Guest guest Posted May 16, 2005 Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 Dear Sai brothers and sisters of the worldwide '' family, In view of the ensuing glorious event of the 80th Birthday of the Divine Lord Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, we propose to start posting of all the Divine Messages titled as 'Sathya Sai Speaks' for the benefit of our members and all the Sai devotees the world over. We request you to pass on/forward/spread these Divine messages to your Sai circle so that they also derive spiritual benefits and bliss from them. These Divine Messages are not only for Sai devotees, they are for the entire HUMANITY. Lord Krishna taught humanity the ways and means of salvation for mankind in 'Bhagavad Gita' in Dwapara Yuga. 'Sathya Sai speaks' is the Bhagavad Gita of Kali Yuga. - With Sai love, Sai brothers - '' *** Om Sri Sai Ram SATHYA SAI SPEAKS [Volume I (Ch.23, 24, 25)] 23. THE TEMPLE I ALWAYS take delight in going to villages and meeting villagers. The villager has a pure unsullied mind and the atmosphere of the village is sincere and untouched by artificiality. Today is a great day in the history of your village, because you are getting a Hospital and a Health Centre under the Community Development Scheme. I am glad you are aware of its importance. You have made arrangements to celebrate the event in a grand manner, all of you joining together joyfully to carry out the various tasks allotted by the organisers. It is this spirit of co-operation and this joyful comradeship which your village has shown that has brought Me here today. I am Prema and I want to see Prema progress in all places and affairs. Man suffers from two types of ills, physical and mental; the one caused by the disequilibrium of the three tempers of Vaatha, Pittha and Sleshma (wind, bile and phlegm) and the other caused by the dis-equilibrium of the three Gunas: Sathwa, Rajas and Thamas (qualities of serenity, passion and inertia). One peculiar fact about these two types of illnesses is that the cultivation of virtue cures both. Physical health is a pre-requisite for mental health and mental health ensures physical health! An attitude of generosity, of fortitude in the presence of sorrow and loss, a spirit of enthusiasm to do good, to be of service to the best of one's capacity—these build up the mind as well as the body. The very joy derived from service reacts on the body and makes you free from disease. The body and the mind are closely interrelated. Despair is a sin against God You are mostly agriculturists and so I need not tell you that hope is what you feed on, most months of the year. Hope sustains you, while you plough, sow, plant and manure the crops that you raise. That hope you must make a mental habit even in things distinct from agriculture. That will sustain you in all walks of life. Do not give any chance for that vile thing, despair, to eat into the vitals of activity and effort. Despair is a sin against God; when He is in you, why do you lose hope? That is why the Lord says when I am here, why do you fear? Be always joyful, optimistic and courageous. You said that river Chitravathi that flows near Puttaparthi flows by the side of your village too, and that it is a link between us both. But it is a very feeble link, if at all. For, it is full only for a few days in the year; the rest of the year it is a sandy waste! If the life-giving waters of courage flow in your heart of hearts, then that Chitravathi is more precious than this dry stream; it is a truer link between you and Me. The village is the backbone of the whole country. The child becomes man, the village grows into a town; only, we should see that the innocent, simple, sincere child does not grow into a cruel, hard-hearted man. Similarly, we have to see that the quiet, God fearing simple village does not grow into a noisy negative town. Tomorrow's leaders are being bred in this and other villages all over the land. If you have virtue, the towns will have virtue tomorrow. If you have strength, towns will be strong. If you are quarrelsome, the towns will be affected by it. Learn to live and work in amity. Make the joyful experience of today a permanent feature of your life. Do not depend on government for all your wants Factions and parties in villages are the bane of our community life. All the profit of hard toil is wasted in litigation engendered by hatred arising from them. You grow the food and the material for clothing for the people. You set the example of industry to the indolent. You rise with the cock-crow and you go to bed when the fowls go to sleep. You sweat and toil and watch the sky prayerfully with hands folded in devotion; and you live humbly and thankfully. There is an intimate relationship between the 'rithu' and the 'rythu' (the Season and the farmer). Your life runs on an even keel, following the regularity of the seasons. You do not hurry ahead of nature, as townsmen do. I want you to be grateful to the persons who made this hospital possible and to the Government who are running it for you. The Government collects money from you and arranges these