Guest guest Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 The Sunday Talk Given by Anil Kumar"Knowing the Self"February 27th, 2005 OM.OM.OM.Sai RamWith Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan,Dear Brothers and Sisters,what is the greatest achievement?I would like to share with you some thoughts this morning. They concern someof the most important points on the spiritual path. Consider a question thatyou will come across in every walk of life, in every sphere of publicactivity. Ask any person in the academic field, "What is your greatest achievement?" His answer is "Sir, I have a Ph.D." A Ph.D. -- that is the greatest achievement for a man in the academic field. If you ask a parliamentarian, "What is your greatest achievement? " he may well say, "I could be a cabinet minister -- that gives me the greatest satisfaction." Ask a businessman, "What is your greatest achievement?" Expect him to say,"Well, I could be tops in having maximum dividends on my investments." Therefore, my friends, in every field we have certain parameters, certainself-assigned norms, which decide the greatest achievements in our lives.WORLDLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE NOT THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTSActually, none of these worldly achievements are great in any sense. Shouldwe consider academic accomplishment the greatest achievement? Certainly not. A discovery today, a new theory today is outdated tomorrow. If you are anexpert today, there will be a greater expert tomorrow. Therefore, in thefield of education one cannot hope to forever dominate, because thefrontiers of knowledge widen every day. Even on the economic front, what weconsider to be our greatest achievement may not, in truth, be so.During the recent tsunami, millionaires and billionaires were reduced to thelevel of paupers and beggars. On the political front, there cannot be any'greatest achievement', because governments are toppled every month. Aminister today may be forced to resign tomorrow. A no-confidence motion inthe Parliament may vote down an entire government.There cannot be anything like the greatest achievement in any field, albeitwe like to entertain fond notions that we could achieve somethingspectacular. It is all fallacy, all imagination. If there is any 'greatest achievement' in this world, it can be only this: to truly, fully know the Self, to be one with the Self.THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT IS TO KNOW THE SELFTo fully know the Self and to be one with the Self is the greatest achievement in this world; there is nothing else. In His discourse the other day, Bhagavan told us, "If the purpose of education is to give you the ability to earn your daily bread, how is it that you find birds, beasts andanimals living on their own, sustaining themselves without receiving degreesfrom any university?"You don't find any lion getting a Ph.D. -- no Dr. Lion. We don't find any Dr. Tiger or Dr. Fox or anything like that. But animals do live independently; they find their own food. They are completely capable of eating, drinking, and procreation. They need no university degree for this purpose. Therefore my friends, if at all we are to define the greatest achievement of mankind, it is this: the ability to recognise the Self, to experience the Self, and learning to be one with the Self.Why should this problem of not knowing the Self exist? The simple reason isthat we identify our soul with the body. We identify ourselves with the mind; we identify ourselves with the intellect. BMI -- body, mind and intellect. But we have not penetrated the depths of the real Self. The body functions because of the Self; the mind thinks because of the Self; theintellect discriminates because of the Self. Without the Self, these three are non- functional.However we have forgotten the primordial, fundamental principle of the Self. We depend on the superficial, external, transient, ever-changing body, mindand intellect. Therefore the greatest achievement of man today should be to know the Self, to be with the Self and to experience the Self. That is what all prophets have said, and that is what all sacred texts declare.THE SPIRITUAL PATH TO IMMORTALITY Worldly achievements actually count for nothing. Our charity is a matter ofvanity, our education is a matter of ego and pride, and our position is nothing but pomp and show. Without the knowledge of the Self, human life is in vain. It is absolutely necessary to know the Self. The process of knowing the Self is the only true spiritual path, which can take you to Immortality. If I am to proceed in the spiritual path, the only way forward is to know the Self. The only aim is to know the Self.Sometimes questions arise: What about worship? What about meditation? Whatabout reading the scriptures? My friends, we do not dismiss theseactivities. We do not underestimate them. Reading, chanting, meditation, penance, and worship -- these are all sacred acts that serve as our preparation; but they are never the ultimate destination, the highestactivity -- no. These serve as