Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

AN able monarch will have his ministers under control; he will direct them along proper lines and maintain the peace and security of the kingdom. On the other hand, a monarch who allows himself to be controlled by the ministers does not deserve the throne; he is spurned and disgraced. His kingdom has no peace and security. The mind is the monarch in man; the senses are the ministers. It is the slave of its servants and so, the realm has no peace. Every Sadhak (spiritual aspirant) who aspires to achieve the expression and expansion of the Divine in him has therefore to earn mastery over the senses. That is the first step. The next one is the conquest of the mind, its elimination. The third is uprooting the Vasanas (innate tendencies), and the fourth, attainment of Jnana (spiritual wisdom). The branches are the senses; the trunk is the mind; the roots are the innate tendencies. All three have to be overcome and destroyed, so that the awareness of the Athmic (Divine) Reality can be gained.

In the waking state, the senses have free play. The gross body is most active then. In the dream stage, the senses subsist in their subtle form. The mind revels in its fancies then. In the dream, the subtle body is active. It creates many attractive and astounding scenes and incidents for its own edification. In the deep sleep state, the mind along with the subtle aspects of the senses are submerged in the ego or the causal body. This is .the shuunya (vacant) stage, according to Vedanthic terminology. It is vacant because there is no positive gain associated with it. It does not confer awareness of' the Atma (Divine Self) and the Bliss of that Awareness. That can happen only in the fourth state after the sthuula (gross), suhkshma (subtle), karana (causal). That state is named the Maha Karana (supercausal). The waking state is the gross region of Brahma, the Creator, when activity abounds. It merges in the dream, the Vishnu region, when mere sthithi (existence) abounds. That too merges in deep sleep, when both dissolve and lose their identity in Laya (Rudhra). The fact to remember is that every individual, every day, experiences Shrishti (Brahma, Creator), Sthithi (Vishnu, Maintenance) and Laya (Rudhra, Dissolution). But, he fails to recognise it and benefit by the experience. He mistakes birth as creation and death as dissolution. This is sheer ignorance. One has to transcend these three changes and establish himself in the stable unchanging Maha Karana, the Atma. One has to be cautioned against believing that the victories over senses, mind, innate tendencies and the attainment of the Awareness can be won one at a time. Parallel efforts must be made in all four from the very beginning. You cannot place oil in one place, the lamp in another and the match in a third and hope for light. One has to succeed in mastering the senses, conquering the mind and eliminating the Vasanas all at the same time.

The mind hops from object to object with incredible speed. It rises to the heights and drops to the depths with every wink of the eye. It hides, deludes and distorts. One can subdue it through concentration only. The process can be practised in either of two directions - the A-ruupa or the Sa-ruupa. A-ruupa means 'unbound' by form." One feels that he is not the doer or enjoyer; he is only an agent of God, a tool, an instrument. One is not affected, well or ill, when the act results in good or bad. One has no identity with the ruupa (form or body). Sa-ruupa meditation gets lost in dualities of pleasure and pain, profit and loss, for it considers the name and form, the body and its activities as valid.

Similarly, Man has the choice of two paths - the Pravritthi Marga (the path of involvement) or the Nivritthi marga (the path of non-involvement). When involved, man is confronted with the six internal foes - lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and hatred. When non- involved, man is helped by six internal friends - sense control, mind control, fortitude, contentment, faith and equanimity. The human body is deified as a temple, yes, but the foes have to be evacuated and the friends admitted before the Divine can establish itself there.