The Victory

The motherland which bore children who
earned immortal renown all around the globe; The battleground which witnessed the flight of heroes from the west who ruled; 
The Bharat-land which shone so brilliant with seers and scholars, each a gem; 
The happy land which fostered and brought to fame songsters and poets, thinkers and teachers; The birth-land of the beauty and charm divine through master artists of brush and chisel; 
This mother, Bharat, to guard her dharma treasure, O! students! yours is the bounden task.

The world is the manifestation and expansion of the five fundamental elements. Its innate nature is duality—the entity and the result, the cause and its effect. This duality is evident in the alternating experiences of joy and grief, praise and blame, victory and defeat, profit and loss. These are the consequences of the right and wrong we indulge in. It is not wrong if you slip into wrong; repeating the wrong is the thing to be condemned. One must learn lessons from the mistake, repent and resolve not to commit it again.

The history of India holds forth before us the folly of repeating the wrong already done. The French, the Portuguese, the Moguls and the Afghans have all warned Indians against this characteristic. Duplex has recorded that he was able to establish French rule in the then Karnataka region with the help of the Nizam. Mir Jaffer helped Clive to conquer Bengal. Raghunatha Rao Peshwa helped the foreigner to conquer Maharashtra. The foreign rule was established in India, with the help of Indians themselves. Inhabitants of an island, eleven thousand miles away, were able to conquer India, sixteen times its size having eight times its population, and rule over it for one hundred and ninety years, because of one basic defect, disunity caused by mutual suspicion, selfishness, jealousy. The union is strength; disunion brings disaster.

When Gandhi was twenty-four years old, he proceeded to South Africa at the invitation of an Indian business house to conduct a court case. There he witnessed the humiliation being heaped upon Indian settlers by the Whites. Differences can exist between man and man in health, education, wealth and temperament. But, fundamentally, all men are equal and should be treated as such. But racial animosity was the accepted policy of the White rulers in South Africa.

The Advent Of Satyagraha By Gandhi

Gandhi stayed on among the oppressed Indians and native blacks and devised the strategy of satyagraha (passive resistance or civil disobedience) to end the exploitation. When the movement showed signs of quick success, General Smuts invited Gandhi for discussion. Gandhi explained to him that he had to resort to non-violent satyagraha since the inhuman policy of insulting and injuring humans having black skins had to be resisted and exterminated. General Smuts retorted by pointing out to Gandhi how millions of Indians human beings like the rest were kept out of villages and condemned as untouchables.

The General’s word acted as a bullet shot right at the heart of Gandhi. Gandhi felt that he had no right to correct another while he was himself infected with the same evil. He decided to return to India and practice the strategy of satyagraha for the removal of untouchability and other social evils and to free his Motherland from exploitation by foreigners. Satyagraha was the path of truth and love, of the means being as pure as the ends. Verily, he who accepts criticism gladly and thanks to the critic for his remarks is the one really human. Since Gandhi was willing to learn and had the humility to acknowledge criticism, he could mold the people of his land and be hailed as the Father of the Nation.

He looked upon the country as one. He planted the seed of unity of all faiths and all communities, which under his guidance grew quickly into a big tree. He built a great movement on the basis of atma-balam (soul-force) that strengthened unity and self-confidence. The selfishness that had possessed the nation as an evil genius and ruined its progress in material, moral, political and spiritual fields, was suppressed while the movement was on. The people suffered much, but suffering is the prelude to success. There is no rose without thorns. Without giving, no one can gain. How can anything great be achieved without overcoming internal and external obstacles?

The Birth And Meaning Of Svatantra

The independence we celebrate today was finally achieved and proclaimed at midnight on August 14/15, 1947. What exactly does the word ‘independence’ mean? It means we are not dependent on anyone, any longer. We are dependent on ourselves alone. The Indian word is Svatantra for ‘Independence’. To be under the control of others is paratantra and to be governed by the principle of the Atma is Svatantra. The syllable ‘swa’ means Atma. Therefore, Svatantra means to be guided by the Atma. It is said dependence on others is grief and to depend on the Atma is happiness. Humanness is a combination of yantra, mantra and tantra. Your body is the yantra (machine), your breath is the mantra and your hridaya (heart) is the tantra. Therefore, Sva-tantra means to follow your hridaya. Your hridaya is your only guru and your only God. It is only when you follow your hridaya will you achieve victory. This is what is meant by ‘following the divine’.

We have attained freedom from foreign rule. But bondage is bondage whether it is caused by foreign rule or your own countrymen. Today are you really independent? You should attain freedom not only from the bondage caused by others but also by your own senses. It is only then will you become truly independent. One is the external freedom and the other is the inner freedom. A true human being is one who attains both. ‘Antar bahishcha tat sarvam vyapya Narayana sthitah’. Since God is present inside and outside, you should attain both external and inner freedom. In order to experience this freedom, you should make efforts to realize the importance of sense control, the reality of divinity and oneness of humanity. This is what Sage Patanjali has said in his Yoga Sastra, ‘Yogah chitta vritti nirodhah’. People may say it is possible to control the mind, but not all have the capacity to do it.

Purity, Unity And Divinity

You have to be leaders of this country in a few years’ time. So I insist on the development of the sense of unity, a bond of brotherhood, and an awareness of divinity. One should strive for the unity of minds, unity of hearts, not the temporary association of the moneyed people or persons in positions of power. Unity must result in unity of thought, word and deed.

Love for one’s motherland is good. But it should not lead to hatred towards the motherland of others. Your prayer has to be, ‘May all the world be happy and peaceful’. For, only when the world has peace and prosperity, can India be peaceful and happy. It is only when India is peaceful and happy, that Andhra Pradesh will be peaceful and happy. It is only when Andhra Pradesh has peace and happiness that Anantapur District can have peace and happiness. It is only when Anantapur District has peace and happiness can Puttaparthi be peaceful and happy. It is only when Puttaparthi has peace and happiness can you have peace and happiness! Your peace and happiness are linked with the world’s peace and happiness. Any act of hatred or violence committed by you will pollute the atmosphere of the world. Adore any living being; the adoration reaches God, for He is in every being. Insult any living being; the insult too reaches God. So, expand love towards all, everywhere.

The flag is the symbol of victory, of the joy of Independence. Each nation has a flag for itself. Pay attention to another flag to symbolise another laudable victory over one’s lower instincts, impulses, passions, emotions and desires, the flag that has to be unfurled in every human heart. When you achieve that victory, you will become the true inheritors of Bharatiya culture.

Discourse at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, 15 Aug 1985