Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Peri Venkateshwara Sastry and others relieved you from hunger by their speeches; now, it is My turn to sharpen your yearning, which is the hunger of the mind for the higher joy. When dharma declines or, rather, when those who have a duty to regulate their lives according to dharma lose faith in it, then its restoration cannot be taken up by all and sundry. A broken bridge on a highway cannot be set right by amateur skill and the momentary enthusiasm of the villagers around. The very authority that laid down the road and planned the bridge has to initiate repair. The Lord has come again on this Mission; He has collected the engineers and contractors and the labour for the purpose. He is now set on the task. When Krishna knew that Brahma had taken away and hidden the cows and calves and cowherds and boys - the whole lot of them that had gone out of their homes into the pastures - He created anew the same number, the same types, the same persons, cattle and all, and nobody suspected for one full year that the genuine was hidden and that it was the duplicate that was in the village everywhere. All that was thus created was the true nature of Krishna, the Krishna Principle (Krishna Thathwa), just as all that was hidden by Brahma was also the Krishna Principle. You too are the Krishna Principle; what other Principle or Essence is there, really?

Even now with Me, My creation out of the void is for some definite purpose; just as it was then. Then it was to purify and sanctify the cowherd maidens (gopis); now, too, the aim is to purify and sanctify. Nara (man) is limited and deluded; when that limit is crossed and when that delusion is gone, he is Narayana (God), and he shines in his Essence. Each person must be conscious of this Principle (Thathwa), which is that person’s reality. To make each one conscious of it is the aim of those who come for the revival of righteousness (dharmasthapana). In the Mahabharatha, the most noteworthy theme is this revival of righteousness. When the Pandavas were exiled into the forest, it is as if the five life breaths (pranas) of dharma, the sustaining forces of dharma, were exiled. Dharmaraja is the life-breath of right conduct; Bhima, of the protective might of dharma; Arjuna, of the faith and devotion needed as its foundation; Nakula and Sahadeva, of the steadfast faith essential for the practice of dharma. When the Pandavas went to the forest, Hasthinapura (the capital city of the Pandavas) was reduced to Asthinapura - a city of bones, without flesh and blood. You call Me Personification of Virtue. But each of you is a Personification of Virtue, only you have strayed away. To bring you back to the status that you have lost - that is My aim. This Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha (Society of Pandits), which has been established here this Navarathri, will be doing just that job. Today, its aims and objects as well as the methods of working were discussed and settled. It is your Society; you can make use of it in proportion to your devotion and capacity. The deposits that these pandits have made in wisdom and penance are yours; draw cheques on them and they will give you the riches, without question.

Pandits and scholars of Vedas and Sastras have been suffering a lot, due to neglect by society. But that is not the result of their having studied the Vedas; it is because they have not put what they have learnt into action. Ev eryone must wait till the fruit is ripe. It will take time for the growth of the tree, for its blossoming, for the fruits to appear, to ripen, and to be filled with sweet juice. Pluck it before time and you have to throw it away. To become a graduate and take a degree, one has to struggle with the alphabet at first, then read words formed by the letters, then study sentences, and finally complete texts. The fruition of their studies has come now, after all these years, when the pandits have secured this medium for sharing their joy and their wisdom with their brothers and sisters. The pandits have been allotted districts, and a selected few will be supervising the programmes in each district. The District Committees will arrange meetings and invite the pandits for three-day sessions of the Society.

This is the sowing part of the work, sowing the seeds of the Karma, Upasana, and Jnana Kandas (three sections of the Vedas dealing mainly with rituals, worship, and spiritual knowledge), of Vedanta, of Dharma Sastras, of the glory of God as described in the Ramayana, the Mahabharatha, and the Bhagavatham. You have to look after the fields, tend the young crop, feed it with manure of reflection, rid it of pests, and harvest the happiness that comes from eating the nourishing grain. That is the real agriculture for you. The chance to share in this agriculture will come only to a few, the few who are endowed with the merit of many lives. First, the Society will be concerned with Andhra Pradesh. Later, it will reach into Karnataka and Kerala and then all the States of India, and even outside India. Already, there are quite a few Sathya Sai sanghas (groups) outside India, and they are pressing for the extension to their places of Swami’s grace in this form too. The first profit from such a Society is that you will be able to tend and develop something that is specially India. I am saying this because you understand only the language of profit. Whatever you are asked to do, the first question is, “How much will the profit be?” This greed for profit (labha) has made you sink in greed (lobha)! The highest profit is the arrival through this road back at the place from where you came, your own home. Brahma, who was born in the lotus that arose out of the navel of Vishnu, wondered how he came to be there, and it seems he searched and searched for the place from where he came. He could not trace it at all. But by some little thought, you can know from where you came, or, rather, what your real nature is. Then what remains is the attempt to attain it. That is what is meant by liberation, or moksha. Simple faith in the words of the wise is more profitable than years of study and discussion. Meditate on such great aphorisms as “That thou art (Thath-thwam-asi)”, and as you go on pondering them in your mind, meanings will dawn upon you without the help of any commentary. Commentaries only tend to confuse you. Think of the Thath (Divinity), analyse the thwam (you), and then you will be convinced that asi (equality) is the only solution. You are in the Light; the Light is in you; you are the Light - these are the steps.