Swami teaches... The ideals which beautify the Tree of Life

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches... 15 - 16 October 2005

The Ideals which Beautify the Tree of Life

In every one, there is the thirst for God; only many deny it on account of

false pride, some on account of ignorance, some call it by some other name,

worry, discontent or despair. Some have faith only in Love, some believe only

in Truth, some swear that they care only for Goodness - but, all these do not

know that they arereferring to God alone by these names. They too are pilgrims

to the same Sacred Shrine. The Tree of life, with its countless branches

proliferating into thoughts, words, and deeds, attitudes, tendencies, and

impulses, is known by the sages of India to have its roots in Heaven. So, every

rule and ritual was made sacred and holy, suffused with purity, humility and

love. This resulted in peace and happiness, for the individual, the family, the

community, the nation and the world. Indian thinkers have reached the

dizziest heights of speculation and the clearest depths of intuition; they have

found that the experience of fundamental unity is not negated by most rigorous

logic. Therefore, all other faiths are but facets of this supreme Truth, this

sublime experience. And, each little duty cast upon human in the Hindu Code of

Morals reflects this awareness of Unity.

Although the Truth is one, the sages used to give it different names. Truth

is not any one's private property. It is not related to any one nation, nor to

any particular faith. Nor is it related to a specific time. Truth transcends

the bounds of space, time, religion and country. In adhering to Truth, people

of all countries, of all religions and of all times, have equal right. Truth

does not follow anyone. Every human being has to follow Truth.The primal

grandsire of humanity, Manu, expounded this Truth. Manu laid down the rule

that should be prepared even to sacrifice own life for the cause of Truth. Manu

gave to the world profound declaration: Utter the Truth. Say what is pleasing.

Never tell what is truthful but unpleasant. This means that you should not

speak an untruth because it may be pleasing to one. Nor should you speak out

the truth when it is likely to hurt a person's feelings. Every man should speak

the truth, but it should be truth that is pleasing. In the Gita it has been

stated that in speech, the words should not cause any excitement, they should

be true, pleasing and well-meaning. When you see a blind man, you know that

he is blind. This is true. But because it is true, if you hail him as: "Oh

blind man!," you will be causing him pain. As soon as he hears the word

"blind," he feels distressed. No doubt what was said was true, but it

distressed the hearer.

In past ages, Avathaars rid the world of evil, by destroying the few fanatics

and ogres who wrought it. But, now the number of asuras (evil people) is legion;

no one is free from that taint; all are wicked to some extent or other.

Therefore, every one needs correction; every one has to be educated and guided

into the right path. Every being is a pilgrim destined to reach Maadhava (the

Lord ) and merge in Him; but most people have forgotten the road; they wander

like lost children, wasting precious time in by-paths.

 

You can win the Grace of the Lord only by dharma. Dharma induces the spirit

of self-surrender and develops it. Without the training what the practice of

dharma gives to your senses, your feelings and emotions, you cannot have steady

faith and steady detachment. The Lord is Dharma conceived as a personality. If

you step across the bounds of Dharma and play foul, you cannot win the game of

life. The Shaasthry said the Lord wishes that His bhaktha should shine over

non-believers; that he should be happier, more contented, more courageous than

the rest: bhakthi ought to make a human so, But the bhaktha does not cultivate

these traits deep enough. If Shaasthry gives his sons a hundred acres each, one

son may tend it well and reap golden harvests from it: another may allow it to

lie fallow and himself sink into misery. The equipment each has brought from

previous lives may be different. you cannot blame thee father for this stateof

affairs. Spiritual strength will be less in one, more in another, in proportion

to the efforts of each, now and in the past. Human is the only animal that

can picture a previous existence and existences in a series, with impressions

accumulating from one to the other. What you see and feel in a dream has some

basis on what you have seen and felt in the waking state; so too, what you see

and feel in the present life has, as its basis, what you have seen and felt in

other lives, previous lives. The Shaasthry spoke of the value of the

Vedhic discipline. The Vedhas declare that if a karma is done in a definite

way, a definite result will accrue. They give you a pen filled with ink, they

teach you how to write and what to write. Do not set aside the commands of the

Vedhas: they are the authentic Voice of the Lord Himself (who is the Father of

all) as heard and recorded by purified intellects. It may take many lives

for a human to prove that person knows what is best for him/her, that person is

able to chalk out own future without harming anybody. It is best to trust to the

experience of sages, who were filled with compassion and who were moved by that

compassion to illumine the path of liberation. This experience is enshrined in

the Vedhas.

