SATYOPANISAD - SCRIPTURES AND BABA - BABA [Concluding part]

[Guest guest]

BHAGAWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA ANSWERS FOR

SPIRITUALISING OUR DAY-TO-DAY LIFE

SCRIPTURES AND BABA

BABA

Q261)    Swami! We take sumptuous meals twice a day. Again, we take heavy

breakfast, evening tiffin and several cups of coffee now and then during the

course of the day. Still, we feel weak and exhausted. You don't take anything

except one or two spoonfuls of food. But you work and strain yourself a lot.

You walk miles in a day. How are you so energetic?

Bhagawan: This is divinity. You derive energy from the food you eat. If you take

less food, you become weak. But, the energy of Swami is not derived from food. I

don't take any breakfast. I just drink a glass of water at 10.00 in the morning.

I eat very little. I do not take curds, ghee, sweets, ice cream, oily or spicy

stuff and the like. My food is a poor man's food, ` ragi ', millets. You have

seen me not taking anything in the evenings for the last one year. I do so much

work. I personally look into every minute detail of the institutions here:

educational, hospital, Mandir, besides the current water project. I have direct

contact with every devotee. No one stands between. Since there are no secrets, I

have no secretary. It is all a connection of only love‑to‑love and

heart‑to‑heart. For the work I do, it is estimated that I need 1500

calories of

energy. But the food I take has hardly 200 calories. Then, where from do I get

the energy I need? It is not from food. Know that I am energy, nay, its very

source.

Physically, I am 70. Yet, I can see even an ant from a distance. I don't wear

glasses. You people begin wearing glasses from 40 years of age. I can hear any

sound, even the slightest, and my teeth are very strong and sharp. I don't have

even a single grey hair. I feel like walking more and more. But it would put you

all to inconvenience as many follow me wherever I go. I attend to my personal

work. You may wonder how my senses are so sharp.

What is your prayer before you take your food? You pray to God who is in the

form of Vaisvanara and to whom food is offered as he digests, assimilates, and

supplies the essence to the different parts of your body. Therefore, the food

you all eat comes to me and I am in you. Just examine why your senses are weak.

The answer is simple, viz., misuse of senses, selfishness, and

narrow‑mindedness. There is not an iota of selfishness in me from top to

toe. You are mine. My only concern is your welfare and spiritual progress.

Q262)  Swami! I beg your pardon for asking this question. While I am afraid to

pose the question, I am also very keen to know the answer from you. Since you

are our most compassionate God, I have made bold to ask you this question.

Swami! You talk to some devotees as soon as they come here, whereas you don't

talk to some others who have been here for a long time. How are we to reconcile

these two facts?

Bhagawan: There is nothing wrong in asking any question in your search for

truth. It is not good to entertain any doubts. All the more so, in respect of

God.

You should always believe in one thing: whatever happens to you, it is for your

own good. Only God knows what, when, how, why and to whom anything is to be

done. You don't understand this. Every action of Swami will help you. Swami may

talk to some immediately and may not do so to some others for a long time. This

is a matter of time, according to you. But Swami is beyond time and space.

I give you a simple example here. Suppose a bus starts from here, and passengers

start boarding it. What do you notice? The passenger who gets into the bus first

goes to the front and occupies the seat by the side of the driver. The last

passenger has to stand near the door. Then, when the bus stops at the terminus

and the passengers start getting down from the bus, what happens? The last

passenger standing near the door gets down first and the first passenger

sitting near the driver gets down last. Isn't it so? Therefore, the first

becomes the last and the last the first. The same thing applies to Swami's

devotees:

Saint Mrikanda put a similar question to sage Narada. "Oh Narada! How is it that

so young a boy like Prahlada could see the divine manifestation at an early age

whereas we, who have been doing penance for the last hundreds of years, are

doing it in vain? Why should it happen like that?" Narada replied like this:

"Oh Saint! Prahlada is very young in years, no doubt, but his yearning for God

must have been for several of his previous lives. This is the result of the

cumulative effect of his earlier lives of prayerful yearning for God. You may

think that you have been doing penance for long years. But all this you have

done during this lifetime of yours only. The body of Prahlada is young but his

soul has been pining for God ever since his earlier births. You are old now in

age but your attempt has been short."

I will give you another example. A young man, with a hammer, wanted to break a

stone. Inspite of his twenty strokes, the stone did not break. An old man

passing by that side hammered the same stone twice. It broke! You may wonder

how it could happen. The old man could break the stone that couldn't be broken

by the young man. Do you know why? The stone had already received as many as

twenty hammer strokes from the young man. So the total came to twenty‑two

strokes, with the old man hammering it twice. Similarly, the dawn of

God‑realization may look early or late from your point of view. But the

reality is different.

