ANSWERS FOR SPIRITUALISING OUR DAY-TO-DAY LIFE

[Guest guest]

BHAGAWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA ANSWERS FOR

SPIRITUALISING OUR DAY-TO-DAY LIFE

SADHANA

THE INNER DOOR

Q143) Swami! Good company is very essential for everybody. Is it as significant as it is said to be?

Bhagawan: Undoubtedly, good company is very important for every one of you. In

fact, you should also seek the company of good people. You should run away from

bad company. It is the company you join that, decides your life. So, it is said,

"Tell me your company! I shall tell you what you are!" Dust when it is in

association with the wind goes up, but the same dust in association with water

sinks down. Another example for you. In ten cups of milk if you mix one cup of

water, the value of water also will go up. But, on the other hand, in ten cups

of water, if you pour one cup of milk, the milk will lose its value. See, this

explains clearly the importance of the association or the company you keep.

You also hear in the Mahabharata about Kama, who, in spite of all his excellence

in archery, intelligence, and physical prowess, because of his bad company, has

come to be known as one among the `dustacatustaya', the four wicked ones. Kama

lost all his name and fame, because of bad company.

Q144) Swami! What is your advice to employees, who struggle to make both ends

meet and wish to follow Swami?

Bhagawan: I have advised you a great many times to keep hands in society and

head in the forest. You work well with both your hands. Be very sincere in your

work and serve whole‑heartedly. At the same time, keep God as your aim and

objective. You should keep Him in your mind at all times.

Consider a mother. She may be very busy with her household work, but she never

forgets her child. She knows when her child will feel hungry and needs to be

fed.

You must have watched the dance programme in our auditorium. The dancer keeps

two or three pots one above the other on the head, and moves her head and limbs

precisely to the rhythm and the drumbeat. To the surprise of the audience all

the while the pots remain exactly one above the other on her head as they were

kept just before the dance performance began. How? The answer is simple. As she

dances, she constantly concentrates on the pots over her head so that the

balance is never lost. Similarly, in your life you may be doing several things.

Yet, you should ever remember God and keep him as your sole aim. Always look up

inwardly.

Q145) Swami! You are unique in explaining both the components of our life, the

spiritual and the physical. You alone can do it in this world. It is most

necessary that we mix with people, and sometimes even intimately. We have to

interact with one another in our daily life. How are we to speak, and what is

good for us to speak? Kindly tell us about this, Swami!

Bhagawan: You think that worldly life and spiritual life are separate entities.

They are not. Spirituality is awareness. It is total knowledge and not pieces

or bits of information. You should always talk sweetly and softly. You can

please everyone with your fine talk. See, when a crow sits on the wall

repeating kav, kav we chase it away, but when a cuckoo repeats kuhu, kuhu, you

too start imitating its sweet sound. Both are birds, but where does the

difference lie? It is only the sound, you see! Similarly your talk makes all

the difference. The crow has not harmed you in the least, nor has the cuckoo

rendered any help to you. It is only the sound that pleases or displeases you.

You should speak the truth, you should talk pleasingly. You cannot always

oblige, but you can speak obligingly. Is it not? Your words should never hurt

or harm

anyone.

One day, a hunter was chasing a deer in the forest. A sage who was sitting there

saw the deer running fast to escape the hunter. The hunter in his search for the

deer, saw the sage and asked him if he had seen a deer passing by. In reply, the

sage said, "Oh hunter! The eye that saw the deer passing cannot speak and the

tongue that speaks cannot see. What can I say?" So nothing false was spoken.

You must have heard of the great king Harischandra. By just telling one lie, he

could have easily got back the kingdom that he had lost. By adhering to truth,

his son was brought back to life, and his family reunited. He did not utter a

single lie. He stuck to truth only. So, till this day his name is remembered

and it has come to stay so long as the sun, the moon and this galaxy remain. He

is the very embodiment of truth. So he is called "Satya Harischandra"

mat aku pran amu satyamu ‑ Truth is the life of speech.

kot aku pran amu sainyamu - Army is the life of a fort.

not tuku pran amu cevralu - Signature is the life of an IOU.

