SATHYA SAI SPEAKS - Volume II [Ch. 36, 37, 38]

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In view of the ensuing glorious event of the 80th Birthday of the Divine Lord

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, we propose 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 II [Ch. 36, 37, 38]

36. PROCEED BEYOND THRI-PURI

I HAD no plan till now to speak to you. But Kasturi mentioned that those of you

who are here for many years have not had the chance of even a Namaskar

(reverential salutations) since three months, i.e., from before Shivarathri,

when streams of devotees started coming in. He stated that you are all hungry

for Darshan. Since I am spending hours and hours talking with those devotees

who are anxious to leave this place. I put in My appearance at the Bhajan

sessions; twice a day, just for a minute or so, to receive Aarathi (worshipful

waving of lights) and leave. I find you are all sad at what you misinterpret as

neglect. So I shall administer some tonic to your drooping hearts.

Well. You have the chance to see, experience and be sanctified by the

Incarnation of the Lord; this chance you have got as a result of the

accumulation of merit in many previous lives. That merit has brought you here,

when I have come down. For this chance, Rishis (sages) and Devas (demi-Gods)

have prayed long in the past. Having won this chance, strive to taste the

sweetness and achieve the Bliss of Merging, without wasting even a single

moment. The rays that emanate from Me are of three grades: the Sthuula

(physical, gloss), filling this Prashanthi Nilayam; the Suukshma (the subtle),

pervading the earth; and the Kaarana (causal) coveting the entire Universe. The

people who have the privilege of living in this Nilayam are indeed lucky, for

they are nearest to the Kirana (rays). The Sthuulakirana makes man

a Sadhak; the Suukshma makes him a Mahatma (Great Soul) and the Kaarana converts

him into a Paramahamsa (ascetic of the highest order). Do not therefore waste

your days entertaining worldly desires and ambitions and planning to achieve

them. Success in this line or failure should not elate or depress you. When a

banquet is in store for you, why run after the droppings from others' tables?

Such plans and desires have no finality or fixity. They have no genuine worth.

Command the mind, regulate your conduct

Keep undimmed before you the main goal, the task for which you have come into

this school; do not deviate from it, whatever the attraction that tempts you to

stray. Command the mind, regulate your conduct, so that the goal is won. Let not

the care of the body or the fostering of the family or the demands of pride and

pomp overwhelm the call of the Spirit for self-expression. Shiva (Supreme

Reality), Jiva (individual) and Prakriti (subjective world) are the three

principles that confront you; the world has to be utilized by the individual to

attain Shiva, which is the fundamental fact in both. Until you get

Aathmaanandham, by realizing Shiva, the world will press on you with its weight

and well nigh suffocate you. After that, the world will fall off, of itself.

Winning the Grace of the Lord is as easy as melting butter; that is why the

heart of the Lord is compared to butter. It is as soft as butter, they say. A

little warmth is enough to melt it; a little warm affection shown to a

suffering companion, a little warmth while pronouncing His Name, turning it

over on the tongue, so to say. The Name is the spring of all the Chaitanya

(essence of the Supreme Spirit) that you get by Namasmarana; it is the

life-giving nectar; it is the fountain of Primal Energy. Recite the Name and

the Named will be before you; picture the Named and the Name will leap to your

lips. They are the reverse and the obverse of the same coin, the Name and the

Form.

Be steady, fixed in your resolve and conduct

There are some who vow to write Rama Nama or some other Name a million times,

but very often it is just a matter of the fingers and the pen. The mind of the

writer is the spoon, which does not taste the honey, which it doles out. The

mind should not wander from the Name; it should dwell on the sweetness, which

the name connotes; it should ruminate on the beauty of the Form, which it

recalls, the perfume, which it spreads. The conduct and behavior of the writer

should be such as befits a servant of God, others should be inspired by them

and their faith should get freshened by their experience of the writer.

