Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

IT is a rare privilege to be born as a human being. Man is endowed with a gentle heart and a sweet mind. He is gifted with precious time. But it is unfortunate that man is unable to recognize his true nature. One cannot be called a human being just because one has a human body. Man is, in fact, the very form of the Virat Swarupa (the Cosmic Person).

He is the repository of all powers that pervade the cosmos. But he is unable to recognize his own capabilities and does not make use of even a small fraction of them.

Today man is devoid of peace and happiness. Why is it so? How is it that man endowed with a precious and rare life, a soft heart, a sweet mind and valuable time is unable to enjoy the benefits of these valuable possessions and enjoy peace? Unaware of his innate potential and forgetting his true nature, man becomes narrow-minded, selfish and suffers from lack of mental peace. In fact, he is being gobbled by the demon of selfishness.

Ancient man led a very peaceful and happy life. Restlessness of the mind was alien to him because he adhered to Sathya and Dharma. Why does man today lack peace of mind? What is it that contributes to the transformation of human heart? As is the fire, so is the smoke; as is the smoke, so is the cloud; as is the cloud, so is the rain; as is the rain, so is the crop; as is the crop, so is the food and as is the food, so is the mind. Even the habits of eating and drinking of men today are not proper.

What is the true ornament of man? Lotuses are the ornaments of lakes. Houses and buildings are the ornaments of villages and towns. The waves of the ocean are its ornaments. The moon beautifies the sky. Character is the true ornament of man. The loss of this ornament is the source of all his suffering and misery. Man does not realize the purpose for which he has been created by God. God’s creation is endowed with several truths, mysteries and ideals. But man has forgotten these ideals. He is unable to appreciate the significance of his legacy. Of all the powers in the world, human power is the greatest. In fact, it is man who assesses the value of all the materials of the world. Who gives value to a diamond or, for that matter, to gold? Who attaches value to land? Is it not man? Man assigns value to everything in this world, but he is unable to recognize his own value. Then how can he ever understand the value of divinity? First of all, man has to realize the values of human life. Only then will he be in a position to understand divinity. God does not reside in paradise or Kailasa. These are His temporary camping stations. The true dwelling place of God is the heart of man. You don’t need to go in search of God. He is not in a foreign land. Similarly, sin does not exist in some foreign land; it is attached to your actions. Not being able to recognize your innate divinity is ajnana (ignorance). You have to enquire into the reason for this ignorance. This is mainly because you follow pravritti marga (outward path) all your life under the influence of sense organs, which are projected outward. You are not making any effort to follow nivritti marga (inward journey). All that you see, hear or think are outward acts. In fact, everything that you do is outward. Thus, you are fully engrossed in the outward activities and are completely neglecting the inward path.

You need to make an effort to understand the value of man. In fact, there is no divinity other than that present in man. Thus, first it is necessary to understand man before you can even attempt to understand divinity. In fact, there is no difference between man and divinity. Man is God; God is man. There is only difference of perception. You see the world with a worldly view and do not recognize the divinity that pervades it. You have to make an effort to change your vision from outward to inward to perceive this divinity.

Here is a rose. From the worldly point of view it is just a flower. But, from the divine point of view it is the flower of the heart. Wherefrom do you have this capacity to perceive the shape and smell of a rose? It is from the Divine. Your inability to perceive the omnipresent divinity is the main cause of all the pains and miseries you suffer in this world.

Madalasa imparted the knowledge of this basic truth to her children from their childhood. She told them, “My dear children, you are not this physical body. Do not mistake physical things for spiritual realities. Don’t become a victim of delusion due to your attachment. This delusion gives you the mistaken impression of the physical reality. Just as the dream state disappears when you wake up from sleep, the delusion caused by moha (attachment) disappears when you awaken into the state of jnana (wisdom).” Moha Makes You Forget Your True Form When do you get dreams? You attribute dreams to your food or your thoughts. But this is not true. Give up this attachment of samsara (world) and wake up from the sleep of delusion. Moha makes you forget your true form. If there is no sleep at all, there is no dream possible. Therefore, sleep is the main cause of dreams. For the dream of ajnana (ignorance), avidya (lack of true knowledge) is the cause. Therefore, do not fall into the sleep of avidya. Teaching this way, she transformed all her children into great Yogis.

Human birth has not been gifted to man merely to indulge in worldly pleasures. None of the worldly pleasures is capable of conferring true satisfaction. They only increase your desires more and more.

Therefore, man should give up worldly desires and recognize the principle of divinity.