Q263)  Swami! We don't find out our own faults. Even if we recognise them, we

justify them and because of our narrow‑mindedness, we don't understand

your infinite love. We doubt and limit your love. As ill luck would have it,

you don't seem to look at our faces when we sit in Darshan lines‑ and

sometimes it appears that you are avoiding us. We are depressed because you

don't talk nor do you at us. How are we to take and face this sad situation?

Bhagawan: Believe it or not, from top to toe there is not an iota of selfishness

in Swami! Whatever I do and say, it is for your own good. Why am I harsh with

you at times? It is my love for you, and in order to check and transform you, I

pretend to be harsh and serious. If I don't feel that you are mine, why should I

bother to correct you? It is my duty, since you are mine, to set you right when

you are wrong.

You feel sad when I don't talk to you because you value my words. Your wavering

mind and your shaky faith make you listen to and act according to the words of

some irresponsible persons. You are carried away by them. So, there arise some

undesirable thoughts in your mind and some unbecoming traits in your behavior.

Therefore, I act as if I am keeping you away from me. Why? My intention is to

correct you quickly.

Take one example. When a road is under repair, what do you do? You take a

diversion and pass through another route, don't you? Similarly, to bring about

reformation in you, very often I pretend to be avoiding you and not observing

you. The day you change, everything becomes normal, just as the traffic is

resumed soon after the road is repaired. God, out of His intense and infinite

love for you, incarnates only to correct and guide you. So, I treat in this

manner those people who tread along the wrong path in my `hospital' of

Prashanthi Nilayam. Soon after they are cured and their health is restored, I

discharge them, and then establish with them the same old and usual

relationship.

I have to re‑affirm, re‑establish and rejuvenate your faith. I have

to lay the proper and strong foundation for you so that you may lead a happy

and dharmic life. I have to infuse self-confidence in you so that you don't

fall victim to worldly, sensual pleasures. Your prayer may not bring about

world peace. See that you don't have bad qualities like greed and violence.

This is a tough, rough and difficult path to follow. But you have got to follow

it. Tarry no longer and do not allow the bad qualities you have long adopted and

nurtured to have a firm grip over you and your life. Do give them up forthwith.

In the olden days when anyone fell sick in Puttaparthi, they used to get him

treated by a non‑medical, unlettered, unqualified and inexperienced fake

doctor. As a result, the condition of the patient often became very serious.

Later they began running to places like Anantapur, Chickballapur, Vellore and

so on to save the patient. Had they given proper treatment to the patient by a

senior qualified doctor, this situation would have been averted. Isn't it so?

Some Gurus, self‑styled, who have failed to solve their own problems, go

round like beggars, and you run after them. What do you expect from them? Don't

give any scope for ego and pride in you. Accept God as your guide and director

in your life and follow him strictly.

Q264)  Swami! Over the years, we read thousands of books, and heard numerous

speeches. But our Swami's speeches are unique, incomparable, deliciously sweet,

ever new, and stir our hearts. What is the secret?

Bhagawan: What is natural is necessarily beautiful. What comes from the heart is

ever fresh. Jnana is not something to be learnt, say, from books, but

experiences to be enjoyed like that of a delightful fragrance.

Now you are considered as individuals, members of a society. Individualism

blooms only though teachings, boldly refreshing true and eternal. An individual

is more than a form, a shape. He becomes a vyakti, person, when he manifests

qualities of the inner self. It is the teachings of Sathya Guru that convey to

you your divinity and make you capable of recognizing it.

Q265)  Swami! Your discourses and conversations are full of illustrations, and

short and sweet stories. They are simple and easy to understand. They are

related to situations from our daily life. They give us immense joy. What is

the secret?

Bhagawan: Today, there are very few teachers who know and explain spiritual

matters clearly, leave alone their experience. So, their actual meaning and

true significance are not conveyed properly. Distorted versions, perverted

views, wrong interpretations are often passed on to the general public. Hence,

the reality is never understood and experienced, so much so, spirituality to

many modern people is nothing but confusion confounded, and full of

contradictions.

I give many small examples drawn from your experiences in daily life. In order

to win a case in a court of law, should you not have proper witnesses? These

examples are given in support of the subject so as to make you understand and

remember it easily.

Q266)  Swami! Please do not mistake us. Please pardon us for a feeling that

comes to us quite often. As we listen to your discourses, we find many

repetitions. We feel that the things we have heard and already understood are

being simply repeated. What is to be done then?

