WHAT ARE THE FOUR VIRTUES?

[Guest guest]

Mrs. Kamaraju's Talk in Rockford, Illinois, USA

May 17, 2009

With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan

 

Sai Ramto all of you! Thank you, Swami, for giving me this wonderful

opportunity. Thanks to the management of the Rockford Sai Centre. Thank you

everyone. Thank you very much.

 

The One who is giving, the One who inspires, the One who encourages, the One who

means well, and who wills us to perfection, the One who is our mother, priest,

and everything—how to be thankful, how to be grateful to my Lord of the

universe? Thank You, thank You, Swami!

 

WHAT ARE THE FOUR VIRTUES?

 

Chaturvidha Bhajantemam Jana Sukrutino Arjuna,

Aartho Jignasu Ardharthi Gnaneecha Bharatarshaba.

 

Four types of virtuous people worship Me:

The first are those who are in difficulties,

The second are seekers,

The third want worldly things,

The fourth are wise people.

 

So what is aarthi? Aarthi means `yearning'. Yearning for God is the real aarthi.

Yearning to seek the knowledge of God is the real seeking. Yearning for the

treasure of God, to be with God, is the real treasure. Yearning for treasure

means yearning for God. Yearning for the knowledge of non-dualism is the real

thing that people aspire to. That is the meaning of this sloka.

 

FAITH IS OUR INBORN QUALITY

Swami always talks about faith. Irrespective of whatever form we worship, Swami

gives us faith in that form. He wants us to be firm in faith.

 

Swami says that faith is our inborn quality. Faith is the best. Swami says that

we have faith in everybody, but we do not have faith in God. " Without faith, you

are nobody. Without faith, you are worldly; but you don't have faith in God, "

Swami says.

 

HAVE FIRM FAITH IN WHAT YOU PREACH

There was a village boy who used to take care of the cattle, and he used to go

to the temple every day. Every day, one priest used to give discourses in the

temple, so this boy would go there and listen to the discourses.

 

He went there for one year. The boy really liked the way the priest narrated all

the leelas of Lord Krishna. They became imprinted in this boy. So then he used

to come back home and think, " Krishna aa gaye, Lord Krishna aa gaye. "

 

He was very engrossed in devotion for Lord Krishna. One day this priest said in

his discourse that if you pray from the bottom of your heart, God will

definitely respond to you. So this boy made it a point to pray like that. One

day he started to pray with complete devotion, without reading anything. That

day, Lord Krishna appeared to him and the boy was so happy.

 

The boy went to the priest the next day and told him, " Sir! Sir! Panditji! I saw

Swami! I saw Krishna! Lord Krishna gave me darshan! " That's what he said.

 

This priest was very irritated. " You are telling lies! How could you see Lord

Krishna? You have been coming to me for only a year; but I have been giving

discourses from so many years and I have never seen Krishna. How could you see

Krishna after only one year? "

 

This question was put to the boy, and he felt very badly and went home. The boy

was crying because the priest wouldn't listen to him. He didn't believe him.

 

Again he started to pray to Lord Krishna, " Please give darshan to this priest. "

 

The next day, because Lord Krishna was very much moved by the prayers of this

boy, the Lord again gave the boy darshan. And this time, the boy was so careful:

he tied Lord Krishna with a rope to some trees so that he could go and call the

priest. (Laughter)

 

He went to the priest and said, " Lord Krishna is there! Please come, I will show

you. " And the priest went, but there was no Krishna. This priest couldn't see

Krishna anywhere.

 

The boy then said, " Lord Krishna, please show Yourself to him. Please give him

darshan, then only will he believe my word. "

 

After listening to the prayer of the boy, Lord Krishna gave darshan to the

priest also and said to him, " It is not so. It's not always just about

preaching. One should also put the preaching into practice. By this I mean you

should have faith in what you preach. " That's what Lord Krishna told the priest.

 

We should have faith in whatever we do, in whichever form we worship. That's

faith. Swami talks about having faith in so many of His discourses.

 

SERVICE TO MAN IS SERVICE TO GOD

Swami stresses the importance of service, of doing service. Service to man is

service to God. That's why we see so many people who will be working in the

General Hospital and Super Specialty Hospital in Puttaparthi, and they don't

take anything in return. It is a mode of service. They serve there in the

hospital.

 

The maintenance of the Super Specialty Hospital is carried out only by seva

dals. It is maintained very well; it's not like a hospital but like a temple. If

you go and see the hospital, you will see that the whole hospital is maintained

free of charge by the seva dals.

 

They are service-based people and they come in groups from faraway places like

Delhi, Mumbai, and from other cities and states all round. These seva dals come

from different places to do service by rotation in Puttaparthi. Service is

available there; we can all participate when we go there.

 

It is the same message if you observe Nature: we use water, but trees use it to

give fruits; then we take these fruits and eat them. Cows give milk, but we use

the milk. They don't use it themselves for a selfish purpose. See, Nature also

gives us the message of service to humanity.

 

Service is so important that whatever little we can do for society, we will be

grateful to Swami because Swami has given us this birth in order to do so. It is

for our own transformation, not for anything else. That's how we can serve

society—in whatever way we can.

 

Ram Chugani

Kobe, Japan