Swami on Advaita

[Guest guest]

Light and Love

 

Below are excerpts of wonderful dialogue between Swami and devotee. Swami

explains by very simply way the deepest truth of existence. This dialogue is a

lesson for everyone, who has chosen the spiritual path of development.

 

Devotee: Swami, what is the best way to relate to the world?

 

Sai Baba: Human love is mostly selfish. All the time it thinks only of this

little ‘I’. This little ‘I’ is the ego. It sees everything as separate. It sees

everything as dual. Remove this ego and you will see only unity. Where there is

duality, divinity will not be present. Think only of the basis of everything.

Now for you at present there is only desire, desire, desire: I want this! I

want that! Desires are just passing clouds. One moment they give pleasure and

the next moment they give pain. Desires make up the mind. Every thought in the

mind comes from desire. Don’t follow those passing clouds. Desire comes, desire

goes, but morality comes and grows.

 

Devotee: Swami, should we think of God as being both father and mother?

 

Sai Baba: Your physical mother is only with you for some years. She is your

temporary mother. Your physical father is also only temporary. The real

relationship is different. Truth is the real father. Truth is permanent. Truth

has no birth; it has no death. Prema, divine love, is the real mother. Devotion

is the real brother. Wisdom is the real son. Peace is the real daughter. For all

of these relationships there is no change, there is no birth, there is no death.

They make up your permanent relationship, your relationship with God.

 

Devotee: Swami, if Divinity is my permanent relationship and all these

others are only temporary relationships, then do I still have to take care of

my family at home?

 

Sai Baba (very firmly): You must! That is your duty. Do your duty. Take

care of your family.

 

Devotee: Even if it takes me away from God?

 

Sai Baba: No! No! No! No! Do not abandon your family. You must take care of

your husband and your children. Do not forsake your duty.

 

Devotee: But Swami, not even when God calls?

 

Sai Baba (laughingly): God is in you. He is not calling or sending for you.

He is always with you. You, yourself, are God. Always think like that. “I am

God. I am God. I am atma. I am everything.” Think like that and do your duty at

home. God is not sending for you or asking you to come from somewhere. You are

God.

 

Devotee: Swami, is everything predetermined? Is the time we take to merge

already mapped out? When we finally merge and get realisation, is that moment

already written on our foreheads?

 

Sai Baba: For atma there is no time and there is no space. It is beyond

time and beyond form. In this Self all are one. Remember that unity. Live in

that unity. Make that your goal. All are one. Be alike to everyone.

 

Devotee: Then Swami, what is the relationship between the Self and the

individual?

 

Sai Baba: Where is Self? It is everywhere. How do you know? You do not

know. You have no experience of it, so do some sadhana, some spiritual

practice. Experience it. Practise it. Live it. Realise it.

 

Devotee: But Swami, what I wanted to ask is “Do I have an individual higher

Self? Is there an individual higher Self that is specifically related to me?”

 

Sai Baba: The individual exists only in your imagination, in your mind. It

is just an illusion. It is not real. When the one Self is everywhere, when it

is one without a second, then where is the individual? Only in your

imagination. The Self alone is real. Realise it.

 

Devotee: Swami, is there really no higher being related uniquely to this

body, judging me or guiding me?

 

Sai Baba: You are still in one hundred percent body consciousness. Do not

stay with this body-consciousness. Remove it. What will remain will be

God-consciousness. Then there will be no anger, no hatred, no envy, no

jealousy, no desire, no ego, only pure joy, only complete bliss, only bliss,

bliss, bliss.

 

Devotee: But then what is reborn? When we reincarnate, what is born?

 

Sai Baba: The body is born. Birth and death only have to do with the body.

Ego relates only to the body. Reincarnation relates only to the body. Do not

think of the body, think of the atma. It is unchanging. For that one Self there

is no incarnation; there is no reincarnation.

 

Devotee: Swami, do I, as an individual, exist at all?

 

Sai Baba: I! I! I! Always this I. First you must ask “Who is this I? Who

am I?”