You should not talk too much or excessively. If you do so, society will call you

a chatterbox, a loose tongued man. Ati bhasa mati hani, too much talk turns you

mad. Mitabhasa ati hayi, limited talk makes you very happy as you are not

likely to tell a lie, criticise, gossip, or talk vainly.

You lose your respect if you talk endlessly. You tend to lose your memory as

well. You lose your energy. If you switch on a radio and keep it on high volume

for a long time, many units of electricity are consumed, aren't they? So also,

your energy gets consumed if you keep talking for long.

Note that it is always in the depth of silence that the voice of God is heard.

If anyone greets you with a `hello,' respond with a `hello'; if anyone says

`goodbye', you also reply in the same way, `goodbye'. That's all. You talk only

when it is necessary and to the extent it is needed.

Q146) Swami! Is it not a help to a person if I point out his mistakes?

Bhagawan: Thinking of the mistakes of someone else, you also become defective.

To face and to resist a bad man you have to become even worse than him. So, it

is a sin to point out the mistakes of others. If .you point out the mistakes of

others, with one finger, three fingers point towards you. As the saying goes, a

street dog is always in search of slippers. A pig spends its time in gutters.

You would also look like a pig if you go on looking at the faults of others. In

a way, a monkey is much better than a man who finds fault with others. When a

monkey finds an orange fruit, what does it do? It will take away the outer rind

and then does the fruit. Will it not? This sort of separating the good from the

bad is called vibhagayoga. You should give up the bad, the undesirable.

In Japan, there is a city by name Kyoto. A woman was passing through a

particular street carrying with her a big bundle of clothes wrapped up in a

neat pure piece of white clothe. These clothes were all dirty and were not

neat. Someone asked, "What are those clothes?" She said, "I want to show you

the good. I want you to see the good. Therefore, I have wrapped these dirty

clothes in a white cloth". Finding faults in others, making fun of others,

criticising others, are mistakes that one should not commit.

Q147) Swami! Now we understand that we are mistaken with regard to our

knowledge. You have explained clearly what awareness is by saying that it is

complete knowledge but not the knowledge of a bit or a piece of anything. How

are we to cultivate this awareness?

Bhagawan: Spirituality is very essential for awareness. It is impossible to

develop awareness by any other means. With a spiritual background, things will

be very clear to you. You will then have total understanding, which is

awareness. Otherwise, what you acquire is bookish knowledge, superficial

knowledge, general knowledge but not practical knowledge, which is awareness.

This is possible only in the spiritual path.

A small example. You sow a seed in the ground. It germinates into a plant. But

do you expect the seed to germinate if it is kept in a tin? Impossible.

Similarly, the plant of awareness grows in the field of spirituality and not in

a tin of worldly pleasures. The awareness then developed is, in fact, true

awareness.

Q148) Swami! Now it is clear that this sort of "awareness" is not available in

our educational institutions, that awareness is so very important for all of

us. You are the incarnation of God in the present day world. Why don't you, by

your grace, grant us this boon of awareness?

Bhagawan: If everything is done by God Himself, what will be there for you to

do? How will you make use of the God‑given mind and intellect? Don't you

realise that these divine instruments like the mind and the intellect that you

are equipped with will be a waste, if God does every thing for you? The mother

cooks and serves food. She cannot eat it on behalf of the child! When the child

sustains any injury the mother feels sad. But she cannot bandage herself on

behalf of the child!

Though you sit in front of the plate filled with potato curry and chapatti, you

must also pick them up with your own hands and eat. By simply repeating

"potato,chapatti" will your hunger be appeased? The hand and the mouth should

be put to work. Is it not? Similarly, you should make use of your mind and

intellect.

Everything will be known to you. By your effort, you will win God's grace. With

krsi, effort, one can even become a rishi, a sage. Do your duty thinking at the

same time of the Lord. Krishna too said the same thing to Arjuna, mamanusmara

yudhya ca, "O Arjuna! Remember me and fight!" Chanting Rama's name, Hanuman

could cross the mighty ocean. So do your duty and you can achieve whatever you

want to.

