Buddha and His Gospel of Love

As you grind the sandalwood hard, it gives out sweet fragrance; as you crush the sugarcane more, it yields more and more sweet juice; as you heat the gold more, its sheen and brightness increases. Likewise, when a virtuous person passes through the vicissitudes of life, his nobility shines with added brilliance.
(Sanskrit Verse)

Embodiments of Love!

The more man pours out his love on others, the more is his inner bliss. Hence, man should expand his love for his fellowmen if he wants to increase his own inner bliss. This is the royal road to Divinity. The best way to love God is to love all and serve all. This is the secret revealed by Buddha. Buddham Sharanam Gachchami; Sangham Sharanam Gachchami; Dharmam Sharanam Gachchami. The first of these maxims tells you to purify your Buddhi (intellect) by good company. Secondly, you should use your intellect in the service of the society. This will lead you to the righteous path. You should not hurt any living being. Help ever, hurt never.

The foremost teaching of Buddha is Ahimsa Paramo Dharma (nonviolence is the supreme Dharma). None should be hurt or harmed by thought, word or deed. You may wonder whether such a conduct is practical. Yes, it is definitely possible. With firm resolve, it is possible to achieve any great task. Once you realize that there is only one God residing in everyone, you will never hurt or harm anybody. Then there is no need for you to fear anything.

Prahlada surrendered himself to Narayana. Hiranyakasipu was one who was deluded by names and forms. Names and forms are ever transient. Narayana is the eternal truth. The highest and noblest of all the names of God is 'Sat-Chit-Ananda'. 'Sat' means that which remains the same in all the three periods of time- past, present and future. This changeless 'Sat' can be experienced only on path of truth. 'Chit' is total awareness. You can have the vision of Poornaswarupa (Absolute Divinity) with the help of this total awareness. When both 'Sat' and 'Chit' are experienced, 'Ananda' (bliss) manifests itself in you. Every human being craves for Ananda. Where is this Ananda? It is within you. In fact, man is born in bliss, lives in bliss and merges into bliss. His entire being is a manifestation of bliss.

Human body is impermanent. Happiness derived from this impermanent body is also impermanent. It cannot give everlasting happiness. Buddha left his home in search of happiness that was permanent and everlasting.

Outside his house, he saw a dead body, a sick person and a decrepit old man. After seeing these miserable sights, he enquired how one could escape from the sorrow of this world and experience everlasting happiness. What is the cause of death? What is the cause of old age? What is the cause of disease? After a serious investigation, he found that the human body was like a water bubble, and it was the mind that caused diseases in the body. You should not be excessively concerned about the body. You should try to experience your innate divinity sooner than later because the body is temporary and cannot last long.

Man undertakes Yajnas (sacrifices) and Yagas (rituals) without realizing the innate divinity of all beings. While travelling from place to place, Buddha once came across a group of people in a village performing a ritual sacrifice. This sacrifice required the killing of animals. Buddha protested. He told them that omnipresent God was the indweller of all living beings. Therefore, it was improper to sacrifice living beings. The person conducting the ritual said that the sacrificed animals would attain liberation. Buddha laughed at this and said, "You want to give liberation to these animals, which have not desired for it! Why don't you apply the same principle and give liberation to all these men who are yearning for it? I do not accept your argument that these sacrificial animals will attain liberation. Which Upanishad or the Veda recommends animal sacrifice? How can you think of anybody's liberation when an animal is killed? This is utter falsehood. This animal has not expressed any desire for liberation. But your mother, father, wife, children, relatives and many others desire liberation. Why don't you sacrifice them and fulfil their desire? In fact, why don't you start with yourself? Nobody can attain liberation by violence on living beings. This is the worst of the sins." In this manner, Buddha propagated the principle of Ahimsa. The love that is inherent in human beings is present in birds and beasts also. Share your love with birds and beasts and fellow beings. Absolute love is true liberation. For Moksha (liberation), you need not go anywhere. It is not there at some far off place. Pure love bestows liberation. Your endeavor should be to attain this holistic love.

People undertake various spiritual endeavors to attain Moksha. But these spiritual practices give only temporary satisfaction. The scriptures recommend nine-fold path of devotion. Sravanam (listening), Kirtanam (singing), Vishnusmaranam (contemplating on Vishnu), Padasevanam (serving the Lotus Feet), Archanam (worship), Vandanam (salutation), Dasyam (servitude), Sneham (friendship), Atmanivedanam (Self-surrender). Even this nine-fold path grants temporary joy. But love is most important in this path. In fact, love should be the undercurrent of all spiritual endeavors. True Bhakti is a spiritual practice based on love. Bhakti is not mere singing of Bhajans, reciting of sacred texts or performing sacred rituals. True Bhakti is the direct flow of selfless and unconditional love from your heart to God. In all spiritual practices that man undertakes, there is a trace of selfishness somewhere. Offer your love to God devoid of the least trace of selfishness or desire. This is true devotion. Liberation cannot be attained by the study of texts. It cannot be attained by listening to the teachings of others. Moha Kshaya is Moksha (annihilation of desire is liberation).

