Swami teaches... The road has to be trodden by you...

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Sai Ram Light and Love

Swami teaches...

The Road Has to Be Trodden by You...

The Earth and the Moon are illumined by the Sun. Dependent on the Sun,

planets like Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn,

dutifully move along the prescribed orbits, at different speeds. Their

satellites too belong to the solar family. When people lift their eyes up at

the sky at night, they notice stars beyond numbers. Without being lost in

numbers, people must ponder over the mystery of the Unity and Harmony of this

Cosmic Projection.

The Cosmos has a name and form; God became the Cosmos. From the silver cup,

you can never separate the silver as a distinct entity. So too God cannot be

distinct from Creation. Nothing is mean or low, ugly or disgusting; every thing

is adorable. To get fixed in this universal God(Cosmic)-Consciousness, one has

to tame one's impulses and educate one's desires.

Life is a mirage; it comes from no visible rain; it falls into no

recognisable sea. "What am I for?What ought I to do?" These questions you

must pursue, and arrive at the answers.

People are all pilgrims, moving along this land of action (Karmakshethra) to

the goal of land of righteousness (Dharmakshethra). The literary people, the

poets, the teachers and administrators who addressed you so far are all guides

who help you along; but, the road has to be trodden by you, every inch of it.

Kali Yuga has become Kalaha yuga, the era of wrangling and wars. Even while

foes are surrounding this country, there is wild hate between one state and

another. Similar is the fate of nations also. Now, relations between people are

vitiated by malice and hatred. The Government, the administration and the people

are as the three blades in the electric fan; when all three rotate together in

the same direction and at the same speed, they conduce to comfort. Human has

been enslaved by money and lives a superficial, hollow, artificial life. One

should seek to possess only as much money as is most essential for living. The

quantity of riches one must own can be compared to the shoes one wears; if too

small, they cause pain; if too big, they are a hindrance while walking. Money

too has to be with us only just enough for a life of physical and mental

comfort.

Try to discover points of contact, not of conflict. Spread brotherliness and

deepen kindness through knowledge. Integration of hearts can come about only

through the recognition of the Oneness of All, and the renunciation of sensory

pursuits.

 

Your nature is Sath, Chith and Ananda (Being Awareness Bliss Absolute).That

is why you behave in the way you do. You desire to exist for ever; you enjoy

continuing to live. That is enough evidence to conclude that you are Reality in

essence (Sath-swarupa). Then, again, you are filled with wonder and curiosity

and a desire to know the world around you. You ask continuously what, why, how

and when, about all and sundry. This is the prompting that is given by the

Consciousness (Chith), that is in your make-up. Lastly, you are always seeking

joy, through some means or other. You try to avoid grief, you try to taste joy

instead. It is the nature of human being to do so. "Well-ness" is natural;

"illness" unnatural.

Happiness and peace do not follow when human is fed well, clothed well,

housed well and even educated up to a high standard and employed under

comfortable conditions, with no injury to health or security. There are many

who have all these in plenty but who are yet worried or in pain or

discontented. They depend on the inner equipment of human, not on outer skill

or riches.

The tree of Life has to be watered at the roots, but now, those who plan to

raise the standard of living, water the branches, the leaves and the blossoms.

The roots are the virtues; they have to be fostered so that the flowers of

actions, words and thoughts may bloom in fragrance and yield the fruit of seva

(service), full of the sweet juice of ananda. Planning for food, clothing and

shelter is only promoting the well-being of the cart; plan also for the horse,

the mind of human which has to use the food, the clothing, the shelter and

other material instruments for the high purpose of escaping from the ego into

the Universal.

The body is but a boat, an instrument, for crossing the sea of change, that

you have earned through the merit of many generations. When you have crossed

the sea, you realise the Dweller, in the Dwelling. That is the purpose of the

body. So, even when the body is strong and skilled, even while the intellect is

sharp and the mind alert, effort must be made to seek the Dehi (Dweller), in the

deha (body).

Seek the springs of Ananda (Bliss) within you here and forever. Believe that

the Ananda within you is derived from God who is your Reality.

In the firmament of the heart, the intellect (sun) and the mind (moon)

revolve on their regular courses.If the passions mentioned above dim the glory,

they are to be dismissed as passing clouds that cannot affect the sources of

light. The more you reason out things, the plainer will become the reality.

Reasoning power will never hinder the discovery of the Truth; only, you have to

go as far as reason can take you; then, you can see the vast vistas beyond.

Human has been endowed with enormous, immeasurable talents, skills and power.

But, human is using all that to journey towards a poor satellite of the Earth,

instead of journeying towards the wonderland of own inner realms, where he/she

can come face to face with God who is the inner Reality of this entire

phenomenal world. From the point of view of the 'fully awake', the jnani,

even the waking stage is ephemeral, illusory. That is why jnana is declared to

be so illuminating; it reveals the Truth that all this is only 'relatively'

real; the Absolute Reality is the Brahmam, Paramatma.

