Swami teaches... Eternal wisdom

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (27 - 28 February 2005)

 

Eternal Wisdom

Everything that is born must die; everything that is constructed will

disintegrate. But you can escape death, by not being born again. When you know

that you are the limitless Atma (Self, the infinite consciousness), then you

are no longer subjected to the limitation of birth.

How to know that? It is the result of a long process of sharpening the

intellect and purifying the emotions and the impulses. You may do the most

rigorous japa (repetition of holyname or symbols) or practise the direst, of

austerities, but if you are not virtuous, all of it is sheerwaste. One may

study all the text-books of spiritual practice, all the scriptures, but often

with no result. Like land that is parched, the heart may appear to be free

from any crop of evil; but when the first showers fall, the seeds and roots

underneath the soil change the waste into a carpet of green.

The see-er should not attach himself to the seen; that is the way to get

free. The contact of the senses with the object arouses desire and attachment;

this leads to effort and either elation or despair; then, there is the fear of

loss or grief at failure and the train of reactions lengthens. With many doors

and windows kept open to all the winds that blow, how can the flame of the lamp

within survive? That lamp is the mind, which must burn steadily unaffected by

the dual demands of the world outside. Complete surrender to the Lord is one

way of closing the windows and doors. Complete surrender makes you draw upon

the Grace of the Lord for meeting all the crises in your career and so, it

renders you heroic, more stalwart, better prepared for the battle.

Remembrance of the Lord's Name is the best detergent for the mind. It is the

means of crossing the sea. The Name is the raft that will take you safely

across. The Name will remove the veil of illusion, that now hides the Universal

from the Individual. When that veil fades out, human being finds Him/herself

before him/herself beholding Universe that is within. Human being has infinite

power and infinite potentiality, as a wave of the Ocean of Infinity.

You may doubt whether such a small word like Raama or Sai or Krishna can

take you across the boundless sea of worldly life. People cross vast oceans on

a tiny raft; they are able to walk through dark jungles with a tiny lamp in

their hands. The Name, even the Pranava (Om) which is smaller, has vast

potentialities. The raft need not be as big as the sea. The recitation of

the Name is like the operation of boring, to tap underground water; it is like

the chisel-stroke that will release the image of God imprisoned in the marble.

Break the encasement and the Lord will appear.

 

When the Sun is in the sky, the Moon is blazed out of sight. Buddhi, the

sharpened intellect, is the Sun; the pale satellite, the Moon, is the Mind. So,

give intelligence full prominence; let the mind subserve the dictates of reason,

not of passion. Be silent yourself; that will induce silence in others. Do

not fall into the habit of shouting, talking long and loud. Reduce contacts to

the minimum. Carry with you an atmosphere of quietcontemplation, wherever you

happen to be.

There are others who relish disputes and arguments; they are never content

with obvious facts; they must create doubts where none existed before, and

shake faith. They dispute whether Rama is superior to Krishna, or whether

Krishna is a fuller or a lower incarnation of Godhead! People who have not

touched the outskirts of the Capital City dare dispute about the appearance and

glory of the Emperor, who resides in the Palace in the heart of the City! That

is the pitiable state of scholarship today.

Look inside the event, for the kernel, the meaning. Dwell over on your Atmic

reality; you are pure, you are indestructible; you are unaffected by the ups and

downs of life; you are the true, the eternal, the unchanging Brahmam, the entity

which is all this. You are the same Atma that appears as all this variety. It is

the Absolute Reality which you are.

If you are able to equip your mind with this consciousness you are a Person

of Realisation. Else, you are a masquerader. There are three types of minds:

1. Minds like ginned cotton, ready to receive the spark of highest wisdom

and to give up in one instant blaze, the weakness and prejudices of ages.

2. Minds like dry wood, who succeed but only after some little time.

3. Minds like green logs, which resist the onslaught of the fire of jnaana

with all their might.

Herds of cattle run towards a mirage to slake their thirst, but you ought to

be wiser. You havediscrimination (viveka), and renunciation (vairaagya); you can

detach yourselves consciouslyfrom pursuits which you discover as deleterious.

