Swami teaches... Part 1. Be like the lotus

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Light and Love Swami teaches... Part 1. Be Like the Lotus The lotus, born in slime and mud, rises up through the water and lifts its head high above the waters; it refuses to get wet though water is the element that gives it life. You too must have the skill to swim across the waves of joy and grief, of pain and profit. You must be a master of the art of being fully at ease, perfectly calm and unaffected, whatever may happen to the body or senses or mind; they are all inert when they are not urged by the inner I, which is intelligence, awareness. Learn the skill of achieving and maintaining inner peace, the art of being ever aware of the Atma, as the inner reality, and then you can safely gyrate in the world, as fast as you care. However, before is necessary to merge in the Divine Grace. Without the last, no progress is possible. Mountains of sin will vanish like mist by God’s grace. For every action, there is bound to be a reaction. But the Divine grace can provide even an escape from the consequences of one’s karma. One can rewrite even one’s own destiny if one gets the Divine grace, as was the case with Markandeya.

By legend, he was given only sixteen years of life span. Nevertheless, he was unaware of this until the night before he turned sixteen. That night, he found his parents full of sorrow. On asking, he was told that his end had approached, and that was the cause of their sorrow. He went to the temple of Easwara, hugged the Shivalinga, and prayed intensely. At the appointed hour, Yama (God of death) cast his noose around the neck of young Markandeya. Since he was hugging the Linga, the noose fell around the Linga also. Easwara manifested and remonstrated Yama, “How dare you cast the noose around Me?” He cursed Yama to death. Pleased with the devotion of Markandeya, He blessed him with the boon of immortality. So, through sincere prayer, you can earn the Divine grace. God is present in your body and all other bodies, which are the temples of One God. The Great One, God existed, always did exist and always will exist as the One Infinite aspect of Being, Universal Creator of all what we percept and what we cannot percept (from galaxies to atoms and subatomic particles).* (See also the abstract of the recent scientific discovery about atoms reversible memory). The same bloodstream circulates in all the limbs of the body. The same Divine stream activates the entire Universe. Visualize that supreme Architect. This is spoken of as the realization of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of human. The light of life that is present in the body is Paramajyoti (the Supreme Light) itself. This Light is not subject to change and cannot be extinguished. The body may die, but not the Self. It is crucial to have faith in this process, and in particular faith in the infinite power of our own Self and its intimate oneness (as holographic pattern by modern science) with the Universal Self - Paramatma to manifest all of our life. (One of the greatest dangers in the field of personal growth is to believe that someone other than you has the answer to your destiny, enlightenment, and freedom). "Again, you have the idea that only certain people hold the key to the Kingdom of Happiness. No one holds it. No one has the authority to hold that key. That key is your own Self, and in the development and the purification and in the incorruptibility of that Self alone is the Kingdom of Eternity" (Krishnamurti)

He who has understood the truth that Shiva (God) and the Jiva (individual) are one and the same is the true Brahmajnani (one who has known the Brahman). Shiva and Jiva are not different from each other, since the same Divine Atmic principle is present in both. One cannot be called a human being by his physical form alone. Human is called manava, meaning not new. However, human has another name, Partha, which means Prithvi Puthra (child of the Mother Earth). All the powers that are present in the Earth are present in human also. One can understand the presence of these powers by deep enquiry and investigation.These powers are infinite, unfathomable, and unrevealed. Human, since he/she is born of the Earth, naturally has all these powers. He/she is a conglomeration of different powers.

It is stated in the Mahabharata that the Pandavas spent twelve years in exile and one year in incognito, i.e. living amidst people without revealing their identity. Likewise, though there are infinite powers in human, they are not revealed. These are known as ateeta shaktis (transcendental powers). These are psychic in nature and have been termed so by scientists. Human is thus a repository of enormous energy of various kinds, viz. light energy, electric energy, radiation energy (** see attachment, a scientific diagram of known to science energy waves that all around you) and above all energy of the Self (Atmic Shakti). Nevertheless, for this energy, human cannot eat, drink, move, laugh, or do anything for that matter. Human, though blessed with such powers, is forgetting the latent own Divinity and is leading the life of an animal. The reason for this is the perversion of buddhi (intellect). These powers are wasted in pursuit of worldly wealth and power, comforts and luxuries. Do not crave luxuries but bear with patience whatever comes your way. Never be disheartened when faced with difficulties or sufferings in life. Have firm faith in the power of the Atma.

