Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Do always meritorious deeds, Discriminate between what is eternal and What is transient.

Today people are making efforts to know what happiness is and are inquiring only about the external objects of the world, but no one attempts to know himself. It is of no use knowing about everything in the world without knowing about oneself. The whole world is based only on “I”. When you ask someone, whether a millionaire or a pauper, “Who are you?”, the answer will invariably commence with “I”, I am so and so will be the usual answer. On further questioning one may say, I am a doctor or I am a businessman. The doctor refers to the work he does and the businessman refers to his profession. If you ask the name, the reply may come as Ramayya or Krishnayya. These are names assigned to the body. These are all transient. These do not represent the real “you”. You are a permanent entity.

Without understanding this truth, man is carried away by ephemeral things. He indulges only in selfish pursuits. He is of no use to the world. Everyone is born in society and brought up by society and is a limb of society. Only when one works for society can one be prosperous. Today everyone tries to live for himself without caring for the society.

You should not forget that self-confidence is the foundation of life. Just as you cannot build walls without foundation, you should lead a useful life based on self-confidence only. When this is firm, the superstructure of self-satisfaction and self-awareness may be raised, leading to self-realization or bliss, which is the goal of life. When man has forgotten the foundation, how can he expect happiness or peace?

Self is Atma. One must know this reality and discard attachment to the body, mind, and intellect. Atma is the master, recognize this and be the mastermind. Don't identify yourself with your instruments. All the organs or the instruments of the body are propelled by vibration, which originates from Atma. But for this, man can't survive.

It is a pity that man forgets this principle of Atma and is bereft of happiness. Men only pretend to be happy and smiling. But they are not really happy. God is the master of happiness, and unless you identify with the Divine, you cannot be happy.

When you think of God and pray to Him, you should not ask for trivial things. You should ask for a thing that is not in you and is in God. It is bliss that isn't in you, and God is the embodiment of bliss. So, you should pray only for this.

People call themselves devotees and pray for fulfillment of their petty desires. They are not true devotees. God is described as, Nithyanandam Paramasukhadam, Kevalam Jnanamurthim.” So, you have to pray only for this bliss. If you inquire deeply, God is not away from you.

Good and bad experiences emanate from you only. As you sow, so you reap. All resultant effects arise only from the cause of your actions. One who understands this truth alone can understand the Divine Principle.

In spite of many efforts and sadhana (spiritual exercise), one is not able to attain realisation of divinity because the vision is not good. Buddha investigated into this very deeply and found out in the end that mind is the stumbling block for progress toward realisation and became “Amanaska”, that is, he eliminated the obstacles of the mind and attained Nirvana (liberation). He realized the Atma.

How to get rid of this mind? You can do this only by directing your attention to the intellect and start discriminating as to what is eternal and what is ephemeral.

Discarding the pursuit of bookish knowledge, which is superficial, you must pursue discriminatory knowledge. In this pursuit, you should not discriminate for your own self interest. You should have fundamental discrimination for the welfare of all. This is broadmindedness and expansion of love. You should not have a narrow outlook, which is contraction of love. You say, “hello,” while greeting a friend. It is not reflecting your love. You should be hollow inside, that is beyond feelings and desires. You should proceed beyond mind.

Buddha contemplated for six years before he could achieve this: “Buddhigrahyam Atheenathriyam.” He went beyond the body, mind, and intellect to realise the Atma.

Today man is only acting as actors do in a cinema. Everything is only pretension, tantamount to hypocrisy. The term “manava”, referring to “man”, when analyzed gives the meaning that man is one who overcomes illusion (ma is maya; na is no; va is conduct). What is maya? it is to consider a nonexisting thing as existing.

When you walk, your shadow is following you. Every action has reaction, resound, and reflection. Even your feelings and thoughts are reflected in your behavior. As long as you are filled with thoughts, you cannot make any progress on the spiritual path.

As I have explained in an earlier talk, the term “man” itself has to be interpreted as M (Maya), A (Atma), N (Nirvana), that is, only when you overcome maya you can realize the Atma and attain nirvana (liberation). This can be attained only by self-confidence, meaning confidence in the Atma and not in the instruments thereof.

Today, man is beset with worries and appears crestfallen because of his attachment to body and worldly objects. He is devoting all his attention to his family, acquisition of wealth, and fame. If he just devotes a small fraction of this attention to God, he can get everything. Why don't you have this faith in the All-powerful Divine?

