Swami teaches... The golden, eternal and timeless rules of life. Part 2

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Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches...

The Golden, Eternal and Timeless Rules of Life.Part 2

 

People everywhere are frittering away the precious years in three vain pursuits.

 

1. Praising oneself, thrusting one's interests forward, aggrandizement at all costs.

2. Defaming others, blackening the reputations of others, scandalising the good and fawning upon the bad.

3. Talking frivolously, or irresponsibly, stoking the fires of hatred or slinging mud, helter

skelter, with no care for the injury done.

 

People try to know everything about everybody else; but, they do not try to know about themselves. The attempt to know about the knower is called sadhana; knowledge about the knower is Atma Vidya. Human seeks joy in far places and peace in quiet spots; but, the spring of joy is in heart, the haven of peace is within as human's inner nature.

 

Three categories of people support and sustain human society - those who produce, those who

guard and those who guide - the workers, the soldiers and the teachers. A society can be strong only when those who produce the food, clothing and shelter are well equipped and active, when the guardians of law and order and those in charge of the frontiers are patriotic and skilled, and when those who open the eyes of children and unfold their innate richness are full of love and understanding.

These three are like the three legs of a tripod. But as a mere structure with three legs the tripod

cannot be useful and efficient. The people who are the concern and under the care of the three

categories form the plank on top of the three. The seat has to be screwed tight to the legs - the

screws being peace, love and truth and the process of screwing and tightening being the eager

enthusiasm for progress, prosperity, security and unity, the sincere effort to accept and promote

the human values - Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Non-violence and Love. These five values are as essential for a full and worthwhile life as a five vital airs or Pranas mentioned in the

scriptures.

 

The teacher embodies these values and establishes them in society. That is teacher's opportunity, duty, the justification for profession. Therefore, teacher becomes responsible for the efficiency and excellence of the other two categories also. Teacher has to bear the burden of shaping and perfecting the producers and the guardians too. The peace and prosperity of the world depend on the teacher - his/her personality, character, skill and outlook.

An example from history. When Kalidasa (Sanskrit dramatist and poet ca 5th century A.D.) was at the court, Emperor Bhoja pitted one famous scholar against another equally famous opponent. When he found that no one failed before the arguments of the other, he invited one pupil each from those taught by the scholars and encouraged them to engage themselves in debate to discover which master-teacher was superior. But they too failed to overcome each other. The thousands who witnessed the end-products of the teaching by the masters acclaimed their greatness in unanimous appreciation.

 

"Vidya is That which liberates", say the Upanishads. The teacher should not confine within books; the universe is teacher's text. The teacher teaches not merely by words or through books but more by attitudes and aptitudes, prejudices and preferences, the means and methods he/she employs and conduct and habits. The skill of the teacher is to imbibe and to transmit the knowledge and experience that the Universe is divine, true and holy. A good teacher is perpetual learner; for him/her, Nature or Prakriti is the best teacher.

(The word Prakriti is usually rendered as Nature to indicate all that the Divine Will has projected.

The meaning of the word Prakriti comprises also the physical body, the conduct, the activity, the feeling, the speech and the motives that govern and exemplify it).

 

It is instructive (especially for teachers and for spiritual seekers) to pay attention to the watch around wrist what has also a role of the meaningful symbol teaching sathyam (truth). It warns against evil, and alerts you to be good, so it is sivam (grace, auspiciousness, goodness). It is worn as a jewel so it is sundaram (beauty) too, besides being a instructor and reminder human values.*

The watch is the symbol of Time. We are powerless before Time but Time's Creator and Director can be won and attained by the wise use of Time. Treat every second as new. Sanctify every moment of your life. This has to be done by realising the unity of Sath (the Divine) and Chith (the individual Consciousness). When this union is achieved, Ananda (Spiritual Bliss) is experienced.

The watch advises you to watch yourself whether you have the credentials to teach. A hundred eyes will be watching every word and deed of yours to discover whether you have mastered the human values and whether you are practising them.

And, most important of all, God, the Universal Watcher, is witnessing and weighing your every

thought, word and deed. The God in you examines and judges and you are able to acquire selfsatisfaction through sincerity and serenity. Prove your humanness by the practice of the values which are the unique qualities of human.

 

If you talk of anything you do not know, it is a matter for ridicule. If you talk about anything you have not experienced, it is reprehensible, for you are cheating your listeners. If you learn the art of public speaking and talk enchantingly using all the skills and frills recommended in the text-books or borrowed from others, it is cheating, nevertheless. Be sincere; be simple, be honest. That is the

best recipe for successful speaking.

Whenever you feel greed or resentment, try to control the emotion. Treat it as you would treat an illness; find the cure and master it.

Discipline is the mark of intelligent living. Discipline trains to put up with disappointments. The path of life has both ups and downs, that every rose has: its thorn. Now, people want roses without thorns, life has to be one saga of sensual pleasure, a picnic all the time. When this does not happen, you turn wild and start blaming others. If each one cares for own pleasures how can society progress? How can the weak survive? Mine, not thine, this sense of greed is the root of all evil. This distinction is applied even to God - my God, not yours! Your God, not mine!

