Samadrsti

Those who live in Malleswaram have made good arrangements for celebrating the Annual Festival of the Bhajan (community singing) that they have been conducting here. Bhajan always gives Ananda and Shanti. See that it is not used for increasing your egoism, or mutual recrimination, or envy or pride, as very often happens. Be humble, be calm, be tolerant. Co-operate with all and treat everyone with courtesy and kindness.

Bhakti is not a uniform to be worn on Thursday evenings, when you gather for Bhajan, and to be laid aside when the Bhajan is over. It must mean the promotion of an attitude of humility, of revering parents, teachers, elders, and others; it is a mental outlook, an attitude that is ever-present. It is the sustenance of the heart, just as food is sustenance for the body. Like the needle of the compass always pointing to the North, never deviating from that direction, returning to it, readily, gladly, quickly, whenever it is shaken off that line, so too the bhakta (devotee) must face the Lord ever, must be happy only when he is set towards Him.

The Spiritual Triveni Leading To Samadrsti

Many people think of God only when grief overtakes them; of course, it is good to do so; it is better than seeking the help of those who are also equally liable to grief. But, it is infinitely better to think of God in grief and in joy, in peace and strife, in all weathers. The proof of the rain is in the wetness of the ground; the proof of bhakti is in the shanti the bhakta has, shanti which protects him against the onslaughts of success as well as failure, fame, dishonor, gain, and loss.

Bhakti is the river Ganga. Vairagya (detachment) is the river Yamuna and jnana is the river Saraswathi of this spiritual Triveni (confluence of three rivers). Jnana is the through-train; you just board it, that is enough; it takes you direct to the destination. Bhakti is the through carriage; though it may be detached from one train and connected with another, if you get into it, you need not worry; so long as you stick to your place, it is bound to take you to the destination. Karma is the ordinary train; if you board it, you have to disembark, climb in and climb out at every junction, load your luggage and unload it, and do a good lot of work to reach your destination.

Bhakti alone is enough, even to acquire jnana. It ends in Samadrsti (seeing only Brahman in all) and it destroys egoism. Jnana too gives you these. Narada once offered to teach the Gopis (illiterate cowherd women), the principles of philosophy, Vijnana-bodha, as he called it. Krishna agreed. But, they said, “We do not care for your learning and your discourse. We see Krishna everywhere and in everything and so, we have no hate or envy or malice. We have Samadrsti and we have no ahamkaram (egoism). We believe this is enough for us.” Narada found that what they claimed was correct; so he left discomfited.

You Are Not Travelling Godward

Now, most of you are leading a double or treble life; Yoga (practicing union with God) in the morning, Bhoga (enjoyment) the rest of the day, and Roga (suffering) at night. You seek Ananda outside you and suffer from the ulcer of desire inside you. You utter one thing with the tongue and carry out the opposite with the hand. You claim to be seekers of jnana but you are attached to the delusion you have cultivated. You have a ticket for Calcutta but you are traveling in the train headed for Bombay! With the body which is your ticket, Vijnana and Vairagya (world knowledge and detachment) as your luggage, you are traveling not in the train which goes Godward but in the train leading to Prakriti (objective world). This is the pity!

The roots must go deep, deep down to the level of underground water. The trees that grow on the bunds of canals are green with thick foliage. Your roots must also go deep into the Divinity that will keep you green whatever the dryness of the weather or heat of the Sun.

You Can Recognize God In Your Own Self

This is the Age of Profit. The question that anyone asks when he is asked to do a thing is, “What is the profit?” “How much is the profit?” “How sure is the profit?” Well. Let Me also ask, “Of what profit is all this feeding and growing, this striving and struggling, this earning, saving and spending, this losing and gaining, this speeding in cars and planes, if by these means you do not get peace in the mind, joy in the heart?”

All these activities only serve to hide the real nature of the individual, to overwhelm it under a mass of trivialities, to suppress the natural influence of the real Truth of Man. Develop a love for God, then you can recognize Him very near you, in your own Self. That is the assurance I am giving to all of you.

Malleswaram, Sathya Sai Bhajan Mandali, 15-12-1963