Sai message for the day

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Swami! Man is not behaving in the way expected of him. He is losing

his very human nature. How should he transform himself at this

juncture? How about society, if he remains like this, Swami?

 

Sai Baba: You do not know that you are using certain words without

knowing their meaning. If you understand the words that you utter,

you will notice that they are self-explanatory and convey their

meaning in unambiguous terms. What is the meaning of this word

manava, man? `Ma' means maya or illusion, `na', `dati ' (Telugu),

`va', vartincu (Telugu). In other words, ` manava ' means `the one

who crosses maya and conducts himself accordingly' and definitely not

one who is enslaved by maya. It can also be interpreted in another

way. The word `manava' means, `ma ', not, `nava', new. Thus `manava '

means `not new'. Man had many births earlier and the present one is

not new.

 

Man is also called narah (Sanskrit). Na means `not', and rah means

`perishable'. Thus, narah, means `not perishable'. Obviously, the

one, which is imperishable, is eternal that is, immortal, or atma,

Truth. There is another word vanara (Sanskrit) denoting a `monkey'.

Va denotes vala or tail. So nara should be viewed as man without vala

or tail. Man is saksara : sa, divine and aksara, undiminishable or

permanent. Thus, saksara is one who is undiminishable, permanent or

eternal, Atma. He who has the awareness of such Atma is saksara. But

alas! Man today is behaving as raksasa, demon. Man is expected to

have dama, control of senses, but he is full of mada, pride and

conceit. So, when we understand the meaning of these words, we shall

know that man or vyakti, the individual, should exhibit and express

the quality of atma, which he truly is.

 

A community or a group of individuals makes a society. A single vr ks

a, tree , cannot make a vana, forest. A single grha, house cannot

make a grama, village. What is the meaning of samaja, society? Sama,

equality or equanimity, ja, born out of. Thus samaja, is that which

maintains equality and equanimity. What are needed for ideal society?

They are samaikyata, unity; samagrata, co-ordination; samarasa,

integration; saubhratrata, fraternity; and samanata, equality. These

are the features of an ideal society.

 

We hear people saying that society should change. However, in my

opinion, it is wrong. If the individual changes, society will

automatically change. A small example. A father presented a map of

India to his young son. The boy, by mistake, tore it to pieces and

was reprimanded by his father. After some time, the son brought the

map intact. When asked by the father how he could do it, the boy

replied that on the reverse side of the map there was the picture of

a man. He said the only thing he did was to correctly assemble the

torn pieces of the man to make it into the original picture. Then the

original map formed itself automatically.

 

Thus, when individuals reform, society will automatically get

reformed. Every person should know that the happiness of the

individual depends on that of society. Man's welfare, progress and

prosperity depend on society. This truth must be fully understood by

everyone. For example, when there is a fire in the neighbourhood you

make an attempt to extinguish it. Why? If you do not, your house will

not be safe. When all the other houses in the neighbourhood are burnt

down by the fire, your house too will be burnt. When there are

epidemics like cholera, you will be extra careful; otherwise, you

will also become one of the victims. Similar is the relationship

between an individual and the society he lives in.