Words
with Wings (a)
(in 3 parts: (a)
continued
b,
continued
c
)
Sanathana
Sarathi (*)
On
Sivarathri day in 1958 the monthly magazine
designed to communicate the message of Bhagavan
to the world was inaugurated. He named it
Sanathana
Sarathi.
These two words taken together spell the
function that Baba has taken upon Himself.
Sanathana denotes His being the very source
of all this 'becoming'. In a written message to
Shri. R.R. Chatterji of the Sathya Sai Seva
Samithi, Calcutta, announcing the mission for
which He has assumed this human form, Baba made
a declaration which nobody since the days of
Lord Krishna had the good fortune to
listen to:
"There
was no one to know who I am till I created
the world, at My pleasure, with one word.
Immediately earth and sky were formed,
mountains rose up, rivers started flowing,
sun, moon and stars sprang out of nowhere to
prove My existence. Came all forms of life -
plants, insects, beasts, birds and men.
Various powers were bestowed upon them under
My orders. The first place was granted to
man, and My knowledge was placed in man's
mind." [See also: Srîmad
Bhâgavatam, Canto 1 -
Creation]
Sanathana
means 'timeless, eternal'. Baba has said that He
always was, is, and ever will be. He is
Sanathana, now limited in time and space,
so that He can be availed of by us. The
Upanishads
speak of embodied beings as chariots
which are drawn along by the senses
(horses) through the objective world. Safety
lies in choosing a knowledgeable Sarathi
(charioteer) and installing him with unimpeded
authority in the chariot. By taking upon Himself
the role of the Sanathana Sarathi, Baba
has revealed that He is the eternal Inner
Motivator in all-recognized or unrecognized,
acknowledged or ignored, respected or slandered.
"My
knowledge was placed in man's
mind,"
He says. But the mind allows itself to be
covered by veils, so that pure knowledge becomes
warped or is denied.
The first
issue of the magazine contained a message from
Baba wherein He spoke of the high purpose which
it had set out to fulfil:
"From
this day, our Sanathana Sarathi will lead to
victory the cohorts of truth - the Vedas, the
Sastras and similar scriptures of all faiths
- against the forces of the ego such as
injustice, falsehood, immorality and cruelty.
This is the reason why it has emerged. This
Sarathi will fight in order to establish
world prosperity. It is bound to sound the
paean of triumph when universal Ananda is
achieved."
Proems
Baba is ever
conscious that He is the cosmic principle that
has transformed Itself into human form. He is
the goal, the guide and the guardian whom every
being seeks. He gives expression to this truth
in His discourses and writings. As a proem to
His discourses He sometimes sings, in either
Telugu or Sanskrit, a short verse which lifts
the veil of mystery hiding him from our eyes,
and in a flash makes us aware of some facet of
His plan to rehabilitate man. He
declared,
"The
same Vishnu who rewarded Dhruva
[See:
SB, Canto
4-12]
with material and spiritual glory and saved
Prahlâda from the cruelty of those who
sought, through torture, to break his faith
in the Lord, [See:
SB, Canto
7:5]
that same Gopala who showered grace on the
impoverished and famished Kuchela
[*5],
is here now, the embodiment of Wisdom and
Bliss, the ruler enthroned in the hearts of
good men, the compassionate monitor of all
those who stray away from the right
path."
On one
occasion He sang another poem which had
spontaneously blossomed on His
lips:
"Why
does the sun rise and set everyday without
delay or disruption? Why do the stars that
light the sky to the delight of all eyes,
hide their splendorous faces when the day
dawns, and never even slyly peer to tell us
where they are? Why does air always be
around, giving us the breath of life? Why do
these streams and rivers roar, murmur, gurgle
and gossip over rock, pebble and sand, as
they meander along towards the parent sea?
How is it that the billions that constitute
mankind, though they are caskets treasuring
images of the same entity, remain distinct
from each other in appearance, achievement,
aspiration and attitude? This is the answer:
Know that I am the One who has ordained that
these be such and shall behave
so."
The
Five Elemental Aspects
The
Upanishads declare the tests to decide the
genuineness of Bhagavân's incarnation
thus:
"For
fear of Him, fire burns; for fear of Him,
wind blows. Indra, the mighty god of gods,
also stands in awe of Him. Death hastens
towards or flees away, as He directs."
