Sai Inspires - 11th December 2005 from Prashanti Nilayam

[Guest guest]

bother... Swami tells us how and why today. Sai Inspires - 11th

December 2005 Have faith that truth will save you in the long run; stick

to it, regardless of what might befall. For if you are truthful, no sense of

guilt will gnaw your inside and cause pain. It is cowardice that makes you

hide the truth; it is hatred that sharpens the edge of falsehood. Be bold, and

there is no need for a lie. Be full of love, and there is no need for

subterfuge. The easiest habit is speaking the truth, with honesty; for, if you

start telling lies, you will have to keep count of them and remember how many

you have told and to whom, and be always on the alert not to contradict one lie

with another. Love a person, then there will be no need to deceive with a lie.

Love saves a good deal of bother. - Divine Discourse, 3rd March,

1958. Tell A Friend about Sai Inspires THE GREATEST VIRTUE Loving Sai

Ram and greetings from Prashanti Nilayam. We hope you

like the small Sunday Specials that we attach every weekend to our daily feature

SAI INSPIRES. We are grateful for the responses that some have taken the trouble

to send, but we do hope more of you would do the same so that we know whether

these attachments are serving the purpose they are intended to. This week we

would like to start with Dr. John Hope Franklin of America, a distinguished

historian. He is an Afro-American born in the South in 1915,

when racial discrimination was very much rampant, although slavery had been

abolished. Facing innumerable obstacles, John Hope Franklin went through

school, then college and later studied at Harvard. He came to prominence with a

classic entitled From Slavery to Freedom. From then on, there was no looking

back. Subtle discrimination he continued to face always but unmindful of that,

Franklin always maintained his cool. Currently he is Professor Emeritus in Duke

University, North Carolina. He has won innumerable honours, national and

international, and has recently been in the news on account of the

autobiography he has written.

0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"> As often happens in America, when a celebrity

writes a book that person gets invited to many talk shows, both on the radio

and on television. During one such talk show, the host asked, “Professor

Franklin, you are so cool; how come? Critics say there is a strange absence of

emotions when you narrate the story of your life. How can you be so calm when

you have gone through so many difficulties?”

justify">The answer that Professor Franklin gave is amazing, and that is the

reason why we are mentioning him. He replied, “Many years ago, I realised that

either anger controls me or I control anger. I decided right then that it was

better for me if I controlled anger.” We describe this as an amazing statement

because this is the crux of the Bhagavad Gita and naturally of course of

Swami’s teachings. As Krishna declares and as Swami reiterates, equanimity is

the greatest virtue. Professor

Franklin is not a devotee of Baba, and we are more or less sure that he has not

even heard of Swami. Yet, he has put into practice one of the key teachings of

Swami. How come? The answer is simple. Whereas Swami speaks to us from outside,

repeatedly we might add, Swami spoke to Franklin from within. And what is

important, he readily accepted the advice, putting most of us to shame, for how

often Swami laments: “Aacharanam ledu” meaning, people do not bother to follow

what He says! It is interesting that Jesus also once made a similar complaint,

remarking “Why call ye me Lord when thou doest not follow what I say?”

justify">Controlling anger is no small thing, for anger is a strong wind that

sets the Mind on fire. And when that fire starts raging, disaster is the

predictable end. This is not our pronouncement but that of the Lord Himself who

says in the Gita: From anger arises delusion; delusion promotes confusion of

the Mind; confusion generates loss of reason; and finally, loss of reason leads

to complete ruin.

[2.63] Swami says

that it is no use isolating and cutting oneself off completely from everyone

and then claiming that one has conquered anger. Anger must be conquered by

being very much in the world and facing its ups and downs. An experience in the

life of Franklin illustrates the point. Once many decades ago when he was a

research worker in the prestigious Harvard University, Franklin visited the

South to collect some historical material from a library there. The lady in

charge gave Franklin all the facilities he needed. One day, he wanted to

consult some rare papers and for that he needed special permission. So he went

to see this lady in her office. They had a long conversation during which

Franklin was kept standing – it was not the custom then to offer a seat to a

black man. The lady then complemented Franklin saying, “You have very good

manners. Where did you learn them?” When Franklin gave the name of the

university from which he graduated, she was pleased and said, “No wonder; they

train them well there. Sit down.” She then asked, “They tell me there is a

Harvard nigger here. Do you know him?” Now nigger is a very derogatory term

but the lady used it quite casually as people in the South then did, without a

thought that the term could hurt deeply. With great cool, Franklin replied, “I

am the Harvard nigger.” We don’t know how the lady responded; probably she fell

off the chair! Anyway that does not matter; what matters is the wonderful

example of perfect equanimity that Professor Franklin set. Equanimity goes

hand in hand with forbearance. Few realise the lessons Swami has taught on

forbearance or Kshama. Once some devotees asked, “Swami, You had to undergo so

much hardship way back, carrying water over long distances while You were in

Kamalapuram. All that left indelible marks on Your shoulders. Added to that You

were punished frequently. Yet, You took it all calmly and never criticised those

who were cruel to You. You are an Avatar. Why did You have to go through all

this suffering? What was the reason?” Swami smiled and replied, “Bangaru,

without all that, how could I have taught the lesson of Kshama? While Swami

is always filled with Ananda while speaking about Prema, He becomes highly

charged and very emotional when He speaks on Kshama. He does not do this often

but there is a memorable Discourse that He gave during the Summer Course of

2000. Look up Summer Showers in Brindavan, 2000, chapter 12, page 221. It is a

treat; do not miss it! To read it now go here. Thank you for allowing us to

be with you again. Do write to us, won’t you?

mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language:

AR-SA">Jai Sai Ram. With Love and Regards, "Heart2Heart" RadioSai

e-Journal Team, In Sai Service. To see the complete schedule of

today's RadioSai programmes, Visit us at www.radiosai.org to know

more about RadioSai and our e-Journal "Heart 2 Heart".

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