Sai Darshan Home
Date:20 Nov 1995 Occasion:World Conference Place:Prashanti Nilayam

Truth Unites Diversity

Sarva Roopa Dharam Saantham
Sarva Naama Dharam Sivam
Satchidananda Roopam Advaitam
Sathyam Sivam Sundaram

Humanity is filled with agitations and disturbances in this vast world in every aspect. As one problem is solved, many other problems arise which are more complex. What is the reason behind it? This is due to lack of proper relationship between the individual and society.

Experience Divinity Through Community

We have to understand, in the first place, four aspects. This is the only way by which these problems could be solved in one moment. The first one is Parameshti - divinity. The second is Srishti - creation, the third Samishti - community and the fourth Vyashti - individual. Divinity, creation, community and the individual are not separate altogether.

The body has so many organs. Though the various organs are different in their forms and functions, they altogether constitute the body. This is a hand; it has a palm. The palm has fingers. Though the hand, the palm and the fingers are different, they are one and the same.

In the same manner, we should know Parameshti - divinity. We can know the mysteries of creation when we understand divinity. We know the significance of Samishti - community when we know the mysteries of creation. The moment we comprehend divinity, then you will have the individual.

How to recognise the divinity? The individual has to develop and improve his natural good qualities, worship God, be one in the community and experience creation. This is the inner significance here. We have to experience this creation. You should be one with the community if you want to experience creation. If you want to depend on the community you should have faith in the creation. You should know divinity to rely on this creation.

In order to lead a perfect life, we should understand community. There are so many problems and other related things in this community. The combination of so many individuals constitutes the society. This oneness is the cause for divinity. We can experience oneness only through this community living.

Truth Should be Pleasing

An example. We find many persons from different countries, cultures and nationalities in this hall. But what is common in all of us? We are all united here because of Sai principle. So, we should make an effort to know unity in diversity. We should have the feeling for the society to know this unity. We say God, God. Where is He? How does He look like? In this context, the Vedas taught three mantras. That is Sathyam Bhruyath- speak the truth. This is a moral value. Priyam Bhruyath- speak what is pleasant. This refers to righteousness. Na Bhruyath Sathyam Apriyam- don't speak the unpleasant truth. This is for putting into spiritual practice. So for the moral, ethical and spiritual, truth is the main thing.

From the standpoint of morals, we should speak the truth. The truth should be pleasant. You will never utter falsehood when you speak the pleasant truth. Therefore, at a time when you do not speak any falsehood and the time when you speak in a pleasant way, that is truth. The teaching of Bhagavad Gita is that truth has to be spoken in a pleasant way. Though it is truth, you should not hurt anyone. You should never utter a lie to make others happy. You should never tell the truth in a harsh way. You should tell the truth softly and sweetly. You should speak in a pleasing manner.

Moral Values Safeguarded by Truth

So we should take to truth in order to foster moral values. The moral values are safeguarded by truth. All this truth should have love encompassing it. The human value will blossom when the truth is full of love. The individuality shall manifest. We hold on to our own truth by speaking softly and in a pleasant way. We have the combination of moral values, righteousness and spirituality in this truth.

Another example. Spirituality, worldly and superimposition. Paramarthika - spirituality is not separate. The worldly parlance is not related to it. Superimposition is not something different. There is oneness in all the three.

There is an ocean. There are waves over that, you have the foam on the waves. The coolness, taste and colour of water in the ocean is the same as in the waves as well as the foam. In the same manner, the water in the ocean is contained in the waves. The foam that comes out of the wave will be the same. Therefore, the spiritual, worldly and the superimposition are one and the same.

In the worldly parlance, we take it in the worldly way. We call it spiritual at the mental plane. As, you spend the time in thought, it is spoken as superimposition. Truth is one though the names are different.

Spirit of Unity Reveals Divinity

So we should have the oneness in a community to know divinity. Hence from divinity we enter the creation, join the community and know the individual self. We should understand the unity behind the individual, community, creation and the divinity. There cannot be a community without an individual. When there is no community, there is no creation either. One tree does not make a forest. An individual does not make a society. One house does not make a village. Many houses put together constitute a village. The combination of individuals makes a society. Many trees make a forest. The forest comprises the very same tree and the tree is in the forest as well. The individual is present in the community and the community has the individual in it. There is no society without the individual. There is no forest without the tree. In Vedantic parlance so many names are given to teach these to the people; but the ultimate reality is one. Therefore, with the spirit of this unity we should live in this community and creation and merge with divinity finally.

