Your Questions-Prof. Anil Kumar's Answers

[Guest guest]

Que I beg of you to explain terms like Love, Faith, Trust, Belief, and Sincerity. (311005)

This is a big question. Each topic would be enough to be the title for a whole talk for an hour at least! But this is a wholesale question. Something like if you went to the wholesale market. So he wants me to tell him about all these points at a stretch - Love, Faith, Trust, Belief, and Sincerity. OK! I shall also try to give him an answer in the form of a ‘package deal’, using the modern terminology or nomenclature. All right, let me do that.

BELIEFS ARE SOCIAL, COMMUNITY-ORIENTED AND TEMPORAL

Let me start with belief. Belief is social. Beliefs are social, community-oriented. A simple example: When I see a black cat in the morning, the moment I get up from bed, something bad is going to happen. That is belief. The same black cat will confer blessings to another fellow. So, a belief need not be common to everybody. Belief need not be same to everyone. Beliefs are social. Beliefs are community-oriented. Beliefs are followed for the time being.

At one time, a long time ago, it was a belief not to go abroad. If any fellow crossed the sea, he would automatically go to hell! Today, if you don’t go abroad, you will go to hell (Laughter) because you think heaven is on the other side!

Chandala yoga. They used to say chandala yoga: If one goes to any foreign country, it is chandala yoga, meaning he will go to hell. Today, if you don’t go to a foreign country, you are a useless fellow! You are already in hell; you don’t need to go to hell. (Laughter) So, beliefs are social, which change from time-to-time.

There was belief at one time, here in this country, that a girl should get married at the age of eight. Ashta varshe bhaveth kanya: A girl should get married at the age of eight. It didn’t matter even if she married a fellow of eighty years! She was eight and he was eighty. That was the thing in those days. Now, if any fellow gets his daughter married at the age of eight, he will be behind bars. He will be kept in prison. He is punished. So, beliefs are social, which change from time-to-time.

FAITH IS NOT A COMMODITY TO BE LOST

Above belief, there is another level -- faith. Faith is individual. Faith is not common. Faith is not social. Faith is not societal. Faith is individual. “I have faith in You.†That doesn’t mean all of us should have faith in Him. No. “I have faith in Christ†doesn’t mean that everybody should have faith in Christ. No. So, while beliefs are social, faith is individual.

But faith is shakeable. I may lose faith. Swami is giving me an interview every time, so I have faith. But later, if He is not looking at me, I no longer have any faith. I don’t say unfaithful. I only say I don’t have any faith. I lost faith. So, you may have faith at one time and you may not have faith at a later time. Reversible, revertible, convertible. It may be lost for any silly reason.

There are some people who start coming to this place. “Sir, I lost faith.†Oh! Faith is a commodity to you. Something like, “I lost my watch.†Faith is not a commodity. Faith is not a pen to be lost. But, we look at faith as a commodity, and therefore, we lose it sometimes. We have faith; sometimes we lose faith.

TRUST IS STRONG LIKE A MOUNTAIN

But when that faith becomes, steady, strong, unshakeable, unwavering like a mountain, that is called trust. Trust is an unshakeable faith. Trust is faith that is so strong, like a mountain. So, there are three levels: beliefs, which are social; faith, which is individual; and trust, which is distilled, precipitated, strong, unwavering faith.

That’s what we should have. Jesus Christ had such a trust in God that even while on the cross, He prayed, “Oh! My Lord! Oh! My Father in Heaven!†What kind of trust this is! Jesus had not lost trust in His Father even when He was on the cross!

For us, the slightest increase in our temperature is enough. In our case, we doubt whether God is there or not. (Laughter) If we missed the flight, “What is Baba doing? Is He on vacation or what?†(Laughter) We doubt Him! This is not trust. Trust means trust, come what may. That’s what it is.

LOVE IS ETERNAL AND UNCONDITIONAL

And then, love. Belief, faith, and trust I have explained. Now about love. Love. Let me speak from the negative side, as we take it in the worldly sense. Love is not lust. Love is not attachment. Love is not conditional. Love is eternal. Love is beyond age, position, gender, unconditional.

