Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

The word amnaya refers to the various aspects of God. The words of Veda are given many names and have also told us in many ways this aspect of the divine. The word amnaya has got a special meaning in the context of the Veda. Amnaya is comprehensive and signifies that there is a continuous and uninterrupted practice consisting of sravana, manana and nididhyasana, that is to listen, to think over and then to digest or absorb. These three aspects are together called by one comprehensive word amnaya. If one does not involve oneself in amnaya or in the uninterrupted practice of listening and digesting, then it will not be possible for him to recognise the identity of that with this because he is usually immersed in family matters and other domestic problems.

The Veda has taught us the importance of various purusharthas such as dharma and Brahma. We can say with good authority that true education deals only with those matters which pertain to dharma and Brahma. All education referring to aspects other than these cannot be called true education. The knowledge of Atma or the knowledge that relates to Brahman and the knowledge that gives you some idea of Paramatma alone is knowledge and that is what the Veda says. Everything else cannot come under the description of knowledge. Mere recitation of the manthras contained in the Veda cannot be called knowledge. In other words, true education is that which connects Karma Yoga with the Brahma Yoga. The connection between the two must become evident to you, must be accepted by you and you must put it into practice in your everyday life. That alone will be called real and complete education. If there is no appreciation of the Karma Yoga or the need for action and the spiritual aspects thereof, it cannot be called education.

There are many people who every day recite the manthras in the Vedas but unless they put into practice what they are learning from the manthras, they cannot really be called Vedic persons. They may be so called only for external descriptive purposes. If one is able to practise what he learns in the Vedas and derives the spiritual pleasure, such a person can readily be called a truly learned person. The three processes namely sravana, manana and nididhyasana which one has to adopt for reaching the end of the manthras in the Vedas have already been mentioned. Without going through these three processes, mere recitation can be called just scholarship, knowledge in the context of the world. Such knowledge will not go to the depths of his heart and will not reveal the aspect of Brahman to him at all. The kind of knowledge where one does not follow up the process of listening with the process of thinking it over and digesting it, will at best, be learning without proper background or the requisite culture in it. Any piece of matter or even a living individual that has not been purified and attended to and has not been given the transformation that is necessary, will not be in a proper and natural form.

Every individual has to go through a process of cleansing. There is an illustration for this in the Ramayana. While Sita was living in Lanka as a captive, Hanuman entered Lanka in obedience to Rama’s orders. Hanuman did look at several people in the chambers of Ravana who had good qualities, good appearance and good ethical standards. While Hanuman thus did see many beautiful women who exhibited great character, he did not find anyone whom he could picture as Sita. Because Hanuman had never seen Sita before coming to Lanka, he had to go by the description of Sita given to him by Rama. Rama had given certain qualities to enable Hanuman to recognise Sita. He did look at several women, but none coincided with the picture of Sita he had in his mind. He began to think about this matter and climbed a tree and went up very high and was in deep thought asking himself if there were other places where he should search for Sita.

At that instant he saw a beautiful garden - the Asoka Vana - where there were many mansions and other attractive things. He immediately made a beeline for the Asoka Vana. Under a tree, he noticed a woman who did not seem to have any samskara or attention to her personal appearance for several months. Around her were many demons who were causing fear with weapons in their hands. When Hanuman saw that woman, he came to the conclusion that she was unattended to for several months and also that she had no desire to show her face to anyone. But when he looked at the clothes that she was wearing, he found that they were dark and black. This dark colour did not tally with the description given by Rama. Hanuman was told that Sita would be wearing a light yellow-coloured cloth because that was the cloth she was wearing when she was preparing for the coronation and when they were asked to go to the forest. As he approached that woman, he was sure that the woman looked as if she was a captive in the hands of someone and she also looked as if she was very distant from all her relations. When he went closer and had a close look, he was sure that she was no other than Sita described by Rama. He realised that she was practising manana and nididhyasana that is constant thinking of and constant absorbing of the glory of Rama. He concluded that this lady must be Sita and that if this was any other lady, she would have gone into one of the beautiful mansions in the Asoka Vana and would not have stayed outside.

