Swami teaches... Part 3. Be Like the lotus

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Light and Love Swami teaches... Part 3. Be Like the Lotus Where there is no truth, there can be no bliss. “Trikala badhyam sathyam (Truth is changeless in three periods of time).” Dharma is also changeless in three periods of time. The injunction of the Vedas is sathyam vada, dharmam chara (speak the truth and follow dharma). However, as a rule, nobody pays heed to this dictum. Today, people misinterpret truth as that which is expressed, seen, heard, and experienced by the senses. Similarly, dharma is also misinterpreted. This is in fact prakrita sathya and prakrita dharma (worldly truth and worldly dharma). This is related to the outward path (pravritti). The inward path (nivritti) is related to the fundamental truth and righteousness (sathya and dharma). Nevertheless, today no one seems to be taking cognizance of this. God is the embodiment of Sathya and Dharma. The Divine is beyond time and space, any time, any place is appropriate for repeating God's name. The Bhagavatha declares, "Contemplate on God always, at all places and at all times." You must learn to think of God in whatever you see, whatever you do, and whatever you touch. You are playing temporary roles on the cosmic stage. You must get back to your true Divine Selves when the play is over. That is why we pray to God to illumine our intellect, as stated in the Great Gayatri mantra - the royal road to Divinity. Today the world is in disarray because the principles of Sathya and Dharma are not scrupulously followed. Human feels proud of his/her medha shakti (intelligence). Greatness does not lie in merely possessing intelligence. It has to be converted into skill. Then will there be balance in human life. Newton wanted to know whether the creation had emerged on its own or whether an unseen force was governing it. He conducted extensive research for several years to know the truth. Ultimately, he gave up all the scientific experimentation and turned inward. Within a span of nine days, he realized that there a ‘Divine hand’ was responsible for the entire creation, its sustenance, and its annihilation. Newton looked on the Universe and all that is in it as a riddle, as a secret, set by the Almighty. Other scientists like Einstein, Schrödinger, etc., came to the same conclusion. Many eminent modern scientists are also trying to find out the truth about the Divine creative principle of the Universe. Famous physicist David Bohm concluded that the reason subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another regardless of the distance separating them is not because they are sending some sort of mysterious signal back and forth, but because their separateness is an illusion. He argues that at some deeper level of reality such particles are not individual entities, but are extensions of the same fundamental something i. e. unity in diversity. (These and many other discoveries of modern science are described in the book by Greg F. Reinking "Cosmic Legacy: Space, Time, and the Human Mind" 2006. The brief summary of the book is available in Scientific American, Jan. 2007). Today's modern science step by step reaches closer to the truths about the Universe and human's mind explained and pictorially analyzed by Swami. That is fact, what cannot be denied by anybody. In the world exist various kinds of subjects for which knowledge is available - knowledge of science, technology, music, literature, art, sculpture, economics, politics, and etc. All these are only components of worldly knowledge relating to the phenomenal world. All worldly knowledge can help to increase one's comforts, and the worldly technical development. (Very often unbalanced development what caused deep destruction of natural resources of biosphere. Is such development the development at all)? However, through such education human society will not contribute to mukthi (liberation). However much we may acquire control over material conditions, this will not serve to produce peace of mind or the bliss of the soul. In a sense, the more the worldly knowledge the less is one likely to have mental peace.

 

Worldly knowledge is no doubt necessary. How can we live in human society without it? To obtain the accord with laws of Nature and the peace in mind Vedanta stresses to the purity and harmony of thought, speech, and action as Thrikaranasuddhi. Activities arising from Thrikaranasuddhi find expression in two ways: one through artistic creativity and the other, through scientific exploration. Of the two, artistic creativity is supremely important. The aesthetic feeling is based on creative imagination. A sculptor who desires to carve an image out of a piece of rock has to have the figure he seeks to carve in his imagination. This imagination finds creative expression in the sculpture. As against this aesthetic creativity, we have the urge for scientific enquiry. This is primarily concerned with objects in the external world. Experimental research has its vision turned outward. Nevertheless, even that has its basis in the Antardrishti (Inward Vision). This relates to the subject. However, it is not the be-all and end-all. Worldly knowledge should be under control similarly, as the mind should be under control of intelligence and conscience. (Many great kings in the past, who have ruled the vast empires and have enjoyed every kind of pleasure, chose at the close of their lives to renounce everything for the sake of realizing spiritual peace).

Swami shows that the path to God-realization are the true purposes of life. His Teaching shows how these purposes should be realized. Swami's Teaching dispels the darkness of ignorance by leading one to the light of knowledge of the Good, the True and the Eternal. Swami's Teaching demonstrates that beyond the changing forms and names of the phenomenal world there is a Divinity that is permanent and unchanging. Love the world as the vesture of God, no more, no less. Love cures pettiness, hate, and grief. Love loosens bonds; it saves human from the torment of birth and death. Love binds all hearts in a soft silken symphony. Love is the greatest expression of harmony. On Principle of Love, Harmony and Order the Universe and objects in It exist. Such harmony exists also in human mind, but it was covered by Maya reality. It is possible to reveal by the help of Swami's Teaching.

