Blessed Is The Person Who Has Shuddhi, Shanti, And Perseverance

You may master the Vedas and Vedanta,
you may be an expert composer of beautiful poems and prose,
but if you lack purity of heart, you will ruin yourself.
The word of Sai is verily the Truth.

One may acquire a high academic qualification such as M.A. or B.A. and attain an exalted position.
One may amass wealth, perform acts of charity, and attain name and fame.
One may have physical strength and enjoy a long and healthy life.
One may be a great scholar studying and preaching the Vedas.
If the person has no control over his senses, he will become worthless.

Embodiments of Love,

If we want to achieve success in the path of Spirituality, we have to follow the formulae of purity, patience, and perseverance, which in English is abbreviated as P.P.P. It is only when we achieve these three P’s, we would achieve success in Spirituality. First is ‘Purity’. What is this purity? Whatever work man does, in his daily life, from morning to night, should be clean and pure. The dress that he wears, the food that he eats, the books that he reads, the jewelry he wears, the books that he writes, his behavior and his work, everything should be pure and clean.

There are two kinds of cleanliness – external cleanliness and internal cleanliness. We are maintaining external cleanliness, to some extent, like wearing washed clothes and keeping our bodies clean. This is not sufficient. "Antar bahir parishuddha Narayanan" (Narayana resides in the body which is clean internally and externally). We must keep our body, both internally and externally, clean, by having sacred thoughts. In order to keep our mind unsullied, we must not be unjust, unlawful, wicked, corrupt, and untruthful. We should stay away from teasing, finding faults, criticizing, and slandering others. We are polluting our minds with such type of words and deeds which may not show immediate effects, but one will have to experience dire consequences in the long run. Some day or the other, all our feelings will turn into seeds, sprout, grow into thorny plants, and might cause harm to us. Therefore, purity is both physical cleanliness and mental cleanliness and the best way to achieve this is having Divine thoughts, religious contemplation, and truthful conduct.

How To Remain Peaceful

Second is – Patience. What are peace (Shanti), endurance, and patience? These cannot be obtained from books and listening to sermons. 'Shanti' can be acquired only by following the path of truth in our daily life. We must keep our mind stable during difficulties, sufferings, and losses. We must achieve success in sustaining steadiness when we are depressed or elated. This is the time when we can develop our patience. During these times, we must think that these tests are to test our patience. We should see that our mind is unruffled under all circumstances.

When someone defames us or ridicules us or puts us into any kind of hardship, we lose our peace. In reality, we are the losers when we lose peace and not others. Energy accomplished through several years of spiritual practices is lost due to lack of patience. This quality called patience is like a big ball of thread which we have accumulated and wound into a ball. Patience, a quality that we have developed, is like a ball of thread. If we allow it to slip from our hand, it becomes a loose thread. Similarly, peace that has been accumulated for several years will be lost due to hatred, anger, or some other form of emotion. We have to learn to remain living peacefully in times of sorrows and difficulties. When there is excess water, we waste it by leaving the taps open but when there is no water, we use it very frugally. In a similar manner, there is a shortage of peace in today’s world. Whatever peace we save, in short durations, that much peaceful we will be, and we will live in tranquility.

Peace Is Due To Divine Grace

There is no peace in this external world but only pieces. Peace is in our heart and is a gift from God and hence, we should not waste it. “You are the embodiment of Shanti (peace), hence Shanti is your form and if you lose Shanti, it is equal to losing your form. When there is no peace in our heart, our living is equal to living death. Shanti gives us happiness. 'Shantamu lekapote saukhyamu ledu' (If there is no Shanti, there is no happiness) sang Saint Thyagaraja. So, there is no happiness even for a person of forbearance or a Vedantist, if he has no Shanti. Whether a person has control over his senses or lost control over his senses, if he has no Shanti, he can have no happiness. Therefore, Shanti is the royal path to reach the Divine presence.

Man must persevere every second to achieve Shanti. Perseverance is a quality that must be used in the right path; one should not persevere in scolding others or doing anything wrong.

Adikavi Valmiki was previously known as Ratnakar and he took care of his family by robbing travelers. He was bent upon torturing living beings without any mercy. There was no change in his determination. When time, destiny, cause, and responsibilities come together, good times also favor us. One day, when Sapta Rishis were passing by, Ratnakar went to rob them. They told him, “We are hermits and recluses. We do not have anything with us except saffron clothes, but we are having an invaluable diamond called Divine thoughts (of Rama)." Saint Meera also sang, "Oh Mother! I have bargained and bought Govind (who is an invaluable diamond). Let some say he is in the house, let others say he is in the woods…."