[See also: SB,
Canto 3, Chapter 25, verse
42]
When a greedy
forest fire advanced towards chuchuma ranch on
the U.S.-Mexico border, where stood the Sai Yoga
Institute of Indra Devi, her prayer to Baba
turned the fire back by a sudden twist of wind
when the flames had reached within yards of the
ranch. Shri K.A. Raja, Lt. Governor of Arunchal
Pradesh, writes that a huge bamboo cluster
within yards of his official residence at Tezpur
caught fire and was exploding merrily
immediately adjacent to the thatched huts of
some Nepalese workmen. Mrs. Raja hastened to the
scene and called aloud to Baba to soften the
fury of the flames. The letter relates, "The
fire extinguished itself in a few seconds; not
even a dozen fire engines could have done that
job." Similarly, Baba has many a time prevented
rain by a mere gesture or oral command, when it
had threatened to drench the thousands gathered
to have His Darsan and listen to His discourse.
[See also: SB,
Canto 10, Chapter 17, where Krishna swallows a
forest fire]
The president
of a coach factory near Madras had made a
commitment to deliver about 25 coaches as the
first instalment of an agreement between the
government of India and the government of an
overseas state - a prestigious assignment that
was secured in spite of overwhelming competition
from countries in the front line of
industrialized nations. But troubles dogged him
at every step. He was very unhappy that he would
not be able to load the coaches onto a Japanese
ship that had already left Bombay for Madras to
take the cargo on board. He prayed to Baba to
save the reputation of his factory. Baba said,
"The ship will be delayed; hurry on with your
work."
The ship faced a fierce storm off Cochin and had
to undergo some repairs at Colombo. When it
finally did reach Madras, the port was too full
to allow it into the docks. When, at last, it
was ready to receive the coaches, they were
waiting, spick and span, to be carried overseas.
Bhagavân can initiate or pacify storms
when He wills. He welcomes into the realm of
death those who clamor for release, and brings
back from the gullet of death those who were
gobbled while they had yet to play the role He
had in mind for them. The words emanating from
Him are, therefore, divine commands, which can
charge us with an immense potency and purity and
change us into reservoirs of love and
light.
Come
Again
On another
occasion, preliminary to the hoisting of the
Prasanthi flag at the Nilayam, the
following poem was sung by
Baba:
"The
cowherd boy, the son of Nanda (foster father
of Krishna) [see: Bhagavata
Vahini, Chapter
44
& SB,
Canto
10:3],
has come again among you, embodied as Ananda,
so that He may collect His playmates. The
same Râma
[see: Ramakatha
Vahini]
has come again, with a great deal of Aaraam
(leisure), since now there is no burden of
imperium, no dynastic responsibility; He has
come again to give his erstwhile followers
the chance of service. The same Sai has come
to you from Shirdi to be in the midst of his
erstwhile companions and comrades. Once
again, the same all-comprehensive,
omnipresent Principle named
Vishnu
has come in this comprehensible, cognisable
human form, so that you may benefit from Him.
He has come without His instruments and
weapons, for He has willed to forge them here
itself."
Baba has
herein asserted that He is the self-determined
human expression of that super intelligence,
that absolute will. He says,
"For
you, birth is an anxious moment; childhood is
fraught with anxiety; living is a series of
anxious moments; livelihood is earned through
a chain of anxious events; old age and death
cause dire anxiety; even joy brings about the
anxiety that you might lose it soon; all
activity is saturated with anxiety. But
barter all this anxiety for only one anxiety
- how to win the grace of Sai - and you will
be free from the big brood of worry and
unrest."
His
prologue-verses often deal with devotees,
telling them how steady faith alone can earn
eternal peace:
"Compassion
in the eyes; sweet words on the tongue;
nectarous gleam on a smiling face; joy ever
residing in the heart; reassurance in every
gesture of the hands - that is Sai. Do not
lose hold and give up the Savior who has come
to you."
Hold
Fast
Ponder over
the significance of this verse He sang years
ago:
"Something
you have held, while seeking to hold
something, hold on to it most firmly.
Something you did ask for, though asking is
not needed; persist till the gift is granted.
Some desire you have entertained in your
mind, though there is no need to desire;
still, knock at the door until it opens and
your desire is fulfilled. Either I must grant
you the thing that you crave for, unable to
withstand your yearning; or you must realize
its very absurdity and conquer that worthless
yearning."
True to the
declaration He made at the first World
Conference that He is all names and forms by
which man has ever tried to describe God, the
annunciatory verse He sings on days dedicated to
Râma, Krishna or Shiva would often be
about the identity between Him and the deity
that is being adored. On a Shivarathri
day a few years ago, He proclaimed, while
standing before a festive gathering of
twenty-five thousand people,
"This
day Shiva has come into the view of mortals -
Shiva, dwelling in the village of Parthi. He
carries on Him matted hair, the Ganges flowing
from it, the eye in the centre of the brow, the
dark-complexioned throat, the serpent wristlets,
and tiger-skin around the waist, the red dot on
the forehead and the pan (betel) - produced
redness on the lips."