Love is unconditional. Love has got nothing to do with attachment. It has got nothing to do with bondage. It is not a contract. It is not give-and-take or possess. Love is unconditional. Love is continuous. Love is like a river that flows incessantly. Love is like sunshine, which is available to all. Love is like the cool evening breeze that gives delight to everybody. Love is like a dew drop on a lotus leaf, shining like a pearl, so beautiful to everybody.

Love does not react. If you scold me, I don’t get disturbed. If you praise me, I don’t sit by the side of the Hanuman statue there. I am not ruffled. I am not frustrated. I am not elated. I am beyond praise and blame. That is Love. Love is non-dual. Love is detached. Love is unconditional. Love is eternal. Love is immortal. Love is blemish less, spotless.

 

LOVE LIES IN THE DEPTH OF SILENCE

Love is experienced in silence. Those who we love, we don’t speak about it loudly. I don’t say into the mike, “I love so-and-so!†Unless something is wrong with me! (Laughter) When once you start speaking in front of the mike about your love, you will make a very good career in politics. (Laughter) In political talks, “I love my people!†Certainly you will get some more votes (Laughter) and be elected to power. Only later, people will come to know how you don’t love them in reality. Love expressed leads to exploitation. Love that is expressed is false.

Love lies in the depths of silence. Love’s expression is in the resonance, in the echo of our heartbeat. The very heartbeat is the pulsating expression of our love. As the river flows, silence speaks of our love. As the wind blows, silence speaks of our love. As the cloud moves across the firmament of the sky, it is the touch of love. When a child on a swing smiles, that is love. When an elderly person, an aged man, looks gently and compassionately at you, that is love.

 

LOVE IS DIVINE -- LOVE IS FORGIVING

Love is Divine. Love is not human. Love is Divine. It is love that looks at a sinner and a saint alike. No matter if I am a sinner or a saint, both of us are the same to God. When two brigands, who were guilty, were on the cross with Jesus, Jesus loved both of them. They were rowdies who deserved every punishment! But He loved those two people as much as He loved his own disciples.

Love is forgiving. Love forgives. “Last year you did not say, ‘Sai Ram’ to me; therefore, today I will not look at you.†Useless fellow of the first order! If you go on remembering all the past, if I go on recollecting all your past, all that you have done against me, that is the quality of a snake. A snake will never leave you; it will wait until it bites you, then sees you off from this planet. Vengeance is the nature of an animal. Revenge is the quality of an animal.

 

DIVINE LOVE WILL NEVER JUDGE, EVALUATE NOR ASSESS

Love is Divine. A godly man loves and loves. It was Buddha who loved the person who stood in front of him with a sword to behead him. He loved him very much. Jesus loved robbers, the down-trodden, and people who were away from the path of morality, with all compassion. Love knows not who is a sinner and who is a saint -- saintliness or sinner.

From our point of view, we say, “He is a great devotee.†But is there any thermometer to show the degree of his devotion? Or we say, “He is a new devotee, just a beginner.†Who are we to decide? So, this is our point of view.

But to God, all are the same -- saint or sinner. Divine Love does not discriminate. Divine Love does not judge. Divine Love does not evaluate. Divine Love will never assess. Many things, nay, volumes can be said about that Love. As we think of great people, noble souls, we should know what Divine Love is.

 

LOVE IS LIFE -- LIFE IS LOVE

We have not tasted that Divine Love, not even a drop. Because the love we know is conditional. We know love which is physical. We know love which is a business. We know love which is worldly. We know love which is time-bound. People say, “Hello, how are you?†But after retirement, they will avoid you. Is that love? So long as you are obliging, people are loving towards you. Once you say you are sorry, they turn their face away from you. Is that love? Therefore, my friends, we have not tasted even a drop of Divine Love.

A fellow poisoned Baba as a child. He offered some food with poison in it to Baba. His whole body turned blue. Everybody thought Baba was collapsing. He cured Himself and finally said, “Don’t beat that fellow. I knew that I was taking poison.†And He appointed him as a watchman of Prashanti Nilayam, the one who gave Him poison. That is love!

I am afraid I may take any length of time on this topic because Divine Love is altogether something that we should long for, something that we should live for, because Love is life. Life is Love. Life without Love is death. Therefore, that is the final thing I can say about it.

SaiSewak,

Bear all and do nothing;Hear all and say nothing;Give all and take nothing;Serve all and be nothing.

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