Swami teaches... Dharmakshethra, it's spiritual meaning

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Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (3 February 2005)

 

Dharmakshethra, it's Spiritual Meaning

 

The objective world is the arena of virtue and the gymnasium for the spirit.

But, use it only for that purpose; do not raise it to a higher status and adore

it as all-important.

Dharmakshethra and Kurukshethra are not to be looked for near Delhi or

Hasthinaapur, on the map or on the ground. Nor are the Paandavas and Kauravas

merely princely clans figuring in the tale. The human body is named kshethra,

and so Dharmakshethra, is in every one. When the owner of the body discards all

desires, all passions, all impulses and all propulsions, then the body becomes

Dharma-kshethra! A child has in its heart only Dharmakshethra, for, it has not

yet developed sensual desires. Its ego is not yet ramified into the objective

world of multiplicity. But, later, when it grows branches and foliage, the

Dharmakshethratakes the shape of Kurukshethra - the battlefield where the mind

struggles betweenhope and despair, and is compelled to consume the diverse

fruits, sweet and bitter, of one's acts.

Dharmakshethra, is being developed as an International Centre for saadhakas

and inquirers, eager to learn the Sanaathana (ancient) way of life. India has

no dearth of temples and institutions claiming to guide the pilgrims to God. In

a Granthaalaya (Library), only people interested in books will gather; the

Bhojanaalaya (Boarding House) is frequented only by those who want a meal; the

Vaidhyaalaya (Hospital) is resorted to only by the sick; but in the Devaalaya

(Temple of God), we do not find today either devotees or God! This is the only

House where the legitimate owner is absent! Temples were the centres for the

spread of Bhaaratheeya Indian culture, and, when the attraction for western

culture became strong, they were deserted, and left open to the ravages of

time.

Bhaaratheeya culture has emphasised the valid ways in which one has to spend

energy andmoney for service of the distressed, the diseased, the hungry, the

illiterate, the ill-housed, the illclothed. It condemns the spending of

energy and money for pomp, for vengeance, for competitive faction, for material

triumphs. Wealth is to be held on trust and used for promoting the brotherhood

of human being and the fatherhood of God. This culture also lays down that

nothing should be done to damage any one's faith in God or in one's own self.

Faith is a tender plant and it needs all the nurture that you can give.

Dharmakshethra has a great part to play. It is in Bombay, which is the

stomach of Bhaarath. The Himaalayas are the Head and the Kanyaakumari is the

feet. When the stomach is inefficient, the entire body suffers the

consequences. So, keep the Dharmakshethra efficient and strong. Do not allow it

to degenerate into a Kurukshethra; let not friction and faction raise their

heads here. Let the high ideals of Dharma (righteousness) be upheld here.

 

There are in this huge gathering people speaking many languages. But, there

is a language of the heart, which all can understand and all would like to hear.

That is the language which I speak, the language that goes from My heart to

yours. When heart speaks to heart, it is love that is transmitted, without any

reservation. The responsive heart listens to these with sympathy and answers

with love.

There are people who go about declaring that there is no God, because they

are not able to see Him. They say that they have searched in space, on the way

to the moon, and even on the moon but there was no sign of the Almighty. But

they themselves are, all the time, the mansions in which He resides!

The foundations of this life are laid deep in the past, in lives already

lived by you. This structure has been shaped by the ground plan of those lives.

God is the great Unseen, the vast Unknowable. When desire disappears or is

concentrated on God, Intelligence is selfluminous,it shines in its pristine

splendour, and that splendour reveals the God within and without. That is the

real Aathma Saakshaathkaara (Realisation of the Self).

 

You should not censure other religions. God is One. Truth is One; there

cannot be two. The Goal is One; for, all roads must lead to the One God. Why

then should men quarrel and fight over the Eternal and the Absolute?

Religion is three-fourths character. No person can claim to be religious if he

merely observes the sacraments and rules, and fails to be upright and

compassionate. Character alone can harden one to the blows of pain and

pleasure.

Serve all, as embodiments of the Divine Will. That will give you immense

joy, a joy that no other activity can confer. Learn from the saints and sages

who have realised the Truth about the path you shall tread and the goal you

have to attain. That Goal is God. He is beyond all notions of good and bad,

fight and wrong. These are earthly measures, by which the temporary is weighed

and judged. He has no form, no limbs, no dualities, no preferences, no

prejudices, no predilections. To say that He is Sathyaswaruupa, (having the

characteristic of Truth), Jnaanaswaruupa (having full wisdom) and

Aanandhaswaruupa (full of Bliss) is also not correct. For, He has no Swaruupa

or Swabhaava (individual form or individual nature); He is Sathya; He is

Jnaana; He isAanandha. That is the experience of those who have tasted.

There are no pots, in the clay; but, in the pots, there is clay. So also there

are no characteristics in God; but, in the characteristics of Sathya, Jnaana

and Aanandha, there is God. God is everywhere. He is too subtle for all that

type of contact, subtler than ether (Aakaasa). God is too vast, too far above

the reach of reason or imagination. You canonly get glimpses of the Bliss

derivable from the contemplation of His Magnificence.

Reduce wants, live simply, that is the way to happiness. Everything that is

not 'you' is an object; it is luggage for the journey; the less of it, the more

comfortable the journey! Attachment brings sorrow in its wake; at last, when

death demands that everything be left behind and everybody be deserted, you are

overpowered with grief! Be like the lotus on water; on it, not in it. Water is

necessary for the lotus to grow; but, it will not allow even a drop to wet it.

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol.9. "Cults and culture,"

Chapter 7, "In it, not of it," Chapter 8 and "Beauty and duty," Chapter 30):

 

Namaste - Reet