The Divine Lifestyle (1a)

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I AM KNOWLEDGE(Chapter 1)Knowledge

is power. Never has there been a period in history where the world is

exploding with knowledge. The mass media has shrunk the world to a

village, removing borders and frontiers. Almost every subject has

exploded with information and facts and this is forcefully crammed into

the cranium of students. Examination papers bear the brunt of the vomit

of knowledge which earn students the required certificates. This

eventually becomes begging bowls for job seekers. Schools, colleges,

universities, tuition centers and educational houses continue to

generate students every year. If knowledge is light then the amount of

light being released every year from institutions all around the world

should have made mother earth brighter than the sun. However, nations

all over continue to groan about their respective social ills and

anti-social behavior among the youth who follow trends in lifestyles

that continue to endanger them, their families and the nation as a

whole.Once

a young man complained to the doctor, 'Wherever I go and whatever I

read, the articles always point out that smoking is bad. Whatever

magazines I come across, I read that smoking is bad. Articles that are

given to me always speak about the dangers of smoking.' The concerned

doctor asked, 'so have you stopped smoking.' Out come the reply, 'No, I

have stopped reading!''Reading

is not enough, you may master all the commentaries and you may be able

to argue and discuss with great scholars about these texts; but without

attempting to practice what they teach, it is a waste of time. I never

approve of book learning; practice is what I evaluate.'(Sathya Sai Speaks Vol 1 - pg 43)The

lack of practicing the knowledge acquired is the reason why the world

is still dark. The Divine Utterance is 'I am knowledge'. This indeed

must be one of the first times that we have heard of such a statement

being made by anyone. The teacher is not just urging us to pursue

whatever field of knowledge that we have embarked on but to really

become an authority itself of the subject. This is true and applicable

for both the material and the spiritual fields. One can argue that to

achieve this state is only a utopian dream triggered by some hope

promising sage or saint from the hills or caves. At one glance, it will

seem totally impossible and highly ridiculous to even suggest to fellow

aspirants to yearn for such a state.Einstein in school never

displayed any brilliance and showed only mediocre potential that would

have gone unnoticed if not for a silent latent spark of curiosity that

was lurking deep within. The ignited mind of Einstein prompted by the

deep desire to know pursued to seek for truth. He buried himself in the

dark corners of the icy cold laboratory; the only warmth perhaps was

the dancing flame of curiosity burning from within. Every data and fact

was accumulated, synthesized, analyzed and digested. His proficiency

grew in stature demanding the respect of other well-known scientists.

His E=MS2 equation revolutionized the world and shifted paradigms which

brought new dimensions of awareness. His mastery of physics was indeed

applauded and today, Einstein is synonymous with Physics. He had become

the subject itself and hence he is the knowledge. In fact, even the

time of his period in history, will be known to the world as

'Einstein's era. And yet, he said, 'I think I have used about 25% of my

intellectual capacity during my life.' This remark itself is highly

motivating as it implies that in each one of us, there is a great

fountain of treasure in the form of knowledge that is waiting to be

discovered.The divine utterance is a direct call to all

aspirants and devotees of God, that one who is seeking GOD or aspiring

for the higher constantly strive to expand his/her frontiers of

knowledge - both worldly and spiritual - till both become one.Religion

is not an escape route for people to hide away from understanding and

knowing the world. Spiritual people must also be recognized as an

authority in their chosen field or profession. One's contribution to

his profession or field must become the bench mark for others to be

motivated. Hence it is a direct call for devotees not to kill the

curiosity of any one but use it to shake off from the states of

complacency he has accidentally slipped into. Giant footprints on the

sands of time have been left by people who have asked questions such

as, 'How should I improve? How should I excel? What else can I contribute?'The teacher's utterance of 'I am knowledge' sounds

simple and sweet to the ears but a heart wanting to burst to higher

heights understands the meaning behind the suggestiveness of this

utterance. The line has the potential to completely revolutionize the

present lifestyle that many lead. Headlines in national dailies are

screaming statistics offered by not nations riddled with poverty and

disasters. It is those fully developed countries that report of

increasing rise in suicide tendencies among youth and teenagers.Why

is there such a phenomena occurring at this present age where

everything imaginable is within reach. The problem lies only in the

fact that we have allowed the aspect of curiosity to remain latent and

dormant. In the past, curiosity was summoned as a survival mechanism to

escape from dangers arising from choking circumstances. As time went

on, the world continued to see curiosity in scientists generating

inventions and discoveries and people in general advancing their life

with modern amenities and comfort. Somehow, in the present day, the

fire of curiosity has been reduced to a dim flame in many, enough only

to search for ways and means to pass their immediate examination or

search for security and comfort. Mind ceases to question and even if it

does, the quality of such a questioning minds needs to be looked into.Bhagavan has even classified the nature of the questioning mind.'Questions are generally classified into four groups :1) trivial 2) low 3) passable 4) praiseworthy.Questions