Swami! Spiritual aspirants observe austerities like upavasa, fasting, jagarana,

vigil and consider them spiritual. We request you to let us know their

importance and inner significance.

Bhagawan: The traditions, rituals, and the age‑old practices of Bharat

have a meaning and significance. Aspirants undoubtedly get divine experiences.

But today people are after external and pompous rituals without any

understanding of their inner significance. So they have forgotten the very

goals and purposes for which they were originally intended. Almost all the

rituals have become mechanical, monotonous and routine. There is none to

explain to them lucidly. Most people are not aware of the subtleties. So, you

don't find anybody practicing austerities or rituals sincerely. Man need not

change. It is the mind that should change.

Suppose you are traveling to a distant place and you don't have food to eat on

the way: Can you consider this upavasa, fasting? Will this be of any spiritual

use? A patient doesn't take normal food. Is that fasting? What do you get out

of it? To feel God in you is upavasa and not mere fasting as the literal

meaning goes: Upa, near, vasa, living: In other words, upavasa means living

close to or near God. It means one should turn inward, feel God and constantly

think of Him. This is upavasa in its true sense. Today, we notice people who

fast on the ekadas'i day. But, they eat double the normal quantity of food the

next day. The madhvas (followers of Madhvacharya) observe Bhisma ekadas'i on

which day they fast. They don't, swallow even their saliva.

 

In the state of Karnataka, they say in Kannada, "bida bedi bittu keda bedi"

which means, do not give up and spoil yourself. When you give up anything,

don't pick it up again. It is a bad habit. Instead, what is happening? They get

the flour ready well grinded and preserve the dough for three days, With this

they make nice tasteful dosas, south Indian tiffin. So in Kannada it is said,

indu adide ekadas'i ondu tindu nalavattu dosa, it means, in the name of

ekadas'i, on one fasting day in a month, preparations are made for as many as

forty dosas. Is this upavasa? No, definitely not.

Why should you observe vigil, jagarana? Why is jagarana, keeping awake

throughout the night, observed? It means that you should keep off from your

worldly happiness, sensual pleasures and material comforts. You should be

unmindful of all these mundane matters, but awake or vigilant to the inner

core, the atma. You should be awake in respect of the inner divinity while

neglecting worldly botherations. But what is done in the name of jagarana? They

play cards throughout the night or watch three movies one after the other

throughout the night in the name of jagaran a . Watchmen, nurses in the

hospital on duty, Railway station masters on duty don't sleep in the night.

Does it amount to jagarana? Certainly not! Merely skipping sleep is an external

ritual. One should know the inner reality while observing these rituals. Since

they are all done

mechanically, they are made fun of and they look ridiculous in the eyes of others.

Q149) Swami! Some want us to do puja, some suggest dhyana, meditation, a few

prescribe parayana, reading of the scripture and some others assure us of good

results from japa, repetition of God's name. I am confused about what to do and

which one to follow. Kindly tell me the best among these ways to be followed in

my sadhana?

Bhagawan: You can follow any of them with total prema, love, nissvardha,

selflessness, chittas'uddhi, purity of your heart, ekagrata, one pointedness,

and saranagati, surrender to realise and experience God.

You follow the path that suits your convenience. Any procedure that appeals to

you and gives you shanti, and ananda can be followed. But never imitate. Never

go by other people's words and paths. You follow your chosen path. Otherwise,

you lose your own way also. Imitation is human. But creation is divine.

A small example to illustrate that one becomes a loser by following others.

There was a fruit market and it was the season when mangoes were available in

plenty. A shopkeeper got a board specially painted with the words "Good mango

fruits are sold here" and displayed it in front of his shop to promote sales.

One stranger came and said, "Sir! What is it that is written there on the

board? This is a fruit market. Why should you have the word on the board

`here'? It looks silly and superfluous. I suggest you erase this word `here"'.

Then the shopkeeper sent word to the painter and erased that word on the board

`here'.

Now on the board, the words "Good mango fruits are sold" were left. Another man

came to the shop and said "What, Sir? You don't look smart and intelligent.

