Sathya Sai Geeta (I)

In the Sathya Sai Geeta, which Thirumalachar read and explained just now, he has given My name to the ‘Sathya’ that he has experienced. Persons who have seen Me are many, but those who have understood My significance are few; so too, those who have ‘seen’ the Geeta, that is to say read it and learned it by rote, are legion, but those who have grasped the sense are few. Geeta must be ‘taagi’ (which is the reverse form of Geeta), that is to say, in (spoken) Telugu, ‘drunk’ or imbibed! Then, you become a tyaagi, full of vairaagyam - free from senseless attachment to the sensory world. Giving up raaga – i.e., things that please and bind, that ensnare and enslave – that is what is meant by vairaagyam (dispassion).

Another thing about the Geeta is that it does not speak of grihastha (the householder) stage of life. It deals with the fundamentals of living; not living in this compartment or that, but living as such and the deepest problems of life. It was repeated by one householder to another and so, it does not prescribe the recluse’s ‘escape’. That is the lesson, both in that Geeta and this.

Many Read The Geeta, But Few Benefit

Geeta means ‘song’; Krishna sings at Brindavan with the flute. He sings on the battlefield too; in both places, the call is for the particular to merge with the infinite, the universal. For Him, the Rudrabhoomi (place of cremation) as well as the bhadrabhoomi (sanctified ground) are the same; they are equally placed for imparting upadesh (spiritual instruction) in the form, in which the Bhakta most likes it, namely song. And imagine with what concentration Arjuna heard it? His concentration was steady as that of the gopis (cowherd girls), who listened to the message of the flute in Brindavan. He forgot the opposing armies, his own hatreds and enthusiasm for war and he became immersed in the teaching he secured. If you develop that ekaagrata (one-pointedness) in the Kurukshetra of your own particular ‘battlefields’, you can assuredly also listen to the Geeta – the Bhagavad-geeta, the Sai Geeta, or the Sathya Sai Geeta – intended for you.

The Geeta was spoken to remove the ajnana-sammoha (the delusion caused by ignorance) and it succeeded in removing it, so far as Arjuna was concerned; others like Sanjaya and Dhritarashtra, who also heard it, did not benefit, because they were still bound by their own particular brand of ajnana.

Dhritarashtra was all the while worried that the battle had not started yet and that his sons’ enemies had not been destroyed! So, he was not benefitted. Therefore, many read the Geeta, but few benefit. You must have Arjuna’s vairaagyam and Arjuna’s ekaagrata to derive profit from the Geeta. Nirmala-hridaya (pure heart) and nischala-bhaava (firm disposition of mind) are essential.

Feeling Of ‘I’ And ‘Mine’ Should Go

The sammoha (confusion) of Arjuna was the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. All of a sudden, he began to feel that he was the killer, that he would be responsible, and that they were his teachers, elders, and relations. This mamakara (feeling of mine) has to go, the ‘I’ has to be crossed and all words, deeds, and thoughts have to be dedicated to the Lord. The baby weeps as soon as it is born, because the jeeva (individual being) has no desire to get entangled in prakriti (objective world) once again. It is unwilling to come into maya (veil of delusion). Science describes it as the process of breathing for the first time and the clearing of the air passage, but why should it weep? The process can be started some other way, say snaking or shivering, is it not?

The weeping child must later leave this world laughing, the worth of life is to be judged by the end. Prema is the seed, Bhakti is the seedling, the sapling. Faith is the manure, satsangam (holy company) is the rain, aatmaarpanam (offering of the Self) is the flower, and aikyama (merging together) the fruit. With that, one must throw off this coil and become free.

The Geeta advises karma-sanyaasa (renunciation of action), that is to say karma without attachment to the fruit thereof. There are karmas, which have to be done as duties, related to the status in samsara (worldly life) and if these are done in the proper spirit, they will not bind at all. Do all karma as actors in a play, keeping your identity separate and not attaching yourself too much to your role. Remember that the whole thing is just a play and the Lord has assigned you a part; act well your part. There, all your duty ends. He has designed the play and He enjoys it.

Take Refuge In The Innermost Recesses Of The Heart

Aatma is the ocean, prakriti (nature) is just a wave of that vast, ageless, boundless ocean and the jeeva is just a drop of that wave. You cannot give up the wave or the sea. You can only merge the name and form of the drop. Once you enter the depths of the sea, it is all calm, it is all peace; agitation, noise, confusion - all are only on the outer layers. So also, in the innermost recesses of the heart, there is a reservoir of shaanti, where you must take refuge.

There are three types of people: the taamasika, who are like iron balls, impervious to any softening influence; the raajasika, who are like cotton, absorbent but not changing their own nature; and the saattvika, who melt as butter melts at the joy or grief of others, or at the mention of the leelas (divine plays) of the Lord. They dive deep into the source and spring of sympathy. Anger, envy, greed, and intolerance are all so many holes in the pot; the waters of shaanti, saukhyam, and santosham (peace, contentment, happiness) leak through the holes and the pot becomes empty. The pot has to be repaired and all leaks stopped, so that it may be useful.

