Sai Baba's Teachings On Advaita Or Non - Dualism

[Guest guest]

At a Sai Baba retreat held in Oregon in the USA last year a Sai Baba

devotee gave a talk on Advaita or Non-Dualism, based on some notes

that he had taken in an interview given by Sai Baba to a group of

about thirty Western devotees in Kodaikanal in April 1983.  I was so

impressed by both the content and the quality of the talk that I went

and got a copy of the notes from him after the talk was over.  I

reproduce them here.  For me, personally, this conversation

represents the highest spiritual teachings that I have encountered

and I unequivocally commend them to you.  In just a few words Sai

Baba teaches us of the true reality of our beings and of our correct

relationship with physical life on the Earth.  Advaita advocates the

philosophy of the absolute oneness of God, the soul and the Universe

and is the spiritual understanding to which we will all eventually

progress, one day, one lifetime.  Advaita is the final goal of the

divine spirit which is to be found in every

human being.

  

    SAI BABA'S TEACHINGS on ADVAITA or NON - DUALISM

  

  Devotee:  Swami, what is the best way to relate to the world?

  

  Sai Baba:  Do not think about the world.  Do not spend time

thinking about the world or about your relationships to individuals. 

These are all impermanent.  They will not last.  Pay attention to

that which lasts, to that which is permanent.  All things involving

the world and human relationships have to do only with the body.  The

body is like a water bubble. The mind is like a mad monkey.  So do

not follow the body or the mind.  Follow the voice of God.  It is the

voice of unchanging truth inside you.  It will direct you toward your

highest good.

  

  If doubts come, do not follow them.  Jesus had some doubts on the

cross when the soldiers were tormenting him.  Then he heard the voice

of God telling him, "All are one, my dear son.  Be alike to

everyone."  At that point the last doubt dropped away and  Jesus

declared "I and my Father are one."  He realised the truth of the

oneness of Self and God.  This is the state of Advaita, of complete

Non-Dualism, where there is only unity.  If you listen to the voice

of God inside you, it will tell you that there is no difference

between you and God. There never was a difference.  It was your

imagination only.  The sense of difference was only in your mind. 

There is no separate I or God which has to become one.  There never

was any other.  Always there was just the one, without a second.   To

reach this highest truth, do not think that you and God are

separate.  Think always "God is with me.  He is inside me.  He is

around me.  He is above me.  All there is, is God.  I, myself,

am God.  I am the infinite.  I am the eternal.  I am not two.  I am

one, only one.  There is no one else besides me.  I and God are one

and the same."  That is called self-confidence; it is the confidence

that you are atma, the one Self.  You develop self-confidence by

thinking all the time "God is doing everything, without God I cannot

be."  When you realise that God is not outside of you and separate

from you, then you gain self-confidence.  Then there is love, there

is peace, there is truth, there is God.  So first there must be self-

confidence and love of God.  What are you thinking about now?  You

are thinking about the body, but the body is just a water bubble. 

The body is just a dress, only a dress.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, you say that everything is God, but isn't the body

also God?  If everything is God, then the body must also be God?

  

  Sai Baba:  You are asking about the body.  You are thinking about

the body, not of God.  If you only think of God, then, for you, there

will be only God.  But now you are thinking of the body.  The body is

an instrument; it is made of matter; and matter is always changing. 

The world also is always changing, but God is never changing.  God is

the one unchanging spirit.

  

  Devotee:  Is Swami's body also just an instrument?

  

  Sai Baba:  Swami's body is like all bodies.  All bodies are just

instruments.  All bodies are only temporary.  They have birth.  They

have death.  The indweller of the body is permanent.  That is the

atma, the one Self.  That is you.  That is the real you.  You are the

immortal Self, not the body.

  

  Devotee: Swami, how do we rise up to that highest level?  How do we

become perfect?

  

  Sai Baba:  Through love, only through love.  Develop divine love or

Prema.  Divine love is completely selfless.  Human love is mostly

selfish.  All the time it thinks only of this little `I'.  This

little `I' is the ego.  Ego is a bad quality.  It sees everything as

separate.  It sees everything as dual.  Remove this ego and you will

see only unity.  Where there is duality, divinity will not be

present.  Think only of the basis of everything.  Think only of God. 

Now for you at present there is only desire, desire, desire: I want

this!  I want that!  Desires are just passing clouds.  They come and

they go.  One moment they give pleasure and the next moment they give

pain.  They cannot give permanent joy.  Desires make up the mind. 