Bhagawan: You are thoroughly mistaken. It is a feeling of the ego, born of

ignorance. You should never feel this way, particularly when you are on the

path. Every religion has a spiritual text like the Bible, the Koran and so on.

The followers of Hinduism read the Bhagavad Gita, the Sundarakanda of the

Ramayana, etc., as Sadhana. Scriptures remind us of our duties,

responsibilities, obligations and aims besides enabling us to spend our time in

a sacred way. For spiritual seekers and aspirants, scriptures are the lights of

wisdom. Therefore, theists revere and read holy books. You feel that you are

hearing the same old messages. But have you experienced them? Have you

practiced all of them? In fact, these spiritual matters should be repeated time

and again until they are practiced.

Scriptures like the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita mention

repeatedly and emphatically important spiritual aspects like bhakti, karma,

vairagyam and jnana. They direct seekers to cultivate healthy spiritual habits

and qualities to attain Moksha by emphasising and repeating at several places

things like Bhakti, karma, and jnana. Don't you know that your dehamata, the

physical mother, makes the child repeat Telugu words like amma, mother, mama,

uncle, atta, aunt, tata, grandfather, and so on, and teaches him how to speak.

So, this Sai lokamata, Sai, Mother of the Universe is Vedamata as well. Sai

Mata, Mother Sai repeats these fundamentals again and again for the sake of the

child.

Often you wear the same clothes. You take food every day. You drink coffee

several times every day. In spite of these repetitions, you still want to

continue the old habits, and are not fed up or bored. Similarly, you have to

hear these spiritual matters repeatedly so that you do not forget them. You

should never feel disgusted at any time with matters pertaining to

spirituality. Still worse are some people who have a headache or fall asleep

when spiritual matters are discussed. But, while the talk is on mundane

matters, or people are gossiping, they evince keen interest and follow each

word with rapt attention. Such people should note that whatever spiritual

sadhana they do is all a waste. A cakora bird may get tired waiting for the

moonlight. A koel, known for its melodies, may be exhausted while singing. You

may not even relish drinking amrita, celestial

nectar. But, in respect of God, no one should ever feel disgusted, bored or

tired. This is important for a devotee. A fool like you once asked a purohita,

priest, at the time of the marriage of his second daughter, "What, Sir! You are

repeating now the mantras you had chanted at the time of my first daughter's

wedding!" Mantras don't change from one wedding to another. This is the height

of foolishness.

One may read any number of books. One may hear about the contents mentioned in

Holy Scriptures. One may give lectures on spiritual topics. Until one takes to

practicing what one believes in, all other acts are useless. A small story for

you to illustrate this. There was once a pandit, an expert in the Bhagavad

Gita.

He was very poor, and found it hard to maintain his family. He decided to go to

the king, give discourses on the Gita and thus please him. He expected the king

to reward him profusely for his scholarly presentation. In fact, the king

himself was a great scholar in the Gita and he had even experienced the truths

mentioned there. But no one knew that the king was well versed in the Gita.

The pandit requested the minister to convey to the king his intention to give

talks on the Gita in the presence of the king. On hearing this, the king sent a

message to the pandit saying that, the pandit was yet to know the essence of the

Gita. After fifteen days, the pandit again approached the king through the

minister. But the king turned down his request saying that he, the pandit, was

yet to go into the depth of the Gita. The pandit was totally upset and very

much disappointed, and returned home. He refused to answer his wife when she

asked him for the reason nor his sadness. She, after some time, served him

tiffin and tea and softly elicited the reason for his frustration. The pandit

said to his wife: "Look! You

know that I am an expert on the Gita. None can equal me in speaking on this

sacred book. I got several titles and rewards as well as recognition from the

public for my expositions and interpretations of the Gita. But for the first

time, I feel humiliated as the king has refused me permission to enter his

court and speak. Had it been anyone else, I would have taken him to task".

Then, the wife said, "Sir! It appears to me that what the king said is true".

The pandit was very angry on hearing her comment. He said, "What nonsense are

you speaking? Are you a fool? Don't I know the Gita? Am I not a scholar? What

do you mean by saying that the king's remark is true?" Then, the wife politely

and respectfully said, "Sir! I am fortunate to have been listening to your

valuable discourses for the last several years. I very well remember your

saying that in the Gita, God assured His devotee, ananyas'cin tayanto mam, if

only the devotee concentrates fully on Him, yogaksemam vahamyaham, God would

look after him in every way. You also said that God added, moksayisyamima

sucah, God would grant even liberation. But I am surprised to see you trying to

approach the king instead of God! Perhaps you believe that God may not keep His

promise.

