Swami teaches... Part 2. For the young generation

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Light and Love Swami teaches... Part 2. For the young generation Long time ago, there was a person who had three friends. Quite by accident, he has charged for some crime and a warrant was issued against him by the court. He approached one friend and asked him to bear witness to his innocence. He said, "I will not move out of this house; I can help you only from within this." The second friend said, "I can go only up to the porch of the court. I will not enter the witness box." The third friend said, "Come, I shall speak for you, wherever you want me to." The first friend is the property and possessions, which can bear witness only from within the house. The second is the kinsmen, the members of the family, who come as far as the cemetery but would not accompany the person to the Judgment Seat. The third, friend is the fair name earned by one's virtues and service, which persist even after the death and burial; they stand witness for ages, and announce the innocence and greatness of the individual. The good deeds and thoughts that one welcomes and entertains during the years of life will stand in good stead, firm, like a good friend, when one is nearing the end. Therefore, young men and women must resolve to engage yourselves in acts that promote your peace and progress and the peace and progress of all mankind. Do not damage your future by pursuing temporary benefits and selfish aggrandizement. You have to recognize: 1. That which once comes, then never goes, 2. Once goes, then never comes back, 3. Neither comes nor goes. The first is jnana (wisdom), the second is ajnana (ignorance), and the third is the principle of the Atma. All people have to reach the goal, traveling along the path of wisdom. This knowledge comes as soon as you look into yourselves and analyze your own experience. But, in order to get the craving for that analysis, you have to educate yourselves into the attitude. Developing good habits, avoiding bad ones, mixing in the company of the pious, being active in good deeds, serving those in distress - these are all steps that will lead you into the glorious path of Self-knowledge. You can, even now, take to this discipline and save yourselves from grief and distress. Students must win a fair name for yourself, your parents, and school by your earnestness in study and enthusiasm to serve others. Your parents are bearing great hardships to keep you here in comfort; they are sending you hard-earned cash, expecting you to study well and support them. First, pay back the debt of love to them; do not behave in such a way that they repent the day when they put you to school. All other debts come later, even the debt to the motherland or mother-tongue. Keep parents free from worry; show them the gratitude they deserve; return them the love they pour freely into your hearts. Remember always that it is easy to do what is pleasant; but it is difficult to be engaged in what is beneficial. Not all that is pleasant is profitable. Success comes to those who give up the path strewn with roses, and brave the hammer-blows and sword thrusts of the path fraught with danger. No road is strewn with rose petals. Charge your spiritual batteries by joining good company. Life is a battlefield, a Dharmakshethra, where duties and desires are always in conflict. Smother the fiery fumes of desire, of hatred and anger that rise up in your hearts; it is sheer cowardice to yield to these enemies that turn you into beasts. When obstacles come, meet them with courage. They harden you and make you tough. The best way to get rid of weakness is to strike at the very taproot of the tree - the mistake that you are the body, with this name and this form, these senses, this intelligence and this mind. These are all the luggage you carry. You say, my nose my mind, my hand, my reason, just as you say, my book, my umbrella? Who is this 'I' that calls all these 'mine'? That is the real 'you'. That 'I' cannot be harmed; it does not change, it knows no death or birth. Learn the discipline that makes you aware of this truth and you will be ever free and bold. That is real vidya (knowledge), the Atmavidya, which the sages have gathered for you. Gautama Buddha undertook various spiritual practices in order to realize his true Self. He studied the Vedas and sacred texts. He met many elderly wise men and tried to know the truth from them. Nevertheless, none of these practices could show him the path to Nirvana. Ultimately, he realized that Nirvana lay in making use of the five senses of speech, touch, vision, taste and smell in a sacred manner. He could realize the truth only by renouncing everything and by recognizing unity in the plurality of the world. He could know the ultimate truth by sacrifice. He understood that japa (soft prayer or repetition of the name of God), dhyana, (meditation), yoga* yajna, (holy ritual, sacrifice, or rite; also, personification of rite), etc., were mere physical activities. These spiritual practices are needed for those who are attached to the body. One who is attached to the Self need not undertake any of these practices. (When you understand that all are one, there will be no chance to get agitated. All bodies are like mirrors, showing you your own reflection in them. How can you be angry with your own reflection)?

