SWAMI TEACHES – Part II

[Guest guest]

Compiled by Reet

SELF-REALIZATION ON THE AGE OF KALI YUGA

The Lord declares: "Akshaya Kaalah" (I am the Eternal Time). It is indeed a pity

that this eternal time should be considered as a fleeting moment. Man's 'actions

are governed by the change in time and circumstances.

Time is moving fast like a stormy gale. Man's life is melting away every moment

like a block of ice. Months and years are rolling past in the Wheel of Time.

How many eras are disappearing in our own epoch!

Eras come and go, epochs roll on, but man's mind remains as before. What can the

greeting "Happy New Year" means in the context of such a human predicament? It

appears to be a scene in a drama on the worldly stage.

Man, unlike an animal, is endowed with a mind, which confers on him Vichaarana

Shakti (the power to enquire into the how and why of things). Man, therefore,

should undertake an enquiry into what is permanent and what is temporary, what

is truth and what is false, what is bad and what is good. Man's inherent

quality is divinity. It has to be realised by him by his own efforts. The Atmic

principle is based on an internal source.

Of the four Yugas - Kritha, Thretha, Dhvaapara and Kali - the present yuga is called Kali Yuga.

In truth, it is Kalaha Yuga, the Age of Discord. There is discord everywhere -

between husband and wife, between preceptor and pupil, and in every other

relationship. What is the reason for this discord? The absence of mutual trust.

No one trusts another. As a result, hatred and bitterness are growing in the

social, ethical, political, and economic and every other field. There is

discord even in the scientific field. The lack of trust has blinded people

towards each other.

As a result, man is growing weaker and losing his humanness because of the, lack

of faith in his own Self. Without self-confidence, how can he get

self-satisfaction? Lacking self-satisfaction, how can he hope for

Self-Realisation? Hence, the mansion of Self-Realisation has to be erected on

the foundation of Self-confidence, with the walls of self-satisfaction and the

ceiling of self-sacrifice. Confidence is at the root of it all.

When you install God in your heart, there is no room in it for anything else.

But today's aspirants treat the heart as a musical chair. They go on from one

"Swami" to another and shift from one kind of Sadhana to another. Of what avail

is this kind of merry-go-round? It is a waste of time and of life itself.

Today, you must concentrate first on purity. For this, you have to reduce your

desires gradually. It is not practicable to give up all desires totally. But

limit your desires to the essential minimum. The man with endless desires is

the poorest man. The man with no desires is the richest man.

People have been listening to spiritual discourses. How far are they practicing

the teachings? Without the cultivation of human values, all studies and

spiritual exercises are of no use.

You should develop new ideas and ideals. Feel your oneness with all, because the

same Divine dwells in everyone. Embark on self-enquiry to acquire

self-knowledge.

For the refinement of the heart, the first requisite is seeking Sath Sangam

(company of the good). You have assembled here that you have been able to

derive the benefit of Swami's message. (Compilation with extracts from "Sathya

Sai Speaks." Volume 26,Chapter 11, "Through Self-enquiry to Self-realisation,"

pp. 53 - 59).

DIRECTIONS FOR SPIRITUAL SEEKER

Important guiding principles of life, like the cultivation of virtues, the

development of character, the control of hatred, etc. is being given from a

hundred platforms every day, and people listen and depart; they do not practice

what they have heard; and so things remain where they are. This is because those

who give advice do not follow what they preach. Like the blind men who described

the elephant, they describe the advantages of acquiring virtues and the benefits

of controlling hatred, more out of hearsay than out of experience.

There is deep-rooted unrest today in every individual, because there is no

harmony within. The Varnaashrama rules that have come down from ages prescribe

one type of conduct; the books that one reads recommend another type;

experience gives conflicting advice. But peace depends on the mind and its

awareness of the secret of poise. The body is the caravanserai, the Jivi

(individual) is the pilgrim and the mind is the watchman. The mind seeks sukha

(happiness); it feels that happiness can be got in this world from fame,

riches, land and property, from other individuals or relatives; further, it

builds up pictures of heaven where there is more intense happiness for a longer

time; at last, it discovers that eternal undiminished happiness can be got only

by dwelling on the Reality of one's own Self, which is Bliss

Itself.

Develop the power of discrimination and find out which is permanent and which is

not, which is beneficial and which is not. Even in selecting a Guru, you should

use your Viveka. A real teacher will be able to attract seekers from afar

merely by his personality. He need not be talked about in glowing terms; his

presence will be felt and aspirants will hurry towards him, like bees towards a

lotus in full bloom.

