Prof. Anil Kumar... Questions & Answers - Part 1

[Guest guest]

229 It seems in one of the discourses, Swami said, “You are only a puppet.” Are we puppets? How can we be puppets? It has disturbed our minds. Why? Why should we be puppets? (311005) To say, “Why should I be a puppet?” is the quality of a puppet. (Laughter) To feel “Am I a puppet?” is the quality of the puppet. A puppet does not know that it is a puppet; whereas the Master knows that you are a puppet. Do you understand? Therefore, “why should I be a puppet?” That feeling arises out of ignorance, ajnana. To know that I am a puppet is jnana or wisdom. Wisdom lies in knowing that I am a puppet, in being aware that I am a puppet. “I am an instrument” is the awareness or knowledge.

“Am I a puppet?” Good. You are a child. “Why should I be a puppet?” Very good. Himalayan ignorance! (Laughter)

HIGHER LEVEL OF AWARENESS

So, the real knowledge, the real awareness knows that I am a puppet and I have to dance and act in accordance with the director, the puppeteer behind it. The puppeteer goes on moving the strings and the puppets dance on the surface. They do not know why and how they dance because the puppeteer is behind, pulling the strings in different directions. Similarly, this question arises out of ignorance. This question arises due to a lack of awareness. This question arises because of our worldly nature. This question arises because of our little, simple achievements and attainments.

“I am the boss of my office! Oh! Am I a puppet? Why?” Oh! I see. Being a boss is also a puppet show. (Laughter) Part of the puppet show. So, to know that I am a puppet is a higher level of awareness.

 

 

 

 

 

228 I am well-educated and learned, with good cognisance of spiritual precepts and Baba’s teachings. I know myself as a part and parcel of God for sure, without a doubt. I know that Swami and I are one. And I have all the correct knowledge and mastery over desire. Still I don’t have money, I don’t have a job, (Laughter) and no shelter. What am I to do? I know that I am God, but have no job. I know I am God, but have no shelter to live in. (311005) Waah! No shelter, what am I to do? I know that I am God, but I have no job. I know I am God, but I have no shelter to live in. Arey! Poor God!

Have the correct idea of God, at least. (I am not speaking from the point of experience.) If I conceptualise, if I visualise, if I have an idea in accordance with the scriptures, God does not need a shelter because God is everywhere. A shelter is required for a person who is at some place. We need shelter. Yes. Because I am here, I need shelter. But when I am everywhere, why do I need shelter? So I am God; but saying, “I have no shelter” means you are not God! Because God does not need shelter as He is everywhere.

TRAVEL FROM DUALISM TO NON-DUALISM

He is inside; He is outside. He is within; He is without -- in the ocean, in the sky, on the mountain, in the deep valley. He is everywhere. Why? All are in Him. The cosmos is in Him; the universe is in Him. Then, why does He need a shelter? So, this is only a non-dual statement with a dual background: “I don’t have a job.” When all jobs are God’s and your job is God’s job, you are God, meaning you give jobs to everybody. So why do you bother about your job? You say, “I am God.” God gives us jobs – His is the employment exchange office! Then why do you worry about your job as you are the giver of all jobs! So it is not so! You are dual. Definitely you are dual. You are separate from God. So, you need food and shelter from rain. Being separate from God, I need all these things. Therefore, let me travel from duality to non-duality. Let me make a journey from duality to non-duality. Let me speak of non-duality, while my life is dualistic. Let me slowly travel from dualism to non-dualism. That’s what I can say.

 

 

 

 

227 If all are the same, why must we serve? Whom must we serve? (311005) A very good question, from a modern man, an electronic, computer man. If all are the same, why should I serve anybody? Who is serving whom? Ah! Excellent question.

The answer is this: If you really believe that all are same, when others are eating, you don’t eat. (Laughter) When others are sleeping, why should you sleep? While others have their cup of tea, why should you have your cup of tea?

You have not reached that state. You have not experienced that all are the same. You are only saying all are same, so why should I serve? You are not convinced of the truth that all are the same. If you are convinced, if you have experienced the truth that all are the same, you don’t have to serve anybody. It is only Baba who can say that.

“Swami, why don’t You eat? When all of us are eating, when all of us are at the dining table with so many delicious items, why don’t You eat?” It is Baba who said, “Why should I eat?”

“Swami, why not?” “When all of you eat, don’t you know that it reaches Me?” That’s why He doesn’t eat. Just to make others eat, just to give company to others, He pretends as if, as though, He eats. If I copy Swami’s style of eating -- just one spoon of ragi – by next Sunday, you will not see me! (Laughter) Then there will be someone else to talk to you. (Laughter) Impossible! Not only should I eat, I should eat spicy stuff also -- oily stuff and all that. (Laughter) We have got preferential eating. So at this stage, I cannot say all are the same. No, no, no! I am different. Spicy food is necessary for me.

