Swami teaches... Bhajans complement the stream the River of Life

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram Light and Love Swami teaches...8 - 9 November 2005

Bhajans Complement the Stream the River of Life

People read all kinds of sacred books- the Geetha, the Bible, the Quran, the

Granth Saheb and others. All these books confine their reachings to specific

subjects. They do not cover other subjects related to the physical, the social

etc. But the Cosmos itself constitutes the most comprehensive text-book,

covering all subjects, the physical, the mundane, the ethical and the

spiritual. The cosmos is therefore the best text. There is nothing you cannot

learn from the Universe. Human is no ordinary being. The term Nara applied

to human, means Atma (the Spirit). Human is the embodiment of triple entities.

He/she has one form in the waking state, another in the dream state and a third

in the deep sleep state. Although the waking state is described in many ways,

the presiding deity of this is called Vishva. Tiffs Vishva is made up of

twenty-five constituents - the five basic elements, the five pranas

(life-breaths), the five sense organs, the five Koshas (sheaths), the mind, the

intellect, the Will, Ahamkaara (Ego) and the Jeevi (Indwelling Spirit).

Together, these twenty-five represent the Lord of the waking state.This Vishva,

making use of the sense organs in the waking state experiences the Cosmos as

pervaded by the Divine. In the dream state, the presiding deity is called

Thaijasa based on Thejas and has 17 constituents. The five sense organs, the

five life-breaths and the five sheaths and the mind and intellect. In the dream

state the individual is creating dream experiences, including joy and sorrow.

The dream experiences are mental creations of the dreamer.

In the deep sleep state, Prajna is the divine entity. In this state there is

only one faculty present: the Prajnaa-shakthi (the power of Awareness). This

awareness represents the Supreme Brahma Principle. As the mind and the

intellect also absent, the individual is in a state of Supreme

Bliss-Sath-Chith-Aanandha (Being-Awareness-Bliss). Human is thus not one

entity but a threefold personality in the three states of consciousness.

 

The scriptures describe human being as Thungabhadhra. This name is familiarly

associated with that of a river. But, in reality Thungabhadhra is the River of

Life. 'Bhadhra' means that which is auspicious. 'Thunga' means that which is

immense and immeasurable. Thungabhadhra refers to the body which is capable of

conferring limitless well-being on mankind. By misusing such a body human is

ruining own life and destroying own true humanness.

Today, you have to open your hearts and close your mouths. But people are

doing exactly the opposite. This is treason to God. Practise silence as far as

possible. The ancient sages practised mounam (absolute silence) as a spiritual

discipline. When silence is practised, bliss will manifest itself.

There are four types of persons; the 'dead,' who deny the Lord and declare

that they alone exist, independent, free, selfregulating and self-directed; the

'sick,' who call upon the Lord when some calamity befalls them or when they feel

temporarily deserted by the usual sources of succour; the 'dull,' who know that

God is eternal companion and watchman, but who remember it only off and on when

the idea is potent and powerful; and lastly, the 'healthy,' who have steady

faith in the Lord and who live in His comforting creative presence always.

In the worship of the Divine, there are two schools of thoughts - those who

worship the formless and those who worship the Divine in different forms. The

differences over this issue are fruitless. Water that is formless acquire a

form when it becomes ice. Vedhaantha has clearly pointed out the futility of

this controversy.

Pray to God and draw from Him the magnet of His grace and offer to the world

the power of His Divine energy. It is all-powerful, because it is Divine and

within you. Whatever you do, have the name of the Lord on your lips and faith

in God in your heart. Thereby work will be transformed into worship.

Devotees are inclined to worship the Lord under different names. They

consider the names different from each other. They forget that they are all

equally, embodiments of the Divine. There should be no feeling of high and low.

Only the one who has the feeling of oneness can be called a renunciant. It is

wrong to make adistinction between Raama and Shiva as some small-minded

devotees do.

