Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

THE thought manifests as word, the word manifests as deed; the deed develops into habit; the habit hardens into character. So, watch the thought and its ways. Let it spring from love, love that is born out of respect for all beings, for, all beings are Divine. You are all embodiments of the Divine. Never forget that reality. Since two days, you have been listening to spiritual discourses and moving in holy thoughts. This All-India Conference for which you have come is just an excuse, for bringing you all here and charging you with Grace, for carrying on your duties with greater zest and understanding. Through the Units of the Organisation of which you are the Office-bearers, you are worshipping God. For, service to man is service to God. When God comes embodied as man to serve man, how delighted He must be to find man himself taking up the role and serving brother-man to get rid of disease, distress or doubt! You have no reason to feel proud when you are able to help another, for, your skill or wealth or strength or courage or official position which gave you the chance to serve was the gift of God - whether you recognise it or not. You are only offering this God's gift to another God's gift, namely, the poor, the illiterate, the weak, the diseased, the grieving, the broken-hearted, who seek your help.

A person stands knee-deep in the Ganga or Godhavari river and uttering Vedhic hymns in praise of the river, he lifts up in his palm the sacred water of the river and pours it back as his offering to the deity that the river represents. Its water into itself - God's gift for God's. gift - that is all that one is capable of; that is all that one needs to do. He has endowed you with this wonderful body, this sweet tongue, this amazing instrument called mind. He has granted you intelligence, the powers of analysis and synthesis, the capacity to receive and give up, to remember and to forget. Acknowledge these gratefully and use them to the best advantage. Use them to see Him everywhere in all beings, to seek Him through all the ups and downs, the joys and griefs, the doubts and decisions of life.

These dual impacts are the result of the waverings of mind. The mind revels in the diversity of name and form; it has to be drilled into the recognition and the enjoyment of unity. It suffers from a false sense of values and tries to discard what is good for it. The child has to be educated into an appreciation of hard chewable food, it will not welcome it in the beginning itself. So, too, the mind has to be trained to picture the vast, .the limitless, the overwhelming majesty that underlies time, space and causation. First, it must develop a taste for the Personal God and later for the Impersonal, without Name and Form, the Impersonal which is all Names and Forms attributed by the mind. Bhajan, dhyan, Namasmaran, Nagarasankeerthan - these are all steps in that education. The Bliss that is won by mergence in the Divine, is the consummation of that education.

A person who is ill has to swallow the mixture himself and that too as long as he is ill, however bitter the medicine may be. A person, who is ill with ignorance and therefore is suffering from egoism and discontent, has to take the medicine of japa-dhyana; the disease of over-attachment to worldly objects can be cured only by the drug of attachment to God, cultivated through japa and dhyana.

There are some who count the number of years during which they have taken the drugs and who feel they have not improved at all and get desperate about the course of treatment itself. They find fault consequently with the Guru, the method, his advice or even with God and turn atheists or worse. But, how can water be stored in a leaky pot? You may fill your heart with faith and devotion earned through japa and dhyana but it has sprung leaks, the leaks of cynicism, of fear, of fanaticism, and of delusion. There is no justification for denying God when you are not able to visualise or realise Him; it is but a sign of wanton foolishness. How can you condemn water as saltish when you have put into it salt, in place of sugar? You find no sweetness in it, because you have added salt. You crave sweetness but add salt. You crave liberation but fix shackles on. You crave Peace and add unto yourselves the disturbance of duality. You complain that your neighbour began his spiritual discipline only two years ago, while you have been keeping the schedule since 20 years. But, he has secured happiness while you are miserable. You feel you have been coming to Me since years but I take near Me those who have come just a short while ago. Your reactions lead you to ascribe injustice and partiality but the answer lies in the past about which you are not aware.

Twenty hammer strokes have been given to a slab but it did not break. Another fellow comes along and at his second stroke, the slab is broken. The man who dealt the 20 is disappointed and the man who broke it in 2 is elated but, the slab broke as a result of the cumulative impact of the 22. Your neighbour has to his credit 20 years of sadhana, stored up in the causal body into which he came from his previous birth to his present one. Your nature and your predilections are shaped by the way in which you loved and wrought, fed and fought, in the long series of lives you had already.

The green fruit is sour or even bitter, but as it ripens, the sourness or the bitterness is transmuted onto sweetness. The attachment to the senses and to the sensory world must be transmuted into attachment to the Atma, to the Lord, so that it may confer on you the Sweetness of Bliss. Once you are in that Bliss, you will see, taste, hear, experience only Bliss. Ishavasyamidham - All this is God.

