Do Bhajans With Faith And Fervour

You have all tasted the sweetness of the name of the Lord for twenty-four hours, as Akhandabhajan. Akhandameans uninterrupted, without any gap. I am glad you sang without any gap and also, that you selected the namavalis of the manifold forms of God, instead of singing one particular namam throughout, as if God had only one facet of personality. The same man is father of his children, uncle to his nephews, brother to some, cousin to many others, and son to his parents. So, God too has many aspects, and when you conduct Bhajan, you must try to satisfy all who take part, by reminding them of the manifold manifestations of the Lord, not simply Rama, Krishna, or Sairam.

Again, Akhandabhajan means that it should not be just a twenty-four-hour affair, or even a seven-day affair; it must go on from birth to death, this contemplation of the source and goal of things. The procession to the cremation ground starts immediately, on birth and the beating of the heart is the drum-beat for the march towards that place. Some take a longer route, some reach quickly, but all are on the way. Therefore, Bhajan has to start in childhood and has to continue. It must be the constant companion of man, his solace and strength. Do not postpone it to old age, for it is the essential food for the mind.

There Is No Consistency In Man’s Behaviour

You have all been thrilled by this Bhajan here and you are glad that you got the chance to join. But this is just a temporary feeling. You who shared in this glorification of the Lord will tomorrow as enthusiastically join in some other gathering, where falsehood and injustice are honoured! There is no consistency in your behaviour. What you feel as correct and what you do are poles apart. That is not the mark of a Bhakta. If there is no shraddha (faith), how can you have shanti and santosham (peace and happiness)?

People seek frantically for peace and happiness in a thousand ways, along a thousand roads. Dr. Bhagawantham was telling Me just prior to My coming here, at the Tata Institute of Science, that there is something beyond all this objective world, some mystery which becomes deeper and more mysterious with every advance of science. When one door is opened, ten doors which are closed reveal themselves to the surprised scientist. So, real shanti is to be got only in the depths of the spirit, in the discipline of the mind, in faith in the one base of all this seeming multiplicity. When that is secured, it is like having gold, you can have any variety of jewels made from it.

It is all a matter of one’s own experience. And the joy of that experience, the profound exhilaration which accompanies it, cannot be communicated in words. All shravanam and kirtanam (hearing and singing God’s names) is to take you nearer that experience. Shravanam is the medicine that you take internally and kirtanam is the balm you apply externally. Both are needed. So also, dharma (virtue) as well as karma (sanctified activity) are necessary; karma is the very foundation of Bhakti (devotion to God). It is the basement, on which devotion is built. Dharma is the attitude, in which action is done, the truth, prema, and equanimity, with which the mind is activated when it seeks to do things.

Do Karma Regardless Of The Fruits Thereof

Karma has to be done in and through dharma. Those dominated by tamas (ignorance) do karma solely for the sake of the fruits thereof and they resort to all subterfuges in order to gain from it; for them, the end justifies the means. Those dominated by rajas (passion) are proud and pompous and boast that they are the doers, the benefactors, and the experiencers. Those dominated by satva-guna (quality of calm serenity) will do karma, regardless of the fruits thereof, leaving the result to the Lord, not worrying whether it leads to success or failure, conscious of their duties and never of their rights.

As a matter of fact, there is more joy in the actual doing, than in the result that accrues. This must be your experience. All the elaborate arrangements that the master of the house makes for a wedding in the family: the reception, the feeding, the illumination, the music, these are thrilling while they are being planned and executed, but they do not give so much pleasure, once the thing is done. In the end, when the bills come, they might even cause disgust and grief! So, it must be easy to discard the fruits of action, provided you spend some thought upon the process of karma and the worth of the fruit.

The jeevi (individual soul) has come to this birth to reveal the splendour of the spark of Godhead, which it is. The body is the wick of the lamp, yearning for God is the ghee which feeds the flame. But, like the rat, which, attracted by the strong-smelling, cheap stuff inside the trap, neglects all other articles of food in the granary and falls a prey to its foolishness, man too neglects his real sustenance and wastes his life in pursuits of mortal riches.

Various Types Of Bhakti

You should see and wonder at the nityam (eternal) in all this anityam (temporary). This drama has only two actors, jada and chaitanya (the insentient and the supreme consciousness), who play a million roles. Just as the violinist Chowdiah here, who played ten ragas (musical tunes) now and can play 400 ragas on the four strings, jada and chaitanya together play all these roles. Out of a mere 26 letters of the alphabet, all the words in the dictionary are formed and millions of books get written, read, and understood. But, you should see through this drama and discover the director, who is none else than God.

This can be done through Bhakti, based on nishkama-karma (desire-less action). Bhakti is of various types, according to the samskara (purificatory acts) of the devotee, the state of his mind, and the stage of his development. There is the shanta-bhakti(peaceful devotion) of Bhishma, the vatsalya-bhakti (parental devotion) of Yashoda, the madhura-bhakti (sweet, loving devotion) of Gouranga and Meera, and the Anuraga-bhakti (deep attachment) of the gopis. Of these, the dasya (devoted servant) attitude is the easiest and the best for the majority of aspirants, at this time. It means Sharanagati or prapatti (total surrender). It grows out of shanta-bhakti.

Bhakti has to be developed by several means, or indeed by all means. The mind and the intellect have to be trained and controlled, that is the aim. They can take you as far as the vishishtadvaita (qualified dualism); later, advaitika (non-dualistic) experience depends upon His grace; the sayujyam (merging in the absolute) is in His hands. The chief means are shravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, padasevanam, vandanam, dasyam, sneham, and Atma-nivedanam (hearing, singing, and remembering the Lord’s name, prostration, salutation, servitude, friendship, and self-offering). Sneham (friendship) is placed just before Atma-nivedanam (offering of the Self), because between friends, there is no fear, no doubt, disbelief, or hesitation.

