Swami teaches... Spiritual and worldly aspects. Instructions to the teachers. Part 1.

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Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

Swami teaches...

Spiritual and Worldly Aspects. Instructions to the Teachers. Part 1.

Termites appear insignificant and innocent in the beginning; they are named

'white ants,' as if they deserve admiration and attention, rather than

extermination. For, they multiply fast and destroy in silence the entire

structures of the houses. Bad habits, imitative tendencies like drink and

drugs, gambling and gangsterism - they secure entry into individual and social

behaviour noiselessly, in various disguises and then destroy the career of even

the toughest and the most upright.

Here is a story about one evil and bad habit, if acquired, will lead to a

whole gang of them taking possession of the mind. A King once announced that

he will honour with a big girl; any Brahmana who will agree to do any one of

three evil things: 1. He must aver that the Vedhas are false. 2. He must drink

liquor, 3. He must elope with another's wife. For a long time, no one within

the seven seas came forward to do any one of these atrocious things. At last a

poor Brahmana on the verge of starvation came into court and offered to drink

liquor, an evil which he considered the least reprehensible of the three. But,

as soon as he got drunk, he began to swear and in the excitement of

intoxication, he shouted in the streets that the Vedhas are a tissue of lies;

he entered the house of his neighbour and assaulted the lady of the house, like

the worst criminal of the land.

The prime cause for this tragedy is the neglect of the spiritual and moral

aspects of the humanpersonality. Human feels no obligation towards family,

society, nation or mankind. Person worships own ego, more than anything else.

Look at the confusion and the conflicts in the political, economic spheres

of life. Person has not been able to overcome greed, pride and hatred in the

national and religious aspects. Today, human is madly engaged in accumulating

money for the sake of the comforts it can bring. Human's ambitions are

increasing every day everywhere. Contemporary civilisation is piling fear upon

fear on all parts of the world.

Person has become a plaything in the hands of selfishness. No step is taken

without regard for self interest. This intense selfishness has resulted in the

total decay of human values. This monster of selfishness has pervaded every

field of human activity… the physical, the social, the economic, political and

moral fields.

People pay more attention to material pleasure and the earning of money by

any means to havewhat they hope will give happiness in the future. Steady

effort in these directions is simply running after a mirage. All efforts must

be directed towards the realisation of the truth, goodness and beauty which are

latent in people as the Atma. Pure and lasting bliss which will not cause harm

to anyone can be got only from the inner search.

Humanity as a whole is in need of God's grace. To receive this everyone has

to fill his heart with love, render service to fellowmen and thus redeem own

life. Everyone has to embark perpetually on the quest for truth. In every

thought, word and action this quest must go on. Truth is changeless and beyond

time. Rooted in the spiritual, it is valid universally. Truth is infinite.

Everything isbased on Truth. Today people have to adhere to Truth. Truth is

God. People should contemplate on God as the embodiment of infinite bliss, the

bestower of all happiness, as the transcendental Lord, as the Eternal witness

in the hearts of everyone, the One Absolute, immaculate Being, free from the

three gunas and the pure embodiment of supreme wisdom.

 

Humans' life is determined by their actions, whether they are good or bad.

(The other determining factor is time what rolls on without beginning or end).

Usually there is a belief that consequences of sin and bad actions can be

diminished by the consequences of acts of merit, done by the same person; ten

sins and eleven meritorious acts mean that the balance is favourable to the

doer. But, this system of accounting does not hold good in the spiritual field.

The consequences are there, but, they do not cancel out. It is like this: a

human scatters seeds of thorn plants as well as of fruit trees. Both grow

together, and both have to be endured. They sprout distinctly and as ruled by

their own innate dharma. You may have in an orchard of 1000 fruit trees one

thorn bush, but, that will not turn into a fruit tree, by association with the

rest. What has to be done is to pull out and destroy the bush. Identify it as

thorny and harmful; and, then, by discrimination, pull it out by the roots. By

the roots - for, when the rains come, the tree will sprout again, if the

slightest trace of life is in it. Only very few are now able to spot out the

thorny bushes and uproot them; so, they have tosuffer the thorns, even while

they are enjoying the fruits. Reap the mixed harvest, you must, ifyou do not

take note in time. Be vigilant about your steps. Do they lead you along the

road that will take you to the goal you have in view? Or do they turn away from

it? How can you reach the east, when your steps lead west?

The life games you play may be compared to the Mahabharata war. On one side

were ranged the forces of evil, the Kauravas, and on the other the powers of

good, the Pandavas. They playedthe game of life with empire as the football.

The Pandavas, who had completely surrendered to Krishna, achieved ultimate

victory. The contest could be described as one between the evil qualities of

desire, hatred, envy, pride, etc. on the one side and good qualities like

truth, virtue, tranquillity, nonviolence and love on the other. The body is the

battlefield. The captain of one team is the embodiment of good qualities. The

captain of the other is the embodiment of mundane desires.

