Sai Baba Gita – Part VI – Answers for all questions

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Om Sri Sai Ram

SAI BABA GITA – Part VI – Answers for all questions

The Way to Self-Realization and Liberation in this

Age

Part One

VII. Restraining the Tongue in both Food and Speech

One of the most important disciplines necessary for

coming into

union with God is control of the tongue. This must be

exercised both

in the area of food and in the area of speech. Without

control of the

tongue it is impossible to follow the path of devotion

and become one

with God.

Embodiments of Love,

Together with most animals and birds, human beings

have five sense

organs. These sense organs must be used extremely

carefully, always

being aware of their capabilities and limitations. You

must exercise

the same control over them as you do in controlling

some of the

powerful energies and tools that are used in daily

life. For example,

fire when used with care and intelligence can serve

you in many

useful ways. But when it is out of control it can be

very harmful. Or

take a knife or electricity; if you know the proper

way to use them,

they will be beneficial. Otherwise they can be quite

dangerous. It

all depends on the care you take and how well you use

your

intelligence. The spiritual teachings have laid great

emphasis on

knowing the proper use of the sense organs and

applying that

understanding to your day-to-day life.

The Dual Power of the Tongue

Each sense organ given to human beings has one

particular use, but

the tongue is endowed with dual power. It has both the

power of

speech and the power of taste. In the Gita, the Lord

cautions you to

be very careful in using your tongue. He praises the

devotee who has

attained complete control over the tongue, for such a

one will soon

develop a pure and steady heart and feel the constant

presence of the

Lord. To gain such control, devotees have been

practicing a number of

special disciplines, such as observing silence,

controlling their

diet, or maintaining a complete fast.

Fasting promotes health for the physical body. In

the mental realm

it gives joy and bliss. Unlimited and unregulated food

is very

harmful for devotees. Indulging indiscriminately in

unwholesome foods

is likely to lead the devotee into the torpidity of

inertia. To think

that you can go on wantonly indulging yourself in

food, while at the

same time trying to please God and enjoy the nearness

of God, is

extremely foolish. These two, indulging in food and

gaining the

nearness of God, are not compatible. Therefore, right

from the

beginning you must make a determined effort to keep

the tongue under

control. Once you gain mastery over the tongue, the

other sense

organs will automatically come under control.

Control of the Tongue

Today's devotees have imposed on themselves all

sorts of rules and

regulations in order to live a disciplined spiritual

life.

Unfortunately, these have not been effective in

gaining control over

the tongue. Truly speaking, it is not necessary to

make such

strenuous efforts to control the various sense organs.

If the tongue

is properly controlled all the other sense organs will

come in line

by themselves. Because people have not been able to

gain control over

the tongue, they are afflicted with numerous doubts,

emotional

turmoil, contradictions and confusion. Control of the

tongue refers

not only to food but also to speech. You must

recognize that there is

nothing more powerful than the power of words. For

this reason, you

must keep your talk strictly under control.

In life, you can observe that even for little things

a number of

sacrifices have to be made. You cannot get anything

without paying

for it. You are prepared to sacrifice even your own

life to obtain

some small, petty, useless things. But, you are not

seeking that

which is exceedingly important, that which includes

all other things

and is the very basis of everything worthwhile. That

greatest of all

treasures is the immortal self. Only when you give up

one thing can

you get another in its place. Should you not then give

up everything

else for the sake of gaining this most important and

most valuable of

all possessions? Should you not sacrifice everything

for the sake of

reaching your highest self?

In the market place, if you want some vegetables you

will have to

give some money in exchange. Without offering to pay,

and thereby

sacrificing some of your money, you will not be able

to get those

vegetables. By giving up one thing you can then

acquire another. In

the same way, if you want to acquire virtues, you will

have to give

up your bad qualities. Only by sacrificing your likes

and dislikes

can you obtain equal-mindedness. Only by sacrificing

your bad

qualities can you attain the noble qualities. Only by

giving up your

bad thoughts, bad habits and bad behavior can you

possibly achieve

good thoughts, good habits and good behavior.

