Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

MAN is no mere biped, an animal that struts about on two legs, instead of four. He has the unique destiny of realising and appreciating beauty truth, goodness, harmony, melody and conferring on himself and others love, compassion and sympathy. He can delve, not only into the secrets of nature, but into his own mystery and discover God, who is behind both Nature and himself. The clouds of conceit and ignorance hide from him this destiny. He can install in his heart the Shivam - the motivator of all creation, all existence and all dissolution. Shivam is Sathyam and Sundharam; that is to say, Goodness is Truth and Beauty. On this auspicious occasion of the Festival of Shiva, resolve to adore Him as the very breath of your life. Many of you have come to witness this day the amazing evidence of Divine Power. But you must not waste time in idle confabulations about the nature of that power and the process of its manifestation. Experience it, and be thrilled by it, fill yourself with its amazing Mystery which is divinity.

The ringing of the bells, the pealing notes of pipes, the beat of drums - all these are reminders of the pipes, drums, bells and conches that announce this auspicious day in Kailash (the Divine residence of Shiva). The stream of sacred ash that falls, during the bhajan by thousands, is another reminder. The emergence of the Linga from this body is the consummation, the announcement that you are in Kailash itself. That comes in the evening. And you celebrate it by vigil and fast, by japam (recitation of Lord’s Name) and adoration.

The bee hovers around the lotus, it sits upon it, it drinks the nectar; while drinking the sweet intoxicating honey, it is silent, steadfast, concentrated, forgetful of all else. Man too behaves like that when he is in the presence of God. The hum of the bee ceases and it is silent when once the drinking of the nectar begins. Man too, sings, extols, argues, asserts, only until he discovers the rasa (sweet essence). That rasa is prema-rasa (the sweetness of love). Where there is love, there can be no fear, no anxiety, no doubt, no ashanthi (absence of peace). When you are afflicted with ashanthi you can be sure that your love is restricted, your love has some ego mixed in it. The experiencer of the prema (love) is the inner I, which is the reflection of the real I, the Atma (soul). When the senses are out of action, that I will shine in its full glory. The senses are one’s deadly foes; for, they drag your attention away from the source of joy inside you, to objects outside you. When you are convinced that they are at the bottom of this conspiracy to mislead you, you will certainly stop catering to them. The angler uses rod and line; that line has a float from which hangs inside the water a sharp hook with a worm. The fish is drawn by the worm to the hook, the float shakes, the angler feels the pull of the fish on the line, and he draws it on the land, where it is helpless, unable to breathe. The body is the rod, the yearning, the eager longing, is the line, intelligence, is the float, discrimination is the hook; knowledge is the worm; Atma, the fish, is caught thus by the clever angler. When you get (spiritual wisdom), Kaivalyam (divine status) draws towards you.

Kaivalyam is the state in which the Divine is experienced as all-comprehensive, as Will, as Activity, as Bliss, as Intelligence, as Existence. You must suppress your thamas (ignorance), sublimate your rajas (passions) and cultivate sathwa (purity) in order to be established in Kaivalyam. You have come through thamas and rajas and you are now in the region of sathwa, as symbolised by the two gates through which you have come. Now, you must take the lesson of the symbol of the Flag of Prasanthi (supreme peace) to heart. It instructs you to travel beyond the realms of lust, anger and hate, reach the broad green region of love. Be seated therein in concentrated meditative prayer, and open the petals of your heart through yoga, so that the Supreme illumination may be gained. Fix your mind on that illuminated Lotus and Prasanthi will reign in your hearts. That is the best preparation for understanding the mystery of Lingodhbhava (materialisation of Lingam).