Swami teaches... The knowledge of the Supreme. Guru and teacher. Part 1.

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches... 11 - 14 July, 2006

The Knowledge of the Supreme. Guru and Teacher. Part 1

 

The motto:

 

Throw off all burdens, become light, and trip across the Sea of Samsara, with one step on one crest and another on the next.

The dominion of Atma, i.e. Brahman (God) is horizonless; it envelops space and even beyond it. Nature is the vesture of God; immortality has put on the raiment of death; old age is latent in the new born child; darkness is sleeping in the womb of light and light is latent in the night. Reality is the basis, the unrecognised basis, of all this glamour and glitter of Appearance. The ocean of purity from which the nectar of immortality was churned threw forth the poison of Halahala, which threatened to destroy the three worlds.

 

Self-realisation is the path to immortality. Human's life is a bridge between this world and the Divine. The language of Pranava (Om) is the only medium for conversing with the Atma (the Divine Self). By wearing the garb of this body, made up of bone and flesh, encasing the Atma that is pure and eternal, human imagines that happiness lies in the physical environment. This is a delusion.

 

There are two kinds of knowledge which human can seek in quest for happiness and Self-realisation. One is Loka jnana (worldly knowledge). This relates to knowledge of music and the fine arts, of the physical Universe, botany, chemistry, mathematics, and the like. All this knowledge is of use for earning a living. All of it relates to matters which are ever changing and perishable. The other kind of knowledge is Brahma jnana (knowledge of the Supreme). Krishna declared: "Among various kinds of knowledge, I am Knowledge of the Spirit". This knowledge reveals that the origin, growth and dissolution of the Cosmos are due to Brahman (Supreme Reality). The Upanishads (Vedic metaphysical treatises) have described it as Akshayya (imperishable) Brahman i.e. Atma.

The Atma when it is believed is in the core of every one, will produce sympathetic vibrations in you, so that when the other is happy, you are happy and when other is in misery, you feel it to the same extent. That is Prema i.e. Love at its highest and sincerest. It will blossom into peace and calm.

Human today needs this Supreme knowledge. There are three steps leading to this knowledge. One is "Bhavam" (heart felt feeling). The second is "Sadhana" (spiritual effort). The third is "Upasana" (adoration).

In the first step the thought of Brahman i.e. Atma should be firmly established in the heart. When this is done, one has to look upon the whole Universe as a manifestation of the Divine. All that is beautiful and great in Nature - the lofty mountains, the vast oceans, the stars in the sky must be regarded as proclaiming the glory and power of the Divine. The sweet fragrance of flowers, the delectable juice of fruits should be regarded as tokens of God's love and compassion. The entire Universe must be considered as the temple of God.

The second step is Sadhana. It does not consist merely in bhajans (group singing of devotional songs), keerthans (spiritual compositions), japa (recitation of holy names) and dhyana (meditation). All these are auxiliaries.. The primary requisite is concentration on the Pranava (Om).

That Om represents the concretised Divine principle that is immanent in the Universe, that moves the dew to drop, the lotus to bloom, the butterfly to flit and the Sun to rise, that is all the power, all the wisdom, all the love, all the miracle that ever was, is and will be.

(There are seven crores of names for God all of which have to be uttered with Pranava at the beginning. To utter the God's name without the Pranava is like using a revolver without cartridges. By meditating on the Pranava, one can glimpse the nature of the Supreme Reality, according to the Upanishads).

The third step is Upasana (the Divine adoration). Upasana means approaching near the Divine. Upasana is often equated with fasting. This is not correct. There is a bliss that is greater than food. When one is immersed in that bliss the bliss of Brahma-ananda (divine bliss of rapture), one gives up food of one's own accord. (To subject oneself to fasting as a compulsory regimen is not Upasana, but mere starvation).

 

The external world will reflect your thoughts. If you view the world with love, it will appear as filled with love. If you view it with hatred, everything will appear antagonistic to you. Eyes filled with love shine with brightness and cheerfulness. Eyes filled with hatred appear bloodshot and fearful. Our thoughts determine our good and bad actions. (Do not hate other names or other forms of the same Supra-Cosmic Magnificence, the Purushotthama. For, hate breeds fear, hate is the seedbed of anxiety, scandal and falsehood. It drains your mind of peace).

