GEMS FROM THE LORD (51-100)
The body is the ball filled with the air of Divinity; it is kicked in play by the six players on the side (the six foes: lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and hate) and six on the other (the six friends: truth, right, peace, love, compassion and fortitude); the goal posts are on each side, and if the ball is hit so that it passes through them, they achieve Dharmavidya (Moral Attainment) and victory. Or else, their kick results in an "out"! Learn to speak what you feel, act what you speak, do not allow them to be at cross-purposes. Man, with the feelings of a demon fuming with hate, engages in fighting, holds Peace Conferences and, prides himself on his plans for peace! Transform the heart into a tabernacle of peace; then conferences to deceive oneself and others become unnecessary. What can mere talk achieve?
There are some ignorant persons who laugh at Bhajans and other acts of worship and consider them a waste of valuable time. Those persons might laugh at your pouring bags of paddy seeds on a slushy field and condemn that act too as a act of valuable food material. But you know that, for every bag of paddy seed, Mother Earth will give back, in a few weeks, grain tenfold or even twentyfold. Time spent in contemplation of God or adoration of the Divine is indeed well spent, for it rewards you with a rich harvest of mental peace and courage.
The mind plays many tricks with you, the chief of which is to foster the ego and hide the Prompter and the Power within. You must have heard of an accountant in the Court of the King of Death, Chitragupta, by name. He maintains a register of the good and the bad deeds done by each living being, and, on death, he brings the book to the Court and strikes the balance between debit and credit. Yama, the king, then meets out the punishment that can expiate and educate. This Chitragupta has his office in the mind of man, all the time awake and alert. The word means secret picture; what he does is to picture all the secrets from promptings that blossom into activity; He notes the warning-signals as well as the occasions when those signals are ignored or wantonly disregarded. You must see that the warning of the Divine against the merely human or the bestial inclination, is heeded.
The grace of God cannot be won through the gymnastics of reason, the contortions of Yoga or the denials of asceticism. Love alone can win it; Love that needs no requital; Love that knows no bargaining. Love that is paid gladly as a tribute to the all Loving; and Love that is unwavering. Love alone can overcome obstacles, however many and mighty. There is no strength more effective than purity, no bliss more satisfying than Love, no joy more restoring than Bhakti and no triumph more praiseworthy than surrender.
Him means Himsa (violence) and du means dura (distant), so that HINDU means a person who is devoid of violence, who loves and sympathizes, who helps and serves - not one who hides and hits, harms and draws blood. The same sky is over everyone's head; the same earth supports everyone's feet; the same air enters everyone's lungs! The same God brought all forth, brings up all and brings about the end of this earthly career. Why then this inhuman role of foe and fanatic; of fight and feud?
I am the embodiment of Love; Love is My instrument. There is no creature without Love; The lowest loves itself, at least. And its "self is God". So, There are no atheists, although some might dislike Him or refuse Him, as malarial patients dislike sweets or diabetic patients refuse to have anything to do with sweet! Those who preen themselves as atheists will one day, when their illness is gone, relish God and revere Him.
Struggle to realize the Atma, to visualize God; even failure in this struggle is nobler than success in other worldly attempts. The buffalo has horns; the elephant has tusks, but what a difference? To live in the body, with the body, for the body is the life of a worm; to live in the body, with God, for God is good for the life of man. The dull, activity hating Thamasic persons have ego and their Love is limited to their kith and kin. The Rajasic, active, passionate persons seek to earn power and prestige, and love those who will contribute to these. But the Sathwic, the pure, the good and the equanimity-filled love all as embodiments of God and engage themselves in humble service.
There are three types of approaches to the Lord; the eagle type, which swoops down on the target with a greedy swiftness and suddenness which by its very impact, fails to secure the object coveted; The monkey type, which flits hither and thither, from one another, unable to decide which is tasty; and the ant type which moves steadily, though slowly towards the object which it has decided is desirable. The ant does not hit the fruit hard and make it fall away; It does not pluck all the fruits it seeks; It appropriates just as much as it can assimilate and no more. Do not fritter away the time allotted to you for sojourning on earth in foolish foppery and fanciful foibles which always keep you outdoors. When are you able to walk indoors into the warmth and quiet of your own interior? Retire into solitude and silence now and then; experience the joy derivable only from them.
