Swami teaches... Training the attraction of the Grace of God

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (12 - 13 April 2005)

 

Training the Attraction of the Grace of God*

Swami's Teaching guides the path to the new (more exactly ancient, Vedic)

spirituality. The first characteristic of this is concept of unity in

diversity. The second is that all we are the One expression of eternal Atma.

Therefore, the life is also eternal, as constant flow with different forms and

fluctuations. The main conclusion from Swami's Teaching for humanity is if we

are all One expression of Atma, we need to stop our competition and struggle

with each other. Through the glasses of Atmic reality, humans' struggles turn

against humanity themselves. There is an urgent need that His Teaching would

become the pervasive spirituality for whole humanity. Increasing the power

of technology and science (both, with positive and negative results) causes the

increasing the content of life's energy-informational potency. Human's

consciousness as seeking the own existence on a higher level, as seeking the

new possibilities, experiences concern to own true reality as a great spiritual

opportunity.

The Reality which sustains the Cosmos and the Cell is the same one, the

all-pervasiveConsciousness, named Brahmam. When this infinite vastness is

spoken of in relation to Cosmos(Jagath, the Superflux), It is the Paramatma

(the Overself) and it is the Atma (the Self) when it isconceded as the core of

individual beings. All three are one entity, but they 'appear' different

anddelude the short-sighted. This characteristic is known as Maya.

When the "urge to become," namely Maya impels Brahmam to project itself, it

appears asEswara or God when associated with satwa guna, as Jivi (human and

living beings) whenassociated with rajo guna and as Prakriti (Nature) when

associated with tamo guna. Brahmam isthe basis of all three. Maya is the

mirror in which Brahmam is reflected as Personalised God, Human and Nature.

Become attached to God. Feel His Presence, revel in His Glory. He has none,

but if you love Him deeply, you will be concerned about Him, just as if He is

your Lord and Love. God will serve you; He will save you and be by your side

ever - only you have to cultivate your character and polish your interior so

that He might be reflected therein. Let His Will be done - this should be your

guide-line. Just as you prescribe minimum qualifications for every profession,

the minimum qualification for Grace is surrender of egoism, control over senses

and regulated aahaara and vihaara (food and recreation).

The external is the creation of the internal. Brahmam has manifested Itself

as all this. God created the world. Human, through yearning, imagination and

intensity endows God with a form and name, and a large bunch of attributes.

But, God is above and beyond human traits and characteristics known as Gunas.

Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, "I have noneed to engage myself in

any activity. I am busy acting, in order to promote the well-being of the world

and its inhabitants." Five fields in the attainment of this Samathvam (equal

mindedness) have distinguished. 1. The field of natural ups and downs

(Prakrithika). One has to welcome both summer andwinter, for they are both

essential for the process of living. Birth and death are both natural events.

We cannot discover the reason for either birth or death. They simply happen.

2. The field of social ups and downs. One has to welcome with equal

mindedness fame andblame, respect and ridicule, profit and loss. Fortune is as

much a challenge to one's equanimity as misfortune.

3. The field of knowledge with its ups and downs. Until the summit of

knowledge wherefromone experiences the One which has become this vast

make-believe, there are many temptationsand obstacles that lead the seeker

astray. The Gita defines a Pandit who has gained the awareness of the same One

in all beings.

4. The field of devotion with its ups and downs: there is a great deal of

racoon and fanaticism, prejudice and persecution, which arise out of ignorance

of the sameness of the God, through various rites and rituals, modes and

methods. There is only One Omnipresent God.

5.The field of actvity with its ups and downs must be sanctified by

divinising the purpose.When work is sublimated into worship, defeat and

disappointment will not dishearten. Successwill not promote pride; it will lead

to humility and gratitude for grace. Work performed as duty,as due from us to

society, to its service, brings the reward of joy.

The Lord had announced that He showers Grace on inner purity, not outer

pomp. When one has established himself in equal mindedness, the Lord installs

Himself in heart: His voice becomes the conscience that guides at every step.

Through yoga, fortitude must be acquired; through japa (pious repetition),

sense-control must be earned; through Sadhana, the mind should be filled with

peace. Human must be a yogi always, under all circumstances (sathatham

yoginah), says the Gita. Faith in God can ensure equanimity and balance.

Knowledge must develop into skill, which must be directed and regulated by a

sense of balance. Or else, skill degenerates into 'kill'.