preparation to weed the field of the human heart. These activities prepare you; they make your mind pure and steady. Meditation will make the mind free from the busy traffic of thoughts. Singing the glory of God will help to keep the mind equanimous and balanced. Chanting will help you to concentrate. But none of these are the ultimate.THE CENTRE OF LIFE My friends, all of these points are taken from Bhagavan's literature. I amnot capable of giving my own interpretation, nor do I hope to do so in future. I can only repeat, parrot-like, all that I gather from Sai literature, from the words of Bhagavan. The only way to Immortality is the path of enquiry or vicharana. The path of enquiry or vicharana will take us to the very centre of our life, the very being of our life, which is the Self. This Self, this centre of life, is the core of every being.The centre of life is the centre of the whole universe or cosmos. There is not one centre for you and one centre for me. That very centre of our life is uniform. It is the same throughout the entire cosmos -- what we call 'being', Self or 'existence'. Self, being, existence, consciousness happens to be the same for the whole universe. You and I differ in our periphery, but we are identical in our consciousness, in that immortal energy which constitutes our very being, our very existence.Here is a simple example: A central spot exists around which you draw circles bigger and bigger, wider and wider. You may draw any number of circles, but the centre remains the same. Similarly, we differ in our area; we differ in our periphery. But the very centre of our life, the Self, continues the same. It is the centre of the entire universe, what Bhagavan calls Atma or consciousness. Swami wants us to always remind ourselves of this very centre of our life. That action He calls 'constant integrated awareness'.CONSTANT INTEGRATED AWARENESS Constant integrated awareness is nothing but the constant thought, the constant effort, the constant experience, and the constant awareness of the Self. It is constant awareness of the consciousness, which is the absolute centre of our life. This is the greatest achievement - the achievement of constant integrated awareness. Minus this, life is not worth living.We follow many scriptures; we follow many gurus; we approach many DivineMasters. We go to different temples, mosques, synagogues, churches, and holy centres. We go on pilgrimages. But that is all useless, a waste of money and physical strain, if the centre of life is not known and experienced. I do not mean that you should not go to these places. Please don't misunderstand me. Please go, but remember: that is all only preparation.Dressing up and going in your automobile to attend a wedding is all a preparation, is it not? You have your special suit ready, you have the vehicle ready and you reach the wedding venue. This is only preparation. The actual witnessing of the wedding, the experience of the wedding, is different from the preparation for arrival.Similarly, all our spiritual procedures are paths, which are adopted to help us arrive at our ultimate destination. They are a part of preparation to experience the Self, which is the culmination of any spiritual path. That is the reason why Bhagavan Baba, in every Divine discourse, particularly makes reference to this Atma, the Self or consciousness. But some of us are so busy with our own pleas, our own personal agenda, our own prayers, our own problems, or waiting for a chance to pass on a letter to Swami, praying that we will get a chance to sit in the front row, that we are completelymentally occupied. We have no time to listen in depth to Swami.But Bhagavan gives all this information for one reason only: to teach usabout the Self. On one occasion, Bhagavan Baba said, "I may say anything. Imay make people speak anything. I may start any project. I may do anything. It is all for one purpose -- to make you proceed along the quest, along thepath towards the Self." Without awareness of the Self, we have missed the bus altogether.Bhagavan, in His discourses, also gives a complete and thorough analysis ofthese Divine teachings. I can collect various thoughts from His writings. Ican arrange them topic-wise and share them with you. If I am to be called atranslator, it can be only for my homework, not for originality and creativity. Creativity is all His. Certainly, when an Avatar is in our midst, we don't need to manipulate His words to our design. It is not at all necessary.SPIRITUAL CONFUSIONThe second interesting thing is this: Why are we miserable? Why are we unhappy? Why are we confused? We have to accept that we are very much confused. Some people say, "Sir, is Baba God?" after having been here in Prashanti Nilayam for ten years. A person says, "Does Baba really know me? Although I have here for the last ten years, does He really know my problems, or is He God-on-vacation? What does He really know? Does He know me or not?"Suddenly, the next morning that person says with conviction, "Baba knowseverything!" In the morning he says Baba knows everything. During