amenities. But you should not depend on the Government to satisfy all your wants. Even the officers are not all powerful. They are only servants, who have to obey others. The Government is the chauffeur of the car, which is the State. You own the car and you are the passengers too. Select proper chauffeurs and be vigilant to see that the driver at the wheel does not harm the passengers or the car. That is the duty of the owner, is it not? The greatest instrument by which success can be ensured for all your efforts is Bhakti. That will give health, wealth and prosperity too, for it will eliminate hatred and faction and give more power to your elbow when you plough the land. A man with Bhakti will do every act as worship of the Lord and so the act will be done better and more efficiently, without any malingering or insincerity. It will also win the Grace of the Lord, and so, a Bhakta (devotee) will be able to raise more crops and enjoy greater health and mental happiness. Do some inner cultivation If all the thousand persons in a village sing the glow of the Lord together, that will produce greater harmony and social cohesion than the thousand clamoring and shouting one against the other. Prema will flood the village and fertilise all your efforts if you take the Lord's name and sing together. Do it for some time and you will yourself bear witness to the changed atmosphere. Sometimes, the cloud of envy and hatred comes to darken relationship. This is due primarily to fear, fear that causes anger. All that will disappear with the emergence of Bhakti and the humility and wisdom, which come in its wake. Anger wastes time, health and character. Do not allow it free play. Do some inner "cultivation" too, as you are now doing external cultivation in these fields. That has to be done in the field of 'feelings, motives, desires and promptings.' I saw your temple while coming in procession on that bullock cart. I found it dilapidated and not in a good clean condition. The heart of the village is the temple; the lamp burning there is the life of the entire village. Keep it burning bright and clear. Some one has placed a broken bandy cart on the narrow verandah of the temple; that is as bad as dishonoring the abode of the Lord. It will not inspire devotion in the people. Keep the temple, however simple and small it may be, clean and free from encumbrances. Do not treat it as some villagers do as a refuge for idlers, who loiter around and play cards or gamble. Get together a Bhajan group in this village. I know you have one; but it must be more active; it must attend the daily Pooja in this temple and make it a fountain of devotion. That will demonstrate that you have gratitude to the Lord for all the blessings He has showered on you. Develop the spirit of mutual help The doctor in charge of the Hospital now appealed to you for co-operation. He meant that you should not neglect the bodily ills and damage the tabernacle of God. It is an instrument, which has to be well cared for. The doctor is an expert in that subject, having studied medicine for long and being moved by a spirit of service. Honour him for his skill; have faith in him and his medicines and do not, by neglect or resort to quacks, worsen the diseases you may have. I say this specially to you, people of Bud-ill! Develop the spirit of mutual help. Villagers have been ruined because one person cannot tolerate the prosperity of another. This is the bane of the Indian character. Every one is bent on pulling down his neighbor; whereas in the West, they encourage the slightest sign of superior intelligence and industry and show no rivalry. Jealousy is the cause of ruin. It is born of the undue importance attached to the body, the senses and the accumulation of objects that cater to the senses. See things in their proper perspective; give them their worth but no more. There are greater things that grant joy and peace. Try to get hold of them; every one of you has a right to possess them. None can keep them away from your grasp. Fix your attention on the eternal values You spoke of the Brahmeshwara Temple that was once here but that has since gone under the sands of the river. Let not the temple of the Lord that is in your innermost heart be similarly overwhelmed by the sands of Kama and Krodha (lust and anger). You talked of many Rishis and Yogis who have done thapas (penance) here, according to tradition. Well, those Rishis and Yogis knew which is real and which is unreal. They controlled the vagaries of the mind and dwelt in Shanthi. Fix your attention on these eternal values; then you will not be swept off your feet by gusts of passion or fits of fury. Then this village, filled with love and mutual helpfulness, will become the ideal for miles around. Budili Village, 9-9-1959 24. BAHUMATHI AND EKAMATHI (Many-pointed vs. one-pointedness) THOUGH this area and this town are not new to Me, this is the first time that most of you are seeing Me. When a few more dishes are prepared, it becomes a festival day. So, when the District Athletic Competitions are held here, it is a festival for the boys and students as well as for