Swami teaches... There is nothing more divine than Universal Love

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram Light and Love Swami teaches... 21 - 23 December 2005

There Is Nothing More Divine Than Universal Love

Instead of preface

Swami's mission is to raise the human's consciousness to a level at which

one neither rejoices nor mourns over anything. In that supreme state, one is

going through rebirth and redeath each moment, for these acts are one and the

same, emerging from the formless into form, merging from the form into the

formless. Then, there is no success or adversity, no joy or pain. When the

devotee attains this Oneness, he/she will be with Swami's Cosmic Form endlessly

in whatsoever place of the planet. For your mission you may choose any form of

worship or pursue any spiritual path you like. Follow the dictates of your

conscience, fill your hearts with Love and immerse yourselves in the bliss of

the Divine.

****************

A mother has four sons. The first son asks her for red colour juice, the

second for green colour juice,the third for black colour juice and the fourth

for white colour juice. Then what does the mother do? Being anintelligent

mother, she pours the same juice in red, green, black and white colour glasses

to satisfy hersons. Our bodies are like those glasses. We should realise the

oneness of the spirit within. The cups and colours may be different but the

juice (Atma) is the same in all.

The Atma trascends the limitations of form. Buddha and Jesus made concerted

efforts to have thevision of the Atma. Buddha realised that names, forms and

physical relationships are transient. He studied various sacred texts and had

an audience with many scholars but was not satisfied. Ultimately, He came to

the conclusion that one could attain Nirvana only through proper use of the

five senses. No spiritual practice can yield the desired result if the senses

are misused. Have sacred vision. Speak good words. Hear only what is good.

Entertain noble thoughts. There is no greater spiritual practice than this.

This was the teaching of Buddha.

The same was taught by Jesus. The fishermen wanted Jesus to fulfill their

worldly desires. Jesus told them to give up hatred and to love all. He exhorted

them to develop faith in the principle of unity. The body has death, not the

life principle. The Spirit is immortal and non-dual. To realise the

non-dualistic nature of the Spirit was true wisdom, said Jesus. Perception of

the One without a second is true wisdom. Of course, as you are endowed with a

physical body, you have to discharge your duties diligently. So long as you

have a body, you have to take care of it. But you should not be unduly attached

to it or worried about it. Ignorance is the root cause of worry. Whatever has to

happen will happen. So, never give scope to worry. Develop faith in the

principle of Atma. This was the main teaching of Jesus.

Jesus calls for service and for love to all. Compassion, morality and

integrity are essential elements in the message. In propagating this message

faith in God should be promoted. Love should be the watchword. Love exists for

Love and nothing else. A heart filled with Love is boundless. Just as rivers

with different names and forms merge in the ocean and become one with it, Love

in many forms enters the ocean of the heart and gets identified with it. In

reality human cannot lead a totally independent life. Person has to depend on

society. Jesus said that the life of an individual was useless if he/she did

not realise the duties toward society. People should recognise the intimate and

inseparable relationship that exists between unity, purity and divinity under

light of the Divine Love. Love can conquer anything. Human's primary duty

is to understand the truth about the Love principle. The various contexts in

which the word 'love' is used today have no relation to the true meaning of

this word. True Love has neither a beginning nor an end. It exists in all the

three categories of time - past, present and future. That alone is true Love

which can fill human with enduring bliss. One who is filled with Divine Love

transcends praise or censure being unaffected by criticism or flattery, joy and

sorrow, profit and loss, victory and defeat.(It is not easy to experience such

Love. It is easy to blame God but difficult to realise God). Jesus considered

spreading the gospel of Divine Love as His foremost task.

Love of God does not mean giving up your normal duties. In the performance

of these duties, every action should be done as an offering to God. Look upon

the body as a moving temple, wherein God' resides. Recognise that God is always

with you and around you. The more you serve God, the more the bliss you will

experience. Hence, fill your life with Love, grow in Love and end your life in

Love. (Human usually equates desire with Love. One imagines that whatever

he/she yearns for are prompted by Love. This is not true Love i. e. Prema.

Spiritual Love is boundless. It is free from the feeling of hatred. It is

capable of expressing itself in universal terms).

 

Below are some fragments from life of Jesus how He realised Divine Love and

Sacred Wisdom through examples.