 

The Vedas declare, “Ekam Sath Viprah Bahudha Vadanthi” (truth is one, but scholars refer to it by many names). See the world with the vision of truth. All are one; all are essentially Divine. Give up multiplicity to attain unity. The Vedanta declares that the Atmic principle is the underlying unity in diversity. (Bulbs are many but the same current flows in all of them. Likewise, the Atmic principle exists in all). Humans’ ultimate goal is to realize the innate Atmic principle, which is the same in all. (Human’s inability to understand this principle of unity is the cause of his/her ignorance). Buddha taught that Nirvana (inner freedom, liberation from cycle of birth and death) could be attained only by cultivating samyak drishti (sacred vision), samyak vak (sacred speech), samyak sravanam (sacred listening), samyak bhavam (sacred feeling) and samyak kriya (sacred action). You can understand unity in diversity only when you at first develop sacred vision. Samyak drishti makes you realize the presence of Divinity in all. (Usually ignorant people are unable to understand the Divine principle. They feel that they can experience God mainly through meditation what is something near to concentration. Nevertheless, concentration does not become meditation. One should go beyond concentration, which means the mind should become still. You should be free from thoughts. That is true meditation for obtaining skill to have sacred vision). True humanness lies in understanding unity in multiplicity. Swami stresses this many times in many different contexts. Buddha stressed also the need for samyak vak (sacred speech). Anudvegakaram Vakyam Sathyam Priya-hitham Cha Yat (one should speak only those words, which cause no annoyance to others and which are truthful, agreeable, and wholesome). Whatever you speak should not cause any disturbance to others. It should be truthful as well as pleasing. You cannot always oblige but you can speak always obligingly. Sacred speech is the manifestation of divinity. That is known as samyak vak. (However, people often use the God-given faculty of speech to criticize and hurt others. However, ears should listen to only those things that are related to the Atmic principle. Only the vibrations of the soul should percolate through the ears). Divinity is represented in eight forms, namely, Sabda Brahmamayi, Characharamayi, Jyothirmayi, Vaangmayi, Nityanandamayi, Paratparamayi, Mayamayi and Srimayi (God is the embodiment of sound, mobility and immobility, light, speech, eternal bliss, supreme majesty, delusion and wealth).

Along with samyak drishti and samyak vak, you should also have samyak sravanam (sacred listening), samyak bhavam (sacred feeling) and samyak kriya (sacred action). The heart is like a vessel. Fill it with the qualities of truth, love, and sacrifice. Then you do not need to ask for peace; it will automatically manifest from within. You cannot acquire them from outside. Everything is the reflection of the inner being. Every person aspires to attain Nirvana (liberation). What is the effort that person is putting in? Person has deposited the merits accrued over the past lives. God even gives ‘interest’ over the ‘principal amount’. All that you need to do is to submit the sacrifice with the signature of the Divine Love. Sacrifice bereft of love is useless. When you have one pointed devotion towards the Lord, you see Him everywhere. When your thoughts, vision and words are sacred, you are verily God yourself. Then, you do not need to search for God. Below is a pictorial example from Gita. The Gopikas used to go to Yashoda’s house to light their lamps. They had the belief that their families would be sanctified if they brought light from Yashoda’s house, which was blessed with the advent of Krishna. Once a newly wed Gopika named Suguna went to Yashoda’s house to light her lamp. As she was doing so, she had the vision of Krishna in the flame. She was so lost in the enchanting form of Krishna that she had no awareness of her hand getting burnt. Yashoda smelt that something was burning and came running to the spot. She immediately pulled Suguna’s hand out of the flame. She was astonished that though her hand was getting burnt, Suguna did not feel any pain and was in a world of her own. When she was asked to explain her strange behavior, Suguna revealed that she had the vision of Krishna in the flame and forgot herself completely. A heart saturated with love of God can never entertain thoughts of violence. It is sheer hypocrisy, to kneel before God and, then, force people to kneel before you. God is Love, God is Peace: God is Strength. How can a person be in contact with God, and yet, be proud and acrimonious? Agitated and angry? Weak and vacillating? A tree is judged by its fruit. Leaders of peoples have to develop this universal feeling of Love, not limited to political boundaries which change from decade to decade, or religious labels which are affixed and erased to suit temporary needs. Culture is the consequence of the co-mingling of hearts and heads. A group of individuals, who are charged with hatred or contempt of each other, cannot produce any beneficial effect on any of its components; a common outlook, or rather, a common inlook, is the essential factor, Sama-chintha - the sameness of beliefs, opinions and attitudes - is the prime factor. This sama-chintha must result in a flood of Ananda that envelops and inspires the entire group. If the individual knows he/she is Divine and that all else are equally so, that consciousness is the best bond for society, that Ananda is the best atmosphere to sustain the society. How can a person who knows that all are Divine keep away from the God? This awareness is so thrilling, so satisfying, so uplifting, that such society is the noblest sathsang (holy company) human can ever come into.