There are many examples of this perversion from ancient scriptures. The great ancient epics like the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavata give many instances to illustrate this. Krishna went to Hastinapur as an emissary to bring about a compromise between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Duryodhana, due to the perversion of his buddhi, did not pay heed to Krishna’s counsel. Though he knew what dharma was, he did not put it into practice and ruined himself. Similar was the case with Ravana. Though he was one of great penance and wisdom, he did not pay heed to the good counsel of his wife, Mandodari, and the teachings of Narada and other saints and sages. Ultimately, he too ruined his life. The same can be said of Hiranyakasipu. He was a great scientist. Modern scientists could reach only the Moon, but Hiranyakasipu could go even beyond the Sun. Such a great scientist did not adhere to dharma and ultimately met his doom. Vali, on being questioned by the sages as to why he banished his own brother, Sugriva, from the kingdom, gave a concocted version of the truth, magnifying Sugriva’s mistake and concealing his own. Again, the reason was perversion of his buddhi. In the Mahabharata, Amba put the entire blame of her predicament on Bhishma, ignoring her own folly, and developed hatred toward him. Similarly, in Ramayana Viswamitra developed enmity with Vasishta for no fault of the latter.

 

The panacea for all suffering is chanting God’s name. Have the firm conviction that you are God. Never be under the mistaken notion that God is the master and you are His slave. You do not have a master; you are the master. "Master the mind and be a mastermind," Swami's famous saying declares. Never forget God’s name. Never be away from God’s Love. Never leave truth and never forget dharma. With one-pointed concentration contemplate on God, nothing else matters in this world.

 

Many are under the illusion that they have achieved something great in life by amassing wealth, but they do not realize that they have to go empty handed when they leave this world. Do not get carried away by this illusion. You should understand the difference between Brahma (God) and bhrama (illusion). The principle of unity in diversity is Brahma, and viewing multiplicity in unity is bhrama. This is how you should visualize unity in diversity. Go into the inner meanings, the deeper significances of religious symbols, rites, and ceremonies. (Today people spend a lot of money in offering various fruits and preparations to God. All these offerings are made only as a ritual. Ultimately, people themselves consume them. No significant benefit accrues from making these offerings). The outer forms and formalities are in accordance with the needs of place, time, and person. Some among you relish one sweet dish more, as another; others do not agree that your favorite is the tastiest. Nevertheless, whatever the dish, the same substance, sugar, sweetens them all; similarly, all things and beings are sweetened by the same Principle, God. Assign to your mind the task of serving the Lord and it will grow tame. You do not hand over the goldsmith an ornament that is quite nice; you give him for repairs or reshaping, the ornaments you feel have been broken or dented or gone out of fashion. So too, give the Lord your mind that certainly needs repair, if not complete reconstruction. The Master comes to save not one good human being from illusion, but the whole mankind. He can give joy and courage, only if He speaks the language of human intercourse.

Human, who is child of immortality, should have no fear. (Usually people pray before stone images of the snake god, but when the actual snake appears in answer to their prayers, they run away terror-stricken from the shrine). When you build a house, you install a door in front. What is the purpose of the door? To admit all whom you welcome and to keep out all whom you do not want. It has a double purpose; you do not keep the doors wide open for all to come in, as and when they like. Use the doors intelligently, to let in those whom you want, and keep out those whom you do not need. So too, eliminate the the fears, select impulses, the motives, the incentives that enter your mind; keep out the demeaning, the debasing, the deleterious. Admit the highest wisdom of the scriptures, the wisdom culled out of the crucible of experience, called anubhavajnanam. All water is not potable; the stagnant pool is to be avoided, the flowing river is better. Select and drink. Use the mosquito curtain, but see that the mosquitoes do not get in when you go to bed. Keep them out; do not imprison them inside the net. Sail in the boat that floats on water but do not allow the water to enter the boat. Be in worldly life, but do not allow it to get into you.