Isn't it so?" Similarly, we have today many scholars who can speak excellently

on the Gita,. They have no faith in what they say. They merely chant, repeat

verbatim, and preach to others. This is not important. One must put into

practice at least one or two principles out of all that is studied, learnt and

spoken.

Q267)    Swami! How nice would it be if we follow your exemplary acts, take your

life as your message, do things at the exact and right time! We see you

distributing gifts immediately as and when you decide. Kindly suggest ways and

means of emulating you.

Bhagawan: You should never postpone doing good things. There should be perfect

harmony in your thought, word and deed: This is true human value. I give you a

simple example here. When you fire a gun, what happens? The release of the

bullet and the sound of the shot occur at the same time. Similarly, your

decision and action should take place together, simultaneously.

There is a small episode in the Mahabharata. Once a poor old Brahmin approached

Dharmaja with a request to help him, absolutely poverty‑stricken as he

was. Dharmaja considered the matter sympathetically all right, but he asked the

Brahmin to see him on the following day. Bhima who was also there happened to

overhear their conversation. That night he made all the arrangements for

decorating the city, huge platforms were raised and various gifts made ready to

be distributed among the poor and deserving. The next morning Dharmaja got up as

usual and was surprised to see the hectic activity going on all around the city.

He asked Bhima what it was all about, and the reason behind it.

Bhima said, "Brother! Yesterday I heard you asking the poor old Brahmin, who

came seeking your help, to meet you today. I was so happy to note that you were

so sure of your life. Life is uncertain. But you were so sure about it. This

made me happy and celebrates your certainty about life in a big way". Thus, he

indirectly conveyed to his brother that good things should be done immediately.

There is another small story. One day Karna was taking an oil bath. A servant

was massaging his body with oil from a gold cup. A poor man came and begged for

Karna's help. Karna immediately gave the gold cup he was holding in his left

hand. The poor man said, "Oh King! Is it proper on your part to present a gift

with your left hand? Why did you do that?" Then Kama said, "It is true I

presented the gold cup with my left hand. Had I but taken the time to transfer

it into my right hand, I am afraid, my mind might have changed and I might have

reversed my own decision. So, without giving any scope for second thoughts I

gave it to you immediately even though the cup was in my left hand." This is

exactly what you should do. The moment you think of doing one good act, do it

without any loss of time, never keep it pending till tomorrow.

Q268)  Swami! Your love is incomparable, second to none: It excels the sky and

the ocean in its vastness and depth. You are the very personification of

sacrifice. Why are we not able to comprehend it?

Bhagawan: You can bring water from the sea, but only as much as the container

you carry. Isn't it so? Your Heart is a small tumbler. How can you carry

Swami's love, which is an ocean? How can you estimate it? After all, you are at

the physical level. So, you are comparing your body to My body. Then, what about

the Heart? You have a very narrow mind. Swami's Heart is as broad as the

infinite sky. You may at the most know the present, but Swami knows the past;

the present and the future. My car has forward gear and also a reverse gear.

Note: God has the three qualities, akarsana, samkarsana and prakarsana. If I sit

in the chair inside the Mandir, you will come near me, have Darshan, and return.

But I don't do that. I walk along the lines in your midst repeatedly. You will

be very happy if I walk round you. This makes Swami also feel happy. Bliss is

my food. Thousands of devotees come to this place for Darshan. I look after

them and providing accommodation and food. They return home full of

satisfaction and bliss. They have immense love for Swami.

If you have nigraha, sense control, you will get anugraha, grace. Take a small

example. When you go to a goldsmith, what would you do? You give him gold,

mention the design of the ornaments of your choice and you note the exact

weight of the gold you give, don't you? You don't say, "Do not burn the gold I

have given you. I don't want you to hammer and cut it". But, what you want and

expect is the jewel according to the design and the weight given before. I do

the same thing here. I make you learn manners, develop good behaviour, and act

with discipline. I transform you into most precious jewels.

Remember always that a boy should have good `behaviour', a man good `manners'

and a devotee `discipline'. You know the Godrej Company. It is not Godrej that

is important. What is important is God raise, i.e., God raises you to a higher

level of a life of quality. You must be ready and prepared for it. You call a

human being manisi in Telugu. Now read it in the reverse, it becomes `cinema'.

Life should not be artificial like a cinema or movie. With this sort of an

artificial life, how do you expect to know and experience Me?

Q269)  Swami! You are the embodiment of Love. Invariably your divine discourses

are permeated with Love. If we understand even a tiny particle, we will become

blessed. Please enlighten us on the place of Love in spiritual terms.