Many sages have described how the tongue always

longs to enjoy good

things, and how everything will be easy once you can

gain control

over it. The principal way of exercising this control

is by observing

silence. Silence does not merely refer to restraint of

the tongue.

Not only should you exercise silence in speech but you

should also be

silent in thoughts. Your mind should remain free of

all thoughts.

That is true silence.

Develop a Discriminating Mind

If you want to gain control over the food that you

take in, you

should not go on feeding the tongue whatever it

desires. You have to

develop discrimination. In every activity of life you

have to apply

your discriminating faculties to determine if what you

are doing will

benefit you spiritually. In the area of food, you have

to explore and

find out whether the food you take in is pure, or if

it inflames the

senses and passions, or if it is of a dull, unhealthy

quality that

produces a sleepy slothful reaction.

According to the Gita, maintaining control over the

tongue by

taking in pure food in limited quantities is

absolutely essential for

the devotee. Use your powers of discrimination with

every item of

food and ask the question, "Is this food pure, or will

it disturb or

lower my consciousness?" If you were to examine every

item of food

you use in this way, and take food in judiciously, you

would always

remain equal-minded. You would not be affected by

censure or praise.

But, if you were to indulge in food without

discrimination, without

trying to find out whether it was desirable or not,

paying attention

only to satisfying your hunger and catering to your

taste buds, you

would not be able to control your attachments and

feelings. You would

sink down into weakness. If someone were to make

adverse comments

about you, you would soon conclude that the whole

world was against

you and you would feel depressed. The moment you were

criticized or

blamed by anyone your happiness would go, you would

become grief

stricken and regard all of life as meaningless.

On the other hand, if anyone were to praise you and

appreciate you,

you would start bloating up with ego and pride. It

would be

practically impossible to hold you down. What is the

reason for such

instability? The single most important reason for

these weaknesses is

the type of food you take in. All these adverse

feelings come about

because of your lack of control and discrimination in

the area of

food. The Gita has emphasized the need for exercising

extreme care in

selecting the food you eat. You must constantly keep

in mind the

importance of pure food for helping you to maintain

equanimity in all

situations, so that you become neither elated when

praise is

showered, nor depressed when criticism is heaped upon

you.

Purity of the Food, the Cooking Vessels and the Cook

The Gita has also declared that there should be

purity of the

vessels and utensils used in cooking, and purity of

the cooking

process itself. The vessels used must be absolutely

clean. Purity

refers not only to physical cleanliness but also to

the way in which

the implements and the articles of food have been

acquired. You have

to see whether these things have been acquired by

proper means and

honest work or whether they have come through

dishonest means.

Articles which are acquired by improper means and used

for cooking

food, will not only generate bad thoughts but will

lead you down the

wrong path.

The next step is to inquire into the purity of the

cooking process

itself by ascertaining the thoughts and feelings of

the person who is

cooking the food. There are three things that have

been mentioned

that must be carefully looked into and controlled.

Normally, you pay

attention only to the purity of the vessels and not

the other two,

namely, the purity of the person cooking and the

purity of the food

itself. You do not know the feelings in the mind of

the cook and you

do not know if the shopkeeper has acquired the

articles you buy in

the market by proper or improper means.

Therefore, just before taking your food, you should

pray and offer

the entire meal to God in order to cleanse and purify

it. This prayer

which is offered before food is not for the benefit of

God but for

your own benefit. It will purify your food by evoking

God's blessing.

Before eating, you can say your own sincere prayer

from your heart

asking God to purify and bless the food. Or, you can

use formal

prayers such as the verses from the Gita that are

traditionally used

before food. These are the 24th verse from the 4th

chapter and the

l4th verse from the l5th chapter, which are

particularly efficacious.

The Blessing - Offering Food to God

In Sanskrit the Gita verses used before food are:

Brahmaarpanam, brahma havir,

Brahmaagnau brahmanaa hutam,

Brahmaiva tena gantavyam,

Brahma karma samaadhinaha.

Aham vaishvaanaro bhutvaa,

Praaninaam dehamaashritaha,

Praanaapaana samaa yuktaha,

Pachaamy annam chatur vidham.

which mean:

The offering is God, the act of offering is God,

Offered by God in the sacred fire which is God.