Have you yourself cared to read what is written on the board? This is the mango

season. All the shops are selling mangoes only. Why should you write `mangoes'

especially, as if they are here only? Better you remove the word `mango' from

the board!”

The shopkeeper got it erased with the help of the painter. Now on the board the

words "Good Fruits are sold" were left. Another customer came and said, "What

nonsense is this? Do you find any one selling `bad fruits'? How funny it looks

when you say `good fruits', very silly! Remove those words `good fruits' from

the board.

The shopkeeper was convinced and got them erased with the result that only the

word `Are sold' were left on the board. A well wisher of the owner who happened

to pass by looked at the board and was shocked. He said. "What? Are you mad? Did

you read the board? What do you mean by `Are sold'? Are you going to sell the

board or what?" The shopkeeper called for the painter and got the words `Are

sold' removed. Now he was left with a blank board. Finally, the painter gave

the bill with two entries, one for initially painting the letters and the other

for erasing each word at intervals. What happened to the owner of the shop who

paid heed to the words of everyone? He lost both the board and that money. This

will happen to you too, if you adopt other people's ways.

Your Guru also prescribes a method that suits you. He never wants all and sundry

to follow the same pattern. The methods of sadhana are suggested depending on

your capacity, skill, understanding and the level of your spiritual awareness.

I give you here a simple illustration from the life of Sri Ramakrishna

Paramahamsa. Once it so happened, that one disciple by name Brahmananda was

crossing the river in a boat to buy and fetch the requirements for the

residents of the asram. He overheard the conversation going on among others

that boarded the same boat. One said that Ramakrishna was spoiling many

youngsters who were wasting their time by being lazy in the name of devotion

and that it was surprising to see them with shaven heads and wearing ochre

robes. Brahmananda felt very sad and shed tears. He returned to the asram that

evening. Ramakrishna asked him what had happened in the boat while crossing the

river. Brahmananda recounted the whole episode feeling very bad about the

remarks made against Ramakrishna and his disciples. Then Ramakrishna was

furious and said, "What Brahmananda! How could you hear

all these remarks! Can you bear when your Guru is criticised like that? How do

you react when your parents are attacked? How could you hear all this?"

Next day, it was the turn of Vivekananda to go to the market. He boarded the

boat and was on his way. Vivekananda had to hear once again the boatman

speaking ill of Ramakrishna for making youngsters lazy and useless. He could

not control his anger. He got up immediately, held the neck of the boatman and

was even ready to push him into the Ganges. Somehow, others calmed him down.

:n the evening, as usual in the course of the conversation, Ramakrishna,

surrounded by his young disciples, asked Vivekananda what had happened in the

boat. He proudly reported his reaction to the words of the boatman. Then

Ramakrishna said, "What Naren! Are you not ashamed of your behaviour? Couldn't

you control your anger? What is the use of your sadhana? Is this the way a

brahmacari should behave?"

Vivekananda then asked, "Swami! It is very strange to hear you speak like this.

The other day you were angry with Brahmananda for keeping quiet when we were

criticised. Today when I reacted to the same words, you are blaming me. Why

this difference, Swami?" Ramakrishna smiling said, "A bicycle has two tyres.

There is too much air in the front wheel. A little of it should be let out. The

air is less than necessary in the back wheel. Some more air must be pumped into

it. So also, Brahmananda should have more spirit, while your temper must be

reduced." That's how the individual level is important in the spiritual path.

You shouldn't imitate and follow others blindly.

Q150) Bhagawan! In our namavali, series of names of God, we address God by so

many names. We have more than a hundred names `astottara' and a thousand names

‘sahasranama. ‘Of these various names, which is the best and the exact name of

God?

Bhagawan: All names and forms are His only. There is nothing in the universe,

which is not His. You should consider God as the indweller of your heart

hrdayavasi.  Draupadi, when she was being disrobed and humiliated, prayed to

Krishna for help, calling him ` brndavanasancari '   and `mathuranatha ' which

caused some delay in Krishna's manifesting to save her. To prove the truth of

her prayerful words, Krishna had to go to Brindavan and Mathura and then reach

the open court to save her. Had she called Krishna `Hrdayavasi ', the indweller

of her heart He would have appeared immediately before her and saved her

straight away from disgrace.