As Hanuman was having these thoughts in his mind, it so happened that Ravana came there with his entourage. As the King Ravana was coming into the garden, the demons around Sita cautioned Sita and on hearing this caution she slightly lifted her head. At that time Hanuman noticed that there was a small patch of yellow colour in the sari which had been covered all the while by her bent face. Hanuman was an intelligent person and had the quality of thinking for himself and he concluded that he was unable to recognise Sita because she did not have any cleansing attention or samskara either for her body or for the clothes that she was wearing. But Hanuman knew the strength of Rama’s glory, of listening thereto and thinking it over again and he immediately realised that simply because of the manana and nididhyasana which Sita was going through, he was able to come to the decisive conclusion about her. He realised that she did not go through sravana during the past several months and that is the reason for her being in this condition.

After some time, Ravana came into the garden and uttered many cruel words and threatened her, but Sita would not yield at all. Ravana finally said that he would give one month’s time to her to make up her mind and finally went away. The harsh word which Ravana uttered did not change her mind at all. In fact they did not shake her at all. She was quite firm and she was all the while thinking about Rama and had pictured Rama quite clearly in her mind. Whatever she was thinking about was all the name and form of Rama.

Hanuman realised that her condition was so bad because she had not heard the glory of Rama and he climbed up a tree and sang the glory of Rama. He was convinced that Sita had been reduced to an unrecognisable condition because she was unable to listen to the glory of Rama. Hanuman began singing the story of Rama, how Rama married Sita, how Rama met Hanuman, how he defeated Vali, how he gave moksha to the bird Jatayu, and how Rama took fruits from Sabari and so on. As soon as Sita listened to this song, what was lacking for her had been supplied and the necessary samskara had come about and she appeared in her full glory. All the description which Rama gave to Hanuman appeared in her. On hearing Rama’s name, Sita immediately lifted her head and started looking up at the tree from which the sound was emanating, asking herself how such a sacred sound could be uttered in Lanka. When she looked up, she found a small monkey with a diminutive head. This caused her great satisfaction and happiness simply because the name of Rama was being uttered by this small monkey. This vision had given her far greater happiness than the beautiful Asoka Vana and its mansions. She was not attracted by the ornaments which were brought to her by Ravana. She was not happy at all at anything, but the sight of the small-headed monkey uttering the name of Rama made her extremely happy.

The three aspects - sravana, manana and nididhyasana - are respectively representative of the three Vedas‚ the Rig, the Yajur and the Sama. These are also represented by the three aspects of the divine, namely Ida, Saraswathi and Bharathi. Here Saraswathi corresponds to Sravana, Ida corresponds to Manana, and Bharathi corresponds to Nididhyasana. Since one of them was absent for Sita, Hanuman could not recognise her.

Because Manana and Nididhyasana were present for her, it was possible for Sita to safeguard her honour and respect, but because Sravana was not present, totality of the aspect of Veda was not present and therefore the complete picture of Sita and the total happiness which comes with the three aspects of the Vedas were absent in her.

From this story, it becomes clear that with manana and nididhyasana one should also have sravana. People who merely recite Veda will not get the benefit. To get the full benefit they should recite, listen to it and absorb it. All these three aspects together only will present a complete picture of the Veda. However strong and cruel your enemy may be and with whatever strength and cruelty he may hit you, if the aspects of manana and nididhyasana are entrenched in your heart, you can never be hurt or harmed. This aspect is comprehensive and covers all the three - Sravana, Manana and Nididhyasana - but that is not enough. What you get from these three has to be put into practice in your daily life and that is why the whole picture has been described by the word amnayardha vachaspati. One should not regard Sravana, Manana and Nididhyasana as if they are impositions on you. You should adopt them from the bottom of your heart and put them into practice whole- heartedly and not as a compulsion.

Some people ask that while Parabrahma who is self-effulgent, omniscient and omnipresent should be visualised by everyone, why is it that he is seen and recognised by only some people. It is common experience that even the bright shining sun at a great distance from us is not seen when it is enveloped by thick clouds. The clouds hide the sun to some extent. When these thick clouds are blown away by the wind, then the bright sun presents itself to us again. In the same manner, however much you might try, you will not be able to see your own image when you stand in front of an impure and dusty mirror. When you remove the dust on the mirror and stand in front of it, then you can see your image clearly in the mirror.