We can think of divinity and the individual in a small sense. The individual is a being here, Community is treated as God. God is the combination of all. The human being is at the individual level. Then what is the difference between divinity and the individual? God is the collective form which we should visualise. That is called cosmic form - Viswa Virat Swaroopa.

From Multiplicity to Unity

All the heads here constitute cosmic form. Sahasra Seersha Purusha, Sahasraaksha Sahasra Paadh. So many heads, feet, hands, that is divinity. What is the inner significance here? All are forms of divinity. You do not comprehend the meaning of society as you experience the individual level in a narrow way. Forget the feeling of individuality and uphold the social feeling. It is the body attachment that is responsible for all the restlessness. Take the body as an instrument. Do all work with this instrument.

A small example. Taking this mike as an instrument, with which sound is brought to many. There is only one instrument here. There are so many ears that listen to this. Therefore, we can also experience the individual in a community. We have eyes. Eyes are the same. We see many forms. We see so many forms here on earth and also in space. But these eyes cannot see themselves. In the same manner, man tries to know all. He has known all. But the mistake lies in his not having known himself. There is diversity because of that mistake. There is no scope for multiplicity if he knows himself. Then it becomes unity. Therefore, every one of us should try to know one's own self, should live in this creation, in the community and experience the divinity later.

Live in Nature to Reach Divinity

Why this congregation here? Three things are very important. What should be the effects of the individual in the organisation? They should have mind as cool as the moon. How should our heart be? The heart should be as soft as butter. How should our actions be? How should our words be? The words should be sweet. We should have a cool mind like the moon, a heart as soft as butter, the word as sweet as nectar. But we use harsh words today. The mind is full of wickedness. You should not be stone hearted. Your heart should be as soft as butter. These are the three ways to spiritual path. Therefore, the heart should be like butter, mind should be so cool as moon and the words sweet as nectar. This is the spiritual path. This is the unity in trinity. You find the manifestation of divinity where this trinity is. To the extent possible, we have to reduce this body feeling developing the feeling of the spirit and the soul. Go from Vyasti to Samisti. Live in this nature (creation) and attain divinity.

The strength lies in understanding the four - divinity, creation, community and individual. The individual should be in the community to have a life full of satisfaction. You can never spend life in loneliness. You should be in a group. We should develop the good among us. Having acquired it, we should share it with everybody. It is not enough if you only grow.

Surrender and Get Peace

If you have a hundred rupee currency note on hand and if you say I am hungry, your hunger will not be appeased. Change the hundred rupee note and spend ten rupees for eating. Then only hunger will be satiated. There is no use in just being one. You should visualise the unity in diversity. It is taught by Bhagavad Gita

Sarva Dharmaan Parithyajya
Maamekam Saranam Vraja
Ahamthwaa Sarva Paapebhyo
Moksha Ishyaami Maa Sucha.
Give up the body feeling. What remains with me if I leave the body feeling? Mad man, there is not even a paisa. All this is said in your interest. Arjuna, I do not want you to give up your activities, wear an ochre robe, leave your family and go to the forest. No one should give up that way. It is not possible to do that way. Do your duty. Perform your responsibilities. Have the feeling of God in all your actions.

A small example for this. In India, one rupee has 100 paise. 100 paise make one rupee. You get 10,000 paise for a hundred rupees. It will be a heavy bundle if you bundle up this 10,000 paise. It is very heavy and you cannot keep it safe. It will be stolen if any one watches it. You cannot keep it safe nor can you hide it. Mad man, why do you carry this load? How can you hide it? What you can safeguard and hide, I will give. Maamekam Saranam Vraja. You surrender to me. I will give you. What sort of surrender? Give me all the 10,000 paise I will give you a hundred rupee note. 10,000 paise is very heavy. A hundred rupee note can be hidden very easily by you. It is very light in weight. Give me 10,000 paise.

Sai's Love, the Solution

That action, this action - why do you bundle them up like the paise? Give me the 10,000 paise. I will give you a hundred rupee note. Do you sustain any loss by this? There is no loss but on the other hand you have less of trouble, less of difficulty and more of happiness. So long as this bundle is with you, it is heavy and you are not able to hide it. Therefore, you are anxious. Reduce this weight to lessen your anxiety. In order to lessen the burden and the weight, know the most valuable. It is only the hundred rupee note that will match 10,000 paise.