You sing 'Brndavanasancari ' in your bhajans. Presently I am in Kodaikanal. Are

you not wrong? You sing, prasantivasa, partivihara, `one who is in Prasanti

Nilayam, moves about in Puttaparti', in your bhajans. Is it right? No. I am in

Kodaikanal, not in Parti or Prasanthi. But, if you say ‘Hrdayavasi' the

indweller of your heart, though I may be physically anywhere, you will get

immediate response from me.

Q151) Swami! The Gayatri mantra is being chanted over many ages here in this

holy land. But, we hear that women are prohibited from chanting Gayatri and so

are non brahmins. Should we chant that mantra at specific times and not at any

time of our choice and convenience? What is the importance and significance of

Gayatri mantra? We shall indeed be very fortunate to hear from your divine lips

about this subject.

Bhagawan: Everyone must chant the Gayatri. It transcends the barriers of caste,

community, sex, nationality, time and space. It is the one mantra that all

should repeatedly chant. There are three main things in the Gayatri mantra.

First of all, you should know that Bhur Bhuvah Suvah in the Gayatri are not

separate worlds. You think, "Bhur Bhuvah Suvah” is three different worlds. It

is a mistake to think so. They are within you. `Gayamulu ' means senses. Since

Gayatri deals with sense control, it is called so. The body has senses of

perception and action. This first aspect of Gayatri is called materialisation

or Gayatri.

The body can function if only there is life in it. The pulsatory activity is due

to life. Therefore, the life principle vibrates in the body, which makes it

functional or operational. This second aspect of Gayatri, which is the life

force, is called vibration or Savitri.

The third aspect of Gayatri is the primal sound Omkar, which springs upwards

from the navel. Om is a combination of three sounds, `A', `U' and `M'. `A' is

uttered as it starts from the navel. `U' starts from the throat. `M' comes out

of the lips. `Soham ' is chanted in our breathing process though we are unaware

of it. This is called `Japa Gayatri'.

As we breathe in, we make the sound `so' and as we breathe out the sound `ham’

is made. The `soham' mantra is repeated everyday 21,600 times in our

respiratory process. In the mantra, `soham', the second sound in `so', i.e.,

`o' and the second sound in `ham', `m' together constitute `om'. This `soham'

is repeatedly chanted in all the three states; waking, dream and deep sleep.

The entire alphabet is formed out of the mother of letters, the primal sound

`OM'.

To illustrate this, I give you a small example. In the English alphabet, we have

26 letters from A to Z. All words and sentences are spoken and written using

these letters only, aren't they? You notice that the harmonium has reeds. As

you press the bellows the air gets in and as you press the reeds, you get

musical notes like sa re ga ma pa dha ni. By means of these seven sounds only,

different tunes or ragas are composed. Are they not? You know the violin. It

has strings on which you can play any tune. So also,`omkar' is the primal,

primordial sound out of which the rest of the sounds originated.

When you close both your ears tight, you will listen to the Pranava, the `Omkar'

within you. You go very close to an electric pole and listen with your ear

touching it. You will hear that primal sound omkar. This is the sound

(internal) in silence (external). This is the divine sound heard in the depth

of silence, (nis's'abdamuloni s'abdabrahmam, in Telugu). You can hear the

footsteps of God only in silence. This third aspect of Gayatri that pertains to

this omkar, the primordial sound, the speech faculty and the chief source is

known as radiation or Saraswati.

Therefore, at the body level it is Gayatri, materialisation. As the life

principle, it is Savitri, vibration, and finally as the chief source of sound,

it is Saraswati, radiation. These are the three aspects of Gayatri mantra .In

other words the atmic power, divine source, is radiation (Saraswati) that

enters the body as vibration or life principle (Savitri), so that this body

made of material becomes functional which is called materialisation (Gayatri).

Q152) Swami! How should we adore you? How should we serve you? We are not able

to decide. Kindly show us the way?