Seek the light always. You must take up the path of Sadhana (spiritual

practice), very enthusiastically. Half-hearted halting steps will not yield

fruit. It is like cleaning a slushy area by a stream of water. If the current

of the stream is slow, the slush cannot be cleared.

Liberation can be achieved by subtle means. Treat the others in the same way, as

you would like them to treat you. Never brood over the past; when grief

over-powers you, do not recollect similar incidents in your past experience and

add to the sum of your grief; recollect, rather, incidents when grief did not

knock at your door, but you were happy instead. Draw consolation and strength

from such memories and raise yourself above the surging waters of sorrow.

Namasmarana is the best antidote for this and if only men and women take up to

it, the Lord will come to their rescue. That will instill the faith that

everything is God's Will and teach that you have no right to exult or despair.

(A brief compilation by Sathya Sai Speaks. Volume 1, Chapter 12 "Tolerance,"

pp. 62 - 64).

PURUSHA, PRAKRITI, BODY AND CREATION

Purusha stands for a large number of different persons. Prakriti stands for a

wide variety of manifestations of the world. You have been taught that just as

the manifestations of the material world are very many, so also the

manifestations of the Purusha or the soul are manifold. But, if we really

enquire into this from the point of view of the meaning, which we are aiming

at, then Purusha can be only one. The Purusha or the soul is simply the

manifestation of the divine. On the other hand, the manifestation of matter, of

the material things, is this world. This Prakriti or the world is something,

which is filled with all the five elements. All these are destructible. They

are not permanent. But what is clear, what is clean, what is indestructible and

what is effulgent and shining, is only one and that

is the soul or Purusha. Srutis have described this soul as something, which has

no attributes, as something, which is superior, as something, which is eternal

and permanent, as something, which does not change at all.

"How does creation go on?" For getting a dream, the cause is your sleep. So

also for creation what is called Maya is the cause. For Maya there is no

beginning and there is no end. Thus this creation or the world you see around

you is something, which is related to Maya. Maya always loves the soul, loves

the Purusha. It wants to be with Him, wants to reach God. So also the creation

wants to reach God all the time. In some Puranas, it is said that Purusha has

attached himself to the world. In the material world, although many shapes come

about and although we may make a distinction between men and women with many

different names, while this distinction can be made in Prakriti, so far as

Purusha is concerned there can be no such distinction.

Here, in this world, in the drama of our life on the stage of this world, we are

putting on the part of many appearances. In the aspects of either these five

elements or the five Kosas or the five Thathwas, all these people are equal and

there is no difference. Therefore, when you talk of manhood, what you have to

regard as man, as Purusha, is the strength, the energy of Purusha that is

contained in him. Thus it is by the coexistence and by the combination of these

two, the soul, or the Purusha, and the Prakriti or the world of matter that

creation is going on.

For example, there is a light from the lamp. By the breeze, you will find that

light moves a little, hither and thither. If there is a lot of breeze then the

light itself will be extinguished. There are so many changes in the lamp. But

there is no change at all in the light that is coming from this lamp. To any

one who may come here, the lamp is handing on its brightness. In the same

manner, God, who has no attributes, is handing his pure effulgence to everyone,

irrespective of who he is. Because this aspect of God, which has no attributes,

goes and enters some other abode like the body, or divinity gets joined to

something else, there the differences appear. But the original divine thing is

one and the same and does not change at all.

For such creation there will have to be some one who is responsible. We have

seen the mud in the tank. We are also seeing the water in the river. Water

alone from the river will not enable you to make a pot or a pan. The mud alone

from the tank will not enable you to make a pot or a pan. It is the combination

of water and mud that will enable you to create either a pot or a pan. Simply by

the combination of water and mud, the pot or the pan is not going to be ready.

There has to be a potter who will prepare the pots and pans. Such a potter is

God. The energy or the power is the water.

The mud which was got from the tank or the mound or which went into the making

of the pot is all the same. But it has taken the shape in one case of the pot,

in another case of the mound and in another case of the pit. For the

depression, for the mound and for the pot, the root cause is mud.

In course of time, this pot is going to break. In course of time, the mound in

front of the potter's house will become smaller and smaller. But the mud

remains all the time as mud.

By some desires and by some actions of our parents and also by the Sankalpa or

the wish of God, the human body comes into existence. This life, Jiva, can be

compared to the mud in the mound, which goes on diminishing time after time.

