Swami teaches.... Powers and Potencies, Joys and Sorrows

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (3 February 2005)

Powers and Potencies, Joys and Sorrows

In ancient times, the spiritual culture of Bhaarath spread themessage of

peace and harmony to various countries in the world. Then, as well as now,

theAryan tradition has proclaimed to the world the benediction:

"Lokaas-samasthaas-sukhinobhavanthoo!" (Let all the world be happy!). This

tradition was upheld even at the sacrifice oftheir lives by the ancient kings,

the savants and the noble women of the land. Today in the sphere of the

physical and the material, human being has achieved manysignificant victories.

However, there has not made the slightest progress in the fields of morality,

spirituality and wisdom. What is the reason? It is the deep-rooted selfishness

in human beings.

Persons thoughts, desires and actions are saturated with selfishness. This

is thecalamitous influence of Time.

The joys and sorrows person experiences in daily life, attachments and

aversions, pursuit of sensory pleasures, are all due to the vagaries of the

mind. As long as person is subject to the feeling of duality, he/she cannot be

free from attachments and hatred. There can be no escape from dualism as long

as man does not recognise his inherent divinity. The mind is the cause of

differences and only by control of the mind can differences beeliminated. How

can one discover the oneness with the Divine without seeking to know his/her

true nature?

There is a tale told of old that Wisdom and Wealth once quarrelled loud and

long, about their relative importance. Wealth argued that without it, the body

will be weak, the brain hazy and wisdom a will-o-the-wisp. Wisdom retorted

that, without it person cannot even distinguish wealth from non-wealth or know

how to earn it or use it. The Soul intervened and told them that they were both

equally important, but, only when properly used. Wealth without wisdom becomes

an instrument of exploitation and tyranny: wisdom without wealth becomes mere

fantasy and a bundle of blueprint. Use makes them worthwhile; misuse makes them

disastrous.

Are you doing good with wealth? Are you benefitting others by means of wisdom? - that is the test.

The Lord has declared in the Geetha: "Every human being in the world is a

fragment of MyEternal Self." This implied that person is not an aspect of

Nature or of the physical elements but is Divine in spirit. The ancient sages

described this Divine Love as Aathmavaan, implying that Love is the form of the

Divine. This is called Svashakthi, meaning the power of the Aathma.

Today, there is great need for propagating the doctrine of Love. Divine love

is beyondcomprehension by the mind or description by words. Love is the very

form of Brahman (theAbsolute, Aathma). There is also great need for people to

cultivate good thoughts and good feelings.

Once, Aurobindo asked a group of students in Calcutta: "For what purpose are

you studying? If you are going to make use of your education for the benefit of

the nation pursue your studies. Otherwise, you better burn your books. If you

are studying only out of selfish motives, the education is of no value at all.

If you are intent only on earning a living, you may as well begfrom door to

door. You must be prepared to sacrifice yourselves for your Motherland."

Service to the nation is the greatest thing one can think of. All religious

practices are worthless without service to one's fellowmen.

 

Human being has to understand the power of three kinds of potencies:

Ichcha-Shakthi,

Jnaana-Shakthi and Kriya-Shakthi what is connected with each other. Ichcha

Shakthi (the power of the will) should combine with electrical energy. There

is, for instance, an aura round My thumb. If this energy were not in the body,

it cannot move at all. This is called Chaithanya (the power of Consciousness).

This Consciousness is all-pervading. From this Consciousness, every individual

derives what is called Conscience. This Conscience, when it functions through

the sense organs, brings about the conscious state. All actions belong to the

conscious state. All functions of the mind are related to the Conscience. All

that is done through Buddhi (intellect) is related to Chaithanya

(Consciousness). Do not live only for your own sake. When you use your

energies in the service of society, theDivine power in you gets surcharged.