To earn the goodwill of the Master, there is one recipe: obey His orders without

murmur. I am telling you My truth, not in self-praise, but so that you can

understand Me. If I do not tell about Myself, who can? Grace is showered on all

who obey instructions and follow orders. But the number of such is very small.

Even though instructions are light and easy, they are designed to make you go

beyond Thri-puri---the three-fold distinction of the Pilgrim, the Path and the

Goal; of Bhagavatham, Bhakta and Bhagawan---of Lover, Loved and Love.

Become masters of your own kingdoms

You are in Ambarisha Tathva (Principle of devotion) one moment and in Dhurvaasa

Tathva (Principle of anger) the next. This is wrong. You should be steady,

fixed in your resolve and in your conduct. That is why, outside the Prashanthi

Nilayam, I serve in my discourses what you call Vindu or Feast, but here, to

you, I always administer Mandu or drugs. This is the Kendra (the Centre), the

Headquarters of the Aasthika army, which is to establish Lokakalyaanam (world

prosperity). Of course, I insist everywhere on piety and a high moral life; but

here I lay down stricter and more rigorous rules. Well, I shall tell you some

hard words. You very often condemn the mind as a monkey but take it from Me, it

is far worse. The monkey leaps from one branch to another; but the mind leaps

from the heights of the Himalayas

to the depths of the sea, from today to tens of years ago. Tame it by the

process of Namasmarana. Make it, as Ramadas did, into a Bhadhraachala--a stable

steady mountain. That is the task I assign to you . Make your heart an Ayodhya

by means of Raamanaama; Ayodhya means a city that can never be captured by

force. That is your real nature---Ayodhya and Bhadraachala. Forget this and you

are lost.

Install Rama in your heart and then no outer force can harm you. Realise that

like the waves of the sea sukha and dhuhkha (happiness and grief) rise and

fall; they are like the inhalation and exhalation of the breath. If you attain

that calm, the ground whereon you stand becomes Kasi, every handwork of yours

gets transmuted into the highest form of Shivapuuja. Roam about in the region

of your own mind and understand its moods and mysteries; do not dream of

wandering in foreign lands before you become masters of your own kingdoms. Self

first; help next. Know yourself; that lesson once learnt, you can know others,

much sooner and much more truly.

Dedicate this life to the service of others, for the others are only visible

representatives of the Lord who resides in you. I have come in order to repair

the ancient highway leading man to God. Become sincere, skilful overseers,

engineers and workmen and join Me. The Vedas, the Upanishads and the Sasthras

are the road I refer to. I have come to reveal them and revive them.

Take each day as a gift of God

The rules I have prescribed for those who come to the Nilayam may appear strict

and even severe; but it is all for your good. Inner Purity first and outer

purity latter--that is the natural order. You feel full satisfaction when you

take a bath first and then wear washed clothes. I have to be strict, because if

I excuse one error, the tendency is to commit another. A plant will grow well

only when the ground all around the stem is raked up and exposed to the sun and

rain. I want you to drop old deep-rooted habits of purposeless talk, vanity,

envy and scandal mongering. You are not to live like earnest Sadhaks just to

please Me; it is a duty you owe to yourselves and so, you must adhere to those

rules wherever you are; not merely within the confines of the Nilayam. Of

course, the Prashanthi Nilayam, you will have noticed, has no wall or fence

around it; for it is not limited by any boundaries, it spreads and spreads until

it envelopes the Universe. Generally, I speak sweet, but on this matter of

discipline, I will not grant any concessions. I do not care whether you come or

having come, go. I will insist on strict obedience. I shall not reduce the rigor

to suit your level, for that will only ruin you; I pay attention to your

ultimate good. Live peacefully, happily, contentedly, taking each day as a gift

from the Lord. Do not rush and scramble, fret and fume. Be vigilant and do not

allow greed or anger to creep in.

