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Swami teaches... The recognition of the Divine arises from sadhana

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Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

Swami teaches...

The Recognition of the Divine Arises from Sadhana

The Motto

The forest fire can reduce to ashes the greenest of trees, for its heat is

beyond calculation. So too the Divine in the Incarnation is inexplicable,

incredible, impenetrable. It is the Fire of Love plus the Fire of

Enlightenment, the Fire of Cosmic Creation as well as the Fire of Cosmic

Destruction.

*

All things in creation are subject to the law of change and human too is

subject to his law. In this world which is impermanent and ever transforming,

the Immanent Power of the Lord is the only permanent and fixed entity. In order

to realise the eternal and the true, one has perforce to attach oneself to that

Source and Sustenance. There is no escape from this path. It is the destiny of

one and all, irrespective of age or scholarship, clime or caste, sex or status.

 

Human should use the law for progress, and not for sliding lower in the

scale. Dharma (righteousness) is the norm, which human must adhere to, so that

changes from good to better and from better to the best. While proceeding

along the road, you can watch your shadow falling on mud or dirt, hollow or

mound, thorn or sand, wet or dry patches of land. You are unaffected by the

fate of your shadow. Nor is the shadow made dirty thereby. We know that the

shadow and its experiences are not eternal or true. Similarly, you must get

convinced that 'you' are but the shadow of the Absolute and you are essentially

not this 'you' but the Absolute itself. That isthe remedy for sorrow, travail

and pain.

 

Many persons in the world have expounded in different ways the nature of

Divinity. Even in Bharath, although from ancient times profound spiritual

truths have been proclaimed and propagated, the minds of people have not turned

towards the sublime. It is the minds of people that need to be changed, not

their external appearances. People are judged by their qualities, not their

garments.

 

The greatest defect today is the absence of Atma vichara (the inquiry into

the nature of the Self). That is the root cause of all this ashanthi

(restlessness). If you are eager to know the truth about yourself, then even if

you do not believe in God, you will not go astray. The pots are all of mud, the

ornaments are all of gold, the clothes are all of yarn. There is unity where

one saw only diversity; the basic substance is one and indivisible. That is

Brahman(Supreme Reality), that is the Atma, i. e. Brahman which is your own

basic substance too. Whatever there is, all is Atma, that is Brahman, no more,

no less. Realisation of this great Truth is the only purpose of human.

This Atma vichara is best found in the Upanishads. Just as a river's flow is

regulated by bunds and the flood waters are directed to the sea, so too the

Upanishads regulate and restrict the senses, the mind and the intellect and

help one to reach the sea and merge individuality in the Absolute. Study the

Upanishads with a view to act accordingly, to put the advice into practice.

But scanning a map or turning over a guide-book will not give you the thrill of

the actual visit, nor will it give you a fraction of the joy and knowledge of a

journey through that land. The Upanishads and the Gita are only maps and

guide-books, remember.

You need not even read the Gita or the Upanishads. You will hear a Gita

specially designed for you if you call upon the Lord in your own heart. He is

there, installed as your own charioteer. Ask Him and He will answer. Have the

Form of the Lord before you when you sit quietly in a place for meditation and

have His Name, that is, any Divine Name when you do japam (repetition of holy

name). Do not be under the impression that Swami will be angry with you if you

do not accept His as the dhyana Ruupam (Form for meditation). You have perfect

freedom to select the Name and Form that give you necessary encouragement.

If you do japam, without that picture or form before you, who is to give the

answer? The Ruupam (Form) will hear and the Ruupam will respond. The imaginary

picture you have drawn will get transmuted into the emotional picture, dear to

the heart and fixed in the memory.

(Japam and dhyanam are means by which you can compel even the concretisation

of the Divine Grace, in the Form and with the Name you yearn for. The Lord has

to assume the Form you choose, the Name you fancy; in fact, you shape Him so).

But Krishna in the Gita declared against the worship of low forces. He said,

"Fill your mind with Me, be devoted to Me, renounce for My sake, surrender to

Me." Do not have low desires and seek low deities that cater to the fulfilment

of these. Yearn for the highest wisdom, the highest Bliss, the highest Power,

the Atma. Yearn for nothing less than the highest; pray to the Sovereign Giver.

 

This sadhana (spiritual practice) is called japa sahitha dhyana (meditation

on the Lord's Name and Form); it is the best for beginners.

The first step in sadhana is the adherence to Dharma (righteousness) in

every individual and social act. The Dharma which is followed in relation to

Prakrithi (objective world) will automatically lead on to Dharma inthe

spiritual field also; only you must stick to it through thick and thin.