So, “all are the same” is an experiential, existential conviction. It is an experiential, existential conviction, not just a verbal, vocal, oral expression. Therefore, until you experience this conviction, you will have to serve others.

 

 

 

 

226 How do I get connected with Bhagavan? I am studying in a very good college. But I am missing the link with Bhagavan. How do I get connected with Bhagavan? (311005) This is a question from a college student. To get yourself connected with Bhagavan is to do what is expected of you. As a student, if you study well, you are connected to Bhagavan. As a student, if you make your parents happy, you are connected to Bhagavan. As a student, if you are obedient to your teachers, you are connected to Bhagavan.

As a student, if you are always in good company, you are connected to Bhagavan. As a student, if you have got healthy habits, you are connected to Bhagavan. If you participate in some service activity or go to some educational activity of the Sai centre, like Bal Vikas, or Education in Human Values or Educare, or join the bhajan group, or read some good book, you are connected to Bhagavan. There are so many channels to establish your contact with Swami. Swami will never leave you alone. Swami will never desert you.

BABA WILL NEVER FORGET YOU

On a flight, on your journey to Tokyo or Hong Kong, when you are helpless, when you feel strange, all alone, you will find someone on the flight with the ring given by Bhagavan. You will find someone wearing a T-shirt with “Sai Ram” written on the back! (Laughter) You will find someone reading “Man of Miracles” written by Howard Murphet. You will find someone with Baba’s picture as a sticker on their baggage.

You may forget Him, but He will never forget you. Baba chases you; Baba haunts you. When there is no light, you may not get a shadow. You will get a shadow only when there is light. Baba is a shadow, whether you are in the light or the dark. That light is our life. That light is our delight, from which you can never de-link. You think that you have de-linked but, He will never allow you to be de-linked. He follows you. HE IS WITH YOU, IN YOU, ABOVE YOU, BELOW YOU

There are number of instances. A fellow had to go to a Holiday Inn, in the company of people who are used to taking alcohol, because of some business session. He had to go along with other businessmen for a cocktail party. The glasses were filled. When all the others could have the taste of alcohol, this fellow’s glass was full of aqua, water, Bisleri only. (Laughter) Same bottle. Alcohol is in all other glasses. H20, water, in his glass. Even if you want to have alcohol, He will see to it that it becomes water. Even if you want to have water, He will make it milk. He will make it ambrosia, amrit.

Yes, He can do it because He follows you. He is with you, in you, above you, below you! So, there is no question of being de-linked. Impossible! This kind of link with Baba is eternal. This link with Baba is for lives to come. He said, “I shall not forsake you even if you forsake me.” And He said, “I shall not leave you until I take you to that height that I want you to reach and attain. I shall not leave you.”

Therefore, my friends, be assured that He is not going to leave us, which calls for greater responsibility, higher grades of simplicity, higher levels of humility, more prayerfulness, more respectfulness, more gratitude towards Him.

 

 

 

 

225 Today I accept things. But how do I accept unpleasant things with joy? (311005) This is a common question. How to accept unpleasant things with joy? I don’t say that it is pleasant to sit there for three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening; because your knee joints will tell you how pleasant that is! The backache will tell you how pleasant it is. It is very difficult. Yet, pleasant or unpleasant is more or less based on our temperament, based on our attitude. So, pleasant or unpleasant is temperamental. It is an attitude. It is psychological. It is the way of the mind.

Let us take the Japanese. Anyone from Japan works like a grinding mill. He is ready to work. Though the country was totally lost, it could come up in the field of science and technology within no time. Although Hiroshima was brought down to ashes because of bombing (Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you must have heard of those two places), today Hiroshima is the most beautiful city. Out of rubble, they created a most beautiful city.

MAKING UNPLEASANT THINGS ACCEPTABLE IS SADHANA

It is an attitude. If we can make unpleasant things pleasant, I consider myself triumphant, victorious. It is a win! Simple example: I am a smoker. (Of course, I am not. I am giving an example, as of today.) (Laughter) Example: I am a smoker and somebody tells me, “Don’t smoke.” This is very unpleasant to a smoker. But if he stops smoking, which is quite unpleasant, he has won; he is a winner. If an alcoholic stops drinking, yes! He is a winner. So, in making unpleasant things pleasant, there lies your success. There lies your win. That is sadhana.