But the question is asked: Then, why is He not seen? Well, He is, as butter is in Milk, in every drop, through and through. If butter has to be seen, then certain processes have to be gone into - boiling, curdling, churning, etc. So too, by certain spiritual disciplines, like repeating the Name on the tongue, He who dwells in the heart can be visualised; the Immanent God can be experienced as Real.

Man has an inborn thirst of God, an in-built yearning for the Anandha (bliss) of the highest order which will never fail or falter. It is only by drinking God that thirst can be quenched; not by substitutes or palliatives. The Chathaka bird of legends is not distracted by the darkening sky, the reverberating thunder, the blinding lightning and the mad destructive rain. It flies up with open beak to receive into itself the first few virgin drops between earth and sky;, that is its thirst, its yearning, its destiny.

When the raindrops are soiled by the ground, they become undrinkable; that is the conviction of the Chathaka. So too, the pure yearning for love, for service, for expansion, for expression, for fulfilment, is soiled by contact with selfish ends, with greed and envy, malice and hatred, lust and pride. It is soiled by one's egoistic reaction to blame or praise, loss or gain. It is best that this yearning is treasured and cultivated alone and in silence, until it is strong enough to meet failure or success, with composure. Namasmarana (remembrance of God) within the silence and solitude of your own heart, is very beneficial for this purpose. When questions arise, the answers too will be vouchsafed unto you; when doubts emerge, as they must in order to strengthen and deepen faith, the decisive lines of argument will also be provided. Namasmarana can be elaborated also into Nagarasankeerthan (public community singing of spirituals). This has both individual and social consequences. When you inhale foul air, your health suffers. The air is polluted by unwholesome vibrations when people shout hateful, lustful slogans or even talk, without love and reverence. In order to purify the atmosphere, vibrations that are holy, healthy, happy have to be circulated, even before the citizens come out into the open with the break of day. When a group of good men and women move from one end of a street to the other singing aloud the Names of God, each Name redolent with fragrance and resonant with Love, it clears the air and renders it pure for all to breathe. It also calls people living in the houses on both sides to begin their daily round of duties, with the Sweet Name of God in their ears and the charming Form of God in their hearts.

When an Atomic Bomb is exploded thousands of miles away by America or Russia in some faroff country, the fall-out travelling all over the world contaminates the atmosphere, poisons vegetation and distorts life, say the doctors who have to deal with them. The vibrations of hatred and greed, of pride and envy that result from the shouts and discontent of animosity also pollute the air equally seriously.

Man exhibits great mental and physical courage, on the battle-fields and during adventures on land, sea and air. He has evinced in history, vast reinforcements of courage inside him, to meet all varieties of obstacles. But the courage to give up entanglement with the material world is a great achievement. Valmeeki was a highway robber who waylaid and killed hundreds without hesitation; he was the slave of passion and emotion but, when the seven Sages whom he waylaid one night, counselled patience, forbearance and self-inquiry, he turned heroically into the path of Ram (giving up the path of kama (lust)), and achieved immortality, immortal fame as the narrator of Rama's story. From the Rajasik (passionate) stage, he transformed himself into Sathwik (balanced). The spiritual adventure, the spiritual leap from darkness into light needs extraordinary courage, and Divine Grace is the reward for courage.

For this adventure, all are candidates, women as well as men. Sex is but a vesture worn by the Soul for the role of life on earth. It does not affect the life of the Spirit, which is Eternal, and on the supra-sensory plane. Man and woman have each to purify the inner consciousness so that the Divine may reveal itself in all its Glory therein. There are some crude thinkers who declare that women are not entitled to pronounce the sacred syllable OM, but that is a pernicious narrow doctrine. With one voice, these people revere the Mother, acclaiming the dictum 'Mathru Dhevo Bhava, (May your Mother be your God) and with the other, they disgrace the Mother by denying her the fight to save herself? This is hypocrisy. The A U M of the OM, represents the Om Thath Sath principle - the "Thath is the Truth," "I am the Truth," "the Truth is One" principle. The Om is the ever-present Voice within, the echo of the Divine call, from the cavity of the heart. Listen to it, be thrilled by it; that is the inner adoration, of which the external puuja (ritual worship) is the outer symbol. With the ego rampant and rambling, how can the mind be balanced and faith be steady? Contemplate the OM, the Symbol of the Inner Flame, which shines through the waking hours, the dream twilight and the sleep night. That way can earn Grace abundantly. Every place of authority or influence has certain responsibilities attached to it. The Tahsildar is the highest authority that most villagers know; he has the responsibility of fostering the villagers under his care and winning their love and co-operation. The offices that you hold as Presidents and Secretaries of the Sathya Sai Organisational Units lay on you responsibilities with which, perhaps, no other Organisation burdens! its members. These have been drawn up by the Sub- Committees and revised by Me and will be read now. The duties and obligations of the State Presidents and the District Presidents and of the Members and Office-bearers of each Unit, will also be read.