It is when you are in a desperate situation that you call upon the Lord, forgetting your pride and your egoism. The Pandavas were so full of misery in a worldly sense, that they always had an attitude of prayer. If I had given you all the comforts and opportunities, you would not have come to Puttaparthi. Trouble is the bait, with which the fish is hauled out of the water. Kunti asked that Krishna should continue giving her and her sons all kinds of misery, so that He may grant them His grace continuously.

Offer Your Egoism At The Lord’s Feet

Thirumalachar called this attitude aatmaarpanam (offering of the Self), but the aatma is He Himself and so, what do you mean by offering Him to Himself? What you would offer at His feet is your egoism, your ahankara! Offer all the pride, all the separateness, all the delusion, all the attachment that the egoism has proliferated into! That is the worship you have to do. Bring to Me all the evil in you and leaving it here, take from Me what I have, viz. Prema; learn sarva Sama bhaavana – the capacity to see all as moved and motivated by the One Paramaatma (Supreme Reality or Self).

Examine every day what you do and with what motive, then you can yourself pronounce judgment on your progress. Select only pure motives, pure deeds. You forgot that you are the aatma and now, you remember that you are the aatma. That is all the progress you have to achieve; it all looks so easy, but it is one of the hardest of assignments. The ear is so near to the eye, but it can never see it direct!

There was a clown in a palace, who always asked questions and was therefore held to be a big nuisance. The king had to put up a board, “No questions”, just to escape him. But, when the king was on his death bed, he called him near and whispered, “I am going.” The clown asked him hurriedly, “Shall I order the royal chariot? The elephant with the howdah? The royal horse full caparisoned? The palanquin? How far are you going? Which is the exact place? How long will you camp there?” The clown was very wise. He knew the questions, though he did not know the answers, nor did the King know. But, you can pass examinations, only if you know the answers!

The Geeta Helps To Control Agitations Of The Mind

The Geeta prompts you to seek the answers and directs you to experience them. It helps you to control the chitta (thoughts) and the agitations of the mind; it destroys delusion; it develops true knowledge; it makes you glimpse the splendor of the Lord and confirms your faith. You say one moment, “Baba does everything, I am but the instrument,” and the next moment, the same tongue talks, “I did this; I did that. Swami did not do this for me.” If you never slip into wrong, you can be ever certain of His grace.

All hearts are His property, it is all His domain. But, just as the jamindar sits only on a clean spot, though the entire area may be his, the Lord will install Himself, only if the heart is cleansed. The Lord has said that, “Mad bhakta yatra gaayante tatra tishtaami Narada,”–”Where My devotees sing of Me, there I install Myself, Narada.” I must tell you that you are luckier than men of previous generations. The accumulated merit of many previous births must have granted you this luck. You have got Me and it is your duty now, to develop this relationship that you have achieved by sheer good fortune.

In four or five years’ time, you will see yogis, maharishis, and munis (ascetics and sages) crowding here and you may not have such chances of asking Me questions and getting the answers, of approaching Me and directly speaking to Me. So, do not be like frogs around the lotus; be like the bees. Plantains and mangoes are kept, while yet green, in straw, dried grass, or in a closed room, so that the heat may make them ripe and tasty. The meditation on God also gives you the right temperature to ripen yourselves and become sweet and tasty.

Seven Things To Be Fostered For World Welfare

There are seven things that have to be fostered for the welfare of the world: the cow, the Brahman-ward or spiritual aspirant, or the brahmana, the Vedas, chastity, truth, non-attachment, and dharma (righteousness). All these are now fast declining and I have come to restore them to their pristine purity and strength. Do not think that this Sathya Sai Geeta was composed by some Bhakta (devotee) and that he reads it and explains it here. As he said, I am the inspirer and it is for your benefit that he has summarized My teachings in this way. It is said, “Ekam, satyam, vimalam, achalam,” – “The one truth is pure and unshakable.” Thirumalachar has collected it in his vessel and he is giving it to you.

Of course, no one can unravel the mystery of the Lord. Even Vishwamitra, who came to Dasharatha asking for the two boys, extolling them as divine incarnations, later forgot that fact and he dared teach them mantras (sacred formulas), as if they were just ordinary disciples! He was even proud that the Lord, who transformed Ahalya and released her from the curse, was his disciple. Pride is one of the worst sins in the spiritual field. If you feel conceited that you are a Bhakta of Hari, He will ‘hari’ (destroy, in Telugu) you, remember. Sharanagati (absolute surrender) should be like the attitude of Lakshmana. Rama said, “Take Sita and leave her in the forest.” Implicit obedience! There is no why! That is Lakshmana. That is Sharanagati; the rest are deserving only of sharagati (the arrow of Rama).

That is the genuine Geeta, this lesson of Sharanagati. Increase faith, walk in the path of dharma, get rid of vyamoha and ajnana (delusion and ignorance), cleanse the chitta-vritti (agitations of the mind), and know that He is the aatma and that you too are the aatma.

Prasanthi Nilayam, 27-9-1960