Some months ago Scientific American Science News, March 19, 2007 published 248-Dimensional Object as an example of harmony.

With help from a supercomputer, researchers have mapped an extremely complex object in mathematics known as the E8 group. The image made by John Stembridge (shown in attachment). There 8-dimensional form projected onto two dimensions. Enjoy the harmony in Nature by imaginative example. Researchers will hope to uncover subtle ways in which different equations or geometric shapes can be seen as facets of the same underlying thing - an insight that has led to some of the century's biggest discoveries in particle physics.

 

You are all caskets of the Divine Love; share it, spread it. Express that Love in acts of service, words of sympathy, thoughts of compassion. Just as when you awake from sleep, you know that the dream, which you had, was a matter of minutes, though the chain of events dreamed spanned many years, this life will appear a transient affair when you awake into jnana after this brief 'dream of life.' Be always full of joy so that when death calls, you can quit with a light laugh, and not whimper in grief.

 

Love is the greatest gift God has given to a human being. The value of any material object in this world can be assessed; but not the value of Love. Thus, when you exchange Love and spend your lives happily, evil qualities like hatred, jealousy, ego, etc., cannot come anywhere near.

By the way, there is a chemical stick called “Lakshmana Rekha”. When a line is drawn with this stick in the house, no insect of any kind can enter the area. Similarly, where there is Love, there the evil qualities cannot enter. Hence, only one quality, the quality of Love is sufficient to drive away all evil qualities. Love can be shared with any number of people; it will not deplete in quantity. In fact, the more you share it with others the more it will grow. God is our father; we are all His children. All these children have a right to inherit His property. All have to share that ‘property’, the property of Love. Seen through the eyes of Love, all beings are beautiful, all deeds are dedicated, all thoughts are innocent. The world is one vast kin. Human is born in society; human is bred in society; human is shaped well or ill by the subtle influence of society. Human, in turn, as a member of society influences the people who contact him/her. If you develop a feeling of Love how can there be a feeling of hatred between you and the other human being? Human's life is turned or twisted by the standards, modes and behavior patterns of the society into which person is born through the effects of his/her accumulated karma. The materialistic philosophers today speak about oneness of humanity. Nevertheless, how do they explain the vast and immeasurable differences among people - differences in abilities, conditions, attitudes, and impulses? One is continually sick. Another is hale and hearty. One is always cheerful. Another is continuously miserable. People do not realize that these differences are the results of past karma. The dheha and the dhesa (body and the country) are inextricably intertwined. The body is one encasement; the country is another, for the spirit of human. Use society for your uplift; try to shape society so that it will help the uplift of individuals and not turn them away from God. Everyone craves for security, peace, joy and happiness. However, most believe that these can be extracted from Nature around. The result is: human wastes the years in playing and resting, earning and spending, drinking and eating. It is important to note that people should realize the connection between food and the state of one's mind. One will develop good qualities if one takes sathwik food, which is wholesome and moderate in quantity. All that is eaten should be regarded as an offering to God. What we eat affects our health. We eat by choice what is a decision of the mind. (When we make the mental decision to become vegetarian our thought processes influences the way in which we think about eating animal-based foods. We make these choices we experience fewer and fewer diseases as we listen to, and take action on what our mind being under the control of intellect, is telling us).

 

The human body is verily a small generator of different powers (energy with different frequencies and intensities or vibrations in general).The jataragni (digestive fire), for example, is the source of heat energy in the body. Swami asks before partaking of food to chant the sloka (verse): Brahmarpanam Brahma Havir Brahmagnou Brahmana Hutham Brahmaiva Thena Ganthavyam Brahmakarma Samadhina. Immediately, you get the reply from within: Aham Vaishvanaro Bhoothva Praninam Dehamasritha Pranapana Samayukta Pachamyannam Chathurvidham. God, who is present in you in the form of Vaishvanara, digests the food that you eat. The life is temporary. You should suffuse it with spirituality and should step into a new life with sacred qualities. Very often, by joining bad company, people become slaves. Remember Ramayana, what happened to Kaikeyi on listening to the words of Manthara. No one loved Rama more than Kaikeyi. But when her intelligence was clouded, she believed the words of the wicked Manthara. To one with perverted intellect, truth appears as untruth and vice versa. So, run away from bad company, join good company, undertake righteous actions day and night, and enquire which is permanent and which is ephemeral. Let the flow of peace from within will became stronger. Swami's illuminative quotation notes, "Where there is Peace, there will be Love. The Light of Love shines on one and all. It is the Love that illuminates the entire Universe." (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 4. "Heroes, not Zeros," Chapter 1; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 8. "The way of the wise," Chapter 23; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 16. "Karma, Dharmaja and Brahma," Chapter 7; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 16. "Karma, Dharmaja and Brahma," Chapter 7, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 32. Part 2. "Truth emerges from Wisdom," Chapter 5 ; Sathya Sai Baba. Vidya Vahini. Chapter XI; http://www.sssbpt.org/Pages/Prasanthi_Nilayam/adilabad_discourse 2007.html). Namaste - Reet