He alone attains God

Who in all his actions is fully absorbed in God.

I am the all-pervading cosmic energy,

Lodged in the bodies of living beings.

United with their ingoing and outgoing life-breaths,

I consume all the various foods.

This prayer before eating removes all the defects

and flaws in the

vessels and in the articles of food, as well as

removing any negative

influence acquired during the cooking process. Before

offering the

prayer the food is merely food; but once you offer it

to the Lord it

becomes consecrated food.

The Role of the Tongue in Speech

The second aspect of the tongue is speech. As has

already been

mentioned, speech has its own powerful impact on the

mind and the

entire mental process. It has a tremendous power. It

can perplex your

mind. It can break your heart. It can even kill you.

It can also give

life and encouragement and help you to reach your

divine goal. These

are two opposite and contradictory results, both

effected by the

spoken word.

By the use of appropriate words, it is possible to

transform the

entire mind of an individual. Unfortunately, many

people do not

believe this. They raise objections like, "How is it

possible to

transform the mind through mere words? What

experiments have been

conducted to prove that there is this power in the

faculty of speech?

Words are only gross sounds heard through the ear." Or

else they

think, "The mind is a very subtle thing. How can mere

sounds

transform something that is so subtle and fine? It is

not possible."

In this way they will argue that it is impossible to

bring about a

mental transformation through words. There is a small

story to

illustrate this attitude.

The Story of the Officer and the Preceptor

There was once a government officer who did not

believe in the

great power of words to transform minds, particularly

when it came to

spiritual teachings. He happened to be the education

secretary for a

district, and included among the schools he had under

his auspices

were some religious institutions. One day he visited

one of these

schools where a preceptor was teaching the holy

scriptures to a

number of young students. This spiritual teacher was

expounding on

some very profound concepts. Sitting there listening

to this, the

officer developed a headache. Finally, he told the

teacher, "My dear

fellow. These are small children. There is no need to

burden them

unnecessarily with such lectures. This will be

completely useless to

them. Such scriptural truths and deep philosophical

concepts cannot

possibly be grasped and understood by such small

children."

The teacher replied that only when children are at

such a tender

and impressionable age can they be led onto the proper

path. Being

taught these noble truths from the very beginning, he

felt, would

clear their hearts of doubts and put them on the right

track in life.

The officer said, "I do not believe in all these

words. How can mere

words transform the mind? I do not think this will

ever be possible."

The teacher tried to convince him through various

explanations and

arguments, but the officer would not listen and allow

any of the

teacher's wisdom to penetrate into him. It was a case

of a closed

mind. Too much authority often results in cynicism and

an exaggerated

sense of self-importance. Cleverness follows and in a

short time all

the virtues disappear and the reason becomes impaired.

When the teacher realized that no matter how hard he

tried it was

impossible to explain his point of view to this

officer, he decided

to prove his point by a practical lesson that the

officer was sure to

understand. He asked the youngest of the students to

get up and told

this small boy, "Child, you go and physically throw

this officer out

of the room. Do it immediately!" The moment he heard

these words, the

officer got very angry. He started shouting at the

teacher, "Who do

you think you are? I am a government officer, I am the

education

secretary of this district, and you are asking a small

child to send

me out! How dare you do this?"

The teacher then told the officer, "Well sir, I did

not beat you or

hit you or even touch you. I did not do anything to

you. Just by

merely hearing some words you seem to be getting very

upset. What

could be the reason for your becoming so angry? It is

because of

these few words I used, isn't it?" This is how the

teacher

demonstrated to him that words can be very powerful.

They have an

enormous capability for doing great harm or great

good, according to

the way they are used. After this personal lesson the

officer left,

but now much wiser and humbled by his experience.

The Power of Words

In the scriptures you will also find statements that

point out how

words are extremely powerful and can destroy the world

itself. There

it is said that if you were to cut a tree, it could

still sprout; or

if a piece of iron were broken in two, a blacksmith

could make the

two pieces come together again by heating and pounding

them until

they were one. But if you were to break a heart by

venomous words, it

would not be possible to ever make it whole again.

