Swami teaches... Shining of the Cosmic Lord

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... ( 31 March - 2 April 2005)

Shining of the Cosmic Lord

 

The whole world is a stage and every individual is an actor. The primary

goal should be to carry out the duty in the part assigned to actor.

In the drama of life, there is a mixture of good and bad. Modern human

suffers from the sense of possession. He is obsessed with the idea of "my" and

"mine". He attaches excessive importance to the body, forgetting the most

precious Atmic principle that is within it which will give enduring bliss.

In this context, people should constantly discriminate between "negative"

and "positive" actions.

People should realize, for example that what matters when they sing bhajans

is not the tune or the conduct of the songs, but the genuineness of the feeling

with which they sing the bhajans. When they are pure hearts and full of deep

devotion, the bhajans will appeal to the hearts of the listeners. The singing

must be full of feeling. The Lord is moved only by the feeling that is

expressed, not by musical talent as such.

Singing bhajans (the names of God), one would contemplate on underlying

truths. The Naamaavali, 'Hare Raama, Hare Raama, Raama Raama Hare Hare; Hare

Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,' has sixteen words and each

of the sixteen signifies a virtue which has to be cultivated along with that

Bhajan. There is nothing in this world as powerful as the Lord's name to

protect it. Only God's grace should protect the world. It is human's foremost

duty to pray for God's grace. Prayer is of supreme importance. Together with

melody and rhythm, you have to impart feeling to your singing to make the

bhajan a sacred offering to the Divine. A ragam (tune) without bhaavam

(feeling) is a rogam (an infliction).

Swami stresses that a bhajans singer should be (1) full of devotion, (2)

prepared to enjoy suffering, (3) free from the attachment to the transitory,

(4) eager to serve the Lord, (5) of correct conduct, (6) charitable, (7) having

an unsullied reputation, (8) with no blemish on his character, (9) fully

content, (10) endowed with good qualities, (11) equipped with all the virtues,

(12) equipped with the fruits of learning, (13) ripe in wisdom, (14)

self-controlled, (15) adorned with commendable social traits, (16) full of

humility and fully surrendered to God, then - "He is I, I am He." The same 16

points are significant at every step and in every prayer what one performs for

the benefit of other human beings and oneself.

An ancient times there was a great musician in Akbar's Court known as

Thansen. He used to sing night and day and the music was mellifluous. One day

Akbar and Thansen were going round the city. Akbar found an old man singing to

himself songs in praise of God. Akbar stopped his chariot and went on listening

to the song of the devotee and even without his knowing it, tears started

flowing from his eyes. He went some distance and told Thansen: "You have been

singing for a long time before me and I have always found your music very sweet

to the ears but it has never moved my heart, but the music of this devotee has

melted my heart. I wish to know the difference between your singing and the

singing of this devotee!" Thansen replied: "Mahaaraaja! I have been singing to

please you, but this devotee is singing to please God, that is the difference."

The greater is one's love for God, the greater the bliss of experiences. The

lover of God sees God everywhere. Love of God makes a human being oblivious to

one's own existence. The nature of divine love can be understood only when the

Divine in human form teaches as human to human the nature of this love. The

Vedas declare that love is priceless, indescribably precious, transcends the

mind and speech. Love can be got only through love. The different paths of

devotion - santhi (peace), sakhya (friendship), vaatsalya (material love),

Anuraaga (affection) and Madhura marga (sweetness) - are all based on love.

For those immersed in love, everything appears vibrant, with life. The power

of love isboundless. The love-impulse is manifested in different, persons in

different ways. For example, the gopikas considered Sri Krishna as the very

breath of their life and worshipped him. "You are everything for us," they

declared. On the other hand, Yasoda's love for Krishna was that of the mother

towards her child. Yasoda looked upon Krishna as an ordinary child, the darling

of her heart, who was innocent of the ways of the world. The love of Radha, who

was totally absorbed in the love of Krishna, was different. "Oh Krishna!

Wherever you may be and whatever the form you may assume, bless me so that I

may be one with you in that form." Radha yearned for this kind of union.