The spring of devotion should well up from within. You are the abode of supreme Ananda. Your heart is the source from which the supreme delight springs spontaneously. You should offer this spontaneous supreme love to the Lord. Deho Devalaya Prokto Jeevo Deva Sanathana (body is the temple and the indweller is God). You must love others as you love yourself. All bodies are the temples of God. But there is only one God who lives in all these temples. One individual is called by different names by different people. His son addresses him as father, his daughter-in-law addresses him as father-in-law, his brother addresses him as brother, his grandson addresses him as grandfather. Though the individual is addressed in different ways, the individual is the same. Similarly, the Muslims call the Lord as Allah, the Christians as the Father, the Zoroastrians call Him Ahura Mazda, the Buddhists as the Buddha and the Hindus as Rama or Krishna. But all of them refer only to one God. You may continue worshipping your chosen deity as Allah, Buddha, Rama, Krishna and so on. Whatever may be the names by which you call the Lord, there is only one God to whom all your prayers would go. Hence, God is one, goal is one. You should not entertain differences with regard to Divinity. Sarva Deva Namaskaram Kesavam Pratigacchati- the salutations offered to different deities reach only Kesava (God). So, you should not observe the differences of caste, creed and language. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs from Sri Lanka (who spoke earlier) said, all belong to the caste of humanity.

There is only one language, the language of the heart.
There is only one caste, the caste of humanity.
There is only one religion, the religion of love.
There is only one God, He is omnipresent.

God has no particular name or form. He is pure energy. You should make proper use of your energy. Food and lifestyle (Ahara and Vihara) cause Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Mada, Moha, Matsarya (desire, anger, greed, pride, attachment, jealousy). Hence, you should exercise utmost care and restraint in your food and lifestyle. Sathwic food will nourish Sathwic qualities. Buddha took only Sathwic food and his Buddhi (intellect) became Sathwic, perfect and full (Purna Buddhi). Celebrate Buddha Purnima with Puma Buddhi. The Vedas say, Chandrama Manaso Jatah. That is, the presiding deity of the mind is the moon. It is by the light of the sun that the moon shines. The moonlight is cool and pleasant whereas the sunlight is radiant and brilliant. The moonlight signifies Prema whereas sunlight signifies Jnana (wisdom). Without wisdom love will not blossom. A flower becomes an unripe fruit and the unripe fruit later ripens. In fact, the flower, the raw fruit and the ripe fruit are one and the same. Similarly, Karma, Bhakti and Jnana are one and the same. Prema is the undercurrent of all the three paths. Hence, you have to understand and develop the principle of love.

You should nourish pure and divine feelings of love. You should not indulge in criticism and calumny. Once, Buddha came to a village during the course of his travels. As he was tired, he wanted to take rest. He called a young disciple and told him to give the spiritual message to the people. The disciple was very much delighted with the opportunity given by Buddha. He told the people, "Buddha is the embodiment of compassion, love and wisdom. He is also a Karma Yogi and a Jnana Yogi. Such a one was never born before, nor would he be born in the future." The listeners clapped in joy at this statement of Buddha's disciple. Buddha was resting, but he overheard the words of his disciple. Immediately, he went to the assembly where his disciple was giving a discourse. He asked the disciple, "My son, what is your age? Master, my age is 35 years." "How widely have you traveled?" asked Buddha. The young disciple said that he had visited the land of Kurus, the land of Panchalas, etc. On hearing this, Buddha admonished him, "You have visited only a few kingdoms and your age is only 35 years. With your short experience of people and the world, how can you declare that a person like me was never born in the past nor will be born in the future! You don't know much about the past nor can you predict the future. Even your knowledge of the present is very limited. Hence, it is not proper for you to speak about the past and the future with such certainty. It is sheer ignorance. Do not speak like this in future. Many great persons were born in the past. There would be many more in future also." Buddha was the embodiment of humility and simplicity. He was averse to pomp and show.

Embodiments of Love!