that are raised in order to drag another into a controversy and later

to inflict a humiliating defeat on him are 'trivial'. Questions that

are put in order to demonstrate one's own cleverness and skill are

'low'. Questions which announce the intellectual equipment reasoning

faculty of the questioner are 'passable' and belong to the third class.

Questions that are asked with the sincere desire to remove one's doubts

are 'praiseworthy' and belong to the highest class.'(Ramakatha Rasa Vahini - pg 312)Hence

merely questioning for the sake of questioning to demonstrate

intellectual prowess is not desirable. Genuine curiosity is the fuel to

attain knowledge but unfortunately the mind today has lost the dynamism

to question or even possess the peace to fathom into the unknown.

Accepting anything without a challenge, following trends and styles

without questioning, the youth today slowly are sinking into mediocrity.'The

goal is liberation, immortality, merger with the Divine, getting

immersed to the inner and outer glory. Knowing this is the real aim of

man, he who is unaware of this is ignorant. However profound his

scholarship may be, he does not know the answer to the only question

that is worth asking. Who am I?'(Sathya Sai Speaks VI, Chap 4 - pg 236)This mind must question on the purpose of life and this will surely fuel the search for answers. The question 'Who am I?'

when asked shifts the focus to the solution rather than a given

problem. Any other perspective orientates the mind to be problem

focused and immediately puts the spotlight on what is not working or

what is wrong. Such a mind will look for someone to blame, causes

defensiveness, stifles creativity, causes more problems which drains

energy. 'Who am I?'

is a question which orientates the mind to the solution. In any given

problem, asking this question releases the pain of the problem and

focuses on the real purpose. In such a self examination mood, the

philosophies gathered from the teachings of all Masters in all

religions provide a safety net to cushion the stormy period of

uncertainty. Hence if the mind is solution orientated, the spotlight

will focus on strengthening what is workable, develop openness and

involvement, create energy and enthusiasm and open communication. In

fact, as long as we keep on asking 'why?',

our eyes will continue to focus on opportunities to extricate knowledge

from the world but all such knowledge is worldly and can at best only

help in making a living.

'Seek

the gem of Divine Knowledge within you, just as precious stones have to

be sought in the bowels of the earth. Now what you seek is trivial

trash. Go deeper where the treasure is stored.'(Baba the Breath of Sai - pg 223)One

day, the researcher went to the library in search of some reference

books. It was at that point, an electricity failure brought the whole

library to darkness. He took out his pencil torch light from his

lab-coat and flashed on the books neatly arranged on the shelves. The

thin beam of light fell on shelves labeled Biology, Chemistry and

Physics. His search took him further to the corner of the library where

the light from the torch light fell on the shelf labeled Physiology. It

was then he bumped into his friends who were also searching for books

using their respective torch lights. However, their beam was more

powerful than his although the type and shape of the torch by his

friends were the same. The moment he opened the torch, both batteries

jumped out but in that darkness of the library, he could not determine

what brand of the batteries were. Upon inserting back the batteries,

the light that came out from the torch light fell on every book of all

subjects in the library and yet such an illumination failed to

determine the nature of the batteries."To

see an effulgent light, you do not need another lamp. Likewise, to know

the self-luminous Atmic Knowledge, there is no need for any other

knowledge. Every human being has in him the knowledge of his true form.