The responsibility of running Bal Vihars (children's classes) is now assigned to the Mahila Vibhag (women's section) and a new rule is laid down that, in no Unit, except Mahila Vibhag, should there be women members. The Seva Samithi (service organisation) will guide and help the Mahila Vibhag, which will work as its subordinate Unit. A Seva Dhal (volunteers corps) will be trained and organised and fully utilised for seva activities. One member of the Samithi will be the Convenor of the Seva Dhal. Every member should be active and enthusiastic, all the time, in seva.

The conviction that I am everywhere, watching everything and aware of everything must keep you on the straight path of sadhana, through seva and study. I want that every Samithi (and every Unit complementary to it) must be bubbling with joy at the work already achieved and with enthusiasm for the work ahead. Love, respect, tolerance, mutual co-operation, forbearance - -these must flow from the hearts of each to all. There should be no eagerness to capture Office from the other's grasp or to hold it back when another is ready for it. The Units too should cooperate with each other and not compete in a spirit of envy or faction. You are all limbs of one body, namely, the Sai body. The Samithis should be guided and if necessary corrected by the District President; the District Presidents should be guided and, if necessary, corrected by the State President and the State Presidents should have constant contact, advice and guidance from the Centre.

This Conference has laid down that women must not be members of any Unit, except Mahila Vibhag. For any public function or celebration they may arrange, they should seek the help and guidance of the Seva Samithi. Every Samithi must start a Mahila Vibhag without delay and Mahila Vibhags must consider Bal Vihars as their most important and most useful activity. The Seva Dhal, the Bhajan Mandali, the Study Circle, the Prasanthi Vidwanmahasabha must all be guided and activated by some member of the Samithi selected for the purpose and nominated for the work. They are all limbs of the Samithi of the place with its 11, 15 or 25 members.

The routine expenses of the Samithi or the Seva Dhal, etc., must be shared by the members only. There should not be any attempt to collect from non-members. For special occasions, voluntary gifts of material or services from devotees may be received. But, there is no need for a Treasurer; the Joint Secretary can manage whatever accounting there is. Every member of the Samithi must be given some particular work so that he may develop a sense of belonging and he may contribute his skill, intelligence, faith and devotion to the promotion of the objects of the Association.

The members of the Samithi must all partake in the Nagarasankerthan. If they have not that steadfast faith, why have their names on the list? They should be active in sadhana and attend sadhana camps, arranged by the Samithi.

Embodiments of Divine Atma! This Bharath land is the centre of spiritual progress for ages past and the region where Divine incarnations re-establish Dharma for the good of humanity. In order to make known My majesty and My glory as the Divine that has Incarnated, miraculous happenings of an amazing nature do take place in certain areas. Taking advantage of the attraction that those happenings draw upon them, many misuse them for personal propaganda and aggrandizement. They trade for money the Vibhuuthi (sacred ash) that the pictures in their altars shower! They go about pretending that they are "superior devotees" of a higher order and conferring boons and blessings on the innocent folk whom they fleece. Others put forth false claims that vibhuuthi is emanating from the pictures of Baba in their homes, that Amrith (nectar) is dripping from them or that material objects are falling from them, like written answers to questions. Samithis and other Units should have no contact with such cheats and crooks. Any one who is attached to such or who encourages such can be immediately removed. There are others who claim that I am speaking through them, and answering questions put to them. These people must be either insane or hysteria-affected or they are possessed by some ghost or by the greed to earn money thereby. I can only tell you that it is not I that speaks through them. I do not need media; nor do I need substitutes or subsidiaries or representatives. There are some crooks who are publicising that I have allotted them some regions for ministration by them on My behalf, because, they say, My devotees have increased so much that I am unable to attend to all of them, single-handed! On the face of it, this is an absurd lie. Moreover, consider another aspect.

