OUR DIVINE LORD SAI’S MESSAGES ON OUR DUTIES IN DAILY LIFE

[Guest guest]

Om Sri Sai Ram

OUR DIVINE LORD SAI’S MESSAGES ON OUR DUTIES IN DAILY LIFE

In your daily life in the family, there are three types of duties which may be

considered to be three aspects of Dharma.

SOCIAL DUTY

These duties express themselves in different ways. First consider an example of

social duty. Assume that tomorrow is Sunday, which is a holiday for you. You

may want to invite some people to come to your house for tea. Suddenly in the

night, you develop a fever. While you are sick, you realize that if you were to

invite your friends to visit the next day, you would not be able to receive them

properly, and so, it would not make you or them happy. Therefore, in

consideration of your obligations to your friends, which you would not be able

to perform while sick, you decide to postpone the tea party. On the basis of

the change in circumstances and your consideration for your friends, you change

the tea party to the following Sunday. You are free to make the arrangements

that fulfill both your wishes and your social obligations.

OBLIGATORY DUTY

Next, consider an example of obligatory duty. Let us say you are a lecturer in

the university. In connection with the upcoming examinations, the department

head has directed that the whole teaching staff of the department assemble for

a meeting. As this is an important department meeting, you will have to attend.

Even if you are suffering from fever, you take some aspirin pills and go to the

meeting. This is an obligatory duty and you have no right to cancel this. The

scheduling of this meeting was not in your hands, and once it has been called,

you are expected to attend.

FAMILY DUTY

Now, consider an example of family duty. You are in your own house. There is a

small family quarrel between husband and wife. Inside the room, the husband and

wife are having a tiff. She is very angry. Suddenly, the door bell rings and he

goes out to answer it. He finds that a co-worker had dropped by for a casual

visit. As soon as the husband sees the visitor, he greets him with a smile and

a fond hello. He asks the visitor to be seated. With the visitor he is quite

cordial. When he enters the bedroom and tells his wife of the visitor and finds

that she is still very angry with him, he may resume his stern tone. But as soon

as he goes into the other room to meet the colleague who has come by, he carries

on with his friendly conversation. It is his duty to protect the good name of

his family by conducting himself in such a way that an outsider would

not know that he had quarreled with his wife.

If a person who is angry with his wife inside the bedroom comes out into the

living room and irritatedly asks the visitor to leave the house, then the guest

will be appalled. It is important to see to it that the secrets and confidences

of the family are not thrown out into the street. This is an important duty of

a family man. He must be ever vigilant to protect the honor of his family. If

by his indiscretion the family honor is destroyed, then there will be no

happiness for him or his family throughout their lives.

SENSE-CONTROL IS THE KEY TO DOING YOUR DUTY PROPERLY

To protect the good name of your family you must remain alert and aware of

others' needs; this requires sense-control. If you do not have sense control,

as was explained in a previous chapter, you become arrogant. One who is

arrogant and devoid of sense-control is nothing but a demon. If you want to

practice and protect dharma, you have to develop sense-control. For everything

worthwhile in life, sense-control is very important. Krishna said to Arjuna,

"Arjuna, be a wise man, and have complete control over your senses. Do not obey

the fickle cravings of your senses. The senses must be under your control. You

should not become a slave of your senses. Make them your slave. Be their

master. It is only when you have mastered the senses that you will have earned

the right to be close to the one who is the one who is the originator of all

the senses and has complete

dominion over them."

In the second chapter of the Gita all the qualities of a wise man have been

explained. Of all these qualities, sense-control is one of the most important.

In this chapter we have been exploring some different aspects of dharma, which

can be seen, like the rays of the sun, to have seven colors or facets. As has

been pointed out at the beginning, this sunlight of dharma contains the rays of

truth, character, righteous behavior, sense control, penance, renunciation and

nonviolence. You must make all of these your own.

Try to understand the meaning of these Gita teachings and practice them in your

daily life. It is Swami's wish that when you have taken so much interest in

studying these teachings that you should also evince the same degree of

interest in practicing their meaning, and thereby acquire all the good

qualities that are conveyed by them.

TIME WASTED IS LIFE WASTED

The Lord declared in the Gita, "Whoever remembers me is very dear to me."

Therefore, remember the Lord always. Offer him your mind and your will.

Surrender everything to him and you will quickly reach him."

