Sathya Sai Vahini - Chapter 4

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Sathya Sai Vahini

 

Chapter 4

The Miracle of Miracles

 

The children of Bharath (Bharathiyas) believe that they are, each one,

the Atma. They are aware that the Atma cannot be cut in twain by the

sword, that fire cannot burn It, that water cannot wet It, and that

the wind cannot dry It. The Atma has no bounds. Its centre is in the

body, but, its circumference is nowhere. Death means the Atma has

shifted from one body to another. This is the belief that every

Indian has firmly in mind.

 

The Atma is not subject to material or worldly limitations or laws. By

Its very nature, It is free; It is Unbounded; It is Purity; It is

Holiness; It is Fullness. But, since it is associated with material,

inert, bodies, It imagines that It is also a product of material

composition. This is the wonder, the mystery, the miracle that It

manifests! To unravel this mystery, and explain this miracle are

beyond the capacity of any one.

 

How could the Full (Poorna) Atma get entangled in the delusion that It

is 'not-full' (apoorna), 'a fraction', 'in-completely'? Some persons

might charge the Bharathiyas who declare that the awareness of

incompleteness itself can never arise, as persons attempt to wriggle

out of an impossible situation. They might say that this is but a

stratagem to cover up their ignorance of the Truth. How can the Pure,

the Unpartitionable, lose Its nature to the slightest extent? The

Bharathiyas are simple and sincere, and their nature is seldom

artificial. They would never attempt to wriggle out of a situation by

resorting to specious arguments. Thy have the courage to encounter in

a manly way any problem before them. Therefore, the answer to the

question posed is: The delusion cannot happen! There is no basis for

the error of imputing 'incompleteness' for the 'complete'. The 'full'

entity called Atma can never imagine Itself as 'wanting' or 'less-

than-full' or feel that It is limited or controlled by the material

sheath whose core It is.

 

Every person knows that he feels he is the body. Can any one announce

how this feeling arose and persisted? No one can offer to answer this

question. For, to say, as some do, that it is the will of God, is no

answer at all. The plain statement, 'I do not know' conveys the same

meaning, as the statement, 'It is the will of God.' One is no wiser at

the latter statement than after hearing the first. What remains is

this: " The Atma in the Individual, the Jiva-atma, is Eternal,

Immortal, Full.There is no Death; what appears so is the shifting of

Its centre. "

 

Our present condition and circumstances are decided by the deeds done

in previous lives. In a similar manner, the conditions in which we

have to spend the future are determined by what we are doing now.

Between one life and another, one death and the next, the individual

either progresses or regresses, expands or shrinks. Like a frail ship

caught in a stormy sea, man climbs the froth-rimmed peak of some

gigantic wave and, the next moment, he is hurled with terrific speed

into the deepest trough. The rise and the fall result inevitably from

his good deeds and bad. O ye! Children of Immortality! Listen! Listen

to the answer given in the message of the Rishis who had the Vision

of the Most Majestic of Persons, the Purushottama, who dwells beyond

the realms of Delusion and Darkness: " O, Ye Human Beings! Brothers!

For you to liberate yourselves from the succession of deaths, the

only means is 'knowing Him'. Do not imagine that you are sinners,

for, you are heirs to eternal Ananda. You are 'images' of God,

sharers in undiminishable Ananda. You are by nature holy, ever full;

you are indeed God, moving on earth. Is there a sin greater than

calling such as you, sinners? You are dishonouring yourselves,

defaming yourselves, when you acknowledge the appellation,

'sinners'! Arise! Cast off the feeling that you are sheep. Do not be

deluded into that idea. You are Atmas. You are drops of Amrith of

Immortality, that know neither beginning nor end. All things material

are your bondslaves; you are not their bondslaves. "

 

These are the words of the rishis. How can those who have not

themselves delved into this Truth appreciate this Bharathiya

interpretation? Indians are the fortunate ones who have achieved

great strength in spirit holding God as father, mother, guru, friend,

and the beloved. They have adored God as dearer to them than anything

or any one, here or hereafter. How can those who are aware only of

mere sensual pleasure know this supreme Truth? The craving for

sensual pleasure veils the truth from the inner eye. That craving

manifests in multiple ways,creating more and more desires and laying

down more and more urges to action. These hide the truth like a thick

curtain.

 

The recognition of this curtain is a big stage in spiritual progress.

