Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

India is the sanctum sanctorum of truth, virtue, peace, and love (sathya, dharma, shanthi, and prema); she has been holding forth these ideals and emphasising their practice for centuries. Bharath (India) means the land that has rathi (attachment) to bha or Bhagavan (God); it means that the people here are God-loving, not so much God-fearing. If you love God, you have to love humanity also. This teaching that truth is the basis of virtue, which lays down individual and social duties and obligations, and that truth is also the root of love and peace - this is the unique feature of Bharath.

Sathya (truth) is enough; no other God need be worshipped. Here, in the spiritual teacher’s house and hermitages (gurukulams and rishi-ashrams), the emphasis has always been on practice, conduct, and deliberation. Use your reason; it is a God-given gift. Determine yourself whether the prescription will cure you. Then follow also the course of discipline that is recommended with the particular drug. Then you gain bliss (ananda), full, free, undiminishable. The people of Bharath (India) have been receiving this teaching from the cradle to the grave for ages.

Sundaramurthy had arranged a “grand” procession for Me from his institute to this stadium, for today he is celebrating the Silver Jubilee of his institute! Let Me tell you this now itself: I do not like this pomp and show. I do not derive any joy out of it. Pomp such as this has become a fashion now, even among ascetics and monks who ought to know better. They profess poverty and simplicity, and yet, they allow or encourage their disciples to waste much energy and money on pomp and pageantry, which serve only to develop the egoism of themselves and their followers. The emphasis on show makes a thing hollow of all meaning. The misery of the present age is largely due to this empty ritual of insincere demonstrations.

You should all resolve to maintain the honour and dignity of the country, which is your responsibility. Bharath (India) is entitled to be the guru (preceptor) of the world. Hers is no mean history. This is the land of Krishna, where the Vedas and the Upanishads saw the light, where Sankaracharya established monasteries for the propagation of the Sanathana Dharma (Eternal Universal Religion). This land will be saved, for it has a mission to perform, which no other can fulfill. Don’t yield to silly fears that this or that country will endanger Bharath’s freedom. That is impossible. The Avatar of the Lord has come, and the effect will be safety for this holy land. Live the life that was held forth as the ideal by the sages of the past, and happiness is ensured. That kind of life will give internal contentment and quiet calm.

Prayer is a more powerful force than military reinforcements; if made with a sincere heart, a prayer will be certainly answered. It will strengthen the hands of the people of this land more than any other source of encouragement. It will join the hearts of the people more than lectures or pamphlets can do. What is the use of trying for the unity of mankind or the union of this continent or that, with so many factions and misunderstandings festering this country? Become united yourselves sincerely and firmly before advising others to close up their ranks. Repent for the faults of partisanship committed by you, and begin a new chapter of brotherly cooperation. Sundaramurthy and his friends and coworkers are happy today because of the “Silver Jubilee”. It is a festival for the institute.

But I consider the festival of the Atma to be more magnificent. The Atma has an eternal festival! It is bliss-filled (ananda-swarupa). It is beyond time, so it does not calculate the passage of time. How can one celebrate a festival, let Me ask, while afflicted by body falsehoods, sense falsehoods, mind falsehoods, and world falsehoods? One believes the falsehoods that are named the body, the senses, the mind, the world! One pursues them and tastes joy and grief, and, when a certain number of years is passed in the pastime, one celebrates a festival!

This is illusory power (maya) within the great worldly illusion (maya). I have not come to announce to you that this institute has finished twenty-five years of existence. I am concerned with the spiritual arts, the finest arts, rather than the fine arts. I want Sundaramurthy to depict spiritually elevating subjects in dance, like Radha and Krishna and their sublime relationship, which is beyond the ken of people. One must give up themes such as drunkards, evil men, power-drunk personalities, and clowns, which cater to vulgar tastes.

Adjust all items of dance and dramatic representation to the spiritual urge in humanity; foster it, fertilise it, and take people a little nearer to the Goal. The human being is a compound of animal and angel, we can say. The human has in it the wolf, the monkey, the bullock, the jackal, the snake, the peacock, the bear - but beneath all these, the pure spark of Divinity is there too. It is the duty of all who cater to the senses to transform the low values now pervading and transmute them into higher values. The rulers must also canalise the enthusiasm and imagination of the people along healthy lines.