DIVINE MOTHER SAI SPEAKS TO US-SWAMI'S MESSAGE-02

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DIVINE MOTHER SAI SPEAKS TO US – SWAMI’S MESSAGE

SHARANAAGATHI

I DO not give 'speeches'; My talks are more of the conversation type; I want

that you should follow every word of what I say with reverent attention, for

your Aanandham is My Aahaaram---your joy is My food. You can get Aanandham only

by following the advice I give you and this is why I am particular that you

should listen carefully and take to heart all that I say. This is not a mere

lecture, wherefrom you do not seek new lessons for life.

The Lord is a Mountain of Prema (Love); any number of ants carrying away

particles of sweetness cannot exhaust His Plenty. He is an Ocean of Mercy

without a limiting shore. Bhakti (devotion) is the easiest way to win His Grace

and also to realise that He pervades everything; in fact, is everything!

Sharanaagathi (total surrender), leaving everything to His Will, is the highest

form of Bhakti. (Devotion)

Once a Brahmin was crossing a riverbed near which some men were washing clothes.

Finding a nice new silk shawl on his shoulder, they fell upon him in a group,

shouting that it belonged to the Palace and had been given to them to be

washed, but had been stolen and had not been traced. The poor Brahmin yelled

'Narayana, Narayana,' when the blows rained on him and so, Narayana rose from

His Seat in Vaikunda and proceeded forward; but in a moment, He walked back and

resumed His Seat much to the surprise of His Consort who asked Him the reason

for the strange behaviour. Narayana said, "I wanted to help that poor Brahmin

who has fallen into a den of scoundrels, but he has started beating them, blow

for blow; My Help is no longer needed."

Conquest of ego needed

When Bhakti is just emerging as a sapling, a fence is needed to protect the

tender plant; that fence is Sanathana Dharma (Eternal Religion) and its rules,

regulations and restrictions, directions and commands. When the fruit is green,

it will not fall even when the gale is furious; but when it is fully ripe, it

drops to the ground even in the silence of the night. A small fire will go out

in smoke even if a little green is placed on it, but the forest fire will

reduce to ashes even the greenest tree, which impedes its fierce march! What is

needed is the conquest of the ego. The bullock shouts 'ham hai' 'ham hal' (I am,

I am), in its egoistic pride. And so, when it is just a few days old, you tie it

to a post, apart from its mother; you work it to skin and bones; but yet, the

animal does not learn the lesson of humility. Even its skin when drawn tightly

across a drum resounds egoistically, 'Ham Ham Ham. And so, the skin has to be

cut into slender strings and then when the strings are pulled, the bullock

reveals that it has benefited by all the punishment it has undergone; it

murmurs thum thum thum, (you you you), and its ego is gone.

The Haridaasa (mendicant) goes along the streets, singing the glories of the

Lord. He has the sounding cymbals, two of them, the eternal duet of good-bad,

joy-grief, pain-pleasure in his right hand and he twangs the thambura (stringed

musical instrument) of samsara with his left. Samsara (worldly life) is the tune

to which his songs have to be adjusted, it is the Shruti (musical note). But

both the Shruti and thaala (marking of time) are for the purpose of heightening

the effect of the song which issues from his mouth, the song of the glow of God.

Three types of devotion

I remember telling a questioner in Maharashtra, while in the previous Body, that

there are three types of devotion: the vihanga method, where like a bird

swooping down upon the ripe fruit on the tree, the devotee is too impatient and

by the very impatience he exhibits, he loses the fruit, which falls from his

hold; the markata method where like a monkey which pulls towards it one fruit

after another and by sheer unsteadiness is not able to decide which fruit it

wants, the Bhakta too hesitates and changes his aim much too often and thus

loses all chances of success; and the pipeelika method, where like the ant

which slowly but steadily proceeds towards the sweetness, the devotee also

moves direct, with undivided attention towards the Lord and wins His Grace!

Bhakti and shraddha (devotion and faith) are the two oars with which you can

take the boat across the sea of samsara. A child told its mother when it went

to bed at night, "Mother! Wake me up when I get hungry." The mother answered,

"There is no need, your hunger will itself wake you." So too, when the hunger

for God comes, it will itself activate you and make you seek the food you need.