the previous evening, he doubted if Baba knew everything or not. This is spiritual confusion. One minute we say that we should know how to conduct our lives according to Bhagavan's principles. Later we decide to do everything that we like to do instead. So, in our procedures and in our thought processes, we are confused. Why should all this happen? We are already confused in the world, so why should we confuse matters on the spiritual path also?CAUSES FOR SPIRITUAL CONFUSIONBaba gives a beautiful analysis on the pathology of confusion. I am sure youwill appreciate this. I think you will all agree with me that we are all confused. If anyone says that he is not confused, he has to be bogus #1, hypocrite #1! Do away with him! We want an honest discussion here. Why the spiritual confusion?According to Bhagavan Baba, the first reason is this: I feel I am separate from God. I feel I am different from God. I have been thinking God is elsewhere, so I think God is separate from me. This feeling of separateness, this feeling of difference, between the individual and Divinity is the cause for confusion.If I think God is in Tirupathi (a famous pilgrimage centre in South India), I think I must go and meet Him there. If God is in Benares or Kashi, I should certainly go and say hello to Him there. If God is elsewhere, I should go there and say, "Hi Sir, how are You?" There are so many gods all over the place, equal in number to our population! Is not so, my friends?We think that all these centers of worship -- temples, churches, mosques,shrines - and all these great leaders -- priests, pastors, imans, and ministers -- will help us to take to spiritual practice. We think all these pilgrim centers and all these pilgrimages will give us mental peace. It is true that they are necessary. At the same time, as long as I have this feeling of my own identity, separate from God -- that I am different from Him -- the confusion will remain for lifetimes to come.We have all gone through several lifetimes, no doubt about it. Nobody can say, "Sir, I never had a previous life." It is akin to a tree saying, "I don't know what a seed is. I have never been a seed." The tree today is nothing but the sprouting, the germination, of the seed from yesterday. It is only due to the seed of yesterday that we have the tree today. So we areall here because of the previous lifetime, beyond a doubt.That doesn't mean, however, that we need to visit so-called visionaries whowill tell us the story of our previous life. Some people want to know who they were in the previous life. It is a useless quest, a complete waste of money. Some people do good business out of this. "Oh, yes, I'll tell what you were for the past ten lives!" Then they present you with the bill, the accounts. However, you don't have to pay me anything, and I'll tell you who you were for your past one hundred lives!At one time, you must have been stupid; at another time, you must have beena fool. That's all. Had we been perfect, had we been realised souls, had webeen one with the Self, we would not have been born at all! A fellow appears for a supplementary examination. If he says that he is a gold medallist, we will laugh at him. If he is a gold medallist, why should he have to appearfor a supplementary examination at all? If he claims to be a millionaire,why should he have go for a bank loan? The very fact that I am born is proof enough that I am on an eternal journey. My friends, we are on an eternal journey. It is not at all like flight arrivals and departures, no, no, no!FEELING OF SEPARATENESS FROM GODIt is nothing like arrival/departure, this spiritual journey. It is one continuous journey, nonstop. The difference is, now and then, it changes its form, that's all -- form and name. But the journey is eternal. There will come times when we are disgusted, vexed, bored, frustrated and depressed with this eternal journey. Though we may like to travel, we can't keep traveling for months and months. There should be an end to it.Similarly, this eternal journey should come to an end at some point or other. The cycle of birth and death should come to an end at some point or other. It is possible, if only we know, if only we realise, if only we experience, if only we identify with the Self, which is beyond the body and the mind. So, according to our Bhagavan, the reason for life-after-life, death-after-death, rebirth, and all the attendant misery and confusion, is this feeling of separateness we entertain so wholeheartedly, this feeling of our separate identity from God. That is one reason.THE MIND IS THE CAUSE FOR SPIRITUAL CONFUSIONThe second reason for our confusion is uniform throughout: our minds are responsible. Mind is the cause for confusion. If anyone says, "My mind never confuses", it only means he is out of his mind; he has become mental. Because it is the mind that confuses one, there is no doubt about it. TheBhagavad Gita clearly declares how confusing the mind is, how wavering themind is, how difficult it is to control the mind.Therefore my friends, in this present day, our minds are in a