Dehatma (the body) is going to be destroyed (as the pot). All human bodies in

time are going to be destroyed. Pictorially the mud or the basic constituent of

the human body is the Paramatma that is going to go to its original place from

which it has emanated. Like the pots and pans, which have come from mud, and in

course of time after usage they break and go back as mud, so also we have to

accept that the contents of all these human bodies which have come from the

primary spirit, after they have been used and destroyed, will again return to

the

source.

What existed before we were born? If it did exist, there is no question of its

being born. Suppose we take the view that it did not exist at all. If it did

not exist, where is the question of something, which did not exist and does not

exist being born? How are we to find this out? How do we get the knowledge of

what is this 'I'? Those texts, which tell us and teach us answers to these

questions, are called Upanishads and Sasthras.

It is not possible to understand yourself, without seeking it from experienced

people and without seeking it from Upanishads and without practicing what these

texts teach. Of course, in this world, we are seeing the five organs, the five

Kosas, the five elements and even the Atma or the soul, we are able to realise

and see. But those that have to tell you what the paths are which you have to

adopt in order that you may realise fully the meaning of these things, are our

Sastras that are time-honored, old and ancient.

MANAVA, GOD AND RELIGION

The body (Deha) is like a boat. Our life is like a river and we have to cross

that river and reach our destination. Our destination is the destination of

divinity. Our life, the present one, is one of living in the contemporary

world. In this process of our trying to cross the river of life and reach the

destination of divinity, the boat that we have to use, namely, our body, has to

be safeguarded and taken great care of.

The indestructible divine strength, which has come into this destructible body,

has been called man's soul or the human spirit. Because the body contains this

indestructible divine spirit, the live body has also been called 'man'. In the

very word Manava, which stands for man, we are able to see the divinity that is

present in man.

Manava includes three syllables. The first one 'Ma' stands for Ajnana or

ignorance, absence of knowledge.

The second one 'Na' stands for the desire that ignorance and absence of knowledge should disappear.

The third one 'Va' conveys the injunction that one should conduct oneself in a

manner as to remove ignorance. /Here is essential to signify the role of

religions which really are parts of one and single religion of Prema (Love)/.

The religions of the world have two aspects - philosophy and spiritual path. The

first represents the qualities of the head, and the second the qualities of the

heart. If there is no heart, there is no use having the head.

Through head we should make all the necessary enquiries relating to philosophy

and then should attempt to reach the heart. The first one concerns itself with

the information and the second one with the transformation. If we do not gather

the information, it is not possible to achieve transformation. Spirituality and

philosophy are two things which are closely related to each other and which

follow each other.

Our ability to comprehend and acquire complete knowledge is defective and has in

many cases disappeared. That is the reason why when we look at a religion, we do

not comprehend the whole of it but we take a bit of it and form an opinion.

There is the story of a number of blind men reaching an elephant and touching

it. One blind man who happens to touch the trunk of the elephant gets the

feeling that it is like a big root of a big tree, and therefore, he thinks that

the elephant is like the root of a tree. Another blind man just happens to touch

one of the legs and he feels that it is like a pillar and concludes that an

elephant is like a pillar. Another blind man happens to touch the ear of the

elephant and he thinks that it is like a big fan and so concludes that the

elephant is in the shape of a big fan. Another blind man touches the stomach or

the tummy of the elephant and thinks that it is a huge wall and concludes that

an elephant looks like a big wall. Thus each one of these people, having

touched only a part of the

elephant, comes to the conclusion based on the impression which that part has

created, that the elephant looks like that particular part.

Thus, when people of different countries look at any world religion, each one

who looks only at a part of a world religion thinks that religion is only that

part. The real religion is a combination of all the individual components,

which each one of them is getting at. This religion is in essence like sacred

Prema or love. It is essential to develop the feeling of Prema which is the

highest experience proclaimed by Vedas and the other sacred texts. It is much

more sacred and sanctifying to fill our hearts with Prema than to fill our

heads with all kinds of books on spiritual matters.

God is one for all the Universe and concequently for human beings. God is beyond

and above all five senses of perception and five elements earth, water, fire,

air and sky (space). He has none of the five qualities or attributes of matter.

He is present everywhere. It does not matter whether you look at this

description from a spiritual angle or from a scientific angle, the truth of the

statement, which has now been made, will have to be accepted by everyone. That

is why God is described as 'Anoraniyaan, Mahato Mahiyaan'. This statement means

that God is like an infinitesimal being amongst the infinitely small ones. God

is like an infinite being amongst the infinitely large ones. (The Divine

Discourse Bhagawan Sathya Sai Baba, "Vedic Truths belong to the Whole World,"

Summer Course in Spirituality

and Indian Culture, May 1972, Brindavan).