parents and others interested in the welfare of the country. You have all put on a glad face forgetting the daily drudgery. You have witnessed the competitions and the games and enjoyed the keenness and enthusiasm of the participants. The students sitting before us are the instruments with which the India of tomorrow is to be shaped. Their teachers, who are also here, are indeed lucky; for destiny has allotted them the noble task, the golden chance, to serve the interests of the people in the pleasant manner, spending their time in the company of innocent fresh children. The father, the mother and teacher are the three primarily responsible for molding the future of the country. Of these, the teacher plays the most important role for he is specially trained and selected for the job; he voluntarily takes it up and therefore must carry it out to the best of his ability without demur; he is implicitly trusted by the child, the parents and the public alike and the trust must be repaid by honest service. He is honored and respected by the children and the public as the Guru, with all the hallowed associations of that word. He may be poor, uncared for by the men at the top, but the satisfaction he gets by his quiet creative work is enough compensation. Teacher should himself follow the advice he gives The teacher should never curse his pupils whatever the provocation; he must always bless them. If he swears like a boor he reduces himself to the level of a boor. He should watch his behavior rigorously and find out whether there is some habit or trait which if imitated by the pupil will be harmful. He should himself follow the advice that he gives. Otherwise, he will be teaching hypocrisy to the little children and encouraging them to acquire the cleverness not to be found out. It is sheer mental weakness and cowardice that allows hypocrisy to develop. If you have the courage to face the consequences, you will never utter falsehood. The teacher should not try to rule through the easier means of fear, for that is full a dangerous consequences to the pupils. Try rather the path of Love. Teachers should themselves take to the discipline of Japam and Dhyana (repetition of the Lord's Name and meditation); this will give them the inner quiet they sorely need. They should create an atmosphere of plain living and high thinking, for pupils unconsciously accept them as heroes and begin imitating them. They should hand over to the rising generation the riches that past generations have amassed, viz., the spiritual disciplines and the discoveries. Learn them yourselves and teach them to the pupils under your care. This will enable you to discharge the debt due from you to the Rishis (sages) of old. I know that when you sow bitter seeds you cannot grow sweet grain. Yet, there are certain things possible even under the limitations of the present curricula and courses of study. Be grateful to the village where you were born The unmistakable sign of rain is the wetness of the ground; so too, the sign of a person who has had some years of schooling is good manners; he must have humility and know that the field of knowledge is so vast that he has been unable even to touch its fringe; he must be aware of his kinship with all mankind and he must show a keenness to do service to others, at all times, gladly, and without desire for publicity. The educated boy must move with others in a free and friendly way. God is the moving force in every one. He is behind all good impulses and useful attitudes, you are all separate beads strung together on that one thread, God. So hatred is ugly, unnatural and inhuman; it is against the very core of love that is in every one. Always respect another's opinion and another's point of view. Do not start a quarrel at the slightest difference of opinion. He may be right and you may be wrong. Ponder over his argument; he might have had the advantage of knowing more about the subject or you may be prejudiced either for or against; or he may not know as much as you. All differences of opinion are not due to personal hatred, remember. Above all, I must tell you one thing. Honour your parents and the villagers among whom you grow up. Be grateful to the parents for all the care and sacrifice they undergo for your sake. Be grateful also to the village where you first saw the light. What good is it if after being born in one place and bred in the cradle of its love, you run away somewhere and make that new place better? Always turn your attention to your village and think of ways and means of bettering its lot. That is the gratitude you must show. Start the spiritual pilgrimage early in life By all means, master the subjects prescribed in your curriculum of studies; but along with them, study also the principles of Sanathana Dharma (Eternal Universal Religion). Do not give it up as Sanathana (old), coming down from very ancient times. It has stood the test of centuries and is capable of giving you joy and peace even today. It is like a very loving grandmother, anxious and capable of feeding you with nice good dishes. You will not allow such a grandmother to die of neglect, will