Sathya Sai Baba Geetha Vahini - Chapter 9

[Guest guest]

Sathya Sai BabaGeetha Vahini

Chapter IX

Though purity of mind is the primary thing for the protection of society and the

individual in the realm of the divine, Varna organisation too is very important.

It can never be blown off by ridicule, criticism or condemnation. For welfare is

essential for all; so rulers and scholars must give up feelings of anger and

hatred and calmly delve into the pros and cons and bring the organisation into

some good order. That is the thing to do. It is not proper that wise men and

intelligent scholars should support the meaningless criticisms of the envious

and the ignorant. Those who deny caste are themselves forming a caste; those

who deny religion are themselves forming a new religion. Even those who know

much become prejudiced against Varna and talk as if they are as ignorant as the

rest. That is the wonder!

Every object has certain limits; if it exceeds the limits or breaks through them

it gets destroyed. What is the test of its identity? The coordination between

its nature and its form. If it has the form but not the nature, then it is

unreal, false. So too, if each class has no special limits, how can it be

identified as a class? It will be neither this, nor that; an amorphous mass, a

confused group. This is a divinely decided organisation; so it was fostered and

continued by the great sages, saints and elders, for many generations. But in

this iron age of Kali the brainiest dismiss it as useless junk.

Without deep inquiry, without discrimination, if people look at this

organisation from the external, the individual standpoint, how can they arrive

at right conclusions? Its sanctity and value will be revealed if you have the

'inner sight' and the 'universal outlook' and the 'inquiring spirit.' Just as

the butter inherent in milk is made patent by the process of churning, so too

the specific value of the four Varnas will become manifest only through the

process of discriminating enquiry. Then prejudices will perish; reality will be

revealed.

The four Varnas are like the limbs of the same body. They have evolved out of

the same divine body - the Brahmins from the face, the Kshatriyas from the

hands, the Vaisyas from the thighs and the Sudras from the feet. Of course,

these expressions have a deeper inner meaning. Those who teach like the Guru

the principles of Jnana are the voice; they are the Brahmins. The strong armed

bear the burden of the earth, they are the Kshatriyas. The social edifice is

upheld, as on pillars, by the Vaisyas and so they are figuratively described as

emanating from the thigh of the divine person. Like the feet that are engaged in

going about on all kinds of activities, the Sudras are ever engaged in the basic

tasks of society. The peace and happiness of society will suffer even if a

single Varna is slack in its task. And all Varnas are worthwhile and valuable,

as all limbs are important. There is no higher or lower. Hatred and rivalry in

society are as harmful as the stoppage of work by all the

limbs in anger against the stomach!

A sugar doll is sweet all over. Break off its head and eat it, it is sweet.

Break off a leg and eat it; it is as sweet as the head. Then how can the Varnas

which are the limbs of the selfsame divinity be pronounced higher or lower?

Limbs are different, but the very same red blood flows in all and animates all.

There is no special variety for the hand or leg or face. The system of Varnas is

ordained by the Vedas and so there can be no injustice in it; it is not an

artifice invented by man. So those who try to create differences and hatred by

their inconsiderate remarks about it are only exhibiting their ignorance.

It looks as if those people who argue that "the abolition of the Varna system

will bring about human welfare" are the only ones anxious to promote human

welfare! They believe that those who consider the system to be beneficial are

really eager to promote the downfall of the human society! Of course, both are

delusions. But this much is true: Those who support the Varnas are really more

interested in the promotion of human welfare. The others think that if Varna

goes, they will be saving the country. That is a deluded belief. If only

virtues and faults are analysed carefully and without prejudice, there will be

an end to this uninformed campaign of hatred and enmity. Then there will be a

great change in the attitude of people towards the Varna system.

If hatred increases, it will not benefit any one. To pursue the ideal of "all

are equal" is like running after the mirage to slake one's thirst. It will only

breed discontent. The rulers must now assemble and consult the representatives

of the people, namely, the pundits and experienced elders and discuss the value

of this ancient system of social organisation. Instead if they just decide on

the basis of external forms and features that there is some poison in this and

run into panic, that will only reveal their ignorance. The rulers as well as

the pundits both have the happiness of the people at heart; why, this Varna

system originated with that very end in view. It has led to comments because it

was not practised on the continued counsels of the wise.

