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Divine Love

 

WE are living in a rapidly changing world. Science and its marvellous

achievements have shaken our old faiths and a new vista has been opened to

modern man. Material advancement .has placed modern man in an advantageous

position. The forces generated by science and democracy have been operating

in a variety of ways to transform human life.

 

Our old values and the good old days are going out fast, never to return. "

The age demands of our citizens an understanding of these forces, an

acceptance of them and an intelligent assimilation of their values so that

India may forge a new character and a new destiny for herself."

 

Our culture is based upon Divine Love and religion. Religion has been the

most vital force moulding our individual and collective life. It is so even

to-day. Our land is specially fortunate to get the unerring guidance of

successive sages and saints during all these centuries to keep us firm on

our grounds wedded to the highest values of life, love, peace and

harmony-From the birth of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to this day, India has

been blessed with Divine guidance. Sai Baba, the sage of Shirdi, has been

pouring out his Divine Love to thousands and hundreds of thousands since

1845. The unending stream of devotees at Shirdi day in and day out is but a

manifestation of Divine love, compassion and pity. Sai Baba did not believe

in a religion which cannot feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the

homeless.

 

Swami Vivekananda taught that the only way God can come to a hungry man is

in the form of a morsel of bread. The sage of Shirdi opened our eyes further

and demonstrated in unmistakable terms that material improvement is a

condition precedent for India's spiritual and moral advancement. One is the

means and the other the end. There is no conflict between the two. Visit the

sacred shrine of Lord Venkateswara and witness the hundreds of millions of

people adoring and worshipping the Lord. There, we find, materialism in the

service of spirituality. To heal the physical and mental sufferings of

humanity, material prosperity and spirituality must work hand in hand; the

deficiency of the one affects the progress of the other.

 

Religion will ever" remain the national passion in India, and the search for

the meaning of life lies beyond the region of man's material desires and

struggles. Modern man has been able to go round the moon in a few minutes.

Nature is revealing its mysteries. Startling discoveries have been made and

greater discoveries are in store for us. Civilization has advanced far.

Barriers separating countries and nations have been destroyed. Man has

conquered distance and the craze for further discoveries leads man to

rtstless life. He feels a vacuum. There is an urge1 to know tho soul, to

know God, to pierce the mystery that veils nature. This constitutes the

religious impulse in man. He faces the threefold questions :

 

(1) Who am I?

(2) Whence have I come

(3) What shall I do to return to my true homeland

 

"Each soul is potentially Divine. The goal is manifest, achieve this

divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this and be

free- This is the “whole- of religion." Thus spoke Vivekananda,

 

To know who you are, spend some time every day in silerice, in meditation.

Sit in a silent corner away from the din and roar of daily life and meditate

on the adventure of existence, Ramana's message to humanity is to know

ourselves. Reflect, recollect, concentrate, meditate.

 

The gates are opened. Haw to know God ? What is the easiest way to God? That

was a question put to Mahatma Gandhi. What was the answer ? He said : " To

me Seva, service of the poor, opens the easiest way to God." Let us

contemplate |he way of Gandhi, the Father of the Nation. He says in one his

books, " I would rather be torn to pieces than disown my brothers and

sisters in suffering and pain." He identified himself with the poor and

needy. Religion to Gandhi was not creed, but right life, a life of sympathy

and love, of fellowship with the poor. Therefore, to know God, love is a

pre-requisite. God is love itself. " The ignorant feel that God and love

are separate- God and Love are One, and when once this is known they will

realise that God is love." So said the great Tamil sage, ThiruvalluVar.

 

Service of the poor is worship of God. Mark the words of Rabindranath Tagore

: " What does thou do in the dark corners of the temple, chanting the hymns

and counting the beads ? Open Thine eyes, God is not before thee. He is

there With the tiller of the soil and the stone cutter. So work and serve

the ,poor. Work is worship. Meet thy God in the sweat of thy brow,"

So, duty forms an integral part of Our Sadhana, It is an act that is done

not under obligation, bat as a sacrifice Out of intense love for the Lord

and His creation. In discharging our duties we should not commit sinful acts

and harm others. Do thy duty and leave the rest to God. Feel that you are an

instrument in the hands of God. Get rid of' I.' Duty is selfless loving

service and submission to the will of God,

" Blessed is he who works with love in his heart. His work is beautiful, is

radiant, because it reveals love.

 

Does he grind the corn ? He does it in the aspiration that his beloved may

bake the bread and bless it.

