Life 44 (Sep 22 - Jan 23)

[winston]

What do we need to be successful in our daily living and in the purpose of life?

It is necessary to emphasise that to successfully confront the problems that arise in one’s daily living, one has to possess intelligence and skill, in addition to the qualities of justice, virtue, and spiritual excellence.

Both intelligence and skill, are essential for progress, as essential as two wings for a bird or two wheels for a cart.

The importance of the higher path that leads to the Highest, can be realised only by experiencing and understanding the world.

The world is enchanting because it is a tantalising appearance, though it is fundamentally untrue.

It is a phenomenon that is fading out. When this truth is realised, one becomes aware of the cosmic sport of the Divine and the eternal universal Being.

This state of consciousness cannot be won through the piling of wealth or worldly power or the acquisition of knowledge and skill.

It can be won through the purification of one’s consciousness in all its facets and the earnestness with which the search is pursued.

- Upanishad Vahini, Ch 12.

The mind is the cause of man's joys and sorrows. It is also the means of man's Mukti (liberation).

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why are practice and experience so important in the spiritual path?

Spiritual exercises like worship, singing hymns of adoration and meditation, are prompted by devotion to higher powers.

Controversy about their efficacy should not be indulged in by those who are unaware of the depths and heights to which they can lead.

These depths and heights can be gained and judged only through actual practice. The proof lies only in one’s personal experience.

Far more valuable than the scholarship gathered from a million books is the grain of wisdom gained through a session of meditation.

That flash of wisdom (jnana), however slight, is a precious acquisition. It is the product of personal spiritual exercise (sadhana) and indisputable authentic experience.

As one cultivates and develops this grain of wisdom, controversy and criticism, will cease.

All arguments will be only with one’s lower self, until the truth stands revealed. Self-confidence is essential for a person to enter on this path of spiritual practice.

- Leela Kaivalya Vahini, Ch 1.

In the field of science, you can expect certain results by performing experiments. But in the spiritual field, there are no experiments, only experience.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

If we are keen on liberation, what should we assiduously practice and why?

Self-effort, discrimination (viveka), intense spiritual practice (tapas) - these qualify people for the highest status.

Without purity of the inner instruments, no person, however high their caste, can reach the Highest.

If inferior copper is added to gold, the alloy loses value. Just as pure gold becomes an alloy through contact with copper, the Universal Form gets the inferior ego added to it in this ocean of worldly existence.

The Universal becomes transformed into the individual soul. Now, what has to be done to get back the real gold Principle?

Through intense spiritual practice and vows, and through polishing and cleansing the intellect (buddhi), the original stage must be regained.

You wash your feet after walking through the mire; your mind also must be washed of the mire of attachment to objects.

Only spiritual wisdom can burn the seeds of attachment so that they may not sprout again. So, a person with the treasure of spiritual wisdom gets liberated easily.

- Prasnothara Vahini, Ch 14.

The washerman removes the dirt from the clothes by hitting them repeatedly on a rock. Similarly, the dirt of the mind can be removed by constant repetition of the Divine's Name.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

To ensure life is a journey towards the Divine, how should it be led?

To a superficial observer, life appears to be a rotation of eating, drinking, toiling and sleeping. But verily, life has a much greater meaning, a much deeper significance.

Life is a sacrifice (yajna). Each little act is an offering to the Divine. If the day is spent in deeds performed in this spirit of surrender, what else can sleep be except total immersion in God (Samadhi)?

People commit the great fault of identifying themselves with the body. People accumulate a variety of things for the upkeep and comfort of the body. Even when the body becomes weak and decrepit with age, people attempt to bolster it through one means or another.

But how long can death be postponed? When Yama’s (Deity of Death) warrant comes, each has to depart.

Position, pride, and power - all vanish before death. Realising this, strive day and night, with the purity of body, mind and spirit, to realise the Higher Self by the service of all living beings.

- Prema Vahini, Ch 6.

The body is an instrument gifted to you for service. Remember, you are not this body,
the body cannot be you!

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is the secret art of "inaction in action"?

Just as a work being done or an activity that one is engaging in, can be referred to as karma, no work being done and no activity being engaged in are also karma!

On seeing people silent and calm, sitting quiet and doing nothing, we infer that they are free from activity. How, then, can they be described as doing activity?

What is meant by saying, “They are not doing any work; they are not engaged in any activity”? That statement only means that “They are engaged in keeping themselves away from any work or activity.”

