Swami teaches... Individual is an organic part of human community

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches... 22 - 23 May 2006

Individual Is an Organic Part of Human Community

 

The spiritual laws that the sages of India have discovered and laid down will never be over-ruled;

they stand valid for ever. This Samskrithi is a huge tree, whose branches have spread over the entire world, giving comforting shade to all the peoples.

 

What are problems?

Whatever they are, they are all transient

In relation to eternity and of no lasting consequence.

What are thoughts?

They are creative force within, and represent the

free will given by God.

Life should be full of joy and it will be,

if you live your life in complete harmony with God.

 

Until you know that all are altars where the same God is installed, all are moved and motivated

by the grace of the self-same God, you are afflicted by hate and pride; once you know it and

experience it, you are full of love and reverence to all. So long as you feel the reality of the 'many,' so long as you take them to be outside you, separate from you, you have fear, hatred, greed and all the rest of the pests.

When you know that the 'many' is a figment superimposed on the One, by your own ignorance, you become Master, sole Monarch, and all fear vanishes. That stage is Mukti: Liberation from the

thralldom of Samsara (the objective world; sea of change; cycle of birth and death; transmigration).

The barbarous remedy of war will be given up when this basic brotherhood is felt in the deepest core of human.

 

However, human being has become a victim of faith in wordly things. There is at present a delusion about values. People are unable to recognise their Divinity because of attachments to transient pleasures like the black bee. This bee has a proboscis with which it can bore a hole through a strong bamboo or even through the human body. But when it enters a lotus flower and the lotus folds itself, the bee is unable to get out of its tender petals because it is immersed in the enjoyment of the honey in the lotus and forgets its own real strength. Likewise, human forgets inherent capacity in the involvement with the mastery of the external world.

 

Even the leaders of people are hugging the false hypothesis that happiness can be got by means of wealth or health, or housing, or clothing, or the cultivation of skills in handicraft and manufacture. The bird sits upon the bough that sways in the storm, confident of its wings, not confident of the bough whereon it sits. So, you too should feel strong because of the bough of the objective world, whereon you have perched.

 

Humans' duty is to keep calm, to pray for the happiness and prosperity of all. Do not pray for your own exclusive happiness and say, "Let the rest of the world go to pieces." You cannot be happy when the rest of mankind is unhappy. Share your prosperity with others; strive to alleviate the sufferings of others.

 

Take all happenings and things as and when they come. From one of the public aspect's the different predictions by New Age holistic science or/and by astrologers often carry an approxomate information and in many cases cannot change or improve nothing; such information often spread anxious vibrations among humans and among natural environment.

 

Take care of the Panchangams (the five-limbed astrological almanacs) within you what is more vital than different predictions. The Panchangams within you are the five senses; educate the mind to have peace, whatever the rise in the market rates or the quantity of rain. For instance, do not get panicky over what the almanac says about the combination of many planets. They indicate to the some probable possibilities, not to the definite reality.. In all periods the pralaya (destruction of the Universe) is more in the frightened mind than in external nature. If you earn the anugraha (blessing) of the Lord, no graha (planet) or combination of grahas or whatsoever cosmic or planetary prediction can harm you. (There is not bother about the past or the future. Concentrate the attention on your duty in the present).

Turn the key in the lock to the right, it opens; turn the same key to the left, it is locked. So too,

turn your mind towards the objective world, it is locked, caught, entangled.. Turn it to the right,

away from the objects of the senses, the lock is loosened, you are free, deliverance is at hand.

How to turn it right? Well, for blessing of the Lord begin with remembering the Lord's holy name (Namasmarana), as the first step. All journeys start with the first step. That will itself take you through the second and the third, to the very goal.

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" But what is beyond the senses is referred to as "that."

So, what is beyond the senses has been called spiritual. What is below the senses has been called elemental, constituted by the five elements. Scientists are exploring matter by dividing spirit. Scientists are imbued only with a sense of enquiry into matter. Consequently, today there is a complete divorce between science and spirituality.

Scientists hold the view that matter is convertible into energy and vice versa. But, in fact,they are inseparably interlinked and interdependent. The attempts to divide matter and energy have given rise to many doubts and confusions. Matter and energy have existed from the time of creation. Both are comprehended by the mind only. When the mind functions in relation to the Divine it acquires the form of energy. When the mind is turned towards Prakriti (Nature), the latter assumes the form of matter. Mind is the cause of experiencing joy or sorrow and for comprehending matter and energy.

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).. So 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.

Here is an example of the difference between scientific truth and spiritual truth. If you draw the

figure of a circle, it represents spirituality. For in it the end and the beginning are the same. Spirituality knows no difference between beginning and 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, that is, it begins at one point and ends at another. Between these two points there is a big gap. 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.

 

Crossing the ocean of worldly life, reaching the other shore of the sea of Birth-Death, is similarly possible only for those who know the art of spiritual discipline and aware that all existence has the same base of Great Oneness. Those, who are trying to build the human community on a foundation of wealth (dhana), are building on sand; those are who seek to build it on the rock of righteousness (dharma) are the wise.

Although human beings differ in form and characteristics in various respects, they belong to the human species. Differences of race, religion, caste, language or community do not affect oneness of humanity.