The nature of the Divine can only be properly understood, by those who are

filled with devotion. There must be yearning for God. The denial of God is a

kind of disease. The unbeliever is afflicted by a variety of diseases like

pride, envy, anger and greed.

There are some who have one foot on faith and the other on disbelief. For

sometime they live with devotion and then they get lost in worldly concerns.

The result is they have the worst of both worlds. One should not attempt to

ride two horses at the same time. Stick to one thing and pursue it with

determination.

Truth is that which is valid for all the three categories of Time - past,

present, and the future. Truth is Divine. In the world today both truth and

sacrifice are rare. But these two are the proper goals for human existence. It

should be realised that the body and all the appurtenances of the mind have

been given to enable to achieve spiritual peace. If spiritual bliss is not

attained, all other physical attachments are worthless. If you wish to

change the world, these two principles are the recipe. Sathya (Truth) purifies

the heart. Thyaaga (sacrifice) transforms the physical environment. By this

double transformation the entire world is divinised. Human has to drive away

the cloud of ignorance enveloping the mind by meditating on God. The Vedhaantha

persuades to investigate the function of the senses and of the mind which is

activated by its capacity to reflect the Atma within. All the inner instruments

of knowledge and the inner witness in human are promoters of the highest wisdom,

though they are misused, in ignorance, to confound and ruin human's progress.

Those who are aware of their being only the indestructible Atma, encased in

temporary sheaths, in a ramshackle dwelling house bearing a name and presenting

a form, they are unaffected by anything that happens to the sheath or house.

Tastes differ according to temperament and the character one has earned by

generations of activity as a living being in this world. The proprietor of a

coffee house goes to the nearby druggist for a pill to ward off hisheadache,

and the druggist when he gets a headache goes to the coffee house for a cup of

coffee which he thinks will cure him. People are like that; tastes of people

differ. The Jnaani says, "Sarvam Brahma mayam:" In God is All;" another, a

yogi, says all is energy; a third, who is a bhaktha, says all is the play of

the Lord. Each according to his taste and according to his progress in saadhana

(spiritual practice). Do not hurry or ridiculethem, for they are all pilgrims

trudging along the same road. Actions determine the course of the intellect.

In the actions performed by the person, there are two types: the proper and the

improper. Person's intellectual tendencies depend on the nature of actions,

good or bad. The condition of the intellect is determined by one's actions. The

heart is your conscience. When you consult your heart or conscience, it tells

you what is right. It is the right preceptor. Then you have Time. It is going

in the right direction. In any circumstance you cannot go against Time.

Teachers are of two kinds: the painful and the illuminating. Time belongs to

the type of teacher who illumines. Time is the devourer of all things in due

course. One should act according to the needs of the Time, with full faith in

the Lord.

It has been said that in the Kali Age them is no greater spiritual practice

than chanting the name of the Lord.

There are four ways of chanting the Lord's name. One is through Keerthana

(song). Then there is Sankeerthana (community singing). Another is Dhyaana

(meditating on the Divine). The fourth is contemplation of the form of the

Divine. In all these, meditating on the name is basic. By meditating on the

Lord, Chaithanya and Meera experienced the ecstatic vision of the Lord within

themselves. Both of them were immersed in the feeling of devotion to the Lord.

Krishna declared that He is present wherever His devotees sing His glories. The

singing must not be merely a musical exercise but express genuine devotion.

By devotional singing one can get merged in the Divine. That is the reason why

the Lord is described as Gaanalola or Gaanapriya (Lover of song or one who is

charmed by music). It will be befitting if a devotee combines the reciting of

the Lord's name with singing and praying for merger with the Divine.

 

Swami's Grace is ever with you; it is not something that is given or taken;

it is given always and acceptedby the Consciousness that is aware of its

significance. Win the Grace of your own subconscious, so that it may accept the

Grace of God which is ever available. God does not deny any one; it is only you,

who deny God. When the gift is proffered, you have to do only one little act, so

that you may earn it - you have to extend your hand to receive it. The Grace

itself will confer on you the faith and the strength, the wisdom and the joy.

