Swami teaches... Part 1. Educate yourself through Love

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Light and Love Swami teaches...

Part 1. Educate Yourself Through Love A deep enquiry will reveal that Nothing equals Love in this world Be it charity, sacred rituals, penance, Wisdom, purity, or adherence to truth And Sanathana Dharma. Light and Love, so essential for being really helpful to human, have to come from the recognition of spiritual kinship. Since the dawn of humanity, human beings have always felt the need to "believe" in something or someone bigger than themselves. When you are eager to place offerings before the Lord, let your offering be Love, instead of transitory materials. Love is the very light of Love; it is the only comprehensive Code of Conduct. In this world, no other virtue is greater than Love. Love is truth, Love is righteousness, and Love is wealth. This world originated from Love, is sustained by Love, and ultimately merges in Love. Love is expressed by cosmic harmony, beauty, and order. Among humanity Love is also the inner activator of spiritual awareness and feeling of Oneness the whole Creation. "How much can I give my fellowmen? What can I contribute to the fulfillment of ideals?" All are eager to take none is earnest about giving. The reason is absence of Love, that transcends caste, creed, color, and the fences erected: by human between human. Fill the heart with Love, and distribute that Love to all. God is there as Love and you are only drawing on Him, when you are sharing Love with others. Expansion is Love, is life. Contraction is death, is hate. Pray for the good of all, crave for the prosperity of all, not of one person or party, or nation. The craving for power if it afflicts any one person degenerates into a mania, and it brings in its wake, great confusion, and calamity. Be servants, not masters. How can one be happy, putting another into the humiliation of attending to one's personal comforts - this is what hard to understand. According to the Vishnu Sahasranama sthotra, the entire Universe is the very form of Vishnu (Viswam Vishnuswarupam). Even if human were to travel at the speed of light, it will take 22,000 crore years to circumambulate Lord Vishnu. Who can live for such a long period of time? However, it is possible to go around the Viswa Swarupa (God in the form of Universe) in one second. It is Love that makes it possible. The speed of light may be estimated, but not the speed of Love.(But human has put barriers around such transcendental and infinite Love and is using it for trivial purposes. That is why the world has become chaotic today. People may attribute various reasons for the lack of peace and security. The main reason is that human is not able to develop Love within him/herself. Human is not making any effort to realize the presence of the infinite, immortal, and nectarine Love within). Let your thoughts, words, and deeds be suffused with Love. Let your life be filled with Love. Nothing else is required to have the vision of the Divine (Sakshatkara).

There are innumerable powers such as atomic power, magnetic power, etc., in this world, but the power of Love surpasses them all. For human in this world, Love is life and Love is everything. It is from Love that the five elements (pancha bhutas) have emerged. It is Love that shines brilliantly in every individual. But human, not being able to comprehend the significance of Love attributes physical relationship to it. The love of a mother toward her child is vatsalya (affection). The love that exists between wife and husband is moha (infatuation). The love that exists among friends and relations is anuraga (attachment). The love toward material objects is ichcha (desire). Love directed toward God in totality is known as bhakti (devotion). The word bhakti (devotion) (derived from the root word bhaj) means pure, unsullied and selfless Love toward God.

It is only Love that encompasses and permeates the entire world. Today, human is misusing this sacred Loveby diverting it toward the ephemeral world. Ancient Rishis, leading a life of solitude in dense forests, could live in harmony even with wild animals only because of the power of their Love. There is nothing, that Love cannot achieve in this world. It can even melt the hardest of rocks. When the principle of Love in every human being is unified, it becomes cosmic Love (viswa prema). Do you want to quench your thirst for love? Yearn for His grace and worship Him.

