Swami teaches... Keep in line with the Divine all through. Part 2

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches... 4 - 6 July, 2006

Keep In Line With the Divine All Through. Part 2

 

The motto

Wear the invisible badge of a volunteer of God at all hours and in all places. Let all the days of living be a continuous offering of Love, as an oil lamp exhausts itself in illumining the surroundings. Bend the body, mend the senses, and end the mind - that is the process of attaining the status of 'the children of immortality,' which the Upanishads have reserved for human.

 

Karma, dharma and brahma (action, virtue, and Supreme Being) are the three stages of spiritual progress. They were all equally important at the proper stage of development.

While karma (action) is responsible for pleasure, pain, birth, death, etc., kala (time) is also very essential for every karma. Without these two, human cannot exist. However, action is the cause for everything.

(From ancient scriptures what was the cause for King Harishchandra to become the caretaker of the cremation ground, for the separation of King Nala and his spouse Damayanti, and for the imprisonment and suffering of Sant Ramadas? It was the karma alone).

As is the karma, so is the consequence thereof. These two are inseparable and interrelated. Time acts as a link between these two. Time is divided into three periods: past, present, and future. Multifarious activities take place in these three periods of time.

 

Have the mirror of bhakthi (devotion), to judge whether actions of dharma are clean and bright and winsome; have the comb of jnana (wisdom, earned by discrimination straightens problems, resolves knots, and smoothes the tangle) to control and channelise the feelings and emotions that are scattered wildly in all directions.

Little children are trained to walk, by means of a three- wheeled contraption which they hold and push along. The Pranava is such a contraption, with the three wheels of A, U and M, the Omkara Tricycle. Holding it, human can learn to use the two feet of bhakthi and vairagya (detachment). If he/she walks on with the help of the Pranava japa, human can certainly realise the glory of the Brahman, which is the very substance of the Universe.

 

Among the nine steps of devotional progress, the fourth and the fifth highlight the attitude of seva; it is referred to as serving the Feet of the Lord; acts offered at the Feet of the Lord; feeling oneself as the servant of the Lord. Through seva alone can person attain mastery, and through mastery of the senses, the passions and the predilections, can person attain Divinity itself. The spirit of sacrifice is the basic equipment of the sevak. Without the inspiration of the sense of sacrifice, your seva will be hypocrisy, a hollow ritual.

Just as two wings are essential for a bird to soar high in the sky, prema (love) and seva (service) are essential for human to reach destination.

When you love all and serve all, you are serving yourself most, yourself whom you love most. For God's Grace envelops you then, and you are strengthened beyond all previous experience.

For whose sake are you rendering service? Is it for Swami's sake? You are serving for yourself. As long as you have the feeling that you are serving others, you are an egotistic person. You think that you are worshipping Swami. It is a great mistake to think so. When the same Atma is present in everyone, who is the worshipper and who is worshipped? In the path of spirituality, it is a mistake to think, "I am your devotee, You are my guru." True wisdom lies in realising that all is one in Atmic Reality.

 

Krishna said to Arjuna: "Arjuna, you call yourself My devotee. When once you have surrendered to Me, then there is no difference between you and Me. So, there is no separate identity of devotee and God."

 

Develop bhakthi (devotion) and you are free, for the Lord takes on the burden you carry.

There was a merchant who asked the sailor about his grand-father and father. It seems they both died on the sea. So the merchant asked the sailor whether he was not afraid of sailing on the sea. The sailor asked the merchant where his forefathers had died. He was told that they had all died in bed, so he too asked the merchant whether he was not afraid to go to bed. Death comes to all, somewhere, somehow; but the wise person achieves the vision ere the end. Have the cool spring of devotion in you; then, the fires of anxiety cannot harm you. Then, every visitation of calamity will take on a new meaning, as a sign of Grace, to harden you, toughen you and make you seasoned timber, for His purpose.

 

The Ramayana is the great epic for all who yearn to surrender to God and win Him. From beginning to end, it illustrates the various steps leading to it and the blessedness acquired when one accomplishes it. Lakshmana is a great example: he gave up every object of affection in order to be with the Lord and serve Him.

