Dhyana Vahini by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba - Pages 1-4

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Men have to be doing some karma or other from the moment of waking to the

moment of sleeping; that is to say, from birth to death. They cannot sit quiet

without doing karma. Whoever he may be, he has no means of avoiding this

predicament! But each one has to understand clearly which kind of karma he has

to be engaged in. There are only two types:

Sensory or binding karmas, or vishaya karmas. Karmas that liberate, or sreyo karmas.

Still, the karmas that bind, the vishaya karmas, have increased beyond control:

and as a result, sorrow and confusion have increased. Through these no

happiness and peace of mind can be gained. The sreyo karmas on the other hand

yield progressive joy and auspiciousness with each single act. They give bliss

to the soul, or Atmananda; and are not concerned with mere external joy! Though

acts may be external, the attraction is all towards the internal. This is the

right path, the true path.

Vishaya karma includes all activity in relation to exterior objects. It is

usually resorted to with a desire for the result. This craving for the

consequences leads one to the morass of 'I' and 'Mine' and the demon of lust

and greed. If one follows this path, there will be sudden flares as when ghee

is poured in the sacrificial fire! Assigning priority to sense objects or

vishaya is the same as assigning importance to poison or visha! But while

engaged in those activities and in those sense objects, if one has no interest

in the result or consequence, then not only can one be victorious over the

feelings of 'I' and 'Mine' and greed and lust, he can also be far away from all

such traits. He will never be troubled by them. Sreyo Karma or liberating karma

is so pure, faultless, unselfish and unswerving. Its characteristic is the

importance given to the idea of nishkama karma, action without any thought of

the fruits thereof, elaborated in the Gita. The practice of that discipline

involves the development of Sathya, Dharma, Santhi and Prema: Truth,

Righteousness, Peace, and Love. While on this path, if one also takes up the

discipline of the name of the Lord, where else can he acquire more joy and

bliss? It will give the fullest satisfaction.

 

If every one treads this holy path, the Lord Himself will bestow on each all

that is needed, all that is deserved and all that will give peace of mind.

Offer everything to the Lord without any desire for the result; that indeed

yields full joy; that is indeed the easiest. While it is very difficult to

speak untruth and act against Dharma it is very easy to utter the truth and

walk in the path of Dharma. To speak out the thing just as it is, is a very

pleasant task; one need not spend a moment of thought upon it. To speak of what

is not, one has to create the non-existent! That plunges one into fear and

fantasy, in an atmosphere of restlessness and worry.

So, instead of the vishaya karma which offers all such trouble and all these

complications, follow the Sreyo marga, the Atmananda marga which is true,

eternal and holy.

The best means for this is Dhyana. Today, men with new fangled ideas argue how

Dhyana is to be done and even why it should be done. But they do not know

either its taste or its purity. That is why there is so much criticism and

cynical laughter. My present intention is to instruct such people. Therefore, I

am telling this.

Every one in the world has the nature of behaving and acting in two different

ways; one outside and another inside. This is known to all, though generally

men do not show this out publicly. Just as people lose even the little joy that

they have, worrying over the factions they may have in their family, they lose

their internal peace when they are pursued by physical obstacles and trouble.

For an example to illustrate this, take the instance of a cart. It cannot move

by itself, is it not? It can move only when two bullocks are yoked to it. And

the cart can move safely only when those bullocks are trained in the task of

drawing carts, and when they are used to the road through which they have to

pass. Instead, if they are ignorant of the process of drawing carts, if they

have not walked on the road taken, if they have never stepped out of their shed

and if they have always moved only round and round the post to which they have

been tied, in their own mire, the journey cannot proceed! And the cart too will

come to grief!

 

Likewise, the Anthah-karana cannot move of itself; it must be attached to the

externally related bullocks Buddhi and Manas, the Intelligence and the Mind.

Then only can it move forward, following the bullocks' tread. So, earlier than

the journey, the bullocks - Buddhi and Manas - should be conversant with the

road to the village which the Anthah-karana is eager to reach. They must be

trained to proceed in that direction. If this is done, the journey will be easy

and safe. Instead of this, if the draught animals have no knowledge of the

roads, Sathya, Dharma, Santhi, Prema, and if they have never once trodden that

path, the cart, Anthah-karana, itself might come to grief! Even if they are

prodded to proceed they will only drag the cart to familiar post and the

accustomed mire of Confusion, Injustice, Cruelty, Indiscipline and Falsehood!

