Life 49 (Nov 25 - Dec 27)

[winston]

What should be our attitude towards trials and tribulations in life if we wish to grow?

From ancient times and to some extent even today, the Chinese have observed one ritual every morning before beginning their day’s chores.

They declare: “Difficulties are our friends. Let us invite them.” They have recognised that without trouble, no good can be realised.

They start the day’s work with this thought before them. The Chinese also realise that true happiness comes from the satisfaction of a task well done.

In Bharat, too, there is the dictum, Raise the self by the self.

What is it that can raise the self? It is our own good conduct.

Our good conduct is not for elevating the country but for elevating ourselves.

A whetstone is used for sharpening a knife, not for making the whetstone smoother. Likewise, in this world, your good conduct improves you, and as a result, the world.

There is a proverb current in China: “The most delicious food is that got by hard labour.” What is got by arduous effort is relished with joy.

One who enjoys his food without having laboured for it is an idler. In China, everyone works hard to earn his living. This cult of work should activate every human being.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 13, 1997

Make conscience your master. You can then face any difficulties in life and overcome them.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What spiritual discipline should a seeker adopt, to burn the seeds of desire and transform worldly perception into divine awareness?

The newspaper you read today must be discarded tomorrow. Do you relish reading the same news over and over? It should be the case with life, too.

You have been taking births again and again. Having taken this birth, you should strive hard not to be born again.

A rebirth is caused due to the effect of Sankalpas or remnant desires. They are like seeds for the next birth.

So, a man of wisdom must strive hard to scorch all seeds of desires in the fire of Jnana (Wisdom).

Desires are seeds because of which you are reborn. So, control your desires and senses by diverting them towards the Divine.

We should see not the world but the Lord of the world. We should hear not worldly sounds but the sound of primordial sound. We should taste nothing worldly but divine love.

In this way, we should transform everything into divine. Then only can sense control be achieved.

- Divine Discourse, Apr 17, 1993

Just as you seek the udder of the cow for the milk it gives, seek Nature for the Divine and His glory alone.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why is the transformation of the human mind so important?

Man does not mean the body alone. Man also has the mind, the intellect and the Atma. It is the combination of all these that constitutes true humanness.

When the balance among these four constituents is upset, man is plunged into troubles.

When man maintains the balance among these four, the nation will prosper.

The transformation of man, is based on the transformation of his mind. When men are transformed, the nation is transformed. When nations change, the world is transformed.

Hence, if the world must be changed, there must be a mental transformation at the individual level.

The human mind should be filled with love.

The mind is a remarkable entity. When it is filled with wisdom, it makes a man a saint. When it is associated with ignorance, it turns into an agent of death.

Hence, it has been declared that the mind is the cause of human bondage or liberation.

All changes in education and other spheres must begin with the transformation of the mind.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 13, 1997

The chaos and the confusion, the agony and the agitation that we witness in the country today, are nothing but the manifestation of the distorted mind.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why is it a sign of ignorance to judge people on the basis of their form or appearance?

Consider this example: Here is a person whose form can be described in terms of various physical features. But, does this description in terms of height and weight reveal anything about his internal qualities like forbearance, peacefulness, compassion, love and sacrifice?

Are these qualities not very real and significant? He is prized mainly for these qualities, not for his physical features.

To judge him only in physical terms is meaningless. His formless virtues are more important.

When one is judged on the basis of his qualities, the form is irrelevant. The utter ridiculousness of judging a person solely on the basis of his physical form was demonstrated by Sage Ashtavakra to the learned pundits in Emperor Janaka’s court.

When all of them laughed on seeing the crooked figure of Ashtavakra, the sage laughed even louder at all of them.

When they asked him for an explanation, he told them that the scholars who laughed at his deformed figure were no better than cobblers who judged things by the nature of the skin.

Ashtavakra told them, the truly wise person sees the Divine in all beings.

“I laughed at all of you because I wondered how the Emperor happened to esteem you all as scholars.”

This means that those who judge anything on the basis of the external form are utterly foolish.

- Divine Discourse, Mar 7, 1997

Let us not be carried away by the “seen.” We must make efforts to perceive the “seer.”

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is one way to eliminate our ego, pride, grief and anger?

The very first step in the endeavour to realise Unity (Advaita) is the Worship of the concrete symbol of the Divine, which gives one the experience of the ecstasy of Union.

One day, Shankaracharya was meditating on the banks of the River Ganga. Suddenly, he exclaimed, “Lord! I am Yours; but surely you are not mine!”.

His pupil, Totakacharya, was by his side and was astonished at this statement, which, according to him, went against the Advaitic stand.

He asked his Guru how he could declare any distinction between I and You! Shankaracharya replied, “The waves belong to the Ocean; but Ocean does not belong to the wave! The wave is the Ocean but Ocean is not the wave.”

The main point to be attended to is the elimination of ego, the elimination of the identification with the body and its needs, satisfiable through the senses!

For you get joy when these needs are fulfilled; grief when they are not, anger when something comes in the way, pride when you win over that opposition!

To eliminate ego, strengthen the belief that all objects belong to Him and that you are holding them on trust!

