Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba - Divine Discourse

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Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Divine Discourse;

Dasara: Prasanthi Nilayam: October 1, 1976

 

Sanathana Sarathi issue Nov. 1976

 

Whom the Muslims adore as Allah, whom the Christians adore as

Jehovah, whom the Vaishnavas adore as Phullabja-aksha, whom the

Saivites adore as Sambhu, who grants, in answer to their several

prayers, health, long life, prosperity and happiness to all, wherever

they may be, He, the One God, is the God of all mankind. Bharath has

been , since ages, teaching the message of the spirit and the means

to gain and ensure equanimity and joy. She has stood forth as the

preceptor of the world for centuries. The prayer that Bharath has

taught to its people is , " Lokaas samasthaas sukhino bhavanthu (May

all people every where be happy) " . This is the consummation pictured

in the thoughts of the Hindus, from ancient times. This wholesome

ideal was propagated and fostered by the rulers of this land, the

seers and yogis who guided the populace and the chaste mothers who

reared the generations in the atmosphere of spiritual effort. But

when the country was involved in the vicissitudes of history and the

people were subjected to pressures and counter-pressures, the ideal

suffered set-back; the abstractions of faith received concrete form

and get crystallized into specific identifiable names and forms; each

new attitude, or aptitude, each new concretisation, became a special

sect, every theory got enveloped in its own shell. Thus, the One

Vedic Religion, became a parent of a number of sects and sets of

belief, like Ganapathya (centering around the concept of Ganapathi),

Saaktheya ( centering around the concept of Cosmic Energy as the ex-

pression of the Divine), Soura (centering around the Sun as the

Source, Sustenance and Goal of Spiritual Achievement ), the Charvaka

(centering around the concept of Pleasure and material prosperity)

and Veerasaiva (centering around Siva, as the Inner Motivator of all

beings). Every one of these sects and many more besides elaborated

its own rituals and modes of worship, its own priorities in spiritual

attainments and it own body of doctrines about the Individual, the

Objective World and God. The purpose of these codes and modes was, in

all cases, to purify the mind and insist on the practice of high

moral virtues. But, this was soon ignored and importance came to be

attached to superficial conformity and outer purity. The craving for

personal aggrandizement and personal power made the sect or faith or

religion, rigid and dry. There is a great need today to discover the

inner spring of all faiths, the spring that fertilizes the outer

rites and ceremonies. A little quiet study will reveal that this is

an undercurrent of moral enthusiasm and spiritual adventure. The word

for religion generally used is Matha; the word to indicate the Mind

is Mathi. Putting the two together it can be said that Matha is

primarily engaged or ought to be engaged in straightening and

strengthening the Mathi. The goal, the purpose, the key, the essence

of all creeds, faiths and religions are this: the sublimation of the

mind or the consciousness of man so that it can guarantee liberation

for the individual concerned and happiness for the society of which

he is a unit. Principles and practices have grouped around this prime

need and creeds are the result. Religions attempt to impart holy

ideals in the heart of man. But, man does not allow them to sprout

and grow. His egoistic craving for power and competitive success has

in most cases persuaded him to use religion as an instrument of

torture and persecution. Instead of uniting mankind in a common

endeavor, it has become a system of walled enclosures, guarded by

hate and fanaticism. So, each religion is an armed camp. Sunk in self

aggrandizement, trying to wean others into itself and preventing

defections from it. Religion, therefore, is being condemned as the

root of chaos and conflict. In spite of great progress in many other

areas of life, religious animosity is aflame even today in many parts

of the world. It has to be emphasized that religion is not the root

cause of this state of affairs. The factious fights and fanatic

hatred are due to the unruly ego hat is given free play. Religion

tries to destroy just this vicious tendency; so, it has to be

supported, not condemned. What has to be condemned is the narrow,

perverted attitude of hating those who do not agree with us or who

hold different opinions of the mysterious Force that animates the

Universe. Religious wars and conflicts breed in the slime of

ignorance and avarice. When people are blind to the truth that the

human family is one indivisible unity, they grope in the dark and

afraid of strange touch. The cultivation of Love alone can convince

man of this Truth, that there is only one caste, the Caste of

humanity, and only one Religion, the Religion of Love. Since no

religion upholds violence or despises love, it is wrong to ascribe

the chaos to religion.