The mind is nothing but a bundle of desires.  Every thought in the

mind comes from desire.  Don't follow the mind.  Don't follow those

passing clouds.  Desire comes, desire goes, but morality comes and

grows.  Morality is very important.

Follow morality; practise it.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, should we think of God as being both father and

mother?

  

  Sai Baba:  Your physical mother is only with you for some years. 

She is your temporary mother.  Your physical father is also only

temporary.  The real relationship is different.  Truth is the real

father.  Truth is permanent.  Truth has no birth; it has no death. 

Prema, divine love, is the real mother.  Devotion is the real

brother.  Wisdom is the real son.  Peace is the real daughter.  For

all of these relationships there is no change, there is no birth,

there is no death.  They make up your permanent relationship, your

relationship with God.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, if Divinity is my permanent relationship and all

these others are only temporary relationships, then do I still have

to take care of my family at home?

  

  Sai Baba (very firmly):  You must!  That is your duty.  Do your

duty.  Take care of your family.

  

  Devotee:  Even if it takes me away from God?

  

  Sai Baba:  No!  No!  No!  No!  Do not abandon your family.  You

must take care of your husband and your children.  Do your duty. 

Duty is God.  Work is worship.  Do not forsake your duty.

  

  Devotee:  But Swami, not even when God calls?

  

  Sai Baba (laughingly):  God is in you.  He is with you.  He is

above you.  He is below you.  He is around you.  He is not calling or

sending for you.  He is always with you.  He is you.  You, yourself,

are God.  Always think like that.  "I am God.  I am God.  I am atma. 

I am everything."  Think like that and do your duty at home.  God is

not sending for you or asking you to come from somewhere.  You are

God.  He is always with you.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, is everything predetermined?  Is the time we take

to merge already mapped out?  When we finally merge and get

realisation, is that moment already written on our foreheads?

  

  Sai Baba:  For atma there is no time and there is no space.  It is

beyond time and beyond form.  In this Self all are one.  Remember

that unity.  Live in that unity.  Make that your goal.  All are one. 

Be alike to everyone.

  

  Devotee:  Then Swami, what is the relationship between the Self and

the individual?

  

  Sai Baba:  Where is Self?  It is everywhere.  How do you know?  You

do not know.  You have no experience of it, so do some sadhana, some

spiritual practice.  Experience it.  Practise it.  Live it.  Realise

it.

  

  Devotee:  But Swami, what I wanted to ask is "Do I have an

individual higher Self?  Is there an individual higher Self that is

specifically related to me?"

  

  Sai Baba:  The individual exists only in your imagination, in your

mind.  It is just an illusion.  It is not real.  When the one Self is

everywhere, when it is one without a second, then where is the

individual?  Only in your imagination.  The Self alone is real. 

Realise it.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, is there really no higher being related uniquely

to this body, judging me or guiding me?

  

  Sai Baba:  You are still in one hundred percent body

consciousness.  Do not stay with this body-consciousness.  Remove

it.  Take it away.  What will remain will be God-consciousness.  Then

there will be no anger, no hatred, no envy, no jealousy, no desire,

no ego, only pure joy, only complete bliss, only bliss, bliss, bliss.

  

  Devotee:  But then what is reborn?   When we reincarnate, what is

born?

  

  Sai Baba:  The body is born.  Birth and death only have to do with

the body.  Ego relates only to the body.  Reincarnation relates only

to the body.  Do not think of the body, think of the atma.  It is

one.  It is unchanging.  For that one Self there is no incarnation;

there is no reincarnation.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, do I, as an individual, exist at all?

  

  Sai Baba:  I!  I!  I!  Always this I.  First you must ask "Who is

this I?  Who am I?"

  

  Devotee (persisting):  But Swami is there no individual anything?

  

  Sai Baba:  When you realise the Self, then there is no separate

individual.  You can think of individuals as different light bulbs. 

There will be differences in wattage.  There will be differences in

age, in colour, in form, in name.  One is a tube light and another is

a bulb light.  There will be differences in shape, but everywhere the

current that powers them is the same.  That current is you.  You are

not a bulb which appears different from any other bulb.  You are the

current, the one current that is found in all the bulbs.  That is who

you are.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, is there any difference between me and God?

  

  Sai Baba:  You are God.  You are not the ego.  You are God!  You

are God!

  

  Devotee (incredulously):  I am God???

