Swami teaches... Spiritual clarifications and medical notes

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

Light and Love Swami teaches.... (2 - 4 July 2005)

 

Spiritual Clarifications and Medical Notes

 

Swami teaches people about 70 years. His Teaching depends on the time when

and to whom they were told. During these years science has promoted far,

economic development of the countries and humans requirements were developed in

the direction of consumption and degradation of a nature. The topics of His

Teaching are in order today as 70 years ago. At present time the spiritual

values are more completely hidden into forests of consumer-society grids. It is

an urgent need for larger publicity of Swami's Teaching. Swami tells He wants

publicity to principles, not to individuals. He wants publicity for the

teachings and the messages.

Reading His texts or taking part in direct or virtual darshans it seems that

'ego' as scatters, transforms into dispassionate observer of the material and

spiritual world as from outside. Is it an influence of the Divine vibrations

that illuminated from His texts?

 

Life is as a correlated fluctuation of different atmic (divine) vibrations.

Human consciousness reflects the world from a limited point of view by senses,

by various body (brain) activities in sensual, social or spiritual spheres.

>From certain balance between them depends on the human's behavior, his truths

and untruths; his level of intellect and moral values.

The ego is at the root of all the factions that rob the world of peace

today. Individual fights with individual, country hates country; in every

field, in every community, hatred and envy are having full play. The cause is

in us; but we accuse others and multiply discontent, through avarice and fear.

When some aspirant follows a saint, another asks him why; and when the reply is

given that it is to gain mental peace, he tries his worst to cast doubt and turn

him back.

People become anemic and then they are liable to be infected by more serious

fevers, because their powers of resistance are weakened. So too, when they lose

faith in God, they lose faith in themselves; when they lose faith in their own

strength and divinity, they lose faith in the source of that strength and

divinity, namely God. They then become the victims of pride, hate and envy and

such other acute fevers, which rob them of mental health. To escape from the

anemia of want of faith, practice Naamasmarana (remembrance of the Lord) the

reading of scriptures and the contemplation of the evanescence of the world

with all its charms.

 

Human being is a mixture of the three gunas (Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas). Tamas

and Rajas pull a person downwards; Sattwa lifts upwards. Tamas and Rajas lead

to bondage; Sattwa helps to attain salvation. When the mind is Sattwic, there

is calmness in it. Divine light can descend when the mind is serene and

cheerful.

There is an intimate connection between the gunas and karmas. The nature of

the karmas depends upon the nature of the gunas. A Saathwic person will do

virtuous actions. A Raajasic and Thaamasic person will perform non-virtuous

actions. It is the guna that goads a person to do actions. (The Self as

person's atmic core is actionless silent witness).

There are four pollutions against which human has to be vigilant - of the

body (removable by water); of themind (removable by truthfulness), of reason

(removable by correct knowledge) and of the self (removable by yearning for

God). To remove this pollution virtue with unconditional faith is the panacea

for body and mind. The virtuous person can be both healthy and happy. Virtue

must flow through the triple channel of love, mercy and detachment, in order to

feed the roots of seva. In order to urge humans into the path of mutual

sympathy, continuous compassion and concrete service, they have been endowed

with the instinct of gregariousness. Human is a social animal. Humans find

solitary living, unnatural and miserable. The monasteries of ancient times were

academics where mutual cooperation and loving service were encouraged.

Virtuous, having deep faith can see the Lord in all His Glory with the eye

of pure wisdom That eye is won by shravana, manana and nididhyaasana

(listening, reflecting and meditating). Listen with faith; reflect with

discrimination; meditate with one-pointed devotion. The process is an inner

transformation, an inner discovery. When the veil of delusion is removed,

God can be experienced everywhere in full. When some one told Socrates that he

could not see God in the sky or the upper regions of space, which were pointed

out as the dwelling place of the deity, he said that God can be seen only by

wearing a three-fold lens over the eye: bhakthi or prema or adoration; viveka

or discrimination; and vairaagya or renunciation.

 

Thirst for Krishna (Swami-Krishna), His Flute (Swami's Teaching), for

installing Him in the heart, in the mind, for grasping His Reality through the

intellect - this thirst is the healthiest, the most conducive to peace.

Saint Leelashuka declares that though the Shaasthras taught him the truth of

the Nameless Absolute, according to Adhwaitha (the contemplation of the

Universal Absolute without name and form), his heart taught him to revere the

Cowherd Boy with the Flute. He prays that, when he draws his last breath, the

Fair Child of Brindhaavan with the Feather Flute and Flower might smile on him

and bless him. Krishna draws the mind away from sensory desires; that is

another way in which the draw operates. He pulls the mind towards him and so,

they are pulled away from everything else, for everything else is inferior,

less valuable. He satisfies the deepest thirst of human, for peace, joy and

wisdom. Who have acquired the thirst for the Formful aspect of the Lord,

and for the Divine call that resonates in the heart as the entrancing tune of

the Flute for them is easier to percept the eternity of dephs of Adhwaitha.

Today devotees acquired the thirst for the Formful aspect of the Swami, and

for the Divine call of His Teaching as the bridge to the Formless Divine within

and everywhere. Swami's darshans and Swami's Omnipresent Principle (Cosmic Form

or by other words Formless Divine) are two Aspects, (forms of existence) of the

Lord (Absolute). It seems that there is no need to divide them and there would

not such question even arise.

The thirst for Krishna, Swami is a sign of health in the spiritual field.