When He led a
party of about a hundred and fifty devotees to
the famous Himalayan shrine of Nârâyana,
He addressed them at Hardwar before starting on
the mountain trek, saying,
"Yours
is a unique chance: going to
Nârâyana with
Nârâyana."
The
Unseen Force
Once Baba sang
a verse in which He declared that He is the
Unseen Force that regulates the movements of
celestial bodies and all forms of life, and
designs the destinies of each of us. This was
when He inaugurated the all India conference of
Sai organizations held at Madras. If the Will is
all-powerful and eternal, it can, of course,
come down and move as a man among men. At
another time He said,
"There
are three types of men: those who seek
happiness for themselves first, with no
attention paid to others; those who consider
others first and thereby derive happiness;
and those who will try to prevent others from
being happy even at the cost of their own
happiness."
To a group of
Americans He once gave a message that was
different in emphasis.
"You
are the smiling flower," He wrote, "you are
the twinkling star. What is there on the
earth and in the sky that you are not? Then,
why need you desire? You are the God of the
universe. You create the universe and, after
playing with it for sometime, draw it into
yourself and are the same again. What you
really are is Truth - Consciousness -
Bliss."
Baba insists
that every one be made aware of the goal of
life, which is to pass from the stage of
'I am in the
Light'
to the stage
'the Light is in
me' on
to the ultimate truth that
'I am the
Light.'
When you are the Light, there can be no
darkness, no desire, no fear, no hatred, no
ego.
In the
following message to children, Baba is simple
and direct, as if they were really sitting
around Him, their eyes wide open in
wonder:
Dear
Children,
You have been born in this most glorious
country, Bharat, and have grown up here.
Unless you learn to know of its history, its
holy traditions, the lives and teachings of
its men of wisdom and piety, what else is
there for you to learn? Light the lamp of
morality and righteousness, the lamp that
once shone bright in this land. Let its light
illumine the world.
Messages
In a message
to students He has asked,
"Can
the goal of life be just this? To struggle
amidst the waves of joy and grief that rise
and fall in the visible, objective world; to
be carried along the swift current of desire,
gathering food, shelter, comfort, and sensual
pleasure and, finally, to flounder on the
rocks of death?"
In another
message He emphasises a basic
truth:
"Seeking
a high standard of living instead of a high
level of living, has played havoc with human
society. A high level of living insists on
morality, humility, detachment and
compassion; a competitive race for luxury and
conspicuous consumption is not encouraged.
Now man has become a slave of his desires and
finds himself helpless before the urge to
earn pleasure and luxury. Being too weak to
keep his baser urges under control, he cannot
arouse the Divinity that is latent in
him."
Baba has said
that in this incarnation He is the supreme
teacher. "Aham
Satyabodhaka"
(I am the Teacher of Truth), He says. He teaches
at all times, in all places and by all means. He
showers love and wins you; He withholds love and
cures you. Once He administered a mild
admonition to some devotees who had expected a
continuous flow of 'plums and roses'. Then He
enlightened them:
"Do
you delight when I allow you to be near Me?
The next moment I might cause the sorrow of
separation. Do you feel that Sai takes
delight in your tears? Just then I might make
you laugh till your sides ache, and continue
to grant you joy, again and again. Do you
feel a sense of elevation when I praise you a
little? That very moment I may prick the
bubble of your pride by means of ridicule. Do
you feel secure when I tell you not to fear?
The next moment I might inflict pain and
appear indifferent when you pray for relief.
I do not allow you to go back, nor do I allow
you to go forward! I madden your mind and
smother your ego. Find out how any one can
move away from this charming Sai, the
embodiment of Love and Light. Find out the
reason why He is indispensable, in spite of
this dual role."
In this
message He has revealed that every act of His,
every flash of anger or twinkle in the eye,
every smile or curve of the brow, has a deep
significance for the recipient. Many such
messages are composed in verse extempore and
sung by Baba, expressing the mood of the moment
and answering unspoken thoughts and questions
that agitate the mass of people gathered to hear
Him.