The spark of Love in you has to be cherished and fed so that it may reach God; then, every being will be God, every act will be Divine; every reaction you get from the outside world will be charged with Prema and sweetened with that nectar. You love the God in all beings and the God in all beings responds with love.

God resounds, reacts, reflects. He gives you back ten times the love that you offer Him. Yearn, dedicate, surrender. Keep steadily on, do not move forward two steps today and retrace them tomorrow. The ants, poor

little weak things, they move one behind the other in an unbroken stream, conscious of the goal and of nothing else, overcoming obstacles that come in the way.

 

Swami has been propagating the message of Love for many years in every His Discourse. He stresses that

you need not cultivate anything but Love. That will be equal to any amount of penance you can possibly do. Learn to respect all. Only then will you earn the grace of the Divine who is the Indweller in all beings. Harming living beings and worshipping inanimate idols, what kind of devotion is this? (Bullocks which work night and day are whipped, but a stone idol of Nandhi is adored by going round it. This is stony devotion. Not devotion from the heart).

Several years ago Swami has resolved not to give Namaskar, to anybody. He explained that devotees may do Namaskar to their parents as the same Atma is present in Swami, and everyone else. But wherever you are, you can offer Namaskar mentally. That gives to Swami happiness. You do not know how great this Ananda is. Just as a small piece of wood becomes fire when it comes into contact with fire, so also when you are close to Swami mentally, you become Divine. Your mind will be illumined and will dispel the darkness of ignorance in you.

The Kannada saint, Basavanna, sang that God is won, neither by nadha (melody) nor by veda (knowledge), but by bhakthi (devotion, dedication). Mere formal worship or mumbling of hymns or mechanical routine performance of rituals cannot induce God to reside in the heart. Such a heart is encumbered by trivia, by lumber, by cobwebs and impediments.

(There are some who worship Swami's picture with great gusto, but, if the buffalo which was yielding two seers of milk per day starts giving one, they attribute it to the picture and the puja, and they turn the picture to the wall and rue the day when they brought it home).

All have to realise that relationship between devotees or followers and Swami is not related only to the physical body. The body is a passing thing. You should concentrate on the attainment of that which is permanent and beyond the limitations of time and space.

(Looking at things externally, Swami's Darshan will be before you only for a short time. But you must retain permanently what you have seen with the outward looking eyes. What you see externally is a burden. When you have made it a part of yourself it ceases to be a burden. It is like the food which a traveller carries. As long as the food remains outside it is a burden. But when traveller has eaten it, he/she gets stronger and there is no

burden).

In the heart of every human being, there is jnana-agni (fire of wisdom). That fire signifies a pure heart. (Today we are not able to see that fire because the heart is enveloped by the ash of worldly desires. When the ash is blown away, the fire will be visible).

Tens years ago Swami told that He does not appreciate Adambara-bhakthi (pompous parading of devotion); He appreciates Ananda-bhakthi (devotion that is too deep for words and too intense to care for publicity).

 

The stamp of bhakthi is what makes the prayer reach the destination, God; not the festoons, the fanfare, the heap of flowers or the festive nature of the feast-offerings. The simple sincere heart is the stamp, which

makes the prayer travel fast. The Brahman experience is not to be got by the mastery of various sadhanas. It is only when the heart is purified that divinity can be realised. Everything is for the attainment of the Supreme to be utilised for that high purpose. Nothing is to be used as itself, for itself.

 

Focus the heart correctly and click the switch of intelligence; that is the way of getting a clear Swami's picture imprinted in your heart.

Develop the inner eye, not the exterior sight. Grow in faith; that will make you an iron ball that cannot be lifted by any gust of wind. Develop a sense of proportion, a due sense of values. Love the things of the world with the love that is their due, and not more.