In the Gita the Lord taught that joy and sorrow, cold and heat, profit and loss,

criticism and praise, must all be faced with an equal mind. This equanimity of

mind is one of the most important attributes of a true devotee. There are many

other attributes of a true devotee, but these are all contained in two

principal qualities: discipline and renunciation. Discipline refers to the

three types of penance: bodily penance, mental penance and vocal penance.

Renunciation refers to understanding the defects in objects, and living a life

which does not get attached to these things; in other words, living as a

witness. If you can incorporate these two important qualities, discipline and

renunciation in your daily life, then there will be no need for any other

spiritual practice.

START YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG

If you want to develop these two qualities you have to start in your childhood

and use this early period of your life in a sacred and ennobling way. In the

world today many people undertake spiritual practice only when they reach old

age. After they have thoroughly enjoyed the objects of luxury and have become

disgusted and exhausted by worldly pleasures, they consider embarking on the

spiritual path. Having spent their lives concentrating on sense objects, on

family life, on children, on wealth, on properties, on name and fame, they

become disillusioned in old age. They realize that there is nothing true in

these things and that peace of mind and lasting joy cannot come from the

phenomenal world and from worldly pursuits. After they come into the evening of

their lives and are haunted by the emptiness of their experiences, they begin to

do spiritual exercises.

But in old age, when you are suffering from all sorts of physical and mental

weaknesses, it will be very difficult to practice and live a rigorous spiritual

life. Even then you should not be discouraged, thinking that there is no

possibility for spiritual advancement in old people. Opportunities for

spiritual experiences are certainly available to them. Instead of not thinking

of the Lord at all, it is far better to think of him, at least in old age. When

it comes to thinking of the Lord, there are no restrictions whatsoever with

respect to time, place or age. That is why the divine teacher has declared in

the Gita, "At all times, in all places, think of me." But he has also declared

that the best opportunity for practicing these spiritual exercises in a

determined way is in your youth. When your physical strength, the strength of

your sense organs, and your mental strength are there

in abundance that is the best time to undertake spiritual exercises.

The process is something like reserving a plane ticket before embarking on a

journey. When you arrive at the airport, after first having reserved your

place, you are likely to proceed smoothly with your journey. On the other hand,

if you go to the airport only at the last minute, without having a reservation,

you may not get on the plane. It all depends on chance. You may end up having

to go by a slower way or you may have to delay your journey. It is the same way

with people who start thinking about spiritual matters in their old age. They

may or may not be able to advance spiritually in a significant way at that

point in their lives. But if the same individuals had in earnest undertaken

spiritual exercises from an early age, they would be sure to achieve spiritual

success in their old age.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR YOUTH

If you waste your time enjoying the pleasures of life during your youth, wasting

the power of your body and your sense organs, then if you want to reach your

goal of merging with the Lord in your old age, you may not get that chance.

There is no meaning whatsoever in serving delicious food to the demons, and

then, when they have consumed everything worthwhile, offering the leftovers to

God. Do you think that will please God? No! After all your powers and

capacities have been dissipated by the demons of anger, greed, lust and pride,

you try to offer God what little is left. But that offering will not be

accepted by him. In this context, the Gita has emphasized that your youth is a

very precious period which has to be used with great care to advance yourself

spiritually.

When you have had something for a long time and taken it for granted, you may

not appreciate its real value. It is only after losing it that you truly

appreciate it. As long as you have your eyes, you do not know the value and the

preciousness of your eyes. You only realize the importance of vision when you

lose your eyesight. In the same way, when you have good health and all your

faculties are in their full glory, you do not understand their true value.

After having lost your health, and when your faculties have become impaired,

then you repent and lament that all your capacities and powers are gone. But

lamenting at that point is useless. During youth you have allowed the bad

habits and bad traits to become your great friends and get deeply rooted within

you. You squandered and misused the capacities that have been given to you,

blindly following your sensual desires. Later, these bad

habits and bad traits become your principal enemies in old age.

Most young people do not use their powers of discrimination properly. They do

not try to sort out who is their true friend and who is their foe. If you

follow only your senses and lower instincts, and have not developed your

intelligence to understand the meaning of life, then is there any reason for

calling you a human being? Should you not be called a mere animal? Once you

understand the significance of human life and fill yourself with the noble

qualities of a human being, your senses will no longer be able to confuse you.