state of spiritual confusion. You may say, "How is it so? My mind has brought me here. It is my mind that made me prayerful. It is my mind that made me respectful. It is my mind that made me worship Bhagavan Baba. Why do you blame my mind?""No, sir. Mind is a bundle of desires. Spirituality tells us to be desireless." If Baba kept telling us again and again that spirituality is a state of desirelessness, if He repeatedly went on plugging this into our ears day and night, I am sure that most of this place (the ashram) would be vacant!SPIRITUALITY IS EXPERIENCING REALITYMany people won't take the trouble to visit this place (Prashanti Nilayam). We come here with multiple desires; we come here with added desires. We wantsomething to be done; we want Swami's interference, nothing less! Immediate Divine intervention!Somebody met me yesterday and said, "I want immediate intervention fromSwami." "Oh, I see! My boy, I understand it. I want it too!"(Laughter).No one is free from this. All want His attention! Why? For their own personal problems -- for joint pains, arthritis, spondilitis or pneumonia. Whether it is high blood sugar, low blood sugar, blood pressure, heart ailment or lung problems, we all have some problem or other. We have got so many things to tell Swami that we want His attention. But Baba says, "You are not the body." We are not the body, yet we come here to speak to Him about our body problems.Somebody asked the great sage Ramana Maharshi, "Swami, we want to know ourprevious lives". He simply laughed and said, "You don't have to know yourprevious lives, because any number of lives you may pass through, it is onlybody identification." So long as it is body identification, it is utterly false. Until you come out of this falsity into reality, you can never understand spirituality.Spirituality is experiencing the reality, which is nothing but opening up orcoming out of falsity. Those who are in cities know what falsities are. Everything is false in a city. Even smiles are false; they don't mean anything. On the face of it, someone may be saying, "We'll meet again", but within he feels, "Let me not run into this fellow for the rest of my life!" Falsity. Unless we come out of falsity, we cannot know reality. Until the reality of the Self is experienced, there is no spirituality.THOUGHTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MISERYBhagavan Baba says the mind is the cause for confusion. This mind does notkeep quiet. It doesn't remain stagnant; it doesn't remain passive; it is full of thoughts. Someone once remarked that if you care to note down all the thoughts that come into your mind, putting them down on paper, ninety per cent of the thoughts we have would be shameful thoughts. We cannot declare them openly (Laughter). It would be a 'number two account' (Laughter). We will not be happy with our thoughts. Come on, try it: write down every thought that comes into our mind. "Let me jump over this man; let me cross over this man; let me finish off that man!" (Laughter)Therefore my friends, thoughts are responsible for all misery. These thoughts take you to an action, and the action will necessarily give a reaction or consequence. And we cannot escape from the reaction, the consequence, or the reward of our actions -- impossible! It may be possible to bribe an income tax officer, but not God, the 'Chief Tax Officer' - impossible! He is ready with the balance sheet. You cannot escape Him.A thought of the mind may not be translated into action, and that action maynot take you into reaction; but the very thought itself will be registeredthere like software in a computer. We have to pay for the very thought. Why?Somebody asked Shirdi Bhagavan, "Oh Swami, You are beating Your devoteeslike this with Your stick. You are so harsh, my dear Bhagavan. I am feeling so badly for being here. I feel so badly because either You neglect me or manhandle me. What is all this about?"Shirdi Bhagavan replied, "My son, I know that you are not happy to be here.But you do not know why you are here.""Oh, I see. Swami, what made me come here?"Swami told him, "You prayed in the last previous life to come and be with Me. Therefore you are here now and you cannot run away from Me. My dear son, you prayed that you might be here, that you should be close to Swami. Therefore you are here. Even if you don't want be here now, you cannot get out of this, as it is the previous life prayer answered now."The same story repeats even now. History repeats; cassettes rewind and replay. Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba says that is how it is. It is true. Some of us, all of us who are devotees of Bhagavan, who are active workers in His organisation working in different areas of service, sometimes regret being here.WE ARE HERE DUE TO SWAMI'S WILLSometimes we may be disappointed, feeling that we did not obtain all that wewanted in this world. In times of depression, we may feel that we have not achieved anything at all, that we have made no profit at all. We look at our friends who are not devotees and we find them prospering. Their bank accounts are full, their passbooks full, their pages full (Laughter), and we think, 'Well, I am a fool, while my counterpart's pockets are full! What should I do now?'It is times like this that we feel frustrated. But my friends, let us be convinced of this basic fact: We are not here of our own accord; we have not come here on our own steam. We have been brought here. Bhagavan has caught us. It is His Divine Will, and we cannot escape this Divine Will.I can give you any number of examples. A person who was here for a week could not get Swami's attention. He was very much enraged, very angry . Out of disgust, he got up and he was about to leave the premises.Swami turned back and walked along to him quickly, looked deeply into his eyes and said, "I know you have been here for the past week. Are you not comfortable here? You have been fighting with your wife all along (before you came here). Now you are on vacation! Enjoy this period, my dear young man! (Laughter) If you want to be what you were before, with your wife, all right, ask her to come here so that the same life can be repeated! I thought that you were on vacation. I thought you were feeling quite leisurely, enjoying your vacation. I know when to talk to you." Then this fellow wasvery much surprised and shocked."Oh Swami, ok, well, when will you talk to me?"Bhagavan replied, "The moment you stop smoking. I don't relish any smell of smoke. Until you give up smoking, I cannot be anywhere near you. But I know that you have been here for a whole week."Similarly, there were many instances where Bhagavan told many devotees, "Iknew you in your last four lives. I have known you for the last seven lives." So Swami has in His Divine 'register' all our past, present and future. Who are we to decide it?Some people say, "Why can't we settle in Prashanti Nilayam?" Who are you todecide this? Who are you to settle? Some fellow may say, "I have settled here." By the evening, he may be unsettled! (Laughter) There is nothing like 'settlement' and 'unsettlement'. It is only what happens at the moment, in the moment of 'right now', that's all.Some people ask me, "Have you settled here permanently?" I don't know. Permanent? Can you settle anywhere permanently? Who knows the date ofexpiry? (Laughter) We do have the expiry date stamped on our medicine. But we do not know the date of expiry on our life, though God has already stamped the expiry date on us.Therefore, there is nothing like a 'permanent resident' or a 'temporary resident' -- nothing like that at all. We are all temporary! All of us are immigrants. For practical purposes, we may say that we are 'permanentresidents'. But it only means 'permanently temporary' or 'temporarily permanent', that's all. There is no permanence as such.THE MIND IS A BUNDLE OF DESIRESTherefore, the first reason for not knowing the Self is our feeling of separateness from God. This is responsible for confusion. The second point is that the mind entertains this thought, this feeling of separateness. The thought takes you to action, enabling you to face the reaction and the rewards of all your actions. This is a factor responsible for the present mental confusion.The third point, the definition of the mind is this, as Bhagavan Baba has often said that the mind is nothing but a bundle of threads, of desires, closely interwoven. When threads are closely interwoven, they all make a cloth. The cloth is made up of interwoven threads. Similarly, desires which are densely, closely, compactly placed and interwoven, will make this piece of cloth, the mind. So desires are responsible for confusion.Somebody said yesterday, "We have come from long distances. Swami has notlooked at us. What shall we do?"I said, "What you can do is to continue to pray. We have to wait, that's all. There is no alternative; there is no easy way. Even if we were successful in getting our case recommended (to Bhagavan) by anybody, He would completely ignore our whole file. That's all there is to it. We'll be on the black list. There are no recommendations in the 'Sai Durbar'. Every file is judged on grounds of merit, best known only to Him."My friends, don't get disappointed. Don't think that He has not looked at you. Be happy that you could look at Him. Why? Know that Bhagavan looks at everybody. Because of His merciful, tender, delicate, affectionate, loving attention and looks, we are truly, fully alive at this moment. He always looks at everybody. So it is necessary for us to look at Him.Why do you say, "Swami, You must look at me"? He will simply laugh at you. "I have been looking at you all along, My dear boy. You are looking at Meonly now. Look at Me completely; look at Me thoroughly." Therefore my friends, let us not be disappointed. Let us not raise the issue saying,"Swami has not looked at me." That is all foolishness and ignorance. We havecome here to look at Him.Someone may say that Swami looked at him. How can I say that He has notlooked at me? How can you say that? Baba Himself gives the answer: "Where doI look? I look all around." So Swami's looks are there all around, on