SAI BABA'S TEACHINGS on ADVAITA or NON - DUALISM

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Om Sri Sai Ram

SAI BABA'S TEACHINGS on ADVAITA or NON - DUALISM

Devotee: Swami, what is the best way to relate to the

world?

Sai Baba: Do not think about the world. Do not

spend time thinking about the world or about your relationships to individuals.

These are all impermanent. They will not last. Pay attention

to that which lasts, to that which is permanent. All things involving the

world and human relationships have to do only with the body. The body is

like a water bubble. The mind is like a mad monkey. So do not follow the

body or the mind. Follow the voice of God. It is the voice of

unchanging truth inside you. It will direct you toward your highest good.

If doubts come, do not follow them. Jesus had some

doubts on the cross when the soldiers were tormenting him. Then he heard

the voice of God telling him, "All are one, my dear son. Be alike to

everyone." At that point the last doubt dropped away and Jesus

declared, "I and my Father are one." He realised the truth of

the oneness of Self and God. This is the state of Advaita, of complete

Non-Dualism, where there is only unity. If you listen to the voice of God

inside you, it will tell you that there is no difference between you and God.

There never was a difference. It was your imagination only. The

sense of difference was only in your mind. There is no separate I or God

which has to become one. There never was any other. Always there

was just the one, without a second. To reach this highest truth, do

not think that you and God are separate. Think always "God is with

me. He is inside me. He is around me. He is above me. All

there is is God. I, myself, am God. I am the infinite. I am

the eternal. I am not two. I am one, only one. There is no

one else besides me. I and God are one and the same." That is

called self-confidence; it is the confidence that you are Atma, the one Self.

You develop self-confidence by thinking all the time "God is doing

everything, without God I cannot be." When you realise that God is

not outside of you and separate from you, then you gain self-confidence. Then

there is love, there is peace, there is truth and there is God. So first

there must be self-confidence and love of God. What are you thinking

about now? You are thinking about the body, but the body is just a water

bubble. The body is just a dress, only a dress.

Devotee: Swami, you say that everything is God, but

isn't the body also God? If everything is God, then the body must also be

God?

Sai Baba: You are asking about the body. You are

thinking about the body, not of God. If you only think of God, then, for

you, there will be only God. But now you are thinking of the body. The

body is an instrument; it is made of matter; and matter is always changing.

The world also is always changing, but God is never changing. God

is the one unchanging spirit.

Devotee: Is Swami's body also just an instrument?

Sai Baba: Swami's body is like all bodies. All

bodies are just instruments. All bodies are only temporary. They

have birth. They have death. The indweller of the body is

permanent. That is the atma, the one Self. That is you. That

is the real you. You are the immortal Self, not the body.

Devotee: Swami, how do we rise up to that highest level?

How do we become perfect?

Sai Baba: Through love, only through love.

Develop divine love or Prema. Divine love is completely selfless.

Human love is mostly selfish. All the time it thinks only of this

little 'I'. This little 'I' is the ego. Ego is a bad quality. It

sees everything as separate. It sees everything as dual. Remove

this ego and you will see only unity. Where there is duality, divinity

will not be present. Think only of the basis of everything. Think

only of God. Now for you at present there is only desire, desire, desire: I

want this! I want that! Desires are just passing clouds. They

come and they go. One moment they give pleasure and the next moment they

give pain. They cannot give permanent joy. Desires make up the

mind. The mind is nothing but a bundle of desires. Every thought in

the mind comes from desire. Don't follow the mind. Don't follow those

passing clouds. Desire comes, desire goes, but morality comes and grows.

Morality is very important. Follow morality; practice it.

Devotee: Swami, should we think of God as being both

father and mother?

Sai Baba: Your physical mother is only with you for

some years. She is your temporary mother. Your physical father is also

only temporary. The real relationship is different. Truth is the real

father. Truth is permanent. Truth has no birth; it has no death.

Prema, divine love, is the real mother. Devotion is the real

brother. Wisdom is the real son. Peace is the real daughter.