This is the Maya Principle of Vedanta. From immemorial times, though

the Truth was self-evident, this curtain has hidden it from man. This

has been discovered as the prime obstacle by Indians, since ages. How

to remove the curtain and cognise the Truth? Indians knew that the

solution does not lie in the objective, external world, and so, it

would be futile to seek it there. The search in the external world

even for ages cannot ensure success. For, experience alone can

guarantee conviction.

 

To gain experience, Indians entered into austerities and disciplined

inquiry, until they 'identified' the Truth, and announced it to the

world. They discarded the urges of the senses and the manifold

attractions of active involvement in the objective world. They taught

the world this lesson. The mind of man was the instrument for the

Indian seekers to discover this secret, which is the basic principle

of Wisdom as treasured by them. It became imperative for them to use

the mind itself and study its nature and characteristics. They

realised soon enough that the study of the external world led them

nowhere. They diverted their attention to the internal 'regions' of

their consciousness. Thus they laid the foundation for the Vedantic

structure; this was the beginning of the Vedantic inquiry.

 

There is no need to seek Truth anywhere else. Seek it in man himself:

he is the miracle of miracles. Whatever is not in man cannot be

anywhere outside him. What is visible outside him is but a rough

reflection of what really is in him! The ancient belief was that

Ishwara (God) ruled over the World, with Himself being outside it;

this, the Indian seekers put to test through Sadhana and revealed

that God was and is in the world and of it. This is the first

contribution of Indians to the spiritual world - that God is not

external to man, but his very inner core. They declared that it is

impossible to remove him from the heart where He has installed

Himself. He is the very Atma of our atma, the soul of our soul; He is

the inner Reality of each.

 

Those who desire to grasp the supreme vision of Vedantic philosophy

have to understand a few fundamental ideas. Philosophy is neither a

book nor the work produced by one person. The supremely great Manu

has named this Bharath as Brahmavartha, the Region of Brahma, the

spiritual area where the quest of the One immanent and transcendent

Principle originated and succeeded. The festive cavalcade of saints

engaged in the quest began its march over the continents from this

Bharath itself. Like mighty rivers from huge mountain ranges, the

stream of spiritual Sadhana for the discovery of the Higher Truth

sprang from this land itself. This land has announced to the world

its Spiritual Message with the confidence and courage of

thunderblasts emanating from the womb of clouds. When inimical forces

blasted into Bharath, this holy land bore the brunt of the blow; it

had to present its heroic chest before the attack and absorb the

initial impact. Many times this land had to bear these invading

thrusts and suffer fierce injuries. But yet, this land

has not fully lost its fame and glory and its steadfast strength on

this path.

 

From this land, the Embodiment of Equanimity and Compassion, Nanak the

Great, preached his highly wonderful message of Love. His all-

embracing heart blossomed in this land. The Bharathiyas, Children of

this Land, Inheritors of this Culture, spread their arms to receive

in loving embrace not only the Hindu world, but the Islamic world

too. Among those who shone as heroic supporters of the Hindu culture

unto the last, the foremost was Guru Govind Singh. Undeterred by

tortures that forced him to shed his own blood and the blood of his

own beloved, deserted by those for whom he had undergone such

torture, he did not utter a word of blame against his compatriots,

but, entered the Deccan and gave up his life, as the King of Beasts

does when his heart is hurt. May that great person's fame persist for

ever on earth! Such eminent leaders render the

whole of mankind indebted to them, for they serve the best interests

of all men everywhere.

 

As each individual is a unique entity, so, each nation too has a

unique individuality. Each person is different from others in certain

matters and is endowed with some special characteristics which are

his own. So too, each nation has certain special features, not found

in others. Each individual has to play a role as part of the system;

his own previous Karma or activity has determined a special line or

path for him. The history of nations too is the same. Each has to

play a role already laid down by its destiny. Each nation has to

deliver a special message of its own to the world community.

Therefore, it is important that Bharathiyas must recognise, before

everything else, the role that this nation has to play, the tune it

must sing, in the World Orchestra of Peace and Bliss. You must have

heard, while listening to childhood tales, that there are

gemstones in the hoods of some serpents and that, so long as those

gems embellish the hoods, it is not possible to kill those serpents.

Keep this story in your memory; then, you can understand the most

miraculous event in human history, the survival of Bharathiya

Spiritual Culture.