You are prepared to sacrifice for the sake of petty worldly things. If you do this for the sake of the Divine, you can get unlimited grace, by which you and your family and those for whom you care will have peace and happiness.

Bharatiyas (Indians) have always said their prayer for the happiness and welfare of the entire world. This is the correct prayer that you should make to God. You are also part of the world and you will also enjoy peace and happiness along with others.

The term Bharata has a very sacred significance. Bha represents self-effulgent light. One who strives for seeking the self-effulgent Atma is a Bharatiya. In music also, the term Bharata has a unique significance: Bha indicates bhavam (feeling), ra indicates ragam (tune), and ta indicates talam (beat). The combination of bhava, raga, and tala in harmony makes music pleasant to hear. Similarly, in all aspects such as moral, ethical, and spiritual, divine thoughts should be pervading. This is the characteristic of the Bharatiyas.

God is Sath-Chith-Ananda. With the Sath (eternal feeling), you should seek Chith (spiritual wisdom). Then you get Ananda (bliss). You can get Ananda only from Ananda and not from a state of depression.

You should worship the Lord with love, since love is God and God is love. This gives you real happiness. Today people pretend as if they love while their inner feeling is not filled with love. “Yad bhavam thath bhavathi. As your feelings, so will be the result.” Now we find that feelings are different from expression.

You do not know when this body will cease to function - in childhood, boyhood, youth or old age. Death is certain. Though the body is like a garbage dump full of fecal matter, we have to maintain it in good condition because it is also the temple of God, who resides therein.

The body by itself cannot help you to cross the ocean of life. You have to surrender to the Lord. From dawn to dusk, one is engaged only in pursuit of ways and means to fill the belly. People waste their life in this way without making effort to have a vision of the Divine. They stand in queue for a long time to buy a ticket for a movie or for travel in bus, but they don't like to stand in the queue for darshan of the Divine, who can confer such great bliss on them as nothing else can. Take the example of trees, which bear sweet fruits for others but do not themselves take; cows, which give milk to others but do not taste even a drop; rivers, which provide copious supply of water for the people and animals and birds too but do not take even a bit of it themselves. Man is only enjoying everything himself and is not doing anything for the society at large. Dharma protects those who protect it but will destroy those who attempt to destroy it!

not waste it by seeking worldly pleasures. Pray to God and serve God by serving humanity.

Adi Sankara was propagating advaita jnana (wisdom of nonduality) all through famous Bhaja Govindam verses. He said mere scholarship will not come to one's rescue at the time of death. One has to pray and worship God in order to get released from the bondage of birth and death. Devotion based on Prema Thathwa (Principal of Love) is essential for the emancipation of every human being. Advaita (Nonduality) is to see unity in diversity. [Swami held a silver tumbler in His hand.] This is a silver tumbler. The silver in this will be retained even after it is melted and made into a plate. The forms vary but silver is constant.

The Primordial Principle of Supreme Power is one. You may go on giving examples like jewels are many, gold is one; flowers are many, pooja is one; and so on. Though you offer different types of flowers to God, He likes only one flower that can never fade, that is the flower of your heart (hridaya pushpam). Since hridaya is the altar of the Lord, this is what he relishes most. You need food, clothing, and shelter for living. But you should not forget that the basis for all these is the Divine. Think constantly of the Divine even when immersed in worldly work.

Pray to God with pure heart with a mind bereft of desires. Do not pray for the fulfillment of petty desires. Love God with a desireless heart. How did Sabari get the grace of Rama, who gave her liberation? How did Jatayu enjoy the privilege of dying on the lap of the Lord? They did not pray for petty things. Instead of asking for a particular type of jewel like aring or a chain, ask for gold. You can make any jewel out of it.

Forgetting the declaration and assurance given by the Lord you behave contrary to His direction. God proclaimed,

You are not asking the right source. You are asking the world and not God, the Creator of the world. How can you get a response? You are also not searching for the right thing. You are searching only for wealth and position, which are unworthy and transient. At what door are you knocking? The door of grief. How can you get ananda (bliss)? If you comply with the directions of the Divine correctly, you will get appropriate results. If you open the door of your heart and love God, you get what you need. Do not ask for any petty boon. Ask for God Himself. He can give you anything and everything you need. Pray for love of God. You will get love. Through Divine love you will have prosperity here and hereafter.