This is a diamond called Rama and it was graced by our Guru. We have to preserve this diamond. We have the name of God, which is (most precious) like a diamond. We will give you this diamond whose value is indescribable by anyone. Ratnakar immediately said, “Kindly give me that diamond. If I have that diamond, I will remain happy throughout my life.” Everyone blessed Ratnakar and taught him "Harernama Harernama Harernamaiva kevalam, kalau nastiyeva nastiyeva nastiyeva gatiranyatha." They said that this is Rama-namam and asked him to chant this name with the same perseverance he showed in worldly matters. Ratnakar changed his mind after the darshana, sparshana, and sambhashana (sight, touch, and conversation) of these Rishis, and started performing good deeds.

This is what we have to do today. Then, work will be transformed into worship. Whatever work we do should be performed as an offering to God. The real meaning of perseverance is carrying out good actions rather than performing wrong actions. Whatever be the situation, we must not change our mind. As the Principal said, when we face troubles, sorrows, or losses, we find fault with God; but when we face happiness, pleasure, and gains, we praise Him in innumerable ways. When our desires get fulfilled, we praise the Lord, when our desires are not fulfilled, we scold the Lord. This is not persistence. Hence, we should remain the same come what may.

Qualities Of A Blessed Person

Sorrow and happiness, gain and loss, keep coming and going but, my God always remains with me, He does not come and go. So, the love for Him should always be stable, which is the sign of real devotion. It should not be flickering like a lamp, as it will get extinguished. Similarly, devotion should always be firm in any kind of situation. The true characteristics of a devotee are: an unwavering mind and the sight focused on the Lord. Hence, a devotee who has achieved purity, patience, and perseverance becomes a blessed person.

Mahavira’s Life And Jainism

Today is Mahavir Jayanti; this religion came into this world before Buddha was born. It originated in the seventh and eighth centuries. His father’s name was Siddharth and mother was Trishali. He was born in the kingdom of Vaisali at Kundali village. At the time of Mahavira’s birth, his father noticed many auspicious signs and felt that his son would become the savior of the world. He also had a firm faith that his son had the qualities that would not only liberate their clan but also the country. Therefore, he brought up his son very lovingly and in the righteous path.

As soon as Mahavira reached marriageable age, he was married to a girl called Yashodhara. At the age of thirty, he renounced his marital life and for twelve years he preached the philosophy of the Jain religion. With the sacred thought of spreading Jainism, with sincere perseverance, he started preaching in Gujarat. Then he went to Magadha kingdom and later went to Rajasthan. He spread Jainism mainly in Bihar, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.

The Main Principles Of Jainism

What are the main rules of this religion? Mahavira had no faith in yajnas and yogas but he believed in the principle that freedom from the cycle of births and deaths is Moksha. He felt that liberation from the cycle of death and birth is the ultimate aim of a living being and therefore, he determined to do all sacred activities with this body to avoid life after death. For life Muktayame is Mukti (freedom from the cycle of birth and death).

When is birth possible? It is only when seeds exist, plants will sprout. Similarly, as long as man has seeds called desires, he cannot escape the cycle of birth and death. So, man has to be desireless. Thus, destruction of desires is liberation (mokshamu). Moha-kshayamu (destruction of desires) can be achieved by turning all our worldly desires towards God, and also by turning our love for our parents, children, wife relations, as well as love for material things towards God. All the base desires should be turned into love for God. Getting rid of the cycles of births and deaths is important for mokshamu.

The three principles which are important are faith, knowledge, and practice, where knowledge is not related to worldly matters, but to spiritual matters, which is nothing but wisdom. According to Mahavira, it is only when we follow knowledge, have faith, and practice these, we will achieve the blissful Moksha.

Importance Of Control Of Senses

Mahavira had one dominant quality and that is control over his senses and hence the name ‘Veeratvam’. Likewise, if we have control over our senses, or if we surrender our senses to God, God will manifest in us. The essence of Bhagavad-gita is also "Tvameva mata cha pita tvameva, Tvameva bandhushcha sakha tvameva, Tvameva vidya dravinam tvameva, Tvameva Sarvam mama Deva Deva." (You are the mother, You are the father, You are the relative, You are the friend, You are education, You are wealth, and You are everything for me, O Lord, O Lord.)

