Swami teaches... Part 2. Education, Science - With Love

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Light and Love Swami teaches...

Part 2. Education, Science - With Love The Upanishad exhorts, "Arise, awake, approach the wise and learn." This direction as underlines that true beauty lies in true education. Vidhya is the hidden treasure. It guards us like an intimate kinsman, standing by us, behind, beside, before. Vidhya is that process which makes us aware of the bondage we are in, the suffering we live through and the darkness within. Intellect, education, prolific scholarship, Victory in verbal battle, Vanquishing the adversary in physical strife, Sovereignty over kingdoms vast, Charity profuse of cattle and gold, Piercing vision counting the countless stars, Numbering each of creatures unnumbered, Achieving the mystic eightfold powers, Or even stepping on lunar dust - All these are easy to the man of strength. But to restrain the urges of body and its parts, To turn the senses inward, Difficult far is it to attain the vision And still the mind in supreme peace. (Telugu Poem) Education has to open the doors of the mind.

 

Use the mind as a plough a vast field of heart. Treat the gunas (qualities) as bullocks. Use the viveka (intelligence) as a whip. With these aids, cultivate the field of your heart. What is the crop that is to be grown in it? Sathya, Dharma, Santhi and Prema are the seeds, Bhakti is the rain, Dhyana is the manure, Brahmananda is the crop.

Gold is in the form of deposits in the gold mines. When you take it out and purify it, it becomes pure 24 carat gold. It acquires great value. However, when you add other metals like copper, its value comes down. Not only that. Its brightness also comes down. If you add some more metals, it loses its value altogether. Our heart is like a temple of gold. It should always be bright and shining. (Human's life is like a block of ice which is melting away every moment. Before it spends itself, devote it to the service of others). Education in human values is designed to prepare everyone for this life of dedicated service. You may have whatsoever profession. For all spiritual seekers seva (selfless service) is the best sadhana (spiritual discipline). But do not believe that you can by means of seva re-form or re-shape the world. You may or you may not. That does not matter. The real value of seva, its most visible result, is that it reforms you, reshapes you. Do not strut about that you are improving others; improve yourself. The primary duty of human is to understand properly his/her own innate nature and then putting it into practice. (The value and significance of human nature is beyond all estimation. Human is but a spark of Divinity. That is why Lord Krishna said in the Gita, The eternal Atma in all beings is a part of My Being). Rivers are dammed and the waters are stored in reservoirs. Through canals, they have to be taken to the fields to feed the crops in order to appease the hunger of millions. So too, we store the knowledge available in libraries in our heads as reservoirs. It has to be utilized through canals of service in order to fertilize and feed the minds of one's fellowmen and make them more intelligent, more skilled and more loving. Sevak meets many types of people; some who are very cooperative, some who are cantankerous, some who obstruct, some who argue, some who threaten, some who question your motive or authority. They toughen sevak's character and train to welcome with equal joy both praise and blame. Sevak must be neither elated nor dejected; he/she must adhere to the middle path. Without the positive aspect of love, all service you render becomes negative in nature. You should give up the feeling that you are serving others. You are serving your own Self when you serve others. You should consider all as yours. Others are not others but the very forms of God. (This is your education to be aware of it). So seva is a great opportunity to see the God indwelling in all. (Rama could have rescued Sita unaided; but He chose to grant the seva to the monkey hordes, for they were the gods who had come to claim that chance). When you serve Swami's bhakthas, you see Swami in them, you seek to please Swami in them, you revere Swami in them. Swami has no special brand of grace for those who are at His door. Swami has no geographical "far" and "near"; His "far" and "near" are not calculated by physical nearness. However far you are, if you but stick to Sathya, Dharma, Shanthi and Prema, you are close to Swami and Swami is close to you. Those are the milestones that mark the road to Swami. Swami's place is among devotees, with devotees and wherever work lies. Even in devotees own places, when they do bhajan or some other type of adoration, like serving children or the sick or the poor, Swami is not apart and distant. Swami does not believe He is on the pedestal; He is a part of devotees, a partner and partaker in all devotees efforts, inspiring and instructing, when they ask or need inspiration and instruction. The sankalpa of Sathya Sai is to offer, for serving humanity, heroes of action and heroes of self-sacrifice. These heroes of action and heroes of self-sacrifice are endowed with the infinite Divine power. A piece of red-hot iron can be put to better use than the fire itself. The body can be compared to an iron piece and the divinity within to fire. On the other aspect everyone's body is as a workshop. This body is a machine. The limbs and organs are integral parts of the machine. Every organ shares in the pains and joys of every other part. The body demonstrates the organic unity of every limb and organ. (If we fully understand the workings of this human workshop, we will have no need to study any other workshop. When the mind desires to acquire an object, say, a fruit in a tree, all other organs, the feet, the hands, etc. cooperate in getting it. After the fruit is eaten, the stomach helps to digest it and supply blood to the heart for distribution to the entire body. In the process, every limb or organ has done its duty in harmony with the others). This kind of mutual cooperation and unity could be experienced in our daily actions. For instance, when you are walking, your eyes may notice a thorn on the road. By a mysterious process of communication from the eyes to the feet, your legs automatically avoid the thorn. There exist the remarkable link between the eyes and the feet. All parts of the body, from head to foot, are equally important and have to be cared for with love and regard. Love should become the ruling principle of our life. At present time many students in Sai schools and beyond over the planet are concerned with education in human values. The cultivation of human values together with worldly knowledge is real, true education. Whoever tries to understand the human values of Truth, Righteous conduct, Peace, Love and Non-violence properly, who practices these values and propagates them with zeal and sincerity can alone be described as a truly educated person. When you experience another's suffering as your own that your human value is manifested. External beauty and charm are flimsy, they are ephemeral. Real beauty consists in empathy, virtue, self-control and selflessness. Sundaram (beauty) arises from Shivam (goodness) and Shivam from Sathyam (truth). In this world every object has five aspects, namely, sath, chith, ananda, rupa, and nama (being, awareness, bliss, form, and name). Being, Awareness, and Bliss are the three core attributes of a human. They are true and eternal. Name and form are transitory; name and form are momentary. Names and forms have no value without the eternal virtues. Human suffers from various ailments, some internal and others external. A doctor can cure the external ailments. The Atmic feeling is the only remedy for all the internal ailments. However, human is being deluded by names and forms and is losing the very precious gem of divinity. Human has become a slave to own senses, and is wasting time on trivial matters. (Today the sanctity of human life seems to be totally lost. Human life has no value. People are killed like ants and mosquitoes).

