Sai message for the day

[Guest guest]

Swami! We beg you to suggest to us a spiritual path that can be

followed in the present circumstances. The situation around us seems

to be dispiriting. Kindly give us the direction?

 

Sai Baba: It is said that man is the most precious among all the

living creatures. Therefore, it is imperative on your part to lead

your lives in full realisation of the value of life. For example, in

the kitchen you make `dal' to eat for lunch. If salt is added in

excess by mistake, the dal loses its taste. It is unfit for

consumption any more. After all, the foodstuff, which is digested in

three hours or so, is kept aside if it is not tasty. Then how about a

long life? Should it not be tasty?

 

Suppose you are waiting at the bus stand to board the bus that takes

you to your office and the bus is delayed. You lose your patience.

Then, imagine how you start feeling about this delay. " What! Drivers

don't have a sense of responsibility in this country. Conductors too

don't discharge their duties properly. The Road Transport Corporation

is not efficient; the Government seems to be lenient towards them " . A

bus is lifeless; it is a vehicle and a means of transport. Man, on

the other hand, is the embodiment of awareness: He is active and

intelligent. If such a man forgets his human value, and leads life

unbecoming of a human being, don't you know that society will blame

him?

 

Man has 85% of divinity while an animal has only 15% latent in it. It

is only a human being who has a chance to realise and experience his

divinity. Just as a stone dropped from above falls to the ground due

to the unseen gravitational force, the unseen values and virtues

should guide man. For this, however, determination is required.

 

Another example. Here you find a machine. If it is not put to use, it

gets rusted. Don't you think that similar is the case with the human

body if it is not used properly? It is because of dust that the

machine gets rusted. Is it not? Due to this it loses its power and

rusts. Then you keep the machine in a workshop and give it rest.

There you repair, test and make it fit for use. Isn't it so? Now,

what should you do? See that the dust of bad thoughts does not get

into you. Why? Your faith otherwise begins to shake and becomes

unsteady. Take your mind to the workshop of surrender to God for

rest. Then, you are the best.

 

Hence, you should always preserve and maintain human values. In fact,

no spiritual path can be practiced with a sense of ego. Since all the

methods adopted by you are done with your mind, ego, or `I­ness', you

couldn't progress spiritually till now.

 

Some begin sadhana, identifying themselves with the body, aham

dehosmi . This will never take you to the true spiritual goal.

Ravana, Kamsa, Bhasmasura, and others belong to this category. Some

expect progress by changing even their faith and religion. It is not

matamu, religion, which is to be changed. It is mati, the mind that

has got to be changed. You are the embodiment of love. Don't merely

be a lover and narrow down the vistas of love. To feel and experience

the same divinity in all living beings is true love.

 

One day Krishna decided to lead his cows to a nearby forest for

grazing. He asked Yasoda to permit him to do so. Then, she said, " My

dear son! All along the way to the forest, you find rocks, thorny

bushes and stones. Better, you go tomorrow. I will get your footwear

ready for you " . Smiling, Krishna said, " Mother! Do I need footwear?

Why and what for? Cows don't have any footwear. Then why footwear for

me alone? " Yasoda said, " Look! They are animals. We are human beings.

We need chappals. " Krishna responded with a fitting reply, " Mother!

You mean to say cows are ordinary simple animals. Do we have as much

gratitude as they have? They eat grass and yield milk. The moment

they hear any voice they stop grazing and run towards me. Calves even

stop sucking milk and come to me. Their skin is useful after their

death to make chappals " . Cows are symbols of sacrifice and

forbearance. Such noble qualities are very essential for spiritual

seekers.

 

In agriculture, the land is ploughed well, watered and manured, weeds

removed, and seeds sown. The human heart is a field. This has to be

tilled and watered with love. You have to take the plough of self-

enquiry to plough the field of the human heart. You have to raise the

fence of discipline. Bad qualities are the weeds that have to be

removed totally. Then you can cultivate the crop of bliss. It is

enough if you have a small area of fertile land. Why have many acres

of barren land?

 

A small example, you see an orange fruit. It is covered with a green

bitter rind or skin. This is ego or pomp. You find hard seeds inside.

They are the wicked thoughts and bad actions. Then you find the

fibrous soft pulp.This is attachment. In order to have the sweet

juice you need to remove the outer bitter skin, the hard seeds and

squeeze the soft fibrous pulp. The sweet juice is love that you need.

This is the essence, raso vai sah.

 

You need both the positive and the negative wires for the electric

current to flow. The negative may be very powerful. It is powerless

without joining the positive. The fan and bulb may be very good and

of high voltage. But without power supply they are useless. This

current is positive. Divinity is positive. The bulb and the fan are

merely negative. All that pertains to the name and form is negative.

Your journey on the spiritual path will be successful if only there

is love. You have to reform yourself first. This transformation is

not taking place today.

 

You can carve a statue out of a boulder. By removing the husk, you

can have the grain. With the vegetables you bring from the market,

you can cook well and make good delicious items of food.

Difficulties, pain, blame, loss, etc., will help to refine you,

improve you, nurture faith and take you to spiritual heights.

 

You have to face and resolve all problems of life and proceed in your

sadhana. Follow your own experience and develop vis'vasa, faith

thereby. Can you breathe s'vasa, on behalf of anybody? You see with

your own eyes, don't you? The eyes of the other man may be bright and

beautiful. You cannot see through his eyes. Can you close your eyes

and see through the eyes of somebody else? You have to stand on your

own legs and not on anybody else's.