There ia an example-parable from Ramayana. Suka, the purest of the sages and the wisest, was teaching a number of disciples including the wise emperor, Janaka. One day, Suka started his discourse late, for, Janaka had not yet come. The others resented the extra attachment that Suka bestowed on Janaka; they ascribed it to the fact that he was emperor of the realm; they felt that their Guru was unfortunately moved by these mundane considerations. Suka knew how their imagination was weaving falsehoods and prejudices. So, he derided to exercise this envy from their hearts. After Janaka came and the discourse lasted for some time, Suka so managed with his mystic powers that they could see in the far distance, near the horizon, the City of Mithila, the capital of the empire, caught in flames and crumbling in the conflagration. The disciples were listening to that the Atma alone is real and that all else is appearance, imposed on the Atma, by the fog of illusion and ignorance. Every other disciple ran off, leaving the class and the preceptor, each to his own cell, afraid that the oncoming fire will burn his clothes or books. But, Janaka whose capital city was being reduced to ashes sat unmoved for he knew that what was being consumed by fire was only appearance and not reality. Suka himself asked Janaka to go and assess the damage and try to save what can be saved from the fire. But Janaka replied that his treasure was the jnana he was getting from his master and that he was unconcerned about the objective world, approachable by external instruments of knowledge. At this, Suka revealed that the fire was a make-believe created by him to tell others the depth of real scholarship earned by Janaka, in contrast to their superficial learning.

 

As long as we are involved with external appearances, we have to carry the burden of doubts and weakness of faith. We will not be able to get rid of involvement in unnecessary things. Faith is like a live volcano. No seed will sprout on such a volcano. Doubts are like seeds. If the doubts multiply, it means that your faith is weak and unstable. It is like an extinct volcano. If your faith is strong, no doubts will crop up.

The Divine shows you the path to Self-realisation. Your doubts arise or disappear because of your past karma (action). Get rid of all your doubts.

From time to time, God subjects devotees to various tests. These are intended to strengthen the faith. Krishna pointed out to Arjuna a bird on a tree and asked him whether it was a peacock. Arjuna said: "Yes, my Lord". "No, no. It is a dove," observed Krishna. Arjuna immediately said: "Yes, it is a dove." Krishna then said: "You senseless fellow. It is not a dove but a crow!Yes, it is a crow," said Arjuna. Krishna then told Arjuna: "You have non power of discrimination at all. You cannot decide whether it is a peacock, dove or crow and only

say 'yes' to whatever I say. Should you not have this much of understanding.." Arjuna replied: "Krishna, if one does not know your real nature, one may attempt to agree or disagree with you. But I have understood the truth about you. If I declare that it is not a peacock, a dove or a crow, you have the power to turn it into a peacock, a dove or a crow." When Arjuna displayed such implicit faith in Krishna, he felt that Arjuna was fit to receive the message of the Gita. Hence He told him "Be thou my instrument."

 

Even when the Divine appears in human form and is near in various ways to people, few are able to recognise Divinity in the physical form. It is not easy to recognise the nature of the Divine through the corporeal form alone.

When the child Krishna was brought before his mother Yashodha and accused of eating mud, Krishna protested to his mother that he was not an infant, or a naughty boy or a madcap to eat mud. Krishna then revealed to His mother His divinity.

The Avatar is not to be judged by reference to age or actions.

(Even Avatars have not been free from such feeble tactics from small people. Krishna was scandalised as a thief who killed Sathraajith and stole the Shymanthaka gem, which Sathraajith wore, while out hunting in the forest.. He set out to prove the traducers wrong. He found that he had been slain by a lion and that the gem was in the cave of a bear which had tied it up above the cradle of the tiny child-bear so that it may watch its brilliance and play. Do not yield to the temptation to cast mud on the reputation of others; it is a heinous pastime, fraught with disaster. Ridicule and contempt must be met with joyous unconcern).

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 10. "Objective, not object," Chapter 14; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 16. "Let God Be Your Guru," Chapter 17; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 27. "Spiritual orientation to education," Chapter 20; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 29. "Bhagavaan deplores devotees' lapses," Chapter 26; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 33. "I And You Are One," Chapter 13).

Namaste - Reet