Not to have it is a sign of the fell disease that afflicts worldly persons, the

symptoms being grief, discontent, pain and worry, even when wealth and health

are endowed. That thirst can be cultivated by the reading of scriptures, the

cultivation of congenial company, lessons from a kind and considerate Guru and

regular practice of japam. Once it is acquired, the thirst itself will lead you

on to places and persons able to quench it. That is the advantage of spiritual

quest; the first step makes the second easy. The bane of modern times is the

value attached to a cynical destructive type of judgment, by fickle, feeble

intellects. No person afflicted with lust or envy or greed or attachment or

egoism can pronounce judgment on the ethereal, formless, nameless principle

that concretised as Krishna, Swami. Krishna is described as blue in physical

colour, for, He is as deep and inscrutable as the sky; the blue is the color

which the eye comprehends, though the sky has no colour at all. So too, Krishna

has no color or attributes but, in order to comprehend Him, the mental eye

attributes a color.

It is possible to notice that Swami's eyes are sometimes blue, as blue as

sky and as dark as eternity. Such variation shows that Swami is unpredictable

on the material level of Maya. His real Form is Omnipresent: the Universe is

reflected from eyes of His physical Form.

Grace is power and it has to be endowed on the deserving only. Therefore

character has to be sublimated into saturated piety and devotion. Then only can

Grace be secured. Mere repetition name, Krishna, Swami will be of no use, unless

the contemplation of the Glory of the Lord starts purifying the character at the

same time. Thus, human becomes divine. Death is changed into immortality.

Through thanmaya, (saturated with Divinity), this mrinmaya (mud-filled body)

becomes Chinmaya (saturated with Divine consciousness) - through saturation,

this clod becomes God.

 

All transformations can take place thanks to the body - where the God

residues. Atmic core of human has enclosed with five sheaths: the Annamaya

kosha (physical sheath). It is the sheath, consisting of the material, flesh

and bone, built by the food. It has impact on the remaining four - the

Praanamaya, the Manomaya, the Vijnaanamaya and the Aanandhamaya (the vital,

mental, wisdom and bliss sheaths or coverings).

The physical sheath is the first. Without it the others cannot exist.

Food is generally looked down upon by ascetically minded saadhaks and

seekers and treated as some thing which does not deserve attention. However,

the body and the mind are mightily interdependent, no one can afford to neglect

it. Food is an important factor which determines the alertness and sloth, the

worry and calm, the brightness and dullness. The scriptures classify food as

Saathwik, Raajasik and Thaamasik and relate these types to the three mental

modes (gunas) of the same names indicated above.

(About qualities of food and life style of using of Satwic food by Sai

Sanjeevini has been told in several previous contributions). Here are some

additions to them. Moderate food is the best medicine to avoid bodily

life. Too much drugging is also bad. Allow nature full scope to fight the

disease and set you right. Adopt more and more the principles of naturopathy,

and give uprunning around for doctors. The type of food that you consume

decides the degree of concentration you can command; its quality and quantity

decide how much your self-control is lessened or heightened.

 

Health is very basic quality, without it human cannot realize any of the

four goals of life, right doing, right desiring, right earning and final

release. A sound mind needs a sound body; the one reacts on the other. The

world is supposed to be only the projection of the mind, when the mind is

inoperative during deep sleep, the world too is inoperative and non-existent.

The mind too has to be healthy. It should not be clogged by greed,envy, hate or

pride. It should not be polluted and poisoned by antisocial inhuman plans and

projects.

 

Doctors are the most important class of sevaks under present conditions. If

the doctor is full of love and compassion, God works through him. Doctors,

therefore, have to endeavour to become the receptacles of Divine Power during

their healing process. When their minds are innocent and contented, a smile

will spontaneously shine in their faces and their words will be soft, sweet and

tender. The manner and mien of the physician are more effective in drawing out

the latent sources of strength in the patient, than the most powerful drug. A

prayerful atmosphere of humility and veneration will go a long way to help the

cure. The behaviour, the voice, the mien of the doctor count for fifty per cent

of the cure, the drugs and their efficacy manage the other half. Note that

the science of medicine, practiced by doctors in India is known by the sacred

name of Aayurvedha - the science of healthy longevity. Its source too is as

divine as the source of the Vedhas. It has to be studied with as much awe and

veneration as the Vedhas are learnt, at the feet of the guru. It has to be

practised with as much devotion and dedication as Vedhic ceremonies and

recitations are fulfilled. The Vedha or knowledge that confers Aayu (longevity)

is Aayur-Vedha. It can prolong life, preserve and protect life from hazards.

The Ayurvedha deals not only with the curing of illness but it also deals with

the prevention of disease. Doctor has to be vigilant in society to discover and

suppress every tendency in Aahaar and Vihaar (food habits and recreational

activities) by which diseases are developed. The food that is taken has to

supply all elements needed to keep the body strong enough to resist illness.

The atmosphere breathed in, the water taken in, the ground lived on, the

animals and plants that surround - all have maleficent microbes that may cause

illness, if the mind and body are not equipped with powerful protection.

The current belief is that medicine is to be valued for its validity during

illness. Its use ends with the cure. But this point of view has to change.

Medicine is used to see that one does not fall ill, not so much as to raise him

up when he falls. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. V. 14. "Food and

health," Chapter 31and Vol. 14. "The doctor's profession, Chapter 53; Sathya Sai

Speaks. Vol. 6 "Krishna thrishna," Chapter 24 and "The road to bliss;" Chapter

33).

Namaste - Reet