Words can cause

endless troubles and they can also give boundless joy.

Therefore, you

should be most careful that the words you use do not

hurt or give

pain to others.

If you were to physically slip and fall there might

be some small

injury that could cause you some inconvenience for a

while. But there

would not be any grave consequences resulting from

this in the long

term. There might only have been a small wound, which

you can get

easily dressed, and which would soon heal. But if your

tongue were to

slip and you were to hurt the mind or the heart of

another person

with harsh words, it would create a wound in that

person which could

not be cured by any doctor in the world. Therefore,

you should never

use words which are likely to hurt another's feelings.

One day the

words which you have used will come back to you. So,

always use sweet

and good words.

It has been said that the tongue relishes sweet

things. You can

talk to it and say, "O tongue, you like sweet things

so much, why

don't you linger on the sweet name of the Lord? O

tongue, you know

what true sacrifice means; you are the very embodiment

of sacrifice.

Use yourself only for singing the name of the Lord.

Sing of God and

become sacred and holy thereby."

Sacrifice and Forbearance

Now, why do we say that the tongue knows the true

meaning of

sacrifice and is absolutely selfless? Well, this is

really what you

experience every day. For example, when you give some

sweet things to

the tongue it tastes them, and as soon as it finds out

that they are

delightfully sweet, it says to itself, "O let me pass

these lovely

sweet things on to the stomach so that it can also

enjoy this

delight." But if what is tasted is not pleasant, if

for example it is

something that is bitter, then the tongue will not

pass this on to

the stomach but will immediately spit the offensive

substance out of

the mouth to save the stomach from grief. Good or bad,

sweet or

bitter, the tongue does not try to keep anything just

for itself and

only for its own enjoyment. It lives selflessly and

with honor,

knowing its own limits very well. For any number of

years it is

content to remain shut up inside the mouth. Does it

come outside even

once? No. Whatever work it does, it does

uncomplainingly

inside the mouth.

There is still another important feature of the

tongue; it has

extraordinary forbearance. Whatever are its

difficulties and

problems, and whatever troubles others give it, it

remains focused

within itself, never exceeding its own limits, and

always observing

forbearance. It lives in the midst of exceedingly

harmful companions,

namely, very sharp and powerful teeth. With a great

deal of skill it

manages not to be bitten or hurt by these aggressive

fellow-residents

that share its tight quarters. With unusual skill and

forbearance it

has been existing very well with such dreadful

neighbors, without

even once coming to any harm.

In this way, the tongue can teach a number of very

important

lessons which can be quite useful to you. For

instance, it teaches

you that you can live in the midst of people who are

very difficult

to live with. With a lot of care, forbearance and

skill, you should

be able to enjoy a happy life despite such trying

circumstances. But

in today's world there will be very few who follow

such good

examples. For most individuals, once they come in

touch with bad

people, they also tend to become bad. All the good

feelings, the good

qualities, the good thoughts and the good behavior

disappear in a

moment, and they lose all their merit and virtues. In

order that you

do not suffer such bad consequences, it is necessary

that you gain

complete control over your tongue.

Talk wastes Spiritual Energy

Baba quite often tells the students, "Dear students,

you should not

talk too much. The divine energy which is in you will

get wasted in

the process. By engaging in too much talk, your memory

power will be

reduced and weakness will develop in your body.

Premature old age

will be the final result. Besides that, you will also

get a bad name."

Now, consider that you have a radio. You may switch

it on to hear a

news broadcast, but then you leave the room and forget

to switch it

off. The radio just continues to play without purpose

and uses up

costly energy. Your body can be compared to that radio

and the

intellect may be thought of as the switch that has

turned it on but

failed to turn it off again. In this comparison, your

mind will be

the useless sound coming forth in the form of words

and talk,

ceaselessly babbling all day. The sacred divine energy

in you will

get wasted by this kind of endless talk.