Swami's requests to look at the God within and everyone and everything in creation is an equal aspect. This God, Swami's Cosmic Form, Cosmic Consciousness is the entire Universe of infinite conscious, intelligent, vibrating energy in which all existence has its Being. By scientific hypothesis and my fancy our Universe may be compared a balloon, with the outer skin of matter (atoms are 4 % only) and 96% is inner content of dark matter and energy. The outer skin of the Universe by worldly known quantum physicist David Bohm is as "frozen light". Issac Newton stated, "Are not the gross bodies and light convertible into one another, and may not bodies receive much of their activity from the particles of light which enter their composition." In Atmic Reality there are only Atma exists as energy with an infinite range of vibrations. Scientists cannot understand this process without spiritual outlook. From aspect of Atmic Reality time and space are illusions and consequently all is the Great Now. Big Bang from this aspect did not happen "billions of years ago," it happened, is happening and will always happen in the Great Now. There is no "beginning" or "end" there simply "Is". (Maybe the Universe as human mind is in a constant state of expansion from within, radiating outwards from The Source, Cosmic Consciousness)? The Vedas declare that all-pervasive God is present within and without individual. All names and forms are His. Names and forms may vary, but the Atma is the same in all. Recognize the unity of all beings. That will result in universal Love. The world is a mansion. All belong to the caste of humanity. Unity should prevail in such a mansion. The Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheswara are within us. That is why Swami often says that human being is not one but three. This is the meaning of the three words Bhur, Bhuvah, Suvah in the Gayathri mantra. Bhur means bhuloka (the Earth). The Earth is made up of matter. The human body, which is also made up of matter, is called bhuloka. Bhuvaha means life force (prana) It is this life force that makes the body move. It is known as vibration. Suvaha means wisdom. This is known as radiation. Each Spirit, (every human being, every animal, every fish, every plant and every rock, stone and so on is a cosmic channel, holographic pattern of Paramatma, through which Atma can experience and therefore expand. Our Real Self i.e. Atma gains experience through Paramatma. It is infinite and eternal process and humanity is blessed to be a part of this Divine play. The Vedas declare, Prajnanam Brahma. This Prajnana is nothing but radiation. Human being is a combination of materialization, vibration, and radiation. You do not need to search for God outside. Turn your vision inward. There you will find God. Visualize the unity among all beings and conduct yourself with compassion in your heart. With intense yearning, contemplate on God at least once a day. God does exist, but He cannot be seen by the naked eye. He can be seen only when you get rid of worldlydelusions. If we invite some great individual, such as a saint or a learned person to our house, some preparations will have to be made at home, to make it presentable. We have to clean the house and the surroundings before the guest comes to our house. If we take so much care and precaution when we invite a person who has only a temporary position, how much more clean should we keep our heart when we invite the very Creator and protector of the world Himself to enter. It is only when we purify our heart that God will be able to enter it. Today, we find people depositing their money in banks. Likewise, deposit the power of your senses, your mind, and the wisdom in the bank of God. They will never diminish; they will continue to grow forever andwill be returned to you in times of need. Sustain and safeguard sacred Love. Never give vent to hatred. Consider whatever happens as good for you. (The lifetime is only a conscious spark of Atmic eternity). The main aim of human life is to acquire the knowledge of the Self. This is the true Purushartha (goal of life). Human life will find fulfillment if this goal is attained. The ability to distinguish between that which is permanent and that which is transitory, the ability to control the internal and external senses, yearning for liberation and the path of inquiry - all these four (the four auspicious qualities) depend on devotion.

In order to experience bliss, develop Love more and more. The more you develop Love, the more you will experience bliss. Chant the Divine name always Hiranyakasipu made every attempt to wean Prahlada away from the Godward path. But never did Prahlada give up chanting the name of Narayana. One day, Hiranyakasipu, on being prompted by Narada, called Prahlada and asked him, “Son, what is that you have learnt so far?” In reply, Prahlada sang a verse in praise of Narayana: Narayana Param Brahma, Narayana Param Prema, Narayana Param Thapa Saryam Narayana Sama. He said, “Father, I have learnt that Narayana is the Supreme Lord. Repetition of His name is the greatest penance, and everything is Narayanan only.” Like Prahlada, you too chant the Divine name always. Saints like Jayadeva, Gauranga, Thukaram, and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa prayed to the Lord fervently and yearned for His love. They could have His visionand earn His grace only due to such intense yearning. But, due to the impact of Kali age, people want to attain Divine grace without making any effort whatsoever. Wickedness, misery, and violence are on the rise because Love for God is waning. Transform all your wicked qualities like jealousy and anger into Love. Remember, the tongue is a tool. You can harm yourself and harm others with it. So, be very careful; use it only for your good and for the good of others. If you use it for talking kind words, for repeating the Name of God or singing His Glory, or praying to Him then, it is put to the best use.

 

God is the presiding deity of action (Karmadhyaksha). You cannot have a table unless there is a carpenter to make it. You cannot construct a house unless there is a builder. Likewise, for everything there is a creator.He presides over every activity. Today, spiritual aspirants undertake various types of sadhana such as meditation, penance, yoga, and chanting Vedic hymns. Love should be the undercurrent of all these spiritual exercises. No benefit accrues from chanting mantras if they are not coupled with the feeling of Love. The Vedas declare: Na karmana na prajaya dhanena thyagenaikena amritatmanasuhu (neither wealth nor progeny nor good deeds can confer immortality; it can be attained only through sacrifice). Immortality is nothing but Love. Love is nectarine, it is infinite, and all bliss. It is only the power of Love that can nullify a curse or a sin. It is only Love that can remove all the bitterfeelings and enhance the sweetness of life. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol.11. "Love and serve," Chapter 7 and "Forms of food;" Chapter 8; Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 13. "Thirty-five and sixty-five," Chapter 10; Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 15, "Light and warmth," Chapter 10; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 17. "Charioteer of the heart," Chapter 23; Vol. 19. "The ways of the Divine," Chapter 6; Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 21. "Earn God's Love," Chapter 4; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 32. "Power of Love," Chapter 2; Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. "Service to Society is Service to God," Divine Discourse on 23rd November 2006). Namaste - Reet