Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

[In the poem that Baba composed impromptu and sang before commencing His speech, Heannounced Himself as Shri Natha, Loka Natha and Anatha Natha (Lord of Lakshmi, of theworld and of the helpless), the same He, who saved the Gajendhra, the boy Dhruva, the poorKuchela and the helpless Prahladha!]

THE hearts of bhakthas gathered here are all blossoming now like lotuses when the sun rises, for they believe this is the day when the Lord was born in human form. I may tell them that every day is Janmotasavam, a Brahmothsavam, an Anandhotsavam (different kinds of festivals), at Puttaparthi; as well as wherever bhakthas are. The Nirakara (the Formless) comes in Narakara (form of man) when the virtue of the good and the vice of the wicked reach a certain stage. Prahladha's devotion and his father's disregard both had to ripen before Narasimhaavathara could take place. To know the truth of the avathar, the sadhaka must culture the mind, as the ryot does the field. He has to clear the field of thorny undergrowth, wild creepers and tenuous roots. He has to plough the land, water it and sow the seeds well. He has to guard the seedlings and tender plants from insect pests as well as from the depredations of goats and cattle; he has to put up a fence all round. So too, egoism, pride and greed have to be removed from the heart; sathya, japa, dhyana (truth, repetition of the Lord's name and meditation), form the ploughing and the levelling; prema is the water that has to soak into the t;eld and make it soft and rich; nama is the seed and bhakthi is the sprout; kama and krodha are the cattle and the fence is discipline; anandha is the harvest.

Of course, you will get faith in God only when you have yourselves discovered that the universe must have a creator, a protector, an agency for both evolution and involution or a power that exercises all these three functions. To grasp that idea, the heart must be pure, the mind must be clear. For this, karma is very important. The Karmakanda (section dealing with rituals) in the Vedas is the major part of the shruthi, for jnana is but the final stage of karma. The army will have many soldiers but only just a handful of officers; so too, karmas are many, and they all obey the jnani. Of the hundred parts of the Vedas, 80 will be karma, 16 upasana and 4 jnana. Karma has to be done for educating the impulses and training the feelings. Then, you develop the attitude of upasana, of humility before the great unknown, and finally, you realise that the only reality is you, which is the same as He. You hear nowadays of equality (Samanathwa), of each being equal to the rest. This is wrong notion, for we find the parents and children differently equipped; when one is happy, the other is miserable; there is no equality in hunger or joy. Of course all are equally entitled to love and sympathy, and to the grace of God. All are entitled to the medicines in the hospital; but what is given to one should not be given to another. There can be no equality in the doling out of medicine! Each deserves the medicine that will cure him of his illness. I know that this struggle in the name of equality is only one of the ways in which man is trying to get anandha. In almost all parts of the world, man is today pursuing many such short-cuts and wrong paths of achieve anandha. But let Me tell you, without reforming conduct, daily behaviour, the little acts of daily life, anandha will be beyond reach. I consider pravarthna (practice), as essential.

A man or an institution is to be judged by his or its integrity, whether acts are according to the principles professed. The mind, the body, the word - all three must work in unison. By such disciplined karma the senses will be sublimated and Prasanthi won; then, out of this Prasanthi will arise prakanthi (the great light), and from that will emerge Param-jyothi (the suprasplendour or illumination). That illumination will reveal Param-atma (the Oversoul), the Universal.

Now, I am hoisting on this Prasanthi Nilayam the Prasanthi Flag, according to the convention that has grown here, like the conventions in the material plane. The flag represents the spiritual discipline I have laid down for you: conquest of kama and krodha, achievement of prema and the practice of japa yoga, leading to the blossoming of the lotus of the heart and the emergence of the jyothi of jnana therein. When I hoist it over the Nilayam, you should convert your hearts into Prasanthi Nilayams and hoist the flag there too, and keep it flying.