HE WHOM CHRIST ANNOUNCED - Swami’s Discourse on 24th December 1972

[Guest guest]

A recollection of Swami’s earlier Christmas day messages:

Om Sri Sai Ram

HE WHOM CHRIST ANNOUNCED

Swami’s Discourse on 24th December 1972 at Brindavan

Religions arise from the minds of good men, who crave to make all men good; they

strive to eliminate evil and cure the bad. They are many, since they have to be

adjusted to the individuals, their activities, their professions and roles,

their character and characteristics. The individual has to start observing the

limits and laws laid down, and derive joy and strength thereby. And, then, his

cleansed mind will lead the way, to higher and higher stages. He and the

society of which he is a unit will benefit thereby.

It is therefore appropriate that the Birth Day of Jesus who felt the need to

save mankind and who strove to achieve it is celebrated; but, the celebration

must take the form of adherence to the teachings, loyalty to the principles,

practicing the disciplines and experiencing the Awareness of the Divine that he

sought to arouse.

These days, the world is deriving satisfaction in mere words, and in witnessing

clever rules designed to cover up one's faults. The Birthdays of the Great are

honored by such hypocrisy and external pomp. There is no examination in the

light of the message they gave, nor, any effort to practice it and derive the

bliss it promises.

The Great Teachers belong to mankind. It is wrong to believe that Jesus belongs

only to the Christians and the Christmas is a Holy Festival for the West only.

To accept one of them as one's own and discard the rest as belonging to others,

is a sign of pettiness. Christ, Rama, Krishna - they are for all men everywhere.

The various limbs and organs together form a body; various States and

communities together form the world. The sustenance given by Divine Grace

circulates in every part of the body, helping it to function in unison. The

sustenance of Love, endowed by Divine Grace, has to circulate in every State

and

community to make the World live in Peace and Joy. If this truth is realized,

there will arise no idea of difference.

If the members of a family are at loggerheads, the lands and other possessions

of the family will be uncared for, and be either wasted or lost. The separation

of one member will also be a big loss, for, the Grace that sustains the family

will diminish and get lost. When a hand is amputated, the limb loses its

function, and a great deal of blood too is lost during the removal. So too, the

Divine Grace of Love is lost when a country sets itself apart: it also becomes a

weak and functionless limb of the World community.

Division, difference and distinction cuts one off from the life-giving Grace

that feeds, every cell of the body and every individual in the World. The World

is sustained by the Self-same grace. A tree requires for its growth, soil,

sunlight and atmosphere. But, more than these three, it requires the Seed.

Man's life is conditioned by feelings and deeds, and the consequences of these

feelings and deeds. But, his existence, his very Is-ness, depends on the will

of God. Growing trees may differ, according to the nature of the soil, the

quantity of sunlight and the quality of the soil. So too, men may differ

according to the consequences of the types of feelings and deeds that emanate

from them. But, just as it is true to say that the seeds are the same, is One,

without any difference. The variety of Forms, the variety of

emotions and attitudes, the variety of communities and loyalties are the result

of man's ignoring his fundamental Unity in the Divine Will, and his acting

contrary to that Unity.

The moving waters of a river have the moon in its depths; the still water of a

lake has also the moon underneath; the sky has the moon up above. The moon in

the flowing river is broken and fragmentary; it flows fast, apparently, with

the floods. The moon in the lake is calm, unmoved, undistracted. These two are

but reflections of the real moon in the sky. The moon reflected in the flood is

the Individual Soul, engaged in activity, embroiled in Maya, cause and effect.

The moon reflected in the placid face of the lake is the Yogi, the Saint, who

has attained balance, equipoise, peace, dwelling in the One. The real moon in

the sky is the Eternal Witness, the Absolute, and the Primal Principle. Christ

spoke of these three, when He

made, one after the other, three statements. Referring to the active individual

soul, the flickering moon, he said, 'I am the Messenger of God'; referring to

himself as the Yogi, who has risen beyond dualities, and attained balance, he

said, "I am the Son of God." Realizing that these two are but reflections, and

that the real moon is the witness in the sky, that he too is the Formless

Nameless Absolute, he declared, towards the end of his life, "I and my Father

are ONE."

All beings are images of the Universal Atma, in the names and forms they have

apparently assumed. This is the truth, enclosed, elaborated and demonstrated in

the spiritual texts of India, which form the basis of Bharathiya culture. The

essence of all religions and faiths then, is this: the merging in this Unity.