The Upanishads are like the crown for the Vedas. Among the Upanishads the

Isaavaasyopanishad is foremost. This Upanishad is in the form of mantras in the

Sukla Yajur Veda. Upto the 39th canto, the Yajur Veda is concerned with the

Karma Marga (the path of rituals). From the 40th canto, the exposition of the

Jnana Marga (the path of Supreme Knowledge) begins. This canto starts with the

Isopanishad. Jnana presides over Karma. Karma is the basis for Jnana. The

Upanishads seek to reconcile and coordinate the Karma and Jnanapaths. The

Isaavaasyopanishad declares that whatever bhoga (pleasures) one wants to enjoy,

he/she should do so in a spirit of renunciation. In daily life, enjoyment and

renunciation do not go together. The thyagi (renunciant) is not interested in

enjoyment of sensual pleasures. The bhogi (the pleasureseeker) will not think

of renunciation. In such a situation, how is it possible to combine enjoyment

of pleasures with renunciation or sacrifice? It is in this context that the

Isaavaasyopanishad has declared that when every action is free from the sense

of egoistic doership and all enjoyment is free from attachment or desire, there

will be no difference between enjoyment and renunciation.

This is the spiritual teaching of the Isaavaasyopanishad. The Upanishad also

demonstrated that actions performed in this spirit transform bhoga (enjoyment)

into yoga. Yoga is the divine culmination of the results of spiritual exercises

and disciplines.

Yoga is the state that is realised by one who, born as a human being,

engages himself in various spiritual exercises to experience the transcendental

Divinity. It refers to the envisioning of that which is beyond the physical

vision, not easily attainable, but possible when to acknowledge the essence of

Kshema and Yogakshema. Kshema means safeguarding the yogic experience which has

been realised through spiritual efforts. Yogakshema, therefore, means acquiring

experience of the transcendental Divine and endeavouring to preserve it. Such a

transcendental experience may be described as bhoga (enjoyment) associated with

thyaga (sacrifice). Human is not merely a composite expression of body, mind

and spirit. He has what is known as Prajna-sakti, the faculty of "Constant

integrated Awareness." This "Awareness" pervades the body, the mind and the

Antahkarana (the internal instruments), what is the combined expression of the

mind, the Buddhi (intellect), the Chitta (will) and the Ahamkara (ego). The

mind is the instrument of continuous thought. If you take a piece of cloth,

you find that it has threads in its warp and woof. The mind is like that cloth.

If you remove the threads from the warp, there will be no cloth. Likewise, when

thoughts are removed the mind will be functionless. This process has been

described as going beyond the mind.

When you limit your desires, keep the welfare of society in view, and seek

to discharge your duties, you will be realizing the objective of combining

enjoyment with sacrifice.

The true secret of enjoyment lies in sacrifice. Sacrifice has also been

declared to be the only means of achieving immortality. Giving up what is taken

in is a law of life. It applies to breathing, food and other things. Likewise,

the wealth which one acquires should also be given back to society. Wealth

includes not only riches, but every other form of acquisition including

knowledge, scholarship, and skills of various kinds. The knowledge you have

acquired through education should be imparted to others. This means that the

more you give, the more you grow.

There must be a Divine Purpose in life. Human must know the way to attain

the Lord, must be educated to rid himself of distractions on the path, must

know that, which if known, all else is known. The rest is all secondary,

incidental, unnecessary. People want the Eternal, the Absolute; not, the

temporary and the particular. Books, published today must deal with the

eternal verities, the absolute certainties, the vast immeasurable joys. The

fascination that the temporary has over the mind is called Maaya or Delusion.

