Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Without assimilating this truth in the heart, the individual soul is immersed in the aims of today and tomorrow, based on the assumption that the body is all important. It thus lays the foundations for worldly attachment, so it is born again and again with body and continues to have the vision (darshan) of Yama!

It is the right of the aspirant (sadhaka) to have the vision of Siva and not the sight of death (Yama-darshan)!

The aspirant won’t wish for or even contemplate it. Only those who have this relationship of the body (deha) and the individual (jiva) are human. And those who have realised this principle won’t flag even to the slightest extent in their spiritual discipline.

These days, people are content to visualise and experience evanescent worldly joys. People have no rest.

Spending the nights in sleep and days in eating and drinking, they grow and grow, until, in old age, death pursues them. Then, they can’t decide where to go or what to do; all senses have weakened. No one, nothing can rescue them, so they end as obedient meat in the jaws of death!

How sad it is that this human life, precious as an invaluable diamond that can’t be priced at all, has been cheapened to the standard of a worn-out worthless coin! After wasting time without profit, there is no use repenting without meditating on God or practising some spiritual discipline to realise Him. What is the use in planning a well when the house is on fire? When is it to be dug? When will water become available? When is the fire to be extinguished? It is an impossible task! If, at the very start, a well was ready, how helpful it would be on such critical occasions! Beginning to contemplate on God during the last moments is like beginning to dig the well when the house is on fire.

So, it will stand you in good stead when the end approaches to equip yourself, right now, by contemplating God off and on. Start today the spiritual discipline that has to be done tomorrow! Start now the spiritual discipline that has to be done today! One doesn’t know what is in store the next moment; therefore, there should be no delay in engaging oneself in the spiritual practice that has to be done. Physical stamina is also necessary for this spiritual practice, so the body has to be tended, though overtending causes damage. To the degree that is essential, it should be looked after with great care.

This human birth is very difficult to attain. It cannot be got for a song. The body is like a caravanserai; the mind is its watchman and the individual soul (jivi) is the pilgrim. Thus, no one of these has any kinship with the others. The pilgrim is bound for Salvation City (Moksha-puri). For a trouble-free journey, there is nothing as reliable as repeating the name of God (nama-smarana), the remembrance of the name of the Lord. Once the sweetness of that name has been experienced, the person won’t have exhaustion, unrest, or sloth but will fulfil the pilgrimage of spiritual practice joyfully, enthusiastically, and with deep conviction. Still, to achieve this spiritual practice, righteousness (sadbhava) is very important. Without fear of sin, righteousness can’t originate, and love of God can’t develop either. This fear produces devotion, which results in worship of the Lord.

Stupidity is the root cause of one’s downfall. It is like sheep-ishness! When one rolls into a pit, all fall into the same pit. That is ruinous. Avoiding this, it is better to think about the good and bad, the pros and cons of whatever is done, and then jump. Death won’t pass anyone by, whoever that person is. It continues to threaten all - if it’s another’s turn today, it’s yours tomorrow.

Look at the blossoms in the garden! When the gardener plucks the flowers, the buds exult that tomorrow is their turn to be gathered into the gardener’s hands, and their faces are full of joy when they unfold in that hope. Do they feel any sadness? Do their faces droop? Are they any the less bright? No. The moment they know that the next day is their turn, they make themselves ready with great gusto and excitement.

In the same way, be ready on the path of spiritual practice, enthusiastically remembering the name of the Lord, without worrying and feeling sad that your turn is tomorrow or so because someone died today.

The body is like a tube of glass. Inside it, the mind is ever changeful and restless. Seeing its antics, death keeps laughing. The bird - the individual soul (jiva) - is in the nine-holed pot. It is a wonder how the bird has a body; how it came into the pot, and how it rises up and goes. The gods, the sages, and people (naras) of the nine continents (khandas) and the nine divisions of the terrestial world (dwipas) are all undergoing the sentence of carrying about with them the burden of the body. Now, of these, who are the friends and who the enemies? When egotism dies out, all are friends; there are then no enemies. This lesson has to be remembered by all.