Dasaratha had to send Rama to forest for fourteen years as a consequence of his promise to Kaikeyi. Though unused to any form of hardship, Sita had to endure the difficulties of forest life. But Lakshmana had no obligation to go through such an ordeal. Because of his intense devotion to Rama, he also followed Him like a shadow. He brought fruits, flowers, and tubers from the forest to serve Rama and Sita, and himself fasted. Every moment of his life, he spent in the service of Rama.

Rama's love for Lakshmana too was so intense that when Lakshmana fainted on the battlefield, Rama lamented, "O Lakshmana, I cannot live without you. I may get another mother like Kausalya, a wife like Sita, but not a brother like you."

It was a divine play enacted by Rama to show to the world the nobility and the greatness of Lakshmana. Such sacred love is like a powerful magnet. Such selfless, unattached love transcends action, space, time, cause, and effect.

The names of Rama and Lakshmana are inseparable. This happens naturally with no special effort as we always say Rama -Lakshmana. One hardly ever hears the combination Bharata - Rama. Though Bharata' s mind was one with Rama, his body was separated from Him by time and distance.

Bharata resembled Rama in all respects. Bharata asked Rama to return to Ayodhya, but His efforts did not succeed since Rama refused to return. So, Bharata reconciled himself to returning, but stayed outside Ayodhya in Nandigrama. His body was in Nandigrama, but his mind was with Rama. Lakshmana worshipped Rama with body and mind, whereas Bharata's worship was purely mental since his mind was united with Rama. Since Bharata's worship was purely mental, he was a nirgunopasaka.You might have seen in photographs of Rama's coronation that Rama and Bharata have the same blue complexion. Bharata's mind was totally centred on Rama. Because of such intense concentration, both became one.

 

There are two modes of perception, direct and indirect (pratyaksha and paroksha). That which is directly perceived (conscious) is pratyaksha, while that which is indirectly perceived (subconscious) is paroksha. This difference between direct and indirect perception is similar to the relation between hypnosis and hypnotism.

What is hypnotism? A hypnotist has the ability to enter the consciousness of the object irrespective of distance or time. The one who undergoes the experience with mind alone without the body is the hypnotised is similar to indirect perception.

Hypnosis and hypnotism are not modern terms. These are found in the Vedas. Since people do not know these facts, they find new terms or new words for these concepts. Hypnotism is referred to in the sastras (scriptures) as ateendriya shakti (power beyond the senses). It means that one having this power can converse with one who is in deep sleep. Even the dead will come and converse with one having such power. Not only this, one can enter the mind of another sitting in front of him. One with such powers can perceive a far away object. Ancients possessed such powers. These powers are obtained by karma only. For this, purity of mind, heart, and thoughts is absolutely necessary.

 

Another example of deep devotion. At the time of Krishnavatara, there were two sisters, Radha and Radhika. Radhika was a sagunopasaka and Radha, a nirgunopasaka. Radha constantly chanted the name of Krishna, while Radhika was engrossed in the physical form of Krishna. She was extremely sad because Krishna had gone away to Mathura. She gave up food and drink. She surrendered herself to Krishna. Radha saw this. She had thought that nirgunopasana was superior to sagunopasana, but after seeing the total surrender of Radhika, she realised the greatness of sagunopasana. Both Radha and Radhika prayed to Krishna to dwell permanently in their heart. Such intense devotion is rare these days.

 

Mysterious are the ways of the Divine. It is difficult to comprehend how the Divine grace works. There are innumerable instances of God coming to the rescue of His devotees in times of need. Sant Kabir was a weaver by profession. One day he fell seriously ill and was unable to attend to his duties. The all-merciful Lord, in the form of Kabir, wove yarn and thus came to his rescue.

Similarly, God came in the form of a potter and helped Gora Kumbhar by making pots Himself, when he was in distress. Sakkubai, an ardent devotee of Lord Panduranga, continuously chanted the Lord's name. One day, she could not perform her daily chores since she was running high temperature. Even under these circumstances, her husband and mother-inlaw would not allow her to take rest. At this juncture, Lord Panduranga assumed the form of Sakkubai and performed all her duties.

