Swami teaches... Experiences in the spiritual and the worldly life

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Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches...

Experiences in the Spiritual and the Worldly Life

 

The Motto:

The spiritual life is not a matter of meaningless talk; it is really life lived in the Atma; it is the experience of pure Ananda; it is just another name for the Full Life.

 

Lord Dakshinamurthy conveyed His message through silence. He seldom resorted to speech. By

mere sight He could impart the profoundest truths about the Universe and the Divine. On one

occasion, in the course of his travels, He reached the shore of the ocean. He was delighted to

listen to the Omkara vibrations coming from the ocean. The ocean represents the Sabda Brahmam (the primal Divine sound). It symbolises the grandeur and majesty of the Divine. Dakshinamurthy drew a lesson from the endless waves reaching the shore from the ocean. He noticed that as soon as some rubbish fell on the ocean, it threw it out on the shore by a series of waves without retaining it even for a brief moment. Dakshinamurthy questioned the ocean: "How selfish you are! You are boundless and fathomless. Can't you make some room for this poor stuff?. It is highly selfish on your part not to tolerate this poor thing despite your vastness."

The ocean gave a fitting answer: "Lord! There is nothing unknown to you.. If today I allow this

piece of dirt to remain with me, ere long I will be filled with flotsam and jetsam and my entire

form will be changed. Hence from the very beginning I have to cast off anything that is dirty and

polluting. Only then I can remain pure." (Every object in nature, every incident in time, is really speaking, teaching you a lesson, notice this).

 

Human's life is bound up with likes and dislikes, with good and bad thoughts, with union and separation. Hence samsara (worldly life) has been compared to a vast ocean on which the waves are

constantly bringing about union and separation. The same ocean contains pearls and gems.

Therefore, we have to face and overcome the trials and tribulations of life.. Life is full of trials. If these difficulties are not there, life will have little value.

Life has to be lived in love, peace and bliss. Therefore, even while in schools and colleges, boys and girls have to know about the ever-peaceful, ever-blissful, ever-loveful Atma. Raising the standard of living is not as important as raising the level of consciousness.

Accumulation of things is highlighted through education today. But, giving up is equally needed. Renunciation is not a loss; it is highly profitable, for you acquire joy thereby. For, renunciation means freedom, surrender to freedom, surrender to God.

 

The ancient Indian Dharma based on the Veda and embodying the highest and most lasting

wisdom has to be learnt, observed and practised. That will help to lead model lives and lead others to earn peace and calm. You must learn, more than anything else, discipline and patience. Life is an exercise in the sadhana of 'give and take.' Do not derive delight from 'taking' only.

 

There is a saying: "Anything can be achieved by sadhana." True sadhana means converting bad into good, transforming evil into virtue. This calls for the right use of the mind. Human is not aware of the potentialities of the mind. The powers of the mind are indescribable. In one moment it can encompass the Universe. In another moment it can be a total blank. It can blossom in a moment and wither in a moment. The mind is the cause of both good and bad. Human can achieve nothing without the motive power of the mind.

(Human life today is riddled with many problems. The reason for this is selfinterest. The process of change has to begin in people's minds.Thoughts lead to action and actions account for the state of the world. When the thoughts go astray, the actions are improper. The state of the world, good or ill, depends on the behaviour of individuals).

 

When human is able to master the senses, and direct them along more beneficent channels - the eye seeing God's footprints in stars and rose-petals, the ear hearing God's voice in the throats

of birds and peals of thunder, the tongue tasting God's sweetness in all that appeals to it, the nose

discovering fragrance in everything that recalls the glow of God, the sense of touch content to

clasp the hand of the forlorn and the distressed as the beloved children of God - then, person can

visualise the God installed in the cavity of the heart; that is the lesson the five-hooded Sesha (Divine serpent) imparts. (The five hoods are symbolic of the five senses, which have sinister poisonous potentialities. The eyes draw you away into the realm of fleshy charm and sensual beauty; the ears crave for salacious songs; the tongue overloads your digestive system with highly flavoured food; the nose leads you into jungles and laboratories in search of fragrances and scents; the sense of touch seeks softness in silk and velvet, and flounders human in mire).

 

Individual undertakes numerous good acts and devotes thought, word and deed to various forms of discipline to realise God. But all these efforts are not bearing the desired fruit, because human

has not understood what is true spiritual sadhana* (discipline, spiritual effort). Those who try to follow the nine forms of worship (Sravanam, Kirthanam, etc.) are also failing to attain their objective because they have not grasped the inner meaning of these forms of worship. Can japa, dhyana, bhajans and pious actions be called sadhana? Real sadhana consists in transforming bad into good, converting sorrow into joy.