For all of these relationships there is no change; there is no birth,

there is no death. They make up your permanent relationship, your

relationship with God.

Devotee: Swami, if Divinity is my permanent

relationship and all these others are only temporary relationships, then do I

still have to take care of my family at home?

Sai Baba (very firmly): You must! That is your

duty. Do your duty. Take care of your family.

Devotee: Even if it takes me away from God?

Sai Baba: No! No! No! No! Do

not abandon your family. You must take care of your husband and your

children. Do your duty. Duty is God. Work is worship.

Do not forsake your duty.

Devotee: But Swami, not even when God calls?

Sai Baba (laughingly): God is in you. He is with

you. He is above you. He is below you. He is around you. He

is not calling or sending for you. He is always with you. He is

you. You, yourself, are God. Always think like that. "I am

God. I am God. I am Atma. I am everything." Think like

that and do your duty at home. God is not sending for you or asking you

to come from somewhere. You are God. He is always with you.

Devotee: Swami, is everything predetermined? Is

the time we take to merge already mapped out? When we finally merge and

get realisation, is that moment already written on our foreheads?

Sai Baba: For Atma there is no time and there is no

space. It is beyond time and beyond form. In this Self all are one.

Remember that unity. Live in that unity. Make that your goal.

All are one. Be alike to everyone.

Devotee: Then Swami, what is the relationship between

the Self and the individual?

Sai Baba: Where is Self? It is everywhere.

How do you know? You do not know. You have no experience of

it, so do some Sadhana, some spiritual practice. Experience it. Practice

it. Live it. Realise it.

Devotee: But Swami, what I wanted to ask is "Do

I have an individual higher Self? Is there an individual higher Self that

is specifically related to me?"

Sai Baba: the individual exists only in your imagination, in

your mind. It is just an illusion. It is not real. When the one

Self is everywhere, when it is one without a second, then where is the

individual? It is only in your imagination. The Self alone is real.

Realise it.

Devotee: Swami, is there really no higher being related

uniquely to this body, judging me or guiding me?

Sai Baba: You are still in one hundred percent body

consciousness. Do not stay with this body-consciousness. Remove it.

Take it away. What will remain will be God-consciousness.

Then there will be no anger, no hatred, no envy, no jealousy, no desire,

no ego, only pure joy, only complete bliss, only bliss, bliss, bliss.

Devotee: But then what is reborn? When we

reincarnate, what is born?

Sai Baba: The body is born. Birth and death only

have to do with the body. Ego relates only to the body.

Reincarnation relates only to the body. Do not think of the body,

think of the atma. It is one. It is unchanging. For that one

Self there is no incarnation; there is no reincarnation.

Devotee: Swami, do I, as an individual, exist at all?

Sai Baba: I! I! I! Always this I.

First you must ask "Who is this I? Who am I?"

Devotee (persisting): But Swami is there no

individual anything?

Sai Baba: When you realise the Self, then there is no

separate individual. You can think of individuals as different light

bulbs. There will be differences in wattage. There will be

differences in age, in colour, in form, in name. One is a tube light and

another is a bulb light. There will be differences in shape, but everywhere the

current that powers them is the same. That current is you. You are not a

bulb that appears different from any other bulb. You are the current, the

one current that is found in all the bulbs. That is who you are.

Devotee: Swami, is there any difference between God

and me?

Sai Baba: You are God. You are not the ego.

You are God! You are God!

Devotee (incredulously): I am God???

Sai Baba: Yes! Yes! You are Atma, the one

Self. You are permanent. The physical body is not permanent.

The physical is not the Self, but you are the Self, not the physical.

You are God. Think like this always. Do not think about the body.

Think about God. The body comes and goes. For the body

there is birth and death, but you are not the body. The body is just rust and

dust.

Devotee: Swami, I do healing and I wanted to

ask......

Sai Baba (interrupting): Healing comes from God.

Think of God. God is everything. He will always do what is needed.