People experience joy and misery through the ear. Therefore, avoiding the cruel arrows of hard words, one should use sweet, pleasant and soft ones - and with that softness, add the sweetness of truth. Making the word soft by adding falsehood only clears the way for more misery. A person who has become a spiritual aspirant should use very soft, sweet, true, and pleasant words. Such a person can be recognised by their good qualities.

Thus, of those who have become spiritual aspirants, the mind (manas) is Mathura (birthplace of Krishna), the heart (hridaya) is Dwaraka (Krishna’s capital), and the body (deha) is Kasi (Benares).

It is possible to realise the supreme Effulgence (Paramjyothi) at the seat of the tenth gate. But all efforts are of no avail if the heart is not pure. Look at the fish! Living as it does perpetually in water, has it rid itself of its foul smell to any extent? No. Inclinations (vasanas) won’t disappear as long as one’s heart is full of the illusion of egotism, even if one is immersed in many heart-purifying spiritual disciplines. Such people, if they want to get rid of the feeling of “I” and “mine”, must worship the Lord (Hari). They must become spiritual aspirants, without likes and dislikes. Modifications (vikaras) like these can’t coexist in the same heart with the aspirant’s nature.

Light and darkness can never coexist at the same place, at the same time, right?

One whose heart is ruled by the group of six passions can have only ego (ahamkara) as counselor (manthri)!

Those who have such a counselor are worse than foolish, however great they claim to be as pundits, aspirants, or renunciants (sanyasins).

Can a donkey carrying perfume become an elephant? Can an ass change into an elephant simply by carrying a bundle of sandalwood? It can appreciate the weight but not the scent! But the elephant pays no regard to the weight; it inhales the sweet scent, right? So too, the spiritual aspirant, renunciant, or devotee will take in only the pure truth, the pure essence of good activities, of Godliness, and of the scriptures, Vedas, and Upanishads. On the other hand, one who goes on arguing for the sake of mere scholarship, learning, and disputation will know only the weight of logic and missing the scent of truth! Onlookers may praise one as the embodiments of the scriptures and Vedas, but where even the essentials are lacking, how can there be an embodiment? For those in search of the essence, the burden is no consideration. If mere reason is employed, nothing worthwhile is gained. Love (prema) is the one big instrument for the constant remembrance of the Lord. Keeping that instrument safe and strong needs no other appliance than the scabbard of discrimination (viveka).

Many in the world utilise their vast learning in disputations and believe they are superior; this is a great mistake. If they really were so learned, there would not be so much disputation at all. They would assume silence as the honourable course, because those exalted in learning will have experienced the essence of the Vedas, scriptures, and Upanishads. They will see that the nature of that essence, its core, the purity of the Godhead it proclaims, are all One, however one may realise It. They know that God appears in whatever form He is taken to have and that He manifests in action to anyone the feelings that that person associates with Him.

What is important is not the acquisition of argumentativeness but the acquisition of single-mindedness, equanimity, and freedom from likes and dislikes. Why have all these spiritual disciplines, this chanting, meditation, devotional singing, etc.? Isn’t it for acquiring single-mindedness, one-pointedness? Once that onepointedness has been earned, human effort becomes unnecessary, its inner significance will then be revealed.

So, those eager to become spiritual aspirants, to attain salvation, should not yield to arguments and counterarguments.

They should not be enticed by the wiles of bad feeling. They should see their own faults and not repeat them again. They should guard and protect the one-pointedness they have acquired, with their eyes fixed on the goal they are after, dismissing as trash whatever difficulties, defeats, and disturbances they encounter on their path. They must dwell on subjects that would give enthusiasm and joy and not waste valuable time building up doubts regarding all things, big and small.