This would prevent pride; it’s also the truth! Then, when you lose, you would not grieve. He gave; He took away!

- Divine Discourse, Feb 20, 1974

Pray to the Divine for Him; do not use Truth to achieve Untruth.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What are three things we must bring to memory every day and what should we endeavour to forget?

Daily, from morning till night, you must think of the three essential things:
(1) Do not forget Him
(2) Do not believe in the world &
(3) Do not be afraid of death.
These three are essential in your life.

You must forget any harm done to you by others. So also, you must forget any good you may do to others.

If you keep on thinking about the harm done to you by others, you will, in return, attempt to harm them. To harm them, in return, is a sin. You should not undertake to commit such a sin.

By forgetting the good that you may have done to others, you will not be expecting them to do good to you in return. If you are expecting to get something in return and do not get it, you must take birth again.

Strive not to participate in transactions connected with the cycle of birth and death.

Unfortunately, today, several people take to the spiritual path as if it were a business. I am hoping that you will not do that. Then, you will recognise the truth and make your lives fruitful and purposeful.

- Summer Showers 1977, Ch 27

Millions all over the land recite the Name of the Divine but few have steady faith.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What are the true manifestations of the spiritual practices we undertake?

There are many sadhakas (spiritual aspirants) who enjoy perfect calmness and equanimity while sitting in meditation or while in the Puja room before the shrine. But once they rise and come out into the open, they behave like demons.

The Scripture says: Be in Yoga, always. Be immersed in love, with no trace of pride or envy. This is the highest Sadhana.

At the present day, all grades and groups of people all over the world resort to violence and hatred in order to satisfy their desires and demands, bringing about fear, anxiety, panic and revolution.

The gains through such tactics are not much; the gains will be greater and more lasting if the path of love, tolerance and peace is followed.

Love brings people together; hatred drives them apart. You cannot be happy when you cause misery to others.

He showers grace when the nine steps of bhakti (devotion) are observed. Masters or rulers can be won over by the same means—sacrifice, love, devotion and dedication in the path of duty.

When success is achieved by means of unrest and violence, it has to be preserved and prolonged only by further unrest and violence.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 20, 1974

When there is no desire to warp the mind, Love could be true and full.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Given man’s limited nature to seek external objects or experiences, how can he develop a spiritual outlook?

Wetness is the natural trait of water. Hardness is the attribute of stone. Sweetness is natural to sugar. Heat is the quality of fire. These are the Dharma (natural behaviour) of substances.

For the individual, vancha (desire) is natural. Because man is sustained by desire, it is considered a dharma (natural trait) of man.

Dharma is that which sustains. Man is sustained by desire. Man’s primary duty is to offer all his desires to Him. This means that the practice of dharma calls for the offering of all worldly desires to Him and developing inward vision.

Renouncing all dharmas, take refuge in Him alone. This implies that man must make it his primary aim to offer to Him all external sensory, physical desires and cultivate spiritual thoughts centred on the eternal.

To develop such a spiritual outlook and to inspire it in others, one must possess chitta suddhi (purity of heart).

- Divine Discourse, Oct 7, 1993

Spiritual wisdom can dawn only when there is purity of heart.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How can we make the most out of our listening of discourses?

Just as removal of weeds, tilling the land, sowing the seeds and watering them, are required before the crop can be harvested on a plot of land, the field of the human heart has to be cleared of bad thoughts and bad feelings, watered with love, tilled by spiritual practices and then the seeds of the divine Name needs to be sown.

Only then is one entitled to reap the harvest of jnana (Divine Wisdom).

Today, spiritual exercises are confined to listening to talks and not to practicing the teachings.

Listening has become a kind of disease. Merely after listening, men go about bragging that they know everything. This crazy boastfulness is deepening men’s ignorance.

One should ruminate over what has been heard. After rumination, one should do put into practice the lessons. Only then there is the triple purity of thought, word and deed.

Today, people are content with mere listening to discourses. This will not lead to realisation.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 7, 1993

This is the sin of all sins - saying one thing and acting quite the opposite, denying in practice what you assert as precept.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is our essential nature and how does it remain unchanged?

Mergence in the Cosmic Consciousness (Brahman), of which each one is an expression, is not a novel achievement gained by effort.

It is only the awareness of an existing fact, in a flash. One is Brahman already, inherently, inseparably so.

Salt, which is an expression of the nature of the ocean, might be noticed in many lands, on many occasions, in many forms and many compounds. But it retains its truth, which is cognisable in its taste.

Originating from the sea, salt lends the quality of the sea to every article with which it is associated, whether it be milk, syrup or clear tasteless water.

So too, though the individualised spark of consciousness has woven a cocoon around itself and assumed a form and a name, it — that is to say, man—can never give up its essential Atmic nature.

As the ocean announces that the salt crystal is its own, itself, in the same way the Divine announces in the Scriptures: "A unit of Mine, which is eternal, has become life, in this world of Life.”

No wonder the Scriptures addresses living beings as “Children of the Immortal One” and “Inheritors of Immortal Bliss”.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 21, 1982

The body, mind, and senses, are your instruments. You are the Master.

Source: radiosai.org