In the preliminary stages of spiritual sadhana, name, form and quality all

have their part to play in the moulding of the spirit. The mind must become the

servant of the intellect, not the slave of the senses. It must discriminate and

detach itself from the body. (The ripe aspirant does not feel the blows of fate

or fortune).

The greatest obstacle on the path of spiritual practice is egoism and

possessiveness. It is something that has been inhering to your personality

since ages, sending its tentacles deeper and deeper with the experience ofevery

succeeding life.

 

First, when you sit for meditation, recite a few shlokas on the glow of God,

so that the thoughts that are scattered could be collected. Then gradually,

while doing japam, draw before the mind's eye the Form which that Name

represents. When your mind wanders away from the recital of the Name, take it

on to the picture of the Form. When it wanders away from the picture, lead it

on to the Name. Let it dwell either on that sweetness or this. Treated thus it

can be easily tamed.

Within a few days, you will fall in line and you will taste the joy of

concentration. After about ten or fifteen minutes in the initial stages and

longer after some time of this dhyana, have some manana (inward contemplation)

on the shanthi and the peace and contentment you had during the dhyana. This

will help your faith and earnestness. Then, do not get up suddenly and start

moving about, resuming your avocations. Loosen the limbs slowly, deliberately

and gradually, and then enter upon your usual duties. In order to develop

and grow in concentration during meditation, you must reduce your wants and

discard your wishes. See everything as a disinterested witness; do not plunge

and get entangled. When the shackles are loosened, you will feel happy and

light. (When you shift your house from the old one, people will find you

filling carts with old and useless shoes, mats, brooms and all sorts of

cumbrous impediments. You dare not throw them out, for long association has

rooted them in your affection).

Do not get discouraged that you are not able to concentrate for long from

the very beginning. (When you learn to ride a bicycle, you do not get the skill

of keeping the balance immediately. So too practice will equip you with a

concentration that will sustain you in the densest of surroundings and the most

difficult situations).

Of course, it is only at the end of a long and systematic process of

sadhana that you will get fixed in the truth; until then, you are apt to

identify yourself with this body and forget that the body which casts a shadow

is itself a shadow. (The slow and the steady will surely win this race; walking

is the safest method of travel, though it may be condemned as slow. Quicker

means of travel mean disaster; the quicker the means, the greater the risk of

disaster). So proceed step by step in sadhana; making sure of one step before

you take another. Do not slide back two paces when you go one pace forward. But

even the first step will be unsteady, if you have no faith.

 

Be careful always about your physical health. Otherwise, your head might

reel and your eyes might get blurredthrough sheer exhaustion; how can thoughts

of the Lord be stabilised in a weak frame? Only, do not forget the purpose of

this body when you are tending it. Remember that you have come embodied, so

that you might realise the end of this cycle of birth and death. For that sake,

use the body as an instrument.

If the body is afflicted with disease, you point the finger to the person for

wrong eating habits, evil habits, evil company, damaging types of recreation,

etc. If the mind of person is agitated and heavy, with sadness and anxiety, you

have to blame the person for neglecting the ways that can ensure peace and

perpetual calm. The question must be asked, of everyone who is caring for the

body; "For what purpose are you caring for this body? What is it that you hope

to achieve?" The body is the sheath, the scabbard for the sword, the Jivi, the

"I" that is within it, but not of it. The purpose of the scabbard is to

discover the Unity of the Universe. You feel you are One though you are an

Organisation of many limbs and instruments of knowledge, hands, feet, head,

muscle, nerve, eye, tongue, teeth, etc. So also, the Universe is but One,

though you may be able to distinguish stars and planets, rock, tree and bird

and birch, ant and antler in it.

 

Flying hither and thither, higher and higher, the bird has at last to perch

on a tree for rest. So too, even the richest and the most powerful person seeks

rest, shanthi. Peace can be got only in one shop, in inner reality. The senses

will drag you along into a mire, which submerges you deeper and deeper in

alternate joy and grief, that is to say, prolonged discontent. Only the

contemplation of unity can remove fear, rivalry, envy, greed, desire... Every

other avenue can give only pseudo contentment; a day will come when you will

throw away all these play-things and toys and cry, "Lord! grant Me unruffled

peace." The confirmed atheist too has one day to pray for peace and rest.