"When
you have before you the wish-fulfilling
tree," He sings, "why do you desire to foster
inferior trees?" "When you have for the
asking the cow (Kamadhenu)
that yields all that you need, why do you
seek the common cow for milk? When you have
the
Meru
mountain, rich in gold and silver, why do you
run about frantically in search of petty
gains? When you have with you the Sai Who
gives liberation, why do you crave for lesser
joys that dissolve again into
grief?"
Most of Baba's
discourses are a commentary on some such basic
idea enshrined in poetry and song.
A group of
Americans once prayed for a message to take home
with them to the States. So Baba, in His own
attractive calligraphy, wrote,
"The
fruit has to be sweet, though the rind can
afford to be bitter. It is the juice and its
sugar content that count; put away the rind
of anger, malice, envy and greed and
assimilate the sweetness of the fruit, so
that sweetness can develop within you... Be a
lotus: The lotus is born in slime and mud,
but rises up through the water and lifting
its head above it, refuses to get wet,
although it springs from water. Be like the
lotus or the lily-unattached."
Baba teaches
us by means of His letters, discourses, books
and articles. He writes in simple and elegant,
colloquial Telugu or English prose. The message
is always extempore, His ideas receiving
expression as mellifluous poems and songs
showering exquisite delight. His script is
reminiscent of charming monastic artistry; the
lines are straight and parallel, resembling
floral garlands spread out upon a paper. Poetry
and melody shine through each sentence, and
behind each phrase and clause lies a form that
is clearly human, though it carries divine
wisdom. Thus Baba's message enables mankind to
benefit from the grace and wisdom that He has
come to confer.
The
Mother Feeds
Baba
speaks of Himself as the mother yearning to feed
an unruly child who, in its ignorance, refuses
to eat what will cure its hunger. The child has
to be coddled and coaxed, wheeled and petted,
even caught unawares sometimes by means of a
story or a song, to induce it to accept the food
it needs. Baba's immeasurable love persuades Him
to pack a medical dose in a sweet smile, a
panacea in a palatable parable or a profound
thought in syrupy joke.
Let us dip
into the books that Baba has given man in order
to draw him to the feast that He has prepared
for his hunger. A number of scholars, cynical of
matters beyond their ken and proud of their
academic achievements, receive these books by
post (sent mysteriously by Baba Himself) or
through some inexplicable source. These become
for them invitations to the Presence, fresh and
fascinating as they are.
Baba has said
that if He were to be identified by one
characteristic more than any other, He could
most aptly be called
Prema Swarupa,
the
Embodiment of
Love.
The very first
Vahini
(stream) that flowed forth from his pen to
fertilise the mind of man was the book
'Prema
Vahini'.
Nârada, the great exponent of love as a
spiritual discipline, defines that path as
Sathasmin Parama Prema
Swarupa
(it is of the nature of supreme devotion or love
to That). The love is described as supreme,
because it is full and free, with no conditions,
no trace of bargaining, no taint of fear. Once
such love is practised and experienced, all
distinctions drop, duality ceases, and only the
truth remains.
The
Gopis
Baba quotes
the love of the simple milkmaids and cowherds of
Brindavan towards
Krishna
as the best example of this
Parama Prema.
Krishna Himself appreciated it
thus:
"They
long for Me so deeply, their thoughts, words
and deeds are so imbued with Me, that they
have no sense of time or space, no
consciousness of their bodies and their
needs. They are so absorbed in Me that they
are like rivers that have merged in the ocean
and lost their individual names and
distinctions." [See also:
SB,
Canto 10, Chapters 29 to
33]
Sankara, the
great philosopher-saint, wrote of
Bhakti:
Swa-swarupa anusandhanam bhaktirithi
abhidheeya the
(the constant contemplation of the Reality which
is one's innermost core, is
Bhakti).
Baba
elaborates on this truth:
"The
Atman is the inner core, it is the reality
that has to be contemplated upon... When
Krishna advises Arjuna to surrender all
activity to 'Me' and to take refuge in 'Me',
it is but an exhortation to spend every
moment in the awareness of the real Me, the
Atman, the Swaswaroopa." (**)
Baba says in
Prema
Vahini
"Only
through love can faith become steady; only
through faith can knowledge be gained; only
through knowledge can Parabhakti (complete
devotion, self-surrender) be ensured and only
through Parabhakti can the Lord be
realized."
"Jnanadevathu
Kaivalayam,"
says the Gîtâ
(knowledge
alone can confer
freedom).
