Swami teaches...Part 1. Creator Is the Cause, Humanity Is the Effect

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Light and Love Swami teaches...

Part 1. Creator Is the Cause, Humanity Is the Effect Every being is the effect of some cause and has created for some purpose. All things and beings in the Universe have God as the cause. Every deed involves a doer. After profound enquiry, the rishis discovered that God is the source of everything in creation. The Upanishads are the outcome of the explorations into the nature of the Divine made by the ancient sages. They declare that Jagath (the world) is permeated by Iswara (Lord, God, Supreme Being). Jagath is the place wherein all beings are born, grow, and disappear. The rishis compared Jagath to a seed. Every seed is covered by husk. It is only when the grain and the husk are together that the seed can germinate. Likewise, in the Cosmos, the inner grain is God, the outer husk is Prakriti (Nature).

 

 

/By Swami, the Upanishads are as "the whisperings of God to humanity." (There were originally one thousand one hundred and eighty Upanishads, but today only one hundred and eight of them have survived). Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860), famous German philosopher, wrote, "In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. They are destined sooner or later to become the faith of the people./"

 

Ceaselessly the air blows over the Earth everywhere, but we do not see it. Time passes through a procession of days and night filled with activity and sleep. Continuously, somewhere or the other, births and deaths, joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain are occurring. The year is filled with varying, seasons, blazing heat, or freezing cold, heavy rains or temperate weather. It is not easy to overcome these changing phenomena.

The Universe demonstrates the unity of God and Nature. Nature is dependent on God and God is the basis for Nature. Likewise, when we seek refuge in God, He provides the protecting cover for us. This is described as Siva-Sakthi-Atmaka-Swarupam - the union of Shiva and Sakthi.The Cosmos i.e. the Universe, thus, is not apart from God. The scientists are saying the same thing in their own language when they say matter is energy and energy is matter. The relationship between matter and energy indicated the Prakriti-Paramatma (Nature-God) relationship. "God is beyond the reach of mind and speech. From where speech returns, together with the mind, unable to grasp it," says the Upanishad. Measure the microcosm you have measured the macrocosm. Know all about clay; you have known all about pots, pans, plates, and cups. Know about the base, you have known about the superstructure. Know about water, you know about rain, cloud, steam, stream, river - all its modifications and manifestations. The same quantity of silver might be shaped into a plate today, a set of spoons tomorrow, and a number of cups the day after. The forms get new names; the uses of each are different. When put to use or when silver remains as a silver 'lump' only, in the hands of every one that holds, it or handles it, in the beginning or in the end, it and they are always silver.

 

In the murky, dusk of ignorance, it appears diverse, that is all for, then, your are led to distinguish and differentiate on the bases of name and form. The multifarious efflorescence of Maya, the primal desire which proliferated into the Universe - all that is the permutation and combination of the five elements, to cognize which human has equipped with the nose (smell, earth attribute), tongue (taste, water attribute), eye (perceptible form, attribute of fire), skin (touch, attribute of air) and ear (sound, attribute of sky).

'I am not the body' declares that Nature, the Universe, all created things and beings, are only appearances in the ocean of limitless diversity of the Great One. Human can realize the goal either by picturing something that is different and distant, and praying to it, adoring it, worshipping it - such ways are useful only up to a limit, to purge the mind of low desires, sensual urges etc., or by delving into oneself, to reach the truth.

 

The Divine cannot be known by ordinary perception or through rules of logic and reasoning. The realization of the Great One cannot be won by means of advice, science, listening to talks and discourses, study of books or austerities. It worried even Narada (sage-bard; traveled the world chanting Narayana he was famous for creating disputes, resulting in solutions for the spiritual advancement or victory of the virtuous), who approached the sage, Sanathkumara, for the vision of the Infinite. With this decomposing body and the deteriorating intellect, human cannot experience and contain the boundless surge of bliss that accompanies the realization that he/she is the absolute.

The wisdom that comes of actual experience is as the raindrop, when compared with seawater, which is saline and undrinkable book-knowledge or derived knowledge. Through the inter-action of the rays of the Sun, the salinity was removed and the water that floated into the sky became sweet and sustaining. Sadhana that turns the physical into the meta-physical is the solar action that confers portability.

