Life 48 (Feb 25 - Dec 26)

[winston]

It appears that science and spirituality cannot co-exist today! But sooner or later, spirituality is bound to open the eyes of science.

- Summer Showers, Jun 02, 1991.

The pursuit of the Science of the Supreme Spirit is more essential than involvement with the Physical Sciences.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is the true meaning of the word Bhakti (devotion)?

Through His actions, the Divine has always demonstrated that there is no force greater than the power of devotion.

What is bhakti, devotion? "Attachment to Divine" is bhakti.

Within bhakti are contained food, desires, cleverness, attachment, love, detachment and liberation.

Where did the word bhakti originate? Man’s primary need is food. The body is a means for observing dharma and it needs food.

Next, man needs desire. The third is worldly intelligence. It is necessary to know how to live in this world.

Next comes love all, without distinction. These are followed by detachment and liberation.

In all these words, the common syllable is “kti.”

“Bha” from Bhagawan (Divine) and “kti” from these words combine to form bhakti.

Bhakti is not limited to performing worship. We must offer ourselves to Him! We must hold on to love in all situations. This is bhakti.

- Summer Showers, May 23, 1995

Bhakti is the best means to experience Atma-jnanam (the knowledge of the Self) and enjoy Atma-nandam (the bliss of the Self).

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why is youth the best time for the mind to be trained in contemplation of the Divine?

When dark clouds of vices veil the sky of our hearts, the lightning of Divine contemplation must be used to restore radiance.

Our heart is the sky. Our feelings are clouds. Mind is the moon. Intellect is the Sun.

Thick, dark clouds cover this sky, especially in adolescence. The mind and intellect are hidden. These clouds are "passing clouds".

Be patient, your enthusiasm and virtues, will grow and shine forth. Then, you will be able to visualise your true nature. Therefore, cultivate peace.

Students get agitated in an instant. Passion is responsible for agitations. It is typical at your age. But do not accept it as natural.

Youth is the time to develop your divine capacities and to control your senses. Is it possible to control your senses if you wait till old age?

Some say, "Why bother with meditation now? I shall focus on my job and family. After retirement, I'll sit on my bed and repeat the "Divine's name" at leisure."

There is really nothing called retirement! After retirement, they take up another job to get ‘re-tired’!

They do not relinquish their desire for money till the last breath. When will they ever find time for spirituality?

- Summer Showers, Jun 02, 1991.

If you don't replenish your water tanks in the rainy season, what can you enjoy during the summer? Fill the tanks of your hearts with Divinity when young. Then you can taste the fruits in old age, like a pension.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How can we control our innate anger? Why should we make efforts to control it?

When you find anger rising within you, you may withdraw from the place to provide time for cooling your emotions.

Or you may drink a glass of cold water and sit quietly in a place.

Or, take a brisk walk for a mile to get over your anger.

Or, stand before a mirror and look at your face.

By any one of these methods, your anger will gradually come down.

Do not, however, stay near the person who has provoked your anger, because there is no limit to what anger may lead you to.

Owing to anger and agitation, the blood gets heated up.

It takes three months for the blood to cool down. Within that period, the nerves become weaker and even the blood cells get destroyed.

Weakness is aggravated and the memory power is reduced. Old age sets in prematurely.

All the aberrations that we witness today among men arise from anger. Our entire daily life is filled with anger!

- Divine Discourse, Apr 22, 1985.

You should control anger and avoid talking or acting while in an angry mood.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is the place we must give to Sadhana (spiritual practice) in our life?

Reading is not enough; you may master all the commentaries and you may be able to argue and discuss with great scholars about these texts but without attempting to practice what they teach, it is a waste of time.

I never approve of book-learning; practice is what I evaluate.

When you come out of the examination hall, you know whether you will pass or not, is it not? For, you can yourself judge whether you have answered well or not.

So, in sadhana (spiritual practice), in conduct, or in practice, each of you can judge and ascertain the success or failure that is in store.

Just as you tend the body with food and drink regularly, you must also tend to the needs of inner atmic body, by regular recitations, meditation and cultivation of virtues.

Holy company, good attitude and sacred thoughts, are essential for the growth and health of inner personality.

The body is the mansion of the Divine. His world! In so far as you are particular about coffee or tea at regular intervals, be also particular about meditations and recitations at fixed times, for the health and liveliness of the spirit!

- Divine Discourse, Feb 02, 1958.

The altar of the heart will be clean if sadhana (spiritual practice) is regular.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What deludes and stops one from seeing the true nature of the physical world?

Man spends his years of life as a beast does.

Beasts are deluded by the desert mirage; they run towards it in order to quench their thirst; they die of despair and exhaustion.

Men, too, are deluded by the objective world; they run towards it in order to quench the thirst of the senses for pleasure and happiness. They die, disappointed and exhausted.