everybody. It is only our mind that really confuses this, because of its own identity. It is more or less an ego problem, not the reality.DESIRE MAKES ONE LOSE THE POWER OF DISCRIMINATION"OK, Swami, what shall I do now?" Swami tells us very clearly. When desiresincrease, what happens? Desires may be fulfilled or not, problems may be solved or not, but one thing is sure to happen. What is it? We lose the sense of discrimination. We lose the sense of judgment.The man who yesterday declared, "Baba is God", today begins asking, "Is HeGod?" Why? Yesterday you said, "He is God" and today you say, "Is He God?"Why? Because we are not aware of our inner Divinity, we link up with our worldly matters and desires. A simple example: If my son gets a seat in the medical college, Baba is God. If he does not, is He God or not?So our understanding of spirituality and religion is linked with our desires. Therefore we are not happy. We lose our judgement. We lose the capacity to discriminate. The intellect fails. Therefore, Baba says spirituality or religion has got nothing to do with desire. The purpose of religion is to make you desireless. Desireless.As we are not aware of it, we have got any number of desires, which multiplymore and more: 'Last night I wanted to ask one question. This morning I have another question! Two questions to ask Swami today, and tomorrow, three!' All these questions are out-of-the question in the sight of Sai.The second reason Bhagavan gives is this: Desires are responsible for spiritual confusion. "So Swami, what should I do? Can You give me any other reason?"Swami says, "You are disappointed in your life. Somehow you have lost track of your life. You are not able to enjoy the gift of life. What a tragedy this is! When God has given you this beautiful life, you are not able toenjoy it."Some people add years to their life. Add years to their life -- 80, 82, 84,85. It is nothing but waiting for death, waiting to die. Let us not add years to life; no, let us add life to the years. Let us add life to years! There is nothing like aging. It is a life of growing. There is nothing like retirement; there is nothing like old age. There is nothing like geriatric. Everything is basically pediatric (Laughter). We are all children in the sight of God.There is no such thing as an old man, please be convinced of this. Bhagavan was joking with Joga Rao once. Joga Rao is quite old, as most of you know. Now he is now 102, living in Bangalore. At that time he was aged 80. Swami started joking with him, with this 80-year-old man.Swami said, "Oh your pants.four people will fit into your pants (because ofthe large size of Joga Rao's body)!" We were all laughing. "Four people willfit into your trousers!" That's how Swami was joking with him. Suddenly He looked at the boys and said, "Joga Rao may be an elderly man to you; but he is, after all, a child to Me."THE SELF IS AGELESSSo, my dear friends, let us not consider that we are elderly people, aged people, or old people. That's the worst disease that could ever happen. Age is a matter of time. Age is a matter of calendar; age is a matter of years. But the Self or Atma is beyond age. It is timeless; it is immortal; it is nectarine, without spot or blemish. It has neither a beginning nor an end. Knowing this, how can you say you are old?We know many elderly people, who can work more enthusiastically than most ofthe youngsters. Many of the youngsters, if you ask them to do any tediouswork, some laborious work for half an hour, they will say, "Sir, I am tired. Give me some other work." We have not come across any elderly person complaining, and we have not met any youngster who is not complaining. Sonow, who is actually young in spirit?The other day, when I saw some senior citizens who were honored on the tenth(celebration date), I went around to everybody. I know all of them. I asked," How old are you?"They said, "Seventy-five.""Stop that nonsense," I said. "Who said you are 75? Let me see the date ofyour birth certificate, because you don't look that old! You look so young!"My friends, one can look young when the mind is fresh. One can look youngwhen one is desireless. One can look young when one can share others' happiness, and unhappiness as well. One can look young when one is ever loving. One can look young when one is ever sharing, loving, caring, and concerned for everybody. One can look young when one is in the constant company of God. Once you are in the constant company of God, you are always y oung. Why? Because the youngest of the young, the oldest of the old is God Himself. He will never allow you to age, never. Therefore my friends, our problem is that we go by time, forgetting the Timeless. We go by our age, forgetting the One beyond age.HAPPENINGS AND DOINGSSo, why are we missing the boat? Why are we spiritually confused? Therefore, Bhagavan tells us this: We are spiritually confused because we have notlearned to accept things as they happen in our lives. We have not learned to accept things as they happen in our lives. Suppose I get a promotion, I am happy. When I am not