Devotion is the cord that binds God. The Ganges of true devotion arises from

the devotee's heart.

 

But, on the other aspect devotion itself is an expression of the Divine

Grace. What we witness today in the world is a great deal of play-acting. All

appear as devotees and all proclaim their spirit of sacrifice. One must enquire

whether it is the devotee who is seeking God or whether it is God who is

searching for a true devotee. Is the sadhaka serving God or is God serving the

sadhaka? Offering to God what God has provided is like offering to the Ganga

water from the Ganga. The truth is it is God who is rendering service to the

devotee. All the capacities given by God should be used in the service of the

Divine.

Render yourselves pure, steady and unselfish. Then only can you deserve the

chance of worshipping the God within. Until then, the temple will be a ruins,

infested with bats that revel in the darkness. Keep the mirror of the heart

untainted by kaama (desire), and its chief attendant krodha (anger); then, the

God i.e. Atma within clearly shines therein.

In order to realize the Atma you must have faith in your success and in the

fact that the Atma exists and that it can be brought into consciousness all the

time. Faith is essential for success in any undertaking. However little, you can

progress in education only if you have faith in your abilities. When success

comes your way, you become proud and uncontrollable; when defeat encounters

you, you become dejected and desperate. It is only spiritual education that can

tell you that both success and defeat are inevitable in life and both must be

faced with an equal mind.

 

Education is now sought after, more for securing a means of livelihood. The

attempt of many parents give to their children education for skill which will

give them a good job, in a factory or business establishment or bank, on a

decent salary. Of course, human must live and live comfortably. So, it is

necessary that the useful skill is mastered. But, human needs things much more

satisfying, much more essential, than comfort. Human must have faith in Self.

This trust in the Self lies at the very root of joy.

There are many who have stacked libraries in their brains; who have visited

and venerated all the holy places between the Himaalayas and the Cape; who have

sat at the feet of every one of the contemporary sages and saints; who have

performed all the rites prescribed in the sacred texts, but, who do not know

the answer to the simple question how to bring about the union between jivi and

Brahman, the individual and the Universal. You must feel the pain of others as

your own; you must be happy when others are happy. That is the main way to

realise the unity between the individual and the Universal. Above all, be

vigilant; for, the fruits of sadhana may be destroyed by negligence.

Education has lost its meaning when it does not instruct what an individual

should render to society, how he/she has to control own ego for ensuring the

common good. One individual has the right to exercise freedom, only so long as

he/she does not obstruct the freedom which is equally the right of another.

Honouring the right of the other person to freedom is your duty. The right and

the duty are both fundamental.

 

People repeat the word 'duty' day after day and during all hours of the day,

without any clear conception of what that word means.

The real criterion of duty is as an expression of moral conduct is harmony

between one's profession and one's practice. Morality consists in acting up to

the rules of right conduct prescribed by society at a particular time and place

for an individual or group. If there is no connection between what one professes

in words and his/her actions, morality cannot exist and one's duties, as a rule,

will transform into selfish and compassionless actions to the other

person/persons.

Just as the Sun can be seen only by his own light, the love of the Divine

can be acquired only byDivine Grace and not by trivial spiritual practices*.

These sadhanas (spiritual practices) are invariably motivated by selfish

objectives. There is an element of selfishness in every service which human

undertakes. (The erection of temples, the installation of images or idols, the

pomp and show, fireworks and fanfare, processions and pedantries - these are

helpless in the realm of jnana. However, these sadhanas are significant, as

they are pinpointers to the highest stage of spiritual awareness).

Maybe you are proud that you have written the name of Sai ten million

times; you talk about it whenever you get the chance, so that others may admire

your faith and fortitude. But, it is not the millions that count; it is the

purity of mind that results from genuine concentration on the name. Only when

the sadhaka's heart is filled with the Divine, will he/she be able to entertain

pure and sacred love.

 

*During the saguna (quality-oriented) worship, the basic nirguna

(quality-less) aspect of God has to be sustaining the mind; no description can

exhaust the Glory, no word can approximate the Majesty. During the nirguna

meditation, the faith that God does not diminish His Glory of Majesty by being

with Form, Attributes and Name must be the sustaining force. The final step,

however, must be the right foot, considered auspicious, the nirguna step.

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 11."Prahlaadhas for the

present age," Chapter 2 and "Good and bad, " Chapter 21; Sathya Sai Speaks.

Vol. 14. "What is Vidhya?" Chapter 23 and "Partial education," Chapter 24;

Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 17. "The most precious period," Chapter 1; Sathya Sai

Speaks. Vol. 29. "The triple transformation," Chapter 11 and "The quest for

truth," Chapter 12).

Namaste - Reet