In every country, what is most essential is the practice of the principles they profess, the bringing into the details of daily life the attitudes of brotherliness that devotion to God instills.

The progress of each individual is decided by the discipline adopted, the character formed, the ideal kept in view, the leadership chosen and the faith implanted. Just as trees and plants, birds and beasts differ from one region to another, the rituals, practices, disciplines and ideals may differ from community to community; each is good for that region and that stage of development. You cannot transplant one, from one human community to another. The atmosphere in which you have grown up is the most congenial for you.

 

Your material eyes see countries as different; in reality, all countries are limbs of one organism;

all bodies are activated by the same Principle.

 

Life is like a flight of steps towards the Godhead. You have your foot on the first step when you

are born; each day is a step that must be climbed; so be steady, watchful and earnest. Do not

count the steps ahead or exult over the steps behind. One step at a time and that well climbed,

that is enough success to be satisfied with and to give you encouragement for the next one. Do not slide from the step you have got up on.

Slow and steady - let that be your maxim. Adhere to a regular routine, a time-robie. Just as the doctor prescribes a certain fixed measure or weight of the drug and warns you that anything less

is ineffective and anything more is harmful, so too, have some limit for your spiritual exercises.

Do not overdo them or do them casually and without care. The doctors tell you also about the

hour of the day and the number of times the drug has to be repeated, for, the action of the

quantity taken must be reinforced before it becomes weak. So also, you have to repeat the japam

and dhyanam at regular intervals.

Start from today, a new chapter in your life, the chapter of japam (recitation of holy name) and dhyanam (meditation), Japa-sahitha dhyanam (recitation-oriented meditation) or dhyana-sahitha japam (meditation-oriented recitation).

(In the Thretha Yuga, the Name was Seethaaraama; in the Dwapara Yuga, it was Raadheshyaama; in this Kali Yuga, it is Sarvanaama. You can select any one that appeals to you).

 

Millionaires who always go about in cars and aeroplanes and people of sedentary habits are

advised by doctors to take a long walk every morning. The walk is called a 'constitutional',

because it helps to build up the constitution. Similarly, to get over the mental ills consequent on

too-long brooding over worldly affairs, the guru will advise you to have a long spell of dhyanam and japam. Do not move so fast with the world; the cure for moving fast is to sit quiet. Do not get entangled in the vain hubbub of the world; the treatment for those who suffer from the after- effects of that is silence and meditation.

 

The body is not a mass of flesh and bone; it is a medium for mantras (sacred words or formulae) which save when they are meditated upon. It is a sacred instrument earned after long ages of struggle, equipped with reason and emotion, capable of being used for deliverance from grief and evil. (Honour the body as such; keep it in good condition, so that it might serve that high purpose. Always preserve the conviction that it is an instrument and nothing more. Use it for just the purpose for which it has been designed and given).

 

Nothing in the world is permanent. Only one thing is permanent and unchanging. That is the Divine. Install firmly in the minds the Divine and regard it as the only permanent entity that can confer enduring bliss. Difficulties may come in succession like mountains, but they will disappear like snow if Divine grace is there. Strengthen your faith in the Divine.

In this sacred human birth, to lead a life filled with pure thoughts and pure actions is characterised as Brahmacharya what means whatever thoughts we entertain, whatever actions we perform, whatever enterprises we undertake, they should all be filled with the consciousness Brahman (the Supreme Omnipresent Divine). The basic characteristic of Brahmacharya is that one should be full of pure thoughts, all one's actions should be sacred and one should be engaged in selfless service. Brahmacharya is a state that is implied in all the three stages of life. (The base is Brahmacharya. The second stage or storey is that of Grihastha or the householder. The third is Vanaprastha or retirement to the forest. The fourth is Sanyasa or complete renunciation of all attachments). Brahmacharya is present in all three stages like an undercurrent in equal measure. It signifies purity in all the states.

The period of a student's life is a crucial stage in life. The other stages are based upon

one's life as a student. Whatever purity or sanctity you develop during your student days will determine the degree of purity in the other stages.

 

What is purity? This has been characterised as shakthi (energy, power). Purity has been described as the state of desirelessness in human. When there is sorrow them can be no purity. (The mind is the cause of both desires and purity).

If thoughts are pure, actions will also be pure and life itself becomes holy. Peace in mind is the outcome of our actions and thoughts. (Peace cannot be got through science. The most ills today are due to the fact that human's mind is never restful and quiet. Even an inanimate machine needs some period of rest. But no rest is given to the mind).

 

If we desire peace for the individual, for the society and for the nation, it can only be achieved

through spiritual means. Hence, recognising the truth, without attaching excessive importance to

worldly comforts, we must make every effort to acquire peace of mind. No doubt physical

comforts are necessary up to a point. But they should be limited to meeting the basic demands of

nature. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 2. "The real Panchaangam," Chapter 4 and "Thirty-six Gems for you," Chapter 24; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 4. "The house of the Lord," Chapter 3; Sathya Sai speaks. Vol.. 8. "Emergence of enthusiasm," Chapter 25; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 21. "Brahmacharya," Chapter 12 and "The Scientist and The Saint," Chapter 13).

 

Namaste - Reet