You have so many worries in this world. What are they? They are birth, living on earth, family life, death, childhood, boyhood, old age, living, failure, actions, difficulties, happiness, misery. All of them are anxieties. With all this worry (chinta in Telugu), you sit under the tamarind (chinta in telugu) tree of worry. How can you be happy? It is only Sal's love which is the solution for all worries and troubles and anxieties. So what else is to be told to you members of this noble, august gathering?

Everything is a worry. You may say there is no worry in getting married. It comes as happiness at that moment. Worry starts on the second day. You are very happy with the marriage ceremonies and the music around. All these auspicious things are again worries. You want a son. That is also a worry. You are very much worried about the delivery of your wife, whether you will get a male or a female child. That is a worry. Happiness, misery - all are worries. Everything is a worry so long as we do not understand nature. Every thing is bliss when you understand every thing. So how to understand? Know the divinity first. You will be away from all anxiety when you understand God.

What do you want? I want gulab jamun, laddu, jilebi. Another one says I want kheer. Though tastes differ, sugar is one and the same in all sweets. If you know the nature of sweetness, the contents of the sugar, then you are not bothered whether it is gulab jamun, laddu or kheer. The names and forms of sweets are different but sugar is one. So God is one. Divinity is one in all. Therefore, Vedanta said Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma - the whole universe is Brahman. Einstein the scientist used the same words. Scientists argue that there are two things in the world. They say one is matter and the other energy. But Einstein did not accept that. Without matter, there is no energy. Without energy, matter cannot exist. Therefore, everything is energy.

The Ancient Wisdom

Science is progressing in western countries for the past 200 years. Over centuries, thousands of years ago, our ancestors could understand this principle. Ramdas also said that the whole universe is Rama. Pothana, the poet, also said that everything is Brahman. The whole universe is filled with Brahman. Today you say everything is energy. The same declaration was made even before they were born. Today science is declaring as if it is a separate name.

A small example. Fifteen years ago, Dr. Bhagavantam was the Director of Indian Institute of science, Bangalore. A conference of scientists was arranged at that time. Many meetings were held. One scientist said that they investigated to determine the age of sun. They went on declaring millions and millions and millions of years. After all you can add any number of zeros and say millions. Why do you struggle? Can you not say ancient? That is enough. If you say ancient, you think you are not civilised. If you say one lakh million years, then you are called a scientist. What is the basis for saying this? This is illusion. This is foolishness. To say it is ancient is considered foolishness. The ancient word is correct. To say that sun's age is millions of years is wrong. Wrong has become right and right is proved as wrong. This is the present day condition.

Since ancient times, our people could understand the divine principle and could easily know everything. What is the reason? They could understand the mysteries of creation are found through the divine. They could develop social feelings through an understanding of the mysteries of creation. They could know the meaning of an individual in society. A knowledge of the individual is verily a knowledge of the self. That is self-realisation.

What is self? Self is to know one's own self. This is not possible for everyone. You need not have any education for this. You do not have to go anywhere. You do not need any capacity. Just close your eyes and start investigating who am I? Am I the body? No, am I the mind? No, am I the senses? No. Then you will know that you are the master. I am the master. Body, mind and senses are instruments. You are mistaking yourself to be the instruments. You do not know who you really are in the actual sense. That is ignorance. Ignorance has led to foolishness. We have to develop spirituality in order to be away from ignorance. There is a very good ideal here.

Reaction, Reflection and Resound are Natural

One starts with the body. This is worldly knowledge. At the mental realm, it is good knowledge - sujnana. That which starts from the heart is spiritual knowledge. We have to know the difference between worldly knowledge, material knowledge and spiritual knowledge. Material knowledge is related to the body. All these are based on reaction, resound and reflection. Here Swami is speaking and you have the resound there. How do you have the resound when you don't talk? The moment the photo is clicked, you have the reflection. You find the reaction in front of a mirror. Reaction, reflection and resound are qualities of nature present from the beginning.

Every matter has energy. There is magnetism in every matter. In every matter there is a laser beam. Energy assumes varied forms in matter. Here is a hand. We call it a hand with life. We think the table is lifeless matter. But if you thump the lifeless table, you are getting pain in the hand. From where do you get the pain? Have you thumped the table or has the table beaten you? When you thumped the table, you do not know whether it suffered any pain. When you feel the pain, it means that you have been beaten by the table. You have not hit the table. The table has hit you. We must understand this truth in the first instance.