Bhakti
clarifies the vision, cleanses the mind,
strengthens self-control and purifies thought,
so that the Lord may be reflected clear and
complete in the heart. Regarding the age-old
controversy on the relative status of the three
paths -
Bhakti,
Karma
and
Jnana
- that lead to God, Baba
writes,
"I
do not agree that Bhakti, Karma and Jnana are
separate. I do not place any one before the
other, nor will I accept a mixture of the
three. Karma is Bhakti; Bhakti is Jnana. A
piece of candy has taste, weight and shape;
the three cannot be separated. Each bit has
all the three; we do not find shape in one
bit, weight in another and sweetness in the
third. When the candy is placed on the
tongue, the taste, the weight and the shape
are simultaneously experienced. Similarly,
Jnana, Karma and Bhakti may be truly
experienced only as one
whole."
Karma
is love in action,
Jnana
is love experienced and
Bhakti
is love universally shared. Thus Baba dismisses
in one stroke all disputations about the
superiority of any one of these disciplines over
the other.
Cups
of Many Shapes
Baba has
silenced traducers of idol worship too. He says
that no one can adore the nameless, formless
absolute principle, without sacrificing one's
alloy in the crucible of devotion to that same
principle in a mentally cognisable and
acceptable form.
"No
one can be a Nirguna Jnani (knower of the
attributeless) without being a Saguna Bhakta
(worshipper of the attributeful)" He
says.
"Iswara
anugrahadeva pumsam adwaitha vasana," says
Sankara: It is only through God's own grace that
one can comprehend Him as being without name and
form.
In
'Prema Vahini' Baba says, "Idols serve the
same purpose as metaphors and similes in
poetry. They illustrate and illumine the
Divine."
He has also
said that idols are only artistic and attractive
containers which people use for quaffing the
nectar of divine effulgence.
"You
cannot quaff it without a cup. One person may
like to drink the delight in a 'blue cowherd
boy of Brindavan (Vrindâvana)' cup,
while another may relish it in a cup
depicting the ecstatic 'cosmic dancer' (Lord
Shiva) of Kailas. The choice may depend on
either hereditary predilection, or on
personal choice, or on a wave of spiritual
awareness. Whatever the reason or the shape
of the vessel, it serves the same high
purpose - to help imbibe the joy, the power,
the love, the wisdom and the splendor of the
one divine entity."
In the Bhakti
Sutra, Nârada
has said that a bhakta
(devotee) has no worldly worries for he has
surrendered himself to the
Lord.
Baba
writes, "This does not mean that he would sit
quiet. Service of man, for the bhakta, is
service of God, for he sees God in every man.
Free from the alternating waves of like and
dislike, worry and exaltation, the bhakta
sees the divine as the motivator in himself
and in others. He is ever-engaged in good
deeds for such is his basic nature. In
whatever he does, thinks or speaks, he
promotes lokasangraha (the welfare of
mankind). He has no worry or disappointment,
because for him it is God who provides,
performs, proposes, plans and
dispenses."
While the
monthly serials of
'Prema
Vahini'
in the
Sanathana
Sarathi
were percolating like fresh water into
desiccated hearts, another series of Baba's
articles was published in the same magazine to
remove the weeds of doubt growing wild therein.
They were collectively entitled
'Sandeha
Nivarini'.
Even in His teens and twenties, Baba took
delight in prodding those who gathered at His
feet to ask Him questions on spiritual matters.
These became the cues for dissertations, short
and long, with many an interspersed parable,
poem or song, to lead the questioners from
darkness to light.
Questions
Answered
I remember
many such question-answer sessions taking place
on the Chitravathi sands. Dayananda Sagar (a
lawyer), Vittal Rao (a sylviculturist), V.
Hanumantha Rao (a civilian officer), and a few
others, were prolific interrogators. Many
brought their doubts before Baba and prayed for
solutions. There were
pundits
and
sadhakas
from Venkatagiri, Yerpedu, Vyasasram,
Thiruvannamalai (Ramanasram), Pondicherry,
Kanhangad and Varkalai Narayanaguru Asram. They
returned happy and restful, for their problems
received Baba's clear analysis, deep diagnosis,
intimate unravelling and effective remedy. There
was, one day, a hoary monk from Rishikesh who
asked Baba with a touch of nonchalant conceit,
how to escape the coils of mâyâ.
Baba answered,
"Mâyâ
does not exist, until you look for it. Don't
look for it, it won't affect you. The image
of your face is inside the well only when you
peep to discover whether it is
there."
The monk
confessed to me later it was a reply he had
never received so far, and it had solved for him
a doubt that had haunted him for
years.