It is also not advisable to engage in campaigns of vilification or

exaggerated propagation of any religion, with a view to draw

votaries. If only each lives the ideals propounded by the Founders of

their religion, unaffected by greed or hate, the world will be a

happier and more peaceful habitation for man. The religion of the

Hindus stressed the Unity of all Creation, and declare that the

diversity we experience is not the genuinely true picture. But, since

faith in the One comes into awareness only to a mind clarified to the

utmost, the religion had soon to posit duality, and even

multiplicity, with deities for every facet of the Whole. The most

widespread of these dualities is the Saivite and Vaishnavite faiths,

centered around the Siva and Vishnu aspects of the One. This process

of splitting into diverse viewpoints has taken place in all the major

religions. Islam has Shia and the Sunni sects; Christianity has its

Catholics and Protestants. But, however deep the cleavage, no sect

denies God and no sect extols violence and falsehood. Names may be

different; the facets emphasizes maybe different; but the Almighty

Providence is denoted as Absolute and Eternal. The terminology maybe

different, but the Concept is not different. Bhagavan is referred to

as Allah; prayer may be called Namaz; pundits may be known as khajis;

scholars may be hailed as Mullahs. The Veda may be in the form of the

Holy Quran. But, the undercurrent of energizing power in all cases is

love, Love of all Beings, towards all beings. The Founders have ever

in view the Unity of all Life and the progressive march of man from

mere humanness to the heights of Divinity. The first among the

interpreters of the Vedas to found a school of philosophy and lay

down the path of spiritual discipline to benefit from that school is

Sankaracharya, born in the Kerala state; during his very short life,

he established on secure foundation of logic and intuition, the truth

that there is only One and that all else is an appearance on the One

reality. This is the " No-two' or the adwaitha philosophy and faith,

that explains the Individual, nature and God in perfect harmony. The

Vedic axioms - Ekhoham Bahusyaam (I am One, let me become many),

Iswaras sarva bhoothaanaam (God is immanent in all), Isaavaasyan

sarvam idam (All this is enveloped and penetrated by God) - are thus

illumined by the intellect of Sankaracharya into patent truths.

Monism as propounded by Sankaracharya on the basis of Vedic texts was

of course too simple a solution to satisfy the inner urges of the

majority of individuals. They had in them the yearning to worship; to

dedicate themselves to a higher power; they could not grasp their

inner Reality being the One and Only. Their emotions and activities

had to be sublimated by discipline and devotion. Therefore,

Ramanujacharya commented upon the Vedic texts and religious

scriptures from a new point of view. This made the adwaitha take on

a special outlook. So it was called Visishta(Special) Adwaitha. The

path of devotion was laid down to take man to the mergence with god.

The goal is mergence as the rivers know and strive for. The waters of

the sea are raised by the Sun up into the sky as clouds and the

clouds pour them as rain on highland and low land to flow back into

the sea through many a ravine, stream and tributary-fed river.

Merging with the Source from which one took name and form is the

ultimate destiny. The river has the passion of overwhelming Love

which leads it down the slopes until it reaches the Loved one, where

the Lover, Loved and Love, all three merge in one Illuminating

Ecstasy. Prema is the attachment to God, that does not allow anything

to interfere or diminish its quality or depth. God is loved by the

Bhaktha, for His sake, and not for any incidental benefit or

blessing. It is spontaneous, sustaining and sublime, like a child

before the mirror, enjoying the reflections of its own

pranks and gestures. Complete surrender to the extent of the

annihilation of one's own individuality is also beyond most

aspirants. Sugar cannot be tasted and enjoyed by sugar; you have to

be an ant, so that you can revel in the sweetness of the stuff. This

craving of man was sought to satisfied by Madhwacharya, who declared

that the Jivi or Individual will ever remain separate from the

Universal and there can be no merging. In Adwaitha, a flash of

intellectual illumination reveals that the Atma alone exists and that

all else is deluding appearance. The Visishtadwaitha posits that the

river I an integral part of the sea. Dwaitha points out that the joy

derived from adoration and worship is enough to draw the fulfilling

Grace of God.