Rama, Krishna, Sai Baba appear different because of the dress that each has donned, but it is the self same Entity, believe Me. Do not be misled into error and loss. The time will soon come when this huge building and even vaster ones will be too small for the gatherings of those who are called to the place. The sky itself will have to be the roof of the auditorium of the future. I will have to forego the car and even the aeroplane when I move from place to place, for the crowds pressing around them will be too huge; I will have to move across the sky; yes that too will happen, believe Me
See all as Narayana swarupa and worship all with Prema. Even my Nature can be understood by you only when you wear the glass of Holiness. Holy things can only be cognised only by the Holy seeker. You get what you search for; You see what your eyes crave for. The doctor is found where patients gather; the surgeon stays in the operation ward; so too, the Lord is ever with the suffering and struggling. Whenever people cry out in agony " Oh God," there God will be.
You very often condemn the mind mind as a monkey; but, take it from Me, it is far worse. The monkey leaps from one branch to another; but the mind leaps from the heights of the Himalayas to the depths of the sea, from today to tens of years ago. Tame it by the process of Namasmarana. Make it, as Ramdas did, into a Bhadrachala, a stable and steady mountain. That is the task I assign to you. Make your heart an Ayodhya by means of Rama Nama. Ayodhya means a city that can never lie captured by force. That is your real nature: Ayodhya; Forget this; and you are lost. Install Rama in your heart; and then no outer force can harm you.
Things are not so important; the transcendental truth of the things is of value. You must visualize the spiritual in the material, the gold in the jewels, the Divine in the diversity of character and conduct and seek to know the Atma. All are equal in birth and death. Differences arise only during the interval. The Emperor and the beggar are both born naked; they sleep equally silently; they bow out without even leaving their new address. Then how can their reality be different? There is no doubt on this score. All are basically the same.
Listen to Me. When you wake up, feel that you are entering the stage to play the role assigned to you by the Lord; pray that you may act it well and earn His approbation. At night, when you retire to sleep, feel that you are entering the green room after the scene, but with the dress of your role on; for perhaps the role is not yet over and you have not yet been permitted to take the dress off. Perhaps you have to make another entrance the next morning. Do not worry about that. Place yourself fully at His disposal; He Knows; He has written the play and He knows how it will end and how it will go on. Yours is but to act and retire.
When the mind is unattached to the ups and downs of life, but is able to maintain equanimity under all circumstances, then even physical health can be assured. The mental firmament must be like the sky, which bears no mark of the passage through it of birds or planes or clouds. Illness is caused more by malnutrition of the mind than of the body. Doctors speak of vitamin deficiency; I will call it deficiency of vitamin G, and I will recommend the repetition of the Name of God, with accompanying contemplation of the Glory and Grace of God. That is Vitamin G. That is the medicine; regulated life and habits are two thirds of the treatment, while medicine is just one third only.
Carry on your highest duty to yourselves - follow the four F's: Follow the Master; Face the Devil; Fight to the End and Finish the Game. Then you win my Love in full measure. Love is my highest miracle. Love can make you gather the affection of all mankind. Love will not tolerate any selfish aim or approach, Love is God. Live in Love. Then all is right; all can be well. Expand your heart so that in can encompass all. Do not narrow it down into an instrument of restricted Love.
When you seek to learn swimming, you will have to enter the water and struggle with the strokes. When Bhasma (vibhuti) is given, doubt haunts some people whether Swami is wishing that the recipient should be a Saivite! It is a symbol of the indestructible basic substance which every being is. All things become ash; but ash remains ash, however much you may burn it. It is also a sign of renunciation, of sacrifice and of Jnana, which burns all Karma - consequently into ineffective ash. It is a sign of Ishwara and I apply it on your brow, to remind you that you too are Divine. It is a valuable 'Upadesa' about your identity. It also reminds you that the body is liable any moment to be reduced into a handful of ash. Ash is an lesson in detachment and renunciation.
