Swami teaches... God has thousands of heads, eyes and feet

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Sai Ram Light and Love

Swami teaches...

God has Thousands of Heads, Eyes and Feet

Bharat is a sacred land. Noble souls were born there. Bharat was ruled by

Sri Rama Himself. This is the land of the song celestial, the Bhagavad Gita.

This is the birthplace of the first composer, Valmiki and our beloved Swami.

This is the birthplace of Veda Vyasa, who classified the Vedas. This is the

land traversed by Lord Buddha. This is the birthplace of spiritual aspirants,

seers and sages. Swami has incarnated there in order to achieve the supreme

task of uniting the entire mankind as one family through the bond of

brotherhood; of affirming and illumining the inner reality of each being in

order to reveal the Divine, which is the basis on which the Universe rests; and

of instructing all to recognise the existing Divine heritage that binds human to

human, so that human can rid of the animal and rise to the Divine, which is the

goal.

More effulgent than the Sun, Purer and whiter than snow, Subtler than

the firmament, Immanent in all beings, There is no particle without the

Self. The Cosmic Consciousness Is within you and you are the Brahman.

What more Swami can tell you?

Once a devotee asked Swami: “There is the pronouncement Brahma Sathyam

Jaganmithya I want to know what is real and what is unreal?" Swami told him:

“Leave Brahman to Brahman and the world of delusion to itself. First of all try

to find the truth about yourself. Why bother about Brahman and Jagat (world)

when you do ,not know what you are. Find out whether you are real or not. You

are not aware of your existence in sleep. In that state, are you real or

unreal? You are not aware whether you are alive or dead. It is neither real nor

unreal. Mithya (myth) applies to this state of Sat-Asat (real-unreal). When you

know yourself and recognise the Mithya that you are, you will view the Jagat as

Mithya."

However, today many, many humans has no desire for spiritual teachings and

they have no divine feelings in mind. In such a situation, how can human remain

unaffected by worldly influences? Human has to transform worldly influences

into innate nature. The last is to erase worldly influences.

It is arrived the time for true devotees to expand Swami's Teaching through

examples from their own lives and actions. You may go through any number of

books, you may visit noble souls, you may listen to sacred teachings, but the

reality is one. People read hundreds of books, Swami's original Works, some

read these compilations by Swami's Teaching, however, few translate them into

action and do not have practical knowledge.

The one who has practical knowledge will have understanding of the Divinity.

True Dharma (righteousness) is to put into practice the Truth that originates

from the heart. When Truth is translated into action, it becomes Dharma. But,

today, people are heroes at platform and zeros in practice. You should be

heroes in the practical field. It is useless to be a hero in reading books or

in giving lectures. There is only one hero, and He is God is the teaching of

the Vedas. Everything becomes truth in the company of God. Put into practice

one sacred principle. At least speak the truth or develop love. That is enough.

There is no greater sadhana (spiritual discipline) than this.

 

Swami has not sought anything from anybody. But Swami will be happy with any

kind of service you render. Spend your money to help the needy. Do everything

for the good of society. Wherever you may be, in whatever country or place,

take part in the service activities there. People claim to render social

service, but their motives are self-centred. On the contrary, they should be

conscious of all that they owe to society and render service in a spirit of

selflessness. They should recognise their identity with society.

You pray to a river: "Oh river, overflow with water." Don't pray to the

river. Address your prayers to rain. When the rain responds, the rivers will

get filled automatically. Likewise, when you serve society as the Divine,

automatically your desires will be fulfilled.

The Vedas, the Upanishads and all scriptures have their origin in Truth what

is the proper abode of God. His presence can be experienced in many ways. When

you see a mountain or waterfall or a forest you feel happy. All these proclaim

the presence of the Divine. Light shines, the stars twinkle, the Sun blazes,

the planets revolve in their orbits. All these-phenomena are manifestations of

the Divine. By understanding the nature of a flame you can understand the

nature of fire. By examining a drop of water you know the nature of the Ganges.

Likewise by understanding the true nature of humanness, you can understand

Divinity.

 

Today human has taken to many paths to acquire wisdom. The acquired

knowledge is not true knowledge in the strict sense of the term. Knowledge of

the spirit, Atmic knowledge, is the true knowledge. That is Brahma Jnana.

(Atma, Brahman, and Jnana are synonyms). All that is related to our senses, the

fleeting objects of the material world, and our actions, speak of our ignorance.

True wisdom dawns when all thoughts are decimated. The thoughtless state

between two consecutive thoughts is Brahma Jnana (Atmic, spiritual wisdom).

