Swami teaches... Awareness of the Supreme and the Universal

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (1 February 2005)

Awareness of the Supreme and the Universal

 

Human being is innately Divine; the Divine comes automatically into his

consciousness. But the curtain of maaya (illusion) prevents that thrilling

contact, that illumining revelation. This maaya is also a Divine Artifice, it

is a vehicle or Upaadhi of the Lord.

There is a story that once the Lord got angry with maaya and wanted 'her' to

disappear, forpeople are being led astray by her wiles. Maaya said, it seems, "I

am the veil that you wear; I am the fog that has arisen out of your own will; I

am as widespread as You are; I am wherever You are; give me a place where You

are not; I shall take refuge there."

Each one of you can tear the veil by attaining the knowledge of the Reality

of God; or, you can plead by prayer to the Lord Himself to lift it a little so

that you may have a vision of His Reality.

The highest awareness to which all spiritual effort leads is: "Brahma

sathyam, Jagan mithya"-"Brahman is real, the world is mythical." Every atom and

cell is a bundle of energy, expressingthe Divine will. Matter and energy are not

really separate. It is all one Will concretising,pervading, prompting and

continuing. To experience the world as such, one must transcend alldual

categories and reach the unique, unitary base, identifying It and establishing

oneself in It.When the eye is filled with Jnaana (Vision of God), the world

will be seen as Brahman i. e. Aathma (the Eternal Absolute). Then the world and

the entire complex of being and becoming will assume one colour, the Brahman

colour, and you will have perfect equanimity, unaffected by any modification.

Yearn to reach that stage of perfect unshaken Bliss.

 

Human being is as the visible embodiment of God. Whenever you are serving

another and relieving his distress, remember it is your own distress that you

are relieving.

 

A Sanyaasin (monk) passing along the road saw the unfortunate animal; he

removed his shin. He threw away his head cover; he jumped into the slush, and

lifted the cow on to the bank, in spite of its kicks and frantic movements. The

throng laughed at his bravado and weight-lifting prowess and some one asked him,

"Why could you not go your way, unconcerned?"The Sanyaasin replied, 'The picture

of that cow's agony cut into my heart; I could not go one step further. I had to

get rid of the pain in my heart. This was the cure for that pain. I did it to

save myself, not so much to save the cow." You serve yourself; you harm

yourself, when you gloat on the harm you have inflicted on another. There is no

Another! Only those who have reached that stage of spiritual progress have a

right to advise on service.

God is the Witness. It is human's spiritual heart what must be transformed

to perform the actions of serving the other humans and whatsoever beings. It is

God what acts through human's heart by such way in accordance with the Great

Laws of Oder and Harmony of Creation.

Aanandha (Supreme Bliss) is immanent in every thing in Creation, for

Aanandha is Brahman(the Universal Absolute, Atma). Everything is Sath (Being),

Chith (Awareness or Consciousness) and Aanandha (Bliss), that is to say,

Divine. Everything IS, the IS-ness is the Sath (the being) capable of Becoming.

Next about Chith (awareness) : the capacity to be known and to know, to gain

awareness and to grant awareness is Chith. When we take with us a child to a

fair or market or an exhibition, it asks for answers to endless questions, What

is that?Why is it so?", “What is its name ?" This yearning to know is the

sign of the Chith.

In spite of our seeing so many dying around us and heating about as many

more deaths, though we witness the misery and the suffering of so many, we long

for a death-less and sorrow-less life. We spend fortunes to lengthen our lives.

That is the urge of the "Sath" in us.

The other longing to know is the expression of the "Chith" in us. The third

proof of our innate Divinity is the urge of Aanandha in us. Without exception,

every one is motivated by this Aanandha urge.

However, these urges have each two aspects - the impression (internal) and

the expression(external). Sath has, for example, the being and the becoming.

The process of becoming is what the Gaayathri prayer asks for "Awaken my

intellect, heighten and expand my awareness(prachodayaath)." Becoming is

through expanding, manifesting wider and more varied forms.The Upanishaths

declare, "He is everything that exists both inside and outside."

The Become is a reflection of the Will that urged the Being; so, the Being

IS the Becoming. It changes from Is to Was; it is unstable, while Being is

stable. Being is the screen and Becoming, the pictures that flit across the

screen. When there are no pictures, who will be drawn to the screen? How can

pictures be seen, when there is no screen? The fleeting and the fixed are

inextricably dependent on each other.