Take one small example: some nations have manufactured bombs that can wipe out

Lakhs of people at one burst. Though they know this is bad, the rulers are

themselves encouraging it. If the bombs are used as the whim takes them, ruin

will fall on all. When chaos threatens, they are to be used only for

self-defense; the purpose is not the destruction of the world but the

protection of the values of one's own country and culture. So also, the Varna

system is to be treated as strong armament to protect the country and culture.

The rules and regulations, the restrictions and recommendations are all to

defend the people from ruin. They are disciplines which have to be honoured in

the way they are laid down and followed strictly and correctly. To deal with

them as the whim dictates, without regard to the directing bunds, the limits

and the boundaries is to invite anarchy.

Therefore, the elders, the rulers, the great pundits and the leaders of the

community guarded and fostered this organisation and preserved it; think of

this for a while and the truth will flash on you - whether it is beneficial or

not. If it was ruinous to society, would they have fostered it? Do you mean to

say they were all foolish, or that they did not have the present type of

scholarship or they were brainless?

No, no. Their intelligence, scholarship, spiritual eminence, their spirit of

inquiry and their impartial unprejudiced approach to social problems can be

found only among one in a hundred today. Ascetics who dedicated all their

intellectual and moral strength for the welfare of the world, which task was

the very breath of their life; yogis, spiritual warriors and maharshis who

sought to confer true contentment on the human community, these were the

framers of the social organisation which the 'moderns' condemn. They were not

like the reformers of today, who yearn for welfare in a profusion of words, but

who undermine the very thing they profess to yearn for by their actions! This

type of trick was unknown to the ancient sages. Modern ideas and plans are

hollow and insincere. The present plans are all castles in the air. They cater

more to the conceit of the planners and do not carry much meaning to others.

The castles start falling down even while construction is proceeding in

another place!

As the body is for the Jivi, the world is for the Lord. Whatever happens in any

part of the body affects the Jivi; so too, all that affects any part of the

world moves the Lord; He becomes cognisant of it and He reacts to it. Just as

you are interested in all the limbs of the body being in perfect trim, the Lord

too is interested in seeing that every country and every part of the world is

happy and contented. Can He, will He, harm any country which is primarily a

part of Himself? In matters relating to the Lord all have equal rights; all are

equal.

Yet, one limb cannot carry out the duties of another; each must do the task

allotted to it. So too, each Varna must carry out its allotted share of the

activities of society and contribute its best to the welfare of the country. As

the body has stages, society has the Varnas. If all start trading who will be

the buyers? If all are engaged in fighting who is to provide the wherewithal

for their upkeep and maintenance: the food, the armour and the equipment? So,

each one has to do his share of social activity and ensure peace, harmony and

happiness. That is the wise course, the best organisation of society.

Now, instead of attending to essential tasks, people are engaged in internecine

struggle fearing that the Varnas are great obstacles to progress. How can

people who are unable to keep their body under control keep the country within

limits? Consider that the fostering of the Varna system, which has been

fostered so long by the ancients, is the most beneficial thing that has to be

done.

The Lord has not shown any partiality while organising the Varnas. He has no

such trait in Him. Some persons ask, why should the Lord have such differences?

No, He has no sense of inferior or superior. He is sweet all over, as a lump of

sugar. All differences and distinctions are the property of Jivis, who do not

know the Atmic reality; they are illusions of the Jivis who falsely identify

themselves with the non-Atma.

Consider this example: A mother has four children; but she does not pay the

other three as much attention and care as she gives to the child in the cradle.

Even if the child does not call out for it, she is ever vigilant to give it

food. The other three have to come and worry her for food and things to play

with. Observing this, you cannot pronounce her a bad mother or a partial

mother. The mother adjusts her activities to the capacity and ability of the

child. So too, though the entire world is His, though all are His children, He

has fixed upon each a part of the responsibility of the work of society,

according to the capacity and ability. To ascribe faults to such selfless,

sincere, simple, ever-blissful providence is like attributing darkness to the

sun! Darkness and the rays of the sun cannot exist together; how then can the

sun be the home of darkness? People who carp so at the sun do not know the sun

at all. It is sheer folly, complete ignorance.