Human is not able to experience this thoughtless state of Brahman and is

carried away by fleeting, ephemeral, and momentary things. That which

eyes cannot see, but which enables the eyes to see - that is God. The Divine

transcends all proof. The myriad forms in the Cosmos emerged from this Sankalpa

(inner thought) of the One. To discover the one in many, the sages prescribed

for mankind the Karma, Bhakti and Upasana paths and indicated in pronouncements

like "Tat-Twam-Asi" (That Thou Art) that the process is one of Self-realisation.

They declared that the individual should realise that the phenomenal world is in

fact a reflected image of him/herself.

 

People today are keen to know all about everything except themselves. What

they are seeing is the manifestation of God, they declare that they cannot see

God. But all that is seen, the act of seeing and the seer are all Divine. When

the unity of this triune aspects of Divinity is understood, real bliss will be

experienced.Human today is prey to endless desires. Far from bringing

happiness, desires only lead to misery andfrustration. It is when the delusion

is destroyed that the Self can be realised.

Even a sage like Narada, who had mastered all the sastras, was subject to

delusions. He said to Sanatkumara: "Master! How I can have vision of the

Brahman. Confer this benediction on me." When Sanatkumara asked Narada how he

was qualified to receive this message, the sage recounted his mastery of the

Vedas and the scriptures and proclaimed his ability to expound them.

Sanatkumara smiled and asked if he knew anything else. Narada replied: “When I

have mastered all the scriptures and recognised that the Divine is the basis

for all of them, what else is there to be known? What is the unknown mystery

about the Brahman?" Sanatkumara said: "Dear Child! If with all this knowledge,

you have not been able to experience the Divine, you must enquire into the

reason for your failure." Sanatkumara explained: “God cannot be realised by

intellectual enquiries or study of the scriptures. Pray to God with deep

devotion. You will have the vision of the Divine."

Only a clean mirror can reflect a correct image. If the mirror is not clean,

the reflection will be likewise. Similarly, to experience the Divine, a pure

heart is necessary. Purity of the heart results from purity in thought, word

and deed.

In this human body, constituted by the five elements, God dwells in the form

Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshvara. The Trinity are not embodied beings and dwell in the

every human body as three gunas: Sathva, Rajas, and Thamas. The three qualities

are forms of the Divine. Brahma is responsible for creation. This

transcendental process is taught by the mother. The mother is to be adored as

Brahma, the Creator. Revere the mother, serve the mother and trust the mother.

This symbolises worship of God. The father protects the child. This protective

function is attributed to Vishnu. Hence the injunction: "Revere the father as

God." Thus the mother and the father are images of Brahma and Vishnu. Then

there is Eeshvara. He gives whatever one prays for. To experience this

embodiment of auspiciousness (Shiva), Thamas is the mean. The Thamasik quality

is usually associated with slothfulness and indolence. But this is not the

proper meaning of Thamas (as an attribute of Shiva). Shiva's role is to lead

human on the right path to realise the divinity.

Follow the conscience. That is the principle of Atma, the Self. The

spiritual quest means making use of the vibrations from the conscience to

understand the truth. Without troubling to find out where God is, it is enough

if one worships the mother and the father who are the living embodiments of

God. To ignore the deities who are directly visible, in the form of one's

parents, it is delusion to search for an invisible God. Brahma and Vishnu are

to be worshipped in the physical forms of one's parents. These two deities have

no forms. The forms seen in the paintings of Ravi Varma are the products of his

imagination.

(In the 18th canto of the Bhagavad Gita the Lord has declared: “Eashwara

dwells in the heart region of all living things." This means that one must see

the Divine in every being).

Make good use of the Divine Trinity in you. So recognise the Divine in your

mother, father and preceptor and revere them. Develop the conviction that the

Divine you adore, who is your favourite deity, is within you. That Divine is

Sathyam, Shivam, Sundharam (Truth, Goodness and Beauty). Plato (the Greek

philosopher) declared that Truth, Goodness and Beauty are God. With these

truths in your hearts, embark on service and bring a good name to your country.

 

All humans are the forms of God. The Atmatathwa (Self) present in every

being is in fact God. It is Divinity in its true sense. An aspect of Swami's

Divinity is resident in each being. Do not search for God. Look within. Divine

will manifest in you. Spiritual texts may be many, the teachings of

spirituality may be different, but the Atma is the same.

At one time, someone questioned Shirdi Sai Baba, “Are you God?” What was

His reply? “All are the forms of the Divine. I am not only Divine, but also the

Divinity that is present in the Divine,” said Baba. So, the same Divinity is

present in every being as all are the forms of the Divine.