Deep sleep is often compared to samadhi, for, the senses, the mind, the reason, are all absent therein; only the ego is immersed in itself. It is in bliss, but it is not aware of that bliss, for, waking alone gives that knowledge. Therefore, what can grant realization is the awareness of the waking stage and the bliss of the sleeping stage. Concentrate on the point, where one is having these two: that is the moment of victory.

Samadhi is a much-misunderstood word. All kinds of emotional upsurges, attacks of hysteria, nervous breakdowns, and neurotic fits are now extolled and exalted as Samadhi. Samadhi - it says sama dhee, balanced, unruffled intellect; that is, a discriminating reaction of equanimity, in the face of heat and cold, grief and joy, pain and pleasure, rejection or rejoicing. Sama-dhee it is the being, the awareness and the bliss. One who has attained that stage, or realized that he/she is the One without a second, will be indifferent to fear or favor, to hate or love, to exalt or execrate. Young people must make all efforts to know the Reality by boldly entering the realm of the spirit, as Swethakethu (spelling also Shvethakethu, name of a great sage). Swethakethu sought to discover the first Cause, the Reality, that which is neither born nor subject to death, which has neither beginning nor end. (The hypothesis that food was the cause of life was rejected. His father led him from one theory to another, which he visualised as the ultimate Truth). Swethakethu was convinced that the Cause could not be water, fire, air, or ether (akasha). It could only be God, the Great One.

 

Youth are makers of tomorrow's on the Earth; good or bad, is dependent on them. Tomorrow depends on their skill, on their character, on their eagerness to learn and to serve. They can also bring about, by their conduct and character, the disintegration, the decline or the debilitation of its culture and fame. Today there is a great need to assert and proclaim by every means possible the power of truth and morality, their holiness and their unique importance in life. This must be proclaimed both by words and by deeds. The inner urge to uphold them is the urge of the Divine in us. In the world today, knowledge and skills have grown immensely, but human qualities have practically not developed. Every subject is riddled with controversy. The reasoning process is invoked, without understanding what exactly is reason. (What a reversal of values has human accomplished. Truth is treated as a foe; falsehood is the friend of human. Pictorially, liquor is sold in a tavern, to which people trek miles; but milk is taken to their doorsteps, by vendors who cry hoarse, to draw the attention of the residents, but yet, they turn away with their ware unsold).

 

Youth have to pay attention to 26 categories. Five senses of action (karma-indriyas); five senses of knowledge (jnana-indriyas); five vital airs (prana); five attributes of the elemental principle, smell (of prithvi or earth); taste (of water); light (of fire); touch (of air); sound (of sky); and the remaining four manas (mind), buddhi (intellect), chittha (differentiating memories) and ahamkara (the selfish ego). The jivi (individual soul) is the 25th; it has the 26th, the Paramatma (the Supreme Self or Reality) on one side and 24 principles on the other. Jivi has to illumine all 24, and draw them all to the Reality, namely, the 26th category, the Paramatma. When they are illumined, they disappear, for they cannot survive light; they are but creatures that are the progeny of Maya (delusion and illusion).

 

When all 24 categories are analyzed and known, nothing is gained. For, they belong to the realm of the relatively real, not the absolutely real. They are Jagath, the moving, changing, the transitory, and the untrue. (The Vedas, Upanishads, Sastras and Puranas have not mentioned anything about the origins and dissolutions of these, with any degree of certainty, because they are concerned more with the rescue operations of the 'I' that is entangled in them and with validation that they are of no importance. Know thyself; you know the world, which is but a projection of thy mind; that is the lesson conveyed). The most desirable subject for study is the secret of the soul, which is immortal. Do not be satisfied with the education that helps to eke out a livelihood during your sojourn on earth. You have come to the world as humans in order to manifest fully the special human endowment, of intelligence and intuition. For realization of this faith is essential for human progress in every field. Faith is only one. There is nothing like blind faith. For faith, there can be no reason and no season. Faith and spirituality are beyond reason. It is foolish to search for the grounds of faith.

