Music of the Spirit

God is the echo of the hills, the flutter of the leaves, the whisper of men, the babble of children, the Om (Divine sound) that is wafted everywhere. God is present at all places, but to recognize Him, saints have had to prescribe a thousand methods! He is in everyone, yet he evades discovery by all but a few. Being all-powerful, He is the giver of all gifts, the providence bestowing upon us all the wherewithal. Sarvam avyati Tishthati (He remains All-encompassing).

There is nothing except God. Nature is His manifestation. Man must recognize God in all human beings and in all else that exists. Since the jeeva (individual being) limits his viewpoint to the physical frame he occupies, and confines his attention and interest, love, and attachment to a small circle of relations and friends, he limits God also to a certain name and form, and sees His compassion and grace, blessings, and benediction, limited to a small circle of ‘devotees’ who adore that specific name and form.

Human desires are narrow, so He who grants fulfillment is also imagined to be narrow in His grace. Ideally, therefore, when one prays, one should in complete resignation say, ‘Thy will be done’, and ought not to ask for this or that, for he has neither the wisdom nor the foresight to know what is best for him.

Pranava, Om, is the Geeta of God

The Bhagavad Geeta teaches that envy and greed can be overcome by practicing love and detachment. People have themselves resolved upon a day as the birthday of the Bhagavad Geeta, which they celebrate with pompous Pooja and speeches! In the midst of this confusion, the essential teachings of the Geeta are ignored. When exactly did the Geeta originate? What does Geeta mean? Literally, the word means ‘song’. Since God is Omnipresent, the Song of God, too, must be Omnipresent. So, in reality, Pranava (Om) is the Geeta of God. God’s song cannot be only for a few or only for some people or in a language understood only by one nation. Om is Universal, eternal, full of the essence of all spiritual significance. So, Om alone can be the real Geeta of God. And It can have no birthday that man should celebrate, having itself arisen before time began.

Our (inner) self is resonant with the Pranava. But amid the clamor of the marketplace and the noise of the commerce of life, our little selves are not able to hear it. Our own senses lay claim to our attention. Our minds crave for being let free among the pleasures of the outer world. Obviously, our passions and prejudices have to be calmed before we can hear the Om, the Song of the Lord that wells up from the heart.

Serve All In An Attitude of Worship

March on with your eyes on the goal. Do not worry about the past, its mistakes, and its failures. Do not follow the whims and fancies of the mind any longer. They will fill the ear with praise or blame and drag you away from the aadhyatmika (spiritual) path. Follow the call of the Divine arising from the hearts of all living beings. Serve them in an attitude of worship, not expecting something in return. Do not accept even gratitude, having dedicated all your acts to the indwelling God. This will purify you so that you shall be able to listen to the So’ham that your breath repeats every moment. So’ham transmutes itself into Om when the distinction between He and me has dissolved in the process of Samaadhi.

Believe that the So’ham merging into Om is the Sai tattwam, Sai principle. ‘S’ stands for ‘Sai’, ‘A’ for ‘And’ and ‘I’ for the ‘Saadhaka’ (spiritual aspirant) himself. Thus SAI, in fact, symbolizes the Vedic dictum: Tat Tvam Asi (Thou art that). In the first stage the Saadhaka says, ‘I am in Sai,’ in the second stage, ‘Sai is in me,’ and in the third and final stage, ‘Sai and I are One,’ the duality between the two having been shed. When truth strikes the individual like a streak of lightning in the midst of dark clouds, and abides, it confers Bliss, and in that moment of illumination Om is revealed in all its grandeur. By practicing the teachings of Krishna, one gains that Illumination, the Jnaana jyoti (wisdom of light), Om.

Krishna’s flute is the expression, the elucidation of the four Vedas and Om is their quintessence. ‘A,’ ‘U,’ ‘M’ and the dot (signifying the reverberation of the Sound in the depth of the heart), are symbolic of the four Vedas. Om is also symbolic of the ‘Rama principle’. The four brothers, Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna, represent the Rig, Yajur, Saama and Atharvana Vedas.

When man neglects the Divine aspect of his nature and fails to pursue the saadhana (spiritual discipline) that ensures the awareness of the Omnipresent and Omnipotent Om, he falls prey to the impulses and instincts dominated by the ego and develops faith in material gains. He spends his life in amassing wealth, power, and authority over fellow beings and believes that holding others under his sway is a desirable achievement.

Man Knows So Little Of What Is Worth Knowing

If there were a vacancy in Heaven, man would surely apply for the position of God, for he believes that he has all the necessary attributes! He forgets that the real attribute for superiority is unshaken faith in one’s Atmic Reality. Of what use is it to only know one’s puny self? It is like a so-called learned band of doctors knowing a bit here and a bit there but being ignorant of the treatment of maladies like cancer and the common cold. Science must make man humble by revealing that he knows so little of what is worth knowing.

The Divine aspect of your personality will encourage humility, adherence to truth, love, eagerness to serve, fortitude, and detachment. Cherish the first manifestation of these qualities in your life and practice them whenever you get a chance. The innate brotherhood that sanctifies the human race is destroyed by the weeds of envy that grow in the mind. These weeds ruin one’s personality. They grow so rank that they strangle the individual himself.

Sorrow is the shadow that haunts the ego. When a neighbor of yours grieves over the loss of a loved one you console him by saying that it is not wise to weep over worldly losses, that weeping cannot bring the departed one back. But when death visits your own family, you grieve so much that the same neighbor has to repeat the same argument to console you. All this happens because neither has developed faith in the Atma, and neither has the naam (name) on the tongue and prema (Love) in the heart.

A man builds a nice house for himself and feels proud of the garden surrounding it, of the color effect of the interior painting, etc. If during an election campaign, some urchins scribble slogans on the walls enclosing his garden, he flares up against them and threatens to thrash the young villains for having damaged the immaculate whiteness of the walls. But once he sells the house and it no longer belongs to him, he is not affected in the least even if the house is reduced to a heap of bricks! Such is the insidious effect of listening to the ego. Before you were born you had no kith and kin; when you die, they leave you alone. Why, then, develop this bond with them just for a short intervening life, and for its sake forget the very purpose for which this life has been granted? Always be conscious of the flimsiness of worldly achievements while ever using your talents, skills, and everything else to the best possible advantage in the service of God in man.

Prasanthi Nilayam, 13-8-1978