The goal of all spiritual endeavors is this: the merging in this Unity. The

object of all inquiry is this: to cognize this Unity. But, this patent fact is

ignored, and persons create strife anxiety and unrest for

themselves and perpetrate horrors to hold forth the support, the disunity so

dear to their fractioned minds. The passage of time has clouded the splendor of

the message, the fascination exercised by the material and the worldly has drawn

them away from the path, and the expansion of science and technology has made

them conceited and wrong-headed. So, people now relish the very things

prohibited and promote the very things condemned by religion. All religions

teach that one should revere the parents and evince gratitude to them; but

ridiculing them and neglecting them have become fashionable now. All religions

lay down that the aged are to be honored, since they are the repositories of

experience and their guidance is indispensable; but, now elders and the aged

are treated as nuisances and handicapped. All religions insist on truth; but

now, the man who sticks to truth is laughed at as if he were a fool. Cruelty

and violence, condemned by all religions, have raised themselves to the

status of weapons of progress and means for desirable ends. However the basic

truths of religion are not affected or tarnished by the evil that men practice

or the competitive propaganda they indulge in. Only those who are not keen on

practicing the message will waste their energies in condemning other religions

and glorifying their own. And, once you enter sincerely into the practice, the

urge to find faults in others or publish one's own excellences will disappear.

Such people will celebrate the birthday of the founders in a spirit of

dedication only deepening the faith in their hearts and revering its doctrines

by more intense practice rather than by more emphatic argumentation.

If one has the yearning to reach the goal, one has to follow the path that leads

to it. When you learn to reach God, you have to observe the guidelines, He has

marked out. You need not dwell on His name or His lineaments all the time! That

may not take you far. But, walk along the path; every step will bring you near.

When you need to reach a village, you have to rise and move towards it; it will

not rise and move towards you! When you need to reach God, rise and move, as He

has directed you to. By this means alone you can make life worthwhile.

Jesus taught simple practical lessons in spiritual advancement for the good of

mankind; He manifested Divine Powers to instill faith in the validity of his

teachings; He marked out the path that can confer on men the sweet nectar of

Ananda. He exhorted people by precept and example to cultivate the virtues of

charity, compassion, forbearance, love and faith. These are not separate and

distinct qualities, they are only the many facets of the Divine in Man, which

he has to recognize and develop.

People talk of the sacrifice of Christ as evidence by His crucifixion. But, he

was surrounded and bound, and crowned by the crowd who captured Him with a

crown of thorns, and later, nailed to the cross by his captors. A person bound

and beaten by the police cannot say that he has sacrificed anything, for, he is

not a free man. Let us pay attention to the sacrifice that Jesus made while

free, out of his own volition. He sacrificed his happiness, prosperity,

comfort, safety and position; he braved the enmity of the powerful. He refused

to yield or compromise. He renounced the 'ego', which is the toughest thing to

get rid of. Honor Him for these. He willingly sacrificed the desires with which

the body torments marl: this is sacrifice greater than the sacrifice of the body

under duress. The celebration of His birthday has

to be marked by your sacrificing at least a desire or two, and conquering at

least the more disastrous urges of the ego.

The followers of Jesus have got broken into schisms on various counts; but the

life of Christ is a lesson of Unity. When Christ was on the cross, ill-feelings

towards the men who tortured Him troubled Him. Suddenly he heard a voice

alerting him. "All Life is One, my dear Son! Be alike to every one!". This was

followed by another admonition, "Death is the Dress of Life." As one casts of

the worn clothes and dons another set, so, the soul dons and doffs bodies.

Therefore, Jesus was warned against hate and ill-feelings, as well as the

lamentation to which man is heir.

The lives of such personalities are lived out, in order to establish the welfare

of humanity, the prosperity and peace of the world, and individual liberation

from bondage to sensual desires and passions. This is illustrated by the

strange phenomenon that occurs at the time of their Advent. It is believed that

when Christ was born there were such manifestations. The ruler of the realm had

ordered a census, and each had to be counted in his own village. St Mary and

her husband moved along the road that led to his native-village. Mary was with

child; the pains started midway; they knew no one in the hamlet through which

they were passing; so they took refuge in a cowshed. Joseph made ready the

space between the cows, and went out into the road at midnight, to seek some

woman who could help. But, soon, he heard the Baby's

cry.

And, the story says, there was a Star in the sky, which fell with a New Light,

and this led a few Tibetans and others to the place where the Savior was born.