 

Devotee (persisting): But Swami is there no individual anything?

 

Sai Baba: When you realise the Self, then there is no separate individual.

You can think of individuals as different light bulbs. There will be

differences in wattage. There will be differences in age, in colour, in form,

in name. There will be differences in shape, but everywhere the current that

powers them is the same. That current is you. You are not a bulb which appears

different from any other bulb. You are the current, the one current that is

found in all the bulbs. That is who you are.

 

Devotee: Swami, is there any difference between me and God?

 

Sai Baba: You are God. You are not the ego. You are God!

 

Devotee (incredulously): I am God???

 

Sai Baba: Yes! You are atma, the one Self. You are permanent. The physical

body is not permanent. The physical is not the Self, but you are the Self, not

the physical. You are God. Think like this always. Do not think about the body.

For the body there is birth and death, but you are not the body.

 

Devotee: Swami, I do healing and I wanted to ask......

 

Sai Baba (interrupting): Healing comes from God. God is everything. He will

always do what is needed. Think only of surrendering to God. You may say “I am

healing others”, but this is just your ego speaking. Healing cannot come

through the ego. Thinking that you are doing healing is very harmful. You are

not the one who is doing the healing. You are only the instrument. God does

everything. Think only of Him. Love Him.

 

Devotee: Swami, how can we love something we don’t understand?

 

Sai Baba: Develop self-confidence, then love will follow. It will come

naturally, from within. In that way the love will be pure. Your journey starts

with self-confidence and ends with the realisation of the Self. That Self is

you; it is God. Self-confidence is unwavering love for the divinity within.

What will help you to develop this confidence? Be equal-minded. Be satisfied

with what you have. Don’t hanker for anything outside. Be happy! The secret of

happiness lies not in doing what you like but in liking what you have to do.

That is a great truth. Always have complete faith in God, Who takes care of

everything. True greatness can only come from faith.

 

Devotee: Lord, I want to merge with you. What do I have to do? I am ready.

 

Sai Baba: Through love, only through love. Love is everything. Start the

day with love, spend the day with love, fill the day with love and end the day

with love. That is the way to God.

 

Devotee: Swami, how do we develop this selfless love?

 

Sai Baba: Only through God’s Grace. Prema, divine selfless love, comes

only through God’s Grace. Without Grace you cannot do anything. First do your

duty and think about God all day, from morning until evening. See everything as

God and be happy. Do not think that this is mine or that is mine or that this is

not mine. Instead, think “All is you, Lord. All is yours.” Think “I am beyond

the body. I am the Self. I and God are one.” Think like this “Before this body

was formed, I was there. After this body goes, I will still be there. I am

Omnipresent. I am the all.” To reach this truth you have to do some spiritual

practice.

 

The first step in self-realisation is to always think of God and after some

years you will know that you are one with God. Jesus spent twelve years in the

desert before he realised this fact. In the beginning you can think that this

whole world is just like a stage and you are only an actor. All of Humanity are

actors. God is directing everything. But do not stop there. Move on and identify

only with God. Think God. Be God.

 

Devotee: Swami, shall we go out and tell these things to other people?

 

Sai Baba: Do not talk so much. Do some spiritual practice. First do. Then

be. Then you can talk. But only a little. Do some meditation. Do everything

with love. After you develop self-confidence and love for God, you can share

with others, but it is a good rule not to talk too much. Talk very little, even

about God. In spiritual practice there will always be internal talk with God.

You will give up all attachments and attach only to God. For this, purity of

the heart is very important. Where there is no purity, there is no unity.

Without unity, you cannot attain divinity. First purity, next unity. Then you

realise divinity.

 

Devotee: And purity comes from service, Swami?

 

Sai Baba: Yes, purity comes from selfless love, from doing selfless

service. All are one family, so serve all, not just the Sai family, but the

whole world family. All are brothers and sisters. All are one. Be alike to

everyone.

 

Excerpts from:

http://www.ramalacentre.com/sai_baba_print01b.htm

 

Namaste - Reet