Fw: SAI SPIRITUAL SHOWERS – ISSUE 26

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--- On Thu, 21/2/08, Sai Spiritual Showers Team <noreply wrote:Sai Spiritual Showers Team <noreplySAI SPIRITUAL SHOWERS – ISSUE 26sssprinceksvDate: Thursday, 21 February, 2008, 1:30 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every man is prone to commit mistakes either wittingly or

unwittingly. But, one mistake he should not commit in any circumstance is

to forget what he owes to his mother. Love of a mother can redeem a

man’s life, whatever his other lapses may be. The greatest gift of

the parents is the body, with all its powers. Although the Lord rules over

all lives. It is the parents who have endowed the body to the child. Clay

and water are the gifts of nature. But, it is the potter who makes the pot

out of them. Hence, gratitude to the parents is a primary obligation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Prasanthi...To

Prasanthi

(From "The Greatest Adventure", by Late Dr. M.V.N.

Murthy)

 

 

 

 

Baba asked a

devotee whom He had chosen for the interview, "Where are you

from?" The devotee was startled, since he had been coming to Prasanthi

Nilayam for many years and staying there for a few weeks every time. Baba

used to accost him not by his name but by the name of the country from

which he came, Guatemala. So he gave the usual answer,

"Guatemala". Swami's response was Significant. "No! You

should say, 'Prasanthi Nilayam!’" He was immensely happy with

this remark of Swami which he took as an act of Grace! "Does Swami

mean that I will stay in Prasanthi Nilayam for the rest of my life?"

he wondered, hopefully!

I believe that

Baba hopes to get the same answer from all of us. We must learn to have the

courage, the confidence and the wisdom to declare with our hands on our

heart that we are from Prasanthi Nilayam. That is the permanent residential

address of human beings at all times and in all climes, whether they are

aware of it or not.

Prasanthi Nilayam

is not that piece of land near the village of Puttaparthi in Anantapur

District, Andhra Pradesh. It is not an entity related to place and time. It

is the abode from where all of us have come. It is the name for that state

of the source where there is eternal peace because it is Sat Chit Ananda,

Truth, Awareness, Bliss. That is our home from which we have migrated

through eons, through several incarnations in multifarious frames. We have

forgotten that home. We believe that we are what we think we are, and give

wrong addresses to each other. We have come to believe that we are the body

mind complex with a name and form. Having strayed away from the abode of

Supreme Serenity, Prasanthi Nilayam, we have lost inner peace, tossed on

the waves of pleasure and pain, loss and gain, honour and dishonour.

The Prasanthi

Nilayam that Baba mentioned to the devotee from Guatemala is not a stone

and mortar structure, as He has so often reminded us. He is not really

resident in that building. The Prasanthi Nilayam where He resides is our

heart. So, He has advised us to make the heart a Prasanthi Nilayam. The

first step is to discover the cause of our plight. We lost our peace when

we started chasing the chimera of Desire. "Remember what happened

to Sita,†Baba instructs us in an affectionate way. She was

very happy in the forest, so long as she had only the one desire to be with

Rama, the embodiment and source of Love. But a new material desire for a

'golden deer' overwhelmed her one day. It grew so obsessive that she

literally chased away Rama, her Lord. "When Kama (desire) enters your

heart, Rama, the Lord departs," says Swami. Both cannot co exist!

The "golden-deer" is enticing us in the present age too. We

pursue the acquisition of tinsel and trash which, like the golden deer,

tantalises us, stopping within reach and slipping when we approach. The

hope of success urges us to sacrifice and suffering. Baba names this

passion for possession, fire, since it is known in Sanskrit as anala

("never enough") the more you feed it, the bigger the blaze!

Baba advises us

to reduce desires. Moksha is defined by Baba as moh akshaya; the

elimination of possessiveness; of attachment to objects. What a word,

"possession!" Who possesses whom, asks Baba: Do we possess the

car, or are we possessed by the car? When you become the victim of

something without which you feel you cannot get on, then you are enslaved,

you are not free. Many things we crave for are mere status symbols. We

acquire them to satisfy our vanity, to keep up with the neighbours. The

advertisers vie with each other in titillating our vanity: They create a

competitive pursuit of pettiness in which our pockets get emptied to fill

their coffers.