Merely thinking about the greatness of Buddha on the Buddha Purnima Day will not suffice. You must practice the ideals taught by Buddha and experience the joy thereof. But today, people are heroes in making platform speeches but they are zeros in practice. Put the teachings of Buddha in practice in your life. That is the best way of expressing your reverence for Buddha. The teachings of Buddha are lofty, sublime and sacred. The principal teaching of Buddha is 'Ahimsa Paramo Dharma' (non-violence is the highest Dharma). Buddha exhorted the people to cultivate purity of vision. "It is only by cultivating pure vision that you can lead a pure life. You should cultivate Samyak Drishti (right vision), Samyak Sravanam (right listening), Samyak Bhavam (right feelings), Samyak Vak (right speech), Samyak Jivanam (right life) etc. Buddha emphasized goodness in everything in life. First of all, one should develop right vision. If the vision is good and pure, the thoughts will also be pure. If you throw a pebble in a lake, it will create ripples. How far will the ripples spread? They will go up to the edge of the lake. In the same way, cast the pebble of good thoughts in the lake of your heart (Manasarovar). The ripples of good thoughts will then express themselves through all parts of your body, viz., eyes, ears, hands, legs, etc. When these ripples of good thoughts go to the eyes, you will see only good, when they go to the ears, you will hear only good, when they go to the tongue, you will speak only good, when they go to the hands, they will perform only good deeds, when they go to the legs, the legs wilt go only to good places. Thus, the lake of the human body becomes full of ripples of pure thoughts, purifying the body from top to toe. Hence, cultivate Samyak Drishti (right vision).

Mere study of books is not enough. You feel elevated for the time being while studying sacred books. The sublime teachings of great men must be put into practice. As fragrance is released when you go on grinding the sandalwood, these teachings leave a lasting effect on your mind by repeated study and practice. Many great men have left their footprints on the sands of time. They left behind them great ideas and noble teachings. It is enough if you practice even a few of their teachings. God has given so much time to man. But man wastes it. Time is God. Don't waste time. Time waste is life waste. Man wastes 3/4th of his time in mundane activities. He spends the remaining spare time in idle pursuits like watching TV and other petty amusements. Why does he not sanctify his time by engaging himself in good deeds and righteous activities? This was the teaching of Buddha also.

At the time of Buddha's departure from the physical body, there was a small coin with him, which he had carefully kept in tiny knots of his cloth. Kings and emperors built magnificent monasteries for the Bhikshus (Buddhist monks). This did not delight him much. One day, an old beggar woman came to him and gave this coin with all her heart saying that it was all that she could give. He accepted the coin with both his hands, treasured it for the feeling with which it was given. It is not how much you give that matters; pomp and show stains all charity. Charity given with love and humility makes it precious. What is the use of having barrels of donkey milk? A teaspoonful of cow's milk is more useful. Even a paisa becomes sacred if it is given with a pure heart. Buddha did not value greatness, he valued goodness.

Once Buddha was sitting alone in a forest. A fierce demoness appeared before him and said, "O Buddha, I am very hungry. Will you allow me to eat you?" Buddha readily consented to the request of the demoness and said smilingly to her, "One need not be afraid of death. Death is a certainty and is bound to come one day or the other. You are hungry; feed on me and be happy." As soon as Buddha uttered these words smilingly, the demoness changed into a dove. "O Buddha, I will spread your gospel of sacrifice. People are afraid of death; but you are delighted at the prospect of sacrificing yourself to satiate somebody's hunger. I am not a demoness. I am a dove. I have come down only to test you. I will now disseminate your gospel of love and sacrifice in the world."

The cardinal principle of Buddha's teachings is selfless love. Sai also gives the message of love. Sai's basic teaching is love. In fact, all Avatars have love as the core of their message. Love is the fundamental truth that everybody should cultivate. The entire world will be with you if you develop love. No one can fully assess the power of love. Love is infinite, most precious and most blissful. The bliss of love surpasses that derived from nectar. Love defies all definitions and descriptions. It is this gospel of love that Buddha disseminated. It is this love he enjoyed and experienced, and ultimately merged into it at the end of his life. Buddha was born in love, grew up in love and merged into love. Love and God are not separate. "The water bubble is born in water. It is sustained in water and ultimately merges with water. Man is the water bubble and the Lord is water." Jiva is Deva and Deva is Jiva. The individual self is the Supreme Self and the Supreme Self is the individual self.

Embodiments of Love!

Treat everybody as the embodiment of Divinity. Love is your mission of life. Your parents have given you a name. Use it for transactions in the world. You may give your visiting cards to your friends with your name and address. But with respect to God, your visiting card is from love, by love and to love only. Love is the other name of God.

