Swami teaches... Be architect of your fortune under the guidance of the Divine proximity

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

Light and Love Swami teaches.... (9 -11 July 2005)

 

Be Architect of Your Fortune Under the Guidance of the Divine Proximity

 

Dharma will compel integration of thought, word and deed. It will cleanse

the mind and rid it of greed and hate. Every faith is but an endeavour to

cleanse the impulse and emotions, as part of the process of discovering the

truth of the world, seen and unseen. No one who has trodden that path and

engaged himself in that process has escaped calumny and cruelty. Mohammad,

who sought to establish the primacy of the One Formless Absolute, had a large

share of persecution, defamation, and privation. Jesus who attempted to rebuild

mankind on the basis of Love was crucified by little men who feared that their

tiny towers of hate and greed will be toppled by his teaching. Harischandhra

who had resolved never to waver from truth was subjected to ordeal after

ordeal, each more terrifying than the previous one. Those who seek to know God

must steel themselves to bear insult, injury and torture, with a smile.

Belief in the Creator, the Designer, the Supporter and the Disintegrator is

necessary equipment for the pilgrim on the Earth. Fear of sin, love of God -

these two endow human with peace and joy, save from sorrow and grant him bliss.

 

Even those who assert that they did not find any trace of God in outer

space, or who aver that God is dead, or that even if He is alive, He is no

longer necessary for human, that He is a handicap and nuisance - all these have

to admit that there is something inexplicable, something inscrutable, beyond the

reach of reason and science, some unknown which pervades the world and affects

the course of things.

The seed is not inert; it is conscious, alive, active. The whole Universe is

suffused with Divinity what is as seed. Divinity that is

Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (sath-chith-aanandha). Existence as

"seed-plant-tree." You are also sath-chith-aanandha. Do not condemn your

majesty bewailing, "I am unfortunate, I am despicable, I am downhearted." You

are elated, you are enthroned, you are exalted. You are all this; but you are

not aware of this, on account of maayaa (illusion). Maayaa is like your shadow

in the well; if you do not peep into the well, it is not there.

Human being is like a ferrous linga, drawn upwards by the craving for

liberation and for merging in the Super-Soul and drawn downwards by the craving

for satisfying the senses and earning and possessing things from the nature

around him. Now, the upward pull is becoming weaker. Respect for spiritual

institutions, temples, holy places, elders and sacred books are fast declining.

Pride in material wealth and competition in acquiring it, are fast increasing.

This is the tragedy of the times.

Human being is the child and inheritor of immortality and the repository of

Divinity. Human can by various paths attain the state of Divinity itself. A

machine without the power to activate it is of no use; so too, a human body

without the Divine Spark is of no avail. The knowledge that you are the Divine

Spark, encased in the sheaths of bliss, intelligence, feelings, sensations and

organic substances - this knowledge is the light. You must light your own lamp.

You cannot walk in the light of another's lamp. Earn the knowledge yourself.

Even knowing it is not enough; you must experience it. The well has water; but

that is not enough. It must be brought up in the bucket and used to wash and to

quench, the thirst. The mind moves only towards the right and the pure, of

its own accord; but the senses and the outer world drag it towards the wrong

and the impure.

The knowledge that you are the architect of your fortune and that you can,

by steady effort, rebuild it or foster it, that you are ever laying on or

pulling down the structure of your career, will be a great inspiration,

provided you welcome it. However, nothing ever happens without proper reason,

however accidental or mysterious, it might appear. The roots go deep and are

out of sight. Ascetic practices, years of constant recitation of the Name,

pilgrimages to holy places and shrines, study of sacred books - these will not

help the aspirant to spiritual victory as much as communion with the Godly and

the good.

The Name of God is a great tonic. Vitamin G gives strength to be active,

welcome activity that is the message that God gives human, at birth. The breath

teaches you Soham all the time, 'so' when it goes in and 'ham,' when it is

exhaled. You will have to select that activity which is conducive to your

spiritual progress, judging the stage in which you are at present. There is no

high and low, in the activity. The eye sees stars that are billions of miles

away, but, they do not see the ears, which are a few finger-breadths afar! The

eye must see, the ear must hear, the hand must hold. That is their Dharma

(duty). Each must manage its own, his own Dharma.

Bhaarath is the birthplace of the Vedhas and of the Shaasthras, epics and

Puraanas that have elaborated the principles enunciated therein for the

education of the common person. It is the nursery of music and other fine

arts, inspired by the noble passion of consecrating human skills for adoring

the Divine and communicating the super sensuous. It is the staff and sustenance

of the mystic and the ascetic, the intellectual and the dynamic adorer of God;

it is the field where the science of Yoga was cultivated and systematised.

The duty of Indians is to foster these traits and sow among human

communities the seeds of love, so that they may grow and fill the world with

the fragrant blooms of tolerance and reverence. No human can live away, apart

from the rest human beings. No country can play its role alone and unrelated to

the others on the world stage. Other nations influence the destiny of India;

India too has its impact on others. One bloodstream circulates through all the

limbs; one Divine principle circulates through all the lands and peoples.