Bhagawan: There is nothing greater than Love. Love alone is life. Love alone is

the support of everything. There is no greater Sadhana or spiritual practice

than Love. Love alone is the destination. Love alone is the key to bliss. "Love

is God, God is love". Of these two, "Love is God" is correct. The nature and

existence of God, you have neither known nor experienced. So, to say "God is

love", something beyond your knowledge and experience, is meaningless. But,

there is none in the world devoid of love. Man may not have, or be lacking;

something or other. One may or may not have education, wealth, and authority.

But there is no man or place devoid of love. Love is the foundation of the

building called God. Love of God is affirmed, cognised, and experienced by all

mankind. From where has this Love arrived? Has it come from outside? No, no. It

has come from the self. Love is

right within you. Love is the key to all spiritual practices. You chant God's

name. Do you chant it without Love? Can you perform japa without Love? Only

those spiritual practices you love, you take up. Love is of prime importance in

your Sadhana. Adi Shankara is the emperor of advaita, and propagated the

doctrine of advaita. Even this Sankara composed the celebrated, Bhajagovindam

`Worship Govinda', and warned, Govindam bhaja mudhamate. "Oh! Stupid one!

Worship Govinda!" He, thus, pointed out the way to experiencing God's Love. In

other words, Love surpasses even the highest reaches of jnana. Man experiences

Love in a variety of ways: mamakaram , becoming a slave to attachment through

love of worldly things; vatsalyam, developing affection for children and

grandchildren; anuragam desire for wife; abhimanam, pride in one's kith and

kin; maitri company of colleagues and people of one's own age.

Above all, there is Love of God, devotion. Pure, unselfish, and constant love is

ideal, transcendental devotion. Being Himself love, God can be realised only

through Love. Fill your heart with Love. Life is Love. Share it. Enjoy it.

Q270)  Swami! Listening to Your conversations, teachings, and discourses is true

Jnaana. When this is put into practice, this becomes wisdom gained through our

experience, and shines as practical wisdom. When, say, will our ignorance be

dispelled? Your profound, divine discourses are a feast for our ears, enthusing

and inspiring us.

Bhagawan: What use is simple listening? Is merely glancing at cooked food

enough? Knowledge gained has to be turned into experience. This jewel of jnana

has to be secured with ever so much care, love, and piety. Here is an example.

A raw fruit may be thrown away without any loss to it or to you. But what

happens when you throw away or let drop a ripe, sweet mango? The fruit bursts

and the sweet juice spills to the ground, doesn't it? That is why you have to

hold the ripe fruit gently with both hands safely. In the same way, the fruit

of jnana is to be secured, leaving no chance for it to slip down.

Ajnana, irrespective of its duration and magnitude, vanishes the moment jnana

dawns. Even though ajnana had persisted through many lives, the light of jnana

dispels the darkness of Anna instantly. Take this example. Suppose you lock

your house and live in another town. More specifically, locking your house in

Guntur, think that you have been staying in Puttaparthi from six months. As

Swami had gone to Bangalore, you leave for Guntur, and reached your house. You

open the doors and find the interior dark. This darkness has been there for six

months. Now you switch on the light. How long .does it take for the darkness to

disappear? Does it require six months? Instantly there is light. Similarly, the

darkness of ajnana no

matter however long it had been there is vanquished immediately.

Note this carefully. A tree might have grown very tall, and may have been there

for a long, long time. But how much time does it take to fell it with an axe?

The fire of Jnaana, the sword of Jnaana, in an instant, puts an end to ajnana

of very long standing.

This ajnana is really darkness, ignorance, illusion, and delusion. You may have

your ears pierced with rings, wear bangles on your hands, or have a necklace

round your neck. Now, the knowledge that all these are made of gold is jnana.

Visualising these as ornaments and noting their names and shapes, their

diversity, is an illusion, a delusion. Enjoying gulabjamun, basundi, jangri,

laddu and so on as sweetmeats is ajnana; considering them all as sugar is

Jnaana. Remember, cattle feed on grass and you eat rice.

Humanness consists in not permitting re‑entry to evil, once you know it to

be evil. The fundamental recognition that hunger and thirst are common to all

mankind is Divine. Thus jnana, as it is Divine, integrates all things.

Conversely, by whatever name it is called, illusion, delusion, avidya ,

bhranti, bhrama, Maya, ajnana is the force behind shattering and breaking into

pieces, the force of disintegration.

The man who possesses Jnaana behaves in private as he does in public. He has no

use for stunt, exhibition, or hypocrisy.

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

Movies - Buy advance tickets for 'Shrek 2'