Sit quiet for a few minutes and ponder over thefate of those who run towards

the mirage. Are they happy? Have they the strength to beardistress and

distinction, with equanimity? Have they a glimpse of the Beauty, the Truth,

theGrandeur of the Universe, the Handiwork of God? Have they the vision of

themselves as thecentre of the Universe? No one is happy if he is immersed

in worldly life. Everyone are tossed about on thewaves of joy and grief, good

or bad. Human being is the target of brickbats or bouquets; the evil around

affects peace; anxiety robs of sleep and quiet. The spiritual teacher

(guru) can guide you where to go, which place to seek; but, he cannot make you

reach it. You have to trudge along the road yourself.

There are two kinds of accomplishments: apraaptha praapthi and praaptha

praapthi. The acquisition of something which you did not have is apraaptha

praapthi. It is praaptha praapthi if you become aware of a thing that you had

with you, but imagined that you did not have.

A friend comes and asks a loan of ten rupees from you, you are sorry that

you have not got the tenner and that you are not able to come to his rescue

when he is in dire need. An hour later, when you sit down and open the pages of

the Geetha, you discover a ten rupee note that you had placed between the leaves

long ago and forgotten, How happy you are at this! The Guru asks you to search

between the leaves of the book of your heart, and, lo, the treasure is there

ready to render you rich beyond compare.

The fruit won't drop if you mumble mantras under the mango tree; you will

have to take a heavy stick and throw it at the bunch. Use the stick of

intelligence and throw it at the problem of "you and the world"; that will

yield fruit.

A clean Consciousness is as a lamp; pour into it the oil of Grace; place in

it the wick of Selfcontrol; keep in position the chimney of Naamasmarana, so

that the gusts of Joy and Grief might not scotch the flame. Light the lamp,

with some Mahaavaakya (Great Statement), like Aham Brahmaasmi (Self is Brahman)

or Thath thwam asi (Thou art That). Then, you will not only have Light; you will

be a source of Light. There are only two entities at first: "I" and "You",

Thath and Thwam, Aham and Brahma. But athird, this Prakrithi (world), has come

between, or rather deludes us as being in between. Prakrithi is like this

middleman. When "I" and "You" have united, Prakrithi disappears. "I" is of the

same nature as "You," like the river and the sea, or like the wave and the sea.

 

 

Go straight along the path of karma (action) and dharma (virtue) towards

Brahma (the Supreme Reality); this is your destiny.

The Upanishads say that thunder teaches Da, Da, Dha...Daya (compassion) to

the ogres, Dama (self-control) to the gods and Dharma to people. Since human

being is all three - part ogre, part god, part human all three must be

practiced; daya (be kind to all), dama (be the master of your mind and the

senses) and dharma (be constantly alert on the path of fight); that is the

advice given from the sky in the voice of thunder.

Dharma is the moral code, the experience of sages, the controlling

discipline which checks the mind and the senses. There are many such brakes

operating on human being. Vyakthi dharma (controls affecting the individual, as

such), Sahaja dharma (controls affecting the nature of human, as human),

Aashrama dharma (controls affecting the stage of life, like student

householder, ascetic), Vama dharma (controls pertaining to the duties cast upon

human as a limb of the community), etc. All these brakes are complementary, they

do not cause confusion, they help progress, each in its own way.

If you can penetrate behind the stone of temples and images of idols and see

the Divine Basis, how much easier it is to see the Lord who resides in the heart

of every living, every human being? Try to realise that first, so that your

faith in this idol and this temple can be well settled. Revere Human; that is

the first step towards reverence for God; for, Human being is prathyaksha

(perceptible), God is paroksha (imperceptible). (Reet's compilation from,

Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 5. "The voice of thunder," Chapter 13; "Shiva in

shava," Chapter 8; "Kare kankanam," Chapter 4 and "The sun at your doorstep,"

Chapter 2).

Namaste - Reet