Bhagawan: God does not need your service. He does, not require your worship. God

desires from you only one thing and that is love. This love is not your property

either. It is not your ancestral property. This love is not gifted to you by

anyone. It is not a commodity to be manufactured by any company. It is not to

be acquired from a guru. You are born with love. It is the gift of God.

Therefore, it must be given to Him. It is His and so you should return it to

Him by loving Him incessantly.

Take a small example. On occasions like a wedding ceremony, many people are

invited. So, in order to prepare food on a large scale you need very big

utensils. You hire them for a day or two and return them after use. But they

should be returned safe, cleaned and in perfect condition without any damage.

Is it not so? Similarly, the human heart is a vessel filled with love, gifted

by God, and has got to be returned intact to Him. This is the true form of

worship.

How to love God? The best way to love God is to love all and serve all. When

everything is His, and He being the giver of all that you need, what is it that

He wants from you other than love? A pure heart is the temple of God. Then,

where is it? I always tell the students that there should be perfect harmony

between thought, word, and deed. Today, we find selfishness at all levels. In

whatever is said and done, there is an underlying selfishness. But true worship

is a selfless act of service with love. Do your duty sincerely. Service to man

is service to God. You don't need to worship God with flowers that fade and

decay. Pluck the flowers of virtue, character, and love from the garden of your

heart and worship God with flowers of value.

Q153) Swami! Kindly let us know how we can achieve anandaprapti, gaining

permanent happiness, and removal of suffering dukhanivrtti.

Bhagawan: These two levels of consciousness are not separate from each other, as

you have stated. When suffering is removed, you derive happiness. Absence of

happiness is the cause of misery. Both are interrelated. Absence of light is

darkness: Where there is light there is no darkness. Absence of one of the two

is the presence of the other. So, if you explore the methods of removing

suffering, happiness naturally and automatically dawns.

If you investigate the reason for misery, you will know that ignorance is the

cause of all misery. What is responsible for ignorance? It is the ego. What is

ego? It is attachment. What is attachment? It is the body, consciousness. So,

misery occurs due to attachment to the body. But, one can be happy physically

as well as spiritually if one's senses are under one's control. In fact,

sadness is not natural to man. Therefore, methods have to be found out to

remove sadness, which is artificial. Misery can be removed only by prayer and

by following the spiritual path. If idle horses are overfed, they will be still

lazier. Similarly, if you act according to the whims and fancies of your senses,

your senses will get strengthened day by day and ultimately you will cease to be

a human being.

Man faces three types of miseries ‑ adhyatmika, adhibhautika and

adhidaivika. Adhyatmika miseries are physical and mental. Physical suffering

makes you mentally sick. Your mental irregularities add to your physical

sickness. Therefore, physical and mental sufferings are branded as adhyatmika.

The second one is the suffering called adhibhautika, which is caused due to

snakebite or a scorpion bite or injuries inflicted by animals and other

creatures. The third type of misery called, adhidaivika befalls due to

cyclones, floods, earthquakes, fire accidents and various other natural

calamities.

Primarily you should know that the mind is the cause of both pleasure and pain.

If your mind is positive, it doesn't matter if you are either at your home or

in a forest. You should fill your mind with love. With constant thought of God,

developing more and more of faith in Him, and following the spiritual path, you

can undoubtedly remove your suffering. Of course, control of senses is

absolutely necessary.

If you understand your true self, atma you will have ananda, bliss. Bliss is the

state, which is above pain and pleasure bliss is non‑dual. This is also

called prajña. Since prajna is vast, the scripture says, Prajnanam Brahma.

Prajna is divine. Prajna is uniformly present in the body, the mind and the

intellect. Prajna is also known as antarvani, the inner voice. By exercising

control over external and internal sense, you can listen to your antarvani. If

you follow and act according to your inner voice, you will be blissful.

Janma or birth is responsible for all misery. Where there is no janma there is

no chance for either pleasure or pain. However, janma is due to karma, the

consequence of past actions. For karma, the causes are raga, attachment and

dvesa, hatred. You take to an activity only if or when you like it, or prefer

it to some other activity, otherwise not. Isn't it? So all actions are born of

either of these two states of mind, raga and dvesa. They in turn arise out of

ahamkara, ego and ajnana, ignorance. Ajnana is the main cause of misery.

