya Sai Baba. Dharma Vahini, Chapter XIII;

Sathya Sai Baba. Upanishad Vahini. IX. Chandogya Upanishad;

Swami teaches.... (3 - 4 May 2005)

Sacred Pictures, Idols are Lamps Shine a Way to See the Lord Within

    There is one Omnipresent God. But to concentrate on the Omnipresent, some fixed point or preliminary form is needed. And to conceive of the Divine as present everywhere at all times, the human's mind is to be clarified and purified by means of certain psychological processes called saadhanas (spiritual efforts).

    The Dharma as prescribed in the Vedas is tested and capable of being tested. It is impartial and just. Faith in it grows with practice. The worship of the Gods has to follow the rules prescribed in the Vedas; by this means, people will get strengthened in Dharmic practice. This Dharma is the command of the Lord; it is the authentic voice of God and so, it can well be followed by all. 

    The sixteen modes of worship laid down in the Shaasthras (sciences of spirituality) to make the aspirant aware that he/she is in the very presence and that every gesture and movement  has to be motivated by devotion and dedication, ensure the purification of the mind  from ego.This is chiththa suddhi - the cleansing of all levels of one's consciousness. 

    The basic chiththa (inner conciousness) has to be freed from down-pulling impulses. Even a short sincere session of puuja spent in Divine Awareness yields much fruit. Thiruththondar, a Thamil saint, confessed that he had engaged himself in worship of the Lord's idol in order to cleanse his mind.  

    In fact, puuja (formal worship, at regular hours, with the recitation of hymns and songs) is the very first step in the spiritual pilgrimage. Many seekers have undoubtedly achieved an awareness of God by years of asceticism among jungle caves. But, starting early with puuja and continuing
 the rites of archana, bhajana and aaradhana (offering of flowers with repetition of God's Name, singing His glory and adoring Him as a living presence) are more fruitful and satisfying.

    The Omnipresent is not absent in the icon or the picture. We do not reduce God and shut Him up in a stone image; we affirm and realise that He is in the icon also. We raise the image to the dimensions of the absolute and through it is possible to achieve to Swami's Cosmic Omnipresent Form.  We expand the picture far beyond its frame and through the processes of saadhana we become aware that the picture, too, can be made a tool for the mind to escape from its limitations.

   If we do not recognise the divinity in living beings, how can we recognise it in lifeless photographs and speechless stones? Therefore, we must first understand what is meant by seeing divinity in everyone. It will then become quite clear to us that in every being the Atma is one and the same.  

    The material and the Form are inseparable, but the seeker must dwell on the Form which he desires to be manifested in all Its Glory, rather than on the material. He must dwell long and deep over the thought that God is found through every particle in the Universe, free from any limitations of space and time. The devotees have different stages of development due to the previous and present karma and less or more deep faith to the Divine. There is an 'Ego' too play some role... The ladder must be as tall as the height to which you want to climb, is it not?

    The common people in India believe that when the thunder is threatening overhead, the simultaneous recitation of Arjuna's nine names keep a bolt from falling on them. This is proof of the power that not only the Names of God but also those of His devoted adherents - ever pure and ever in contact with the Absolute - have over the elements. That is the reason why aaraadhana (worship of the Presence) is offered even to great devotees like Thyaagaraaja and Kabeer. They have no identity of their own, having become one with the limitless through the worship of the limited.