Swami teaches... Recognize the Indwelling Spirit as the Divine gift

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Sai Ram Light and Love Swami teaches...

Recognize the Indwelling Spirit as the Divine Gift

The Cosmic Consciousness illumines everything. All things happen, good

and bad, according to the dictates of Time. Time is the cause of joy and

sorrow, gain and loss. Realise that Time is the cause of all happenings in

the world. There is none who is not subject to the sway of Time.

Time is the greatest conqueror. Everything material undergoes change;

nothing can remain the same. Today merges into tomorrow; it is itself the

consequence of yesterday. It is a constant flux, samsaara, the flow of Time,

the flood of change.

God as the embodiment of Time, is worshipped by the name Samvathsara (year).

This name also means that God contains within Himself everything. God is also

known by the name Kaalaathmaka (the Time Spirit). Sankarshana refers to the

divine's capacity to attract and transform all beings. All beings, moreover,

have emerged from Him. Time moves fast like a whirlwind. Each one's life

span is getting reduced every moment, like a melting block of ice. Time passes

even before human realises duties in life. It is the duty of every one to

realise the purpose of life and utilise time in the performance of duties to

sanctify own existence. Given the will, there is anything that human cannot

achieve in this world. But before embarking on any enterprise, human should

recognise own abilities and endowments.

When human realises true nature and own role in life, he/she becomes one

with God. This is described in Vedanta as the Thurija-avastha - the fourth

state of consciousness in which the individual Spirit is one with the

Universal. It is a transcendental state which is beyond the body and the mind -

beyond the waking, dream and deep sleep states. Today's human, who claims to

know everything and engages in exploring space, is unable to experience bliss.

If one acquires the ability to explore the stars or walk on the moon, but is

unable to understand own true nature, he/she misses the integral consciousness.

This consciousness is not related to knowledge of the external world. It can be

experienced only by turning one's vision inward.

This vision as radiates to person that the Divine resides in all beings as

the Indwelling Spirit. Moreover, He pervades the entire Universe. The Upanishad

describes Him as "Narayana who is inside and outside and pervades everything."

Thus every name of the Lord is related to specific attributes and not an

expression of the devotee's feelings or fancies. Because of the Divine's myriad

attributes, the sages hailed Him as "Om Samvathsaraaya Namah." As the Creator

of the Universe and as the One from whom everything emerged, God is also called

Yugadi (The initiator of every Yuga or Aeon).

The Divine Master illumines the entire Cosmos. And the Cosmos shines in

the Divine. God and the Cosmos are inseparable friends.

This is the prime dictum of Sai.

Human being is all the time seeing the Universe around and yet declares

he/she has not seen God. What is the form of the Cosmos? Is it not Divine? You

are seeing the Divine in the form of the physical Universe. In the Bhagavad

Geetha this cosmic form of the Lord is described as Viswa Viraata Ruupa. It is

the whole Cosmos. The Viswa Viraata Ruupa is the collective form of everything

in the Universe. Manifesting one's inner divinity does not mean producing

something new. It is called Swabhaava (one's true nature) - the Atmic nature.

It is the Atma that confers all powers on human and on whatsoever form in

Cosmos.

(Swami advices to read the Bhagavad Geetha; this learning of the Geetha is

like learning eetha (swimming). Eetha saves you from drowning. Geetha saves you

from drowning in the trecherous flood of worldly desire and delusions).

 

Go straight along the path of karma (action) and dharma (virtue) towards

Brahma (the Supreme Reality); this is your destiny. Karma has to be done, there

is no turning away. Each has own allotted task, according to the status, taste,

tendency and earned merit. Do it, with the fear of God and of sin, deep in your

heart. Inner content is more important than outer prosperity. The consequence

of karma can be wiped out only through karma, as a thorn can be removed only by

means of another. Do good karma to assuage the pain of the bad karma which you

have done and from which you suffer now.

The sages of ancient times divided karma into vikarma (that is intentionally

done) and akarma (that is done without any intention to gain the consequence).