USE YOUR BODY FOR THE SAKE OF GOD

These days you are using God for the sake of the body. You are not using your

body to worship God. You pray to God for good health whenever you are sick, but

you are not using all your physical strength and faculties, when you have them,

to worship God. You imagine that there will be plenty of time later on to

engage in worship, and so you go on wasting your time. You think that after

retirement you can begin to take up the contemplation of God and do spiritual

exercises. Perhaps you feel that it is better in the meantime to enjoy life and

to enjoy the objects of the world while you are still young. But how can you

start thinking of God when you become old, after having lost all your

capacities.

If you are not using all your physical powers and capacities for the worship of

the Lord now, then later it will be too late. When children make fun of you and

call you 'old monkey!', will you then have the strength to start an intensive

spiritual life? When your hair is gray, when you are hardly able to move, when

you are barely able to see, when all the sense organs have become weak, will

you then be able to use them for the worship of the Lord? No, it will not be

possible. The scriptures have very forcefully described the futility of

starting your spiritual practices only during your last days. It is stated that

when the god of death finds you and shouts, "Come! Come!", when your own

relations are anxious to get the corpse out of the house, when they are all

shouting, "Take it away! Take it away!", and when your wife and children are

there

sobbing, can you think of the Lord at that time? Can you tell your relatives to

stop crying, can you tell death to wait a little bit because you want to think

of the Lord for a few moments?

You should accumulate in youth all the things which are necessary to lay a

strong foundation for a happy future. Do you really think that it is possible

to think of the Lord only after you retire? No, it is not possible. You should

be fully engaged in regular spiritual practice before retirement. But instead,

you immerse yourself in business, and continue with that even after retirement,

or waste your time going to clubs, and in many other ways dissipate your

precious life.

YOU CANNOT START SPIRITUAL LIFE WHEN DEATH IS AT THE DOOR

A housewife once asked her husband, "At least now in your old age shouldn't you

be thinking of God? You never took the time to do it before, during your busy

period. Please, do it now!" The business man replied, "I have no time even to

die, no less to think of God." But do you think that death will not come to

someone who says that he has no time to die? Will death come only according to

his wishes? No, time waits for no one. Therefore, while you still have time you

have to make use of it in a proper way.

The enemy called death, along with his soldiers called disease, will be waiting

to wage war against your body. Men die most pitifully and helplessly during

such periods of time when they are attacked by disease and death. But no army

can attack those who have won the grace of the Lord. Therefore, during youth

itself you have to earn the grace of God and equip yourself to meet all the

challenges of your enemies when they come to lay siege on you. Above all, you

must be firmly convinced in your own heart that this journey of life is going

to be a long one. Any other journey, whether it be by bus, train or plane lasts

for only a short time; you need not make too many preparations for these. But

for this journey of life you must equip yourself for all the contingencies of a

long journey; otherwise you will be suffering greatly later on when you are

faced with real problems and real

troubles.

In the compartment of freight trains used to transport chemically-active

substances, a stamp is placed at the time of manufacture giving a particular

date in the future. It is the day when that container has used up its normal

service life and must be returned to the depot for recycling. It is the same

for the container that is your body. Here also a return date has been written

on it by God himself.

You do not remember that you have to go back. People totally forget this

all-important truth. If you really want to enjoy all the pleasures of life at a

later stage, then during youth you have to earn the grace of God. In the course

of human life the early periods of childhood and youth are very important. Not

realizing the great value of this period of your life, you waste your time

during youth. You use a golden cup, adorned with precious gems and jewels, for

a low, mean, contemptible purpose. To feed the fire of your senses you are

using costly sandalwood as fuel. The vessel is very precious, the fuel is also

precious, but the food you are choosing to cook with their help, is insipid and

worthless. Such a precious body and such sacred fuel is being squandered away

for the sake of enjoying useless trivial things in life. Things without value

are put in this precious vessel and used for

sordid enjoyment. You are using a golden plough to plough the field of your

heart, but you produce nothing but useless weeds.

TRUE HUMAN LIFE INVOLVES DISCRIMINATION AND RENUNCIATION

The field of your heart is most precious and sacred. The divine teacher has

declared that even that field belongs to him. The Lord has declared that he is

both the field and its knower. He is the true owner of your heart and of your

body. He has identified himself with them. What are you doing with this sacred

heart and body? You are using a golden plough to raise useless crops of sensual

pleasures. Any person who is aware of the preciousness of the heart and the

preciousness of the feelings that are there will not misuse these things. Life

must be used for good, for the welfare of others, for reaching the sacred goal

and for treading the sacred path, and for bringing about shining effulgence in

the heart and mind. You have to use this life for merging yourself in the

divinity. Only then will you have the authority to say that your life has

become sanctified and

genuine.