Whatever else is important, these two have to be attended to as essential: (1) the conceit that knows everything and (2) doubt whether It is or is not. These are the two chief enemies of the spiritual aspirant. But what does it matter who these enemies are? Simply decide for yourself to be firmly fixed in your reality. If that is pure, everything is pure. If that is true, everything is true.

If you wear blue eyeglasses, you see only blue, even though nature is resplendent with many colours, right?

If the world appears to you as with differences, that is due only to the fault in you. If all appears as one love (prema), that too is only your love. For both of these, the feeling in you is the cause. It is only because you have faults within you that you see the world as faulty. When there is no knowledge of fault in yourself, no fault can be found even by search, for you wouldn’t know which are the faults.

Now, the question may arise whether the Lord Himself has faults because He also searches for faults. But how can it be said that the Lord searches for faults? He searches only for goodness, not for faults and sins. Those are based on the standard of the qualities (gunas) of each. The Lord won’t examine the wealth, family, caste, status, or sex. He sees only the righteousness (sadbhava). He considers those endowed with such righteousness as deserving His grace, whoever they are, whatever they are.

Therefore, develop righteousness, goodness. Live and act in joy and love. These two are sufficient; with them, salvation can be attained without fail.

Humans are full of love (prema). Their hearts are springs of mercy. They are endowed with true speech.

Peace is the characteristic of the mind of humans. It is the innate quality of the mind. In searching for peace there is no need to go anywhere else. Just as gold and silver lie hidden under the earth and pearl and coral under the sea, peace and joy lie hidden in the activities of the mind. Desirous of acquiring these hidden treasures, if one dives and turns mental activities inward, one becomes full of love. Only one who has so filled themself with love and who lives in the light of that love can be called human. Those devoid of love are demons, monsters, subhumans.

That holy quality of love will not remain unmanifested off and on; it will be ever present, without change. It is one and indivisible. Those saturated with love are incapable of spite, selfishness, injustice, wrong, and misconduct.

But in those who have no love, these latter qualities are always above everything else.

The demons (danavas) are those who trample on love and consider inferior qualities as important, while the humans (manavas) are those who consider love as the only quality to be fostered and inferior qualities as snakes to be destroyed. Bad conduct and bad habits distort the humanness of people. Hearts filled with the nectar of love indicate genuine humanity in people. By love (prema) is meant love that is unsullied, unselfish, devoid of impurity, and continuous.

The difference between human (manava) and demon (danava) is only ma and da! But the letter ma is soft, sweet, and immortal in symbolism, while the sound da is merciless, lawless, and burning. Are they humans who have no sweetness in them and who endeavour to suppress the craving for immortality? Theirs is the nature of demons, though the form is human! For the character and not the form is primary. How can those with human form be called humans if they have no kindness and no rightness, and if they have the nature of demons? No; they cannot be called so.

The sentences in my discourse are addressed not on the basis of form but on the qualities of people. Among people, there are demons in plenty! Humans and demons look alike, but their qualities make them distinguishable as human and demon. Humans engage in soft and sweet deeds of kindness, rightness, love, and truth; they are witnesses to the possibility of realising and manifesting one’s immortality. Their good nature is resplendent on their faces as bliss (ananda). But without that goodness, even if they are infatuated with joy their faces will indicate only the destructive fire of the demon; they won’t have the grace of spiritual bliss.

During the Thretha era (yuga), when Narada asked Sri Ramachandra about the nature and characteristics of His servants and of the spiritual aspirants, He answered, “Listen O Narada! People who are my slaves are full of love; they always stand by righteousness (dharma); they speak the truth; their hearts melt with mercy; they are devoid of wrong; they avoid sin; their nature is wellfounded; they will renounce everything gladly; they eat in moderation; they are engaged in doing good to others; they have no selfishness; they aren’t worried by doubts. They won’t lend their ears to flattery but are eager to listen to the praise of the good nature of others. They have beautiful, strong, and holy character. Spiritual aspirants are those who endeavour to acquire such qualities and possess such a character.

