True Desire and Action has Spiritual Relationship

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (23 - 25 April 2005)

 

True Desire and Action has Spiritual Relationship

 

As long as the indweller God resides in the body, it will be full of

fragrance and full of life. Without the indweller the body is a reprehensible

thing. The process of transforming a body with such repugnant qualities into an

instrument for serving humanity and realizing the divinity can provide great joy

and inner satisfaction. But human thinks of the body only as a means for giving

physical pleasure, and uses it primarily in self-defeating ways. Krishna told

Arjuna, "The body has been given in order to understand the indweller. Arjuna,

use your body only for that sacred purpose. Animals and birds have not been

given this discriminating power."

You have to use all your powers to understand the principles which

constitute human nature. First, you must understand the power of worldly desire

which makes you give up all your resolutions. Of course, there must be desires.

Without desires you cannot live for even a moment. But you must use all your

desires for good. Your desires should be to help others. That constitutes

living as a true human being.

Since you are born in society, since you live in society and get so many

benefits from society you have to serve society. In serving society, you will

be serving the Lord. Be it a small job or a big job, do it for the sake of the

Lord. Whatever work you do must be converted into divine work. It must be

transformed into worship. When you see the Lord everywhere in everyone, then

you will be doing everything with God- i.e. Atmic consciousness.

When one is deluded by the mere external world and when one does not attain

success in such external desires, faith in the Lord diminishes. So, give up

such desires. Desire only for the spiritual relationship; then you won't become

the target of doubts and difficulties. The important thing for this is faith in

the Lord; without that, you start doubting everything, big and small.

It is in the field of action or karma that you most patently reveal your

character and the type of human being you are. That is why so much importance

has been given to performing all your actions without attachment to the fruits.

Just as a mirror can show you the type of your face, so your actions will reveal

the type of your inner feelings. People's actions will unmistakably reveal their

inner nature. Is in a person is predominantly satvik, rajasic, or tamasic in

nature, whether his/her inner being is serene and selfless, or desire-ridden

and quick to react negatively, or slothful, vicious and mean you can decide by

his/her actions.

The Gita declares that human life lies in action; you would not even be able

to sustain the body if you abstained from all actions. Therefore, every ordinary

human being, as well as every spiritual aspirant, should enter into the field of

activities and work. But the actions which you perform must be sacred actions;

they must conform to the principle of dharma. The Gita has not commanded

you to renounce everything, detach yourself from all worldly possessions and

interests, and go to the forest. Rather, the Gita has shown that an important

duty and responsibility of every human being is to undertake useful activities

in the world. It means engaging yourself in selfless and sacred actions that

promote the welfare of fellow human beings.

You have to practice such ideal actions without selfish motive. They must

originate not from the compulsive drive of desire, but from the peaceful

quality in your heart, devoid of self-interest and attachment to the fruits.

Ordinary people will not be able to perform actions completely without desire.

You will have to orient desires and actions the purpose of seeking and

experiencing God. That will lead you on the path to your goal of becoming one

with the divinity.

The sum and substance of all this is that you should offer up your mind to

the Lord. Do not allow your mind to follow desires. Offer all these desires up

to the Lord and follow only His dictates. Until you have done that, pleasure

and pain, happiness and sorrow and all the other pairs of opposites will be

present within you. If you want to become free of these opposites and treat all

things equally, you have to become mindless. As long as you retain the mind,

rajas and tamas will not leave you. So long as you have rajas and tamas, you

will have no steadiness. Why is the mind so unsteady, constantly hopping from

place to place? It is because of desires. These desires all relate to the body.

The body is like a vessel; the mind may be compared to the water inside. If the

vessel is steady then the water remains steady. In steady water you will be

able to see your own image. In moving water your image will be blurred and

indistinct.

You have to practice the truths that are contained in the great statements

made in the Gita after realizing their inner significance. The Gita has been

given to the entire world where Arjuna is as the medium, as the representative

humanity.

To follow these teachings you have to gradually reduce your desires and

wants, and gain an understanding of the principle of the Atma what will bring

to a permanent state of contentment. Just by memorizing the 700 verses of the

Gita you will not be able to experience the great truths that are hidden there.

These deeper truths will reveal themselves in the circumstances of daily life.