The rivers teach and demonstrate the principle of love. They rush towards the ocean with all their swiftness to merge into it. They are undaunted by obstacles and impediments. Similarly, the river of life should flow towards the ocean of Divinity. You should overcome all obstacles as the rivers overcome the boulders and rocks which try to obstruct their flow. This is the effort you have to make to reach the ocean of Divinity. See that there are no lacunae and weaknesses in your effort. Move fast while adhering to the virtues of right vision, right feelings and right thoughts. When all your actions are governed by these principles of goodness, you are also rewarded with goodness.

Embodiments of Divine Love!

You need not go anywhere in quest of God. Neither temples nor churches nor mosques are the true abodes of God. They are made by man. The true abode of God is the body, which God Himself has designed and created. The body is a living temple, a talking temple, a moving temple. No ordinary engineer has designed this temple. It has been created by the pure Will of God. Hence, it is a sanctified gift of God. You must guard this sacred gift with utmost care. You must use the body in the right manner for the realization of the Supreme Self. Sareeramadyam Khalu Dharma Sadhanam (body is the first medium to undertake righteous actions) So, the body should be used for performing Sadhana and not merely for eating and drinking. Of course, food is essential for the sustenance of the body. Annam Deha Rakshanartham, Vastram Sheeta Nivaranam (food is for the protection of the body and clothes to save it from cold). But if you are all the time thinking of food and head, what about God? If the food is good, the head will be good. With a good head, you can reach God. You must realize that the food and head are for God.

Once emperor Ashoka was travelling in a forest on horseback. He noticed a Buddhist monk coming in his direction. The emperor at once got down from the horse, went to the monk, prostrated before him and placed his head at his feet. The minister who accompanied him was dismayed at this. He felt that a great and mighty emperor as he was, Ashoka should not have placed his head at the feet of a monk. So, he thought that he would counsel the emperor about this at an appropriate time. One day, he noticed that Ashoka was in a happy mood. He said to Ashoka, "O emperor, you wear a crown on your head. You are the master of great intellect. You are a valiant and powerful emperor as well as an erudite scholar, revered and honored by all. Why did you place your head at the feet of a Buddhist monk when we went to a forest?" Ashoka smiled and did not say anything. After a few days, he asked him to get him the head of a sheep, a goat and also that of a man. The minister brought them to the emperor. Then Ashoka commanded him to keep these heads in the market for sale. The heads of goat and sheep were sold in no time, but nobody came forward to buy the head of man. The emperor then told him to offer the head of man free of cost to anyone. But nobody was prepared to take man's head free of cost even. The minister returned and reported to the king that nobody was prepared to take human head. The emperor then spoke to the minister: "The other day, you asked me as to why I had placed my head at the feet of a monk. You have now realized that the human head carries no value, for nobody wants to take it even free. The head attains immense value and sanctity only when it comes in contact with the feet of noble ones." "Darshanam Papa Nashanam" (Darshan destroys all sins), "Sparshanam Karma Vimochanam" (the touch liberates you from Karmic consequences), "Sambhashanam Sankata Vimochanam" (conversation destroys all sufferings). Wisdom then dawned on the minister after listening to these wise words of Ashoka. He realized that one should avail oneself of Darshan, Sparshan and Sambhashan of great men while one is alive. Once the body is gone, nothing can be done.

Embodiments of Love!

You have come here with great devotion and spirit of surrender. Your devotion and dedication are worthy of commendation. Buddha was the noblest of the noble. On this day of Buddha Purnima, resolve to practice the teachings of Buddha and experience the joy derived thereof. That is the best way of celebrating Buddha Purnima. It is not enough if you remember Buddha on the day of Buddha Purnima once in a year. You must meditate and recapitulate like a cow, which goes on chewing the cud to re-enjoy the experience of eating. You must remember and recapture all that you enjoyed here. Do not forget everything the moment you leave this place. All that you have heard and learned should become a part of your being, your very blood stream. The Vedas describe God as Raso Vai Sah (He is the essence of sweetness). Absorb this sweetness in you. The Divine essence that is coursing through your body is known as Angirasa. It flows in every Anga {limb) of the body and ensures protection for the body in the waking state, dream state, deep sleep state. You can protect yourself in the waking state. But who protects you when you are in deep sleep state and dream state? Only God can save you in these states. You should remain steady and strong, undaunted by sorrows and sufferings. They come and go like passing clouds. Only God is unchanging and permanent. You must take Him as the very basis of your life. Think of Him, remember Him and meditate on Him always. This is the primary lesson you have to learn. Then you will achieve the purpose of your coming here.

[Bhagavan concluded His Discourse with the Bhajan, "Vahe Guru Vahe Guru Vahe Guruji."]