Swami teaches....Part 91
Links to Swami Teaches - Part 90
Light and Love We are at present planning and preparing for physical
rest and recreation and we know that even machines need hours of rest! But,
we have neglected the duty of ensuring rest for the mind. 2. Do not waste energy on the impossible. 3. Do not indulge in useless gossip. 4. Do not try to change anyone's mind. 5. Do not ask others to make choices for you, do not make choices for others. 6. The best thing you can do for others is help them make a conscious choice. Here quality is more important than quantity. You receive through the same slot through which you give. 7. Give up all thoughts of offense, revenge, of being injured, of self-justification, of needing to defend yourself against others' expectations, of the unfairness of life and so on... 8. Joy breeds joy and sorrow breeds sorrow. Seeing someone's good fortune, wish good for them. 9. Life is in a dynamic balance, based on your present actions. The future pours into the past through the channel of thinking. Change what you are thinking now, and the future will take care of itself. 10. Learn your own news, before getting excited about the news of others. Learn of your own alphabet and then, you will be better able to help others in their life. 11. Do not vacillate or postpone. Who knows when death will knock? Do not postpone for tomorrow the dinner of this day? Feed the spirit as scrupulously as you now feed the body. 12. The parents must bear a major share of the responsibility for the proper upbringing of children. The earliest years of life are the most crucial. The skills, the attitudes, the emotions, the impulses that make or mar the future are built into the Foundation of Life in those years. The parents can help or hinder the making of that foundation, strong and straight. 13. Children are fresh charming saplings, who can be made, by care and love, to blossom into ideal citizens of this land, able to understand and practise the great disciplines laid down by the sages for their liberation, through self-realisation. Children must grow up in homes, where their parents honour their parents, in their turn, and are happy only when they serve their elders. This must be taught to them by example, rather than by precept. Children in turn must learn reverence for parents, teachers, and elders. 14. Plant in those tender children's hearts the seeds of love, sympathy, truth, justice, charity, compassion, repentance and self- control. Train character more than brains. That is the prime duty of all who deal with children. (The parents first and foremost, the teachers next, the comrades, playmates and companions next, and the various levels of society later, these shape the character of the children, and the destiny of the country). 15. Learn the glory of God who is your inner Reality; understand that you are not the body, but, you are the one dehi (indweller), who is the dehi in all. 16. Seek only salutary karma; eat only sathwik food that will not disturb the equanimity you earn through your sadhana. 17. Develop good qualities like compassion, love and sympathy, tolerance, empathy. 18. Do not grieve, nor be the cause of grief. The very
embodiment of Ananda (Bliss) is in you, as in others, as in all else. In
spite of a multiplicity of containers, the contained is the same. That is
the principle of Sath, Chith and Ananda (Being, Awareness, Bliss). The
minutest atom, the mightiest star are basically one. The reflection of the Moon in the lake is broken into bits but the Moon above is unaffected. Do not yield to grief because the reflection is broken; it is due to the weakness of the medium, water. So too, when you think you are the body, which grows and withers, is elated or disheartened, you see the reflection as broken; but the genuine thing, the Atmic Reality is unaffected. The Lord is neither benignant nor malignant; your
progress is reflected back as Grace; your decline is reflected back as its
absence. The mirror just reflects. It has no partiality or prejudice. Keep a lamp in a room with all its five windows open; the wind will blow it out, for the flame is swayed from all directions. To keep the flame burning straight, close the windows. The senses are the windows; the flame is the mind concentrating on the single purpose of God-realisation. What do the outward-bound senses know of that sweetness? They are like the frogs that hop about on the petals of the lotus; they are unaware of the nectar in that flower. Only the intellect can reveal that to you. It is enough if you seek the Divine Grace, through
one-pointed attention and devotion, through the Lord's footprints: beauty,
strength, truth, morality, love, sacrifice, goodness in Nature and in the
heart of human. To comprehend the Divine, human has to understand the
subtle Atmic Principle that pervades the entire cosmos. The difficulty in
comprehending the Divine was recognized by the gopikas who declared: "How
can we know you, oh Krishna! You are the subtlest among the subtle and
vaster than the vastest among the 84 lakhs of species in the cosmos." The awareness that shines within all beings is the form and nature of the Divine. Every such concept has an external and an inner meaning. You have to grasp the inner meaning. Anything can be accomplished with Divine support. Dwell always on high thoughts. When air fills a football, it takes the form of the ball. When it fills a balloon, it takes the form of the balloon, oval, sausage shaped, spherical or spheroid. The mind assumes the form of the objects with which it is attached. If it gets fixed on small things, it becomes small; if on grand things, it becomes grand. If you have attachment towards land and buildings, bank
accounts and balances and when these decline, you will come to grief.
