Drama!

[Guest guest]

Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba says that this whole world is like a

drama being played out in a girl's college. Some girls are playing

the part of ladies, some are playing the part of men, others are

playing children, some are elders, some are animals, some are gods

and angels, some are demons... there are so many different parts

being enacted on the stage, but underneath the actors are all the

same, they are all just girl students. But, there is one figure

connected with the drama who is neither a girl nor a student; he is

the author and director of the play.

 

A few years ago at the ashram, the western children were given a

chance to put on a Christmas performance called the Sarva Dharma

Play, which dramatized the religious and spiritual history of the

world. Behind stage at the Poornachandra Auditorium, Swami asked

me, " Are you the director of this play? " I said, " Swamiji, you are

the director. I am the assistant. " Immediately Swami replied, " No,

the director needs no assistant. You can call yourself an instrument. "

 

Swami was pointing out that once we become aware of the Divinity, who

is in charge of the play, then we must surrender all our independence

and individuality to him; for then we become knowingly, what we have

been all along, unknowingly...instruments in his hands. He does not

need our help in running the world. Our role is to be good

instruments and to be good actors playing out the parts assigned. The

stage is in place, the lights are on, the curtain is up and the play

is in full swing, but the actors are blind to the grandeur of the

performance; they are much too busy playing their little parts,

thinking these to be real and under their control.

 

Fortunately, we are blessed with the presence amongst us of the Lord

of the Universe, and so we can be conscious instruments of the

Divine; we can look around us and enjoy the high drama that he has

produced, even as we perform the roles that have been assigned to us

in his grand production. But, Swami encourages us to elevate our

thinking to an even higher plane. He says, " Think of yourself as

the Divinity itself. In truth, you are no different from God. You are

not this body. You are not this mind.

 

You are not this limited personality. You are the eternal, the one

divine principle, the timeless truth. Fear or grief can never touch

you. In essence, there is no difference between us. You and I are

always one. " This is the loftiest teaching of the Avatar, directing us

back to our sacred source, the immortal Atma.

 

Swami tells us that there is only one sin and that is thinking that

we can be separate individuals, different from God. This is the

greatest mistake that we can make, for it leads us to pursue our

petty lives in the world without ever seeking to know the truth of the

Divinity that we truly are.