Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

For the past fifteen days, we have been engaged in this sacred Karma Yoga. Just because you have spent these fifteen days here and because you have received a diploma, it is not correct to think that you will set right the whole world. Your degree or diploma should be within your heart. You should make a determination to serve the country. Man is making an effort to learn and understand many different things and is only partially succeeding in this objective. In fact, man is inventing complicated machines; and with these machines he is trying to conquer the universe. Man is using machines to get service for himself. Man travels into the sky and soars to the very heights of the empty skies. He goes into the depths of the ocean; and in many other ways, man is doing incredible things and is achieving many things. With the help of science and technology, he is discovering and inventing things which are not accessible to common human beings. He is producing many things. But come to think of it, all the achievements of man today are not things which would surpass what was known at the time of Hiranyakashyapu.

After acquiring all these strengths and capacities, if man does not have the wisdom to use them well, all these inventions become useless. Prahlada told his father that while he possessed the strength to conquer the entire world, he did not possess the strength to conquer his own sense organs. We should conclude that man is able to conquer many things but is unable to understand his own self.

Man’s daily life begins with the sunrise and comes to an end with the sunset. Sun always rises in the east and sets in the west. Depending on this phenomenon, man determines the direction of east and west. When the sun rises above the horizon, we call it morning; and when it sets below the horizon, we call it evening. Every man’s life depends on sunrise and sunset. But if we look at the same phenomenon from another angle and realise that the earth is spherical, then all concepts of east and west disappear. If we stand on a table and if that table shakes, we shake a little. If the bus in which we are travelling shakes, we shake. If the car in which we travel shakes, we shake; but we do not feel anything when we stand on the earth which itself is moving at several thousands miles per hour. While this earth of ours moves at a very fast pace, along with other planets in the solar system, we do not even feel the motion of the earth.

We see here that truth is one thing and our experience is a totally different thing. We imagine that the earth is not moving at all, although it is moving at a very fast pace. Although in truth, there is nothing like east or west, many eminent scientists keep saying that there is an east and that there is a west. Now we have to enquire whether what we experience is truth or what we say is truth. Many eminent people, having gone to the moon and come back, tell us that the moon is lifeless. This is not an accurate description. On the one hand, they say that the moon is lifeless. On the other hand, they say that all matter is composed of tiny particles called the atoms, which are in perpetual motion. If you have a piece of matter which is composed of atoms in perpetual motion, is it correct to say that it is lifeless? There are emanations of motion that constitute these ultimate particles called electrons, protons, and neutrons. The manner in which these ultimate particles come together, conglomerate and form matter has been described as a condensed form of energy by our ancients. Moon is also a conglomeration of these fine particles which constitute energy. In this context, how can we say that the moon is lifeless?

We can take another example for this. What we see there is a wall. Why do we call it a wall? We call it a wall because it is an obstacle and we cannot see or go through it. Since it is an obstacle, we call it a wall. But when we look at if from the scientist’s point of view, there is an enormous amount of vacant space between the atoms that constitute the wall. Although we call it a wall looking at it with our bare eyes, when a scientist looks at it, he says that there is a lot of space just as there is a lot of space between several stars that we see in the sky. Thus, we undertake to get a clear picture of many things with the help of sciences.

What we see is one thing, what we experience is another thing, and the basic truth is yet another thing. In order to recognise the basic truth, we should all make a serious attempt. In order to proclaim such basic truth, we will have to follow three basic paths. They are the worldly path, the spiritual path, and the ethical path. Today many people make an attempt to remove all the injustice in the world, but they do not succeed. You must make a determined effort by which you can propagate the truth and remove this injustice. We think that whatever we see superficially with our eyes is the basic, essential truth. This is not so. Behind what we see is the real, hidden truth.

Today man has three kinds of faiths. One of them is the lowest kind, and the second is of a middle kind, while the third is of the highest kind. If our prema, our belief and our affection are confined to our nearest kith and kin, that will be called the lowest kind of prema. On the other hand, if you go a little beyond the narrow region of your family and extend your faith and belief to your country and other people, then we say that it is the intermediate kind of prema. If you treat the entire world as one and regard all the people living in the entire world as one and extend your faith and sympathy to all of them, then it is the highest kind of prema.

Thus, gradually we should move from the limited circle of our family to the wider circle of our country and then move on to the broadest aspect of one world. When we talk of humanity, it should not be confined to a small community or group of people. There is only one caste, and that is the caste of humanity, and when we talk of humanity, we must extend our prema to the entire caste of humanity.