Think only of surrendering to God. You may say, "I am healing

others", but this is just your ego speaking. Healing cannot come

through the ego. Thinking that you are doing healing is very harmful. You

are not the one who is doing the healing. You are only the instrument.

God does everything. Think only of Him. Love Him.

Devotee: Swami, how can we love something we don't

understand?

Sai Baba: Develop self-confidence, then love will

follow. It will come naturally, from within. In that way the love will be

pure. Your journey starts with self-confidence and ends with the

realisation of the Self. That Self is you; it is God. This is who

you really are. Self-confidence is unwavering love for the divinity

within. What will help you to develop this confidence? Be equal-minded.

Be satisfied with what you have. Don't hanker for anything outside.

Be happy! The secret of happiness lies not in doing what you like but in

liking what you have to do. That is a great truth. Always have

complete faith in God, Who takes care of everything. True greatness can

only come from faith. Now there is no confidence in you. Without

confidence your faith will be shaking and wavering. Then where is there

room for grace to come in? Where is the room for the Divinity to come

inside? If you shut the door, how can the spirit be revealed?

Devotee: Lord, I want to merge with you. What

do I have to do? I am ready.

Sai Baba: through love, only through love. Love is

everything. Love is God. Live in love. Start the day with love,

spend the day with love, fill the day with love and end the day with love. That

is the way to God.

Devotee: Swami, how do we develop this selfless love?

Sai Baba: Only through God's Grace. Prema,

divine selfless love, comes only through God's Grace. Without Grace you

cannot do anything. First do your duty and think about God all day, from

morning until evening. See everything as God and be happy. Think to

yourself "O Lord, you are my everything. You are my goal. You

are my breath." Do not think that this is mine or that is mine or

that this is not mine. Instead, think, "All is you, Lord. All is

yours." Think, "I am beyond the body. Mind is just a mad

monkey. I am the Self. I and God are one." Think like

this "Before this body was formed, I was there. After this body goes,

I will still be there. I am omnipresent. I am the all."

To reach this truth you have to do some spiritual practice.

You have to inquire: What is God? Who is God?

Who am I? The first step in self-realisation is to always think of

God and after some years you will know that you are one with God. Jesus

spent twelve years in the desert before he realised this fact. In the

beginning you can think that this whole world is just like a stage and you are

only an actor. God is the director. All of Humanity are actors. God

is directing everything. But do not stop there. Move on and

identify only with God. Think God. Be God.

Devotee: Swami, shall we go out and tell these things

to other people?

Sai Baba: Do not talk so much. Do some spiritual

practice. First do. Then be. Then you can talk, but only a

little. Do some meditation. Do everything with love. Be good,

see good and do good. After you develop self-confidence and love for God,

you can share with others, but it is a good rule not to talk too much.

Talk very little, even about God. In spiritual practice there will

always be internal talk with God. You will give up all attachments and

attach only to God. For this, purity of the heart is very important.

Where there is no purity, there is no unity. Without unity, you

cannot attain divinity. Then your whole life is just a waste. First

purity, next unity. Then you realise divinity.

Devotee: And purity comes from service, Swami?

Sai Baba: Yes, purity comes from selfless love, from

doing selfless service. All are one family, so serve all, not just the

Sai family, but the whole world family. All are brothers and sisters.

All are one. Be alike to everyone. That is unity, the

brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God.

Devotee: Swami, even in a country like Germany, where there is

not much spiritual feeling?

Sai Baba: Germany, Japan, America, Italy, France... the countries

are all different but the heart is the same. God is everywhere.

Everywhere you can do service and develop your love. Wherever you are, do

everything with devotion and love. You have Swami's blessing. Know

that, always.

= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -

=

"You are divine, that is the truth.

You and the Universal are one.

You and the Absolute are one.

You and the eternal are one.

You are not the individual, the particular, the temporary.

Feel this. Know this. Act in conformity with this."

Sri Sathya Sai

Baba

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