Here is an illustration from the life of Adi Sankaracharya. When Sankaracharya was in Kasi (Varanasi), at the approach of an untouchable, he said: "You fellow! keep away, keep away!" The other man asked: "Whom do you want to keep away from you? Is it the body? The body is inert. What right has your inert body to ask my inert body to keep away from it? Both are inert. How can one inert object talk to another? Or, is it the case that you want the Atma in me to keep away from you? The Atma in me is the same as the Atma in you. What is it that you want to go away from you?" There was an argument between the two over the body and the Atma at the end of which Sankaracharya realised that the person who had recognised the Atma-principle could be none other than the Lord Himself and prostrated before the man in front of him. At that moment Siva revealed Himself and told Sankaracharya: "It is to remove from your mind your mistaken notions that I had assumed the form of the untouchable."

Hence, you should realise that it is not possible for anyone to know in what form, in what situation, at what time and in what circumstances the Lord appears to teach human how to get rid of bad thoughts, bad qualities and bad actions. Every object carries with it good and bad, gain and loss, the praiseworthy and unworthy and similar pairs of opposites. Separation from good persons causes sorrow. Association with bad people is distressing to them. The most important sadhana for human is to seek the company of the good and eschew association with the evil-minded.

The refinement of life calls for continual sadhana. Gold, taken out as ore from the earth, becomes pure and valuable after refinement. In the same manner, sadhana is necessary to elevate life from the trivial to the sublime. No one is a scholar or a human of virtue at the moment of birth. It is only through various endeavours that one becomes a scholar and a righteous person.

 

All people are caskets, containing the Divine Glory. But you love some of them as friendly, hate some others as unfriendly, and divide them into camps and companies. When a human is good to you, attribute that goodness to the godliness in this person. When a human is bad to you, be happy that you have given to this person some satisfaction, by becoming the target for the attention. (The sandalwood tree without any feeling of bitterness, imparts its fragrance even to the axe that fells it. Divinity responds in the same manner. Some persons, blinded by their ignorance, arrogance and folly, may say all sorts of things about God. They may even imagine thereby that they have assailed God. But God remains totally unaffected even to such bad and evil-minded persons, He offers His blessings and benediction). If one harms the body, sages are unaffected, because they know that they are not the body. If they try to harm the soul, sages know that it is impossible, for the soul is ever in Bliss.

By means of sadhana, become that type of sage, unaffected by pleasure and pain, loss or gain,

victory or defeat. Be a witness, a disinterested witness of all the gyrations of fortune. Inquiry, will reveal to you that they are fleeting fantasies of your mind, and not real. By means of japa and dhyana, you can attain that identity with the Reality, which will convince you of the unreality of all except Brahman i.e. Atma (the Universal Absolute).

 

Krishna has declared (Gita 12-18),"He who is the same to foe and friend, because he has no

preference or prejudice, He who is unruffled by honour and dishonour, who is unaffected by cold and heat, by pleasure and pain, who is free from attachment, such a man of devotion is dear to Me."

 

All people desire something good. That is due to the inner prompting, the Iccha sakthi (the will power) but he/she cannot fulfill that desire, unless person proceeds according to a plan which can guarantee success. The desire has to be developed into a deed. This requires Kriya sakthi (the power of action). Above all, realisation depends on Jnana sakthi, or the force and clarity of Wisdom, the self-confidence that flows from the mastery of the situation. This is a gift of Grace from God, Who has installed in the heart.

Karma as dictated by duty and the higher impulses is the primary step in the journey to one's Reality. The Karma path can be hailed as the Primary school stage which equips one for the Upasana (worship, devotion, meditation practice, acquisition of the presence of the Lord) or Bhakti Marga, the High school and the College, the jnana path. Jnana can help the awareness of Reality.

 

There can be no happiness without sorrow, no good without the bad. There is a continuous conflict between good and evil, between happiness and sorrow.Troubles and difficulties are not imposed on you from outside. Grief and trouble arise in the natural course of things.

Happiness and misery are inseparable twins which are inextricably linked to each other. One is the beginning and the other is the culmination. Beginning and end go together. Only the Divine is free from a beginning, a middle or an end, but in worldly affairs, everything that has a beginning, has an end.

In all countries and in every age, human is a social animal. Human's songs and speech, duties and diversions, are determined by society. Society for human is like water for fish: if society rejects or neglects person, he/she cannot survive. (Limits and bounds are essential for smooth social life.. So, one would welcome discipline, and not crave for lives that do not honour limits for every facet of behaviour. One reason for indiscipline is the superior role of money in educational institutions).