you? There was once a miser who lived in a leaky house; the rainwater poured into the house through the roof but he sat through it all. Neighbors laughed at him and warned him to get the roof repaired. But in the rainy season he replied, "Let the rains subside, how can I repair it now?" And when the rains stopped, he replied, "Why should I worry about leaks now the rains have stopped?" Do not suffer the leaks when the rains come, as they are sure to do; repair the roof now itself. That is to say, acquaint yourselves with the spiritual primers and textbooks now itself; begin the first lessons of silence, prayer and chanting the Name of the Lord. It is never too soon in the spiritual pilgrimage. Now when you wear bush-coats and strut about in pants, causing envy among the little children who cannot afford these, you feel elated. But you can be legitimately proud only when you are able to control the vagaries of the mind and direct your emotions and desires along honorable healthy channels, braving even the ridicule of your so-called friends. That is real freedom, real success. If you reach that stage, then you become a seasoned driver and can be trusted with the wheel on any road and with any cargo, however precious. Then you will not cause harm either to yourself or to others. Then you deserve to become a leader. Only men with ideals are remembered by posterity Be eager and earnest to know more and more about the art of joyful living, happy unperturbed living. One can advance only step by step and there is the danger of slipping down two steps when you climb one. What matters is the determination to climb, the resistance with which the sliding tendency is met, the yearning to rise to progress, to conquer the lower impulses and instincts. If you have that, the hidden spring of power will surge up within you; the Grace of the Lord will smooth your path. Keep the ideal before you; march on. The student of today becomes the teacher of tomorrow and Headmaster later. How? By study, by the development of a reliable character. Only those with ideals are respected and remembered in gratitude by posterity. Rama is honored and worshipped while Ravana is execrated. Why? Because of the character they evinced. Have the progress of your country, your Sanathana Dharma and your own Self always before your mind's eye. Let the hunger for serving these three grow more and more. Then your studies will serve a purpose and give you a sense of mission. Then you will acquire fear of sin, fear of the God within, fear of the mean, respect for elders and faith in your own self. One thing more: Do not do anything, which brings tears into the eyes of your parents. Honour them and obey them. Do not condemn them as old-fashioned. "Old is Gold." They speak out of a longer experience of the world and its tricks. Winners must be thankful to the losers Well, I am asked to distribute bahumathis (prizes) to you by Anjanappa and others. They meant that I should distribute the prizes, but "bahumathi" means "multi-mindedness". Now, I never give that type of mind! I always insist on ekaagratha (single-mindedness). Anjanappa wished that I give you Prasadam (propitiatory offering); My Prasadam is always Ananda Prasadam (Gift of Bliss)! It can be got through ekamathi (single-mindedness) only. I do not like this competition and strife, this cultivation of egoism through prizes and ranking. I am sure none of you here will be spoilt either by pride or by dejection. Take failure coolly and take victory also coolly. The second is a very difficult mental exercise. The winners must be thankful to the losers for their victory, for if only the losers had put in a little more effort, they would have carried away the prizes instead. The losers by running neck to neck with you also prompted you to run faster and thus encouraged you to win. They gave you the grit to put in that extra pace, which brought the prize into your hands. And the losers! I ask you not to lose self-confidence. Do not attach too much value to victory or too much importance to defeat. Even in examinations, when you fail, do not be overcome by despair and do silly things like attempting to take your own life. Life is much more precious that that. You are born for much greater things than the passing of examinations. Be brave and patient. All is not lost if you do not pass an examination which tests just one aspect of your intelligence! Your destiny does not depend upon examination marks; it depends more on character, will-power and the Grace of God. The Headmaster hoped that this School would become a Higher Secondary School. I bless that it may be raised to that status soon and become a source of light and culture for this part of the country. Madakasira, 25-11-1959 Love is God, God is Love. Where there is Love, there God is certainly evident. Love more and more people, love them more and more intensely; transform the love into service, transform the service into worship; that is the highest Sadhana. - Shri Sathya Sai 25. MANUSHYA AND MANAS DR. Bhagavantham asked Me now to 'speak' to you but I do not make speeches. I only 'converse' with you. I