The tongue is the armor of the heart; it guards one's life. Loud talk, long talk, wild talk, and talk full of anger and hate: all these affect the health of man. They breed anger and hate in others; they wound; they excite; they enrage; they, estrange. why is silence said to be golden? The silent man has no enemies, although he may not have friends. He has the leisure and the chance to delve within himself and examine his own faults and failings. He has no more inclination to seek them (fault) in others. if your foot slips, you sustain a fracture; If your tongue slips, you fracture some one's faith or joy. That fracture can never be set right; That wound will fester for ever. Therefore, use your tongue with great care. The softer you talk, the less you talk and the sweeter you talk, the better for you and the World.
Birth is the consequence of Kama (desire; lust); Death is the consequence of Kaala ( Time, the lapse of Time). The God of Desire (Kama) was reduced to ashes by Shiva; The God of Time is Kaala or Yama. He was subdued by sin. So, one has to surrender to Siva (God) if one has to escape the consequences of these two frightfully fatal forces. If between Kama and Kaala, you take refuge in Rama, then you can escape the rigor. For Rama is the Atma who has no Kama and is unaffected by kaala.
The river of human life meanders along, through many a valley, leaps over many a cliff, loses itself in many a marsh and seeks to empty itself in the ocean of Divine Grace; though, what happens is that it falls into the undrinkable expanse of salt. The flood flows from the heights to the depths; only the flames of fire do ever rise from the depths to the heights. That is why we speak of Jnanagni, the fire of Wisdom of Realization. Man suffers because he has developed hunger as vast as the sky, with a throat as narrow as a needle. his throat must become as vast as the earth; His heart must blossom wide through Shanthi and Sahana; That is through equanimity and fortitude. Then the desire of man for full lasting undiluted Ananda can be attained.
It is to persuade you to engage yourself in Namasmarana that I am Myself concluding My discourses with a few Namavalis which I sing. An officer of the Indian Civil Service has to write on the slate, A, B, C,D and pronounce those letters in order to teach his children the alphabet. When you find him doing so, you do not infer that he is himself learning the alphabet, do you? Therefore, do not be surprised if I sing Bhajan songs; I am but initiating you into this most efficacious Sadhana. Strengthen yourself, purify yourself and educate yourself by this Namasankeertan. Do it loudly and in company. Let those who join you listen and imbibe the nectar of the Name.
When you call out in sincerity, the response will certainly come. Give up all low desires and call from the anguished heart. Do not pray from the lips, as you do now, from the puja room which is but a corner of the kitchen. You worship the Lord with an eye on the dishes or cooking on the oven, with a nose inhaling hungrily the smells of hot curries. Your thoughts of God are vitiated by Vishavasana - attachment to sensory objects. There is a vast gap between what you say and what you do; and between what you are capable of and what you accomplish.
Once man is free from undue attachment to the body and its appurtenances, he is liberated from the pulls of joy, grief, good, bad, pleasure, pain etc. He is firmly established in equanimity, fortitude and undisturbed balance. There man discovers that the world is one in God; that all is Joy, Love and Bliss. He realizes that he himself is all this apparent World, that all the multifarious manifestations are fantasies of the Divine Will, which is his own Reality. This expansion of one's individuality to cover the ends of the Universe is the highest leap of man. It gives supreme Ananda, an experience for which saints and sages spent years of prayer and asceticism.
Man is enslaved by money. He lives a superficial, hollow, artificial life. This is indeed a great pity. Man should seek only as much money as is most essential for his living. The quantity of riches one must earn can be compared to the shoes one wears; if too small, they cause pain; if too big, they are a hindrance to physical and mental comfort. When we have more, it breeds pride, sloth, and contempt for others. In pursuit of money, man descends to the level of the beast. Money is the nature of manure. Piled up in one place, it pollutes the air. Spread it wide; scatter it over fields; it rewards you with bumper harvest. So too, when money is spent in all four quarters for promoting good works, it yields contentment and happiness in plenty.