 

The practical purpose for daily life serves Swami's program "Ceiling on

Desires" decided on at the Tenth All India Conference of Sathya Sai

Organisations. There are four components in the term "Ceiling on Desires."

1. Curb on excessive talk, 2. Curb on excessive desires and expenditure,

3. Control of consumption of food,

4. Check on waste of energy.

Human needs some essential commodities for the sustenance. We can learn a

lesson in this respect from Nature. If in air is about 21 % oxygen, it is

comfortable and good for breathing. In other cases you will feel uncomfortable.

When you are thirsty, you can consume only a limited quantity of water. You

can't consume the entire water of the Ganga! We take only as much as is needed

for the sustenance of the body. In Nature is a limit for everything; the human

body is not an exception. When eyes happen to see a flash light, they shut

automatically. Ear drums cannot tolerate hearing beyond a certain volume.

 

For Maya-constituted beings, there are two Maya gates; the appetite for sex

and the appetite of the tongue. These two have to be conquered by everyone; so

long as they persist, they cause sorrow.

All worldly desires are comprehended by these two; so, only those who have

mastered these two can be said to have successfully waded through the world.

World has to serve only the purpose of just sustaining the body. Those aspiring

for Liberation have to subdue the senses. "Food for guarding the body, dress to

ward off the cold", says the Uttara Gita. You should not only practise yourself

but teach others also about ceiling on desires and to obtain the state of

contentment.

Do not encourage the multiplication of desires. Be satisfied with whatever

you have been given. Not running after worldly enjoyments. You have enjoyed so

many luxuries and so many sensual things in your life but you have not gained

peace and fulfillment from them. Give up chasing after them and you will gain

contentment. Even in purchase of garlands, you need not waste money. What

God wants is the flower of your heart that is filled with humility and

devotion.

Eight types of flowers can be offered to God, viz, Ahimsa

(Non-violence),Indhriya Nigraha (Controlof senses), Sarvabhootha Dhaya

(Compassion towards all beings), Sathyam (Truth), Dhyaanam (Meditation),

Shaanthi (Peace), Vinaya (Humility), and Bhakthi (Devotion).

Swami feels concerned about the excessive money that is spent the expensive

huge garlands offered to Swami on every occasion and also the use of flowers

for decorating the path. Devotees may show their affection by handing over one

flower and spend the money wasted on garlands for helping the poor people in

distress. God appreciates only motive and not the external things. What little

you do you must do with a good and pure heart.

Krishna has referred to "Pathram, Phalam, Pushpam, Thoyam" (that is, leaf,

fruit, flower or water) that can be offered to God. Leaf is not that you see

around you. The body itself is the leaf. Flower is the flower of your heart,

fruit is the fruit of your mind. Water refers to the tears of joy welling up

within you from a sincere and prayerful heart.

 

Keep your desires and your greed under control and be ever content. This will

earn for you the love of God. That you love God is not of much use unless you

get His love directed towards you. There is no point in shouting and saying

that God is yours. You have to aspire to hear from God the declaration that you

are His. That is the most important thing you must achieve in this life.

 

All actions take a time. You should be careful about 'time', which is the

yardstick of life. Seconds become hours, hours become years, years make yugas

(ages) and so on. Time lost in wasteful pursuits can't be got back by any

means. All activities should be planned for utilising the available time to

maximum advantage. So, we should not waste food, money, time and energy.

Time as a stream what is not limited; similarly humans desires also should

be limited. To collect unwanted and and unnecessary things is a wasting of

money and not more. Misuse of money is a great evil. When you talk of wealth

you should be careful to avoid avaricious accumulation and extravagant

expenditure. Even in the preparation of food, you should be careful in avoiding

wastage. It is disservice to consume more food than is necessary for the body.

Desire breeds more desire. If a person by chance gets the 1000 rupees, he

desires to have a million rupees. Then he would aspire to become a major

property owner. From a property owner he would want to become a legislator and

then a minister and then the prime minister. You must learn how to gain

contentment from whatever you have, being satisfied with whatever wealth you

have been given. Your responsibility is to take care of the possessions you

have received through the grace of God, and be happy.

 

The heart of a person who does not have contentment is like a bamboo basket

riddled with holes. When you are suffering from pangs of desire and greed, all

your contentment leaks away before you even have a chance to fulfill your

desires. When contentment leaves your heart, discontent takes its place.

