Life 47 (May 24 - Jan 25)

[winston]

During holy periods, people take up the reading of scriptures. What is the true fulfilment of this Sadhana (Spiritual Practice)?

All education today is related to the physical world. It will not serve to reveal the Divine. It was this which impelled the Sage to teach a pandit who was learning by rote, that at the moment of death, only the Divvine's name will save him and not the rules of grammar.

Though this teaching has been propagated for centuries, very few practise it. Many read the Scriptures as a daily ritual. But how many carry out the commands of their fathers?

How many practise the virtue of fraternal affection and love proclaimed in the Scriptures? Is there anyone standing for the gospel of Dharma? Of what use is it endlessly to listen to discourses without putting anything into practice?

The Scriptures is being read and expounded all the time. Is a single precept from it being put into practice? Not at all.

The Scriptures shows the path to Divine realisation. But simply reciting the Scriptures is valueless. Follow the Scriptures and tread the path indicated by it. Only then you will reap the reward.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 09, 1994.

Mere textual knowledge without practical knowledge becomes ‘allergy’. When bookish knowledge is transformed into practical knowledge, it becomes ‘energy’.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How is prayer and meditation connected with love?

If you have steady and resolute love, concentration becomes intense and unshakeable.

Faith develops into love and love results in concentration. Prayer begins to yield fruit under such conditions.

Pray using the Name as a symbol of the Divine. Pray keeping all the waves of the mind stilled. Pray as the performance of a duty for your very real existence, as the only justification for your coming into the world as a human.

‘Mine’ and ‘yours’ — these attitudes are only for identification. They are not real; they are temporary. ‘His’ — that is the truth, the eternal.

It is like the headmaster of a school being in temporary charge of the furniture of the school. He must hand over the items when he is transferred or retired. Treat all things with which you are endowed, just as the headmaster treats the furniture.

Be always aware that the final checking-up is imminent. Wait for that moment with joy. Be ready for that event. Have your accounts up to date and the balance already calculated to be handed over. Treat all things entrusted to you with care and diligence.

- Divine Discourse, Nov 23, 1961.

By means of the name, love is developed; through love, meditation of the Divine can be practised.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How should we pray to ensure that our prayers are heard?

When you surrender yourself to His Will, He will take care of you.

Do not develop a superiority complex. Give up ego and pomp. Pray silently and sincerely.

If your prayers are not answered, you can certainly question Him. He is not confined to a place somewhere in a distant corner. He always resides in your heart.

He can accomplish anything. He is ever ready to perform any task, be it big or small for the sake of His devotees. All are His children. Hence, He will certainly answer your prayers.

Love is the quintessence of the discourses. His love is power. There is nothing greater than love.

When you develop love, you can face the challenges of life with ease and emerge victorious. He will always be with you, in you and around you and will take care of you.

Any mighty task can be accomplished through prayer. However, your prayers should be sincere. There should be unity of thought, word, and deed.

Develop firm faith that He is in you and that He always listens to your prayers. If you think that He is outside, how will your prayers reach Him?

- Divine Discourse, Dec 25, 2004.

Esteeming love as the essence of divinity, you have to engage yourselves in loving service to society.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What must we do to ensure success in this spiritual journey?

In a piece of cloth, when the threads are taken out, only the cotton remains and if the cotton is burnt the cloth ceases to exist.

Similarly, when desires are eliminated, the "I" and the Mind will go. It has been said that the destruction of the mind is the means to the realisation of the Divine.

The cessation of the mind can be brought about by the gradual elimination of desires, like the removal of threads from a cloth. Finally, the desires have to be consumed in the fire of Vairagya (detachment).

Look upon life as one long railway journey. In this journey, it is not good to carry heavy luggage. There are stations on the way like Arti (suffering), Artharti (desire for objects), Jignasu (yearning for understanding) and Jnani (Self-realisation).

The lesser the luggage one carries, the more easily and quickly one can get through various stages and reach the destination.

The primary requisite, therefore, is the eradication of desires.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 12, 1983.

Everything that is not 'you' is an object; it is luggage for the journey; the less of it, the more comfortable the journey.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is the great inheritance that we are all entitled to, and what must we do to claim it?

You are all entitled to broader realms of joy, deeper springs of joy and joy that is eternal.

Your real dharma, the purpose for which you have taken human birth, is to earn and enjoy that bliss, which no external contact can change or diminish.

To earn it is quite easy. It can be done by everyone who sits calmly and examines themselves and their mind, unaffected by likes and dislikes.

One then discovers that life is a dream and everyone has a calm refuge of peace inside one’s own heart.

One learns to dive into its cool depths, forgetting and ignoring the buffets of luck, both good and ill.

The doctor first diagnoses the disease. Then he prescribes the course of treatment. So too, you must submit yourself to the diagnosis of your illness, viz. misery, travail, and pain.

Investigate fearlessly and with care and you will find that while your basic nature is bliss, you have falsely identified yourself with the temporary, frivolous, and paltry and that attachment brings about all the sorrow.

- Divine Discourse, Nov 23, 1961.

Realise that both joy and sorrow are passing phases, like white or dark clouds across the blue sky, and learn to treat both prosperity and adversity with equanimity!