Move forward towards the light and the shadow falls behind you. Move away from it and you follow your own shadow. Go every moment one step nearer to the Lord and then, maya, the shadow with fall back and not delude you at all. Be steady; be resolved. Do not commit a fault or take a false step and then repeat! Have the Thaapam ( the deliberation, the decision, the discipline) first; That is better than Paschaat Thaapam ( regret for the mistake made).
Give something Divine if you want the Divine. Prema, Shanthi, Dharma and Sathya are Divine. Do not try to get it for a flower that fades, a fruit that rots, a leaf that dries and water that evaporates. There are some who write and speak as if they have known Me, all that is to be known of Me. I can only say this: they can never know Me and My nature, even if they are born and reborn a thousand times. To know Me one has to be like Me, rise to this height. Can ants discover the depth of the Ocean?
In this Kali Age, The wicked have to be reformed and reconstructed, through Love and Compassion. That is why this Avatar has come unarmed. It has come with the message of Love. The only weapon which can transform the vile and the vicious is the Name of the Lord uttered with Love. The Name is redolent with Divine Glory. So when it is turned over in the mind, it transmutes into an instrument for liberation from delusion.
Three disciplines are essential, to become aware of the Divinity in all and in the Avathar; no activity should be taken up with individual aggrandizement in view; intellect and emotion must be directed to the revelation of the resident of the Heart, Atma; and every act should be done sincerely, with Love, with no yearning for acquiring personal profit, fame or benefit. Above all, listen to the voice of God within. As soon as one contemplates a wrong act, the voice warns, protests, and advises giving up. It pictures the shame that has to be suffered, the punishment that has to be faced and the disgrace it entails.
If God is implanted in the heart, you will see God everywhere, even in the objective world. Sarvam Brahmamayam, is a fact. Resolve this day to engage only in virtuous deeds, good thoughts, and good company. Let your mind dwell on elevating thoughts. Do not waste a single moment of your talking time in idle gossip or vain boasting or idle recreations.
The journey into the inner consciousness to calm the storms that rage is more important than the journey to moon or Mars. The latter may be more spectacular, but the former is more beneficial. Life without goodness, good thoughts, good actions, and good words is like a sky in the night without the moon or stars. It is like a wheel without hub or spokes! No one can push a boulder away while standing on it; you cannot be free from anxiety, while all the entrances through which it sneaks in are open. Stop catering to the senses and feeding the desires that haunt you.
When Jesus was emerging as the supreme principle of Divinity, he communicated some news to his followers. The statement of Christ is simple. " He Who sent me among you will come again". And he pointed to a lamb. The lamb is merely a symbol -- a sign. It stands for the voice - BA BA. The announcement was "The advent of BABA". "He will wear a robe of red, a blooded robe. He will be short, with a crown (of hair)." The lamb is a sign and symbol of Love. Christ did not declare that he will come again, He said," He who made me will come again." That BABA is the Baba; and the Sai, the short curly - hair - crowned, red robed Baba has come.
Human lives are now passing on and on, filth over filth, bent, broken, diseased,distressed, and disheartened. To enrich their lives and make human heritage worthwhile, I have come, I am evincing all this enthusiasm to teach you the prayer attitude to seva, for Love expresses itself as seva, Love grows through seva, and Love is begun in the womb of seva. And God is Love. The Avathar is a child to the children, a boy to the boys, a man among men, a woman among women, so that the Avathar's message might reach each heart and receive enthusiastic response as Ananda. It is the compassion of the Avathar that prompts His every action.