Human should not have any desires separate from the one desire to fully

surrender to God. Surrender means implicitly following the commands given to

you by the Lord, whose directions will be clearly heard when He is enshrined in

your heart.

 

Krishna taught surrender as the highest and most important stage of

devotion. Once you have surrendered yourself fully to the Lord, you will gain

His grace. He will shelter you and protect you from all harm. But, surrender

does not mean giving up your discriminating faculty. You must discern what are

desires and what is truly divine, and surrender all your worldly desires,

offering them to the divine.

A farmer, for example, clears and levels the land, removes the stones and

thorns, ploughs and prepares the field, manures and strengthens the soil,

waters and fertilises it, and by sowing, transplanting, weeding, spraying and

waiting, he reaps the crop; after winnowing and threshing, he stacks the corn.

All these various processes are for the sake of the stomach; so too, one must

feel that all the hunger, thirst, joy and sorrow, grief and loss, suffering and

anger, food and appetite are but impulses helping us towards attaining the

Presence of the Lord.

Many and many an idea takes shape in the human heart; they wander to the

very ends of the eight directions. Some of these are mutually supporting; some

are mutually destructive. But without leaving them free, they must all be

canalised and disciplined to subserve some high purpose. You must have the

cleverness needed for this canalisation. It is not merely cleverness in the use

of external things; it lies more in the control and subjugation of the mental

faculties: This is essential for the blossoming of the Atma. For understanding

the faculties of your own mind, you must move with elders experienced in that

line or in the sublimation of the vagaries of the mind.

Until you intelligently fix upon a certain direction for all your thoughts

and activities, you will be only building shadowy castles in the air and

roaming about in them. Why, even your senses will be pursuing contradictory

paths and distracting your attention to such an extent, that you cannot easily

come to a decision regarding the ideal. They make you feel that their paths are

the best; but, you should always strive to change the course of the senses and

the imagination, to subjects and desires that are conducive to the ideal,

whatever be the difficulty, however serious the crisis. That is the sign of

real intelligence; that is the road to real Santhi.

Every one has, by virtue of human nature itself, the discrimination needed to

strive for the ideal. You should not allow the slightest idea of neglect to

hinder you, or stand in your way. The Santhi based on Jnana can arise only out

of actual experience; the end and the consequence of each and every act is and

must be Jnana. The Progress of the individual consists in activity, done with

discrimination.

An example. Even if a person has all the means of comfortable travel cars,

planes or other conveniences, he/she has perforce to walk, in spite of

everything, for the sake of health. Whoever one is, whatever the Sadhana one

is engaged in, he/she has perforce to experience the activity and learn the

consequence for the sake of his mental health. Otherwise, mental weakness

cannot be cured.

 

For the establishment of oneself in the contemplation of the Omnipresent

Lord, there is no limitations of time or space. There is nothing like a holy

place or a special time for this. Wherever the mind revels in the contemplation

of the divine that is the Holy Place.

For meditation on God, there is no fixed time or place. When and where the

mind so desires, then and there is the time and place.

The world can achieve prosperity through disciplined souls whose hearts are

pure and who represent the salt of the earth. Everyone should pray, from this

very minute, for the advent of such men and try to deserve the blessings of the

great and endeavour to forget the sufferings of the day in the attempt to

promote the welfare of the world.

(Reet's compilation from,

Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol.16. "Ceiling on desires" Chapter 3;

Sathya Sai Baba. Sathya Sai Vahini. Chapter "Colour and Caste;"

Sathya Sai Baba. Prema Vahini. Chapters "The Harvest of a Sadhaka" and

"Sat-Sankalpa is the Path for Attaining the Presence;"

Sathya Sai Baba. Prashanthi Vahini. Page 40;

Sai Baba Gita. Part One - Path of Devotion. Chapter IV "Inner Inquiry. The

Path of Wisdom."

Part Two - Path of Wisdom. Chapter XXI "To Know the

Divinity Is to Become the Divinity," Chapter XXIII "Limit Desires, Be Ever

Content and You Will Be Dear to God" and Chapter XXX "To Become Free -

Surrender Your Mind to God."

Part Three - Path of Action. Chapter XXXIII

"Developing the Inner Vision").

 

Namaste - Reet

[Guest guest]

Beautiful compilation of swami's speeches... Thaks a lot

 

Sairam

Balachander