From the physical and worldly point of view, today marks the beginning of the year 2000. This is not a universal measure of time as it is restricted only to a particular calendar. Moreover, it applies only to vyashti (individual) and not to samashti (cosmos) because cosmos is beyond worldly time frame while individual is bound by time and space. Cosmos, in fact, is divinity itself. The individual is jeeva while the cosmos is deva (divinity). From the point of view of divinity, 2000 years form merely an infinitesimal speck. Several million years have gone by in the past. Hence, 2000 years carry little significance from this aspect. 2000 years have passed from the era of Jesus Christ. What about the hundreds of thousand years that have preceded the advent of Christ? Some of the names of months of English calendar are related to various Roman kings and Greek gods and goddesses. Periods of time have been named after humans, but the truth about human nature is being ignored.

Man is the very embodiment of divinity. In the word manava (man), the three letters stand for: ‘ma’ - ajnana (ignorance), ‘na’ - without, ‘va’ - to act. So, man is one who acts without ignorance. There is another way in which this word can be interpreted. ‘ma’ - not, ‘nava’ - new, i.e., man is not new. He is purathana (ancient) and sanathana (eternal). Man has been in existence for countless number of years.

Disputes about dates are meaningless. Every second is the birth of a new year. Seconds add up to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days, days to months and months to years. Every second of your life is new. Thus, there is no particular sanctity about the beginning or ending of a year. There are people who attribute special significance to this day and speculate on some extraordinary or awesome events to take place. The time or date is not the cause of your happiness or misery. Your own Karma (actions) in the past is the cause of both your happiness and misery. As is the seed, so are the plant and fruit; they cannot be different. Do not waste your mental energy in speculations of this or that happening.

When actions performed by you are proper and pure, you will get good results only.

On the whole, the coming year would be good for all of you. Actually, today is the beginning of the year 2000 and the ending of the year 1999. The year 2000 will end on 31st December. So, the consequences of the past years will be unfolded during this period. This period is going to be generally beneficial for the people of this country as well as for the rest of the world. The first three months, January to March, may have some ups and downs. Why? For man on the earth, time relates to the motion of the planets around the sun. Some other subtle phenomena of non-material nature are also associated with these physical phenomena. Some changes in the subtle phenomena may take place in the first three months of the New Year and may carry with them some favourable as well as adverse consequences. But after March 2000, there will definitely be a better and stable period. But this does not mean that people should do nothing and merely wait for that period; effort from your side is not to be left under any circumstances.

Today human values are on the decline. There is no trace of love anywhere. Truth and righteousness are hard to find. In these conditions, how can peace manifest? If you give some gold to a goldsmith, you can get any ornament made as per your choice. Hiranyagarbha is another name for God. Hiranya means gold. If you place this divine gold in your heart, you can make any ornament of your choice like santhi (peace), sathya (truth) and dharma (righteousness). Just as no ornaments can be made without gold, you cannot obtain santhi, sathya or dharma without divinity. Hiranyagarbha is immanent in everyone. That is why Swami calls everyone ‘Bangaru’ (gold). Only when you recognize this truth and have the firm conviction of immanence of God, will you obtain all kinds of benefits in your life. But you have forgotten the indwelling divinity, and are running after external objects. It is impossible to have success in life in this way. Therefore, first of all, develop faith in God.

Since ancient times, Bharat has been disseminating the knowledge of divinity to the rest of the world. The culture of Bharat is truly great. But, unfortunately, very few are recognizing this fact. The students are also not trying to understand its significance and sanctity. Our culture is divine, pure and ever new. Its scriptures set great ideals for mankind. Take, for example, the story of the Mahabharata. The priority of the Pandavas was God first, world next and themselves last. On the other hand, the priority of the Kauravas was themselves first, world next and God last. As a consequence, not only did the Kauravas lose God, they lost their life also. God should be your first priority. With such an attitude, no danger will touch you. With God in your mind and heart, serve your country.

Your country and your body are not different from each other. Both are composed of the same five elements. They are inseparably interrelated and totally interdependent. They are like mirror images of each other. Try to recognize this truth. The youth of today are the leaders of the future. If the future is to be prosperous, the modern youth should perform their duties with firm faith in God. You are not separate from the country, but a part of it. Have the firm conviction that this country belongs to you. But, unfortunately, patriotism is a scarce virtue in the youth of today. One who does not say with pride, this is my motherland, this is my mother tongue, this is my religion can be compared to a living corpse. (Telugu Poem) Every person, whichever country he may belong to, should have patriotism firmly ingrained in his heart. Abdicating their duty towards their motherland, people go to other countries and become completely alienated. How can such people ever understand divinity?

