Sai message for the day

[Guest guest]

We are influenced by social, ethical, scientific, economic and

political factors in life. I have one question to ask you. If I am

wrong, kindly pardon me. We hear people speaking about equality and

equanimity. How can we achieve them? Some groups in society claim to

work towards these ideals. How are we to accomplish them?

 

There is nothing wrong if one is a seeker of truth. You understand

clearly that the two words you now mentioned `samanatva' equality,

and `samatva' equanimity, are not synonymous. They have different

meanings.

 

Samatva, equanimity, is to be achieved at the individual level, while

samanatva, equality, applies to a society. It is impossible to

realise and establish samatva anywhere and at any time. Your body is

not equal to it.. It has ups and downs. While your nose and stomach

project outwards, your neck dips downwards. Are you like a pillar?

Then, how about the earth? Is it level? No. It is full of ups and

downs with mountains, valleys, hills, oceans etc. Isn't it? Are all

of you of the same height, weight and complexion? Are your ideas,

aspirations, ambitions equal? No. Where is equality then?

 

A small illustration. One person has seven acres of land. Another

person has five acres. Supposing you divide the land equally between

them, the first person loses one acre and naturally feels sad while

the other person gains one more acre and feels happy. The feelings of

the two are not the same. Then, where is equality?

 

A small story to illustrate the same meaning. A certain king went

round his kingdom in disguise and noticed the sufferings and

difficulties of some of his people. He decided to alleviate their

sufferings. He went to a forest and there he prayed to God. God

manifested before him and granted him the life span of a hundred

years to realise his dream of establishing equality in his kingdom,

when all people would be happy and equal. On hearing this, the queen

went and prayed to God. " Oh! God! May the people also be granted a

hundred year span of life! What is the use if only the king lives for

a hundred years? " God granted a hundred years to each one of the

people also. Then a few elders did penance and pleased God who

responded to their prayers by granting a hundred years to the queen,

Rajyalajkshmi. After some time the king returned to his kingdom, and

with great difficulty, he could find out his palace because God had

made all equal and hence he noticed palaces all over.

 

The king asked the queen, " Why are the streets dirty? " She said, " Oh!

We have no sweepers now, all being equal " . Then the king asked the

queen to get some water ready for him to take his bath. The queen

said, " Oh King! We have no servants as all are equal now " . The king

realised his mistake, as he found the entire social order greatly

disturbed. He immediately prayed to God for the return of the old

order.

 

This is how the so-called equality operates. But, `equanimity' is

different. It has to be achieved by everyone. It is the state of mind

unruffled by `bumps and jumps' in life, not tossed about by defeats

and failures. A state of mind that remains the same in the time of

both fortune and misfortune is said to be equanimous. You should not

be elated by praise or depressed by blame but maintain equanimity in

both the times, Spiritually, `ekovasi , sarvabhutantaratma,' the same

God is in everyone. Feelings of thirst and hunger are identical for

all. Desires differ, views vary. As you know, `tastes differ'.

Equality is impossible but equanimity is desirable and one has to

work for it.