Swami teaches... A human being as lifelong student

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Light and Love

Swami teaches... (13 January 2005)

 

A human being as lifelong student

 

The world itself is a great teacher, a constant guide and inspiration. That

is the reason why a

human being is surrounded and sustained by the world. Every bird, every animal,

every tree, mountain and star, each tiny worm, gives a lesson if he/she has

the will and the thirst to learn. These make the world a veritable university

for human beings; it is a Gurukul (sacred commune of preceptor with disciples)

where one is a pupil from birth to death.

The gross body has its characteristics - height, weight, girth, proportion,

name, caste, sect, nationality; it is a pot, a container, it is devised,

designed; it disintegrates; it is destroyed. It cannot be 'you'. The subtle

body is like the water in the pot; that too is poured by some one. It does not

originate therein; it is no essential part of it; it is not its Dharma. So it

too is not 'you.' The causal body is affected by attachment and detachment, the

world and its objects, through reaction and reflection. So, it too cannot be

'you'. 'You' are beyond all three. You are not limited by these three

containers - one within the other, one finer than the other.

There are five sheaths within which the "I" shines. The Anna-maya Kosha (the

material sheath), is the gross body. The subtle body consists of the next three

sheaths, Praana-maya (the vital sheath), Mano-maya Kosha (the mental sheath)

and Vijnaana-maya (the intellectual sheath). The causal body is the

Anandha-maya Kosha (bliss conscious sheath). Even this is a limitation, a

phase, a characteristic. The "I" has no such bounds or bondage. The Guru who

can make you cognise this "I" is your own mind. Turn it towards intelligence

and Aanandha, you are in the right path; turn it towards the vital, the

material, you slide down the path of perdition.

 

Sit calm a few moments; you can yourself judge your attainments in this

line. If you are dually minded, you are half blind still. If you see only the

one, your vision is clearest; seeing double is a sign of optical disease. See

only the one, the eternal, the true, the divine. Rise up to the divine; don't

bring down Godhead to your human and even animal levels. Do not worship God as

the picture before you, but, worship the picture before you as God, because God

is in everything and can be grasped through every single symbol. There is

nothing wherein He is not; there is on might or right, apart from Him.

 

You may have vast scholarship, fame and fortune. But, the bee can give you a

lesson on how to be free from torment. The tree can teach you forbearance and

tolerance. It offers shade to all, irrespective of age, sex or religion,

nationality or economic status. It helps with fruit and shade even the foe who

lays his axe on its trunk! The dog can teach you lessons in faith, selfless

service and the process of dedication.

Watch the waves rolling one behind the other towards the shore! You will

notice the waves bringing with them bits of flotsam and jetsam, bottles and

twigs, logs and pieces of wreckage to be deposited on land. There is a constant

struggle evident to maintain a clean face - a laudable Saadhana, which a human

being can well adopt.

On the surface, the sea appears restless, and full of fury. But, down below,

it is established in peace. Again, consider the quietness of the depths, the

Prashaanthi (serenity) that reigns in the inner regions of its consciousness.

 

It is instructive to notice expressions of innumerable forms of Nature and

to obtain the skill to accept many of them as the teacher. (Reet's brief

compilation from: The Divine Discourse Bhagawan Sathya Sai Baba, "Lessons from

the Sea." 26 July 1972, Prashanthi Nilayam).

 

Namaste - Reet