Today there is so little awareness of the power of this love. Wrapped up in

their trivial attachments, people are ignoring the power of this infinite,

sacred and all-encompassing Divine Love.

Anuraaga (affection) and Prema (love) are mutually dependent and

inseparable. When the mind is turned towards things of the world, it is called

Anuraaga (affection or attachment) and if it is turned towards God, it is

called Prema (love or devotion). Love is the fruit of love. Love is comparable

only with love and it cannot be described by poetry. It cannot be proved by the

mind or the spoken word.

Differences between persons will cease when there is a recognition of the

common Divinity present in everyone. This is expressed through love what are

often exists in hidden form. However, despite all the teachings, mankind is

prone to go astray from time to time. Human life is beset with ups and downs,

joys and sorrows. It is these difficulties which bring out the human values.

Difficulties must be welcomed and must be overcome. By overcoming trouble the

Divine must be experienced.

Every second is an expression of the Divine. Years come and go, that which

does not come and does not leave is the Atmic Principle. God neither comes nor

goes. Knowledge of Supreme Reality, when once it is acquired, will never go

away. The knowledge that is lost is not true knowledge. Ignorance is the thing

which, once it is gone, will not return. If it returns, it is "ignorance piled

on ignorance." This has been described in Vedantic parlance as Mithya in Mithya

delusion within a delusion. Radha in Gita observed: When the whole

Universe is the mansion of the Lord, Where is the need for a street or a

door? When the Cosmic Lord is shining within, Where is the need for a

door? There is no need for doors and streets in the Kingdom of God. Each one

has to acquire the qualification to enter that Kingdom. All are not entitled to

enter it. But every human being should aspire to achieve that right. That is

the essential purpose of human birth. Human being is bound by the actions in

this world. Liberation is not something to be achieved in after-life. The

striving for liberation must start early in life and proceed continuously.

Another term for liberation is "emancipation". That is true freedom. Freedom

from bondage to the senses. This means that you must carry on all duties

without attachment to the fruits thereof. Today all actions are performed with

attachment to the results. Even in rendering social service, there is often an

element of self-interest that vitiates the quality of your service.

Life is filled with bondages of various kinds - from hunger and poverty to

ignorance and disease and crisis of death. To strive for freedom from these

bondages is spiritual sadhana. It means giving up those actions that bind you.

It is not easy to get the answers to spiritual questions.

The discharge of duties in a spirit of detachment is the basic obligation of

everyone from a student to a scholar.

Human's primary aim should be to recognise the unity that underlies the

diversity in thephenomenal world. To break up what is one into many pieces is

easy. But it is difficult to bringthem together into a meaningful unit. It is

in the unifying process that the utility of things can beunderstood. The role

of both diversity and unity in life has to be properly understood.

Each one can become Swami by merging the separate individual jeevas (souls),

in the Ocean of the Universal Atma, as in the illumination of the Divine Love.

Can you escape from Karma oh man? Whatever your scholarship, Whatever

your daily worship, Whatever penance you may perform Can you avoid the

results of Karma? Whether you fill your vessel In a small pond or the vast

ocean It will be filled only Upto its capacity.

Do not confine Swami to these few acres round the Prashanti Nilayam. Wherever

a person craving for Prashanti (perfect peace) lives and prays, there Prashanti

Nilayam exists. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks,

Vol. 1. "The underlying truths," Chapter 27;

Vol. 3. "Human and Divine actions," Chapter 27; Vol. 24. "No global

disaster to be apprehended," Chapter 4 and "Krishna : incarnation of love,"

Chapter 23; Vol. 25. "Divinise Every Moment," Chapter 1; Vol. 29.

"The Gospel of hard work," Chapter 35.

Sathya Sai Baba. The Divine Discourse, "From Negative to Positive." 15

February 1998, Prashanti Nilayam).

Namaste - Reet

[Guest guest]

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"Jagmag hote chaand-sitaare,

Jagmag hai aakash.

Jagmag saari duniya jisase,

Vo hai Sai prakash"

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( The moon & stars are shining.

The sky is shining.The whole

universe is shining with whose

light.It is the light of Sai.)

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Bowing on feet of Baba,

S.L.Gupta

1-4-2005

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