Swami's first message to humanity was "Maanasa Bhajare." Install the Lord in

your heart and offer Him the fruits of your actions and the flowers of your

inner thoughts and feelings.

Whenever Niraakaara (formless) becomes Sakaara (one with form), it has to

fulfil the Mission and it does so in various ways. You do not know the real

reasons behind the actions of the Lord. You even cannot understand the motives

of other people who are almost like you in everything, actuated by the same

motives and having the same likes and dislikes.

Human too has come for a great destiny, on a sacred mission, endowed with

special skills and tendencies to help him/her on; but, human being fritters

these precious gifts and crawls on earth from birth to death, worse than any

animal. Exercises like Bhajan elevate the mind and exhort the individual to

seek and find the source of eternal joy that lies within. Make singinging

bhajan pictorially a life-long Bhajan, of adoration, of pilgrimage to the Lord

within. Bhajan is one of the processes by which you can train the mind to

expand into eternal values. Bhajan induces in you a desire for experiencing the

truth, to glimpse the beauty that is God, to taste the bliss that is the Self.

Itencourages human to dive into himself and be genuinely his real Self. Once

that search is desired, the path is easy. Bhajan which is part of

Nagarasankeerthan (moving choirs) gladdens the singer and showers joy to those

who listen; it cleanses and purifies the atmosphere by its vital vibrations. It

inspires and instructs; it calls and comforts. Hold fast to the God you believe

in, despite trials and tests, the ups and downs of life.

The scriptures lay down Bhajan (group devotional singing), Naamasmaran

(Remembering God's Name) and Sankeerthan (devotional music) as the Saadhanas

(spiritual practices) of this Age. Bhajan is the process of singing your

prayers to God, praising His glory and compassion, and pleading that He may

fill you with His Grace.

Bhajan has to be a thrilling experience, which must leave the participants

full of pure energy and elevated enthusiasm. The Bhajans are sung to parade

one's compositions and these are sung during the group sittings,as if they are

rehearsed there. Pay attention to the tune, the meaning, the variety, the

voice, the raaga, the thaal (the tune and the beat) and other fine points of

the Bhajans. If your voice is not pleasant or sweet, keep quiet; that is the

best service you can do. The Bhajans must be sweet to the ear, arousing

pictures of the glory and grandeur of Godhead, in the mind of the singers and

listeners; they must refer to various Names and Forms of God, so that the

Bhajan Sessions might fill every one with ecstasy. Bhajan is a Saadhana for all

who share in it; that is why it is prescribed, for every Unit. Realise that

there is nothing greater than Bhajan. What bliss is there in Bhajan! What a

demonstration of oneness is it when a myriad throats join in uttering the name

of God! The vibrations emanating from them make the heart vibrant. If you sing

alone in your shrine, the vibrations return to you as reaction. But in

community singing, what you have is not a reaction but a wave of vibrations.

They enter into the atmosphere and purify the polluted air. The atmosphere

today is polluted by bad thoughts and feelings. When you sing the glory of God,

the bad germs in the air are destroyed and the air gets purified pictorially by

a treatment with antibiotics as it were.

The Bhajan singing time were done in a ritualistic fashion. Greater attention

was paid to melody, the beat, the rhythm and the tone. All these are

conventional qualities. To elevate the Bhajan singing to a spiritual level what

are required are true feeling and ecstasy of devotion. The songs should flow nor

from the lips but from the heart.

Once Emperor Akbar asked his court musician how would he account for the

fact that a wayside beggar's music moved him more profoundly than the music of

the state musician. The latter replied that while the beggar sang from his

heart to please God, his music was constrained by the desire to please the

Emperor. It is the devotion and sincerity that matter. Merge your soul in

the Bhajans you sing.