The world is a labyrinth in which human has become entangled; he/she must find

a way out. The Lord is ever behind you. Turn back from the world - He is

face to face with you. Cultivate enough strength of mind to know its weakness

and to surrender your all to the Lord whom you see face to face in all beings

and at all moments. He does not calculate the cost of the 'all' which you

surrender at His feet. He examines the spirit in which it is surrendered.

An ancient story tells that Shankaraachaarya stood before a house with his

begging bowl. The old lady who lived there was struck by the effulgence on his

face that betokened a realised soul; but she had nothing which she could drop

in that bowl. She wrung her hands in despair; she cursed herself; she wondered

why the distinguished mendicant had come to her door, instead of going to the

doors of the affluent. Then she remembered she had a single myrobalan fruit,

the last. She brought it out and, with tears flowing in her wrinkled cheeks,

she dropped it into the bowl. Shankaraachaarya was touched by her contribution;

the Lord willed; a shower of golden myrobalans fell in the yard in front of her

hut. She was placed above want even without her asking for it. That is the way

Grace works.

The Lord's Grace is like the wind that blows. Roll up your sails and the

boat lies limp and lame; unfurl them, it moves faster and faster. It is like

light; one person does good using the illumination; another executes an evil

plan, with its help. The Lord is like the current in electric wire. It rotates

the fan and makes one's life cooled; it operates the electric chair and makes

one's life shorter. It has no wish to allay the warmth of the atmosphere; it

has no eagerness to kill. You have no reason to fear the Lord; fear rather the

tendencies in you that drag you into vice and sin. Love towards the Lord must be

witnessed by love towards human being, for human is the visible manifestation of

the Lord, a manifestation whose grief and pain you can understand as akin to

your own.

 

When asked who you are, say that you are Naaraayana-swaruupa, playing the

role of Pullayya or Thimmayya or Mallayya, or whatever your name is. So too,

every other person is a role played by Naaraayana. Naaraayana washed clothes as

the dhobi, shapes wood as the carpenter, forges iron as the blacksmith, prepares

pots at the wheel as a potter. Sugar-dolls are valued for the sugar, not the

shapes they are given by the manufactures. Elephant, dog, cat, rat, jackal or

lion - it does not matter. That is a matter of individual fancy. Each is sweet,

that is the essential thing. (The Avathaar has own, another role He takes up for

another purpose).

The Divine is equally all-pervading, but cannot be seen or held. It can only

be experienced. When you experience the Divine by sadhana, it is equivalent to

direct perception. Embarking on the process of Self-realisation, seeking to

experience Divine bliss, performing the spiritual exercises prescribed for

getting near to the Lord and merging in Him, when you develop selfless love,

only then the Divine, will be experienced. Love will not grow in a field barren

of love. Where love does not grow, the fruits of love cannot be gathered. That

was why the gopis prayed to Krishna to shower the nectar of His love on their

parched hearts by playing on His flute. This was exemplified by the total

devotion of the Gopikas to Krishna. They were lost in ecstasy over the

melodious music of Krishna's flute. They found in that music the essence of all

the Vedhas and the scriptures. What is the significance of the flute? It

symbolises the human body what should be considered as the flute of God. It

should be rendered completely hollow, so that the Divine may blow through it.

Today the body is anything but hollow. It is filled with all kinds of desires.

Only when the desires are removed, the body will be a fit instrument for the

Divine to fill it with nectarine music.

 

All things in the world are perishable. But there is something which endures

even after death. These are the ideals for which one has lived. It is these

ideals which remain enshrined in the hearts of the people over generations.

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 3. "Climb the right

tree," Chapter 1. Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 7. "Books as benediction,"

Chapter 33 and "Nurse the ancient tree," Chapter 34. Sathya Sai Speaks.

Vol. 24. "Enjoyment through sacrifice," Chapter 10. Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol.

28. "The Power of Divine Love," Chapter 1 and "The bliss of Self-Realisation,"

Chapter 27).

PS: Spelling as in original texts.

Namaste - Reet