Develop attachment towards the Universal and you will grow in love and
splendour. That attachment must be sincere and steady. See how great heroes like Prahlada did not loosen their hold on the Lord, in spite of heavy odds. Prahlada never gave up the repetition of the Name of the Lord, though he was tortured, twisted and burnt. One must have that determination and that faith. Sorrows and disasters are as the clouds that flit across the sky; they cannot injure the blue depths of space. Your duty is to strive on, from this very moment. For Namasmarana no materials are needed; there is no
special place or time to be provided. No qualification of scholarship or
caste or sex has to be proved. All religions exhort human to cleanse the heart of malice, greed, hate and anger. All religions hold out the gift of Grace as the prize for success in this cleansing process. Ideas of superiority and inferiority arise only in a heart corrupted by egoism. If some one argues that he is higher or that his religion is holier, it proves that he/she has missed the very core of faith. Leaves, flowers, fruits may be peculiar to each species; but pay attention to the trunk, and you will find similarity emerging. Sadhana will reveal likewise, the unity in the fundamental teachings of all religions. It is, of course, a hard path; but, it is a path that every one has to take now or later. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol.5.
"Follow His footprints," Chapter 3; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 9. "Alms and
Qualms," Chapter 1 and "Charming saplings," Chapter 2; Sathya Sai Speaks,
Vol. 16. "The daily prayer," Chapter 2; Sathya Sai Speak, Vol. 29. "The
triple purity," Chapter 1). Light and Love Asatho maa sath gamaya (Lead me from the Unreal to the
Real), This is a Upanishadic prayer asking to be led from the Jagath (mundane world), which is constantly being built and rebuilt, resolved and dissolved, into the Divine whose Being undergoes no change. The darkness symbolises the ignorance which induces
identification with the body-senses-mind reason complex. The light reveals
the Divine core, over which all the rest is superimposed by the fog of
faulty vision. Death affects only the body-mind complex. When we are led
into the light, we become aware that we are the undying Atma, and so we
become immortal. 1. The tendency to compare yourselves with others. This is very wrong. No two things or no two persons are identical. Even identical twins grow in distinct ways of life. No one of the millions of leaves on a tree is exactly the same as another. Billions of human beings are on the Earth, but which is the press which has given each of them a novel imprint? This is the glory of God. Millions of boxes are manufactured by a company; all are identical; all can be locked and opened by the same set of keys. However, each person is different with own distinct nature, quality, potentiality and destiny. How, can any one compare him/herself with another and either exult or despair? All this is very silly when we come to think of it. 2. The habit of justifying our faults, rationalising our errors and avoiding the responsibility of facing them squarely and correcting them. These two attitudes thicken human's ignorance and breed
further failings. Every one has God as the source. No one is higher or
lower. Narada (sage-bard; traveled the world chanting Narayana; famous for creating disputes, resulting in solutions for the spiritual advancement or victory of the virtuous) defined Bhakthi as the ceaseless flow of devotion arising from dwelling on the Lord's name. Ramanuja (11th century spiritual teacher and interpreter of the Brahma Sutra, who was the exponent of the Visishtaadhwaitha philosophy), derived the meaning of bhakthi from the name of Radha and interpreted it as the continuous flow of love for God. Madhwacharya (13th century exponent of dualist philosophy; refuted monism of Sankaracharya) described true devotion as regarding God as the only unfailing friend. All others may be friends for some time and turn inimical later. Thus all worldly friends may turn into enemies some time or other. Madhwacharya defined true devotion as the manifestation of the love for God, considering Him as the greatest friend. Vallabhacharya (15th century spiritual teacher; advocated
non-mortification of the body; wrote many spiritual texts) gave a different
interpretation of devotion. He made a distinction between the continuous
flow of devotion and devotion falling in drops. When a devotee's heart is
completely filled with the love of God, he ceaselessly chants the name of
God. This state of mind of the devotee was described thus, "Ceaselessly
thinking of God at all times and at all places." True devotion is to regard
God as friend. Likewise, Atma (Spirit) is one only in its form. It is
eternal and unchanging. The smrithi (code of law; traditional law delivered
by human authors) described it as: Sathyam, Jnanam, Anantham Brahma (The
Supreme Self is Truth, Wisdom and Infinite). It is the nature of the Self to
spread jnana (spiritual wisdom) everywhere. The smrithi declared that the
Self has the form of Anu (atom). All material objects are made up of atoms.