do not make public speeches or address meetings, as so many of the persons who spoke now do. They made 'speeches' which were regular feasts to the ear; My conversation will be, on the other hand, 'medicine for the mind.' Theirs were lectures; Mine are mixtures. So, you must take my talk into your mind very attentively and without wasting or spilling even a word. Usually, when you are asked where God is, you point to the sky or some such distant place and say He is there, as if He is just a Person and has a definite place of Residence. But nara (man) himself is Narayana (God), each one of them; Madhava is Manava, each one of the species. So the number of Gods is thirty-three crores, as given in the Sasthras or, as can be calculated today, much more. It is delusion that has induced Narayana Swarupa (embodiment of God) to imagine and behave as if he is just a nara (man). To remove that delusion, there are various means suited to the needs of each sufferer. But all the treatment and all the struggle is to achieve the experience of being Narayana and discard the limited, bound, relative entity, Nara. That is the one harvest yielded by all the various processes. Until one understands oneself, the delusion and the resultant grief cannot be ended. India is the birthplace of spiritual science Let me tell you that you cannot understand Me and My Secret without first understanding yourselves. For, if you are too weak to grasp your own Reality, how can you hope to fathom the much grander Reality of My advent? To grasp My meaning, you have to tear into tatters the doubts and theories you now have and cultivate Prema, for the embodiment of Prema can be understood only through Prema. The "miracles and wonders" which cannot be explained by the categories of science, are so natural to Me that I am amused when you label them as miracles. The Lord had announced that He would come down for the restoration of Dharma (righteousness) and that He would assume human Form so that all might gather round Him and feel the thrill of His companionship and conversation. And the Lord has come, as announced. For those who are drawn by the pulls of the mind, the intellect and the ego, things beyond the ken of these three are inscrutable; there is a limit beyond which the mind and the intellect cannot traverse. That is why the Maha Shakti (Supreme Power) has to envelop Itself with Maya (delusion) and come down to the level of human comprehension. This Bhaarathavarsha (India) is the birthplace of spiritual science. Here, every man, woman and child is a student of that science. Each one here is entitled to the study of that supreme subject. The ancient heritage must be handed down to each boy and girl in the land, not merely to the students of institutions like this. In this spiritual science, some one method or other has been emphasised during the various periods of history. It was mantra (mystic formula) once, Yaga (ceremonial sacrifice) another time, yoga (Divine communion) a little later and after the rise of Buddhism and its spread to all parts of India and even her neighbors; it has been Tanthra (magical and mystical formularies). Shankara gave great encouragement to Tanthra and Poet Kalidasa also considered it important. It flourished due to the encouragement, which Shivaaji gave to the thaanthric scholars, and it dominated the spiritual life of the country for many centuries. Tanthra, a spiritual science based on Shakti Tanthra means only "that which saves well" and so there is no reason to feel apologetic about it. It is just a means to achieve the aim of the merging of the Jiva with Brahman (individual soul with Supreme Soul). Sir John Woodroffe has shown in his books that Tanthra is a systematic discipline, which employs symbolism and sublimation to purify the instincts and control the mind. He removed to a great extent the prejudice, which had kept people away from 14.5pt">Tanthra. It is spiritual science based on the Shakti (Feminine aspect of Energy) that plays a central part in the spiritual progress of man. Examine, each of you, your own mental make-up and see whether you have used your Viveka and vijnaana (discrimination and worldly knowledge) to clothe yourself in Vairagya (detachment), so that you do not suffer from attachment to things that will fade away. There is no dearth of books telling you how to be free from grief. The Geetha is available in all languages and at a very low cost, say, and four annas a copy. The Bhagavatham and the Ramayana and all other books are sold at the rate of thousands of copies per day; but there is nothing to indicate that they have been read and assimilated. The breath of the mouth must give an inkling of the food partaken, is it not? But the habits, the conduct, the character of the readers of these books have not undergone any change for the better. Egoism and greed are still rampant; hatred has not abated and envy eats into the vitals of society. Spiritual study must not develop egoism Similarly, do not treat My words too lightly; do not say, "We saw Sai Baba and heard his talk and it was all very fine." Decide at least to carry out some one