promoted, I am unhappy. I have not learned to accept that it is happening as it should.My friends, let us be clear about these two words, happenings and doings. There are only two things in life: one is 'happenings' and the other is'doings'. Am I clear? I am not student of English; I am a student of botany. The plants that do not speak, want me to speak on their behalf! So, there are only two things -- happenings and doings. If anybody asks you, "Are you here?" you should not say, " I am here." If you say, "I am here", that is a 'doing'. On the other hand, if you say, "Well, Swami brought me here", that is a 'happening'.Once we understand what a happening is and what a doing is, we will be ableto accept things as they come in our life -- ungrudgingly, unconditionallyhappily, selflessly, smilingly, willfully, and joyfully. I am ready to accept anything if I understand that life is full of happenings and notdoings.A simple example: I am here in the ashram. I have been here since last week.Nobody is encouraging me; nobody is looking at me. Even Swami is neglectingme. All these things feel like this because I consider this situation as my doing. On the other hand, if I think that it is a happening, it so happened that I am here; it so happened that He brought me here; it so happened that I am still happy, even though He is not looking at me. I know it is not my doing. Looking at me or ignoring me is a happening. It is not my doing."So Swami looked at me, so what? (Laughter). So what? Swami gave me aninterview, then what? (Laughter). Swami gave me a ring -- so what? So what? I have not done anything. I am in no way greater than anybody here. I am, after all is said and done, normal, just like everybody else." He knows best the reason why He gave you a ring.Perhaps if He tells you the reason, you may have to run away from here! (Laughter) He may tell you why He has given you the ring: "I have given youthe ring to save you from a dangerous death." Now, would you still ask, "I want a ring, Swami?" (Laughter)"Let me not face death, I am happy without a ring!"Similarly, if you ask Swami, "Swami, why did You give that man vibhuthi? Whyhaven't You given me vibhuthi? I want vibhuthi now."He may very well say, "That fellow is suffering from cancer; therefore I have given it to him. Do you want it now also?" (Laughter)HAPPENINGS HELP TRANSCEND DUALITYSo my friends, things happen.things happen in life; they are not doings. Ifyou think that you do things, if situations are 'doings', you have to take the credit or discredit. You have to feel happy or unhappy, if all the situations are your doings.But if the situations are 'happenings', you realise, "Oh God, let the situation play out according to Your design. I am ready to accept it. I am ready to accept it because the happenings of life will help me to transcend the duality of pleasure and pain. Happenings will give me the temperament to go beyond misery and happiness. I will be non-dual." Therefore my friends, Bhagavan wants us to accept things as they happen in life, so that we will not be confused. Some people recently told me, "Sir, we have a lot of hope that Swami willcall us for an interview." So what? If He has not called you, are you feeling hopeless now? I am sorry, my friends. Whether He does things according to your expectations or not, be convinced of the fact that things happen as He wills, and not according to your choice.PREFERENCE AND CHOICEIn fact, my friends, I am tempted to pass on another beautiful idea. There are two words: 'preference' and 'choice'. Just like happenings and doings, there is preference and choice.I ask you, "Sir, would you prefer coffee or tea?"You say, " I prefer coffee."If I say, "Sir, coffee is not available", you say, "Doesn't matter. I can manage with tea." In preference, you can manage with one of the two, whereas in a choice, you choose one over the other."Here are two drinks. What is your choice, sir?" You say you want coffee. Isay it is not available. It doesn't matter to you. After all, you can havecoffee some other time. With preference, you prefer one thing. When that onething is not given, well, you would like to do without, to remain silent.Just think this over.I will repeat once again. When two things are there, you prefer one of them.That means the other thing is not acceptable to you. When there are twoquestions, choose one of the two. You can answer this one or that one. In achoice, option is given, like with multiple-choice questions.CHOICELESS AWARENESSBut in regard to spirituality, let us remember Baba's favorite words: "Lifeis one of choiceless awareness." Abba, what beautiful words! If we are topick up vocabulary, let us listen to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. No one has ever used these words, 'constant integrated awareness' or 'CIA'. He also uses this definition: "Life is choiceless awareness."What does He mean by 'choiceless awareness'? Choiceless awareness means thatyou have no choice (Laughter). You have no choice! "All right, Baba. You dowhat You like. You can cancel darshan, thank You. Or You can give