 

It is indeed difficult to understand how, when, and where God would come to the rescue of His devotees. Absolute faith is essential for God to manifest. However, where the six noble qualities of enthusiasm, determination, courage,intelligence, energy, and valour are evident, God' s protection and grace prevail there.

 

True devotion lies in having faith and attaining bliss. If you have no faith, how can you have bliss? Many devotees ask Swami, "Swami, I want happiness." Where is this happiness? Can you buy it in the market? No.

It is very much in you. You are not able to experience it since you do not have faith in yourself.

 

Question yourself, "Do I exist?" You get the reply, "Yes, I do exist." Have faith in your existence, "I am." That is true faith. You do not need to enquire into the nature of God or to search for Him. Have total faith in Him.

 

Devotees today have some form of divinity in their mind, but they perform rituals in a mechanical way without any consistency. All your charity and worship are of no significance to the Lord. (Show your charity and wealth to the income tax department).

God needs only your love. There is no tax on love. Offer your love to God. However, Love is not your property. In fact, it is the property of God. Surrender to God what is His. When you offer all your love to God, He will look after all your needs.

Be simple and sincere. It is sheer waste of money to burden the pictures and idols in the shrines and altars of homes with the weight of garlands and to parade costly utensils and vessels and offerings to show off your devotion to the public. This is deception when it is made mainly for exhibition one's devotion; it demeans Divinity, imputing to it the desire for pomp and publicity. Swami asks only for purity of heart to shower Grace.

God pervades space and time. All beings are His forms. Realise this truth, transform it into practice,

and enjoy the bliss. This is true devotion. You can receive the examples of such devotion from Nature.

The trees provide cool shade and sweet fruit equally to all, whether they have fostered them or harmed them. They teach human this lesson of equal mindedness. The mountains, by their indifference to cold or heat, are teaching human that one should bear joy or grief with an equal mind. Pleasure and pain relate only to the body. The Atma is unaffected. This is the lesson to be learnt from the mountains. The birds take no thought for the morrow and are content to live on what they can get. They teach human the lesson of contentment and indifference to the future.

Although Nature has been teaching these lessons from the beginning of time, human has not learnt to give up the ideas of "my people" and "others" and to develop the sense of oneness and equality of humanity.

By attachment to the body and developing self-conceit, human forgets the lessons of Nature and wallows in selfishness. We are seeing people being born and people dying. In spite of all that is seen, or heard or experienced, human is unable to get rid of the delusions relating to the body. He does not learn the lesson of the impermanence and fleeting nature of physical existence.

 

Prakriti (Nature), which is constantly teaching these lessons, is the true preceptor. The Universe is a University. God is the Cause. The Universe is the result. Nothing can exist in the world without the power of the Divine.

 

Nature is like a clean mirror which reflects human's feelings and attitudes. It is own actions and thoughts, whether 'good or bad, which are reflected back to person.

 

The indriyas (sense) may be used for the purpose of increasing spiritual awareness and bliss. When fruit-juice is poured into a cup, the cup does not know its taste; if you hold it in the palm, you do not get the taste. You have to drink it with the straw, the senses; then buddhi (intellect); then the tongue experiences the sweetness. The fruit juice is Prakrithi (the Nature) around us. Prakrithi is just the leela of the Lord, set before you so that you may become aware of His Glory, His splendour.

If the mind obeys the dictates of buddhi, then, the individual gains. But, if the mind becomes the slave of the senses, then woe be to the individual. When the mind thus follows the outwardbound senses and forgets the Reality, when the individual revels in the dream-world of false fantasy, this Shivathaayi (Divine mother) pats the child and wakes it.

How can human serve others or the Lord who is resident in all when the senses drag person away from that service or when passions peep in to tarnish the love that inspires the service? The Lokesha (Lord of the world) is engaged in spreading Ananda in the Loka (world); human should be engaged in spreading Ananda around him/her. That is the way to cooperate and share in the task of the Lord. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 3. "Lakshya puuja," Chapter 17; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 6. "The bottomless pit," Chapter 18; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 9. "Mirror and comb," Chapter 12; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 22. "Love all : Serve all," Chapter 23; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 32, part 2, "Develop intense devotion," Chapter 4).

Namaste - Reet