Life 47 (May 24 - Jan 25)

[winston]

What are the pitfalls in our spiritual practice we must be wary of?

Life is a campaign against foes, a battle with obstacles, temptations, hardships and hesitations.

These foes are within man and so the battle must be incessant and perpetual.

Like the virus that thrives in the bloodstream, vices of lust, greed, hate, malice, pride and envy, sap the energy and faith of man and reduce him to untimely fall.

Virtue is strength, vice is weakness. Man differs from man in this struggle against inner foes.

Each gets the result that his Sadhana (Spiritual Practice) deserves, that his acts in this and previous births deserve!

Life is not a mathematical formula, where 2 + 2 always equals 4. To some, it may be 3, to some, 5. It depends on how each values the 2.

Moreover, in the spiritual path, each one must move forward from where one already is according to one’s own pace, and the light of the lamp which each one holds in one’s hand.

- Divine Discourse, Mar 16, 1966.

As long as one is caught in this net of delusion, which is spread by the inner foes, the yearning for liberation will not dawn in the mind.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How deep is our love of the Divine and His love for each and every one of us?

You may be worried because you have promised Him something and later, you are tempted to break your word.

Now, do not hesitate. When you promise that you will not smoke or will not attend films, the promise must be clear, firm and complete.

He does not gain by your promise nor does He lose, if you break it. You gain self-confidence, you gain strength, you gain moral fibre, you gain Ananda (Bliss).

Yes; your Ananda (Bliss) is His Food. So, he gain, too!

The snows on the mountain peaks soften during the day as a result of the Sun; they harden during the night since the Sun is absent.

So too, your hard heart hardens Him; your soft hearts soften Him. Understand this: Each of you knows the love of a single mother only. But His affection, His love towards every one of you is that of a thousand mothers!

Do not deny yourself of that affection, that love, by denying Him your Love!

- Divine Discourse, Oct 04, 1970.

He always teach you love, love and love alone.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How do we cultivate good qualities and prepare the heart for a harvest of bliss?

The cultivation of good qualities implies getting rid of all bad qualities.

Among the latter, two are particularly undesirable. They are asuya (jealousy) and dwesha (hatred). These two bad qualities are like two conspirators, one aids and abets the other in every action.

Jealousy is like the pest which attacks the root of a tree. Hatred is like the insect which attacks the branches, leaves and flowers. When the two combine, the tree, which may look beautiful and flourishing, is utterly destroyed.

Similarly, Jealousy attacks a person from inside and is not visible. Hatred exhibits itself in open forms. There is hardly anyone who is free from the vice of jealousy.

Jealousy may arise even over very trivial matters and out of jealousy hatred arises. To get rid of hatred one must constantly practise love.

Where there is love, there will be no room for jealousy and hatred, and where there is no jealousy and hatred, there is ananda (real joy).

- Divine Discourse, Sep 06, 1984.

Of what use is a mountain of knowledge without good qualities?

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

From mundane light and flame that we use in daily living, what should we learn and remember every day?

Light alone has the power to dispel darkness. Light has yet another power. Light (or the flame) always moves upwards.

Even if you keep a lamp in a pit, the light will only spread upwards. The two important characteristics of light are to dispel darkness and go upwards. However, if the light has to shine without intermission as Akhanda Jyoti (eternal lamp) it needs a proper basis.

First, the light needs a container. There must be a wick to light the flame. There must be oil in the wick and in the container. These three are not enough to make the light burn. A matchstick is needed to light the lamp. Can you make a light burn merely with a container, a wick and oil?

Can you make jewels if you have only gold and gems? Can you have a garland with a needle, thread and flowers alone? You need someone to make the garland out of them. You need a goldsmith to make jewels from gold and gems.

Similarly, there is need for someone to light the lamp, even when you have the other four materials. That someone is the Divine.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 20, 1990.

See the hand of the Divine in everything that happens; then, you will not exult or grieve. Then your life will be one continuous worship or meditation.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What should each of us ensure before we exit this stage of the world?

Socrates used to gather young men around him and expound to them, how to enquire into what is transient and what is permanent.

He told them that only those who have devotion and dedication, are entitled to wield power.

A ruler should adhere to truth and show his gratitude to the Divine. Puffed up with ego, he should not forget the Almighty. Those who did not relish Socrates's teachings brought charges against him.

When he was sentenced to death, he chose to die by drinking the cup of hemlock from the hands of his disciples. Before his death, he told his disciples that none should die leaving an undischarged debt. He told a disciple that he owed a cock to a friend and asked to discharge that obligation.

Prophet Mohammed told his disciples before his passing that money he owed to a camel driver should be paid before his end came. The discharging of one's debts is regarded as a pious obligation.

Harischandra sacrificed everything for the sake of honouring his plighted word.

All religions have emphasised the greatness of truth, sacrifice and unity.

- Divine Discourse, Dec 25, 1990.

Like the current that illumines every bulb, however weak or strong, your Divine is present in every living being!

