Swami teaches... Impress on your consciousness the highest wisdom

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (06 March 2005)

 

Impress on Your Consciousness the Highest Wisdom

 

The Vedhaantha persuades you to investigate the function of the senses and

of the mind which is activated by its capacity to reflect the Aathman within.

All the inner instruments of knowledge and the inner witness are promoters of

the highest wisdom, though they are misused, in ignorance, to confound and ruin

human's progress. Those who are aware of their being only the indestructible

Aathman, encased in temporary sheaths, in a ramshackle dwelling house bearing a

name and presenting a form, they are unaffected by anything that happens to the

sheath or house.

It took Arjuna a long time to realise this. In fact, it was only after the

ascension of Lord Krishna that it was brought home to him, in a dramatic form.

Krishna, while rolling up the curtain of the Avathaar drama, had asked him to

take the women, children and some old men of the Yaadhava clan orphaned by his

departure, to the safety of Hasthinaapura, away from Dhwaaraka which had been

swallowed by the sea.

Arjuna led the disconsolate community through lands infested by wild tribes,

confident that the bow which had won him the Kurukshethra battle against the

array of gigantic heroes will ensure safety and success. But, when some

barbarian hordes fell upon the Yaadhava remnants, Arjuna sought to string his

bow and fix an arrow upon it - in vain! He could not recall the formula which

could send the arrow on it mortal mission! He had to witness the debacle, the

kidnapping of the women whom he had vowed to guard! When Krishna had finished

His mission, he too had ended his mission; there was no more breath in him too.

Krishna was his life, his might, his archery, his mastery, his heroism, his all.

That truth was made patent to Arjuna by the shame of defeat, not by the paean of

victory!

 

Each Saadhaka has a different story to tell about his/her spiritual

experiences, depending upon own equipment and enthusiasm. Saadhana has to be

done after attaining a good character; that is very important.

There are some who come and earn peace and joy, but after years of sharing

and serving, they fall a prey to waywardness and fall back into the old morass,

declining to such an extent that they deny their very experience and play false

to their own conscience! Not that Swami is anxious that they should worship

Swami or adhere to Swami; far from it. Swami asks that truth must be

proclaimed, regardless of the company; there must be courage of conviction,

which will help you to overcome the temptation to deny your cherished joys.

There are some others who are swept off their feet by hysterical

demonstrations by certain weak-minded individuals, which are described as Swami

speaking through them or acting through them! Take it from Swami, who is not

given to such absurdities! Swami does not use others as media. Swami does not

swing from side to side and prattle!

Swami's grace is ever with you; it is not something that is given or taken;

it is given always and accepted by the consciousness that is aware of its

significance. Win the grace of your own subconscious, so that it may accept the

grace of God which is ever available.

God does not deny any one; it is only you, who deny God. When the gift if

proffered, you have to do only one little act, so that you may earn it - you

have to extend your hand to receive it. That is the grace or the subconscious;

win it, by teaching it the value of the grace of God.

Swami's grace is showered wherever you are through infinite love, without even

calculating or measuring the readiness of your subconscious to receive it and

benefit by it. The grace itself will confer on you the faith and the strength,

the wisdom and the joy. Swami is in your heart all the time, whether you know

it or not.

 

You attach importance to quantity; but, the Lord considers only quality. He

does not calculate how many measures of "sweet rice" you offered, but, how many

sweet words you uttered, how much sweetness you added in your thoughts. Offer

Him the fragrant leaf of Bhakthi, the flowers of your emotions and impulses,

freed from the pests of lust, anger, etc.; give him fruits grown in the orchard

of your mind, sour or sweet, juicy or dry, bitter or sugary.

All who aspire to be Bhakthas must eschew Raaga and Dhwesha (attachment and

aversion). You need not be proud when you are able to sing better or if your

Puuja room is better decorated. There must be a steady improvement in your

habits and attitudes.

 

Without an intellectual grasp of the fundamentals of the divine principle,

all vows, fasts and vigils are imitative, routine, mechanical activities that

involve waste of time and energy. It is best that you impress upon yourself the

need for this basic step on this Mahaashivaraathri, for this Raathri (night) is

the night that has to usher in the dawn of realisation.

This is a sacred day, according to the traditions of this land; it has been

revered and celebrated since numberless centuries. But, at the present time,

people are content to listen to the praise of the day and repeating what they

have heard, to others, in parrot chatter. What really matters, however, is the

experience of the bliss that it is designed to confer.