Knowledge, and through knowledge, wisdom can be earned only by means of faith and effort. Equipped with these, human can venture into the heights and emerge victoriously. (Of course, one has to be warned against cultivating too much faith in things that are merely material). Faith is power. Without faith, living is impossible. We have faith in tomorrow following today. People with no faith cannot plan; they court misery by their want of faith.

 

A rich man in South Africa once heard a divine voice, which promised him a gold mine, if only he would dig at a certain place. He dug at that place to a depth of 200 feet and failed to discover any vein of gold. His faith waned. He doubted the authenticity of the voice. He talked to others how the voice had played false. When another rich man heard his story, he developed great faith in what he believed. He dug in the same areas and laid bare a rich gold mine barely three feet below the surface of the earth. That became the richest and the most famous of the gold mines of South Africa. Those who dug for the gold mine could well say, "It is only three feet of soil between victory and defeat".

Another example from history. During the Second World War, the Japanese bombed an Indian steamer and it was sunk. Many lost their lives. Only five men managed to row their lifeboat and hoped to have a chance to survive, in spite of the surging ocean. One of them became desperate. "The sea will swallow me. I will be food for sharks," he cried, and, in panic, he fell into the sea. Another man wept for his family. "I am afraid they will suffer much. I am dying without arranging for their future", he said. He too lost his faith in his survival and breathed his last. The third man said, "Alas! I have with me the policy documents of insurance. What a pity I did not give them to my wife. How can she get the amount, now that I am dying?" The other two men reinforced each other's faith in God. They said, "We shall prove by sticking to life, however desperate the situation. God has created us for some good purpose. We shall not give up faith in God's compassion and power.” They had to give up the leaky boat and swim towards the shore. Within five minutes, a helicopter sent from a coastal ship, which had received signals for help from the sinking steamer, sighted them, and hauled them up to safety. While safe on land, they said, "It is only five minutes between victory and defeat." Among people are optimists and pessimists, the hopefuls and the depressed. The optimists keep their eyes always on higher values; the pessimists slide down into dispiritedness and despair. During nights, the optimists look up at the starlight; the pessimists look down and grumble at the darkness around them. The optimists draw confidence and courage from the twinkling of a myriad lights on high. The optimists have eyes only for the flower on the rose plant. The pessimists see only the thorns underneath the flower. So fear of thorns results in rough handling and the petals of the lovely rose fall off. Seeing a glass half filled with water, the optimist is glad that it is half-full, while the pessimist is sad that it is half-empty. Though both statements are correct, the optimist hopes to fill the other half too, while the pessimist gives up in despair. The one has faith; the other has no faith to sustain him. Therefore, we must develop faith by steady effort. Many festivals in Bharath have been ordained in order to take stock of one's spiritual progress, one’s faith in this progress and to make human resolve to march forward, until the goal is reached. These festivals underline the significance of ancient sacred scriptures, Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, Vedas, Upanishads, and many others. For example, recently the festival of Ashadi Ekadasi - the eleventh day of the lunar fortnight of Ashad was celebrated. It is known as the great Ekadasi or Maha Ekadasi. However, the real meaning of Ekadasi, the eleventh, is the following. When ten senses (five senses of action and five through which knowledge of the objective world is gained) are coordinated and turned in the direction of God, the eleventh, then it becomes genuine Ekadasi. The eleventh was a day on which one has to transcend the lower impulses originating from the thamasic (inertia) and the rajasic (passionate activity) natures and, help the upsurge of sathwic (pure) tendencies. This is also the meaning of the Namaskar, where you fold both palms together and hold them on your chest, near the heart region. The ten senses surrender to the person adored, with real sincerity in the heart. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 11. "Saline turned sweet," Chapter 4; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 15. "A happy human community," Chapter 12; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 19. "Bhagavan and Bhakti," Chapter 4; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 26. "The life of Samartha Raamadhas," Chapter 10; Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 36. "Develop Spirit of brotherhood," Chapter 15). Namaste - Reet