Really, from the Adhyatmic point of view, these Varnas can be characterised also

in another way: those who are established in the contemplation of Brahmam are

Brahmins; those who oppose untruth are Kshatriyas; those who systematically

discriminate the true from the false are the Vaisyas; those who are ever active

and follow truth in every day life are the Sudras. The happiness of humanity can

be amply realised only when Varnas function in this way.

Now we shall revert to the subject: Krishna addressed Arjuna: "The four Varnas

have been created by Me on the basis of Guna and Karma. Though I am the doer so

far as they are concerned, I am still a non-doer! Pay attention to the

fundamental principle and then you will realise that Karma which is basically

Jada, or consciousnessless and material, cannot affect the Atma, which is

Chaithanya or suffused with consciousness. The Atma is inherently devoid of

attachment. It has no awareness of agency or of its own needs or nature of its

possessions. It has no 'I' or 'mine' for these are the marks of Ajnana. Only

those afflicted with Ajnana will suffer from the ego or sense of 'mine'. Though

it may appear to ordinary eyes that I am the doer, I am a non-doer!"

"Not only this. Karma does not cease to affect the doer as soon as it is

finished. In fact, it is never finished. Karma yields fruits; fruits of Karma

breed desire for them; that results in impulses for further Karma; the impulses

bring about further births. Thus, Karma leads to the cycle of births and deaths;

it is a vicious whirlpool, making you revolve round and round and finally

dragging you down into the depths."

"Arjuna, listen well to another point also. Karma as such has no capacity to

bind; it is the conceit 'I am the doer' that brings about the attachment and

the bond; it is the desire to earn the fruit that produces the bondage. For

example: the zero gets value only with the association of a digit. Karma is

zero; agency or the feeling of 'doer' is associated with the Karma; then it

breeds bonds. So Arjuna, give up the sense of "I" and the Karma that you do

will never harm you. Karma done without any desire for the fruits thereof will

not produce impulses; that is to say, there will be no impulse for birth even.

The aspirants of past ages performed Karma with this high ideal in view. They

never felt that they were the "doers" or "enjoyers of the fruits" of any act.

The Lord did, the Lord gave the fruit, the Lord enjoyed the fruit, that was

their conviction. This world has only a relative value; it has no absolute

existence; that was their faith. Arjuna! You too should cultivate that

faith and earn that conviction. Do so; then your mind will become clarified and pure."

"Know also the distinction between Karma, Vikarma and Akarma. I shall tell you

the main points of difference now. Listen. Many aspirants get confused about

this. Not all can grasp the distinction. They take it that Swa-dharma is Karma

and that all Karma done, not as Dharma, but with a view to earn Atma-jnana are

Vikarmas! Whatever the Karma, if it is done in the darkness and confusion of

Ajnana, however hard you may have exercised your abilities during the activity,

its result can only be worry, grief and travail. It can never result in

equanimity, balance or calm. Man has to win Karma in Akarma and Akarma through

Karma - that is the hallmark of the wise."

"Akarma means action-lessness according to some. But to explain it in simpler

language, understand that the activities of the limbs, the senses,

intelligence, the feelings, the emotions and mind are all Karmas. Now, Akarma

means among other things non-activity too. That is to say, it is the attribute

of the Atma. So Akarma means Atma-sthithi, the characteristic of the Atma."

When you travel in a bus or train or boat, the illusion is created that the

trees and hills on either side travel along and the person feels that he is

stationary! "The movement of the chariot imposes on hill and tree the quality

of movement; so too, the person unaware of the principles enunciated in the

Sastras deludes himself into the belief that the Atma is doing all the

activities of the senses and the body. Which then is the genuine Akarma,

activity-less-ness? The experience of the Atma is the perfect

activity-less-ness; that is your real nature. It will not do if you simply

desist from external acts. You

should realise the Atmic fundamental, not merely renounce Karma; for it is

impossible to be completely activityless."

http://beaskund.helloyou.ws/askbaba/geethavahini/geetha045.html

Sathya Sai Baba Gheeta Vahini Online

Edition:http://beaskund.helloyou.ws/askbaba/geethavahini/index.html

Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at HotJobs