The scripture declared that God is omnipresent as Anuswarupa. (Swarupa -
form, essential nature, true nature of Being). When can human taste some little sincere joy? Nature is the vesture of God. It images the Supreme. It shines through the machinations of the mind. The inner core of each living thing is God. Joys and sorrows are the results of the mind's involvement in the transient and the trivial. The mind is a wonder, its antics are even more surprising. It has no distinct form or shape. It assumes the shape or form of the thing it is involved in. Wandering from wish to wish, flitting from one desire to another, is its nature. So, it is the cause of loss and grief, of elation and depression. Its effects are both positive and negative. The mind is prone to gather experiences and store them in the memory. It does not know the art of giving up. Nothing is cast away by the mind. As a consequence, grief, anxiety and misery continue simmering in it. The swimmer in the river has to push aside the waters in
front to the sides and to kick the waters to the back so that he can move
forward straight and fast. Forcing the water back is the act that takes him
forward. That is to say, do not attach importance to it, throw it back, give
it up, renounce; that alone can help you to progress, even an inch. Instead,
human collects and stores, accumulates and takes pride in what he/she holds
firm. So, we sink in material possessions, victories and vagaries. But, if
the mind can be taught sacrifice, one can become a yogi i.e. spiritually
serene person. 1. Grief caused by the unreality of the apparent. 2. Grief caused by want of knowledge or wrong apprehension on account of the limitations of our instruments of perception and inference or on account of the mystery of the Divine phenomenon that subsists in everything. 3. Grief caused by death, disintegration or dissolution
of things which we held to be real. The Self is unaffected by the effects of the mind
pursuing the senses wherever they lead it. Faith is life; absence of faith
is death. Only the body dies; the Atma (the Divine Self) is beyond birth and
death. Aware of this, one is soaked in Ananda (Divine Bliss). and Destruction of the Universe) has the Nandhi (Bull) as His vehicle; that Brahma (God engaged in the Emergence, Evolution and Creation of the Universe) rides on a Hamsa (Swan); Subrahmanya (the Generalissimo of the Divine army) rides on a peacock; Shani (the God who directs Saturnine influences) has the crow as his vehicle. Ganesha (the God who helps in overcoming obstacles) rides on a mouse, though he is stupendously corpulent and has the head of an elephant. This does not mean that the Gods are helpless without these animals and birds as instruments of locomotion. It only reveals that no bird or beast is to be despised; for, the Divine is using each as His vehicle. Seen as deha (body) all are distinct; seen as dehi (the embodiment), Brahman, all are One and the physical world is just like dreaming. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol.5.
"Follow His footprints," Chapter 3; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 9. "Alms and
Qualms," Chapter 1 and "Charming saplings," Chapter 2; Sathya Sai Speaks,
Vol. 16. "The daily prayer," Chapter 2; Sathya Sai Speak, Vol. 29. "The
triple purity," Chapter 1). Light and Love The career of the Lord, whenever He appears, is made up of two strands, one earthly and the other Divine - one external and the other - inner. The Bhagavatha says that Krishna was stealthily eating the butter that was stored in the houses of the gopees. What is the significance of this behaviour? Did he go about stealing butter because he had no butter at home? It is not butter that he coveted; it is the cream of virtue kept in the (heart) pot that he wants. That cream is the genuine Atma, secured after vigorous churning. The episode's the breaking of butter pots by the infant Krishna the outer meaning is that the child broke the mud pots wherein the milkmaids of Brindavan kept the butter they had prepared. The inner meaning is that Krishna broke the material casement in which their souls were imprisoned and liberated them from temporary attachments. He then appropriated to Himself what always belonged to Him - the butter of Faith*. This butter is the result of the churning of the mind, the sadhana (spiritual discipline) of self-purification.