  

  Sai Baba:  Yes!  Yes!  You are atma, the one Self.  You are

permanent.  The physical body is not permanent.  The physical is not

the Self, but you are the Self, not the physical.  You are God. 

Think like this always.  Do not think about the body.  Think about

God.  The body comes and goes.   For the body there is birth and

death, but you are not the body.  The body is just rust and dust.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, I do healing and I wanted to ask......

  

  Sai Baba (interrupting):  Healing comes from God.  Think of God. 

God is everything. He will always do what is needed.  Think only of

surrendering to God.  You may say "I am healing others", but this is

just your ego speaking.  Healing cannot come through the ego. 

Thinking that you are doing healing is very harmful.  You are not the

one who is doing the healing.  You are only the instrument.  God does

everything.  Think only of Him.  Love Him.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, how can we love something we don't understand?

  

  Sai Baba:  Develop self-confidence, then love will follow.  It will

come naturally, from within.  In that way the love will be pure. 

Your journey starts with self-confidence and ends with the

realisation of the Self.  That Self is you; it is God.  This is who

you really are.  Self-confidence is unwavering love for the divinity

within.  What will help you to develop this confidence?  Be equal-

minded.  Be satisfied with what you have.  Don't hanker for anything

outside.  Be happy!  The secret of happiness lies not in doing what

you like but in liking what you have to do.  That is a great truth. 

Always have complete faith in God, Who takes care of everything. 

True greatness can only come from faith.  Now there is no confidence

in you.  Without confidence your faith will be shaking and wavering. 

Then where is there room for grace to come in?  Where is the room for

the Divinity to come inside?  If you shut the door, how can the

spirit be revealed?

  

  Devotee:  Lord, I want to merge with you.  What do I have to do?  I

am ready.

  

  Sai Baba:  Through love, only through love.  Love is everything. 

Love is God.  Live in love.  Start the day with love, spend the day

with love, fill the day with love and end the day with love.  That is

the way to God.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, how do we develop this selfless love?

  

  Sai Baba:  Only through God's Grace.  Prema, divine selfless love,

comes only through God's Grace.  Without Grace you cannot do

anything.  First do your duty and think about God all day, from

morning until evening.  See everything as God and be happy.  Think to

yourself "O Lord, you are my everything.  You are my goal.  You are

my breath."  Do not think that this is mine or that is mine or that

this is not mine.  Instead, think "All is you, Lord. All is yours." 

Think "I am beyond the body.  Mind is just a mad monkey.  I am the

Self.  I and God are one."  Think like this "Before this body was

formed, I was there.  After this body goes, I will still be there.  I

am omnipresent.  I am the all."  To reach this truth you have to do

some spiritual practice.

  

  You have to inquire: What is God?  Who is God?  Who am I?  The

first step in self-realisation is to always think of God and after

some years you will know that you are one with God.  Jesus spent

twelve years in the desert before he realised this fact.  In the

beginning you can think that this whole world is just like a stage

and you are only an actor.  God is the director.  All of Humanity are

actors.  God is directing everything.  But do not stop there.  Move

on and identify only with God.  Think God.  Be God.

  

  Devotee:  Swami, shall we go out and tell these things to other

people?

  

  Sai Baba:  Do not talk so much.  Do some spiritual practice.  First

do.  Then be.  Then you can talk.  But only a little.  Do some

meditation.  Do everything with love.  Be good, see good, do good. 

After you develop self-confidence and love for God, you can share

with others, but it is a good rule not to talk too much.  Talk very

little, even about God.  In spiritual practice there will always be

internal talk with God.  You will give up all attachments and attach

only to God.  For this, purity of the heart is very important.  Where

there is no purity, there is no unity.  Without unity, you cannot

attain divinity.  Then your whole life is just a waste.  First

purity, next unity.  Then you realise divinity.

  

  Devotee:  And purity comes from service, Swami?

  

  Sai Baba:  Yes, purity comes from selfless love, from doing

selfless service.  All are one family, so serve all, not just the Sai

family, but the whole world family.  All are brothers and sisters. 

All are one.  Be alike to everyone.  That is unity, the brotherhood

of man and the fatherhood of God.

  

  " You are divine, that is the truth.

  You and the Universal are one.

  You and the Absolute are one.

  You and the eternal are one.

  You are not the individual, the particular, the temporary.

  Feel this.  Know this.  Act in conformity with this. "

    Sri Sathya Sai Baba

  

  Courtesy: http://www.ramalacentre.com