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why do we need a Guru to guide us and how can we repay the debt we owe to the great Gurus?

You must learn swimming to escape from the swollen river; Scriptures or the Divine's teaching, you must learn to escape from the swirling torrent of birth-death.

The Guru points out the goal to you; he reveals the Reality of the Self (Atma-tatwam).

A man struggling in a bog cannot be saved by another who is also caught in its slime. Only one standing on firm ground can pull him out. So, Guru must have a secure footing, above and beyond the slush of worldliness (samsara).

The sages struggled with themselves and elevated themselves into purer regions of thought, to discover their own truth. They felt the thrill of that discovery and sang of the freedom they gained.

These songs serve as signposts and all who derive benefit therefrom must acknowledge the debt.

How to repay the rishi-rna, debt we owe to sages? By study, by reflection on what they have sung of their liberation, by practising the sadhana they adopted, by proving them right out of your own experience!

- Divine Discourse, Apr 26, 1965.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How should our spiritual learning and training manifest itself?

Many pandits claim to be exponents of the Scriptures but it is not what they teach that tells, but how they live.

any sing the glory of the Divine but few live in His constant presence and in the constant awareness of that Glory that fills the Universe.

They don't make their hearts a holy place so that the Divine may come and be installed therein.

I ask you to fix your mind on any name of the Divine that brings to your consciousness the glory and grace of Him.

Also, train your hands to do acts that serve Him shining in every being. All men are He; He shaves as the barber, He makes pots as the potter; He starches and irons clothes as the washerman.

He prompts, He inspires, He devises, He fulfils.

You take a sheet of paper on which His form is printed as Himself; you revere It; you fall to the ground before It in reverence; why cannot you then revere all human beings, believing that He's in each of them, in an even clearer form?

- Divine Discourse, Apr 26, 1965.

The Divine is in the form of love in everyone. The quality is the same, though the quantity may vary.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How can we always remember the principle of oneness and nondualism?

We walk in the thick dusk of evening when things are seen but dimly; a rope lies haphazardly on the path!

Each one who sees it, has their own idea of what it is, although it is really just a rope!

One steps across it, taking it to be a garland. Another takes it to be a mark made by running water and treads on it! A third person imagines it to be a vine, a creeper plucked off a tree and fallen on the path. Some are scared that it is a snake, right?

Similarly, the one highest Brahman (Eternal), without any change or transformation affecting It, being all the time It and It only, manifests as the world of many names and forms.

The cause of all this is the dusk of delusion (maya). The rope might appear as many things — it might provoke various feelings and reactions in people; it has become the basis for variety.

But it never changes into many; it is ever one! The rope is ever the rope! It doesn’t become a garland or a streak of water or a creeper or a snake.

Brahman might be misinterpreted in a variety of ways, but it is ever Brahman only.

- Ch 12, Gita Vahini

The illusion (Maya) is the wind, individuals are the waves, and the ocean is Sat-Chit-Ananda (truth, consciousness, bliss).

[winston]

What is the most important and profound lesson Bharatiya culture has to offer to the world?

From a stone to a diamond, from an ant to an elephant, from an ordinary man to a sage, everything and every being in Bharat was regarded as a manifestation of the Divine.

Every object was considered worthy of worship. That was why they sanctified a stone image and worshipped it.

Bharat is the land in which the tender Tulasi plant and the giant banyan tree were worshipped with equal devotion.

Cows, horses, elephants and other animals, were treated as sacred objects of worship. Even ants were considered worthy of care and protection and rice flour or sugar was offered to them every day.

Crows and eagles, dogs and monkeys were deemed worthy of worship. Not realising the deeper truth underlying this attitude to various objects in creation, ignoramuses choose to regard this worship as a silly superstition. This is wholly wrong.

Bharat considered that the expression of Divine love should not be confined to human beings but should be extended to all beings. This is the great ideal that Bharath has held out to the world.

- Divine Discourse, Sep 03, 1988.

Develop nearness, proximity, kinship with the Divine. Win Him by obedience, loyalty, humility and purity.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How can we ascertain the existence of the Divine even though we don’t experience Him through the faculty of sight?

Like the string for the garland, Brahman is the string that penetrates and holds together the garland of souls.

Like the foundation for the building, Brahman is the foundation for the structure of creation.

Note this. The string and foundation are not visible; only flowers and building are evident. That does not mean that the string and foundation are non-existent! In fact, they support the flowers and the building.

Well, you can know of their existence and their value by little effort or reasoning. If you do not take that trouble, they escape your notice!

Reason, examine and you will discover that it is the string that holds the flowers together and there is a foundation hidden in the earth!

Do not be misled by the thing being contained into denying the holder, the container, the basis, the support.

If you deny it, you miss the truth and hold on to a delusion. Reason and discriminate; then believe and experience!

For the seen, there is an unseen basis; to grasp the unseen, the best means is inquiry and the best proof is experience.

- Ch 12, Gita Vahini

Flowers cannot become a garland without the string; so too, Divinity unites all souls!

Source: radiosai.org