And, was it
'stealing' that he did ? He is 'Hari' (God; destroyer of sins; name for
Vishnu). He who robs, who appropriates. He sees all, Himself unseen. As soon
as He enters, you awake, your inner consciousness is alerted. You offer Him
the fragrance of your virtue, the courage of your heart, the wisdom of your
experience. (The senses drag you away from Him; but, do not yield; they will
lie low soon). It is because behind and beyond the body, manipulating the senses, the ego, the intelligence, is the Atma, in the very core of the five sheaths what constitute the humans life. These sheats are the same for all human beings. There is no person without them. They are:
the Annamaya (the food or physical sheath), The field must be cleared of bush and thorns; it must be
ploughed and furrowed; watered and dampened to depth; then the seeds have to
be planted into the earth; scattered on the surface, they do not germinate,
Plant the seeds, water the field, remove the weeds; keep away stray cattle,
manure the plants; dust them with pesticides, and then, you can collect the
crop. Sadhana means and includes all these steps. A poet sang, "Can canines conceive of colourful poetry?
Or, donkeys know of the taste of the parched grains that we load on them?
Or, a blind man admire the charm of the full moon?" We may well ask, how can
a human sunk in relative knowledge become aware of Atma (the Absolute)? But
there is no reason for despair, or for condemning ourselves as mean and low.
For, when small people take big decisions, they earn encouragement from the
great. When the tiny squirrel decided to share in building the passage
across the sea, did it not receive the blessings of Lord Rama? The squirrel
knew that its help could only be infinitesimal, but the feeling of
dedication which prompted it won the grace of God. Logs have to be burned if charcoal is needed: only sheets of rain can fill a lake to the brim; a glass of cold water alone can cure a person of thirst. Look at the lotus; its roots are in under-water slush. It grows through water and floats on it. But, it does not get tarnished by slush or wetted by water. The wonder is, it cannot survive without slush and water. Our life has its roots in the Atma and it grows through the agitated waves of living. It can never uproot itself from its Atmic source.
After sadhana do you love more, do you talk less, do you serve others, more
earnestly? Your progress must be authenticated by your character and
behaviour. Sadhana must transmute your attitude towards beings and things;
else it is a hoax. Even a boulder will, through the action of sun and rain,
heat and cold, disintegrate into mud and become food for a tree. Even the
hardest heart can be softened so that the Divine can sprout therein.
However, be
careful; Sadhana can foster even pride and envy, as the by-product of
progress. You calculate how much or how long you have done sadhana and you
are tempted to look down on another, whose record is less. You are proud
that you have written the name of Sai ten million times; you talk about it
whenever you get the chance, so that others may admire your faith and
fortitude. But, it is not the millions that count; it is the purity of mind
that results from genuine concentration on the name. Your sadhana must avoid
becoming like drawing water from a well in a cane basket. You get no water
however often you may dip and pull the basket up. Take a small quantity of sea water and keep
it separate in a bottle; it will get foul in a few days. But, so long as it
was in the sea, nothing could foul it. Be in the sea, as part of it; do not
separate yourself, do not individualise yourself, do not feel that you are
the deha (body), apart from the dehi ('I'). "Many people are collecting money in various places using My Name for various purposes like arranging receptions, building temples, doing puuja etc. That is unauthorised and against My wish and command. Do not yield to such requests and encourage this practice, which I condemn. Then there is another set of people who trade on your faith. They advertise that I have 'possessed' them; that I am 'talking' through a medium or a stove (!) or some other thing. Treat all such people and their agents or brokers as you treat cheats; if you do not treat them so, then you are also accomplices in the cheating process. There are others who gather groups of followers and admirers and collect money exhibiting mine idol or image that has been 'given' by Me or advertising mine other sign of My Grace. Some of them even declare "Baaba sent me to you to take from you some money" or "Baaba has given me this" or "Baaba blessed me specially thus and thus" and then ask for your help or your praise or your purse! I ask you to chastise all thee types of men and turn them away---whoever they are." (SSS. Vol.2. "Sprouts of faith," Chapter 51; spelling as in original is). (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol.5.
"Follow His footprints," Chapter 3; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 9. "Alms and
Qualms," Chapter 1 and "Charming saplings," Chapter 2; Sathya Sai Speaks,
Vol. 16. "The daily prayer," Chapter 2; Sathya Sai Speak, Vol. 29. "The
triple purity," Chapter 1). |