This story is read and taken on trust by many: though stars do not fall or even

slide down so suddenly. What the story signifies is this. There was a huge halo

of splendor illuminating the sky over the village when Christ was born. This

meant that He, who was to overcome the darkness of Evil and Ignorance, had

taken birth that He will spread the Light of Love in the heart of man and

councils of humanity. Appearances of splendor and other signs to herald the era

that has dawned are natural when Incarnations happen on Earth. Jesus was to

shatter the darkness that had developed the world and the aura of light was a

sign

that announced the event. The Masters arrive in answer to man's prayer, "Thamaso

maa jyothir gamaya" (Lead us from darkness unto Light!)

If each one does his duty, in the spirit of dedication, the light can illumine

all, but, if the doors of the heart are shut against the light, how can

darkness disappear? You cannot sit back, and expect the Incarnation to bring

peace and joy into you. The incarnation comes to warn, to guide, to awaken, to

lay down the path, and shed the light of Love on it. But, man has to listen,

learn and obey with hope and faith. There is a tale told of old that Wisdom and

Wealth once quarreled loud and long, about their relative importance. Wealth

argued that without it, the body will be weak, the brain hazy and wisdom a

will-o-the-wisp. Wisdom retorted that, without it man cannot even distinguish

wealth from non-wealth or know how to earn it or use it. The Soul intervened

and told them that they were both equally important, but only

when properly used.

Wealth without wisdom becomes an instrument of exploitation and tyranny. Wisdom

without wealth becomes mere fantasy and a bundle of blueprint. Use makes them

worthwhile; misuse makes them disastrous. It is like the knife in the hands of

maniac, it becomes an instrument for murder; in the hands of a surgeon, it

becomes an instrument which saves a life! Are you doing good with wealth? Are

you benefiting others by means of wisdom that is the test? This day, Christmas,

when you celebrate the birth of Christ, resolve to lead the lives of Loving

Service, to the weak, the helpless, the distressed, the disconsolate. Cultivate

tolerance and forbearance, charity and magnanimity. Hold dear the ideals He laid

down and practice them, in your daily lives.

The ways in which Christmas is being celebrated now show how far men have moved

away from those ideals, how much ignominy they are heaping on his name! The

midnight hour is revered; illumination is arranged; the Christmas Tree is set

up; and then, the night is spent in drinking and dance. It is a day of Holy

Ananda, but the Ananda is reduced to the level of the poisoning excitement of

intoxication! Drink is so pernicious an evil habit, that when man puts the

bottle in, he himself gets into the bottle

and cannot escape! First man drinks wine, then the wine drinks more wine; and

finally, the wine drinks man himself! He is sunk and drowned in drink. Liquor

destroys the humanity in man! How then can it develop the Divinity in him? One

must dance in Divine Bliss; instead, sensual dance is indulged in as a

deleterious substitute! Make your hearts pure, your activities holy, and your

feelings beneficial to all. That is the best way of celebrating the Birth of

Christ.

There is one point that I cannot but bring to your special notice today. At the

moment when Jesus was emerging in the Supreme Principle of Divinity, He

communicated some news to his followers, which has been interpreted in a

variety of ways by commentators and those who relish the piling of writings on

writings and meanings upon meanings, until it all swells up into a huge mess.

The statement itself has been manipulated and tangled into a conundrum. The

statement of Christ is simple. "He who sent me among you will come again!" and

he pointed to a Lamb. The Lamb is merely a symbol, a sign. It stands for the

voice--Ba-Ba; the announcement was the Advent of Baba. "His Name will be

Truth," Christ declared. Sathya mean Truth. "He will wear a robe of red, a

blood red robe." (Here Baba pointed to the Robe He was wearing!). He will be

short, with a crown (of hair). The Lamb is the sign and symbol of Love. Christ

did not declare that he will come again, he said, "He who made me will come

again." That Ba-ba is this Baba, and Sai, the short, curly-hair-crowned

red-robed Baba, is come. He is not only in this Form, but he is in every one of

you, as the Dweller in the Heart. He is there; short, with a robe of the color

of the blood that fills it.

The great axioms of Bharathiya culture found in the Vedas -

Iswarassarvabhuthaanaam, Isaavaasyamidam sarvam, Vassudevassarvamidam - God is

the inner motivator of all beings, all this is enveloped in God, all this is

Vasudeva, the Divine - are to be in every one. This is the inner mystery of

Incarnation. God incarnating in all! All are One; The One is All.

There is only one God; He is omnipresent. There is only one religion, the

Religion of Love; there is only one caste, the Caste of Humanity; there is only

one language, the Language of the Heart.

Sent with Sai love

Sai brothers – ‘’

 

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