Ignorance goes away only if ego is given up. For ego to be dropped one must

rise above attachment and hatred. For these two to vanish there should be

akarma, inaction, because these actions and their consequences lead to

punarjanma. As the

Bhajagovindam of Adi Sankara states: Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam punarapi

janani jathare s'ayanam, "one takes birth life after life, lying in the womb of

the mother, again and again after death." Birth and death are responsible for

all the misery. In fact, one should follow the spiritual path in life not to be

born again. Instead of consuming sugar, you can become sugar itself! This is the

sugar of ananda, bliss. This is the sugar of liberation. This is the sugar of

sayujya, merger with God. Therefore, mukti, liberation, is the only solution

for the alleviation of suffering.

The happiness that you get from listening to a person whom you like or on

acquiring an article that you wished to acquire is described as priyam. When

you actually get what you really want, that is called modam, joy The experience

of joy after acquiring what you want is called pramodam, supreme joy. If anybody

starts talking to you about all that you like, you will be happy. So it is

called priyam. If you see or meet those who are dear to you, you will be

extremely happy. This is called modam. On receiving and possessing what is

dearest to you, your experience is described as pramodam.

When you hear of the divine power from great epics like the Ramayana and the

Mahabharata and of the lilas of God incarnate and devotion celebrated in

Bhagavata, and other texts, you will be very happy. This is priyam. If you

practice all that you have heard from these immortal books, you will derive a

kind of joy described as modam. If you identify yourself with the divinity and

merge in it, the supreme bliss you get out of it is called pramodam.

So one has to hear about God, priyam in the first stage, practice all that is

heard, modam in the second stage and finally experience the bliss thereafter,

pramodam in the third stage. This is anandaprapti, the way to be blissful.

Q154) Swami! What is to be renounced? What is to be sacrificed?

Bhagawan: You do not need to renounce the world. Many people commit a mistake

here. You do not have to sacrifice the world. You have to give up worldly

thoughts and feelings. You must have heard of Ramananda Tirtha, a renunciant.

He was married, and also had a son. He renounced his family. One day when his

wife visited him, he refused to see her and turned his head away. Watching

this, the wife said to him. "Swami! Since you have the feeling that I am your

wife, you did not look at me and turned away your face. I do not have that

feeling, not in the least". It was then she gave him the ochre robes. So, you

need not renounce the world. You need to shed worldly thoughts. You do not have

to sacrifice your properties, but you must establish proper‑ties with God.

Q155) Swami! What is true happiness? How are we to acquire it?

Bhagawan: You should, first of all, know what happiness truly is! I want you to

be blissful and not simply happy. Happiness, as you understand it, is not truly

happiness. In fact, true happiness lies in union with God. This you can develop

by establishing contact with the Divinity within you. In other words, being

aware of the Divinity within you, you can also make yourself happy in the

world. Happiness lies in liking what you should do and not doing what you like.

Q156) Swami! We meet some people who are not happy, as if they are denied

happiness once for all. Why should it happen like that?

Bhagawan: For all this, understand that the mind is the main cause. If you turn

your mind God wards, you will be happy. If you turn it towards the world, you

cannot be happy for long. See, here you turn the fan towards you. Then you get

the breeze. If you turn it the opposite way, you won't get any breeze. Your

getting or not getting the breeze depends upon the direction in which you turn

the fan.

Q157) Swami! You want us to look for unity in diversity. You expect us to be

aware of unity in diversity. How is it possible?

Bhagawan: It is certainly possible. Everything in this world has five aspects.

Among them, three are changeless while the other two change. The three are

asti, being, bhati, awareness, priyam, bliss and are immortal. They may also be

termed as sat, cit and ananda. Then there are two more aspects that change. They

are rupa, form and nama, name. Name and form depend on the three changeless and

permanent aspects mentioned above, viz., truth, awareness and bliss, sat, cit,

ananda. For example: you observe the sea, its waves and its foam. They are

interdependent; one cannot exist without the other. Waves come out of the sea.

Waves are not independent. We find foam collecting on the surface of the waves.