Owing to his failure to know this stupendous fact, man pursues all

kinds of worldly knowledge.'(Sanathana Sarathi, February 1995 - pg 37)The

quote must be understood properly. Until our light becomes effulgent

and resplendent, we still need to depend on the guidance of other

lights. The person took the battery out and it became dark.... this

will be an experience common to most of us. But we can use the light

from others to shine on our battery only to realize that the brand in

all batteries is the same (Atma is ONE). The only reason why our torch

suffers from a problem of "lesser light" was because our battery was

covered by rust or dirt. This is a reason why a Master or Guru is

needed, to help us realize our own source of light, as well as make us

to know how to tap the knowledge. The vast majority of us need someone

to (initially) at least guide us like a ladder to climb, but after some

time, we will not need the guide or the ladder when we ourselves become

a guide or ladder for others. But even as we gain the greater

knowledge, we must not kick away the ladder or disregard the Guru who

help us acquire the knowledge. Hence we should preserve every ladder

that helped us to arrive where we are. Once we arrive at our own light

of our own knowledge, we can then share the wisdom and offer the

ladders that we have gathered to others.The above story is an

analogy that shows the present day situation. We have become experts in

making a living and yet we are unaware of what Life is. Without the

knowledge of life, we make a living and transact in the day to day

affairs of existence. Hence it is imperative that we must possess

spiritual hunger to know more of our own self.Before

a student becomes a doctor and is trained in the art of detecting

diseases or malfunctions of the body, he must properly be introduced to

the anatomy of the body. In fact, his medical syllabus will cover the

mechanisms, the hormonal flows,the biochemical pathways, the

physiological process, the dynamic workings at cellular and molecular

levels and all other functions of the body. Unless this understanding

is nailed to the cranium, the pathology and pathogenesis of disease

manifestation in the body cannot be fully understood. Only with proper

understanding can the right medication and therapy be implemented to

restore the body to health. Merely holding tools to repair a car does

not make one a car mechanic. An understanding of the right functioning

of the car is vital for him to know what is wrong, and where the fault

lies. Proper knowledge of management is critical to detect

mismanagement. It appears to be a paradox that with all aspects of

living, proper training and knowledge is given and yet when it comes to

understanding life, we leave it to circumstances and nature to confer

this knowledge through experience. The hard knocks as we twist and turn

in the highway of life precipitate new awareness and insights by which

time the mind stores the hurt and grief secured from such experiences.

Almost all prayer halls are filled with devotees with a myriad of

problems, each screaming, 'Why me?' If listened properly, we might hear the following echo reverberating from the lips of the Gods we worship, 'Why not?'The

mistake that is being made especially in modern times is that we have

little patience to understand the subject of 'Self'. And because the

subject has been very largely introduced by renounced saints and sages,

the image of the subject has been misperceived. The credit card, fast

car jet paced life stylers find it too deep to grasp, too irrelevant to

adopt and too dull to lead.

One

day, the son in a family decided that he would go to the video shop to

select a video cassette and since the whole family was at home being a

Sunday, everyone jumped up with enthusiasm. The father naturally

instructed his son to bring a 1960's black and white movie about a

revolutionary war story. The mother objected and said that she wanted a

documentary on Ikebana (the art of flower making), the eldest brother

yelled from his computer seat that he wanted to watch the latest action

movie, the sister insisted that she wanted a movie of her screen idol

in a recent comedy story. The youngest of them all said that it was

unfair that he had to wait so long to watch the recent re-play of the

football match and he insisted that the cassette had to be on the game.

Time was spent in deciding and finally, after a lengthy argument, the

boy decided to get all the cassettes to satisfy everyone. He rushed to

the shop, parked the car, walked a great distance in the sun to reach

the shop, stood in the queue, searched for all the requested cassettes,

paid the amount, walked back to his car in the heat, walked again to

another spot to pay the parking fee and finally reached home to the

much eagerly awaiting crowd. Another bout of argument to decide which

should be seen first took place and the youngest, having the loudest

voice, won. They inserted the video cassette and to everyone's

surprise, they realized that the video player (which had become faulty

due to the previous day's lightning) could not project the desired

movie.The story has relevance to us. All our desires and

tendencies can only be fulfilled if we have the knowledge of the

functioning of the inner equipment. Most of the time, all our

experiences are not totally fulfilling, as there is fault in our inner

video player. Hence, the disturbed, agitated and a troubled mind cannot

come to feel and totally enjoy any experience. In order to repair the

inner video player, we must firstly know the spiritual anatomy and come

to understand what we are composed of.- to continue -(From : THE DIVINE LIFESTYLE by DR SURESH GOVIND,With the consent of Sathya Sai Central Council of Malaysia) Visit : Sai Divine Inspirations : http://saidivineinspirations.blogspot.com/ Sai Messages : http://saimessages.blogspot.com/ Love Is My Form : http://loveismyform.blogspot.com/