Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Those who live in Malleswaram have made good arrangements for celebrating the Annual Festival of the community singing (bhajana) that they have been conducting here. Bhajana always gives bliss and peace. See that it is not used for increasing your egoism, or mutual recrimination, or envy or pride, as very often happens. Be humble, be calm, be tolerant. Cooperate with all and treat everyone with courtesy and kindness. Devotion is not a uniform to be worn on Thursday evenings, when you gather for bhajana, and to be laid aside when the bhajana is over. It must mean the promotion of an attitude of humility, of revering parents, teachers, elders, and others; it is a mental outlook, an attitude that is ever-present. It is the sustenance of the heart, just as food is sustenance for the body. Like the needle of the compass always pointing to the north, never deviating from that direction, returning to it, readily, gladly, quickly, whenever it is shaken off that line, so too the devotee must face the Lord ever, must be happy only when he is set toward Him.

Many people think of God only when grief overtakes them. Of course, it is good to do so; it is better than seeking the help of those who are also equally liable to grief. But it is infinitely better to think of God in grief and in joy, in peace and strife, in all weathers. The proof of the rain is in the wetness of the ground; the proof of devotion is in the peace that the devotee has, peace that protects them against the onslaughts of success as well as failure, fame, dishonour, gain, and loss. Devotion is the river Ganga, detachment is the river Yamuna, and spiritual wisdom (jnana) is the river Saraswathi of this spiritual confluence of three rivers (thriveni). Spiritual wisdom is the through-train; you just board it, that is enough, and it takes you direct to the destination. Devotion is the through-carriage. Though it may be detached from one train and connected with another, if you get into it, you need not worry; as long as you stick to your place, it is bound to take you to the destination. Karma (action) is the ordinary train. If you board it, you have to disembark, climb in and climb out at every junction, load your luggage and unload it, and do a good lot of work to reach your destination. Devotion alone is enough even to acquire spiritual wisdom. It ends in seeing only Brahman in all, and it destroys egoism. Wisdom also gives you these. Narada once offered to teach the cowherd women (gopis) the principles of philosophy - vijnanabodha as he called it. Krishna agreed. But the cowherd maidens said, “We do not care for your learning and your discourse. We see Krishna everywhere and in everything, so we have no hate or envy or malice. We have equanimity (sama), and we have no egoism. We believe this is enough for us.” Narada found that what they claimed was correct, so he left discomfited.

Now, most of you are leading a double or treble life. Practising union with God (yogam) in the morning, enjoyment (bhogam) the rest of the day, and suffering (rogam) at night. You seek bliss outside you and suffer from the ulcer of desire inside you. You utter one thing with the tongue and carry out the opposite with the hand. You claim to be seekers of spiritual wisdom, but you are attached to the delusion you have cultivated. You have a ticket for Calcutta, but you are traveling in the train headed for Bombay! With the body, which is your ticket, and world knowledge and attachment as your luggage, you are traveling not in the train that goes Godward but in the train leading to the objective world (prakriti). This is the pity! The roots must go deep, deep down to the level of underground water. The trees that grow on the dikes of canals are green with thick foliage. Your roots must also go deep into the Divinity that will keep you green whatever the dryness of the weather or heat of the sun.

This is the age of profit. The question that anyone asks when asked to do a thing is, “What is the profit?” “How much is the profit?” “How sure is the profit?” Well, let Me also ask, “Of what profit is all this feeding and growing, this striving and struggling, this earning and saving and spending, this losing and gaining, this speeding in cars and planes, if by these means you do not get peace in the mind and joy in your heart?” All these activities serve only to hide the real nature of the individual, to overwhelm it under a mass of trivialities, to suppress the natural influence of the real Truth of humanity. Develop a love for God, Then you can recognise Him very near you, in your own Self. That is the assurance I am giving to all of you.