 

Spiritual education in human values teaches to cultivate love towards every one, however distinct the character and capacity of each may be. Emphasise the basic brotherhood among all human beings. Emphasise the Divine Love and stand out as the harbingers of a new age free from

selfishness, greed, hatred and violence. Let each of you be light unto himself or herself and thereby be a light unto others.

Goodness, compassion, tolerance - through these three paths, one can see the Divinity in oneself

and others. Sharing can reduce grief and multiply joy. Human is born to share, to serve, to give and not to grab. Human can have the highest joy and can share that joy with others; but human is now having only grief and sharing that grief with others.

Softness of heart is condemned by people today as weakness, cowardice and want of

intelligence. The heart has to be hardened, they say, against pity and charity. But, that way lies war, destruction, downfall.

Today most people is in the throes of distress and disaster. The morning newspaper is full of murder, massacre, arson and dacoities. The brain and the mind have been polluted to a dangerous extent. Education aims only at providing information and promoting skills. It has not tackled the problem of moral degeneration, of the sublimation of low desires, of sense control and the development of spiritual insight. Such education lead human to the spiritual darkness.

(An example for indirect comparison. A king once granted a woodcutter in the forest an extensive sandal wood plantation as gift, in return for an act of hospitality that he had the chance to offer him. The fellow did not realise the value of the wood nor did he investigate the meaning and mode of the fragrance that emanated from the wood; he cut all the trees in a short time and burnt them for selling as charcoal).

To improve the current sad situation in the world, beside spiritual education in human values everyone have to cultivate a broad mind, a large-hearted outlook. One of the easiest method is to broaden the heart by bhajans or simply by collective singing. Instead of singing by oneself, when devotees sing in groups, a sense of unity develops. By all people singing in unison and all hands clapping together, all hearts become one. This unity is proclaimed by the Vedas by describing the different organs of the Lord as the source of the power in the different sense organs of a human being.

 

Narada (sage-bard; famous for creating disputes, resulting in solutions for the spiritual advancement or victory of the virtuous) once asked the Lord Narayana what was His permanent address. Narayana replied: "Wherever my bhaktha (devotee) sings my name, I am present there". Then Narada asked: "There are innumerable places in which the devotees sing your name, how can you be present in all those places at the same time?"

Where the singers merely emphasise the tune and the rhythm, He will not be present. It is only when the song is melodious combining the tune, the rhythm and the feeling only there will He be present. The singing must be full of feeling. The Lord loves only the sincerity of feeling and moved only by the feeling that is expressed, not by musical talent as such.

 

There was a great musician in Akbar's Court known as Thansen. He used to sing night and day

and the music was mellifluous. It was perfect music but there was no deep feeling in his singing.

One day Akbar and Thansen were going round the city. Akbar found an old man singing to

himself songs in praise of God. Akbar stopped his chariot and went on listening to the song of

the devotee and even without his knowing it, tears started flowing from his eyes. His

heart was deeply moved. He went some distance and told Thansen: "You have been singing for a

long time before me and I have always found your music very sweet to the ears but it has never

moved my heart, but the music of this devotee has melted my heart. I wish to know the

difference between your singing and the singing of this devotee!" Thansen replied: "Maharaja!

I have been singing to please you, but this devotee is singing to please God, that is the

difference."

---

* How WATCH the pictorial pinpointer of human values is?

 

W: The first letter reminds us of the sadhana of watching the Word. Examine the word before the tongue pronounces it. Warn the tongue against relishing faslehood, or indulging in outbursts of vilification and the like. Adhere to Truth, it is the basic human value.

 

A: The second letter reminds us of the additional sadhana of watching Action. Be vigilant that

every activity conduces to your moral progress, to the welfare of society, that is to say, follows

the moral code, Dharma what is another great human value.

 

T: The third letter reminds us an additional sadhana, a third one watching our Thoughts. While

adhering to the earlier two, one trains the mind not to react vehemently or vengefully when one

is blamed or extolled. Thoughts must reinforce the innate peace and tranquillity which are one's heritage. They should not create anxiety or anger, arrogance or envy, which are alien to the Divine Core of human beings. Thoughts, when watched and warned, promote Santhi, another precious human value. It resides in hearts free from pride and, greed.

 

C: The fourth letter teaches us to watch the Character. Character is three quarters of life. The sadhaka has to direct him/herself to the acquisition of the three values already mentioned, through steady vigilance. Character finds expression through inner quality saturated with Love. Love must

reach out to all mankind and to God.

 

H: The fifth letter instructs us to watch the Heart and the feelings it originates. It reminds us

of the human value of Ahimsa (Non-violence).

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 7. "The journey in the jungle," Chapter 19 and "Sweetness invisible," Chapter 27; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 12. "Know the Knower," Chapter 13; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 17.. "Who is the greatest?" Chapter 10; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 19. "The Mantra round your wrist," Chapter 3; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 25. "Divinise Every Moment," Chapter 1).

 

Namaste - Reet