You must realise that life is like a two winged bird. The two wings are Love

and Sacrifice. To attain permanent peace, develop Love within. Love can turn

earth into sky and sky into earth. This sacred Love is within you. (But, you

direct it in the wrong direction and thereby it gets perverted. You are

responsible for the loss and suffering. You are responsible for the wicked

actions and agitations outside).

Your sense of hearing does not become holy by listening to the expositions

of a teacher. By self-effort you should put your senses of sabda (sound),

sparsa (touch), rupa (form), rasa (taste), and gandha (smell) to right use. It

you want to make your life sacred, you have to first sanctify your senses. When

the senses follow the right path, only then does the life force vibrate in the

body properly. This vibration is Divine in nature. What is the source of this

vibration? This vibration originates from radiation which is related to

spiritual knowledge. To recognize the nature of this truth, human should first

attain the unity of thought, word, and deed and bring about complete harmony in

them. This is the real spiritual practice.

 

Buddha who did penance for several years, understood that all ritualistic

practices were useless without achieving right vision, right listening, right

speech, right thoughts, and right acts as the five primordial principles for

the guidance of human. Humanity will be in danger without right vision. The

image of every seen object gets imprinted in the mind. Therefore, first of all

one must have right vision. Right vision is that which is untainted by the

baneful influence of evil feelings, evil thoughts, and evil deeds.

Bliss is within one's own Self. You are struggling hard for artificial

happiness outside. You are not aware of the reality that lies in the heart, not

in the world. Why should you search for God when He is everywhere? You are God.

All sadhana (spiritual practice) will go in vain if you do not know your true

identity. You are the master of this material world. Master the mind and be a

mastermind. You have to exercise a ceiling on your desires. This means

exercising control over them. Your life is a long journey. You should have less

luggage (desires) in this long journey of life. Therefore, it is said: less

luggage more comfort makes travel a pleasure. You have to cut short your

desires day by day. You are under the mistaken notion that happiness lies in

the fulfillment of desires. However, happiness is an internal conscious

experience which comes as an effect of the extinction of mental or physical

desire. The perfect happiness consists in the destruction or satisfaction of

all desires in the Absolute being.

 

The purpose of performing different ceremonies is to realise the omnipresent

Divine through various activities, rituals and media. Pujas, japas and dhyana

have their place in worship. But you should not confine yourself to them. You

must go beyond them to the stage of God-realisation. You must progress from the

rituals to upasana (meditation), and from upasana to jnana (Self-knowledge).

That is you have to proceed from Dwaita (dualism) to Visishtadvaita (qualified

non-dualism) and to Adwaita (non-dualism). Without having the Adwaitic

experience you cannot understand the true nature of the Atma.

Atmic feeling, is human’s innate nature. Truth, righteousness, peace and

love constitute Atmic feelings.

 

Several ways of spirituality are enunciated in the Vedas, the epics and the

Puranas. What is spirituality? That which destroys human's animal nature,

nurtures humanness, and finally transforms human into a Divine being is

spirituality. Worshipping, singing devotional songs, and performing rituals are

acts of secondary importance.

First of all, you should understand the Truth that the changeless and eternal

bliss is within. It is described as, Nirgunam, Niranjanam, Sanathanam Niketanam,

Nithya, Suddha, Buddha, Mukta, Nirmala Swarupinam (attributeless, pure, final

abode, eternal, unsullied, enlightened, free and embodiment of sacredness).

There are many who say that they are undertaking a particular ritual for

world peace. You can never attain peace from rituals. Peace is contained in

Love. You can develop Love only when you have faith in the Self. So faith to

the Self, Atma is the first step; the following steps, actions are as the

results of this inner Awareness of Unity.

There are no ‘others’. (You consider yourself different from others because

of body attachment). Once yougive up body attachment, you will realise that

there are no others and all are yours. That is the true vision of Atma. Bliss

is Atma, Consciousness is Atma. Conscious means related to the senses;

conscience is the inner witness and Consciousness is the all-pervasive Atma.

Understand the unity of these three. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai

Speaks. Vol. 20. "The perennial quest," Chapter 22; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 28.

"Love and sacrifice will save mankind," Chapter 36; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 32,

part 1. "Put Ceiling On Your Desires," Chapter 6 and "Nature of Self," Chapter

13; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 33. "Human Birth Is To Experience Atmic Bliss,"

Chapter 12).

Namaste - Reet