In
'Sandeha
Nivarini'
Baba says,
"I
am happy when anyone asks Me about things he
has not understood. Of course, you have every
right." Then he asks the pupil, "But are you
reflecting on the answers I give and are you
practising what has been told to you, with
the conviction born of faith?... What am I
here for? Is it not for explaining to you
things you do not know? Ask me without
hesitation or fear. I am always ready to
answer. Only, the enquiry must be earnest,
emerging out of a genuine desire to know and
to practise what is good."
It can be
revealed now that the 'bhakta' who visits Baba
with questions - personal, philosophic and
religious - in every chapter of
'Sandeha
Nivarini',
is a creation of the divine pen. Baba reveals
through this character, His infinite compassion
towards the Samsayatma,
the person afflicted with doubts. He poses the
problems and provides the answers. He
writes,
"bhakta!
I converse with you about every point you
place before Me, and allow many to take part
in this conversation. The sun's light falls
upon the mirror, the light from the mirror
upon the walls of the bungalow and the light
from the walls upon the eye. Similarly, this
'Sandeha Nivarini' has been planned in order
that the illumination of My teaching may fall
upon you and thence on to the pages of the
Sanathana Sarathi, so that the effulgence may
illuminate the world and bring light and
harmony into the heart of
mankind."
Dharma
Is the Refuge
The next book
to be serialised in the pages of the Sanathana
Sarathi was 'Dharma
Vahini'.
Baba says,
"Dharma
is like the river Saraswati, flowing unseen
beneath the deeper levels of human
consciousness, feeding the roots of activity,
filling the springs of thought, cleansing the
slushy eddies of feeling. When the river runs
dry or is clogged by greed and hate, the
avatar comes to let in a torrent of grace and
restore its fresh, free flow."
Buddha
declared that
Dharma
is the very basis of good life. He insisted that
everyone should surrender to its dictates so
that the misery that is ever at the heels of
life may be avoided. Ashoka (***),
the historic emperor, sweetened every law of his
empire with Dharma.
He inscribed on rock and pillar his
exhortations:
"Hitherto
my people and my forefathers went on
Vihara
yatras
(pleasure trips); hereafter I propose only
Dharma
yatras
(pilgrimages). Hitherto they gave
Dana
(charity, usually in the form of money);
hereafter they must give Dharma dana
(the gift of the knowledge of Dharma).
Hitherto they sought
Dig
vijaya
(conquest of territory); hereafter I exhort
them to relish Dharma
vijaya
(the triumph of righteousness)."
Ashoka knew
that
Dharma
sustains, strengthens and saves.
"Why should
man take to the path of
Dharma?"
asked Schopenhauer, and then replied to himself,
"To preach morality is easy; to lay the
foundation for morality is not." Faith in God,
who rewards the good and punishes the bad, was a
stout bulwark of Dharma for ages. But
secularism has undermined this faith. Baba,
however, in 'Dharma
Vahini'
has installed
Dharma
on an unshakable foundation as the unity of all
life, indeed, of creation:
"Whoever
conquers the ego and overcomes the natural
tendency to regard the body and its furniture
as his true self, is surely on the path of
Dharma, for he would soon discover the truth
behind all this scintillating multiplicity.
He would realise that the objective world is
like a gem-studded veil over
Brahman,
which is the one and only truth. Sarvam Khalu
Idam Brahman (All is verily Brahman). When
man is aware of this truth, there will be no
'other': all will be 'you'. Since you love
yourself most, your love will flow in full
measure towards all and encompass the living
and the non-living."
As a red
indian chief wrote to the president of the
United States of America in 1855,
"Every
part of this earth is sacred to my people -
every shining pine needle, every sandy shore,
every mist in the woods, every clearing and
every humming insect is holy in the memory and
experience of my people."
Dharma
has to be built on this deep understanding of
the depths of being.
"Build
your life," says Baba, "on the atmic plinth,
the faith that you are a wave upon the ocean
of bliss, a spark of the cosmic
intelligence." Then He asks, "When you
worship an idol, what is it that you really
do? First, a form of God is imprinted on your
mind. After that you meditate on His power,
grace and omnipresence, and project these
qualities upon the idol, thus enabling your
consciousness to transcend it and become
unaware of the lithic substance before you...
In the same manner, imprint onto your
consciousness that form of God which delights
you most and fills you with illumination, and
project that form on every man, beast, bird
and insect, on every tree and plant, on every
rock and rill; this Sadhana will make you
true, good and beautiful."
This is the
fundamental norm: Atmic awareness - the
unceasing remembrance of the one appearing to be
many. And to the question, "Am I my brother's
keeper?" often asked by those wearing
'I-glasses', Baba answers,
"You
are your brother; his health is your health;
your holiness is his. There is no difference or
distinction. If you swim, he swims; if he sinks,
it is you who
sink."