 

In fact, the inner voice keeps reminding human's Divine nature day in and day out. But human is not making any effort to listen to his/her inner voice. Once human realizes own innate nature, Sath-Chith-Ananda and experiences it, he/she becomes verily God and can accomplish any mighty task. No other form of life has the mighty intellect and capacity for inner peace but the human kind. Human has got infinite capacity for spiritual thoughts and spiritual quest.

Humans are the embodiments of infinity. Human should always remind him/herself as the embodiment of Truth, embodiment of Love, embodiment of Bliss, etc.

Always be happy and cheerful, for your innate nature is bliss. You need not go in search of happiness. Bliss emerges out of Atma. Whenever you wish for it, you will get it. Always keep your thoughts steadily fixed on the Divine power that fills your heart with bliss. The Divine power is infinite. The more you contemplate on the Divine, the more and more the bliss gets multiplied. Happiness is union with God. Once you are in the company of God, happiness will follows you like a slave as you are verily the embodiment of Divine Atma. In this world, there are two types of intellectuals. The first type is the scientists who are, as a rule, materialistic in their outlook. They have in their mind the physical and worldly goals and gains. They are fascinated by the external appearance of a gigantic tree with its numerous branches and twigs, but they are not interested in finding its "roots". Vedantins (philosophers) are the second type of intellectuals, who are not fascinated by the external appearance of the tree but evince great delight in finding the "roots". (People who are purely worldly in outlook waste their time in watering the "branches", whereas, the Vedantins water the "roots" and thereby enjoy the "fruits"). Several present day scientists try to turn their views to "roots," and try to peep to infinite the Atmic Reality. (About this in the next part). Once, the asuras (demons) and devas (demigods) churned the ocean of milk with the hope of acquiring divine ambrosia (amrita). They used the Manthara mountain as the churning rod. But, initially, they had to put up with the emergence of deadly poison. The demons were frustrated and disheartened to see poison emanating instead of (amrita). They wanted to give up the churning process. But the demigods relentlessly continued the churning with courage and determination. Their sustained efforts yielded rich rewards in the form of the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi Devi, Iravatha (divine white elephant), Kamadhenu (wish-fulfilling cow), Kalpatharu (wish-fulfilling tree), and ultimately the Divine ambrosia itself. In the same manner, human should churn his/her mind and try to know his/her "roots" and should not be deterred or depressed by the initial impediments and obstacles that beset the path. (Human, as a rule, is tossed about from one want to another, one grief to another, until he/she is blinded by despair and exhausted by foiled pursuits. Most illnesses are due to this despair and this exhaustion). We have to transform the Divine power latent in us into skill in whatsoever area of ours professions. When one's interest is rooted in some field of knowledge, be it science or art or something else, attention on it becomes firm and memory will enshrine it in the mind. "Better far to fail in bagging a tiger than succeed in killing a lame jackal," says a Telugu proverb. Aim high and strive for grand victories. When knowledge is converted into skill to service society, you acquire balance in life. In such a state of equanimity, you will develop insight. With such an insight and Divine power the service activity, will be most fruitful and beneficial to the society. In this world, only truth and goodness will remain with us for ever. So, we should strive to develop truth and goodness in us. Human's activities yield the desired result only when the kala, karma, karana, and kartavya (time, action, cause, and duty) are in harmony with each other. Hence, one should make sincere efforts and wait for the right time. When the action fructifies, one should utilize it in accordance with the time and circumstances. Humans very right is the fulfillment of the duty laid on them. Discharge your responsibility without demur or deviation, to the best of your ability. That is your right. Plunge into work whole-heartedly. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 7. "Limbs of the Divine Body," Chapter 14; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 10. "Pride and the fall," Chapter 1; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 15. "Character training," Chapter 18; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 19. "Human values are for everyone," Chapter 5; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 36. "Strive for Unity, Purity, and Divinity," Chapter 1). Namaste - Reet