The expression of the urge of Aanandha is as Love and Delight. Delight is

the product andprojection of Love. The expression of Chith is awareness. The

expression of Sath is Becoming. Divinity is the Unity that manifests in

Diversity, the One as the Many. The One is the efficientcause as well as the

material cause of the Many. The One is inherent in the Many and shines inthe

Many which It has become. The ONE is the source of the highest and the most

lastingAanandha. The flooded stream of human life has originated from

Brahmaanandha and it has to attain the source from which it has come away. In

order to succeed,one must recollect the ecstasy ofBrahmaanandha every moment,

in every activity. Thyaagaraaja revelled in the Aanandha that poetry, music and

scholarship can confer but since the Aanandha that learning can confer

(Vidhyaanandha) was liable to weaken, he considered it only as a particle or

foretaste of the Brahmaanandha he sought most the Aanandha derivable from the

Universal Eternal Delight, the Nirguna Aanandha Brahman, That Aanandha is

human's reality, for, he/she is God.

God is neither distant, nor distinct from you. You are God. You are

Sath-Chith-Aanandha(Being, Awareness and Bliss Absolute). You are Asthi

(being), Bhaathi (awareness), Priyam(bliss). You are all. When do you cognise

this Truth? If your yearning to experience Brahmaanandha, the

Sath-Chith-Aanandha is sincere and pure, from this day, keep ever in your

memory what I am about to tell you:

1. "I am God; I am not different from God." Be conscious of this always.

Keep it ever in mind. "I am God; I am God. I am not different from God." Be

reminding yourself of this. Pray that you may not fail in this saadhana

(spiritual exercise). 2. "I am the Akhanda Para Brahman (Indivisible

Supreme Absolute, Aathma)." This is the second Truth to be established in the

consciousness by unremitting repetition and prayer. 3. I am

Sath-Chith-Aanandha ("Being, Awareness, Bliss"). Divine Bliss is the goal to be

ever kept in view. 4. "Grief and anxiety can never affect me." Develop '

this Faith and convince yourselves of this Truth by repeated assurance and

prayer. 5. "I am ever content; fear can never enter me." Feel thus for

ever. Pray that this convictiongrows stronger and stronger. Exhort yourself, "O

self ! Utter 'Om Thath Sath', 'Om Thath Sath'"the threefold symbol of Brahman.

As the physical body is maintained healthy and strong by the five praanas

(vital airs), these five prayers will endow you with the "awareness of

Brahman,"which is the same as "the status of Brahman Itself."

Have faith in these facts above. In order to develop and deepen this faith,

certain spiritual practices can be undertaken. Do not feel separate from God

and consider Him as the Giver and yourself as the Recipient.

 

The Aanandha one gets through meditation on the Aathma is as lasting as the

Aathma. When Godhead assumes a body, It too is unaffected as the Aathma.

Nothing can confer as much Aanandha as virtue, neither wealth, nor material

power, nor fame, nor scholarship. The highest virtue is humility, surrender to

God. The alert and the inert, the living and the non-living, the moving and

the non-moving are all God. Strengthen this faith, live in this faith. This is

the prescription for perpetual Brahmaanandha.

Move about in the world like an actor, but be conscious all the time that

you are on the wayhome, to be with the Lord from whom you have come. Whenever

the feeling that the drama isreal enters the mind, deny it firmly. Do not

identify yourself with the role that you play. Suchidentification will retard

your progress. You must learn and practise what is called Vibhaaga-yoga in

the Geetha. Vibhaaga meansdivision, differentiation, discrimination, separation

of one thing from another. Understand thedistinction between the Kshethra (the

body, the field) and the Kshethrajna (the Knower in thisbody), He who is aware

of all that happens, who is witness, the Dehi (the embodied) who isabove all

the dualities of pleasure and pain, good and bad. Muscular power,

mechanical power, political power, military power, scientific power - all

arefutile when weighed with the power of God's Grace. Ask that Grace to give

you what He knows you most need. Leave the nature of the gift to Him; it may be

good fortune or bad; it may be pain or joy; it may be dishonour or defeat.

Dedicate yourself to Him. Worship the Grand and the Glorious, the Supreme and

the Universal. (Reet's compilation from Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol.7, "No mirror,

no image," Chapter 7 and "Vedha Vyaasa," Chapter 22; Sathya Sai Speaks.

Vol.16. "Perpetual bliss," Chapter 30).

Namaste - Reet