Attend all the sessions in the Hall: the Pranava Japa (recitation of OM), the

Bhajan, the Discourses. Do not take shelter behind excuses. If you are ill,

Bhajan (devotional singing) will help the cure, or, let Me tell you, it is far

better to die during the Bhajan with the Lord's name on the lips. Sadhaks are

led along wrong paths and the respect due to pious people is dwindling because

they are not kept rigorously on the hard path. Concessions have spoiled them.

Hereafter, I will not excuse the slightest deviation. You have been here for

years and so I have to treat you as grown-ups, not as children. It is on

account of the Prema that I have towards you that I rebuke you when you take a

false step. My Anugrahakirana (rays of grace) will make the lotus of your

heart blossom.

Drug and regimen are both supplementary

In a hospital, the doctors care for the disease, not for the size of the bank

deposits the patients have. Disease is the important thing. So too, in the case

of every one suffering from Bhavaroga (the disease of birth and death) and, the

dual buffets of good and bad, has a right for the care and consideration of the

Doctor. The doctor prescribes the drug and the regimen; both are supplementary.

When you get a relapse of doubt and distress, take the drug a greater number of

times and in larger doses. Join Satsang (the company of the godly); just as the

tame elephants surround the wild tusker and rope him and bind him hand and foot

and immobilize him preliminary to taming him, the spiritually minded will bring

the doubter round.

The current flows always along the wire. You have only to take a connection and

switch on. If the connection is loose, then the flow of Grace will be disturbed

and might even stop. It is you that connects and disconnects. You switch on and

off and. you get day and night. Study the Geetha; you know Geetha draws a line,

which you should not cross. I do not ask for your vows; why should I force you

to make them and cause you to break them? If you do so, your life becomes a tom

cloth, stitched loose; it may tear again at the slightest pull.

Let me tell you one thing in the end: However you are, you are Mine. I will not

give you up. Wherever you are, you are near Me; you cannot go beyond My reach.

Prashanthi Nilayam, 28-4-1962

Hindu culture is the pillar and support of the nation; it is the backbone of the

spiritually adventurous; it grants both this worm and the next to all beings. It

is really Worm Culture, the culture that the worm needs. Other cultures assume

various forms in various climes. But, the culture of Bharatha has asserted

eternal values, values for all times and all climes---like dhaya, dharma and

dhama (compassion, virtue and self-control). It has not bent before the

pressure of patronage or persecution - Sathya Sai Baba

37. PRECIOUS TREASURE

CHILDREN have unselfish Love; they are innocent onlookers; they observe the

action of the elders and they learn their lessons from the home much earlier

than from school. So, parents have to be very careful in their behavior with

the children and between themselves. There was a Judge who used to come to

Shirdi; he asked his wife and child to stay with Baba and left for home for a

few days. He said to the boy when he took leave, "This is God Himself" After

some time they fell in with a Kathak who was reciting musically some Puraanic

story. Within a few minutes, they heard him revile Sai Baba as a mad man and a

cheat; the child could not stand it any longer. He tugged at the sari of his

mother and forced her to return to Baba.

Next morning, they approached Baba for his Blessings and He asked them why they

had returned. The incident of the Kathak was duly reported. The boy heard

everyone addressing Baba as the Lord. Remembering the harsh words of the

Kathak, the boy wept, but Baba pacified Him humorously, "I am only a man. What

the Kathak said is true; I am mad and I am cheating people of what they

consider very valuable, but what I feel is useless." Then, even as they were

talking, one Mr. Patel came there and related how Baba had saved his child from

a serious accident. Baba told him, "Yes, I held him when he fell, with My four

hands. "Patel shed tears of thankfulness; but the boy cried out "Ah I told you,

You are God; You have four hands like Vishnu." Baba laughed; He took the boy

inside and gave him a vision of Himself, as having four hands.