 

The core of this Universe is Paramatma (Supreme Self), which is beyond all

description. Both the cognisable and non-cognisable have emanated from the same

One Indivisible Consciousness. Each is full and complete in itself. The

individual consciousness is the manifestation of theCosmic Consciousness. When

the material sheath falls off, it merges in its source. The Vedas declare,

"That is full; this is full. From the full, emerges the full. When the full is

taken from the full, the full remains full." So, the Cosmos, the world, the

individual - all are embodiments of the Full. Nothing can be fractional or

incomplete.

The Vedhas announce: "The One indestructible sound Om is Brahman, the

Universal Absolute." The moving and unmoving, everywhere are only paraphrasing

OM, elaborating its nature, illustrating its potentialities. The past that has

gone, the present that is here and the approaching future are all also OM. The

Pranava is the Name and Paramatma is the Named. "Sarvam Khalu idam Brahma". All

this is indeed Brahman (Paramatma). But, this awareness of the immanence of the

Universal can come only when the I - consciousness is forgotten.

The Vedhas prescribe the repetition of the Pranava while studying holy

texts, reciting the Name of the Divine, carrying out daily duties and offering

gifts. The Pranava is the essence of all sustenance, the embodiment of

Rasa. Of all creation, moving and un-moving, there are eight Rasas, the earth,

water, physic, person, word, Rig, Sama (Rigveda, Samaveda) and OM lead to the

ninth, Ananda (Bliss). These are the Navarasas, the Nine Essences, the Nine

Sustainers. Ananda (Bliss) is the goal which human is seeking, the aim of human

life.

 

In order to delve deep into the principle represented by the Pranava (OM),

four steps have been demarcated in sadhana. One may doubt how the eternal

unique integral OM can be understood in stages.

The steps, however, are designed to help the identification of the principle

itself. Wakefulness, dream, deep sleep and the "fourth" are the steps.

Wakefulness means "being awake,exterior altertness," or "outward vision."

The consciousness is gross, while in this stage the impressions that impinge on

the consciousness are reflections and images of the Truth. During the dream

stage, people can experience holiness and bliss, only when they engage

ourselves, while awake, in steady pure unselfish activities. In dreams, they

see diverse objects and persons, strange worlds, of skyscrapers and castles.

>From where did these emerge? Through whom were they presented? Prajnaanam

Brahman, the Supreme Consciousness, is the basis for the creation of this

variety of dream appearances.

In the deep sleep stage, the individual is not conscious at all; he/she is

just a witness. It is pure unaffected prajna or awareness. It has no contact

with the objective world or the senses, outer and inner. The last stage is

thureya. It is the stage when the consciousness is fully aware of itself. It

cannot be identified as such by any means. We can try to delineate it a little

by saying that it is the silence that prevails, after one OM and before another

OM follows it. The thureya is the stage of Atma-Consciousness. When the salt

doll is dropped in the sea, it reaches the bottom and is dissolved. The same

happens to the seeker of the Atma. He is dissolved. He becomes one with that

which he sought to know.

 

Ananda is sought in three different ways, according to the innate quality of

the seeker - the sathwik, the rajasik and the thamasik.

The sathwik path is poison in the early stages and nectar while coming to

fruition. It invokes firm control and regulation of the senses, of cognition

and action. This will be very hard to accomplish. To achieve the sathwik

happiness that is positive and permanent, human must perforce take on trials

and tribulations, loss and pain. The rajasik path in the early stages is

nectarine but later, it slides into misery, for the happiness is derived

through the senses from objects of the external world. The pleasure soon

reveals itself as unreal, false and exhausting. Human becomes too weak to

pursue the goals of dharma (righteousness) artha (prosperity) kaama

(wish-fulfilment) and moksha (liberation) which are laid down. Human's

intellect, imaginative skill, intuitive faculty - all are rendered lame. Human

can even lose human-ness. The blind pursuit of objective sensual pleasure has

today resulted in this very calamity.

The thamasik path. People who prefer this way of life are unconcerned with

the problems of the world; they sleep away their lives, deriving joy in sloth

and darkness.

 

The material Universe is saturated in harmony, law and symmetry and is

therefore charming and fascinating. Through this attraction, the external

world, the Universe, draws human into various paths and exertions. The five

elements, the five senses, the five vital airs and other phenomena teach human

various lessons to mould his/her nature.

People need in spiritual Light. Swami is spreads this Light.

Until wisdom enlightens people, they need sadhanas; until they experience

the One Unified Divine, they have to accept and practise discipline,

regulations and sadhanas.

 

The Universe and all its components are to be looked upon as one's

preceptors and lessons learntfrom each.