God has endowed you with hunger and He supplies the food; He has endowed you

with illness and He grows the specifics you need. Your duty is to see that you

get the proper hunger and the right illness and use the appropriate food or

drug! Man must be yoked to samsara and broken; that is the training, which will

teach that the world is unreal; no amount of lectures will make you believe it

is a snake unless you actually experience it. Touch fire and get the sensation

of burning; there is nothing like it to teach you that fire is to be avoided.

Unless you' touch it, you will be aware only of its light. It is light and heat

both; just as this world is both true and false, that is to say, unreal.

Habit of judging others as atheists or theists

There is a widely prevalent habit now of judging others and labeling them as

theists or atheists. What do you know, what can you know of the inner working

of another's mind? There was once a queen who was a great devotee of Rama; she

felt so sad that her husband, the Raja, never even uttered the name of Rama and

had no Bhakti. She had vowed that the first occasion, on which she got evidence

of his Bhakti or at least respect for Rama Naama, she would conduct Puja

(ritualistic worship) in all the temples and feed the poor on a lavish scale.

Then, one night, while fast asleep, the Raja uttered the name of Rama thrice

plaintively and prayerfully. She heard the Naamasmarana and was happy at the

discovery of her husband's devotion to Rama; she ordered general rejoicing

throughout the kingdom and the feeding of the poor. The Raja did not know the

reason for the celebration for he was only told that it was an order of the

Rani, which the officers carried out. Similarly, a husband may not be aware of

the excellence of a wife's spiritual attainments. There is the case of a couple

who were proceeding through a thick jungle on pilgrimage to an inaccessible

shrine. The husband saw on the footpath a precious stone, shining brilliantly

when the sun's rays fell upon it from between the leaves. He hastily threw some

sand over it with a movement of his foot so that his wife may not be temped to

pick it up and become a slave to the tinsel. The wife saw the gesture and

chided the husband for still retaining in his mind a distinction between sand

and diamond. For her, both were the same.

Keep the Name as constant as breathing

The Raja who spoke in his sleep the sacred name of Rama felt very sorry,

according to the story, that he let Rama Naama out of his mouth, for he

believed that no one should know of his 'love' for Rama. There are many who

will not shout about their Guru or their favorite Name and Form, but whether

you declare them to others or not, keep them ever in your consciousness. Rama

Naama or any other name must be as constant as breathing. For this, practice is

essential. A person once told Dr. Johnson, the famous English thinker, that he

could seldom get time to recite the Name of God, what with the hundreds of

things he had to do from morning till nightfall and even far into the night.

Dr. Johnson replied with another question. He asked how millions of people

found space to live upon the face of the earth, which is two-thirds water and

the rest is too full of mountains, deserts, forests, icy regions, river beds,

marshes and similar impossible areas. The questioner said that man somehow

struggled to find living space. So too, said Dr. Johnson, man must somehow find

a few minutes a day for prayer to the Lord.

Example of the highest type of detachment

Bhakti and the attitude of surrender that is its final fruits will give you

great courage to meet any emergency; such courage is what is called

Renunciation. The story of Mohajith is a good example of this highest type of

detachment. Mohajith, the Prince, went to a Sage in the forest and sought

guidance in the spiritual path. The sage asked him whether he had conquered

attachment as his name indicated. The Prince said that not only he, but also

every one in his kingdom had! So the Sage started to test the truth of this

claim. The sage took the Prince's robes, soaked them in blood and hastened to

the Palace Gate with the gruesome stow of the murder of the Prince by some

ruffians in the jungle. The maid whom he met refused to hurry with the news to

the Royal apartments because she said, "He was born, he died; what is the

special urgency of this news that I should interrupt my regular routine and run

to the King and Queen?" When at last he got an audience and was able to

communicate the sad news to the father, he sat unruffled, whispering to

himself, "The bird flew off the tree on which it had alighted to take rest."