Consider every human being as the embodiment of the eternal Divine and your

body as a home. The mind, the tongue and the limbs are like members of a

family. If they all function harmoniously, there will be peace. The various

limbs and organs together form a body; various nations and communities together

form the world. The sustenance given by Divine Grace circulates in every part of

the body, helping it to function in unison. The stream of Love, endowed by

Divine Grace, has to circulate in every State and community to make the world

live in Peace and Joy. If this truth is realised, there will arise no idea of

difference. Growing trees may differ, according to the nature of the soil,

the quantity of sunlight and thequality of the soil. So too, humans may differ

according to the consequences of the types of feelings and deeds that emanate

from them but the Divine embryonic is the one and the same.

Cultivate love and cherish divine feelings and pray for the welfare of the

nation and the world. Countries like America, Russia, India are rooms in that

huge mansion in our planet. The national barriers are like walls. Once the

barriers are removed, humanity will be one family. Then alone will peace reign

on earth.

All beings are images of the Universal Aathma, in the names and forms they

have apparentlyassumed. The object of all enquiry is this: to cognise this

Unity.

 

Human beings are of three types.

Bhakthi rasa-aathmakam (emotional type),

Kriyaaathmakam (active type).

The third, the rational type.

The emotional type of persons are engaged in activities like worship of

idols, bhajans etc. They offer worship to an idol or picture in the faith that

God in a certain form has shown to mankind the means to liberation. However,

you may worship a picture as God, but not God as a picture. You may see God in

a picture, but the picture is not God. No object exists with a form without the

immanence of the Divine in it. But do not reduce the Divine to the level of

material objects. The process of devotion, beginning with adoration of physical

objects, ultimately leads to the realisation of the Divine. Without this

emotional yearning for God active pursuit of the Divine is not possible.

When devotion develops, one resorts to the path of action. And then, one starts

enquiring into what is transient and what is permanent, what is real and what is

unreal. While thisdiscriminating faculty is essential for the spiritual

aspirant, it is being abused in the name ofrationalism. The process of

enquiring has assumed bizarre forms. Today many young persons are misled by

so-called rationalism to deride spirituality. Few persons attempt to get at the

correct meanings of things. By misinterpreting things and creating confusion,

many are taking to wrong courses.

Without values, life is meaningless. When there is purity in thought, word

and deed, human values are practised. The unity of the three H's is essential -

Heart, Head and Hand.

All human's actions should be dedicated to the Divine. Thereby work will be

transformed into worship. In essence, there is no difference between work and

worship.

The Divine is omnipresent and is watching everyone of your actions, wherever

you may be only when you experiences the Adhvaithabhaava (non-dualism). As long

as person is steeped in dualism (that he/she and the Divine are different), one

is bound to be racked by the opposites: joy and sorrow, the real and the unreal.

The real question is how far one is a true human, being. What constitutes

humanness? It is good conduct alone. For this purpose, association with good

people is essential. Eschew totally the company of bad people. Good company

does not mean participating in bhajans and religious gatherings. Sathsang truly

means cultivating the company of one's Sath (conscience). Carry on your daily,

duties with your thoughts centred on God.

 

A wealthy man, who had no peace of mind and spire his riches, went to a sage

for advice. The sage suggested to him that as a way of reducing his insatiable

desires, which were the cause of his worries, he should write the name of the

Lord some crores of times. Unused to such an arduous exercise, the rich man

found a shortcut to achieving what the sage had suggested, by resorting to

mechanical devices for multiplying the number of times he wrote the name of the

Lord. This is a total travesty of the spiritual exercise suggested by the sage.

It is tantamount to cheating God.

In Thamil Naadu, numerous devotees have written with true devotion the name

of Sai Raammany crores of times, thinking of the name in their minds, spelling

it by mouth and writing it bythe hand. The unity of mind, speech and action has

produced purity in thought, word and deed.Any spiritual exercise like Likhitha

Japam (writing God's name) should be done wholeheartedly. All actions should be

performed in this spirit of dedication and in accordance with the dictates of

one's conscience. Thulsidhas sang in praise of the Lord's name (Raama's

name) as the most invaluablegift given to him' by his guru. (Reet's

compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks,

Vol. 11. "He whom Christ announced," Chapter 54;

Vol.26. "Bhaarath : then and now," Chapter 28; Vol. 27. "The devotion

that God loves," Chapter. 32).

 

Namaste - Reet