The dream is real until one awakens. The pleasures derived while awake are known to be unreal when one awakens into the light of one’s Divine substance.

However, man is not allowed to know his glory, by the six enemies who hide in his mind — lust, desire, anger, greed, undue attachment, pride and hatred.

They pollute his values by their emanations.

There are also eight waves of pride which obstruct his attempt to know himself— the pride of caste, of physical strength, of scholarship, of youth, of wealth, of personal charm, of overlordship and of one’s spiritual attainments.

No one discovers that these are liable to disintegrate very soon.

Shankara has warned men against placing faith in any of these sources of pride: "The all-powerful time robs you of these in a trice."

- Divine Discourse, Jun 01, 1985

Time is the devourer of the physical. The Divine is the devourer of Time itself. When there is faith in Him, man transcends the physical.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is the one quality to secure, so that all other values accrue to us?

Just as the rays of the sun absorb water vapour from the sea, gather them into clouds, drop them as rain on earth so that they may flow as rivers back into the sea, the senses of man contact the world and collect experiences out of which the sacred and sustaining ones are selected, stored and utilised by the mind, as values, as instruments for individual and social uplift.

They are truth, righteousness, peace, nonviolence, and love (prema). For the first four, the last value, prema, is the life-giving spring. They can be achieved most quickly by prema.

Prema is the basic principle of human nature. That short two-syllable word has immeasurable potentiality.

Too often, it is confused with the affection of the mother for the child, the attachment between husband and wife, the dependence of a friend on a friend or the relationship of teacher and pupil.

In every one of these, a trace of egoistic need can be discerned. Love untainted by ego is genuine love. It is all-inclusive, pure, full, and free.

- Divine Discourse, Jun 01, 1985

The Prema, with which you are endowed, must be directed towards the Divine; then only can it expand, grow, deepen, fertilise all your actions and benefit all those around you.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

We all perceive the world with our eyes. But what is it that we miss to see? And how do we have that true vision?

People suffer because they have all kinds of unreasonable desires, they pine to fulfil them and they fail. They attach too much value to the objective world.

It is only when attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief.

If you look upon nature and all created objects with the insight derived from the inner vision, then attachment will slide away; you will also see everything much clearer and with a glow suffused with Divinity and splendour.

Close these eyes and open those inner eyes and what a grand picture of essential unity you get!

Attachment to nature has limits but the attachment to the Divine that you develop when the inner eye opens has no limit. Enjoy that reality, not this false picture.

The Divine is the immanent power in everything; those who refuse to believe that the image in the mirror is a picture of themselves, how can they believe in the Him when He is reflected in every object around them?

The moon is reflected in a pot, provided it has water; so too, He can be clearly seen in your heart, provided you have the water of prema (love) in it.

When the Divine is not reflected in your heart, you cannot say that there is no Divine; it only means that there is no love in you!

- Divine Discourse, Feb 02, 1958.

The essence of prema (love) as a sadhana (spiritual practice) lies in the cultivation of humanitarianism, universal compassion and altruism.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why is it very important to show gratitude to the Divine and to our parents?

Do not consider Him to be someone above you. Treat Him as your own. It is possible only when you develop love.

Make every effort to repay the debt to Him, for He pervades your entire being and safeguards you.

Who is responsible for the blood circulation in your body? How is it that the blood does not ooze out as it moves in the body?

You think you are sustained by food. But neither food nor blood, can sustain you.

He alone is responsible for your sustenance. However, you owe every drop of your blood to your parents. Their food takes the form of your blood. Hence, it is your foremost duty to respect and revere your parents.

If you do not respect your parents today, your children will not respect you in the future.

What is the use of lamenting then? Respect your parents and set a good ideal for your children.

One who does not respect his parents is verily a rakshasa (demon). Do not lead the life of a rakshasa, live like a manava (human being).

- Divine Discourse, Apr 12, 2003.

If you want to realise Him, first and foremost, develop love and devotion towards your parents.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What are the characteristics of true love and how can we develop such love?

Sacrifice is the goal of love. Love does not desire anything.

It does not criticise or harm anybody. It is selfless and pure.

Unable to understand this principle of love, man craves for love in many ways.

You should have faith that selflessness and the spirit of sacrifice are the hallmarks of true love.

There is some element of selfishness and self-interest even in the love between a mother and child, a husband and wife, between brothers and friends.

Only His love is without any trace of selfishness and self-interest.

True love can bring close to you those who are distant or separated from you. It can transform man with animal tendencies into a divine being.

It can gradually change worldly and physical love into divine love.

People who wish to understand the principle of love should give up selfishness and self-interest.

They should develop purity, steadfastness and other divine qualities to understand divine love.

They should try to lead their life keeping their focus on the love of Him without paying heed to their difficulties and sufferings.

- Divine Discourse, Jun 20, 1996.

Source: radiosai.org