Sadhana, spiritual practice, is nothing but making unpleasant things pleasant, making unpleasant things acceptable. Sometimes certain things happen in our lives which are not acceptable to us, which are shocks. Some calamity happens in the family. Some death happens. Property is stolen or job is gone. You are deserted by kith and kin -- some shocks, which are very unpleasant. When these unpleasant things are accepted with a spiritual background, with spiritual trust, with spiritual strength, YES! Then you are the winner. On the other hand, if you just take unpleasant things unpleasantly, you are the loser. You have lost the game. Success depends upon that.

REPOSING FAITH IN GOD

Simple example: When you are a legal heir, you have all the rights in the court of law to be the king; but if you just abandon that kingship and go to the forest, you are the winner. That’s what Sri Ramachandra did. Sri Ramachandra was the legal heir of the kingdom, but He left the kingdom went to the forest, so He became great. It is not pleasant to go to the forest for a king. He could make the unpleasant thing very pleasant. That made Him chivalrous. That made Him a hero for all ages to come. So, your heroism lies in making unpleasant things pleasant, through some effort. This is only possible by reposing faith in God. It is only faith in God that will make unpleasant things acceptable.

“Why did God do this?”

Don’t question it. “God, give me strength to face this. Give me courage to face this.” That should be our attitude.

 

 

 

 

224 I beg of you to explain terms like Love, Faith, Trust, Belief, and Sincerity. (311005) This is a big question. Each topic would be enough to be the title for a whole talk for an hour at least! But this is a wholesale question. Something like if you went to the wholesale market. So he wants me to tell him about all these points at a stretch - Love, Faith, Trust, Belief, and Sincerity. OK! I shall also try to give him an answer in the form of a ‘package deal’, using the modern terminology or nomenclature. All right, let me do that. BELIEFS ARE SOCIAL, COMMUNITY-ORIENTED AND TEMPORAL

Let me start with belief. Belief is social. Beliefs are social, community-oriented. A simple example: When I see a black cat in the morning, the moment I get up from bed, something bad is going to happen. That is belief. The same black cat will confer blessings to another fellow. So, a belief need not be common to everybody. Belief need not be same to everyone. Beliefs are social. Beliefs are community-oriented. Beliefs are followed for the time being.

At one time, a long time ago, it was a belief not to go abroad. If any fellow crossed the sea, he would automatically go to hell! Today, if you don’t go abroad, you will go to hell (Laughter) because you think heaven is on the other side!

Chandala yoga. They used to say chandala yoga: If one goes to any foreign country, it is chandala yoga, meaning he will go to hell. Today, if you don’t go to a foreign country, you are a useless fellow! You are already in hell; you don’t need to go to hell. (Laughter) So, beliefs are social, which change from time-to-time. There was belief at one time, here in this country, that a girl should get married at the age of eight. Ashta varshe bhaveth kanya: A girl should get married at the age of eight. It didn’t matter even if she married a fellow of eighty years! She was eight and he was eighty. That was the thing in those days. Now, if any fellow gets his daughter married at the age of eight, he will be behind bars. He will be kept in prison. He is punished. So, beliefs are social, which change from time-to-time. FAITH IS NOT A COMMODITY TO BE LOST

Above belief, there is another level -- faith. Faith is individual. Faith is not common. Faith is not social. Faith is not societal. Faith is individual. “I have faith in You.” That doesn’t mean all of us should have faith in Him. No. “I have faith in Christ” doesn’t mean that everybody should have faith in Christ. No. So, while beliefs are social, faith is individual.

But faith is shakeable. I may lose faith. Swami is giving me an interview every time, so I have faith. But later, if He is not looking at me, I no longer have any faith. I don’t say unfaithful. I only say I don’t have any faith. I lost faith. So, you may have faith at one time and you may not have faith at a later time. Reversible, revertible, convertible. It may be lost for any silly reason.

There are some people who start coming to this place. “Sir, I lost faith.” Oh! Faith is a commodity to you. Something like, “I lost my watch.” Faith is not a commodity. Faith is not a pen to be lost. But, we look at faith as a commodity, and therefore, we lose it sometimes. We have faith; sometimes we lose faith. TRUST IS STRONG LIKE A MOUNTAIN

But when that faith becomes, steady, strong, unshakeable, unwavering like a mountain, that is called trust. Trust is an unshakeable faith. Trust is faith that is so strong, like a mountain. So, there are three levels: beliefs, which are social; faith, which is individual; and trust, which is distilled, precipitated, strong, unwavering faith. That’s what we should have. Jesus Christ had such a trust in God that even while on the cross, He prayed, “Oh! My Lord! Oh! My Father in Heaven!” What kind of trust this is! Jesus had not lost trust in His Father even when He was on the cross!