Children should grow with love of the mother

That boy stayed on in Shirdi for 26 years after this and left it only after Baba

"left." He then took sanyaasa and became a great sage. Children should have the

love of parent. The child should grow with the mother for the first five years

of life. Many children do not know what the Prema of the mother is like. The

mother should not hand over her responsibility during those years to some one

else and be called simply 'Mummy' as if she is some doll with which the child

likes to play. Now, the children of rich and "educated" parents are severely

handicapped. They are deprived of the care and love of parents. They are handed

over to the care of servants and aayahs and they grow up in their company and

learn their vocabulary and habits and styles of thought. This is very

undesirable.

When a boy is five years old, the father has to take up the task of bringing him

up. Then, he must be entrusted to a Guru; the Guru must teach him a standard of

value with which to deal with the family, the village, the country and mankind.

Teachers must be aware of their good fortune as well as their duties; some

teachers shirk their duties and play false to the expectations the society has

in them. They come into the class, write on the blackboard, say "Silence" and

go off to sleep in the chair! So, the children dislike the school. Teachers in

the old days used to go round the village with two stalwart students and peep

into house after house for shirkers and when they discovered any, the

malingerer was forcibly carried weeping and struggling to school, there to be

beaten severely for the crime.

Children are like fresh cloth; they can be given any colour you like. Just dip

them in that colour, that is enough. Adults are like old clothes that will not

imbibe colour so easily and well. Hearts that are green and soft will learn

habits and disciplines quicker. For learning good habits and manners, age is no

bar; training will make even children learn them.

Become as straightforward as a child

Adults develop a sense of shame and of pride, which is mostly artificial, false

and skin deep. And so they invent excuses to justify their actions and also

manufacture justifications for their errors. Children have no such inhibitions.

They believe everybody and everybody can believe them. Their hearts are like

gramophone records; they get impressed by whatever tune you sing to them. They

play back the correct tune, without any distortion, provided the needle is

sharp. The needle is Prema and it must be one-pointed and direct. Then only can

the music be drawn out. In the case of elders, the needles would have been

blunted, but children have the gift of ekaagratha (one-pointed attention). They

are fearless; it is the elders who plant their fears in them. They are truthful,

but the elders teach them the art of lying. They set children to

watch and report and thus they become interested in the faults and errors of others.

When the elders speak, it is difficult to discover whether it is truth or

untruth. But children are plainspoken. They have not discovered that success in

the worldly sense is dependent on cleverness in the short run; though in the

long run, it is honesty and plain speaking that bring maximum profit. That is

why it is said that you must either become as simple and straightforward as a

child or as wise and. discriminating as a deeply learned scholar to win the

Grace .of God.

The gramophone records which do not have any grooves, because they have not been

used, can be played over and over 'again, with the needle ekaagratha not being

blunted at all; for the grooves blunt the point, not the plate. Prahlada is a

fine example of this, for he had no egoism; he was in perfect unaffected calm.

So, whatever happened to his physical cloak, he never felt it. The needle

simply rolled round and round; there was no music; there was just silence.

Richest inheritance you can give to children

Visha and amritha (poison and nectar) cannot merge; Sath can merge only with

Sath; Prakriti is Brahma-mayam (Nature is full of Supreme Reality); Brahman is

Prakrithimayam (Supreme Reality is full of Nature)! Cloth is yam-mayam and yam

is cloth-mayam. One is meaningless without the other. The childhood stage is

the pure Sath stage and if you only manage to live on with that innocence as

Sage Sukha did you can achieve merger quite naturally. The Sun's rays wait

outside your closed door, silently and patiently. Open it to the width of a

chink---and it gladly rushes in through that chink. Open it wider; it bathes

you in light and warmth. Children's minds are always open; they have no closed

doors, which bring in the darkness. That is why their smile is like sunlight in

a

grief-stricken home. Dhruva and Markandeya achieved the Vision of the Lord and

Liberation for themselves, not by means of a trick or a stratagem, but because

they had transmuted their minds by Sadhana into the Divine Instrument for

Salvation.