Therefore, one must have firm faith, with which we can behold a form in a stone. If we do not have faith, even a true form will look like a hard stone. So, primarily man must have faith and this should progress every day. It should not falter as wavering is not our true nature. There are leaves on a tree and these leaves ruffle only when there is breeze not otherwise. Similar is our senses. The real nature of our senses is to remain steady but we have trained them to waver. When we use a fan, our hair is ruffled. Similarly, we have allowed worldly matters to distract our senses. It is just like; "Sreyo hi jnanam-abhyasadj-jnanat-dhyanam vishishyate, dhyanat-karma-phala-tyagas-tyagach-@shantir-anantaram." (Better than mechanical practice is knowledge; better than knowledge is meditation. Better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of actions, for peace immediately follows such renunciation.) Controlling our senses is more important than allowing it to run after worldly attractions.

Develop Good Habits And Good Thoughts Through Good Practice

We acquire everything through practice. Even walking, talking, reading, and eating are acquired through practice. Most of them become part of our lives, even without our knowledge, just by practice. A small example for this. Some old people keep rotating their japa-mala for years together. This habit has become so mechanical that they do it even while speaking to others. The root cause of habits is practice. "Sreyohi jnanam abhyasat….." Therefore, we have to practice good habits. Just as bad habits do their work even unconsciously, good habits also do their work, thus making us think positive.

Have Firm Faith In God

We have to practice living a truthful life in our mundane activities. Discipline and behavior are imperative. Manners is the vital force of man. We have lost all the three today. The primary and most important faults in man are: we have no respect for elders, no love for our parents, and no proper place for friends. So, to retrieve all these, we have to develop good habits and beliefs. Having this aim, Mahavira stated that one should have strong faith. Faith is our breath and a person who does not have faith is equal to a person without vital air. What will happen to a person without vital air? He is equal to a dead body. Thus, faith is important for a man.

If we develop intense faith, we can accomplish any task; but this faith should be knowledge-oriented. We have to use our discrimination power but it should not be on the basis of selfishness or self-interest. Discrimination should be applied having social interests in our mind, and this is the real wisdom.

What is knowledge? This is a mike, this is a chair, this is a cloth, all this is also knowledge but it is just general knowledge. We have to see Divinity in everything and learn to accept the truth and reality. Only then we will understand that “Sarvam Vishnu-mayam Jagat." (Lord Vishnu pervades the whole Universe), "Isavasyam idam sarvam." (Everything in the Universe is enveloped by God), "Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma" (All of this is Brahman), where Brahman refers to the Ultimate reality. Divine consciousness permeates in every particle. This type of feeling should be developed in oneself, resulting in strong faith: “Come what may; my God will protect me". When we achieve such strong faith, we will be experiencing the true nature of the Almighty. (Truth) Though ant hills grew on Ratnakara’s body and snakes crawled on him, he did not forgo his perseverance. This is the sign of staunch devotion.

Even animals have the ability of coming towards us when they sense something good in us and running away from us when they see something bad. When green grass is shown to animals, they come to us but when we have a stick in our hand, they run away from us. Is this the quality that one should possess? We must not possess animal qualities but possess the quality of ‘Pashupati’ (Controller of animal qualities). It can also be said that this is due to innocence. Mother Yashoda wanted to catch Lord Krishna. If she has in her hand only a stick, Krishna cannot be caught. So, she took butter in one hand, which he loved dearly, and a stick in the other hand. Hiding the stick, she enticed him with butter. As soon as Krishna saw the butter, he came running to her, and thus she caught Him. Likewise, if we want to catch hold of God, we must attract God with what He likes the most. We must show Selfless, pure, genuine, flawless, undifferentiated, boundless, nectar-like, and immortal love to catch hold of Him.

What is the use of doing innumerable activities which Bhagawan does not like? Ahimsa is the first flower. What type of flowers are we offering to God today? We are offering flowers that have dried, withered, or decayed. This is not what God wants. We have to offer Him flowers which cannot be found in any garden and they are flowers that have blossomed in this plant called the body. Therefore, we have to offer to God the root called Faith and fruit called character. It is only when we have these two can we offer our life to God.

The Five Principles Of Mahavira

The one who has fostered faith is a valiant hero. Mahavira was called so because he gathered all his senses and surrendered them to God. His former name was not ‘Mahavira’. He achieved victory over his senses valorously, nourished his greatness, and attained Divinity. Hence, he is called ‘Mahavira’. He was named ‘Vardhamana’. He combined both the names and so Vardhamana Mahavira. He is named so because he achieved control over his senses with his willpower and with the power of Divine grace. He had no faith in the world akin to Shankaracharya who stated, “_Jagat mithya, Brahma satyam_” (Brahma is the real reality, world is deceptive). But if the deceptive world is not there, how will we comprehend the truth about Divinity? It is only from this that we have to eliminate the untruth and arrive at the truth.