For us, the slightest increase in our temperature is enough. In our case, we doubt whether God is there or not. (Laughter) If we missed the flight, “What is Baba doing? Is He on vacation or what?” (Laughter) We doubt Him! This is not trust. Trust means trust, come what may. That’s what it is. LOVE IS ETERNAL AND UNCONDITIONAL

And then, love. Belief, faith, and trust I have explained. Now about love. Love. Let me speak from the negative side, as we take it in the worldly sense. Love is not lust. Love is not attachment. Love is not conditional. Love is eternal. Love is beyond age, position, gender, unconditional.

Love is unconditional. Love has got nothing to do with attachment. It has got nothing to do with bondage. It is not a contract. It is not give-and-take or possess. Love is unconditional. Love is continuous. Love is like a river that flows incessantly. Love is like sunshine, which is available to all. Love is like the cool evening breeze that gives delight to everybody. Love is like a dew drop on a lotus leaf, shining like a pearl, so beautiful to everybody.

Love does not react. If you scold me, I don’t get disturbed. If you praise me, I don’t sit by the side of the Hanuman statue there. I am not ruffled. I am not frustrated. I am not elated. I am beyond praise and blame. That is Love. Love is non-dual. Love is detached. Love is unconditional. Love is eternal. Love is immortal. Love is blemish less, spotless.

 

LOVE LIES IN THE DEPTH OF SILENCE

Love is experienced in silence. Those who we love, we don’t speak about it loudly. I don’t say into the mike, “I love so-and-so!” Unless something is wrong with me! (Laughter) When once you start speaking in front of the mike about your love, you will make a very good career in politics. (Laughter) In political talks, “I love my people!” Certainly you will get some more votes (Laughter) and be elected to power. Only later, people will come to know how you don’t love them in reality. Love expressed leads to exploitation. Love that is expressed is false.

Love lies in the depths of silence. Love’s expression is in the resonance, in the echo of our heartbeat. The very heartbeat is the pulsating expression of our love. As the river flows, silence speaks of our love. As the wind blows, silence speaks of our love. As the cloud moves across the firmament of the sky, it is the touch of love. When a child on a swing smiles, that is love. When an elderly person, an aged man, looks gently and compassionately at you, that is love.

 

LOVE IS DIVINE -- LOVE IS FORGIVING

Love is Divine. Love is not human. Love is Divine. It is love that looks at a sinner and a saint alike. No matter if I am a sinner or a saint, both of us are the same to God. When two brigands, who were guilty, were on the cross with Jesus, Jesus loved both of them. They were rowdies who deserved every punishment! But He loved those two people as much as He loved his own disciples.

Love is forgiving. Love forgives. “Last year you did not say, ‘Sai Ram’ to me; therefore, today I will not look at you.” Useless fellow of the first order! If you go on remembering all the past, if I go on recollecting all your past, all that you have done against me, that is the quality of a snake. A snake will never leave you; it will wait until it bites you, then sees you off from this planet. Vengeance is the nature of an animal. Revenge is the quality of an animal.

 

DIVINE LOVE WILL NEVER JUDGE, EVALUATE NOR ASSESS

Love is Divine. A godly man loves and loves. It was Buddha who loved the person who stood in front of him with a sword to behead him. He loved him very much. Jesus loved robbers, the down-trodden, and people who were away from the path of morality, with all compassion. Love knows not who is a sinner and who is a saint -- saintliness or sinner.

From our point of view, we say, “He is a great devotee.” But is there any thermometer to show the degree of his devotion? Or we say, “He is a new devotee, just a beginner.” Who are we to decide? So, this is our point of view.

But to God, all are the same -- saint or sinner. Divine Love does not discriminate. Divine Love does not judge. Divine Love does not evaluate. Divine Love will never assess. Many things, nay, volumes can be said about that Love. As we think of great people, noble souls, we should know what Divine Love is.

 

LOVE IS LIFE -- LIFE IS LOVE

We have not tasted that Divine Love, not even a drop. Because the love we know is conditional. We know love which is physical. We know love which is a business. We know love which is worldly. We know love which is time-bound. People say, “Hello, how are you?” But after retirement, they will avoid you. Is that love? So long as you are obliging, people are loving towards you. Once you say you are sorry, they turn their face away from you. Is that love? Therefore, my friends, we have not tasted even a drop of Divine Love.

A fellow poisoned Baba as a child. He offered some food with poison in it to Baba. His whole body turned blue. Everybody thought Baba was collapsing. He cured Himself and finally said, “Don’t beat that fellow. I knew that I was taking poison.” And He appointed him as a watchman of Prashanti Nilayam, the one who gave Him poison. That is love!

I am afraid I may take any length of time on this topic because Divine Love is altogether something that we should long for, something that we should live for, because Love is life. Life is Love. Life without Love is death. Therefore, that is the final thing I can say about it.

http://www.saiwisdom.comRam ChuganiKobe, Japan