The nature we have around us and with us is the vesture of God. we have evidence of His beauty, goodness, wisdom, power, all around us, where ever we turn our eyes. But the art of recognizing Him is strange to us and so we deny Him and live on in the darkness. We have all around us, in the atmosphere, the music emanating from all the broadcasting stations of the world, but they do not assail your ear at any time. You are not aware of any station; but, if you have a receiver and if you tune it to the correct wave-length, you can hear the matter broadcast from any station; if you fail tune it correctly, you will get instead of news, only nuisance! So too, the Divine is everywhere above, around, below and beside; near as well as far. For cognizing it, you require not a Yantra (machine) but a Mantra (mystical formula potent with a psychological undertone). Concentration of Dhyana is the fixing of the exact location in the band. Love is the correct tuning in. Realizing the reality and the Bliss it confers is the happy clear listening.
See God in every being and then true sneha will blossom. This type of true sneha will come only when you follow the advice of Krishna. "Adveshta sarva bhoothanam maitrah karuna evacha nirmamo nirahamkaraah Sama Duhka Sukha Kshami". "He who has no trace of hatred towards any creature, who is friendly, and compassionate towards all, who is free from the bondage of 'I' and "mine", who takes pain and pleasure as equally welcome and who is forbearing in spite of provocation". Grow these qualities in you, for they are the signs of true sneha, it is only when you are proceeding along the Godward journey along the nine stages of Bhakti that you can attain this Divine ideal of true friendship.
Mohammed, who sought to establish the primacy of the One Formless Absolute had a large share of persecution, defamation and privation. Jesus, who attempted to rebuild mankind on the basis of Love, was crucified by little men who feared that their tiny tower of hate and greed will be toppled by his teaching. Harishchandra, who had resolved never to waver from Truth, was subjected to ordeal after ordeal, each more terrifying than the previous one. Those who seek to know God must steel themselves to bear insult, injury and Torture, with a smile.
I am showing you by My example. You must fill every moment with useful beneficial activity. You talk among yourselves, "O Swami is having his rest hour; Swami is sleeping", but I have never craved for a minute's rest or sleep or relief. Shall I tell you what time I feel restful, relieved and content? When I know that you are all earning Supreme Bliss through detachment and spiritual discipline; not until then. I am ever engaged in some activity or the other for your benefit. Things I could get done, I do not entrust to others; I do them myself, so that they may learn self-reliance and get experience thereby.
Yama or the God of death is described as dragging his victims to his abode by means of the rope or Paasa. Well, he has no rope factory there, for supplying him with the rope he needs. You manufacture the rope yourself and have it ready around your neck; he only has to take hold of the rope and pull you along! It is a three stranded rope, the strands being Ahamkaaram (Egoism); Vishayavasana (sense-attachment); and Kama (desire).
You must speak soft and sweet words to everyone. Do you like the voice of a crow? No, you drive the crow away, when it starts to crow; its speech is harsh, it is too loud for your ears. You must have heard the Koel, the cuckoo, haven't you? That bird looks very much like the crow; it grows in the nest of the crow, with the baby crows, it is fed by the mother crow, along with her own kids. But, no one will throw a stone at a 'Koel'; everyone likes to hear its sweet voice. Speak soft and sweet; then everyone will like you.
The title Sathyam Sivam Sundaram is full of meaning. It speaks of He, imminent in every one of you. Sathyam is the basic reality of you all. That is why you resent being called a liar. The real 'you' is innocent, you will not accept an imputation that is false. The real 'you' is joy, happiness, and auspiciousness. It is not Savam, but Sivam, it is Subham, Nithyam, and Anandam. How can you bear being called ugly? The Atma has got entangled in the body which it does not like; it is weighed down by shame, when you identify it with the body and attribute to it the weaknesses and deficiencies of that physical vehicle.
Have no thorn of hate in your mind, develop Prema towards all. Desire is a storm; greed is a whirlpool; pride is a precipice. Attachment is an avalanche, egoism is a volcano. Keep these things away, so that you can do Japa or Dhyana; they do not disturb the equanimity. Let Love be enthroned in your heart. Then there will be sunshine and cool breeze and the gurgling waters of contentment feeding the roots of faith.
