Sai message for the day

[Guest guest]

Swami! As we think of the way in which our life is going, we find it

confusing and disheartening. We also doubt if it is going in the

right direction or not. You are our only refuge. Kindly guide us.

 

Sai Baba: You know mrdangam, the South Indian musical instrument,

which like a drum, has to be beaten on both the sides as you play.

Your life is like a rat caught in that mrdangam. If the mrdangam is

beaten on one side, the rat runs to the other side and, vice versa,

as there is no way out for it. Similarly having been fed up with this

world, you think of God. When God tests you, you again drift towards

the world. Your movement between the world and God is like that of

the rat. This is not the proper way.

 

A small example. Two students competed with each other in a

tournament of eating bananas. One student wanted to eat the outer

skin of every fruit first so that he could finish eating the soft

pulp part next. The other student planned to eat the soft part first

and the skin next. Accordingly, they started eating. The first

student having eaten the outer skin of every fruit first had his

belly full of that stuff and he could not eat any sweet pulp. So he

was defeated, and suffered from stomach-ache and indigestion. The

second student ate a belly-full of the pulp of every fruit and hence

couldn't eat the skin of the fruits. So, he too lost in the

competition. All the same, he remained healthy.

 

Similar is the case with those people who are after worldly desires

and sensual pleasures. They will have to end their lives in misery

finding no cure for bhavaroga, the ailment of worldly attachment.

This is equal to the condition of the first student who ate only the

outer skin of the banana first in the tournament. But those who think

of God are like the second student who ate the soft pulp. They grow

stronger in divine life.

 

Life should start from the point of dasoham, I am your servant. Fill

its middle with the relentless enquiry, koham, " Who am I? " End it

with full awareness of the identity of the individual self with God

soham, I am God. This is the correct way of life.

 

Man should realise that the happiness and peace he essentially needs

are not -present in this mundane world. A simple example. A person

went to a hotel. The bearer asked him, " What shall I serve for you " ?

The person said, " I want idli and sambar " . Then the bearer taken by

great surprise, said " What Sir! Have you not seen the board hanging

over there! This is a military non-vegetarian hotel. Sir! " Likewise,

how can you expect items like Palav, Biriyani and Chicken in an Udipi

Brahmin vegetarian hotel?

 

In the same manner there is a board attached to this world, anityam

asukham lokam, " This world is temporary and full of misery. " How do

you expect peace and happiness in this world? That is why in the

Bhagavad gita Krishna says, `mam bhajasva' meaning, `Think of me or

worship me or be immersed in me or surrender to me'. You should lead

your life in full knowledge of these facts.