piece of advice for your spiritual advance. It is very wrong to tarnish the body making it perform a single bad deed or making it move in bad company. Sanctify the body, sanctify each activity by devoting it to a high purpose, I am not commanding you today on the basis of my authority; I am telling you out of the fullness of Prema, on the basis of the right I have to chastise you and direct you along the path. I know that the elders, while themselves neglecting the cultivation of higher virtues and themselves discarding the discipline of Japam and Dhyana, commit the additional crime of laughing at their children who feel the sweetness of the Name of the Lord and who frequent the places where they can get good company, noble thoughts and spiritual teaching. They call such young persons demented and try to cure them by their own special course of punishment. Their children's insanity is certainly preferable to the madness for luxury, for gambling, for drink and for loose morals that have become the only property the elders leave behind for their children. Your study here must develop your powers of discrimination, not your egoism. Do not argue for argument's sake, for it will lead only to dry scholarship and intellectual pride. Such craving for criticism is a disease of the intellect and it has to be nipped in the bud. Examine the thing, which you do not like very closely and with great care. Do not jump to conclusions, favorable or unfavorable. That would be abdicating your precious status of’ thinker' and your responsibility to yourself. Even the Sun which is millions of miles afar can set fire to some object if by means of a magnifying glass its rays are focused at one point. So also, focus all your powers of observation and judgment on one topic and it will surely stand revealed. Man can and should be the Master of his mind The world itself is subject to constant agitation; how can your plan to lead a quiet contented peaceful life upon it succeed? It is like trying to float without any heaving or falling while being tossed about on the waves of the sea. Under such conditions, the best thing is to recognise the fact and not to worry about the unavoidable. Manushya, the word meaning, "man", implies that man is the Master of his mind or manas. When people come to Me and complain that they cannot concentrate, I laugh at their weakness, for even the driver of a car is a master of the art of concentration. He does not pay heed to the chatter from the seat behind him or to the chatter of the person on his left. He is watching the road in front of him with single-pointed attention. Learn to listen with one-pointed attention If you have Shraddha (faith), more than half the battle is won. That is why in the Geetha, Krishna asks Arjuna, "Have you listened to what I have said with one-pointed attention?" And Arjuna, good student that he is, says in reply that even in the midst of the opposing armies ranged on the battlefield, he has listened to the words of the Lord with keen concentration. Learn that concentration and your learning will stand you in good stead. I have been asked to inaugurate the Library of this College by the token act of giving over these books to the Principal to be placed on the shelves along with the books already there. Come and read the books in the Library and enjoy the teachings that are given by great Sadhaks and Siddhas (spiritual aspirants and divine seers). Let children too come and handle the books and turn over the pages; the library must be useful for all persons of this town from the age of 2 to 60 or 70. It is not like a hospital, which is unnecessary for some. It benefits all and so all must make the best use of it. The wisdom that these books contain should percolate to every home in Aukiripaili. Sanskrit learning has to advance by your efforts and your enthusiasm; the whole world will benefit if you keep it burning bright. Fulfill that responsibility of yours to the best of your ability and the Lord will shower His Grace on you. Do not mistake the technique for the goal; do not lose your way in the tangle of scholarship. Scholarship and learning are only the means for the mastery of the Mind. Turn from the Creation to the Creator. Markandeya Sanskrit College, Aukiripalli, 22-1-1960 If only men knew the path to permanent joy and peace, they will not wander distracted among the bye-lanes of sensual pleasure. Just as the joy felt in dreams disappears when you wake, the joy felt in the waking stage disappears when you wake into the higher awareness, called Jnaana. Use the moment while it is available, for the best of uses, the awareness of the Divine in all. When you die, you must die not like a tree or a beast or a worm, but, like a Man who has realised that he is Madhava 14.5pt">(God). That is the consummation of all the years you spend in the human frame. - Shri Sathya Sai TO BE CONTINUED... With Sai love from Sai brothers - ''Source and Courtesy: http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume01/sss01 Mail Mobile Take Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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