Thus, to say that the sun is not perceptible when the thick clouds are hiding it is only a result of ignorance on your part. While the heart is unclean and filled with several impurities, you cannot have the vision of the Lord. In such a case, it is not correct to say that He does not exist. The sun is not visible only for that individual who is under the cover of the dark cloud. On the other hand, if he comes out of the clouds, he can certainly see the sun. For those who are unable to get the vision of the sacred Paramatma, it is necessary that they remove the impurity from themselves before they make another attempt.

The sun is called aditya. The aspect of aditya is synonymous with the aspect of Bharatha. Vayu which is the life principle is like the cloud between aditya and yourself. The aspect of Jiva is something related to the agni. If the aspect of Jiva, which is comparable to agni is to some extent able to control vayu, we will be able to see aditya. But this vayu, agni and aditya are inseparable. But if you take to the path of sravana, manana and nididhyasana, it will enable you to make the cloud of vayu thinner and thinner and you will certainly be able to see the aspect of aditya with the help of the Jiva.

Whether it is the total meaning of the set of words - Ida, Saraswathi and Bharathi - or the total meaning of the three aspects of learning - sravana, manana and nididhyasana - all these are contained in one word Amnaya. In the Bhagavad Gita also Krishna has been addressing Arjuna as Bharatha on several occasions. On some occasions, he addressed him as Kurunandana and as Partha. To a large extent, we are associating with these words a meaning which relates only to our country. We have never been used to give meanings which have a Vedic origin. Earth is a symbol of the Lord and is an image of the Lord and one who is born on the earth gets the name Partha. In fact, the name Partha should apply to everyone born on this earth. In this word, differences either from place to place or from country to country are not relevant. When we take a word with universal application and give it a narrow meaning and apply it only to Arjuna, it amounts to a narrow interpretation.

There is another meaning for this aspect of Arjuna. One who has a pure heart is called Arjuna. Some of you know that in the pilgrim centre of Srisaila, there are two deities, namely, Mallikarjuna and Bhramaramba. The name Bhramaramba is given to Sakthi and Mallikarjuna to Easwara. In this Malli means jasmine flower. The word Arjuna can be explained by saying that it stands for a white, pure jasmine flower. In the word Bhramaramba, the first letter Bhra means bee. When Easwara has taken the form of Mallikarjuna or is represented by the white jasmine flower, then amba the mother takes the form of a bee and sucks the honey in this white jasmine flower which is symbolic of Easwara.

Here the name Bhramaramba referes to Arjuna. This shows us the relationship that exists between Paramatma and Prakruthi, the Lord and His creation. We see that it is only the bee that has the right to go into a flower and suck the honey from the flower. No other insect can go into the flower. All other insects simply go round and round the flower, but it is only the bee that has the capacity to go right into the flower.

This is the reason why an individual born in Prakruthi and who wants to attain the Lord will have to adopt this kind of close relationship with Paramatma. “Oh Lord! if you become a flower, I will become a creeper and entwine round you. If you become the big Meru mountain, I will become a small stream and go round the mountain. If you become the infinite sky, I will become a small star and be shining in you. If you become the mighty ocean, I will become a small river and merge into you.” It is only when the relationship between the Lord and His devotee is of this inextricable and inseparable type that one can enjoy the unity of the Lord and His creation. This aspect of nature will not allow it to be separated from the Lord even for a moment. Since Arjuna, who was born on the earth, never liked to be away from the creator, he was called Partha. He is one in the creation and very close to Paramatma.

The second name Kurunandana has two words, namely kuru and nandana. The first word kuru signifies work and the second one nandana, pleasure in work. Arjuna derived pleasure and happiness in involving himself in work. What kind of work? Work related to Krishna; Arjuna derived pleasure in doing Krishna’s work and therefore he was called Kurunandana but what is the type of work in which we derive pleasure today? We derive pleasure in idling our time on a holiday when we have no work; but, Arjuna considered holiday as a hollow day. All the names given to Arjuna had a Vedic origin. Not a single name of Arjuna had a different origin.

The Upanishads constitute the Vedanta, which is the sum and substance of the Vedas. While compiling these Upanishads, sage Vyasa used only words which have a Vedic origin. I am hoping that you will install the aspect of Aditya in your hearts and since Aditya is identical with Bharatha, every word should be regarded as coming from Aditya and every word should be regarded as coming from Saraswathi and Ida and therefore you should recognise the sanctity and sacredness of every word that comes from your heart.