“Now I shall tell you about those who are dear (priya) to me: Anyone who is engaged in repetition of the name (japa), penance (tapas), and vows (vratha), anyone who has self-control (samyama) and discipline (niyama), anyone who has faith, patience, comradeship, kindness, and joy as well as unalloyed love (prema) toward me - such a person is dear to me.

Now, about my real devote. Whoever with discrimination and renunciation (viveka and vairagya), humility and wisdom (vinaya and vijnana) is aware of the knowledge of Reality, whoever is always immersed in the contemplation of my divine play (leela), whoever dwells on my name at all times and under all conditions, and whoever sheds tears of love whenever the Lord’s name is heard from any lip - these are my genuine devotees.” Thus did Sri Rama answer Narada. So the Lord will protect in all ways and at all times those who worship Him in complete and uncontaminated devotion (bhakthi) - just as a mother protects her infants, a cow saves her calf from danger, and the eyelids guard the eyes effortlessly and automatically.

When the infant grows up into an adult, the mother won’t pay so much attention to its safety. So too, the Lord doesn’t pay much attention to the wise one (jnani). The devotee of form (sa-guna bhaktha), like an infant of the Lord, has no strength except the strength of the Lord. For the realized soul (jnani), their own strength is enough.

Therefore, until one can rely on one’s own strength, one must be an infant in the Lord’s Hands, as a devotee of the form, right? No one can become a devotee of the formless Supreme (nir-guna bhaktha) without having been a devotee of the form.

So, devotees should grow up like infants in the lap of the mother and, thereafter, become realized souls who can rely on their “own” strength and be free. Still, both have the same source of strength, the Mother. Those indeed are really fortunate who grasp this secret of the path of devotion, who develop one-pointed devotion and straighten the traits of their character, who transform themselves into infants in the lap of the Lord, and who get everything done as He wishes.

Therefore, those who yearn to be devotees, servants, dear ones (priyas), and one-pointed devotees should take up the corresponding path and name and live accordingly. The devotee should develop the above-said characteristics of devotion; the dear ones should follow the love (prema) of the Lord; the one-pointed devotee has to surrender completely to the Lord.

Mere reading and rolling on the tongue are of no avail. Spiritual bliss (ananda) is the result only of action.

This bliss is not dependent on caste or race or sex. Even in those days, while Sri Rama was gladly partaking of the feast of roots and fruits selected and reserved by Sabari for him after tasting every individual item herself, she asked him, “Lord! I am but a woman. Moreover, I am of feeble intellect. Above all, I am low-born. How can I praise You? I don’t know what to do or how!” Sri Rama smiled and said, “Sabari! My mission is only the kinship of devotion. I have no kinship of race or caste. Of what use is it to have status, wealth, and character but no devotion? Like the cloud that does not bear rain, which wanders about in the sky, people without devotion are at the mercy of the winds, however much status in caste, wealth, power, and fame they may possess. Devotees reach me through nine paths; any one of the nine paths takes them to Me.” Then, Sabari prayed Sri Rama to tell her the nine paths, and Sri Rama responded thus:

1. Listening to stories about God (sravanam)
2. Singing the name (kirtanam)
3. Remembrance of God (Vishnoh-smaranam)
4. Serving the holy feet (pada-sevanam)
5. Reverence toward nature and all life (vandanam)
6. Worship (archanam)
7. Dedication, servitude (dasyam)
8. Befriending (sneham)
9. Surrender to the Self (Atma-nivedanam)

The devotee who sincerely practises any one of these paths can attain Me. I am bound by these nine forms of devotion (bhakthi). That is why you have been able to so easily obtain this opportunity of seeing, touching, and speaking with Me, an opportunity that even yogis find too difficult to get. You have realised life’s purpose today.