Even those who cry in pure agonising yearning, Sai Sai Sai, and lead pure unselfish virtuous lives, even these find it hard to realise Me; how then can these low scheming vulgar men who know no sadhana, sincerity, truth and humility, how can these people claim that they have been blessed by me? They may wear the same style of dress, imitate gestures and style of speech but these will only bring their falsehood into greater prominence. That I am supposed to "possess" such people or speak through them or shower My Grace on them is an assumption of which one ought to be ashamed! How then can anyone believe it, I wonder. Evil forces which design to damage or diminish the faith and devotion of the simple and the sincere do emerge into action and try to attract attention by devious means. They try to draw away aspirants from the spiritual path into worldly paths of avarice and malice. There is a big chasm of difference between the Sai Shakthi (Sai Power) and these inferior shakthis. Since the opportunity has now offered itself, this has to be said. There can be no limit for Sai Shakthi, no hindrance, no opposition or obstacle. You may believe it or you may not, but Sai Shakthi can transform earth into sky, the sky into earth. Only, there is no call for that transformation. This Divine Behaviour is far distinct from the mean exhibitionistic tricks of the inferior shakthis. This is spontaneous manifestation; those are calculated to collect customers and exploit the ignorant. The inferior shakthis may imitate the dress or the gestures, for imitation cannot be prevented. But you have to ask yourselves the question: "Can all green feathered birds be parrots? Or, can all worms on petals turn into butterflies? Or, can a donkey wearing a tiger-skin become a tiger or can an overgrown boar be honoured as an elephant?" Beware of being cheated by dress or speech or by tricks. Nor need you feel angry or upset by these.

For Truth is ever Truth. Falsehood can never become Truth, whatever its tactics. This is the very embodiment of Truth. It has no unreality or falsehood in its composition. But, those afflicted with jaundice can see all things only as yellow. Those who have no appetite or digestion find even delicious food, bitter. Such men may proclaim this in their own manner, as different from what it is; but I am not in the least perturbed nor will I change. Others who are taken to be elders have posed certain problems, to confuse the mind. Krishna, they say, showed many wonders, with amazing disregard of the Laws of Nature and therefore, according to them, Krishna had to meet his death from the arrow of a hunter. Jesus, they say, suffered crucifixion for, he too manifested many miracles. Their argument is that since I am defying the laws of nature, I too will suffer likewise. They plan to create panic and spread false alarm. But, these are the prattlings of weakness, helplessness and envy. These can never be Truth. They only plan to decry and diminish the glory they cannot understand or tolerate. Whoever may join in this campaign, whatever tactics they employ, even if all the 'fourteenworlds' unite as one, they cannot succeed; they cannot affect Me in the least. And, even if ten more worlds, say 24 in all, lend them their support, their falsehood will not be accepted or established as Truth.

Truth can never be tarnished or turned into falsehood. You may be subjected to all kinds of pressure and publicity; but, do not lose courage, do not allow your devotion, faith and steadfastness to decline. Resolve to achieve success in the sadhana you have taken upon yourselves. Then, this Sathya will reveal itself, without fail, as your own sathya (reality). I do not depend on outer manifestation and actions; I am related to you through the inner principle of Love. If you are to be drawn by outer attractions, advertisement is imperative. For example, if such a Conference or such a Celebration is held in any other place, invitations have to be printed and sent out, personal requests have to be made so that this person or that can attend. Considerations have to be held forth to many so that the invitations may be accepted and the function made a success. But here in the Prasanthi Nilayam, no invitation has ever been printed and distributed on any occasion, asking people to come. No one has been specially requested to take part. It is Love, the invitations of the Heart to the heart, that has brought you in tens of thousands to this place. The validity and value of Love are proved by you; Love is the most potent of My powers.

When you light a lamp in your home, you have to go round the homes of others and invite them to come and admire it. But when the Sun rises in all its splendour, there is no need to draw the attention of the world to the event. This is the splendour of the Sun. It will itself command attention. No one need be invited to notice it. Of course, it is only natural that doubt may arise in you on some occasions based on My form or My words or My action but, when you are eager to know My reality, you must observe in action My teaching and follow Me. Then, certainly, My Divine Reality will be revealed to you. Having looked at this form through your eyes only, you start guessing and concluding, as your wavering fancy dictates, and lay waste your intellectual and mental efforts; you even allow your devotion and faith to flow into wrong channels. I am advising you against this, with the force of a command.

Swami Karunyanandha declared yesterday that he believed for a long time that those who lived in previous Ages were far more fortunate than those of this Age, since they could secure the dharshan (direct sight) of the Incarnation of the Lord. But he said, it has now become clear to him that there is no generation more fortunate than his; that declaration is true. It is thrice true. For during no previous Age did man have this unique chance. No organisation of this nature was established, no Conference of this character was held in the Presence and no opportunity was given then to derive Anandha through such close association, through conversation and singing together. Undoubtedly, you are all singularly fortunate. Therefore, do not let the opportunity slip through your hands. Hold fast to it and make the best of it. With steady faith and enthusiastic devotional activity, tread the path indicated and reach the Goal of Realising the Reality. I bless you that you may attain the Bliss of that Realisation.