Learn a lesson from the tree. When it is heavy with fruits, it does not raise its head aloft with pride. It bends low, stoops, as if it does not take any credit for its accomplishment and as if it helps you pluck to pluck the fruit. Learn a lesson from the birds. They feed those who cannot fly far. The bird relieves the itch of the buffalo by scratching it with its beak; they help and serve each other, with no thought of reward. How much more alert must man be, then, with his superior skills and faculties? Service is the best cure for egoism.
I would advise you to dwell always on one Name of God, One personification of one of His innumerable attributes of Glory. Then there is the expansion of your Love, the removal of hate and envy from your mental composition, seeing the God whom you adore in every other person intently as you see Him in yourself. Then you become the Embodiment of Love, Peace and Joy.
Remove the weight from your head by transferring all burdens to the Lord, leave everything to His will and His Law. Feed your mind with sweet and wholesome food: Sathsanga, Satpravatana and Sarveswara Chinta - then you are full of joy. I am Anandaswarupa; come and take Ananda from Me and, returning to your avocations, dwell on that Ananda and be full of Shanthi
The greatest single cause for darkness in the world today is envy. When one is happy and contented, others envy him and strive to ruin his peace of mind. When any one is acclaimed as great, malice moves others to invent calumny, in order to tarnish his reputations. This is the way of the world. There is in life the tragedy of ignorance and selfishness. They force man to take the wrong path and suffer calamity.
A strong will is the best tonic. The will becomes strong when you know that you are a child of immortality or a person who has earned the Grace of the Lord. Medicine and hospitalization are for these who hesitate and argue about this doctor being more efficient than the other and this drug being more powerful than the rest. For these who rely on the Supreme Doctor, His Name is the drug that cures.
You can call me on the phone, but I will not be available for all those who do not have the sincere and steady yearning of the Lord. For those who say "No! You're not my Lord", I say "No." For those who say, " Yes", I too echo "Yes". If I am available in your heart, I will be available over the phone. But, remember, I have my own special Postal and Telephone Systems. They operate from the heart straight to the heart. There are rules and regulations for the operations of the systems, which the Sastras declare. You can find them there. I am glad that the devotees have acquired this new convenience at Prashanthi Nilayam.
Truth can reflect itself in your intelligence only when it is cleaned by Thapas. Thapas means all acts undertaken with higher motives and all acts indicating yearning for the spirit; repenting for past blunders; staunch determination to adhere to virtue; self control; and unyielding adherence to equanimity in the face of success or failure. Thaapam means heat, burning intensity and earnestness of endeavor. It is Thapas that fosters renunciation and discipline.
The Rama and Krishna Avatars performed the mission of restoring Dharma and fostering virtuous living, besides punishing the wicked and teaching the world that vice will not succeed. Man is an amalgamation of humanity, animality and Divinity. It is a tragedy if he cannot get rid of the animality; and it is a greater tragedy if he cannot cultivate his Divinity. Contemplation of the Rama and Krishna Avathars and their leelas and mahimas is the surest method of cultivating the Divine in man.
God has four qualities and it is only when you cultivate them that you can understand Him. They are: Prema (Love), Soundarya (Beauty), Madhurya (Sweetness) and Shoba (Splendor). The development of Prema is enough to add into you the other three. When you are full of Prema for the Divine in all creation, that stage is beauty; when you are immersed in the sea of universal Love, you reach the acme of sweetness; when your mind loses its identity and merges with the universal Mind, then there is splendor indescribable.
My task is not merely to cure and console and remove individual misery. It is something far more important. The important task of the mango tree is to produce mango fruit. The leaves, the branches, and the trunk of the tree are useful in their own way, no doubt, but the main aim is the fruit. So also from the plantain tree, the fruit is the main gain. The leaves and the edible core of the stem are all incidental. So too, the removal of misery and distress is incidental to My Mission. My main task is the re-establishment of Veda and Shastra in the heart of Bharatavarsha and the revival of knowledge about them in the people. This task will succeed.