 

There were other seers too who laid down paths towards the same goal.

He announced that the universe belongs to God and man should not

desire to accumulate or appropriate any portion of the Divine

Treasure. He advised that the sapling of devotion must be protected

from the perils of sloth, doubt and fanaticism by the cultivation of

valor and vigilance. Of the major religions, I may mention one,

namely, Buddhism. He was so agonized by the suffering that haunts the

life of man that he investigated the behavior of mind and intellect

of man and discovered remedial disciplines. He analyzed the vagaries

of the mind, which leads man into the whirlpools of desire; he

analyzed the ways of reason too and spotted the areas where

prejudices take root. He required surrender to Dharma (above all, the

virtue of compassion) and to Buddha (the enlightened individual). The

religion that was rendered an all-India movement by Mahavira,

Jainism, extols Jina, or the heroic conqueror of the senses, the

emotions and the stratagems of the intellect. He called upon all to

carry out the duties inherent to their status and profession with

steady faith and enthusiasm. He declared that all things and beings

are divine in their own right and are but pilgrims on the road to

Realization. Any injury inflicted on any of them is an intervention

in that sacred journey and so has to be scrupulously avoided.

Zorostrianism or the Parsi religion was founded by Zoroaster, who

wanted that man should ever have the Fire of Wisdom, blazing in his

consciousness, so that evil thoughts and tendencies might be reduced

to ashes. It has to infuse all thoughts, words and deeds with the

illumination of virtue and vigor. The fire of wisdom must destroy all

worldly desires and render man pure for entry into the heaven of

freedom. Adoration, meditation and acts of selfless service are

essential for the dawn of enlightenment. The Sai Religion, if the

name of religion in its literal sense of binding man to God is

accepted, is the essence of all faiths and religions, including those

I had no time to dwell upon, like Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

The motive behind the formation and propagation of all these

different faiths is the same, in all cases. The founders and

propagators were all filled with Love and Wisdom. Their goal, their

target, their aim were all the same. No one had the design to divide,

disturb, destroy. They attempted to do good, see good and be good.

They sought to train the passions and the emotions, to educate the

impulse and instincts, and direct the faculty of reason to paths

beneficial to the individual and society. They knew that the mind

which is the breeding ground of desire and attachment, ambition and

aspiration, has to be cleansed and properly oriented. Sai considers

that the practice of these disciplines is much more essential than

the blind faith in a bunch of philosophical theories. No one has

right to advise others unless he is already practicing what h

preaches. First, establish the reign of Love in your own home,

between the various members. Let the family become a centre of

harmonious living, of sympathetic understanding, and mutual faith.

The holy duty of man is to ever aware of the Atma that is installed

in every living being; this will make him conscious of the kinship he

has with all. This is the basis of the Brotherhood of man and the

Fatherhood of god. Cast away the vice of egoism, the evil of greed

and the poison of envy. When you seek joy from something outside you,

remember that far greater joy lies in wait in your own inner

consciousness; when you are afraid of something or situation outside

you, remind yourself that the fear is born, fed and fertilized in

your own mind and you can overcome it by denying it. How can fear

counter the path of a spiritual aspirant? It can hide in no shadow,

it can pester no Sadhak who has God in his heart. Faith in Almighty

God is the impregnable armor the Sadhak can wear, and men in all

lands are Sadhaks, whether they know it or not. Be steady, do not

waver. Keep straight on. Hold fast to the ideal; do not despair. Pray

until God relents; do not turn away sadly if God does not shower

Grace when you expect it. When each Religion plans to extend its

influence, it has to resort to vilification of others and

exaggeration of its own excellences. Pomp and publicity become more

important than practice and faith. But, Sai wants that the votaries

of each must cultivate faith in its own excellences and realize their

validity by their own intense practice. This is the Sai Religion, the

Religion that feeds and fosters all Religions and emphasizes their

common greatness. Take up this religion boldly and joyfully.

 

Ram Chugani

Kobe, Japan

rgcjp