English Translation of 14th May morning speech

[Guest guest]

Just now you heard Mr. Paramsivaanandam singing songs written by

Arunagiri Peruman on Muruga. In the last but one line when he

describes Muruga he says, " Whoever worships and follows Muruga, to

them Muruga is a protector. Not a boss or king or an employer but a

mere errand boy. " How profound of a language is this, to talk about

make Muruga being your protector! This language where you can make a

God your servant is called Spirituality.

 

You may ask, " What Baba, you are talking about God being made into a

servant? " True. He does come even as a servant. If you read

Mahabharata you will find that God came as a servant for Sakku Bai to

work in her house. No one is equivalent to Him as a friend. A worldly

friend will remain your friend as long as he has to get something

from you. After that he would disappear. But if you can catch hold of

God somehow as your friend, He will be your servant. Pandarinathan

has come like that. We read about the history of so many saints in

this world. Whoever believed firmly in God, He came in some form or

other for them. This is one of the approaches in spirituality where

you can secure God with your Love.

 

There is a song. " You don't utter the name of the Lord of Palani

(Muruga). You don't say his naama, but atleast can't you go and sit

in front of people who are chanting His name and hear something good?

God has bestowed you with good hearing. So you don't know to utter

His name nor do you have the opportunity to listen His naama through

others. Then you should know how to cry for Muruga. You don't know

how to cry for Ambal or Krishna or Muruga. O mind, when are you going

to think the right way? "

 

Who gives the right thinking to the mind? It is Muruga. Our elders

asked themselves, " Where does God live, where does Muruga come from? "

There need be no doubt that our ancestors were much more intelligent

than us. We talk about advancement in modern science and technology,

that's all false. Our ancestors were the real Gnanis because they

followed the path of spirituality. They were detached, contented

knowing desires are the root cause of all evils. They used to live in

a nucleus family.

 

All that is gone now. The nucleus family is no more. Nowadays people

consider their parents themselves as a burden and opt to live

separately as they don't have enough earnings. Love is diminishing.

Once around 50 to 60 people used to live in a family. Whatever they

earned they used to give it to their Mother and live as a big family

with mutual love and respect for everyone. It is true that such

Mothers are also dwindling in number. Nowadays Mothers behave one way

towards a son who earns more and differently to a son who earns less.

They behave differently with their daughter-in-laws too.

 

The reason for all these shortcomings in the society is because we

have failed to follow the footsteps of our elders and lost our way.

That's why Andal says, " Do whatever your elders did. " You may

say, " We cannot do like that because it is not possible in these

modern times. " Andal gives an exemption for that, " Follow them how

much ever you can. " If you want to solve many of the problems in your

society, you have to either learn how to shed tears or how to

worship. Worshipping and shedding tears are the same. The height of

worshipping is shedding tears. A person with a bodily ego cannot cry.

Spirituality is about crossing this bodily ego. When you detach

yourself from the pride over the bodily form, your Atma is surprised,

wonder struck and immerses in joy.

 

When you shed your bodily ego, crying will come to you automatically.

If I ask you to cry you cannot because you are worried about what

others may think if you cry, you will tend to control yourself. Most

of the people who watch the tele-serials, see it so that they can

cry. You are not really worried about the actress Radhika in the

serial. You use that as a pretext to give vent to the sadness in you.

Thats the truth. Anyone, who sees you crying then, will not take it

in any wrong sense.

 

Most of the people who cry because of someone's death are not really

crying for the dead person. Only a handful of people will be genuine

mourners. Others have some sadness in their mind, which they have

suppressed for quite some time. When they use that occasion to vent

their sadness by crying, no one will take notice of it in that

situation. If you listen carefully all these people would be talking

incoherently.

 

One day Pattinathaar was walking along a street. He came across a

household where someone had just died. Everyone was crying. He went

into the house and cried more loudly than anyone else there. People

asked him, " Was this dead person well known to you? " He said, " No,

nothing like that. You are crying because he is dead. Since you are

all going to die I am crying for all of you. " He remarked, " Seeing

this dead corpse, the to-be-dead corpses are crying. "

 

The life we know of is not true. You may earn how much ever you want,

you may become a very important person. But you cannot enjoy

something forever. You have to leave these things one day and keep

going. Have you ever seen anyone take anything with him? It's not

possible. The greatest wonder in this world is, whoever was alive

yesterday is no more today. No one is immortal.