darshannow, ok. But if You don't, ok." This is what is called 'choicelessawareness'. Choiceless awareness will make us really happy. Choiceless awareness will give us gratification, satisfaction and complacency. Because, if we think we have got a choice, we will feel sad if we don't get our choice.So, preference and choice -- let us understand this: In preference, you prefer one to the other; but in choice, you can get along with or without one or the other. Yes, you can choose one of the two, coffee or tea; both are available. But in spirituality, you are choiceless."Swami, You come here for darshan at 3 'o' clock, so that we can have an afternoon nap." That afternoon He decides to be there at 2.30 PM. Next day you say, "Swami, since You came at 2.30 yesterday, I am here on the dot at 2.30." He may then conveniently come at 4 'o'clock instead. Choiceless. You have no choice in the matter. Choiceless.DOUBTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SPIRITUAL CONFUSIONLet us understand all the happenings in Prashanti Nilayam. All the happenings relating to Bhagavan are full of this choicelessness. Therefore, life is, in reality, one of choiceless awareness. Knowing this will certainly help us to transcend the duality of pleasure and pain. This is the one way of getting out of spiritual confusion.Bhagavan made another point: The mind full of doubts is responsible for spiritual confusion. Can anybody say, "I have no doubts in my mind"? If anyone says that, well, I doubt that he understands anything.When I say in the class, "Boys, any doubts?" If the boys say, "Sir, we haveno doubts", I tell them, "You have not understood anything in the class!" I am not going to accept it. Students should have doubts; they should put forward their doubts. When I explain in class, there is always the scope for doubt. There is always the possibility of clarification, of further explanation. The student cannot say, "I have no doubts." Impossible!DOUBTS OF A SEEKER ARE POSITIVETherefore, our minds are full of doubts. But my friends, doubt is not anegative point. Please let us be clear about this. Some people say, "Sir, mymind is full of doubts; therefore, I am hopeless." You may be hopeless, but doubts are not hopeless! (Laughter) You may be hopeless; I do accept that. (Laughter) Continue to be so. But the point is this: Doubt is positive;doubt is not negative.A simple example: "Sir, will Swami act in such-and-such fashion? Will Swamisay this or that?" This is doubt. This doubt is not negative. He wants toknow more about Swami. He wants to seek a clarification from you. He wantsto find some explanation from you. He wants to have a detailed account from you. So, the doubt of a seeker is positive, whereas the doubt of a non-believer is negative. If you have a fellow who doesn't believe in God, who goes on doubting, better we keep him at a distance. Because he won't leave you alone until you are also a non-believer -- finished! (Laughter)But a devotee, an aspirant, a seeker, has doubts: "Sir, is Swami going tospeak this evening?" Can you say that he is a useless fellow for askingthat? No. He may ask, "Does Swami know the future?" Can you say that, inasking such a question, he is therefore not a devotee? He may say, "Is Swamigoing to cure this patient or not? Why has this thing happened here?" Doesthis mean to say this fellow is not a devotee? No, my friends. He is a seeker. So, doubt based on prayer is positive, whereas a doubt based on the materialistic world is negative. Doubts based on the secular world are negative.A respectful prayer, a prayer born out of the heart, which generates certaindoubts, will strengthen the faith, will deepen the faith, will find a fulfillment in prayer. My friends, never treat doubt as a negative quality. All the doubts of Arjuna are there in Bhagavad Gita. Can we say Arjuna was afool? No, he has expressed all his doubts to Lord Krishna, seeking clarification from Him, so that he will have a detailed understanding of the subject. It was not that he doubted the very Divinity of Krishna. He did not doubt the Divinity; he wanted to know more about Him. Therefore Arjuna put forward his doubts. I think I am clear.We are spiritually confused because of doubts born out of the materialisticmind, doubts born out of the analytical mind, doubts born out of the investigating, experimenting mind. But a doubt born out of the existential mind, the realistic mind, the spiritual mind is always a positive doubt. Therefore we should cultivate a prayerful mind, a genuine mind. You doubt soas to enhance positive faith. We will continue this next week. Thank youvery much for your time and patience. (Applause) OM.OM.OM. Asato Maa Sad GamayaTamaso Maa Jyotir GamayaMrtyormaa Amrtam GamayaOm Loka Samastha Sukhino BhavantuLoka Samastha Sukhino BhavantuLoka Samastha Sukhino BhavantuOm Shanti Shanti Shanti - courtesy Sairam Website, http://www.ssso.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 Om sai ram wonderful article sai ram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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