It is said that it is very difficult and almost impossible to get a human life.

What is so special about human life? Why is it so difficult to get? All the

pleasures which animals and birds enjoy, you can also enjoy. In that case, what

is the meaning in declaring that human life is so very precious, so very

special? It is because you have the ability to discriminate between right and

wrong. It is because you have the ability to give up attachments and hatred.

Therefore, you have to use the intelligence given to you to make a distinction

between the animal way of life and the human way of life. By not discriminating

between the true self and the lower self, by not developing your higher

intelligence, you become the victim of agitation and sorrow. You cannot find

inner peace because you do not follow the right path.

With a firm determination, young people need to undertake the three types of

penance, physical, mental and vocal, and thereby set an example for the world.

You have to use the active principle within you to subdue the slothful

principle, and then, you have to use the serene principle to subdue the active

principle. It is impossible to be serene as long as your heart is filled with

the slothful and active natures. When the head is empty you can hope to fill it

with some good ideas, but if your head is already full of all sorts of useless

thoughts, how is it be possible to fill it up with any thing sacred and great?

You have filled your head with all sorts of unnecessary worldly stuff. You will

have to first empty all that out. Only then will you be able to fill your head

with sacred feelings and sacred thoughts.

KEEP YOUR CONCENTRATION UNWAVERINGLY ON GOD

Many of you are following a meaningless path and living a meaningless life. You

cry when you are born and you cry when you die. In between, through your whole

span of life, you go on crying for useless things. Do you cry when you see the

decline of righteousness? That is what you should cry for, that is what you

should use your strength and abilities for, to correct the decline of

righteousness and to help heal the wounds that follow its decline. What is

right living? It is the constant remembrance and uninterrupted contemplation of

the Lord. It is discharging your daily duties thinking of the Lord. The Gita has

not taught that you should give up your family that you should give up your

wealth and property, and then go to the forest. No! Take care of your family.

Do your duty. But keep your concentration constantly on the Lord. Whatever you

do, do not forget your goal. If you give it

up, you will get lost and stray onto the wrong path. Your divine goal must be

solidly set in your mind. Keeping your goal in view, perform your daily duties.

Do not allow any flaw or defect to taint your words. Always adhere to truth.

Some people think that in times of difficulty they can modify the truth. They

may even feel that it is necessary to tell untruth sometimes. But in difficult

situations you can develop sufficient presence of mind to keep silent, instead

of telling either the truth or an untruth. If you tell the truth, tell it

dearly and sweetly. Do not tell the truth in an unpleasant way, or tell an

untruth in a pleasant way. Whenever there comes a difficult testing time, you

should learn how to avoid compromising situations without ever telling an

untruth. In certain circumstances you will have to conduct yourself in an

extremely careful way. You should know how to use words without hurting people.

It has been said that, "He is the fortunate one who knows how to talk without

ever hurting anyone." You should neither hurt others nor

be hurt by others. Here is a small story.

BE STEADY IN YOUR PRACTICE

A housewife attended a series of meetings at which a spiritual teacher was

expounding the scriptures. She was concentrating and listening with great

attention to everything that was being said. One day, the speaker recounted the

story of Rama and Sita, and in that connection declared that for a wife, the

husband was the only goal in life. He said, "It is the responsibility of the

wife to satisfy her husband and make him happy. Always treat the husband as

God." The housewife after hearing all this went back home. She was so impressed

by this discourse that she resolved to put into practice immediately all that

she had learned. As soon as the husband returned home for his midday meal, she

took a container of water and poured it over his feet, thinking that she was

worshipfully serving her husband thereby. The husband was confused and

flabbergasted. He entered the house and sat down to dry his

feet, but before he could do so she insisted on doing it for him.

After seeing all this, the husband went into his office and rang up the doctor.

Her husband did not know that his wife had been attending the discourses. The

doctor came and decided to give her some sleeping pills. He said that it looked

like an attack of hysteria, but after a rest of one or two days she probably

would be all right. The husband ate his meal and told his wife to go and have

some rest; then he went to his office. His wife went right back again to the

meeting to hear the next lecture. That afternoon the speaker was explaining the

delusory relationship which exists between husband and wife. He said, "Who is

husband? Who is wife? Nothing is permanent. All these things are just temporary

and transient. In truth nothing exists." Then he added, "God alone is true. He

is the only real truth." The housewife went back home and sat in her shrine

room.