We struggle in

this ever expanding syndrome of one-upmanship. The wrist watch is no longer

a chronometer; it has become an egometer instead. Dress is no longer the

protective garment; it is a medium for parading our bizarre fancies. An

automobile is no longer a mode of transport, but a weapon to make the eyes

of our neighbours green. All the joy of achievement is only temporary, for

it is soon overtaken by dejection. "No. Not enough. I must rise

higher, become higher." We run on and on to reach a goal, ever

receding beyond the horizon of possibility.

Once tied to

pleasure and pain, loss and gain, honour and dishonour, we have no respite,

no escape. Somebody is always a step higher, a little more swell. Finally

we fall behind frustrated, with high BP, or executive stress; nervous

breakdown, the physical escape from this doomed game. Baba says that we

oscillate perpetually like a pendulum between the two extremes, pleasure

and pain, loss and gain, honour and dishonour, etc.

Is there no way

out? There surely is one, assures Baba. Reduce your desires. Next time,

when you feel like buying something, ask yourself, "Do I really need

this? When did I wish for this? Am I after this because my neighbour has

it? Let him continue to be happy as he is now.†"Stop before you

proceed," is the traffic signal useful for us, too, on occasions.

When you have

suffered from a loss, stop, ask yourself, "is there no other angle

from which it can be viewed?" Has it no gain angle? Honour dishonour

are a dangerous pair. Here too when we feel insulted or feel that our

honour is at stake it is better to look out. The ego plays many a trick.

There is no dearth of sycophants around, persons intent on boosting the ego

of their victims. They goad others to dabble in dishonourable acts. Beware!

The method is simple. Stop the pendulum. Watch out! WATCH, says Baba, your

Words, Action, Thoughts, Character and Heart.

We have to guard

against outside events and influences from moulding our moods and modes.

Let us learn to live on our inner resources and educate ourselves to derive

joy from Nature itself. A sunset or sunrise, a tree in full bloom, and

birds chirping in glee, there are hundreds of pictures around us each of

which can give us immense joy, provided we cultivate taste. Learn to give

and get joy in a smile; have as a hobby collecting smiles from friends.

Change your vision and lo! The whole world appears different. Take

everything as it comes; be neither elated nor depressed. Accept everything

as a gift of God.

Is this a

philosophy of resignation? No! Baba is not advocating the resignation that

is born of, incompetence, incapacity or cowardice. "Do your best and

keep mum!" that is Baba's advice. Doing nothing means that you have

failed to use the God given talents for everybody's welfare. Act, Act, with

all the strength and skill, all the intelligence and insight endowed by

Him. Don't shirk work. He who has confronted you with a problem will also

help you to solve it. When some situation challenges you, don't ask,

"is this good for me?" Remember that whether it is good or bad

depends on how you tackle it. A green mango is sour; but we make pickles of

it. A ripe mango is sweet, we eat it with gusto. We enjoy both the sour and

the sweet. We do our best, as Baba says, and keep mum!

This is the

secret of Prasanthi, not to be disturbed by external circumstances. If we

can't change the circumstances, let us change our attitude to them. Let us

find strength in the inner springs of joy. Prasanthi can be gained only by

transcending the pairs of opposites; they disturb us only so long as we are

their playthings.

All the mantras

of the Upanishads end with glum Santhih, chanted thrice. The prayer

prescribed by Baba for the Sri Sathya `Sai College has in it the secret for

gaining Prasanthi:

Asatho maa

sadgamaya thamaso maa jyothir gamaya Mrithyor maa amrutham gamaya Om Shantih! Shantih!

Shantih!

Lead us from

untruth to truth, From darkness to light From death to immortality!

If we learn to

discriminate between asat and sat, between darkness and light, between the

transient and the eternal, if we can recognise the immortal amidst the

mortal and the dying, we have learnt the secret of peace. What we obtain

when we have realised the meaning of this mantram is Santhi.

That is the

Prasanthi Nilayam which Baba, wants us to reach and realise. He has come to

lead us back 'home', yes, every one of us, sooner or later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once a young man from the United States received an unexpected

lesson in patience, not to say in humility. Apparently he was under the

impression that, having made the journey to Puttaparthi, he would or should

be accorded an interview right away, oblivious of the fact that many people

have waited months, even years, or have never had an interview at all.

When, after three weeks, he was blessed with an interview, he told Baba he

had to wait for three weeks. Smilingly, the Avatar replied, "But I

have had to wait several thousand years for you!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With A Vision That Guides

and A Mission That Transforms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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