The search is for the same treasure; the summit is One, the tracks leading

to it are many; the guides are also many; they clamour and compete among

themselves. Seven blind men examined the elephant and imagined that it was what

each one was able to touch; each one interpreted his touch -they could not get a

complete and correct picture of the animal.

In order to ensure happiness and peace, administrators of different lands

contrive five-year plans, and build bridges, dams, factories, schools, etc.

But, without the cleansing of the spirit, the strengthening of detachment, the

promotion of compassion and kinship, economic progress promotes only hatred,

faction and envy. Self-confidence, self-control and self-knowledge - these

alone can lead human to peace, joy, spiritual and also economic progress. Be

self-confident, that is to say, have confidence in your self; for, that self is

Divine; it has in it all the strength, all the sweetness of the Atma (True Self,

I), which is but a wave of the ocean of Param-atma (Supreme Reality).

During deep sleep the 'I' is not aware of itself. It is only after one

awakens that one declares, I had a very pleasant sleep. During the dream stage,

the mind is active, though the intelligence, the senses, are all dormant. The

dream builds a bungalow in a few seconds, and you occupy it and live happily in

it, until, in the dream, an earthquake brings it down on your heads, and you

flee for sheer life! The entire story of construction, occupation and

destruction was the reflection of mental aberration, its sankalpa (resolve). It

is the seat of the ego and the ego plays all sorts of pranks with the mental

stuff, during sleep, when the senses and reason are temporarily out of action.

When the basis of the ego is removed by spiritual effort heroically and

directed towards this end, then all the drama of name and form drifts away into

nothingness.

However, to overcome the ego is a very hard task; years of persistent effort

are needed to get success in this endeavour which guarantees lasting happiness,

and escape from the weary round of birth and death.

 

Note down all the things for which you have cried so far. You should cry

only for God, for your own cleansing and consummation. The ancient scriptures

mostly are based on intuitive spiritual experiences. Theosoph Charles Webster

Leadbeater, author of many spiritual books in the beginning of 20th century has

declared that the correct recital of the Gaayathri Manthra with the orthodox

Udhaattha, Anudhaattha and Swaritha, (modulation of the voice and the higher,

lower and even accents) can produce experienceable and authentic illumination,

whereas incorrect pronunciation and wrong accent result in thickening the

darkness. Therefore, instead of scoffing at the disciplines of recitals,

meditations, prayers, formulary worship and manthra-utterances, their values

having to be accepted and their results tested and confirmed by practice and

exercise. Many devotees has been in Swami's Adobe several times, have

darshans and interviews. But, spiritual practice is little in progress. It is

not enough if nice dishes are cooked and arranged in the kitchen. They have

to be served on your plates, you have to eat them and digest them. So too, it

is not enough if Swami speaks and you hear. You have to recollect what I have

said and treasure them in the cavity of your heart and ruminate over them and

put them into daily practice. You should weep, wailing for the six cobras

that have sheltered themselves in your mind, poisoning it with their venom:

Lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and malice. Quieting them as the snake

charmer does with his swaying flute. The music that can tame them is the

singing aloud of the Name of God. When these are laid low, you will gain

equanimity. You will be unaffected by honour or dishonour, profit or loss, joy

or grief. You will accept bravely whatever happens - fame or shame.

The main use of human body is the realisation of the own reality. The rest

is all incidental. Life as a journey with different stations called Age. When

you before fifty, live with constant remembrance and faith to the Creator, look

upon the wife/husband and the children as a sacred trust, and serve them in that

spirit. Prepare yourselves for a celibate and spiritual discipline from the age

of fifty; the five senses have to be mastered, by the time five decades of your

life are over. The conclusion of six decades means that you have conquered the

six foes of man: lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and hate. When you are

seventy, you must have become ready to merge with the seven sages, the seven

seas and the seven colours of the solar ray; that is to say, you must be far,

far above mundane desires and ideals, and as near the point of mergence as

possible, through saadhana. Eighty must see you in line with the deities that

preside over the eight cardinal points, more or less Divine, in attributes and

characteristics. Ninety takes you, or rather should take you to the realm of

the Nine Planets, into the realm of the Super. When human reaches the hundred

marks, living out the ten decades, he must have mastered the ten senses, the

five senses of action and the five senses of knowledge and become Wisdom

incarnate, with no trace of action or the consequence thereof or the desire for

it. He and the Absolute are One and Indivisible.

Be convinced that whatever achievement you make, is caused by the Grace of

the Lord. Pray to the God for strength, wisdom, humility, detachment, light and

love. With each step in the pilgrimage of life approach Divinity steadily and

surely. Individual effort and Grace, both are essential. Shankara says,

-"Through the Grace of the Lord alone can man develop a desire for the

non-duality of the Universe." (Reet's compilation by Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 8.

"The upward and downward pulls," Chapter 13 and "Name, the never-failing

fountain," Chapter 18; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 9. "Green across the door,"

Chapter 6 and "Step by step," Chapter 9).

 

Namaste - Reet