Follow the latter and you will save yourselves from suffering. All other

activities - the earning of wealth, of reputation, of fame and publicity -

result in suffering. Gain internal peace, internal joy; that can be done only

when you act without an eye on the gain. The act must be its own reward; or

rather, the act must be according to the prompting of the God within, so that

its consequence is left to Him.

Dharma what is the moral code, the experience of sages, the controlling

discipline which checks the mind and the senses. There are many such brakes

operating on human Vyakthi dharma (controls affecting the individual, as such),

Sahaja dharma (controls affecting the nature of human, as human), Aashrama

dharma (controls affecting the stage of life, like student householder,

ascetic), Vama dharma (controls pertaining to the duties cast upon human as a

limb of the community), etc. All these brakes are complementary, they do not

cause confusion, they help progress, each in its own way. Besides these, there

is also the Visesha dharma (obligations on special occasions or when faced with

special situations). You must therefore walk warily towards the Goal.

If you cannot act up to your declarations, keep quiet; do not go about

advising and advertise that you are hypocrites. Do not preach dharma (virtue)

while decrying it in deed. Dharma is steady, unchanging; it can neverdecline.

What happens is: those who have to practise dharma decline in faith and

steadfastness. Separate yourself from the grief; you are the President of

your Realm. The senses and the mind, with all the attendant impulses, desires,

attitudes, etc., are your servants, instruments that have to carry out your

orders.

The body is but an instrument for a high purpose, the realisation of the Glory

that fills the Universe, of which you are a fraction.

Like the ass that carries sandalwood, without knowing anything more than its

weight, human too carries the burden of wordly worries. The senses will drag

away from the higher purpose. Without this mastery over the senses, all the

elaborate Puja (ritual worship), all the long hours of Dhyaana (meditation),

all the vows youobserve, are mere mummery.

 

As the heart is to the body, so is the temple to a community. The old

temples have been built in strict accordance with Shaastraic rules and many

generations of devotees have filled them with their piety and prayer. Building

of temples, installation of idols therein, celebrating various festivals in

connection with worship there are all good deeds. They give opportunities for

sacrifice, detachment and are a form of thapas (penance). Really this temple is

but brick and mortar. This idol is but stone. But, you are determined to see in

it the Divine Principle. If you can penetrate behind the stone and see the

Divine Basis, how much easier it is to see the Lord who resides in the heart of

every living, every human being?

Where there is Love, there God is certainly evident. Love more and more

people, love them more and more intensely; transform the love into service,

transform the service into worship; that is the highest saadhana. There is no

living being without the spark of love; even a mad man loves something or

somebody intensely. But, you must recognise this love as but a reflection of

the Premaswaruupa, (the embodiment of Love) that is your reality, to the God

who is residing in your heart. Revere others as having God installed in them;

revere yourself also as the seat of God. Make your heart pure so He can reside

therein. Be like the lotus, unattached to the slush where it is born and the

water in which it is bred; the merits and demerits earned in past births is the

slush, where the jeevi is born; maaya or the enticing illusion called world is

the water, which sustains; do not allow that enticement to affect you. Be above

and beyond the earthly attachments like the lotus. Be in the world, but let not

the world be in you. Know that you should not allow the world to get into you

and affect your sense of values.

 

However, every person is apt to commit mistakes, without being aware of it.

However bright the fire or light, some smoke will emanate from it. So also,

whatever, good deed a man might do, there will be mixed with it a minute trace

of evil. But, efforts should be made to ensure that the evil is minimised, that

the good is more and bad, less. Of course, in the present atmosphere, you may

not succeed in the very first attempt. You must carefully think over the

consequences of whatever you do, talk, or execute.