In this world we feel as if something affects us. But everything is a reaction, reflection and resound. You should gradually give up the body feeling in order to be away from reaction, reflection and resound.

Truth Is One

We should always keep divinity in view in this conference. How do you earn it? We earn it by good and not bad company. You get bad thoughts in bad company. You develop good things in good company. There is a scope for good matter when you develop good company. That is the secret of creation. Everything is good in creation. There is nothing bad whatsoever. You have to know that truth. To you individually it may be bad, but to others it is good. But if it is bad, it is bound to be bad for everybody. But the same bad is not bad for all. To some it is bad and for some it is good. This is not true. Truth should be same to one and all. Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanti. Truth is one. Scholars refer to it differently. Let any number of people speak, truth is one. 2 + 2 = 4, whether it is declared by Pakistanis, Russians, Chinese, British, Americans or Indians. Truth is truth. Therefore, truth is beyond time and space. They may belong to any country. Truth is one. You cannot categorise or classify that it is American truth, English truth, Pakistani truth, Russian truth and Chinese truth. We should know that truth is one and experience it in our daily life.

A small example. There is nothing special in this world. God is not particularly special. Anil Kumar said the latest God has come. There cannot be latest God, newest God, dearest God. God is only one. God is one in the past, present and future. Another point. When 1000 medicines are presented, Dr. Safai said thanks. Some have not understood Swami's nature in these minor things also. When do you thank? We thank a third person. You do not thank your own people. You thank the host when you are invited for a dinner after dinner. Does anybody thank the mother when she serves food? The other one is a third person if you thank. The one taking it as a matter of right is the principle of unity here. There is no difference between us whatsoever. There is difference only when there is a second person. Truth is one, not two. So we should not use this word thanks in our organisation. It has become a matter of habit in the modern world,

God, Not Different From You

Let us see a small example. An outsider is one who expects a reward. The one who does not expect anything is the master of home. The one from the family works from the morning till the evening. No one will ask for a wage by the evening. This is because he is the master of the house. On the other hand, a coolie comes to the house. He works from morning till evening, and asks for his wages. It is only a labourer who demands wages. The one who works in the spirit that it is his work is the owner. You should not be a coolie. You should never be a labourer but you should be a leader. Have the feeling that you are God if you want to be a leader. On the other hand, one who asks God grant me this, grant me that is a labourer. If you do it properly, you will have the reward. You don't need to ask for it. Oh mind, don't ask. If you ask more and more, it will be less and less. Everything will be granted without asking. Oh mind, therefore, do not ask. Did He not shower His Love On Sabari without asking? Did He not go to Jatayu and grant it higher worlds without asking? If you ask, it will not be granted. The desires of those who do not ask will be fulfilled. If you ask, you consider God different from you. He is your own if you do not ask. If you ask, you are an outsider. We should not be an outsider. We should be one of the family.

Be a Master, not a Servant

What does the servant know? All the useless junk is known to the servant. But the inmates of the house know what is in the Godrej locker like diamonds, and gold ornaments. So you know every thing about the house as the inmate of the house. All the useless things will be known to you if you are an outsider.

We are not here to watch useless things. We should know the useful. Useful things are within you, the valuable diamonds of good qualities, good thoughts, good words and good deeds. So, see what is within and not what is outside.

The external vision is temporary. Therefore, gradually members of the Sathya Sai Organisation should have these three things - words that are nectarine, heart as soft as butter and the mind as cool as the moonlight. Having spent so much of time and money, having attended the conference, if you do not practise anything, it is not good. Past is past. Forget the past. Know the present and try to experience it. Right from this day of the conference take to a better path. Do not give any scope for differences, ego, hatred or jealousy. You will be put to loss if you have them. There is a proverb among the Telugu people a poor man if he is angry, he cannot beat anybody. He will be gritting his teeth and naturally he is not hurting anybody. See that you do not hurt yourself. Help ever, hurt never. Try to know all the ideas and important things like this. Tomorrow is the valedictory function. You will be concluding all the things that have been deliberated so far. If you have any doubts on organisational matters, pass them on to Shri Indulal Shah or Shri Sathyanarayana. Swami will answer and clarify all these doubts.


[Discourse posted by Grindle on SaiNet]