You should make your own conscience secure, and you should have confidence in yourself. Your conscience is your guide and it should dictate your behaviour. Either for the good or for the bad, it is your conscience that is responsible. The guilt in you causes the bad; the strength and confidence in you should, therefore, do such things which will promote your confidence in your own self. That is why I have told you, on some occasions, that you should follow the four F’s. Follow the master, and that is your conscience. The second thing is to Face the devil. The third is Fight to the end. Then you should Finish the game. If you remember all these four injunctions and keep remembering them, so that they are resounding every moment in you, there can be nothing more sacred than this in your life.

It is not right that you are in a hurry for everything in your life. If you are in a hurry, it will lead you into trouble. Depending on your capacity to think, you should ask yourself whether what you are doing is right or wrong. You should follow the right dictates of your thinking. Because of this hurry, you are in a confusion; and when you are in confusion, you will commit errors and mistakes. Haste makes waste, waste makes worry. So do not be in a hurry. In your tender heart, such sacred ideas must be implanted and you should lead a good life.

Today, in the world, there are several economic problems which are troubling us. We should also enquire from the spiritual angle, how these economic problems have arisen. We should first try and understand what this economic problem is. Today, the available commodity is limited, and our desires are unlimited. As our needs and desires are high and the available commodities are low, this kind of economic imbalance is arising in the world. Many people, without realising its significance and importance, only make attempts to increase the commodities that are available to us. As a consequence of that, all kinds of reactions are coming up. To take only the steps which will increase the economic output is not the correct thing to do. It is indeed a weak point. If you can find an easy and convenient way of solving this problem, then you will reduce misery in the world. The shortest cut for this is to contain our desires to match the available material. If we want to increase the available material and commodity, it involves a lot of expense and effort.

If we learn to contain our needs, there is neither effort nor expenditure. This aspect of decreasing our desires and needs has been described as vairagya in our Vedantic parlance. The word vairagya does not mean that you should run away from your family and sit in a forest and close your nose and put yourself to physical torture. This is not the meaning of vairagya. The true meaning of vairagya is that you should stay in the society, do your duties, and learn to contain your desires and needs. Our life is like a long journey. In this long journey of life, you should make an effort to diminish your needs and desires. It is part of vairagya to see that the food that you take is just sufficient and there is no waste.

By reading some books, you get the impression that Sathwic food means milk and fruit. Sathwic food should not be interpreted as something which you take by way of your mouth alone. We have five different organs - sabda, sparsa, rupa, rasa, and gandha - that is your ears, eyes, mouth, skin, and nose. What you smell, see, hear, touch, and eat will all constitute what you take in as food. It is not right to think that only what you eat is important and that it is enough if that is sathwic. You should take sathwic food through all these organs. You should see only good things, then alone will it be described as sathwic food. If you see bad things, that is also bad. If you smell something bad through your nose, then it is also bad. If you touch something bad with your body, it means that you are taking in something bad.

If we look at it from the point of view of science, from every little part of our body several small particles are going into our body. These particles and radiations which are going in by the millions are invisible and you do not see them. It is not as if they emanate from outside and go inside. Even from our body, they are being continuously sent out. These emanations go inside as well as outside. This is the reason why there is a possibility of your getting a disease if you go to a bad place. If a place is unclean and dirty, we should immediately cleanse the place and cleanse ourselves.

Our students should go to the four corners of the country and cleanse the place and keep away from doctors by themselves being clean. If the aim is to do good to others, then God himself will take care of the selfless aim of doing good to others. This is the essence of Vyasa’s eighteen Puranas.

To be able to do good to others is a great punya and to be able to keep away from doing harm to other is also a punya. Therefore, even if you are not able to do good, just sit quietly and keep silent; but do no harm to others. The students should take care to see that all the five organs are without any blemish. You should not see any bad with your eyes. You should not talk anything unworthy with your mouth; you should not touch anything unclean. You should thus keep all the five organs in a sathwic state.

Students should take great care to see that they do not waste food. They should take only what they need and not waste anything. This is the greatest service that they can do for the country. Everything should have a limit. To exceed these limits is very harmful. If you eat too much, that will cause mental derangement. If you eat sufficient food, it is good. You should not waste food, and you should share your excess food with others. If today we want to rectify the economic problems of the country, then you should prevent wastage of food; and you will be able to add to the economy of the country. Truly, the boys and girls who have listened to these sacred ideals should remember them all their lives. It is not enough if you just listen to them and then refrain from putting them into practice. These ideals should be carried by you all through your life, and you should put them into practice.