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Swami teaches... Steps towards spiritual awareness

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Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (7 February 2005)

 

Steps Towards Spiritual Awareness

Believe that Sai Baaba* is in your heart, as your Aathma, unshakable, full

of love. Do not encourage the pretensions of low egoistic persons, who claim

that I am 'possessing' them, or that I need mandhirs (halls) for which they are

collecting donations. I need only one Mandhir, your hearts! Preserve the purity

of your hearts, so that Sai may reside therein.

Since God is in every heart, the Inner Voice is the signal that Dharma

(righteousness) gives while approving or disapproving any line of action. The

Dharma that you have to follow is indicated by that Voice. That is the

Swadharma for you. It is the Inner Witness that is the real I, which illumines

the eye, the ear, the taste and the touch. The cells areactivated by the

reflection of (the energy of) the Aathma.

The body is the sheath, the scabbard for the sword, the Jeevi, the I that is

within it, but not of it. The purpose of the scabbard is to discover the Unity

of the Universe. The Vedhas encourage you to expand into the awareness of this

Unity. The Vedha Mother calls every child to take up the heritage of Infinity,

Bhuumaa, as She names it. She says, "Child)You are that Infinity, enclosed

temporarily in this Form."

Expand your heart, taking in all humanity into the circle of your kin, even

the birds, beasts, worms, insects, trees and plants. The Vedhic prayer asks that

the aspirant's heart may be expanded, 'brhathe karomi' - I make myself vast! See

everything as a disinterested witness; do not plunge and get entangled. Travel

light, even in the journey of life.

How to find the easiest path to follow these instructions?

After reading a few verses of Bhagavad Geetha or a few pages of any sacred

book, you must spend some time in manana - contemplating on it and

concentrating on its meanings. Manana (deep contemplation) will confirm the

fact of God being in everybeing, bird, beast, tree and, when this awareness is

established, you will not be tempted to hate or ridicule or envy any other

being in creation. For, you are He and He is you, fundamentally. Until you come

to this stage, you are only a partial devotee, still a long way to go. In

spiritual matters, it is experience alone that is the deciding factor. Reason

is rendered dumb before the testimony of actual experience. All the arguments

of logic, all the tricks of dialectics are powerless to nullify the direct

effect of that inner evidence.

Experiencies are very different. For example, take the question of image

worship. Those who do worship idols have the faith that the Omnipresent

Almighty is present in the symbol before them.

Of course, all the 'Worship' carried out with the idea that the idol is

life-less wood or stone or bronze, is so much waste of time. But if it is done

in the full confidence that the image or idol is alive, saturated with

consciousness and power, then, image worship can bestow the Realisation of

God-head itself. There was once a spiritual seeker who approached a guru for

guidance. The gurugave him an idol of Vishnu and instructions for daily worship.

But the saadhakafound that, even after some months of meticulous puuja, he did

not get any spiritual reward or elation. He reported his dissatisfaction and

the guru gave him another idol of Shiva. The disciple came after another six

months demanding another idol, because even Shiva had failed him. This time,

he got a Durga idol, which he duly installed in his domestic shrine. The two

previous idols were standing, dust-ridden and neglected, on the window sill.

One day, while Durga-puuja (ritual worship of Goddess Durga) was going on, the

disciple found that the perfumed smoke from the incense-stick was being wafted

by the breeze towards the idol of Shiva. He got wild that the ungrateful

stone-hearted God who was deaf to his powerful entreaties should get the

perfume intended for his latest idol! So, he took a piece of cloth and tied it

round the face of Shiva, closing up the nostrils that were inhaling the

perfume. Just at that moment, to his immense surprise Shiva appeared in His

splendour and Glory before the saadhaka ! But, what had really happened? The

saadhaka for the first time believed that the Shiva idol was alive,

conscious,and it was that belief which forced him to tie the bandage to the

nose. The moment he realised that the idol wasfull of Chith (consciousness) he

got the Realisation he was struggling for. Therefore, the saadhaka should see,

not the stone which is the material stuff of the idol, but thePower that is

inherent in it, that is symbolised by it, the same Power that is inherent in

his own heart and that pervades and transcends all creation.

What is needed today is a band of sincere saadhaks (spiritual seekers) who

long to experience the bliss promised at the end of the spiritual journey; as

well as all along the pilgrim road. A band of aspirants who are eager to test

the validity of what they are taught to believe, on the touchstone of

experience.

Spiritual seekers should acknowledge the powerful aspects of Omnipresent

Divine Incarnation by little example.

You have a tiny spark of fire at the end of the incense stick that you burn

in the shrine; you have slightly more fire at the tip of your cigarette; the

stove over Which you cook is a bigger fire; the forest fire is also flame. But,

the incense stick will be scotched even if by accident it touches the wall. The

fire will go out. The forest fire can reduce to ashes the greenest of trees.

So too the Divine, in the Incarnation, is inexplicable, incredible,

impenetrable. It is the Fire of Love plus the Fire of Enlightenment, the Fire

of Cosmic Creation as well as the Fire of Cosmic Destruction.

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 10, "The Inner Witness,"

Chapter 12 and "The sword and the scabbard," Chapter 28);

Vol. 2, "Experience," Chapter 5).

 

PS: * Spelling of names as in original texts.

As the continuing contributions are compilations by Swami's Works,

there is not all text exactly as in originals. The separate short spiritual

stories by Swami are as a call to spiritual seekers to experience the inner

meaning of Swami's Teaching and to follow Swami's directions in daily life.

They are also a call to spiritual seekers to awoke interest to read and to

examine the original Swami's Works more deeply by the same way as Swami advised

to read Bhagavad Geetha (see text by Swami above).

 

Namaste - Reet

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