When there are no waves, there can be no chance for the foam to

collect on the surface. However, apparently, we have three forms in different

names sea, wave, and foam. But essentially, all the three show the same water

by different names. Don't they?

The sea represents paramarthika satya, Spiritual Truth; the waves stand for

pratibhasika satya, superimposed or mistaken identity, while the foam is the

vyavaharika satya, worldly or physical truth.

Q158) Swami! Is sadhana a must in every day life? Is it compulsory?

Bhagawan: Yes, it is very necessary that you should do it everyday. Don't you

wash and scrub utensils everyday to keep them clean? Until you become steady,

develop unwavering faith and total surrender. It is most necessary to do

sadhana everyday.

You see that the paddy fields are watered everyday. Otherwise, the crops dry up

and die. But tall trees like Eucalyptus, Banyan, Neem and so on, do not need to

be watered everyday. Why? The reason is simple. Their roots go very deep, up to

the ground water level; and draw nourishment for the entire tree. It appears

surprising that small tender plants need water everyday while huge trees do

not. Roots of small plants go a few inches deep and cannot draw water, from the

depths. But trees have roots that spread and go deep to draw, ground water.

Similarly, until the roots of your faith go deep into the ground of your heart,

you have to do sadhana everyday. Your faith today is like the root of a small

plant that has not yet gone deep into your heart and so you should do sadhana

everyday.

Q159) Swami! Much emphasis is laid on sadhana, spiritual practice. But we find

it tough to do any sadhana. What is the solution?

Bhagawan: For achieving or attaining anything in life one needs to do sadhana or

practice. Walking, talking, reading, eating, writing, everything in life you

learn by practice. How does a child walk? It is clearly by practice only.

Singers practice a lot! Driving a motorcar for that matter has to be practised.

You have the steering at one place, the brake at one point, the clutch elsewhere

and so on. Yet, you will be able to drive a car by practice only. So also,

sadhana in the spiritual field.

Swami! What is the role of a Guru on the spiritual path?

Bhagawan: One should have total faith in the Guru. Suppose you wish to go to a

city on a picnic. You do not know anything about that city, as you have never

been there before. What you do is to take the help of a guide to go round the

city. You do not question the guide at any point since you are totally new to

the place. So also, a Guru who has vast knowledge and experience has to be

scrupulously followed. He should not be questioned, doubted, or disobeyed on

any grounds.

You also find signboards at cross roads indicating directions to different

places. This is your common experience. To reach the place of your choice, you

must follow the directions in the signboard and reach the destination. You

don't expect the signboard to carry you or lift you to that place. You have to

go along the way as directed in the signboard. A Guru similarly shows the

spiritual path, teaches you the techniques to be followed, and explains in

detail all that you need on the spiritual path. You have to work for it and

achieve it all by yourself. No one can do that on your behalf.

`Guru', is a two‑letter word in Telugu ‑ `Gu' and `ru'. The word has

two meanings. `Gu' is darkness (ignorance), `ru' is the light (wisdom) that

dispels this darkness. The second meaning is `gu' stands for gunatita, one

beyond attributes and `ru' for rupavarjita formless. So, Guru is one who

teaches you about divinity which is both attributeless and formless. A true

Guru wishes the best for his disciples. He tells them what is hita, good and

not ista, that which is liked. A true disciple follows the master implicitly.

Q160)  Swami! We feel that results are delayed in Sadhana: We do not get quick

results, at least according to our expectations. What do you say, Swami?

Bhagawan: You do not have proper, understanding of Sadhana. See, in this world,

you begin your studies from childhood. After the primary school, you go to the

secondary school, college and then to the university. After fifteen years of

intense study and hard work you get a degree. This is your experience. How much

have you worked to get a degree? Have you not taken a long time to get a degree?

For this education and a degree, and to earn your livelihood you strive so much.

Then how long should you take, how much of effort should you put in to earn

God's grace which is the eternal spiritual truth? Just think for yourself. It

is a big mistake to expect quick results in Sadhana.  

Source: SATYOPANISAD VOL - II [Part III, Chapter-VII] by Anil Kumar Kamaraja 

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