Jesus set no value on wealth or position. Once a rich man came to Jesus when

he was in the house of Martha and Mary. The rich man told Jesus that despite all

his wealth and possessions he was not having peace of mind. He was harassed by

many worries and appealed to Jesus to show him a way out. Jesus told him:

“There is a simple way but will you follow it? You have been accumulating

riches and your worries have grown with them. What are you going to do with all

this wealth, which some day you will have to leave behind? Distribute it among

the poor and the needy and all your worries will go. Accumulate instead the

wealth of God's grace through Love of your fellowmen."

In those days, people used to sacrifice pigeons in the temple of Jerusalem

thinking that God would be pleased. Jesus sought to put an end to these cruel

practices. Like Buddha, he preached non-violence. He went to the place where

pigeons were sold and let them all free. The affected persons turned against

him. But Jesus carried on regardless of their hostility. Jesus taught to

convert anger and hatred into Love.

Once a high priest in Jerusalem called Jesus and asked him: "Are you King of

the Jews?" Jesus replied: "I do not say so." The priest told Jesus: "You are

leading the people astray by your wrong teachings. You are telling them that

everyone can enter Heaven only through you." Jesus said that he had been

telling the people to seek the Kingdom of Heaven. The priest asked: "Where is

that Kingdom?" Jesus replied: "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you, within

everybody. When this is my teaching, how can I be accused of claiming that the

Kingdom of Heaven can be attained only through me?"

 

The Romans addressed Jesus as 'persona' meaning one of sacredness. The

English word person has been derived from this. The very self is called

'persona'. There is no life principle without divinity.

Many disciples of Jesus interpreted His teachings in their own way. Mathew

was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He was an income tax collector by

profession and used to meet the fishermen to collect taxes. Jesus used to

impart sacred teachings to the fishermen every day. Mathew noted down all His

teachings and wrote the Holy Bible. Later on, many others wrote the Bible based

on their own feelings. Nowhere has Jesus ever stated that he was God or the

Master. He always addressed God as his Father.

The Bible and the Quoran contain many sacred teachings. But foolish people

who do not understand their teachings are taking to wrong ways. He who is known

as Allah by Muslims, As Jehovah by Christian aspirants,As the Lotus-eyed Lord by

the worshippers of Vishnu, As Sambhu, by those who revere Siva, Howsoever He is

worshipped, He gladly responds, grants the grace of fame and fortune and

showers happiness and joy. He is the One, The Supreme Self. Know Him as

Paramatma.

In Bharat there is a belief that Divinity exists in the three forms of

Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. No one has seen these deities in their different

forms. These forms have been conceived to develop faith in certain ways. The

Trinity are symbolically present in everyone. The heart (spiritual heart of

course) has been equated with Easwara. It symbolises the Atmic principle in

human and represents divinity as well as the Love principle. The mind has

emanated from the heart. It is all-pervading, the basis of the Cosmos and

symbolises Vishnu. The word Vishnu means that which pervades everything in the

Universe. As the mind has emanated from the heart, the Vishnu principle has

come from the Easwara principle. Brahma is said to have emerged from Vishnu.

So, the heart is Easwara, the mind is Vishnu and the "I" is Brahma. When you

regard the Self as Brahma, your thoughts and actions will not go astray.

 

All beings experience the presence of the Divine through the five elements,

the five senses, and the five life breaths. Some may ask, "When the Divine is

omnipresent and is in all beings, why is He not visible to us?" If

investigation is made on right lines, God can be perceived. Some human effort

is essential to get this perception. (The meanminded people try to attribute

their meanness to God. Do not pay heed to such people. Have faith in your own

Self. It is not possible to attain Divinity without getting rid of animality).

Six schools of Indian Metaphysics (the Shat-darsanas) have been offered to

us by the great seekers of the past. Although the spiritual paths indicated by

these different Darsanas appear to be different, their goal is common and the

ultimate truth proclaimed by them is one and the same. There also are notable

differences among the seekers of Truth. These differences do not affect the

nature of the Universe. These differences must be viewed as different stages in

the understanding of the Cosmic process.