That evening the husband came back from his office half an hour early, thinking

that his wife may not be well and perhaps he could help her in some way. He

knocked on the house door and asked her to kindly open it. From the shrine room

she answered, "There is no mother, there is no father, there is no house and

there is nothing, not even a husband." He was quite alarmed by this behavior,

but somehow he got her to open the door. When he came into the house he went

straight to the telephone and called the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist came

and examined her in detail. He gave his diagnosis. He said that after all this

listening to these discourses she had developed some peculiar attitudes; but if

she could be kept at home she would soon get over them. All arrangements were

made to keep her from going to the lectures. Everyone was informed. The driver

as well as every servant of the house was

told not to let her go there.

After these restrictions had been put on her by doctor's orders, she did not go

to the lecture for two days and she started behaving in a normal way again. So

the detachment she had developed was only temporary and superficial. It did not

last. Now the husband was happy. The normal daily routine resumed. After a week

this lady went again to the place where the lectures were being given. On that

particular day the speaker was expounding the teachings of the Gita. He

explained that whenever one uses words one should tell the truth and one should

not tell it in a compromising way. She heard this and returned home. Her husband

told her that there was a marriage reception that day, and asked her to join

him. She got ready and went there with her husband.

The marriage ceremony started. There was a tradition in those parts which calls

for the auspicious necklace that is worn by the bride to be taken to every

elder, who then touches it and blesses it. The father of the bride came to this

lady, recognized her and asked her, "How is your mother? Is everything all

right?" These questions were a matter of courtesy, exchanging a few words with

her while he held out the sacred necklace, asking her to touch it and bless it.

She answered, "My mother is doing fine. She is quite all right, but you know, a

week ago my mother-in law died quite suddenly and her body was taken to the

cremation ground the following day."

The neighbor who was sitting next to her told her, "Why did you have to say such

an inauspicious thing while touching and blessing this necklace, which is meant

to impart a long and happy life to the new bride and her future family?" The

housewife replied, "Should I tell a lie just for the sake of this necklace? No,

I will never tell a lie. It is a fact that my mother-in-law died last week and

that the body was cremated the next day." One intelligent young lady sitting

nearby told her, "Mother, certainly you should speak the truth, but you should

also be aware of the circumstances and think through what is appropriate before

you say anything."

TELL THE TRUTH BUT USE DISCRETION IN YOUR WORDS

Whenever you hear a spiritual teaching on a particular day, you will go about

implementing it with a great deal of fervor and conviction; but only on that

very day. But this is not the correct way to pursue your spiritual studies. You

should use your intellect to understand the context in which you find yourself

before you use words in a given situation. Whenever you do a particular thing

or say something, you should know that truth is the royal means for reaching

your ultimate goal. The tongue should not be tainted by untruth. The body

should not be tainted by violence. The mind should not be stained by bad

thoughts and bad feelings. It is only when you sanctify all these three, the

tongue, the body and the mind and bring them into harmony, that you will be

able to get the sacred vision of the Lord.

Students should be extremely careful in telling the truth. They should certainly

tell the truth, but be careful not to go on talking and hurting others

unnecessarily. Have control over your tongue. Whenever there is a

misunderstanding with someone, if you tell him all his defects, with the

justification that everything you are telling is true, then there are bound to

be complications later. You should never hate others. When you have love in

your heart, your words will naturally be very sweet. Even if anger develops, it

will be of a fleeting nature.

There are four types of people. The anger of a person who is of a serene nature

will be very short-lived; it recedes immediately. The Gita has declared such a

one as a great soul. The second type will have this anger for a number of

minutes, but it will soon fade away. The third category of person will have

this anger continuously, all day long. The one in the lowest category will have

this anger throughout his life.

Sent with Sai love by Sai brother M. Palaniswamy

/

Courtesy and Source: http://beaskund.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/saigita260.html

"Do not think about the world. Do not spend time thinking about the world or

about your relationships to individuals. They are all impermanent. They will

not last. Pay attention to that which lasts, that which is permanent. All

things involving the world or relationships have to do only with the body. The

body is like a water bubble. The mind is like a mad monkey. Do not follow

either the body or the mind. Follow the conscience. It is above the mind. It is

permanent. It is the voice of God. The voice of unchanging truth inside”.

There are those who think that the world exists and that the world is real.

There are others who think that the world does not exist and that the world is

not real. Rare indeed is that blessed one who does not think, but who is ever

calm, abiding in the Absolute.

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