So, it can be affirmed that people sometimes are busy doing work and sometimes busy keeping work away from their attention; that is to say, they are engaged in activity (karma) as well as inactivity (akarma).

If they are not engrossed or attached with the action they do and are engaged in it as their duty, as their way of worship, and if they are not attached to the fruit of their action, then they can practise inactivity even in action.

This is the highest spiritual discipline.

- Sathya Sai Vahini, Ch 18.

It is only by developing the purity of mind that we can ensure the purity of action.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is the true test of faith in the Divine’s words and how can we earn His grace?

The test that will reveal the quality of your faith is whether you are practising sincerely the injunctions laid down by Him.

Your beliefs and actions must be expressions of faith. They must have holiness as their core. They must be so full of love and compassion that they attract to you the grace of Him.

Activity emanating from such sacred belief and faith is the goal of the Karma segment of the Scriptures.

It is the taproot of human progress; it is the very breath of happy human existence; it is the food that alone can allay the hunger of people; it is the life-sustaining water that can cure their thirst.

Activity (karma) is as essentially bound with people as their need to discover and realize their own reality. Therefore, the first and continuing duty is to engage oneself in activities that are taught in the Scriptures or approved therein.

Three types of activity reach Him and earn His grace:
(1) Activity not prompted by personal desire
(2) Activity emanating from unselfish love, and
(3) Prayer arising from pure hearts.

These are the items to which the Divine pays heed; they reach Him directly.

- Sathya Sai Vahini, Ch 19.

There is no greater quality in man than selfless love, which expresses itself in service to others.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How should we lead our everyday life, without attachment?

Renunciation that involves the destruction of the three urges for a mate, for progeny, and for wealth, is very difficult to attain without purity of the mind (Chitta).

Work without the desire for its fruit, slowly cleanses impurities, like the crucible of the gold-smith.

The pure mind is spiritual wisdom (jnana); it is the consummation of detachment.

If you are able to divest yourselves of desire when you are doing work, no impurity can touch you.

You know that “chilliginji” seeds (clearing nuts), when dropped into muddy water, have the power to separate the dirt and deposit it at the bottom; the seeds also sink to the bottom and slip out of sight!

In the same way, those who are adepts in doing action (karma) without attachment, have their minds perfectly cleansed, and the results of their acts lose their effectiveness and sink to the bottom.

- Upanishad Vahini, Ch 2.

Only through non-attachment and renunciation, can one acquire the competence to experience inner illumination.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What should we do as spiritual aspirants to experience the bliss of the Self (Atma-ananda)?

Spiritual aspirants have to direct their attention away from the external world and become in-sighted; they have to turn their vision toward the Atma.

They must analyse the processes of the mind and discover for themselves, the origin of all the modifications and agitations of the mind.

By this means, every trace of “intention” and “will” has to disappear. Afterwards, the only idea that will get fixed in the mind will be the idea of Brahman.

The only feeling that will occupy the mind will be the feeling of bliss, which arises out of its establishment in the stage of being-awareness-bliss (satchidananda).

Such spiritually wise people (jnanis) will be unaffected by joy or grief, for they will be fully immersed in the ocean of Atmic bliss (Atma-ananda), above and beyond the reach of worldly things.

- Jnana Vahini, Ch 5.

The Jnanis (spiritually wise) who have had a vision of the Atma in them will never suffer sorrow.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Fostering Peace

If our minds are agitated by anger and resentment, our efforts to promote peace are more likely to create more conflict and perhaps ignite more violence.

An angry mind is not a reliable instrument for promoting peace.

- Bhikkhu Bodhi, “Fostering Peace, Inside and Out”

[winston]

Why and how should we tame the mind?

The mind is influenced by passion for objective pleasure and delusion of ignorance, with which it pursues the fleeting objects of the world with amazing quickness.

So, again and again, it must be led towards higher ideals.

Of course, this is difficult at first, but with persistent training, the mind can be tamed; then it will get fixed in the perpetual enjoyment of the ‘Om’.

The mind can be trained by following methods of quiet persuasion, promise of attractive inducements, practice of withdrawing senses from the outer world, endurance of pain and travail, cultivation of sincerity and constancy, and acquisition of mental equipoise.

The mind can be turned toward Brahman and constant contemplation of Brahman by study of the Scriptures, adoption of regular prayer, sharing with others ecstasy of devotional singing and adherence to truth.

- Jnana Vahini, Ch 6.

Train the mind to turn towards the intellect for inspiration and guidance, not towards the senses for adventures and achievements.

Source: radiosai.org