In whatever way you want others to honour you, or to behave with you, in the

same way, you should first behave with others and love and honour them. Then

only will those honour you. Besides, if only those who advise others about

"Which principles are right, which are true and good, which conduct is best

etc," themselves follow the advice they give, there would then be no need for

giving that advice to all. Others will learn the lesson simply by observing

their actual behaviour. On the other hand, if Vedantha is spoken parrot like to

others, without any attempt to put into practice in one's own conduct, it is not

only deceiving others, it is even worse: it is deceiving oneself. Therefore you

must be, as you want others to be. The Upanishads say that thunder teaches

Da, Da, Dha...Daya (compassion) to the ogres, Dama (self-control) to the gods

and Dharma to human beings. Now, since human is all three - part ogre, part

god, part human - he/she must practise all three: daya (be kind to all), dama

(be the master of your mind and the senses) and dharma (be constantly alert on

the path of fight); that is the advice given from the sky in the voice of

thunder.

Know that which, if known, makes known everything that has to be known. This

was the advice given to Uddalaka by his Guru, as mentioned in the Upanishads.

You are the core, the centre of your world. Without you there is no world for

you. Unless you know yourself, you cannot know the world which is your

creation.

Bhaktas should consider the body as the field, good deeds as seeds and

cultivate the Name of the Lord, with the help of the Heart as the ryot, in

order to get the harvest, the Lord Himself. How can one get the crop without

the cultivation? Like cream in milk, like fire in fuel, the Lord is in

everything, more or less. Have full faith in this.

Of the various types of Bhakti, Namasmarana bhakti is the best. In the

Kaliyuga, the name is the Path for saving oneself, Jayadeva, Gouranga,

Thyagayya, Tukaram, Kabir, Ramdas, all these great Bhaktas attained the Lord

through just this one Nama.

With a pure Anthah-karana, uninterruptedly contemplating on God (whatever

one may be doing), feeling that everything is the Lord's creation and therefore

One, unattached to sense objects, embracing all in equal Love, dedicated to True

Speech, this is the characteristic of Bhakti.

When you earn from the Lord the epithet of Bhaktha (God's devotee) you will

be equal with Arjuna. It is not enough if you style yourself a devotee of God.

He Himself should hail you as His devotee. It is only when your devotion is

acknowledged by the Lord that you can call yourself a devotee. If you have not

received the acknowledgement, it may mean that you have given the wrong address

in your devotion. The correct address of the Lord is Hridayavaasi - the

Indweller in the Heart. This means that you must continue with your devotionto

God untill your own conscience is satisfied. To achieve this satisfaction you

have to purify yourself constantly.

Worship of the Divine must stem from the heart. When devotion flows from the

heart, the voice of the Divine can be experienced in silence - Sabda Brahman

(sound of the Supreme Spirit). This was the experience of Ramakrishna

Paramahamsa. When speech is restrained, the voice of the Spirit within makes

itself heard. That is subtler than the human breath. It is an experience that

can be had every moment of your life.

There is, in this world, no tapas higher than fortitude, no happiness greater

than contentment, no Punya holier than mercy, no weapon more effective than

patience.

The the individual Self and the Divine principle are not two distinct and

separate entities. When the Divine nature of the Cosmos is understood, human is

free from the delusion of separateness. Hence the destination for human is

the realisation own divinity (the original source). This realisation must come

through the Vedantic process of exclusion ("Nethi, nethinot this, not

this"). "I am not the body. I am not the intellect. I am not the Will. I am not

the inner instrument." Human should realise: "I am the Master of all of them."

When by this process of elimination human realises true Self, he/she is freed

from sorrow. The most precious and sacred gift from God is Buddhi

(intelligence). The intelligence that should be used for seeking the Atma

(Spirit) is being used by human today to seek Annam (food). Use the mirror of

Buddhi to recognise your true Self. That is known as Saakshaatkaaram - direct

vision of one's true Self. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 5.

"The voice of thunder," Chapter 13; "This joy and that," Chapter 17 and "Be

above and beyond," Chapter 24; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 18. "Qualities of the

Sadhaka," Chapter 20; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 25. "Manifest Your-Divinity,"

Chapter 2).

Namaste - Reet