On this Mahaashivaraathri, acknowledge that nature is alive, since God is

life; that nature appears everlasting, since God is eternal; nature is but a

reflection of God. Without the motivator, nature is helpless and powerless.

Appearance is but a reflection of reality; Ishwara is but a reflection of

Brahman. Shivaraathri inspires us to learn this basic truth and shape our lives

in the light of that illumination.

Bhajan is one of the processes by which you can train the mind to expand

into eternal values. Teach the mind to revel in the glory and majesty of God;

wean it away from petty horizons of pleasure. Bhajan induces in you a desire

for experiencing the truth, to glimpse the beauty that is God, to taste the

bliss that is the Self. It encourages to dive into himself and be genuinely the

real Self.

Bhajan which is part of Nagarasankeerthan gladdens the singer and showers

joy to those who listen; it cleanses and purifies the atmosphere by its vital

vibrations. It inspires and instructs; it calls and comforts.

A little child sits with a book of the Upanishadhs on its lap and turns over

the pages, intent on the printed lines and watching the curious types,

deliberately, slowly and with great care; a Saadhu (monk) too does the same.

Can you equate the two and say they are both engaged in the same act? The child

is unaware of the treasure he holds in hand; the Saadhu gets into immediate

contact with the spiritual power the lines convey.

Children can learn the alphabet only with the help of boards, slates,

pencils and pieces of chalk. Saadhakas (spiritual aspirants), going through the

primers of spirituality, need symbols, images and rituals. You cannot discard

name and form until you transmute yourself into the nameless and formless. That

is the reason why the nameless and formless has often to assume name and form,

and come before humanity with limitations imposed by its own will, so that it

may be loved, respected, worshipped, listened to and followed.

 

You can worship even Prakrithi (nature); there is no harm, provided you

realise that the Lord is immanent in it, giving it name and form and value;

that the cloth is just yarn, the pot is just mud, the jewel is just gold. Why,

you can worship your parents and realise the Lord through that Saadhana. They

are your creators and guides and teachers and protectors and by idealising

them, you can grasp the truth of the Lord, the primeval parent.

Even if you are not able to conceive the idea of a Lord or a God, you must

be able to know what love is by experience. You have experienced the love of

your parents, of a friend, of a partner or of a brother or sister, or towards

your own children. That love is itself a spark of God, who is all the love in

all the worlds at all times.

Expand your hearts; enlarge your vision; enlarge the circle of kinship; take

more and more of your fellow beings into the tabernacle of your hearts. And,

adore them in loving worship. Wisdom is only compassion at its highest; for,

through sympathy you enter the heart of another and understand him through and

through, you go behind the veil of pretence and punditry, convention and

custom; you go behind good manners and fashions that people put on, to hide

their agony and ignorance from the rest of the world. Finding the unity in this

diversity of roles is true wisdom.

So you should keep your Viveka (wisdom) intact and discriminate between the

destructive and constructive impulses. Do not listen to destructive criticisms

and cynicisms, which are the poisons eating into the vitals of spiritual life

today. Bear witness to the truth of your own experience; do not be false to

yourself, or to Swami. Sathya Sai means, "He who reclines on truth."

When you cannot reach down to your own basic reality, why waste time in

exploring the essence of Godhead and other persons? As a matter of fact, you

can understand Swami only when you have understood yourself, your own basic

truth.

 

Even those who deny God today will have one day to tread the pilgrim road,

melting their hearts out in tears of travail. If you make the slightest effort

to progress along the path of liberation, the Lord will help you a

hundred-fold. Shivaraathri conveys that hope to you. Spend all the days with

Shiva and the conquest of the mind is easy. Spend the fourteenth day of the

waning moon with Shiva, reaching the climax of spiritual effort on that final

day, and success is yours. That is why all the Chaturdasis (fourteenth days of

the dark half of every month) are called Shivaraathris (Shiva's nights); that

is why the Chaturdasi of the Magha month is called Mahaa Shivaraathri. This is

a day of special dedication to Shiva. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai

Baba. The Divine Discourse, "Spend your Days with Shiva." Prashanthi Nilayam, 4

March 1962. Sathya Sai Baba. The Divine Discourse, "Griha or Guha." Prashanthi

Nilayam, 8 February 1963 . Sathya Sai Baba. The Divine Discourse, "Love, the

Sine Qua Non." Prashanthi Nilayam, 23 February 1971. Sathya Sai Baba. The

Divine Discourse, "Lifelong Bhajan." Prashanthi Nilayam, 24 February 1971).

Namaste - Reet