DEATH

Man has known about everything else, except death. Why should a person die? The

answer is: in order that he may not die again. He is born, so that he may not

get born again. Having been born, man earns and acquires land, riches,

materials, grain, articles of comfort and luxury, which he feels will give him

happiness and which therefore become the object of his struggle. But, the

object of realizing God is forgotten. You are listening to Me and what do you

get when you so listen? Well, what do you give Me in return? Give Me the

Aacharana (following, observing) of what I am telling you; practice what I

teach, that is enough.

Man should not die like a cat or a dog. He should leave the world better and

happier than when he came into it. He must get away, full of gratitude for the

chance given to him to see God in everything that he saw, heard, touched, smelt

and tasted. He must remember the Lord, with his last breadth.

When you are engaged in the various duties and obligations of the world, never

allow your attention to stray away from God, the Goal. Be always attentive to

the signs of His glory and His mercy and His omnipresence. So, cultivate the

habit of remembering the Lord with every breath; then only can you remember Him

with the last breath.

Death will not give any advance intimation, or say, 'Ready' and wait until you

are ready. Therefore, be ready always, so that you may produce a good

impression with His name on your lips and His form in your cleansed heart.

Death is considered as something to be afraid of; as something that should not

be spoken about in happy circumstances! But, death is neither good nor bad. You

have no choice in the matter. You can't get it sooner if you welcome it; nor can

you avoid it if you condemn it as bad.

Each body has the Purusha [He who is in this Pura (fortified town), body] in it

and the entire universe has the Purushotthama immanent in it. What dies is the

body, not the occupant of the body, the Purusha. The faith that you have, the

Purusha in you, will cleanse the mind of all evil and the senses of all evil

propensities. The vessel too must be clean, not merely the drink.

(Extracts from: Divine Discourse Bhagawan Sathya Sai Baba, "Purusha and

Purushotthama," 20 October 1963, Prashanthi Nilayam).

*In fact, name is not essential. It is added, as there is a responsibility to

work with Swami's texts. I am aware of this responsibility.

KARMA AND SECRET OF LIFE

The art of engaging in Karma (action) without getting involved is the thing that

has to be learnt. Karma has to be done, because it is part of one's nature, not

out of any external compulsion. Suurya (sun) is a Sahaja karmachaari (worker by

nature). He draws the vapors of water high up to form clouds, which pours, back

as rain; no one taught Him to do this. When you do the Sahaja karma (action

dictated by nature), it won't be a burden. It is when you go contrary to it and

do something out of the way that you feel the misery.

The Dharma-karmas (virtuous actions) have to be done; there is no escape.

Fleeing to the forest is no solution, for it only gives the situation a new

turn. Your body may be in the jungle but your mind will wander in the market

place! There was a Sadhak (spiritual seeker) once who was initiated by a Yogi

into some Manthram (holy words); he wanted to meditate on it undisturbed and he

found his home too full of distraction. He fled to the forest and discovered a

convenient tree, under which he could meditate. Before long, the birds roosting

on its branches started to clamor aloud and they showered on his head their

droppings. He was greatly incensed. "Have I no place where I can commune with

God", he cried. "Children at home; birds and bats in the jungle!"

After the third attempt he was too interrupted. At last the seeker understood

that Karma has to be carried through in the objective world itself and there is

no use trying to shake it off in a huff.

Let your boat be on the waters, but do not allow the waters to enter the boat.

Be in the world, but, not of it. That is the secret of a successful life.

Desire leads to ultimate ruin. It grows upon each satisfaction and becomes a

monster that devours the victim himself. Try to reduce your desires, go on

reducing them.

The chain of desire binds one to the point of suffocation. Control, curb your

tendency to wish for this and that. Tell the Lord, "You are enough for me. I do

not wish for anything else."

Death is but a passage from this life to the next; it is the change from old

clothes to new, as the Geetha says. Saranagathi is the main gate to enter the

mansion of Mukti (liberation from birth-death cycle). It has four floors:

Dhyana, Karma, Bhakti and Jnaana (meditation, activism, devotion and spiritual

knowledge). Each floor rests upon the one beneath and the topmost one cannot be

reached without ascending the first three. (Extracts-compilation from: The

Divine Discourse Bhagawan Sathya Sai Baba, "The Geetha Balance," 24 October

1963, Prashanthi Nilayam)

SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY

The fundamental difference between science and spirituality is: Science is

concerned with investigating the external phenomenal universe. Spirituality is

engaged in exploring the inner workings of the Divine. The scientist is one who

has an external vision. The one who has an internal vision is a saint.