The heart is the seat of compassion in human. Conduct your Bhajans singing

with a pure unsullied heart, oblivious to all worldly desires. When you chant

the Lord's name with a pure heart, you will experience the Divine. How much

happier would people be if they devoted a fraction of their time to contemplate

the glories of God.

What is the origin of this worldly ritual of Bhajans singing? This shows

that there is an element of spirituality even in worldly actions - whether it

be the practice of a profession, or a business or the pursuit of knowledge.

Worldly activities get sanctified by association with spirituality. Form the

worldly activities arise what are called Praathibhaasika activities (reflections

of the worldly activities). The Paaramaarthika (spiritual) is like the ocean.

>From this arise the waves of Vyaavahaarika (worldly activities). The main

characteristics of the ocean are to be found in the waves also like chillness,

saltishness, etc. Praathibhaasika is represented by the foam arising from the

waves. The foam has all the qualities of the ocean.

Without the ocean, there can be no waves. Without the waves, there can be no

foam. It is clear that without the Paaramaarthika (the spiritual) there can be

no Vyaavahaarika (worldly) phenomenon. The ocean (Paaramaarthika) is not

diminished by evaporation or swollen by the flow of river waters. This

equanimity is characteristic of the ocean.

People, however, consider the three states. Paaramaarthika, Vyaavahaarika

and Praathibhaasika - as different from each other. But the Vyaavahaarika

(worldly activities) should not in any way be divorced from the Paaramaarthika

(spiritual). Only then can peace be got from worldly activities. What is the

cause of sorrow in this world? It is the result of separating the worldly

activities from the spiritual and considering them as distinct fromthe other.

The transient nature of worldly activities is associating them with the

spiritual that they acquire sanctity. The spiritual basis of all activity

should never be forgotten.

You proceed from 'death' to 'life' and from 'illness' to 'health' by the

experience of the buffetings of the World. The World is a very essential part

of the curriculum of human; through the agony of search is born the infant,

wisdom. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 1. "Maanasa Bhajare,"

Chapter 1; Sahtya Sai Speaks. Vol. 11. "Life-long bhajan," Chapter 14 and

"Bhajan as saadhana," Chapter 37; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 27. "Chant the Name :

sing His glory," Chapter 29; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 30. "Bhajans and bliss,"

Chapter 7).

Namaste - Reet

[Guest guest]

Ohm Sai Ram,

Very interesting and easy to understand language

article. I have a question on my mind reading this

article. Does ever SaiBaba has emphasised on

paingings?

I love painting and whatever I see as a wonderful

creation of GOD I feel like copying everything in my

mind and create a painting out of it expressing the

same awesome effect for others to see and experience.

I have learnt painting all by myself and the strong

urge for painting has led me up to this level. My work

is available to see on www.soundofindia.com/meera

Thanks for such a wonderful article.

Meera

 

 

--- Reet <reet.priiman wrote:

> Sai Ram

> Light and Love

> Swami teaches...8 - 9 November 2005

> Bhajans Complement the Stream the River of Life

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

 

Anything pure and Sathwic in which you get so engrossed as to forget your

surroundings leads us to Him. Mind can never be killed or over powered - but

its attention from rajsic and tamsic can definitely be diverted towards

Sathwic.

 

Painting is a very expressive art and needs a great deal of concentration - you

cannot chat or play cards and do painting as well. Author Shakuntala Balu in

her books writres that she paints Gods and when (in any painting) she paints

the flowers and incense she can smell the fragrance.

 

So do start your brushing the canvas with the power of expression you are gifted

with and smell the roses when you paint them.

 

Sai Ram - Be Happy

 

JP

PS: Your paintings are very good - most of them are portraits of subjects.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Meera Bakshi <meeraharesh > wrote:

Ohm Sai Ram,Very interesting and easy to understand languagearticle. I have a

question on my mind reading thisarticle. Does ever SaiBaba has emphasised

onpaintings?

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