What is the proof for having learnt such lessons? The proof lies at first in

wholehearted service, insweetness of speech. Vidhura once advised Dhritarashtra,

"A tree when it is axed might yet put forth leaves; but a heart axed by a bitter

word can never sprout again."

The next step is hard work. A Thelugu proverb says "work until your bones

ache, and and eat until your teeth ache." We clamour for food all day, because

we do not work until our bones ache.

The third step is prayer. It may be said we are praying every day. But

prayer is not the pronouncing of words. Prayer is the yearning one experiences

to awaken the divinity latent in the heart. A heart without words is far more

precious than words without a heart.

Prayer must emerge from the effect to the cause. The individual self has to

yearn for the Supreme Self, from the status of self to the all-inclusive Self,

from Atma to Paramatma. Towards the success of that march, all Nature can

provide advice and guidance until the very end. God does not teach us direct;

He teaches us through Nature which surrounds us.

 

Below are five requisites that better to percept His directions through

devotion.

The first is dedication (offering everything to God). Egoism is the bar to

developing the spirit of dedication. Hence egoism should be renounced as the

first offering to God. The second is devotion. It should be regarded as an

expression of gratitude to all that one receives from Providence - the air that

we breathe, the light and the heat that we get from the Sun, the water we drink

and the food we consume. All the essential necessaries of life are got by the

grace of God. The consciousness of the omnipresence of God should be based on

the feeling the presence of God wherever you go, whatever you may do, whether

you are eating or speaking or working. When you cultivate such an attitude that

is the highest form of devotion.

The third is discipline. In almost every action in life, the recognised

limits and regulations have to be observed. This applies equally to the

spiritual field.

The fourth is discrimination. It has to be used in every aspect of daily

living - in what you see, what you listen to, what you speak and what you

consume. Avoid eating all kinds of food in strange places. The Last is

determination. Without firm determination no great thing can be achieved in

life. It is all the more needed in the spiritual field so that you may face all

difficulties and obstacles and overcome them.

(What about freedom in context of 'Five D' above? True freedom consists in

keeping the senses under control. An example. A man wants to drink. But he gets

tipsy after a drink. What happens to his freedom? He has lost the little sense

he had. Freedom does not consist in indulgence. Real freedom comes from

realisation of the Self).

Today human is fast losing steadfastness in spiritual pursuits. Learn from

the poor little spider this lesson of inflexible determination to succeed. It

struggles again and again, in spite of repeated failures, to fix the basic

threads of its web, so that it can weave it taut and strong.

Human is suffering today because human is engrossed in the external world,

with no sadhana or steadypractice to correct the vision. What can ten baths a

day do to cleanse a person, when mind is fouled by evil thoughts? What can the

shaven head and the ochre clothes do to foster spirituality when mind is

riddled by desires and wants?

People are led into the wrong belief that the accumulation of material

possessions will endow with joy andcalm. The chief defect is the loss of

self-confidence and enthusiasm among the people. They do not know that the

secret of strength and courage lies in themselves. People have lost the art of

living together in peace and harmony. They go from place to place, like postal

parcels, collecting impressions on the outer wrapper, not on the core of own

being.

Now is actual, for example, the family planning by the artificial methods

for the limitation of children. Though such methods may appear to succeed, they

are fraught with much danger; they will inevitably lead to large-scale

demoralisation of character and weakening of moral stamina; stamina on which

the ultimate strength of a people depends. The regulation must come from

within, not from without; people must control themselves through their own

innate strength. Remember always, the best teacher is own

heart. Time is the best preceptor and awakener; the world is the best

scripture; God is the best friend for human. So there is no need to wander in

search of a guru (preceptor). Learn lessons from every living being, everything

that you find around you. Learn faithfulness and gratitude from the dog,

patience and fortitude from the donkey, perseverance from the spider,

farsightedness from the ant and monogamy from the owl. It is not possible to

consider creation and the creator, Nature and God, as different or separate. Can

we say that waves are separate from the sea? Human too is of God, with and from

God. The bubble is born in water, stays in water and is lost in water as water.

The Cosmos too is a bubble born in the Absolute, exists as the Absolute and

merges in the Absolute or Paramatma. Recognise this truth this world, cannot be

conceived as without God. When you constantly remind yourselves, "I am God",

you develop Godly behaviour. Listen to your Inner Voice - the Voice of

Conscience. Your conduct will then be spontaneously Godly. You will spread

peace and harmony in your respective countries. (Reet's compilation from,

Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 4. "Fragrant with Grace," Chapter 13 and "Be like

lamps," Chapter 14; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 6. "The tree of life," Chapter 20

and "Proper care of the boat," Chapter 21; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 15. "The

cleansing process," Chapter 4 and "The Universe - the Guru," Chapter 15; Sathya

Sai Speaks. Vol. 22. "Live in the Divine," Chapter 4).

Namaste - Reet