The scientist is the one who enquires into the nature of Srishti (creation). The

saint is one who seeks to know the Creator. The scientist is preoccupied only

with studying creation. However, once you understand the Creator, you can

understand the whole of creation.

Scientists today are accomplishing any number of things. But they are unable to

recognise the divine potency that exists in the human being. All human beings

are made up of the same (principal) elements, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and

carbon, individuals vary in their mental and other qualities. What is the

reason for these innumerable differences? What is the (initial) force that is

behind these genetic differences? How do the scientists account for them? When

they are able to understand the reason for these infinite differences, the

scientists will achieve fullness in their knowledge. The truth is, no one can

determine the magnitude or range of the powers of the Divine.

An example of the difference between scientific truth and spiritual truth.

If you draw the figure of a circle, that which ends wherefrom it started in the

full circle has been described as Poornam (the full or the whole). The Full

Circle represents spirituality. For in it the end and the beginning are the

same. Spirituality knows no difference between beginning and end. The very term

Aadhyaatma means that which has no beginning or end.

To understand what is science, you cut the full circle into two halves. The left

half is a semicircle, which resembles the English letter "C.C" is science; it

begins at one point and ends at another. Between these two points there is a big

gap, which is called agamyagocharam. It is beyond reach, invisible and

incomprehensible.

Matter and Spirit may be regarded as two semicircles. The two parts have been

described in Vedantic parlance as Prakriti and Paramatma. Scientists are

investigating matter and are ignoring the Spirit. (Today by holistic scientists

the first steps for integration of science with spirituality have done).

What is the new discovery that scientists have made today? All their discoveries

are of what already existed. Gravity, for example has existed from the beginning

of creation. Newton sought to find out the laws governing gravitation. He did

not discover the phenomenon anew. He only found out what already existed.

Scientists hold the view that matter is convertible into energy and vice versa.

But, in fact, the two are not separate. They are inseparably interlinked and

interdependent. The attempts to divide matter and energy have given rise to

many doubts and confusions.

Likewise, matter and energy have existed from the time of creation. Both are

comprehended by the mind only. Mind is the cause of experiencing joy or sorrow

and for comprehending matter and energy. Recognising this quality of the mind,

the sages declared: "The mind is the cause of liberation or bondage for

humanity."

Them are two concepts - Drishti (seeing) and Drishyam (that which is seen). It

is because of the power of sight that we are able to see the visible objects.

It is because the objects are there, we are able to see them. There is thus an

inextricable relationship between seeing and what is seen. Today, it is because

we separate seeing from the things seen that sorrow arises. Seeing and that

which is seen should become one.

(The theories of modern physics have reached near to this concept through

Principle of Uncertainty and its applications defined by Werner Heisenberg,

1901 - 1976; Nobel price in physics 1932, realized that the uncertainty

relations had profound implications and argued that such concepts, for example,

as orbits of electrons do not exist in nature unless and until we observe them).

Creation (the phenomenal universe) is within the comprehension of the senses.

All that we hear, see and experience are within the purview of our senses. We

refer to all these things as "this,this" and "this" (idam). But what is

beyond the senses is referred to as "that." The term "that" refers to

something which is distant, what is beyond the senses.

What is beyond the senses has been called Aadhyatmic (spiritual). What is below

the senses has been called Bhouthik (elemental, constituted by the five

elements). We are simultaneously below the senses and above the senses. Below

the senses is the body. Beyond the senses is the Hridaya (the spiritual heart).

The eternal Hridaya is encased within the perishable body. This indicates our

true form.

(Holistic scientists understand the need of spirituality as a prime part of

science. Einstein in his letter to Max Born, 1926 wrote, "The theory yields a

lot, but it hardly brings us any closer to the secret of the Old One."

By quantum physics no one can calculate the precise future motion of a particle,

but only a range of possibilities for the future motion of the particle. It is

because this activity is closer to the laws of spiritual world what is beyond

the actions of senses in the Maya Reality.

By this brief "Swami teaches..." Swami He as underlines the urgent need of

integration science and spirituality. Without it science may cause (and jet

caused) many disasters for humanity.

Reference: Werner Heisenberg, Gesammelte Werke, (Ordnung der Wirklichkeit).

Abteilung C, Piper Verlag, Munchen ISBN 3-492-02925-6.

To be continued

Sent with Sai love – ‘’

Source http://sss340.tripod.com/pnnews/links.htm

Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term'