That is why it is said, “Satyasya satyam” (out of all the truths, the Lord is the original truth). If this truth is considered as false by us, then we can never achieve the real truth. Having the ultimate truth as the basis, whatever has happened should be taken as false and the original truth has to be achieved. Vardhamana Mahavira gave people five principles.

All the three, faith, knowledge, and practice, are one.
Mokshamu (liberation from the cycle of birth and death) is the first goal of every human being.
Our purpose of life is ‘Moksha’.
He said that he has no beliefs in acts of religious sacrifices.
He said that this world is ‘mithya’ (untruth) and not ‘sathya’ (truth).

Mahavira preached only these five principles stating that they were important. He, not only preached them but also practiced them and brought an awakening by explaining the meaning of the principles.

Today, in Jainism, there is a want of disciples to prove these principles as ideal. This situation not only prevails in Jainism but in other religions also. Selfishness and self-interest are on the increase in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Persian, Christianity, and Islam religions. God does not stay where there is selfishness. The essence of all religions is: leave selfishness, choose sacrifice, and attain salvation through love. So, we have to achieve everything through Love. Bad qualities like hatred and jealousy not only take our minds further away from God but ruin our life also. We will find ourselves in a position where we will be disrespected by others.

We have to give respect and receive respect. It is not at all possible to be respected by others without respecting others. Therefore, our life is not one-way traffic. It is ‘give and take’, ‘give and take’. We have to give love and receive love, give respect, and receive respect. We also have to respect people who have disrespected us. Helping people who have helped us is not enough, we should also help people who have harmed us. When we do this, the person who has harmed us will feel ashamed, change his quality, and also his mind. Respect the person who has disrespected you. He will feel ashamed of himself and surrender to you. Instead, if you harm him, stating that he has harmed you, then you will also turn bad along with him.

Develop Good Goals To Develop Good Feelings

How can you be a good person? You called the other person as ‘bad.’ If you do bad to him, you will also become a bad person. Then what is the great work that you have done? So, do good to the person who has harmed you. Then you will be a good person.

Stay away from the person who has harmed you if you do not possess calmness and gentleness. You have nothing to do with his goodness. Develop goodness in yourself. Therefore, we have to be in good company because the company in which we are, we become that. Students! This is the age which is pristine. This is the age when you can set good targets. This is the life where you can lead an idealistic life and develop your goals. This life is very precious and even after years these ideals will never change. So, develop good goals. Join good company. Only then we will develop good feelings.

The Main Principle Of Jainism Is Indriya Nigraham

It is said, “Tell me your company, I shall tell what you are.” With whichever group you join, you will become like that. This is coal and this is fire. If fire and coal stay aloof, the coal will not turn into fire. When you bring together coal and fire, fire will burn the coal. But if you fan it, the whole coal will turn into fire. When near and dear, both are there, "Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavati." (The knower of Brahman is Brahman itself). Both will turn into fire. When you are in good company, you will also become Brahma. There will be no use if coal and coal join together. There is a saying, “Two visually challenged men became friends and fell into a pit”. Therefore, a visually challenged must be accompanied by an able person.

A man invited a visually challenged for lunch. He said to his wife, “I have invited a blind man for lunch today, lay a leaf and serve.” She said, “How many?” He said, “One person. “ When she laid a leaf, he asked her to lay two leaves. She said, “Only one person is going to eat, why should two leaves be served?” The husband said, “If the visually challenged person has to come, an able person must escort him, so serve for him also”. Therefore, only if an able person accompanies a visually challenged, will the visually challenged reach the house. When two visually challenged persons join, both will get ruined. Therefore, a bad person should not mingle with a bad person but if a bad person joins a good person, he might also change into a good person. If a good person joins with a bad person, there are chances of him turning into a bad person. That is why, "Satsangatve Nissangatvam, Nissangatve Nirmohatvam." (Through the company of good there arises non-attachment, through non-attachment there arises freedom from delusion). Therefore, if you join good company, you can achieve anything. We have to get rid of hatred and jealousy from our hearts, and for this control of senses is necessary. The main principle preached by Mahavira was controlling the senses. He said that one must have firm love on God and this love will lead us to Moksha. He asked us to chant God’s name incessantly. How to do it? It is not just chanting God’s name with our lips but it should be chanted with love.

Bhajana Bina Sukha shänti Nahi

Discourse on Mahavira Jayanti (March 28, 1991)