 

Sage Vasishta says, "O, Rama! The boundless ocean can be drunk dry by man with great ease. The enormous Sumeru Mountain can be plucked from the face of the Earth with great ease. The flames of a huge conflagration can be swallowed with great ease. But controlling the mind is far more difficult than all these." Therefore, if one succeeds in overwhelming the mind, one achieves the awareness of the Atma. The bliss that one earns afterwards is the highest kind of happiness. Each second in your life is new. It is a gift, a chance, an opportunity, a thing to be celebrated, to be used for our uplift. That is to say, each second is a fresh chance given for training the mind, refining the intellect, purifying the emotions, strengthening the will, for getting confirmed in the conviction that you are the deathless Atma (Self, the Infinite Consciousness). A child experiencing a first ever life in the physical Universe is a direct result of the original descent from of spirit, an aspect of God as the beginning of an individual, immortal spiritual being. Each of us has a unique vibration, which, as we progress through the process of perfection, through which the Great One as experiences and expands, and the vibration of our individual Self increases. In creating own reality we should have to the faith in the infinite powers of our Self. It is possible through our strong belief that the Divine exists, and faith in the infinite powers of own Self with Its direct access to the Universal Self, Paramatma.

The physical Universe of stars, planets, moons, and forms of life including the conscious human mind. Without mind, the physical Universe for us does not exist.

 

Like the silk-worm that spins from out of itself the cocoon that proves to be its tomb, human spins from out of own mind the cage in which he/she gets trapped.

You will not have any troubles if you offer your flicking (not steady even for a minute) mind to God. The mind should be ever engaged in work. Then can it be brought under control. What work should you assign to the mind? Let the mind be a watchman at the gate of your nostrils. Let it observe what is going in and what is coming out. 'So' is inhaled and 'Ham' is exhaled. 'So' symbolizes that which is good (Divinity) and 'Ham' stands for that which is bad (ego). Then the mind will understand that the Divinity has to be taken in and ego has to be given up. By this way, the mind also has to be kept busy by contemplating on So-Ham mantra. There are also several ways, which the God in you will reveal to you. Take to the spiritual practice, which will bring relief. The best style of meditation is the one that feels right for you. Forget the past; do not worry about possible errors or disappointments. Bring to memory only those things that are worth remembering. That is the sane way to achieve spiritual progress. Away with the roles of clown and clout, which you have acted all the ages. Take on the role of the hero.

*PS: All in this word is interconnected shows the experiments of modern quantum electrodynamics. Single atoms too have reversible memories as specific powers. A key requirement for quantum information processing applications such as quantum communication or computation is the ability to reliably store, manipulate, and retrieve a piece of information, encoded, for example, in the polarization state of a single photon. Among the many routes, presently being explored to achieve these goals is cavity quantum electrodynamics (c-QED), which entails trapping a single atom in a cavity and inducing it to interact with a single photon. Physicist Boozer's team show that they are able to imprint the state of a single photon onto a single trapped atom, store it for an appreciable fraction of the lifetime of the atom in the trap, and then retrieve that information again sometime later in the form of another photon and send it on its way. The process is coherent, providing further support for c-QED-based systems as promising candidates for nodes in a quantum information-processing network. (Ian S. Osborne ; Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 193601, 2007; Abstract). (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 4. "Heroes, not Zeros," Chapter 1; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 8. "The way of the wise," Chapter 23; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 16. "Karma, Dharmaja and Brahma," Chapter 7; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 16. "Karma, Dharmaja and Brahma," Chapter 7, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 32. Part 2. "Truth emerges from Wisdom," Chapter 5 ; Sathya Sai Baba. Vidya Vahini. Chapter XI; http://www.sssbpt.org/Pages/Prasanthi_Nilayam/adilabad_discourse 2007.html). Namaste - Reet