Sai Inspires - 2nd April 2006 from Prasanthi Nilayam

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TEAM, PRASANTHI NILAYAM BEING FORWARDED....

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mso-bidi-font-family:Tahoma;color:red">SWAMI BLESS US ALL

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Dear Reader,

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Loving Sairam from

the Heart2Heart Team.

 

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our Sunday special -

'S

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">OME GLIMPSES OF THE RAMAYANA, AS REVEALED BY SWAMI'

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Swami today explains

to us how peace can bloom in our heart and lead to liberation.

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color:white">Sai Inspires - 2nd April 2006

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font-family:Arial;color:#0066FF">When you plant the seed of truth in the

heart and make faith take deep root, with the rain of chanting God’s name,

peace blossoms, yielding the fruit of liberation. Therefore, every

human being should sow the seed of truth in his or her heart.The deeper the

root of faith, the stronger will be the tree of life. You must provide water

for the flourishing growth of the tree by means of Bhajana and Daiva

chinthana (contemplation of God). Only then the flower of Shanthi

(peace) will bloom and from this the fruit of liberation will be attained.

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- Sathya Sai Speaks,

Vol.XXVIII.p.120.

color:white">I – want – peace. ‘I’ is ego,

‘want’ is desire. Remove ego

and desire and you have peace. - Baba

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mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">SOME GLIMPSES OF THE RAMAYANA, AS REVEALED BY SWAMI

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mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">Loving Sai Ram and greetings from Prashanti

Nilayam. In a few days from now, we here, as many elsewhere, would be

celebrating the festival of Sri Rama Navami, the anniversary of the advent

of the Rama Avatar. The Rama Avatar is the first of the Great Avatars, in

which God in human form spent a considerable amount of time on earth,

teaching invaluable lessons to us humans.

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">The epic story of Rama or the Ramayana as it is

called, was first recorded by Sage Valmiki. Since then, several versions of

the Ramayana have appeared in many languages. In that sense, much is

already supposed to be known about Rama, His life and His Message. Nevertheless,

in His own inimitable way, Swami has added wonderful nuances to the

traditional story of Rama, that give us insight never before available. In

this letter, we would like to recall three examples of such enlightenment.

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">Our first recall is courtesy late Prof. Sampath,

who spent many years at Swami’s Lotus Feet, part of it as the Third Vice

Chancellor of Swami’s Institute. Once during that period, Swami took Prof

Sampath with Him to Kodaikanal. As sometimes happens, that year, the

festival of Rama Navami occurred during Swami’s stay in Kodai. Typically on

that morning, Swami not only recalls aspects of Rama’s life but also

materialises some object that featured in Rama’s life. One year it was the

amazingly big ring of Rama, another year it was the huge diamond that Sita

gave to Hanuman as proof of his meeting with Sita, and so on.

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">This particular year, after Swami had spoken to

the students, Prof Sampath recalled a famous Tamil song that describes how

when the young princes, Rama and Lakshmana were walking on the streets of

Mithila along with Sage Viswamitra, Sita who was standing in a balcony in

the palace, saw Rama and wondered: “Who is this person, and what is His

name?” The moment Prof Sampath made a reference to this famous song, Swami sternly

admonished Prof Sampath saying, “Don’ talk rubbish. Nothing like that

happened.” “No Swami, there is a version of the Ramayana which describes

such a scene and there is this song there. It is actually a famous song and

many leading musicians have in fact recorded this song.” Swami then said,

“All that is nonsense. Was this poet in Mithila when Rama and Lakshmana

walked the streets? How does he know? Take it from Me, nothing like that

happened. Lord Rama was the very Embodiment of Supreme Consciousness while

Mother Sita was the very Embodiment of Divine Energy. They took human forms

to enact a sacred drama in order to teach special lessons to humanity. Such

unwanted poetic and romantic fiction tends to give wrong ideas to people,

and this sort of thing must certainly not be said before My students!” That

message was certainly loud and clear. On a later occasion, in a different

context, Swami told late Mr. V. K. Narasimhan (for many years the editor of

Sanathana

Sarathi) that poets and writers often inject their own romantic

aberrations while describing the story of the Lord, thereby both distorting

as well as polluting it.