 

God is showering His Love and Grace on everyone, but the unfortunate ones are unable to receive them. Their feelings do not match with God’s feelings. They do not understand God’s Will and unable to receive God’s Love and Compassion because they have filled their mind with worldly feelings. If you want to receive something sacred, give up all that is unsacred. Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavati (as you think so you become).

 

You aspire to see God, talk to Him and touch Him. None can describe the bliss that one experiences when one has the Darshan, Sparshan and Sambashan (sight, touch and talk) of God. In fact, you see God in the form of people all around you. Your vision becomes sanctified only when you develop the feeling that all are the embodiments of God. Everything in this creation is sacred. All that you see is only the manifestation of God. You see God in the form of the world, yet you feel that you have not seen Him. God has no specific form or dwelling place. He is the eternal witness and is present in all forms. You can progress on the spiritual path only when you have such a feeling. Shutting yourself in a room and offering incense and flowers to a picture or image of God, singing or reciting His glory are very poor substitutes for the discipline that will liberate you from ignorance. All beings are images of God; all people are His pictures; then, why shut yourselves in? All creation is marching on a pilgrimage to Him; why then behave as if you are trekking it alone? You believe that the time spent in church or temple or the domestic shrine in adoration and in ritual worship is devoted to God and the rest is spent for other purposes. Nevertheless, you cannot demarcate and delimit the realms of God and human like that. Do not confine God to the form of Vishnu or Krishna that you find in Ravi Varma’s paintings. They are all pictures born out of the painter’s imagination. In reality, God is the Cosmic Being. Easwara Sarva Bhutanam (God is the indweller of all beings). Isavasyam idam Sarvam (the entire universe is permeated by God). Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma (verily all this is Brahman). PS: * Yoga does not mean only controlling the breathing process or body exercises (as already has mentioned in part 1). You should inhale good feelings, and exhale bad feelings. Yoga’s definitions: 1. Union of the individual Self or Atma with the Supreme Being or Universal Self. 2. A spiritual discipline or exercise aimed at control of the senses. 3. Science of the Divine communion. 4. Patanjali's Yoga-sutras define yoga as a series of eight spiritual steps leading to union with God. (This is different from "The eightfold path of yoga" by Swami in "Prasanthi Vahini"). No single definition of the word 'yoga' suffices. The complete and easily understandable is "The eightfold path of yoga" by Swami. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 5. "The pleasant and the profitable," Chapter 5; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 12. "Love is the key," Chapter 15 and "Friends you need," Chapter 18; Satyhya Sai Speaks. Vol. 22. "Become ideal citizens," Chapter 3; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 33. "Attain God’s Grace," Chapter 9; http://www.sssbpt.org/Pages/Prasanthi_Nilayam/easwaramma_dd_2007.html Namaste - Reet