Swami teaches... Meaning of spirituality, and sacrifice. Atmic Consciousness

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (15 March 2005)

 

Meaning of Spirituality and Sacrifice. Atmic Consciousness

 

Many people today do not understand what is the meaning of spirituality.

Spirituality means destroying the animal nature in human and making him/her

realise the divine consciousness. Spirituality implies that one should not

develop egoistic pride on account of the divine potencies but utilise them for

achieving spiritual strength. Spirituality calls for the recognition of the

manifold capacities manifesting in human as emanating from the Spirit and not

from the mind. It means developing the faith that all powers come from the

Divine.

Spirituality does not mean proceeding from the human to the Divine. It seeks

to unfold thedivinity in man. Spirituality does not mean passing from the

mundane to the Divine. Spiritualitymeans making human manifest the divinity in

him/her. People today have the wrong impression that spirituality is

concerned with the journey from the mundane world to the higher realm and vice

versa. Because of this mistaken view, many today are in a state of confusion

about spirituality. Spirituality is the realisation of the role of the Spirit

in daily life. It is a way, a style of life. Our entire life is bound up with

the Spirit and all human's powers are derived from the Spirit. The last is not

divorced from daily life. Spirituality does not mean leading a lonely and

secluded life. True spirituality calls for the recognition of the oneness of

all mankind and to demonstrate the spiritual truth underlying this Divine

unity.

Whatever one says, whatever one does, whatever one thinks, all of it is

related to the Spirit. Spirituality is the expression of the promptings of the

Inner Spirit. The good deeds by the external instruments of the body cannot be

deemed spiritual. All scriptures are intended to promote right practices and

not merely to be used as texts forreading. Of what use is it merely to read

these scriptures as a routine ritual without practisingtheir teachings? All the

spiritual propaganda that is carried on today is totally divorced from practice,

with the result that spirituality has made little impact on the youth today.

Here is an illustration. In ancient times, people used to perform Yagas and

Yajnas (religious sacrifices). These sacrifices were being performed according

to the rules laid down in the scriptures. But while conforming to the

prescribed procedures, few understood the inner meaning of these sacrifices.

All their lives were spent in external observances. In the performance of

sacrifice, they used to offer cows or other dumb animals as bali (sacrifice)

and propagated the view that such offerings were in accordance with spiritual

injunctions. This was a great mistake. These were meaningless practices. The

real meaning of animal sacrifice is the sacrifice of the animal nature in man.

Everyone has to get rid of Ahamkaara and Mamakaara (egoism and the sense of

"mine"). Without sacrificing these animal tendencies, sacrificing dumb animals

is unworthy of human beings. It is the offering of one's bad qualities and

bad thoughts as an offering to the Divine. God alone can accept such offerings

and give good things in return.

All bad thoughts and feelings should be offered to God so that we may

receive, by His grace, good thoughts and feelings in return. Spirituality,

thus, means transforming one's life into an ideal one by offering one's bad

qualities to the Lord and receiving from Him good qualities in return. In

ancient times people used to perform Aswamedha Yaga (Horse Sacrifice). What

does the "Horse Sacrifice" mean? By Aswam (horse) is meant that which is

restless. The horse cannot remain steady even for a moment. It will be always

shaking one part or the other of its body. The horse is an animal which

represents the unsteady mind. Thus to perform the Horse Sacrifice really means

to offer the restless mind to God. Some may try to argue that in olden days

animals were sacrificed during Yajnas and Yagas(sacrificial rites). But they

are not correct. Only a few ignorant Pandits (scholars) and misguidedelders

used to indulge in animal sacrifice. But those who recognised the inner meaning

of thisritual used to give prime importance to the sacrifice of the beastly

qualities in man whileperforming such religious ceremonies.

Here is an example to illustrate this point. In temples of Easwara (or

Shiva), you find Nandi (image of bull) in front of the deity. What isthe inner

significance of this? The usual reply you get is that Nandi is the Vahana

(vehicle) ofEaswara; as if He could not afford to have a better vehicle than a

bull. This is a wrong idea. Thetruth is that just as the Lingam is the symbol

of the Lord (Easwara), Nandi (bull) is the symbolfor Jiva (individual soul).

Therefore, just like the Nandi, one should turn away from Prakruthiand direct

all his attention towards Easwara only. There are some more meanings for

this symbolism. For instance, it is said that no one shouldstand between

Easwara and Nandi. One should have the vision of Easwara by looking throughthe

space in between the two ears of Nandi. The underlying idea is that through the

Sadhana ofusing its ears to listen about Easwara alone, the animality in the

bull becomes transformed intodivinity and because of its merger with Easwara it

is called Nandeeshvara (Bull-God).

Sacrificing your ego is Sathwik (pure and noble), while sacrificing any

animal is Thamasik(impure and ignoble). Today you need to enter into the

Sathwik life and sublimate your humannature into divine nature. This, indeed,

is the primary goal of your life's journey. Every humanundertakes the usual

pilgrimages and other routine good activities like charity, etc. But all

thesewill not save him from worries, until and unless he gives up Ahamkaara and

Mamakaara i.e. "I"and "Mine."

People today lead meaningless mechanical lives with no ideals to inspire

them. People today want fruits without considering the roots. The ancient sages

searched for the roots torealise the fruits. Today people forget the basic

truths and pursue the ephemeral. Human action and Divine aim should go

together. To forget the Divine is to descend to the level of the animal.

Devotion should not be converted into a form of business. God needs nothing from

you.Everything belongs to God. Only the Divine is with you.

You should not be misguided by the worldly and superficial meanings, and

forget the innermeanings. This is the crux of spirituality. The waywardness of

your mind prevails in the grossstate of wakefulness as well as in the subtle

state of dreaming. How can you change such a fickle mind? If you keep away from

animality during waking state, then animality will not enter even in your

dreams.