The Rani too was unmoved. She told the sage that this Earth is a caravanserai,

where men come and stay for the night and when dawn breaks, one by one, they

tramp their different ways. Kith and kin are the words we use for the

attachment to the travelers cultivated in the caravanserai during the short

term of acquaintance. The wife of the "dead" Prince was also unaffected; she

said, "Husband and wife are like two pieces of wood drifting down a flooded

river; they float near each other for some time and when some current comes

between, they are parted: each must move on to the sea at its own rate and in

its own time. There is no need to grieve over the parting of the two; it is in

the very nature of Nature that it should be so."

Grow with self-respect and dignity

The sage was overjoyed to see this steady and sincere Vairagya (dispassion) in

the rulers and the ruled. He came back to the forest and told the Prince that

while he was away, a hostile army had invaded his Kingdom and slain the entire

royal family and captured his Kingdom and enslaved his subjects. He took the

news calmly and said, "All this is bubble, impermanent, flimsy. Let it go the

way of the bubble. Guide me to reach the Infinite, the Imperishable." Such

courage comes out of the Grace of the Lord; it needs generations of learning

and struggle. Meanwhile, you must start with the first step, the cleansing of

the mind and the cultivation of virtue. Even if you do not start with that

step, at least do not laugh at those who do, and discourage them. Do at least

this much! Then, do not depend upon others for doing your work, like attending

to your personal wants. Do them yourself; that is real freedom. Again, never

accept anything 'free' from others, pay it back, in service or work. That will

make you self-respecting individuals. Receiving a favour means getting bound to

the giver. Grow with self-respect and dignity. That is the best service you can

do to yourself.

There is no seniority or juniority among devotees

'Uncle' Moon is 'uncle' to all the children of the world. So also, the Lord is

every one's Father, in whose property every one can claim a share. But in order

to get it, you must reach a certain age, a certain standard of intelligence and

discrimination. The infirm and the idiotic, He will not consider fit to receive

property. His property is Grace, Prema. But if you have Discrimination and

Renunciation, you can claim your share, as of right.

Bring 'Bhakti' and lay it here and take from here spiritual strength! The more

such business is done, the more pleased am I. Bring what you have, namely, your

sorrows and grief, worries and anxieties, and take from Me joy and peace,

courage and confidence.

In My view, there is no seniority or juniority among devotees. The mother spends

more time tending the sickly child; she just asks the older children to look

after themselves; she feeds with her own hand the infant. That does not mean

that she has no love towards the grown-ups. So too, do not think that because I

do not ostensibly pay more attention to one person, he is beyond the ken of my

Prema. Note this also.

In this Avathar (Divine Incarnation), the wicked will not be destroyed; they

will be corrected and reformed and educated and led back to the path from which

they have strayed. The white-ant infested tree will not be cut; it will be

saved. Again this Avathar will not select some place other than the place where

the Nativity took place for the centre of Its Leelas, Mahimas and Upadesh

(divine sport, miracle power and divine instruction). This tree shall not be

transplanted; it will grow where it first rose from the earth. Another

specialty is this: the Avathar has no affinity or attachment in Its Career to

members of the Family wherein it appeared. Unlike the appearances as Rama,

Krishna, etc., where the Life was played out mostly among and for the family

members, this Avathar is for the Bhaktas, the Sadhus and the Sadhakas

(devotees, noble souls and aspirants) only. It has no Japa (recitation of holy

name), Dhyana (meditation) or yoga (practicing union with God). It knows no

worship; It will not pray to anything, for It is the Highest. It only teaches

you to worship and pray.

To a worldly man, a God-intoxicated person will appear mad and he will laugh at

him for it. But to the God-intoxicated man, the worldly appear insane, foolish

misled, blind. Of all the insanities that harass man, God-madness is the least

harmful, the most beneficial. The world has suffered untold damage due to its

"mad" rulers and "mad" guides; but nothing but harmony, peace, brotherliness

and love have come out of the 'God-madness' of man!

Prashanthi Nilayam, Mahashivarathri, 1955

Source: Sathya Sai Speaks –Vol.I [2]

 

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