The
Source of Power
Baba does not
agree with the dictum, 'knowledge is power', for
knowledge may induce conceit, competition and
conflict. Instead He always emphasises that
'Character
is Power'
and, elaborating upon the basis of character, He
quotes the Bhagavad Gîtâ
(*4)
(Ch. 12, verses 13-19):
"The
man of character hates none, is kind and
compassionate, free from egotism, treats
pleasure and pain with equal unconcern,
behaves ever with forbearance, is ever
content, self-restrained and steady in his
conviction of the unity of the universe. He
has no feeling of harassment from the world
nor does he in any way harass the world. He
has no trace of anger, fear, anxiety or
exultation, nor is he bound by the chains of
infatuation or vengeance. He neither craves
nor grieves, but passes unscathed through
good repute and bad, welcoming both, heat and
cold. He is satisfied with fortune, be it
good or bad, and has no home which he is
loath to leave."
Seva
has two invaluable consequences: the negation of
the ego and the experience of kinship. Baba
reminds us that even charity is cruelty unless
one heart meets another in warm fraternity. The
fragrance of love and the sweetness of sincerity
must sanctify every act of
Seva.
Baba teaches us in the book 'Prasanthi
Vahini',
how
Dharma
can lighten the travails of family life and how
social life can become healthier and happier
through the regulation of relationships
according to Dharma.
Masters and servants, elders and youngsters,
teachers and students - all can benefit if
Dharma
prevails.
But the
ancient academies of
Dharma
have now become hotbeds of greed and jealousy.
"Beautiful
groves and fields are becoming thorny jungles
with no viable
path,"
says Baba. He lays down in some detail how
parents can preserve and promote the culture of
this land and save
Dharma
from pollution. He pleads for a revival of the
status of the village temple as a reservoir of
Dharma. He says,
"It
can, if maintained on ancient lines, circulate
sanctity and vitality through every vein and
nerve of the social
organism."
|Previous
|Next
|
Bhajans
(*)
Sanathana
Sarathi
(**)
BG, Chapter 18, verse 66:
sarva-dharmân
parityajya
mâm ekam saranam vraja
aham tvâm sarva-pâpebhyo
moksayisyâmi mâ sucah
sarva-dharman -- all varieties of religion;
parityajya -- abandoning; mam -- unto Me; ekam
-- only; saranam -- for surrender; vraja -- go;
aham -- I; tvam -- you; sarva -- all; papebhyah
-- from sinful reactions; moksayisyami -- will
deliver; ma -- do not; sucah -- worry.
Go,
leave the variety of religions behind for
surrendering to Me only; I will deliver you from
all the consequences of sin, don't
worry!
(***)
Ashoka, the most trusted son of Bindusara
and the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, was a
brave soldier. He was the most famous of the
Mauryan kings and was one of the greatest rulers
of India. Under his reign Buddhism spread to
Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, Central Asia, Burma.
For propagation of Buddhism, he started
inscribing edicts on rocks and pillars at places
where people could easily read them. These
pillars and rocks are still found in India,
spreading their message of love and peace for
the last two thousand years. To his ideas he
gave the name Dharma. Ashoka died in 232
BC.
(*4)
See BG:
12, verses
13-19
for the sanskrit verses:
(13-14) With no dislike towards anyone and
surely friendly and kind, nonpossessive, and not
identified, equal in distress and happiness,
forgiving, peaceful and always devoted,
selfcontrolled and with determination in mind
and intelligence always fixed on Me - such a
devotee of Mine is very dear to Me. (15)
Anyone of whom the people are never disturbed
and who is also not disturbed by the people; he
who is free from ups and downs, fears and
anxieties is very dear to Me. (16) Anyone
prepared for alternatives [neutral], who
is pure, capable, unworried, untroubled and does
not consider mundane endeavoring, such a devotee
of Mine is very dear to Me. (17) One who
never rejoices nor hates, never grieves nor
craves and remains detached for better or for
worse - one who is such a devotee is dear to
Me. (18-19) Equal to foe and friend, in
honor and dishonor, in heat and cold and in
happiness and distress and the same in absence
of company; not different in infamy and repute,
quiet and satisfied with anything, free from his
home and fixed in his determination as a devotee
a man is very dear to Me.