Try to understand correctly the meaning of spirituality. You should

transform your nature from human to divine. You must direct your attention to

God. Nandi could become Easwara, only because it turned its attention to God.

One would not become a victim of the feelings of anger, hatred, ego or pride

which may arise. When such feelings arise, sit silently for a few minutes. How

to put this into practice? As soon as you get angry, you should immediately

leave that place and go out into the open and quietly walk a furlong. Then your

anger will disappear. An easier method than this is tostand before a mirror and

look into your own angry face. You will dislike your own face andlook upon it

with disgust or aversion. Then try to laugh heartily and your anger will leave

you.If you find it difficult even to do this, go into your bathroom and turn

the water tap on. To theaccompaniment of the tune of the sound created by the

water flowing from the tap, begin to singa good song. Then your anger will

certainly disappear. Or else, drink a glass of cold water. Likethis, you have

to seek ways and means of regaining a calm and peaceful mood. Instead of doing

so, if you allow your anger to grow, restlessness will also grow along with

that anger depriving you of peace of mind.

The less you talk, the more will become your mental power. With the increase

in your mentalcapacity, there will be increase in your power of discrimination

too. Consequently, you will giveup "individual discrimination" and resort to

"fundamental discrimination." Because of this, youwill begin to consider the

good of the world at large rather than your own individual welfare.One should

try to understand everything thoroughly, and not rash forward blindly into all

matters. Then only you will gain "practical knowledge," and that will guide you

along the desirable and sacred path. You will find guideposts here and there on

the roadside, to indicatewhich path you should take to reach any particular

place. The ups and downs in the path can beexperienced only by those who tread

the path, but not by the guidepost. Most of the books today are like the

guideposts. However, you must not be like mere guideposts.

 

Recognise the truth that morality is the primary requisite of human society.

Without morality there is no spirituality. You have to perform your duties and

discharge your obligations. You must be united and take part in social service.

Union is strength. Even small ants acting in union can destroy a serpent. (Today

unity is being undermined in the country. There are differences in every home).

If there are three persons in a house, there can be peace in the house only

if the three live in harmony. In every individual, there are three entities in

the body that is his dwelling: the Manas (mind), the Vaak (tongue) and Kaayam

(the organs of actions). It is only when these three entities function

harmoniously that the individual can have peace. When there is discord between

them, how can peace be got?

 

The ancient sages regarded human life as something sweet. The Divine

sweetness in human life is derived from Maathru bhaavamu (maternal love). There

is no diviner or purer feeling than maternal love. Sri Raama declared: "The

mother and the Motherland are greater than heaven itself." God is formless

and attributeless and not easily accessible to everyone. Nevertheless God is

worshipped with faith in various ways and joy is derived therefrom. No one

knows how the unmanifested Divine showers His grace or displays His

displeasure, what He desires or disapproves. One can lead a sacred life by

adoring the mother, instead of worshipping the unmanifested Divine. The

Chaithanyam (Atmic Consciousness) that is present in the Divine is also present

in living beings. But the sacred and remarkable Divine potency in each of them

is different. It has been said what is in the microcosm is in the

macrocosm. Brahmaanda, the macrocosm is regarded as Viraata Swarupa the Cosmic

form and the microcosm is regarded as the atomic nucleus. This is a wrong view.

What is present in the atom, is present in the Cosmos. There is no difference

between the two. The Cosmic Form is not a mere aggregation of various objects.

It does not signify the one in the many. The Cosmic Form means that which

contains within itself everything. Likewise, the atomic principle contains the

macrocosm in microcosm.

 

There have been different conceptions regarding the phenomenal world, some

considering it as mithya (illusory) and some considering it as real. The Vedhik

seers viewed the world as aprojection of the Divine. From very early times many

sages devoted their lives to the discoveryof the Divine. Their ecstatic

experience of the Divine is expressed in the Purusha Shuktha, which declares'

"Vedhaaham Etham, purusham mahaantham." This means: "We have seen God. He is

shining with the effulgence of a billion Suns. His effulgence defies

description." The Reality is the One willed to become the Many. To propagate

this great truth to the world, from time to time many sages and saints

andAvathaars made their advent in Bhaarath. They had total knowledge of the

Supreme Self -Paripuurna Brahma Jnaanis. Although these realized beings have no

need to take human birth, they elected to do so for the purpose of redeeming the

people by their teachings and actions. Krishna was a Paripuurna-Jnaani (One who

possessed the Supreme Wisdom). He take on a human body to teach the highest

truth to the persons who were filled with good thoughts and performed good

deeds. The sage Vyaasa, who codified the Vedhas, was a Paripuurna Jnaani.

Vyaasa incarnated as a man to elevate the ignorant and show them the path to a

higher life.

Today there are in the world two types of saadhakas (spiritual

aspirants). One type of aspirants regard the cosmos as a manifestation of God.

The other type consider the cosmos itself as God. The difference between the

two can be illustrated by an example. Many kinds of jewels are made from gold.

Some may consider the jewels as different from gold. Others may consider gold

as the basic substance from which the jewels have been made. The Paripuurna

Jnaanis belong to the category of those who realise that without gold there can

be no jewels. Those who consider the jewels as more important than the gold, out

of which they have been made, belong to the category of those with

half-knowledge. The truth is that without gold there can be no ornaments.

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 25. "Rise From Animality To

Divinity," Chapter 15 and "Revere The Mother: Serve The Motherland," Chapter

38;Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 28. "Hanumaan: the ideal for mankind," Chapter 26).

 

 

Namaste - Reet

[Guest guest]

Thanks for an wonderful mail. Specially

about controlling our anger.

NVN RAO