Mission, On Which The Lord Comes On This Earth

It is to clear the path of spiritual progress of man that the Avatar (divine incarnation) comes. The ashanti (restlessness), in which man is immersed, has to be curbed. That is what is meant by paritranaya sadhunam - “The saving of sadhus,” the saving of all good jeevis (individual beings) from the tentacles of ashanti (grief), caused by want of knowledge of the relative unimportance of worldly things. All jeevis must get shanti and santosham; that is the mission, on which the Lord comes again and again on this Earth. He selects a place full of pavitratvam (holiness) and divyatvam (divinity) and takes on the human form, so that you may meet Him and talk, understand and appreciate, listen and follow, experience and benefit.

The tragedy is that when Godhead is invisible, formless, you concretise it as you like, pray to it, and get consolation and strength out of it, but when it is before you, concretised in human form, you doubt, discuss, and deny! People fall before the stone Naga (snake), pour milk on it, and wash it lovingly with sacred waters; when it materialises into an actual cobra, they flee in fear! But a true Bhakta has no fear or disbelief.

Feel No Shame In Walking On The Right Path

Prahlada was shivering at the Narasimha (man-lion) form when it appeared from the pillar and when the Lord asked him why, he replied that it was due not to fear of the form of God, for as he said, all forms of His are lovely as they are divine; it was due to fear that the form might soon disappear, and he might lose the splendid vision of the Lord. The father was so full of Rajo-guna (quality of passion), that he saw the terrible Narasimha form, but Prahlada did not see it so. To Him, the Lord appeared beautiful and full of grace, for he was saturated with Bhakti.

You must dive deep into the sea to get the pearls. What good is it to dabble among the waves near the shore and swear that the sea has no pearls in it and that all tales of its existence are false? So also, if you must realise the full fruit of this Avatar, dive deep and get immersed in Sai Baba. Half-heartedness, hesitation, doubt, cynicism, listening to tales, all are of no avail. Concentrated, complete faith - that alone can bring victory. This is true for any worldly activity, is it not? How much more true must it be, therefore, in the spiritual field? But, if you have already attached yourselves to some name and form, do not change it, do not choose another in place of the prema-swarupam (embodiment of love).

A hundred people might come to your house and even treat you with affection, but you do not address them as papa or daddy. Have your mind fixed on one; do not now and then allow clouds of doubt, like “Is He great?” “Is He God?” to dim your faith. Be bold. Acknowledge the glory that you have witnessed; proclaim the joy that you have experienced; confess to the grace that you have earned. When people ask you whether you too are going to Puttaparthi, for example, and whether you too are doing Bhajan, say, “Yes,” proudly, for there is no shame in walking on the right path!

Have Shiva Himself As Your Guru

There are some Gurus, who insist on implicit obedience, who advise their disciples even to beat anyone who cavil at their master! I have contempt for all such, and I have come to give them proper advice. The Guru can never usurp the position of Shiva; it is better that you have Shiva Himself as your Guru, rather than have these power-mad and egoistic teachers, who revel in hatred and aggrandisement. Leave all those who cavil severely alone, with their karma and their tamasika ananda, not merely those who are ignorant of Me, but even those who deride all forms of God and the very idea of God.

Develop faith in yourselves, so that you can stand like a rock, braving the rushing waters of the flood of negation. That faith will make you forget the changing circumstances of the outer world. Ramadas, when he was put in jail, thanked Rama for the great blessing, for he felt that he could now carry on his Nama-smarana undisturbed by the world, which was mercifully shut off by the high prison walls!

The First Steps Are The Most Hard In The Pilgrimage

It all depends on the point of view, whether you are happy or unhappy, that colours all attitudes and options. Ramadas sang the exploits of Anjaneya in Lanka and while doing so, he mentioned the white lilies of the island. Anjaneya heard him sing it and immediately took exception to the description. He said that he had never seen a single white flower there; the lilies of Lanka were red, he declared. Ramadas, however, insisted that they were white. Anjaneya got annoyed at the impudence of poets, who tried to pit their imagination against a first-hand expert witness and appealed to Rama for intercession. Rama agreed with Ramadas! He said that Anjaneya saw them red, because his eyes were affected by rajasika anger at the entire rakshasa (demonic) brood!

So, if you have shanti, the world will appear a quite peaceful place; if you have ashanti (restlessness), the world will be full of ashanti. _Shanti_is to be won by Sadhana, not by study of books. One judge reads huge volumes and writes one judgement for a suit; another judge reads the same huge books and writes quite an opposite judgement for the same suit! Books are just guides for some bit of the road. Afterwards, you have to find the way yourselves and it gets easier as you go. One Naya paisa and another make two, four more make an annam, and a hundred make a rupee. The first steps are the hardest; the pilgrimage to Kashi is to begin with the first step.

Keep the flame of vairagya (detachment) with tiny sticks, until it grows into a big bonfire; welcome all chances to develop Viveka. If you are good for the world, then the Lord of worlds will shower love on you. Become a blossom, exude the fragrance of seva (selfless service) and prema (love), then I shall gladly wear the garland composed of all of you.

Take the name of the Lord and repeat it always. I was listening to the Bhajan you did here yesterday and today. Your voices were low; they could scarcely be heard outside this hall. I know that in a certain institution, where they decided to do Akhandabhajan, they had to hire a few persons at so much per hour, so that their plan could succeed. Do Bhajan with faith and enthusiasm. Let the whole city shake with the devotion you put into every name that you sing. The name promotes comradeship and establishes concord; it stills all storms and grants peace.

Akhanda bhajan, Bangalore, 10-7-1959