(*5)
The
story of Kuchela
The story of
Kuchela tells how one has to meditate on God, to
worship him and to honour him. Kuchela knew what
exactly had to be given to the Lord. The Lord
cares more for the feeling that accompanies the
gift, the attitude with which the offering is
made. He is not moved by the quantity or the
cost. Kuchela took a little
"beaten
rice"
and the Lord ate it with relish and was highly
pleased at the offering so full of Bhakthi
(devotion). The imprint of Bhakthi
(devotion) made the beaten rice
precious." "Give the Lord the fruit of prema
(love), that grows on the tree of
life. Develop the illumination of Prema and the
bats of grief, envy and egoism will fly away
into the far darkness."
In the Kuchela
episode the wife of Kuchela plays a more
important role than Kuchela himself. She had
much more bhakthi (devotion). In fact
women are more devoted than men, they can master
their mind better. It was her maternal love that
prompted her to send Kuchela to the Lord.
Kuchela hesitated and argued that Krishna may
not recognise him or remember him or invite him
or accept his homage. He was described in the
Bhagavatha as constantly engaged in meditation.
But then how can this doubt be explained? She
argued with him to give up all his doubts and
proceed at least as far as the gate of the
palace of Krishna. She was certain that Krishna
would call him in, if he took at least that
little trouble. Of course, fire warms all, but
one has to go near it, is it not? Staying away
you can not complain that the fire is not
warming you.
Once it was
decided that Kuchela would go, she took from the
place where she had hidden it for a rainy day, a
quantity of paddy. Just a handful, she put it in
boiling water, took it out, dried and then
frying it over the fire she pounded it with a
pestle to prepare the beaten rice, that Kuchela
said was Krishnaís favourite food while
at school. She tied it to a corner of the cloth
worn over the body and he moved on with his fear
increasing at every step. Such fear should be
absent in a genuine bhaktha. He must approach
the Lord as his right and earn the Grace that is
his due.
Of course the
Lord showers his mercy on all. So he called him
in with overwhelming joy and reminded him of the
happy days at school which they spent together
at the Guruís feet, and even while
Kuchela was trying to hide the offering tied to
the corner of his tattered cloth Krishna sought
out for the stuff and began eating it with great
relish. Bhakthi had made it very tasty to the
Lord.
It was related
that Rukmini Devi held his hand when he took the
third handful and the reason given usually by
the commentators is that she was afraid that all
the riches of the Lord would go over to Kuchela
if a few more handful were taken by the Lord.
What a silly idea! as if the riches of the Lord
are exhaustible, as if He would care if Bhakthas
carried all of it away, as if the Mother of the
universe is stingy in her gifts! This can never
be true! The real cause for her holding the hand
of Krishna was that she claimed her share of the
offering of the devoted heart. She wanted a
portion for herself as it was her right to have
a share.
Kuchela left
Dwaraka rather disappointed, because he was not
given any donation or promise of a donation. He
was sad when he remembered his family and the
starving children. He was lost in grief and so,
he passed his own house without noticing that it
had undergone a great change and had become over
night a big mansion. His wife, who saw him,
called him back and related how suddenly,
happiness had been showered upon them by
Krishnaís Grace.
Kuchelaís
sadhana started that day! Until then he was just
a ritualist, going through the outward forms of
the rites precribed in the Shastras. When he
realised how the Lord can through this
mahima, transform poverty to wealth, he
decided to win the Grace of God for securing
perpetual undiminished joy that is to say, he
got "Su-darshan"
that is the vision of what is good for him. And
in the midst of the treasures that now filled
his residence he lived a life of an ascetic
without any attachment. He knew that it was all
a dream, the riches now and the poverty
then.
On one
occasion even Kuchela doubted Krishna. He
thought that although Krishna was his childhood
friend, now that he was a very rich and powerful
king, Krishna may not even recognise him.
Kuchela was very agitated. However
Kuchelaís wife never had such doubt and
she encouraged him to go and see Krishna, who
has a very broad mind and would never forget His
friends. After passing through such doubts and
several tribulations, Kuchela entered
Krishnaís mansion. Krishna welcomed him
heartily and honoured him. Even without being
asked, Krishna gave a lot of material wealth and
a lot of Grace to Kuchela. The moment
Godís Grace is showered, one will forever
forget his own desires.
After this
Kuchela returned to his home and to his great
surprise, found his poor home transformed into a
big mansion. He explained to his wife how he was
treated by Krishna and said, "He received me
as if He was longing to meet me and He showed
such Kindness that He appeared as kindness and
compassion personified. He accepted a small
quantity of parched rice from this poor Kuchela
and showered on us this large mansion."
If
you can give the Lord even a small quantity, He
returns it back manifold.