Of course, what do you seek in life? Ananda, anukoola , anyonya and

anuraaga--joy, mutual harmony, unison and love---between the officer and the

clerk, the master and the servant, the husband and the wife, the father and the

son; in fact, between any two, bound by rights and duties, these four are

essential. Sow the seeds of these harmonious qualities even while your children

are young; that is the richest inheritance you can give them, the most useful

insurance against the attack of despair, despondency and discontent.

He who does not work but eats is a cheat

There is a story of a dog that came to Rama, bleeding from blows. Lakshmana was

sent to inquire why it was in such pain. He discovered that a Brahmin had

beaten it with a stick. When asked, the Brahmin could only give as sufficient

cause that the dog was coming across his path. So Rama asked the dog, "Well,

how do you want me punish this Brahmin?" The dog promptly gave the reply, "Make

him the manager of a temple.What?" said Rama. "That would be a reward, not a

punishment." The dog said, "No, I was a manager and since it is next to

impossible not to mishandle or misuse or appropriate some fraction of God’s

money, when he is the manager, he too will get this canine birth and perhaps

get beaten too."

Remember, not only that dog and that Brahmin, but every one of you is living off

the property of God, for does not all this belong to Him? And what do you do in

return for all the benefits you derive from the properly of the Lord? You

cannot eat it and sit quiet. You must at least give some physical labour in

return; he who does not work but eats is indeed a cheat. Not that the Lord

wants anything from you, but it will give self-respect and it will purify your

heart. So teach children not to receive anything for nothing. Let them earn by

hard work the things they seek.

Again, when boys play cricket or football or tennis, if they become eager to

defeat the opponent, they start committing faults or fouls. Then, even if they

score a goal, it will be declared not a goal; it may well be offside or out.

But if they stick to the game and play it well, unaffected by the atmosphere of

rivalry and lust for victory at all costs, they are bound to win. In a race, it

is better to let the horse go along gathering its own speed; do not compare and

compete; that will cause a fall or a slip. This lesson has also to be taught to

children; that competition has to be healthy, subordinated to the proper rules

of the game and free from hatred and malice. Above all, realise that children

are precious treasures; yours is the great task of rearing them up to become

devoted servants of God and sincere Sadhaks on the spiritual

path.

Whitefield, 19-5-1962

The chief purpose of religion is to make man aware of his relationship with God.

Every person has full rights for worshipping God and winning His Grace. But,

whatever the road, whichever the path, the Goal is the same. Vedic religion

will not permit you to quarrel with any other religion, or hate it or decry it

insists on tolerance and respect. - Sathya Sai Baba

38. THE PRISON WALLS

EVEN enthusiasm must be under control; devotion must be regulated; there is no

meaning in simply running behind and before My car. See, what happened on

account of your overenthusiastic welcome! This meeting, which Raghavan and

others had fixed for six in the evening, is starting now at nine! Of course, I

was prepared to stay until midnight or even later if that would help. Only, I

have to return to Whitefield this night itself. So what happens? Your

restlessness has deprived you of My Darshan for a longer time. I am also making

My talk very short.

What a pity! Had you been quiet and disciplined from the very beginning, I could

have spent more time with you. This is how man loses the chance that he gets

Each one of you felt just a little inconvenience and discomfort and you argued

about it and lost your patience over it. Well, I felt the discomfort and the

discontent of all of you. Still, I am ever ready to give you Ananda; only, you

must be ever ready to receive it from Me.

The Niranjana Bhajan Mandali is regularly doing Bhajan (devotional music by

group singing) here, I know. Do not think I am coming here for the first time;

I am here, whenever you sing the Glory. That is why I have come physically to

this place to tell you to carry on this Namasmarana. Just as the times have

changed and conditions of living have changed, the rigors of Sadhana have also

to be modified. Doing severe thapas (penance) was a great and rare achievement

in those days; now, repeating the Name of the Lord is becoming as difficult a

thapas. Hence, it is said that smarana (remembrance) is enough; smarana that

can be done along with all other activities of living. It is the inner purity

that matters, not the outer movement of the lips. Smarana being an inner

activity helps that inner

transformation.