There is no use arguing and quarrelling among yourselves; examine,

experience; then you will know the truth. Do not proclaim before you are

convinced; be silent while you are still undecided or engaged in evaluating. Of

course, you must discard all evil in you before you can attempt to evaluate the

mystery. And, when faith dawns, fence it around with discipline and

self-control, so that the tender shoot might be guarded against the goats and

cattle, the motley crowd of cynics and unbelievers. When your faith grows into

a big tree, those very cattle can lie down in the shade that it will spread.

Kranthi (change) and Shanthi (peace) both reside in the heart. Discover them

within you and dedicating all your actions to God. Genuineness consists in being

true to the deepest core. That is to say, you can rely on human's behaviour

being always true; one will speak out only what one feels to be sincere; one

will act according to one's words; one's thought, word and action will be

consistent and complementary. If in any one case, this concordance is absent,

then, the person is a human only in outer form.

When you feel you cannot do good, at least desist from doing evil. That

itself is meritorious service. Do not try to discover differences; discover

unity. The Spark of Life, the Jivi (individual being) in each is the same.

 

What exactly is the cause of all sorrow and grief? It is the attachment to

the body that produces grief as well as its immediate precursors: affection and

hate. These two are the results of the intellect considering some things and

conditions as beneficial, and some other things and conditions as harmful. But,

from the highest point of view, there is neither. To see two where there is only

one, that is delusion or ignorance.

From the other point of view God is the goal of every prayer, in whatever

language or dialect it is spoken. You may see people kneeling or prostrating,

with folded palms or arms extended, in church or mosque or temple but they are

all asking for help, succour, strength, wisdom, security or happiness from the

inexhaustible reservoir of happiness, wisdom and power, God. But, people in

their pettiness, do not recognise the basic truth, they pride themselves on

their holiness and disparage the others, as having gone astray. They do not

have mental peace themselves, nor do they allow others to live in peace. Such

is the stupidity of the fanatics.

Human does not delve deep into the significance of all that happens around

him. Siddhartha, who became the Buddha, had that urge to know and inquire.

"The many-voiced song of the river echoed softly. Siddhartha looked into the

river and saw many pictures in the flowing water. The river's voice was

sorrowful. It sang with yearning and sadness, flowing towards its goal.

Siddhartha was now listening intently to this song of a thousand voices. The

great song of a thousand voices consisted of one word: Om - perfection... From

that hour Siddhartha ceased to fight against his destiny. " (By Hermann Hesse,

"Siddhartha," 1951). Faith in God is to be translated into action. It is an

imperative act of worship to discharge faithfully all one's duties and

responsibilities.

 

Human being is a lover of the beautiful. He/she rejoices at the sight of

good food. It may be asked whether this joy, which human experiences is

related solely to physical things or has it an inner spiritual basis? It is not

the body that experiences joy. It is the Atma (the indwelling Spirit). The

joy that one derives from looking at others is not related to the body but the

Atma. What the eye sees, the ear hears, the mind thinks, or the heart feels,

all of them are experiences of the Atma. The senses are only instruments. Every

experience is a reflection of the Inner Being. Only when this truth is

recognised will it be possible to comprehend to some extent the nature of the

Divine.

 

Do not forget that your freedom is restricted by the freedoms you have to

grant to other members of the society in which you live and thrive. Your

station in life, your position of authority, your account, your kinship with

others, your status as father or son, husband or wife, master or servant,

teacher or pupil, each has its own Swadharma (individual morality and duty) -

both of duties and responsibilities. Bharath's Culture has emphasised this in

every scripture and every epic. However, if there was no other person, you

have no duties at all. Duty arises when you have another person to deal with.

You have a duty so far as the other person is concerned and has the

responsibility to see that he/she deserves that duty which you feel bound to

fulfil towards that person. Duty must be deserved by the other; it must be

done with skill and sincerity and love. This is easy if you feel that your duty

is part of your worship, that you are offering it to Swami, the pinpointer of

Atmic Reality in the other person.

You have it in the power to make your days on the Earth a path of flowers,

instead of a path of thorns. Recognise Swami's resident in every heart and all

will be smoothness, softness and sweetness for you. Swami will be the fountain

of Love in your heart and in the hearts of all with whom you come in contact.

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 1. "God as Guide," Chapter 3

and "Japasahitha Dhyaana," Chapter 5; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 10. "The sword and

the scabbard," Chapter 28; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 13. "Himaachal," Chapter 9

and "The basic error," Chapter 13; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 25. "The Sacred

Message Of A Holy Festival," Chapter 4).

Namaste - Reet

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