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What are the unique vows that the Divine has taken in the Avatar?

All divine personalities make their advent for some definite purposes. They will not deviate from them in any circumstance.

The essential nature of Love, is of the same character. The Avatar's love has no trace of self-interest in it. It is absolutely pure.

He knows only how to give, not how to receive. His hand is held above for conferring something, not stretched for seeking anything.

Moreover, once He has declared, "You are Mine", whatever wrong ways they may pursue, He will not abandon them.

When he has given a word to anyone, even if they turn against Him, he will not bear any ill-will towards them. Even if they revile Him, he shall continue to love them.

He will stand up to His pledge right up to the end. Some day they will return to the right path.

Owing to the compulsion of circumstances some changes may take place. They are not permanent.

He will not change His course because of such happenings. This is His second resolve.

The third resolve is: When he undertakes anything because He feels that it is for the welfare of all and that it is good for society as a whole, He will not give it up, come what may.

Even if the whole world is against Him, He will not turn back, He will only go forward.

- Divine Discourse, Jul 13, 1984.

He has not come to guard your jewels and your ‘valuables’. He has come to guard your virtue and holiness and guide you to the Goal.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is His expectation of each and every one of His devotees?

If only time is well used, the ignorant can become an ascetic of the highest order and that ascetic can also be transfused into the Universal Substance and Substratum (Paramatma).

Just as a fish can live only when it is immersed in water, when it feels the element all around it, so too the human being is an animal that can live only when immersed in bliss (ananda).

One must have bliss not only at home, in society and in the world, but more than all, in the heart.

As a matter of fact, bliss in the heart produces bliss everywhere. The heart is the spring of joy.

That spring must be touched by constant meditation, recitation of the Divine’s name and the intermittent dwelling on the glory, the grace and the inexhaustible manifestations of the Divine.

Hold fast to the goal; the devotee should never turn back. Never give way to doubt or despair.

- Divine Discourse, Nov 23, 1961.

Where there is purity, there love grows. When purity and love come together, there is Ananda (bliss).

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is most essential if we wish that the Divine hears our call?

While we live in the normal world, taking things as they come, we must take great care of spiritual aspects as well.

We cannot forget them. Whatever work you may undertake, if you have your attention on Divinity, then He will take care of you.

One example: A mother puts her baby to sleep. After the baby is asleep, she goes to the first floor and attends to her work. All the while, her attention will be on the baby, and her thoughts are always about when the baby will get up.

Even if she is engaged in urgent and pressing work, her attention will be on the baby and as soon as she hears the cry of baby, she will come running. She will not stop to consider what tune and beat the baby is crying in.

Just as a mother runs from her work as soon as she hears the baby cry, so also, if man cries to the Divine from the depths of his heart, even if He is busy, He will come and help the devotee.

The Divine does not ask what path the devotee is adopting or what bhajans are being sung by him, etc. He will only look at the sincerity with which the devotee has cried out.

- Ch 7, Summer Showers 1976.

When you look at others with love, He will also look at you with love.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why is it important to pay attention to the food we eat and carefully weed out evil qualities?

We know that of all the animals in this world, to take birth as a human being is very difficult.

Having attained this difficult human birth, we should not behave, at any time, like an animal.

Think and take note of this aspect. The reason for this is mainly the kind of food we eat.
The kind of food we take determines the behaviour we develop.

If a tiger enters a herd of cows, then the cows cannot survive and live. So also, as in that analogy, in the heart of man, there are good and satwic qualities comparable to the qualities of a cow.

If into that group of good qualities, we send in food represented by the rajasic qualities of a tiger, it is impossible for the good to survive.

Similarly, if you put seeds in a land which is not fertile, the seeds are not going to sprout! So also in a man with rajasic qualities in his heart, satwic qualities like worshipfulness or compassion cannot thrive.

It therefore becomes necessary for man to do things by which the field of his heart can be purified and cleansed.

- Ch 10, Summer Showers 1976.

When the cup of the heart is full of evil, no virtue can be stored therein.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why is it important to use the vision we have been blessed with, for sacred purposes alone?

Among the five senses of perception, the eyes are endowed with immense power. They have 40 lakhs of light rays in them.

Today, man is putting his senses to misuse and as a result, his body is becoming weaker day by day. His life span is being reduced by his unsacred vision and the sensual pleasures that he is indulging in.

Lakhs of light rays in his eyes, are being destroyed because of his unsacred vision. That is the reason man is developing eye defects.

Today, many people undergo cataract operations to set their vision right. The doctors may say that man develops eye defects because of the cataract, but in fact, it is the result of unsacred vision.

So, one should have proper control over one’s vision. Whatever the spiritual practices that one may undertake, one cannot derive their benefit without having control over one’s vision.

All the Sadhanas like japa, tapa and dhyana confer only temporary satisfaction. These practices cannot help you to have control over your vision.

In fact, the entire srushti (creation) is based on your drishti (vision). The netras (eyes) are verily the shastras (sacred texts).

- Divine Discourse, Jul 05, 2001.

Constant examination of the purity of one's vision, speech and action, is a spiritual exercise. It is this that helps to refine the heart.

Source: radiosai.org