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">Our next recall is from a Discourse that Swami

once gave to students during a Summer Course. Now Ravana the principal

villain of Ramayana is normally portrayed as an evil man who coveted

another man’s wife. In factual terms, this is certainly correct. But Swami

told students that the inner significance of this so-called abduction was

something much deeper. Ravana’s abduction of Sita is symbolic of man

imagining that Nature is there for his benefit and is available for him to

exploit as he pleases. In this respect, Ravana personified modern man who

thinks that Nature belong to him and exists for him to exploit. Ravana

failed to see Nature as his Divine Mother and paid the price for it. Modern

man too would pay a heavy price one day, if he keeps on going the way he is

doing at present. Swami added, “Mother Nature is very kind and generous,

and She will give you anything you want, provided you pray to Her for that.

If instead She is ill treated, She would be patient up to a point but

beyond that, She would be aroused; and when that happens, be warned that

hell would break loose!” The warning is there loud and clear, but is anyone

listening?

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">On now to the third example of the way Swami makes

us read between the lines. One day in Trayee, Swami said to students, “You

all know the scene where Sugriva brings the bundle of jewels that fell from

the sky and places it before Rama. Rama looks at the jewels and, turning to

His brother asks, ‘Lakshmana, can you identify these jewels? Do they belong

to Sita?’” Swami then continued, “Now why did Rama ask Lakshmana to do

identify the jewels? After all, Sita was His wife and if anything, Rama

should have known more about Stia’s jewels rather than Lakshmana. Why then

did Rama ask Lakshmana that question?”

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">This is the sort of question that readers of

Ramayana or the people who listen to discourses on the Ramayana seldom ask.

So when Swami put this question, everyone blinked – no surprise in that.

After a while, Swami said: “Everything that God does has a meaning. When

God incarnates, He always does so with a Complete Master Plan. This

question asked by Rama was a part of that Master Plan. At the time when

Sita was abducted, Rama, Lakshmana and Sita were all of the same physical

age – in their late twenties. They were all young and they lived alone in

the forest. Often Rama would go into the forest, leaving Lakshmana behind

to guard Sita. So pure was Lakshmana that he regarded Sita not as a young

woman, not as his sister-in-law but verily as his mother. Thus, when Rama

asked the question about the jewels, Lakshmana gave the famous reply:

‘Brother, I do not know what jewels mother wore. I have never looked her in

the face; so I do not know. But having always worshipped her feet, I can

recognise this item which is the toe ring she wore on one of the fingers in

her foot.’”

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">Swami continued: “Rama knew how bad things would

be in the Kali Age. Hence, two Yugas earlier, He made Lakshmana, give

a reply that would set an ideal for the young men of today. This is the way

the Lord operates. What Lakshmana was saying was really a piece of advice

for today’s young men, and that includes you students!”

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">As we celebrate Rama Navami, let us carefully

recall the various incidents in the life of Rama Avatar and try to

understand, appreciate and assimilate their deeper meaning. This, we

submit, would be the best way of celebrating the festival. If we look

carefully, we would find that Rama as the individual set a benchmark

concerning the manner in which all individuals must adhere to Sathya

and Dharma.

In addition, Rama as the Ruler gave mankind its first taste of an Ideal

Society or Utopia, traditionally referred to as Rama Rajya.

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">Swami says that the individual and Society are

tightly interlinked; if the individual is the microcosm, then Society is

the macrocosm. If all individuals adhere to

normal">Dharma, then Society as

a whole would be Dharmic; in turn, the individual would enjoy all the

security that he is now desperate for, but is not able to get.

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">Ramayana is all about

normal">Dharma. If the

individual pays “tax” by leading a Dharmic life, then he will get the

“social benefit” of Rama Rajya. No tax, no security!

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">That is what we think. Do you agree? Why don’t you

write and tell us what you feel?

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With Love and Regards,

"Heart2Heart"

RadioSai's e-Journal Team,

In Sai Service.

 

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