Evoke the divine in you by Namasmarana

This meeting has something to do with the Divine Life Society also. Well, human

life is divine life. That is the reason, the justification, the goal of human

life. Reading books in the Society Library is no good; scholarship reeks with

pride; it is eager to win scholastic victory; it jumps at any chance to outwit

an opponent; it strains after recognition and honour. Ravana was a famous

scholar who had mastered the Vedas. But that did not endow him with character;

he fell into the abyss, nevertheless, it is certainly a wakeful way of spending

precious time in mere study without any attempt to translate it into action. You

need not give your word to Me now; but try to put into practice at least a few

of the good things that appeal to you and that are helpful in giving you peace

and contentment. To evoke the Divine in you, there is no better

method than Namasmarana.

Your Bhajan Mandali is called Niranjana, after the Nirakara Swarupa (Formless

personified) of the Brahma Tathva (principle of Supreme Reality). Now, there

can be no Bhajan of the Niranjana---the unmanifested, pure, absolute principle.

You can limit by name and form that Niranjana Tathva and make it Sakara (with

Form and attributes) for the sake of visualizing it. Then, by slow stages, you

will find that particular Form enclosing all beings and therefore assuming a

Universal nature. It will gradually drop its boundaries of time and space and

like the blueness of Krishna, pervade the sky and sea and become a symbol for

the depth of Eternity.

The only sane man in this mad world

Without surrender, there can be no liberation. So long as you cling to the

narrow "I," the four prison walls will close in on you. Cross out the "I" and

you are free. How to kill the "I?" Place it at the feet of the Lord and say,

"You", not "I"---and you are free of the burden that is crushing you. Associate

always with the Niranjana---the vast, the unlimited, the divine; dream and plan

to merge with the Absolute; fill your ears with the call from the beyond and

the boundless.

Transcend the walls, the bars and bolts, the locks and chains. You can do so

easily by fixing your mind on your own infinity. Do not condemn the mind as a

monkey, etc. It is a fine instrument with which you can win either liberation

or bondage. It all depends on how you manipulate it. It will carry out your

orders to the minutest detail. It will lead you, if you so desire, along the

royal road, right up to the door of Realisation. Or it will make you wander

about in the blind alleys, where every step lands you in dirt.

You should hang your heads in shame when you find from the papers that human

beings like you are today inventing and testing weapons which can wipe out

millions and injure even coming generations. But you feel proud of man's

intelligence and cleverness! Some people even admire such inventors! By all

means feel proud of persons who invent something which will help man to live

happy lives, but use the proper words when you have to describe those who

manufacture such killers of entire populations. In the Mental Hospital, you

will find all kinds of madness affecting man; some spit on others, some bite,

some scratch, some throw stones, some hurl abuses. These mad men are engaged in

hurling bombs; that is their madness.

The world is full of people who suffer from insanity, but who are still outside

the asylums! Suddenly, when hatred envelopes a country, even ordinary sane

people go mad and behave like savages. But in the Mental Hospital, you will

find sometimes one type of "mad man." He sits in a corner, resting without a

break, watching the pranks and the wildness of the other inmates. The doctors

will be thankful to him, for he needs no care; he causes no trouble. His

madness may be melancholia or he may be a Jnani (realised soul). The God-bound

man is like that. He is the only sane man in this mad world.

Whatever happens to you, take it as a lesson to harden your character and

toughen your nerves and heighten your Vairagya (non-attachment). That will give

Peace and Joy.

Maddhur, 24-5-1962

Serve the worm as you would serve as Master; be humble, be eager, be efficient

in that service. If you dare treat the worm as your servant, you will be

dragged down into disaster. - Sathya Sai Baba

TO BE CONTINUED…

With Sai love from Sai brothers – ‘’

Source and Courtesy: http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume02/sss02

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