According to Vedanta, human being is a combination of bhutakasa (body),

chitthakasa (mind) and Chidakasa (Atma). Bhutakasa corresponds to the body and

all that is seen by the naked eye. Bhutakasa is transient and ephemeral. The

Sun, the stars and the Milky way which are crores of miles away from the Earth,

also come under bhutakasa. It constitutes all Bhutas (elements) and living

beings. Bhutakasa, consisting of stars, rivers, oceans, etc., forms a tiny part

of chitthakasa. Whatever you see, for example, the Sun, the stars, the oceans,

the mountains, etc., get imprinted in your chittha likewise, the apparent world

is contained in you as a small entity. There is a fundamental basis for these

two, which is referred to as Chidakasa what corresponds to the Atma. It is

changeless and transcends time and space. The Vedanta describes this as

Nirgunam, Niranjanam, Sanathana Niketanam, Nitya, Suddha, Buddha, Mukta,

Nirmala Swarupinam (attributeless, pure, final abode, eternal, unsullied,

enlightened, free and embodiment of sacredness). Chidakasa is the true form of

human. Chidakasa transcends name and form. It is described as Sabda Brahmamayi,

Charachamayi, Jyothirmayi, Vangmayi, Nityanandamayi, Paratparamayi, Mayamayi and

Sreemayi (God is the embodiment of sound, mobility and immobility, light,

speech, eternal bliss, supreme majesty, delusion and wealth).

The Vedas declared that the Supreme Cosmic Principle has no limits. It is

infinite. Mankind has also no bounds or barriers. In fact, there are no

barriers between humanity and every other species of living beings like birds,

beasts and insects and even trees. All of them belong to a single family of

living beings.

Human has the Universe in own heart. Human is potentially the Cosmic Being.

All mouths are the mouths of God. The Vedas proclaim that the Divine has a

myriad heads and myriad eyes and myriad feet. God is infinite.

The Vedantic doctrine proclaimed the infinite nature of the Self and pointed

out that matter is both inert and finite. The Sruthi declares: Consciousness

constitutes three-fourths and one fourth is inert matter. Thus, it is

consciousness that animates matter and not matter that gives rise to

consciousness.

It is Chaitanya (consciousness) that activates Jada (matter) and not matter

that gives rise to consciousness. Modern technology has produced fantastic

devices, harnessed new sources of energy and turned out spacecraft for

exploring the Moon and other planets in outer space. Behind them lies human

ingenuity andintelligence.

It is this consciousness that makes the machines move and it is indisputably

clear that inert matter cannot create consciousness. Human is the highest object

in creation and should become a master of Nature. Human being should progress

from the Nara (human) to the Narayana (Divine).

The roots are high up, the branches of the Cosmic tree are below. This is

further confirmation of the view that the material universe has emanated from

the Universal Consciousness.

The Cosmos is a projection of the Eternal, Infinite Reality (Brahman i.e.

Atma) and is not separate from It. Every tree is a Kalpavriksha

(wish-fulfilling tree). Every place of work is the shrine of the Divine.

Many imagine that they are engaged in spiritual exercises to realise this

sense of oneness with the Divine. Various spiritual exercises or different

forms of worship may give some feeling of personal satisfaction, but will not

result in God-realisation. All the spiritual exercises one does or rituals one

observes in offering worship can serve only to purify the mind and eliminate

the ego. When the mind becomes pure, the divine is experienced spontaneously.

The Divine is not separate from you. God is ever new. This ever new effulgent

God takes the form of human, and is called Avatar. Actually, every new human

birth is an Avatar as God resides in each heart as the Atma. There is no living

body without Atma. The body and soul are interdependent. The body should be

maintained strong and healthy to experience the divine bliss. This conviction

must grow in you. In the beginning you regard yourself as a mere human being.

Then, you reach the stage when you realise your potential divinity. Finally you

reach the stage when you realise your divinity. God needs nothing from

anyone. God does not seek offerings, nor is pleased by them. There is an

age-old practice among Christians to pray to God for forgiving their sins. The

belief in redemption through repentance and offerings to the Divine is

prevalent in India also. These practices are based on misconceptions about the

Divine. There should be an earnest enquiry into the nature of the Divine and

people should try to get rid of superstitious beliefs which have no basis in

Truth.

Faith, Daring, Courage and Intelligence, Energy and Valour - wherever

These six qualities exist Divine protection is assured. In any age or at

any place or in any circumstance, these six good qualities are essential. These

six qualities cannot be acquited by education nor can they be imparted by any

preceptor. Nor can they be inherited from one's parents. These qualities are

secured only by Atma-vishvasaam (Self-confidence). The first among the six

qualities is faith. Today in every field, faith is essential for every activity

in life.The ancient sages accomplished many great things by their faith. Their

achievements are cherished by people today, even after thousands of years.

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 20. "Divinity through Love,"

Chapter 31; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 28. "Realise God through Pure Love,"

Chapter 38; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 30. "Dedicate your lives to the Divine,"

Chapter 33; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 32. Part 1. "Dwell in God Consciousness,"

Chapter 12; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 33. "God Never Forsakes His Devotees,"

Chapter 24).

Namaste - Reet