What a single individual cannot accomplish, a well-knit group or society can achieve. A person

walking alone will feel tired and miserable at the end of five miles; but, walking with ten others as a group person would find the five miles a jaunt..

Nothing is impossible of achievement if an organised society is set on achieving it. Even liberation from material entanglement can be won through serving and promoting the progress of society.

Cooperation among people in a society, motivated by spontaneity and by pure intentions, is the hall-mark of seva (service). Seva can be identified by means of two basic characteristics compassion and willingness to sacrifice. Service helps to remove the ego. (A blind person cannot see the Sun. A person filled with ego cannot know own Atma. Egoism dims a human's vision like a film. Does a person, who devotes half time to earning money, spend even a fraction of it on thoughts of God or on activities dedicated to helping others? His/her attachment to every object is rooted in selfishness and love for others is based on self-interest).

Do not pay heed to what others might say when you engage in service activities. When you are doing good acts, why hesitate, why feel ashamed, why fear? When the sevak (helper) becomes the nayak (leader) the world will prosper. Only a kinkara (servant) can grow into a shankara (master). Let Compassion and Sacrifice be your two eyes; let Egolessness be your breath and Love be your tongue. Let Peace reverberate in your ears.

Through very small effort great things can be accomplished. A huge serpent can be destroyed by

a large number of small ants.

(Do not consider yourself small. In the world, difficulties crop up from time to time. Jealousy towards one's betters is quite common. Crows have animus against the cuckoo. Cranes

jeer at swans. But neither the cuckoo nor the swan is worried. The world has many such envious

beings. Do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed by such experiences. You have to confront

them boldly and stand up for truth).

 

God will not ask you, when and where did you do service? He will ask, "With what motive did you do it? What was the intention that prompted you?" You may weigh the seva and boast of its quantity. But, God seeks quality, the quality of the heart, the purity of the mind, the holiness of the motive..

The first lesson in seva has to be learnt in the family circle itself. The character of each individual member determines the peace and prosperity of the family; the character of each family is the basic factor that decides the happiness and joy of the community. And, the nation's progress is based on the strength and happiness of the communities which are its components. So, for the welfare of the country and of the entire world, the spirit of service, vital enthusiasm, constructive imagination, pure motivation, and unselfish alertness are all urgently needed.

 

During the battle of Kurukshetra, which climaxed the Mahabharatha epic, Krishna served as

the driver of the chariot of Arjuna throughout the day on the field and when dusk caused the

adjournment of the fight, he led the horses to the river, gave them a refreshing bath and applied

healing balms to the wounds suffered by them during the fierce fray. He mended the reins and

the harness and rendered the chariot battleworthy for another day.

The Lord sets the example for the devotees to follow. He teaches that service done to any living

being is offered to Him only and is accepted by Him most joyfully. Service rendered to cattle, to

beasts, to people is laudable sadhana.

Krishna says, "I have no need to be engaged in work but I do work in order to activate the world."

PS: * Each religion emphasises one Name and one Form of and recommends them for acceptance. Some even insist that God has no other Name or Form. But, the Reality is beyond name and form, Akshara (the indestructible, eternal) as the characteristic and Om as the Form.

You reach the Akshara stage - the stage of attributeless unity in three steps of sadhana: 1. I am Thine, 2. Thou art mine, and 3.Thou art myself. I is only the reflection of you in this body.

The consummation is reached when duality is superseded. That is why it has been declared, "It is good to be born in a church; but, it is not good, to die in it." That is to say, before life ends one must go beyond the limits set by institutionalised religion and reach the vast limitless expanse of the Atma, which pervades all. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 9. "The five hoods," Chapter 11 and "The Achaarya....as God," Chapter 15; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 15. "Lessons on seva saadhana," Chapter 31; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 20. "Guidelines for Goodness," Chapter 3; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 22. "God's response," Chapter 11; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 24. "Face the challenges of life," Chapter 18).

Namaste - Reet

[Guest guest]

Thank you reet for a wonderful effort you make for people like us we

definitly learning from it. Thanks again SAI RAM Mina

 

 

>"Reet" <reet.priiman (AT) neti (DOT) ee>

>

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> Swami teaches... Experiences in the spiritual

>and the worldly life

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Sai Ram,

Thanks for mailing me about bhagawan Sathya Sai BaBa.Sathya sai was the divine presence of God in this kali yug.

Jai Sai Ram.

[Guest guest]

Sairam

 

Swamiy, you truly comes to me through reet. Sai Pranaam

 

Sairam

 

 

 

>"Reet" <reet.priiman (AT) neti (DOT) ee>

>[saibabanews] Swami teaches... Experiences in the spiritual

>and the worldly life

 

 

 

 

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