 

The reason for thinking that this world is for real is the existence

of certain things that attract your attention. You can include wife

and children in that. Or it could be the name and fame, wealth and

position in the society. These are the things that bond you to the

world. Assume there is a ship. If you anchor the ship near the shore,

it will not move. If you remove the anchor, the ship can drift all

the way even to Japan. Similarly, the things that obstruct your

swimming in life, are the attachments you have developed. You wont

understand this if you have a good wife and children. You will think

it's all love and affection. When you don't have the right kind of

wife or children, then you will understand that there will be no one

with you on your final leg of the journey.

 

So when you know that nothing in this world is real, then you won't

see who your relative is and who is not. Such a state is the state of

God. Be loving to everybody but dont get stuck with anybody in the

form of relations. Love uplifts you whereas attachment takes a

stranglehold of you and leads you to another birth, it will pull you

down.

 

The notion of family itself is there to serve as a forum for

practicing your love, it is like a laboratory. We love our wife and

children because we have a sense of belonging. After showing love to

them, you should love the neighbors and slowly spread your influence

of love. But if you see now, our love has got limited to showing it

amongst the immediate family members only. It does not seem to have

gotten past that.

 

Assume you are travelling in a bus. Lets say your wife or son by your

side is really tired and has fallen asleep. As a result they have

rested their head on your shoulder. You would make them further

comfortable by adjusting yourself. You do this if its your wife or

child. On the other hand, if you were travelling alone, and someone

unknown next to you rested his head on your shoulder a couple of

times, you will get really annoyed. You would go to the extent of

showing his head the power of your knuckles.

 

We behave differently with our relations and with unknown people.

This duality in your behavior is what prevents you from knowing the

divinity. The day you show the same love to that person too is when

you will become divine. When you change from living for yourself to

living for others, that life is a spiritual life. Spiritual life is

not chiming a temple bell, wearing a naama (sacred mark on the

forehead), going around and visiting temples. The love in you has to

ooze in plenty spontaneously and grow quickly into a sea like stature.

 

You go to any forest and look at the start of a river. It will

originate as a very small stream. I have gone to Talakaveri and

beginnings of Narmada and Godavari. But when it descends through the

city, it is flowing with all its might. So a small stream later

becomes a rivulet and then a burgeoning river. Similarly you have a

small stream of love in you. If you can make this love grow, that's

called divinity. That divinity is what can give you bliss. That's the

one that will bring out the Godliness in you.

 

 

God is inside you. There is no one in this world who doesn't have God

in him. To manifest that God in you, you have to bring out the love

in you. That's because Love is God. If you bring out your love one

day you will attain Shiva (bliss). On the other hand, how much ever

you chant mantras and do poojas, you will never be able to reach

Shiva. You don't need to have any doubt in this at all. If you want

to manifest the Shiva in you, then bring out the love in you, bring

out the penance in you. In Adi shankara's work, Prashnottara

Ratnamaalika, he asks, " What is Gnana? " The reply to that question

is, " Shivaaya deva. " That which you are worshipping as Shiva is

Gnanam. So what is Shivam? Love is Shivam. So if you catch hold of

Love you can catch hold of Shiva. And if you catch hold of Love then

you get Gnanam.

 

What happens if you get Gnanam? If you were eating something, you

won't feel like eating alone. If you have someone hungry by the side

of you, you won't gobble your food like Lord Lubbockdas. If you

understand what I am trying to tell you, say you had a couple of

idlis, you would give him a small piece. The day you start thinking

on those lines, you have started ascending the steps towards God.

There are people who after having eaten food are taking Gelusil and

digene (antacids), if you take less food its good for your health.

Bharathi says, " Even when my brethren are suffering, my mind doesn't

soften. "

 

(To be continued..)