All spiritual endeavour has its aim the attraction of the Grace of God on

ourselves. The stone is not worshipped as stone; it is the symbol of the God

that cannot be pictured in His abstract, attributeless, Nirguna (Formless)

aspect. The idol is of great help in concentration, as was proved by

Raamakrishna Paramahamsa, Meera, Thyaagaraaja and a large number of other

seekers. Another Hindu belief is that food, when it is offered to God and

then taken as consecrated by His acceptance, is activated by Divine energy and

is freed from all evil influences that might adhere to it. This helps the

attitude of dedication, and encourages the conviction of the constantPresence

of God as an inseparable guide and guardian wherever you may be.

We go to a temple and stand before the main shrine, strike the bell hung

there; the sound will draw the attention of the Lord to the supplicant just

arrived. The bell must be accompanied by a sincere prayer from the heart.

Repeat the Gayathri - it is a universal prayer. It has three parts, dhyaana

- meditation on theGlory of God as the illumination immanent in the worlds,

upper, middle and lower (Om Bhuhbhuva-swah; thath savithur varenyam); it has

Smarana or picturisation of the Grace (bhargodevasya dheemahi) and Praarthana,

prayer for compassion for the sake of liberation, through theawakening of

intelligence that pervades the entire Universe, not to any particular name or

formof that intelligence; and so, all can use it. There can be no fanaticism,

no hatred, no rivalry, if the Gayathri is adhered to; its japa will clarify the

passions and promote Love.

Service is the best school for training equanimity. Through seva you realise

that all beings are waves of the Ocean of Divinity. No other saadhana can bring

you into the incessant contemplation of the One-ness of all living beings. You

feel another's pain as own; you share another's success as own. To see every

one else as yourself and yourself in every one, that is the core of the

saadhana of seva. Again, seva makes the ego languish for want of food. It makes

you humble before the suffering of others, and when you rush to render help, you

do not calculate how high or low his social or economic status is. In seva there

can be no high or low, for Sai is in all. Sai receives your seva, to whomsoever

you may offer lt. Swami is the nearest to him/her who calls on Him and sees Him

in all beings.

The service that you render must reward you, not only with your satisfaction,

but with thesatisfaction and relief of those whom you serve. You should have

the joy of the recipient as your objective. Human is endowed with the

equipment of senses, reason, feelings, passions and detachment, so that anyone

may keep away from the enticement of pleasures and spend the life in helping,

serving, sustaining and saving fellow human beings.

Remind that you are a spiritual aspirant and that seva is the spiritual path

that you have ventured upon as the easiest and the best. When you mix with

volunteers and others who have no deep faith or sweet experience of the value

of seva, you may get caught up in conversation that might shake your

conviction. Do not allow their superficial judgement to undermine your

steadfastness. Keep away from such persons; let them test their doubts on the

touchstone of their own experiences of seva. Take their disbelief

indifferently, and allow them time to realise and overcome their doubts by

their own will.

Intolerance is the product of anger, hate and envy. Try the best to suppress

the first appearance of anger. The body becomes warm, the lips twitch, the eyes

redden - so, when youget the intimation, drink a cup of cold water, sip it

slowly, close the door and lie in bed, until theseizure passes away, and you

laugh at your own folly. This may appear difficult, but you have topractise it.

For the consequences of your yielding to anger will be so disastrous that you

willhave to repent long for them. What is most needed today is a total

effort to manifest more tolerance, more humility, more brotherliness, more

compassion and deeper awareness of the springs of joy and peace that lie within

the heart of each one. Love is the solvent for the hardest of hearts. Without

love, free, full and selfless, no spiritual saadhana can succeed. Without it,

bhajan is waste of breath, sathsang a waste of time and meditation a

selfdeception. Bhajan, sathsang and meditation done with a mind soaked in

love, can confer peace, joy and wisdom. When the rain drop falls into the sea,

lt gets the name, form and nature of the sea. So, too, when the individual

merges in the vast concourse of humanity and feels one with all, he is endowed

with the name, form and nature of Divinity.

If you have confidence in your strength and skill, you can draw upon the

inner springs of courage and raise yourselves to a higher level of joy and

peace. For, confidence in yourselves arises through the Atma, which is your

inner Reality. It is from the Atma that you draw all these equipments for

spiritual progress. (Reet's compilation by Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 7.

"Stagnation in the same class," Chapter 2 and "Jumping to conclusions," Chapter

37; Vol. 13. "No bumps, no jumps," Chapter 18; Vol.18. "The Yoga of Samathvam,"

Chapter 19).

PS: *The Grace of God can be explained also as human's the state of harmony

with the Cosmic Conciousness (the Real Self, Swami's Cosmic Form).

Namaste - Reet