Right from dawn when you get up until dusk when you

go to bed you

go on talking, if not loudly then within yourself. The

volume might

be turned down but nevertheless the talk will be going

on all the

time. The radio inside just keeps on playing non-stop

and the

valuable spiritual energy that is within you gets

wasted, just as

electricity is consumed in the case of the radio,

whether it is

playing loudly or softly. The energy just drains away.

The most common cause of premature old age and

senility is this

talk, and more talk, and still more talk. All this

talk is not good.

You have to observe silence. From birth you have not

developed the

habit of inner silence. You have to develop it now.

Actually, the two

functions of the tongue are closely related. Too much

talk leads to

unnatural hunger. When the talker feels more hungry he

will, of

course, take more food. Because of this excess food,

feelings will

arise which will express themselves in still more

talk. In this

process, controlling the senses becomes an almost

impossible task.

If you were to give a horse very concentrated food

and then confine

it or tie it up, it would become very nervous and

upset, and would

not be able to keep quiet. After you feed a horse it

is necessary to

exercise it also. In the same way, if you take in rich

food without

working hard and taking some exercise, you will become

nervous and

restless, and you will also develop egoistic feelings

of selfishness

and pride. Proper exercise will strengthen your health

and proper

food taken in moderation will control the negative

tendencies.

One of the main purposes of spiritual practice is to

see to it that

the food you take in will be used in the service of

society. You must

be firmly resolved to always do good. In the face of

some adversity,

you should not flicker like a flame in the wind. You

must have strong

self-confidence.

Self-Confidence

Consider a tiny bird which has come and landed on a

branch where it

continues to sit for some time afterwards. Now,

suppose a wind comes

up and the branch starts to move, swaying back and

forth. The little

bird will not get frightened by this movement of the

branch. Why?

Because it does not depend entirely on the branch for

its support. It

depends on its wings and so it has strong

self-confidence that no

amount of movement of the branch would disturb it.

Even if the branch

were to break, this would not threaten it or cause it

to fall. But

today's man gets easily frightened by the smallest

difficulties in

day-to-day life. He does not have the self-confidence

which even a

little bird has. What is the reason for this? The

reason is too much

food. He takes in food which is full of dross and

which, in turn,

generates feelings that are saturated with the quality

of rajas,

excessive nervous energy and activity, which promotes

apprehension

and anger. As a result, he has no chance to

experience his true nature which is even-minded and

pure.

The youth of today have many doubts. They see

animals and birds

relating to one another in all kinds of ways, enjoying

a great deal

of freedom. The youth wonder why they should not have

the same

freedom and independence that the animals enjoy. The

proper answer to

this question is, "Yes, you are also entitled to

freedom, but it is

the freedom appropriate to a human being, not that of

an animal."

Animals enjoy the freedom which is natural to animals.

You should

enjoy human freedom, the freedom that is natural to

human beings.

Live as a true human being; develop the qualities

appropriate to a

human being. Calling yourself human but trying to

enjoy the freedom

of an animal will not get you far. The human

characteristics are

sacrifice, love, compassion, generosity, sympathy,

nonviolence and

other such noble qualities. Do not develop the

qualities associated

with an animal. And even worse than that, do not

succumb to qualities

much lower than an animal, namely, the qualities of a

demon such as

selfishness, anger, hatred, lust, jealousy and the

like. These

demonic qualities have no place in a human being.

Efface Selfishness, Pride and Jealousy

In particular, you should never allow selfishness,

pride and

jealousy to take up residence within you. These three

are the worst

of the bad traits that infest man. If you wish to

acquire only good

qualities, the human qualities instead of animal or

demonic

qualities, then you will have to acquire control of

the tongue, in

both the areas of speech and food. This is the royal

road for human

beings. The path of devotion, requires that you use

the tongue

properly, which means that you use food properly and

use words

properly.

Especially in this dark age of materialism and

unrighteousness, the

tongue can get easily sanctified by repeating the holy

name. Instead

of wasting your precious divine energy and your

precious time in idle

talk, let the tongue constantly sing the praises of

God and repeat

his name. Sing the name of the Lord! That is the

proper way to spend

your life. Use every moment of the day to saturate

yourself with the

glory and the holiness of his presence.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

 

Source:

http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/