 

Does he build a hut ? He does it that his beloved may some day dwell in it

aad make it beautiful with his presence,

Does he decorate his room with a picture of the beloved ? He does it that

the beloved may bless the room with a breath of his spirit," So sang a

saint.

 

To know God and the Atman, our Sastras have prescribed threefold margas. The

Gnana Marga or the path of knowledge is very difficult. It is not easily

accessible to all. All cannot acquire adequate knowledge of the infinite,

the endless, the in' Comprehensible one. It is the privilege of a fare few.

The Karma Marga, the path of action, is within the reach of some. It is

equally difficult, for to tread the path of action one must renounce all

desires for fruits of action. Who can say that he has renounced desires for

all fruits of action?

 

? Very few.

 

The Bhakti Marga is the easiest of all. Man is weak. Love, Bhakti, devotion

is the secret, which can, with less difficulty, be seized by the average man

of the age in which we live. Neither knowledge by itself nor Karma-action,

but Bhakti, living faith or love can draw man the quickest to God. So Sai

Baba's upadesh is that we should sit before our Ishta Devata, whatever it

may be, Baba, Rama, Krishna, Allah, Jesus, Siva, or Sakti and offer our

prayers.

 

When we sit in meditation we enter into the presence of God. He meets us in

the depths. We Hve on the surface. In the depths

 

When we sit in meditation we enter into the presence of God. He meets us in

the depths. We live on the surface. In the depths within us move Divine

Presence. Each day, then, go into silence and sing the Divine Name and

rejoice in the holy presence.

 

What is love? Love means to give all that thou hast to Him whom thou lovest

so that nothing remains to thee of thine own. Conquer desire through the

power of love. Love God for His own' sake not for any reward. Seek the

giver, not the gift. Never forget that our goal is union with God. It is the

deepest love that takes man to God. The lives of the 63 Nayanmars and the 12

Alwars are the beaconlights of this sublime love. Take the life of Kannappa

Nayanar of Kalahasti. You and I visit temples and perform archanas. Thinnan,

for that was the name of Kannappar, the son of a hunter king, got

realisation in six days. The moment he saw Kudimbi Thevar, the Sivalingam at

the top of the hills, he was moved, thrilled and he embraced the Sivalingam.

He could not bear the sight of the Lord staying exposed to the Sun and

shower all alone. He feeds the Lord with pork roasted in the fire and tasted

by him. God takes the food and when Siva Kochanar, the Thavamuni of

Thapovanam, feels shocked at the sight of bones near God and gets worried,

the Lord appears in his dream and asks him to witness the love of Kannappar

next day.

 

When Kannappar saw one of the eyes of the Lord bleeding, he fell down, wept

and tried all medicines. Finally, he removed his right eye and placed it in

Lord's right eye socket. That was not enough to show the depth of

Kannappan's love. So the Lord made his left eye bleed. What was the reaction

? Did Kannappar fail ? Certainly not. Placing his left foot on the Lord's

bleeding eye, he was about to remove his left eye. Our Lord, the Love

incarnate, could not bear the sight. Holding the hand of Kannappan, He said,

'stop Kannappa, stop Kannappa.' He blessed him to stand on His right side

for ever. This is the Love that every one should try to have. In six days by

his loving service Kannappan had God-realisation.

 

Andal, Meera and a host of other devotees are the loud proclamations of the

power of Bhakti. We can see God if we crave for it. Sai Baba repeatedly

reminded us that we should cry to see God. It is this divine love that takes

man to God realisation. It needs no knowledge ; all that is required is pure

love from the depths of our hearts. Divine love pours out to all who love

Divinity. Manifest your love by serving the poor. 'Whosoever serveth the

least and the lowest they serve Me' are the words of Jesus.

Truth will triumph and Dharma will reign supreme in the world of today and

tomorrow when matter and Spirit work in harmony and perfect unison.

 

Saint Sayings

 

The sacred places are the best for doling out charity.

 

'Greed leads to misery, scandal to sin, and bad luck to poverty»

God speaks to us in several ways, by day and by night, in silence or in

sound. Over the whole earth are His mighty forces employed, and over the

oceans are His ways observed.

 

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked; whatever a soweth, that shall he also

reap.

 

“He that loveth his life shall lose it; but he that loseth his life

shall find it unto Life Eternal.

 

W. H. SWAMY KESAVAlAHJI’S SELECTIONS

 

(Adopted from the Book Pearls of Wisdom by His Holiness Swami Kesavaiahji)

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