What then of the journey? And when is the arrival to be?

Therefore, Buddhi and Manas have to be taught the art of drawing the cart and

moving steadily along the road. This has to be done by Japam and Dhyanam. Man

is suffering despair and defeat on account of the waywardness and unsteadiness

of the Anthah-karana, which itself is the result of his inability to control

and guide the bullocks of Buddhi and Manas, unused as they are to Dhyanam and

Japam to the extent of even stepping along that path! At such a time, the

conflicting desires infecting the mind of man have to be quenched and

controlled. The mind has to be focussed in one direction. Man must walk

determinedly, using all his effort towards and for the purpose of the aim and

achievement he has set before himself. If this is done, no force can pull him

back; he can attain the position which is his due.

When the wayward mind fleeing in all directions is plunged in the contemplation

of the Name of the Lord, the effect will be like the concentration of the rays

of the sun through a piece of magnifying glass; the scattered rays develop the

power of a flame to burn and consume; so too when the waves of Buddhi and the

feelings of Manas get one-pointedness through the converging lens of the Atma,

they manifest as the Divine Splendour which can scorch evil and illumine Joy.

Every one is able to gain success in his profession or occupation only through

concentration and one-pointedness in effort. Even the pettiest of tasks needs

for its fulfilment the quality of concentration. The toughest problem yields

before unswerving endeavour. Man is endowed with unlimited powers. Not a single

man is without them! But the road is missed, since he is unaware of this truth.

To gain the awareness of this power, he must join the company of the holy; he

must strive in Sadhana; and he must practise Japam and Dhyanam. Of what avail

is it even if you have each item of provision in plenty, when you do not know

the method of cooking them into palatable food? Similarly, man has in himself

all the provisions needed for his upkeep and progress, but he discards them

lightly and leaves them unused, because he is ignorant of the process of

benefiting by them. Man must seek to see and understand the Universal Sakthi,

the One without a Second, which is the Basis of all the

multifarious manifestations of Name and Form in the world around him. The mind

flies at a tangent all the time. Dhyanam is the process by which it is trained

to acquire concentration.

 

As a result of meditation on the Paramatma, the mind will withdraw from

sense-objects and the sensory world. Just at that time, Buddhi must assert its

authority and command the Manas not to entertain any feeling except the thought

of the Fundamental Basis. When its basic truth is known, the mind will not be

deluded by the Evanescent, the Untrue, and the Unblissful; it will, on the

other hand, welcome the blossoming of Joy, Happiness and Truth; it will not be

affected by sorrow and grief. For Prakriti and Prana are indestructible, is it

not? And so, everything which is the product of the mingling of these two has a

new value inherent in it. Man's life also assumes a new splendour when he

realises and visualises the Satchidananda through Manas and Buddhi, purified

and transformed by means of Dhyanam. The taste of the fruit is evident when we

see the whole of it eaten with no portion left behind. So too, when the taste

of Dhyanam is once discovered, man will discard all doubt and

discussion thereon, and engage himself fully in it. Therefore, begin Dyanam,

each one of you from today, even from this moment!

Dhyanam should be performed enthusiastically, with full faith and care, and

strictly according to the disciplines laid down. If this is done, it will

bestow not only all happiness and all victory but even the vision of the Lord.

This is bound to the science of Vedantha and also to the science of Nature or

Prakriti. These two are different only in one respect. The students of Prakriti

are immersed in the objects of Life; the students of Vedantha are immersed in

the basic truth of Life. And man is bound to both these! Prakriti is related to

Vishaya: Vedantha is related to Swarupa. If man desires to transform his life,

internal as well as external, into one of Splendour, Dhyanam is the best

Sadhana that he can adopt.

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Sathya Sai Baba Dhyana VahiniTranslated from the Original TeluguPublished by Sri

Sathya Sai Books and Publications TrustIndex:

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