Just as without cotton, there can be no cloth, similarly, there can be no world without God. Do not mistake this deha (transient body) as real. It is the dehi (indwelling divinity) that is the true reality. This divinity is beyond birth and death; the one without any beginning, middle or end. This birthless, deathless God is the eternal witness of the entire cosmos. Recognise this truth.

You are celebrating this day as the beginning of the New Year 2000. Do not consider that the year 2000 is related only to the Christians. Do not have any such narrow distinctions. Humanity in the whole world is one. All men of all countries belong to one race, the race of humanity. Keep this truth firmly in your heart. You must recognize that human birth is a rare occurrence. Consider time as highly valuable. The heart must be soft and the mind must be sweet. Human mind, which is supposed to be sweet, has become highly poisonous today, because man is allowing it to indulge in sensual pleasures, which are like deadly poison. Do not poison your nectarous mind by associating it with the objects of your senses. By doing so, you are making your soft heart also hard like stone. Do not waste time. Time is the very form of God. Hence, it is said in the Vedas: Kalaya Namah, Kala Kalaya Namah, Kala Darpa Damanaya Namah, Kalatheetaya Namah. God is the master of time. He transcends time. Therefore, have firm faith in God and not in your body. The body is impermanent. It grows and declines with the passage of time.

You are considering this day as very sacred.

“Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavati” (as you think so you become). In any event, the year 2000 is not bad in any sense. It will promote very high ideals and propagate divine principles. It will foster the principle of unity. In a very short time, all the people of the world are going to be united. Today you consider America, Russia, Japan, China, Pakistan, and India as separate from each other. Very soon there will be unity amongst all these countries. Even those whom you consider as your worst enemies are going to become your best friends. You should not hate anybody. You are all brothers and sisters. In a short time, you are all going to witness the “Brotherhood of Man and Fatherhood of God.” With a pure heart, all of you should pray for this to happen at the earliest.

There are many people in the world in great distress. The people who have been recently hijacked were under a severe strain. Prayer is the only remedy for the alleviation of such misery. There is nothing in the world that cannot be achieved by prayer. Prayer melts the hardest hearts. Pray wholeheartedly, “Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu” (May the whole world be happy). Do not pray only for the welfare of your family, friends and relatives. Such narrow-minded prayers are futile. Your prayers should be for the welfare of all people in all the countries of the world.

The one principle that you have to uphold and develop is that of love. When love dominates, there is no room for hatred. If there is no feeling of love earlier, at least sow the seeds of love now. The Gopikas prayed to Krishna:

You must sow the seed of love in loveless hearts. Water it with love. Let love flow in a flood and reach all. You should cultivate this pure, steady, unselfish love in this New Year. Modern man directs his love towards wordly objects and gets entangled in several complications. “Love lives by giving and forgiving, self lives by getting and forgetting.” Selfish love is like the foul smell of fish. Cultivate selfless love. Love all. Let others feel and think as they like. Do not bother about that. There is no need to fear anyone. Make your love pure. Then the whole world will become pure.

Many people are worrying and speculating as to how the year 2000 will unfold. There will be no formidable difficulties. In this world all things, good and bad, come and go. World devoid of happiness and misery cannot exist. Nothing is bad for the world. Pleasure is an interval between two pains. How can you feel pleasure if you have never felt pain? These come and go like passing clouds. One should neither dread one nor crave for the other. Meet all contingencies with love. Transform everything into love and suffuse your lives with love. Then there shall be peace and stability in the world.

Why do you repeat the word “santhi” (peace) thrice? You pray that you may have peace at all the three levels - physical, mental and spiritual - for you are not one individual, but three - the one you think you are (physical body), the one others think you are (mental body) and the one you really are (atma). All three aspects of your being must be in a state of peace. This can be achieved only through love. Swami Himself is the proof of this. Infinite love is Swami’s only wealth. Who sent out invitations to this large congregation? Your love toward Swami and Swami’s love towards all of you has attracted all of you here. Hence, convince yourself that everything can be achieved with love. The evil traits of hatred, jealousy and pride should be cast aside. These are not human qualities, but animal traits. You are a human being. Love is the chief quality of man, truth is his basis and righteousness is his very life. The combination of all these ensures peace. If you possess all these, peace is your property by right.

Give up selfishness and work for the unity of your country. Pray for the welfare of all and lead an ideal life. Human life is not gifted to you to hanker after worldly objects. You have to set an ideal to the world. What is the ideal that you have to set? You must help all to your utmost capacity. The best way to love God is to love all and serve all. Adopting service and love as your ideals, you must start a new life from this moment - this is My blessing and benediction to you.