God’s Head Office Is Man’s Heart

Bliss Can Be Found Only In The Atma

One who indulges in finding faults of others will not know about himself. Man today is searching and investigating everything including God. He wants to know where He is; how He looks. This search is going on generation after generation. The human being uses his body and mind in this search. Mariwala (the earlier speaker) also said, “Body is most essential”. Human body has five Kosas (sheaths). One can understand the nature of the body, when one understands the nature of five sheaths.

Know The Truth By Exploring The Atma

The Self is encased in five concentric Kosas or sheaths. The outermost and the grossest sheath is Annamaya Kosa (food sheath). The next is Pranamaya Kosa (life sheath). The third is Manomaya Kosa (mental sheath). The fourth is Vijnanamaya Kosa (wisdom sheath). The Upanishads say Mano Mulam Idam Jagat (mind is the basis of the entire world). Subtler than Manomaya Kosa is Vijnanamaya Kosa, which is beyond the mind. And the fifth is Anandamaya Kosa (bliss sheath). The first three sheaths relate to the physical world which is temporary, while Vijnanamaya Kosa has special significance, as it is closer to the Self or Atma which is eternal. Each sheath is subtler than its outer sheath.

Modern people call science as Vijnana. The scientific research is being regarded as Vijnana by the scientific community. This modern science is based on external search, and is confined to the material world only. It is not the science of bliss and truth. The science of Atma pertains to the knowledge of truth. Bliss can be found only in the Atma, one’s own innermost core. Atma and Jnana are synonyms only. The individual Self is termed as Atma, while the all-pervading Self is called Brahman.

Where can this Atma be found? As the diamond lies buried in earth, Chinmaya (supreme consciousness) is encased in Mrimmaya (inert matter), the physical body. But Chinmaya is beyond body. Many people search for Chinmaya in the external world. It is mere foolishness. However, this body should not be neglected, because it contains the most valuable Chinmaya, the Atma. Man is born in dust, lives in dust and merges in dust. The Nirakara (formless) principle of God cannot be understood by external vision or knowledge. It can be realised only upon exploration within one’s own body. The scientific search on external materials can only be termed worldly knowledge. It is like a half circle. The spiritual science is like a full circle. It propounds, Poornamadah Poornamidam (That is full, this is full) which means that the imperceptible Divinity is wholesome or totally integrated. This perceptible world is also a part and parcel of that integrated principle of Divinity.

Attain God Through Love

You do not need a lantern to see the moon. The moon can be seen by its own light. God’s form is love, and He can be known and attained only by means of love. Without knowing the principle of Divinity, people claim that they are in search of God. Jnana (knowledge) reveals itself only when ignorance is destroyed. What is Samsara? It is not merely husband, wife and children. It is the feeling of mine and thine. Man has emanated from the Supreme Divine principle. But he is born in this Samsara (worldly life) again and again due to ignorance and desires. Anger is the result of desires.

Human body is like an iron safe of little value. But it contains the most precious jewel of Divinity. What is the use of clinging to the physical frame, forgetting God within? The iron safe has to be opened using the key of discrimination. The safe opens when the key is turned to the right, and is locked when it is turned to the left. Turning of the key towards right implies attachment with Divinity and detachment from the mundane world. How can man attain God when he has body attachment?

Here is a small story. The husband and wife were sleeping in their room at night. Six thieves entered the house. The wife was awake, while the husband was in slumber. The wife cautioned the husband that thieves had entered the house, but the husband, who was in a slothful state, said, “Yes, I know”. “The thieves have opened the iron safe,” she said again. The lazy husband turned from one side to the other and said again, “I know”. The wife said, “Look, they are running away with the iron safe with valuables”. The husband said confidently, “Don’t worry, the key of the safe is with me”! The wife could only lament at the foolishness of the husband. In this story, the husband stands for Jiva (individual soul), wife for awareness, house for body and thieves for six inner enemies of man – desire, anger, greed, passion, arrogance and jealousy. After having realised that the most precious Divinity is there within you, why don’t you endeavour to experience it?

Use Gross Body To Realise Divinity

Our great Rishis (saints) performed intense penance and spent their lives in search of God. Finally, they said, Vedahametam Purusham Mahantam Adityavarnam Tamasah Parastat (I have visualised the Supreme Being who shines with the effulgence of a billion suns and who is beyond Tamas – the darkness of ignorance). You can also see God. God is not residing somewhere in Kailasa or Vaikuntha; these places are like branch offices of God. His head office is situated in your heart only. Purity and piousness are naturally present in you. God is behind the curtain of Tamas. This curtain of Tamas has to be removed. Tamas makes good appear as bad and bad as good. It shows sacred things as unholy and unsacred. Rajas (passion) aggravates Tamas (sloth). One is filled with pride when one’s wish is fulfilled, but gets dejected and blames God when it is not fulfilled. Tamas and Rajas are siblings of the same mother. Who is this mother? Ajnana (ignorance) is the mother. The moment Sujnana (spiritual knowledge) is born, Ajnana dies. On the one hand, it is the time for birth related rituals or celebrations; and on the other, obsequies related to death.

Human body is a combination of loathsome blood, bones and flesh. But it houses pious and pure Atma. Therefore, this body has to be protected, and should not be neglected. In order to achieve the supreme goal of life, the mundane body has to be nurtured carefully, in a balanced manner. Our body’s normal temperature is 98.4°F. Its higher or lower temperature spells danger. When blood pressure goes up or down the optimum level, it is an indication of disease. Same is the case with eyesight. All such parameters can be maintained well when you observe limits with regard to food and other habits. Spiritual pursuits progress only in a healthy body. The subtle Divinity can be realised with the help of this gross body.

So many of you are sitting in this room at Kodaikanal. You are directly seeing the shape of this gathering. When you go back to Delhi or the place you reside, this gathering is no more before your eyes. But when you recollect, its picture will come before your mind. The experience at Kodaikanal pertains to Sakara (form); and its recollection pertains to Nirakara (formless) state. So, the Sakara helps you in grasping the principle of the Nirakara. It is an empty claim when somebody says that he is meditating on the Nirakara principle. One can easily grasp Divinity by developing love towards a particular form (Sakara).

Are we bothered about all that we see in the world? No. But we are worried about people or things we consider as related to us. Before your marriage, you did not know anything about your wife or her problems. But a few moments after the marriage, you get worried when she gets a headache. You will even apply leave for her sake. It is because you developed attachment towards her. Life is a play of the mind along with its attachments and detachments. You have suffering due to attachment. When you are able to give up attachment, all your problems will vanish.

It is necessary to know the nature of the body. By restricting its negative aspects and promoting positive aspects, one can easily progress on the path of spirituality. In fact, there is nothing more simple than spirituality.

Many people go to places of pilgrimage with much pomp, wearing costly ornaments and fine clothes. Naturally, thieves abound these places. Once a rich man set out on a pilgrimage. A thief saw this rich man carrying a bag of money. Wishing to steal the bag by con, the thief approached him, pretending to be a good guide. All through the day, they travelled together, and at night they halted in a hotel. They were sleeping in side by side beds. In the middle of the night, the thief saw the businessman going to the toilet. He thought it was the right time to steal the bag of money. The thief searched for the bag all over the room. He was disappointed because he could not find it. The reason was that the businessman had kept his bag right under the pillow of the thief. The thief went on searching without knowing that it was under his own pillow. The businessman could save his money by his intelligence. One should have intelligence, but misuse of intelligence can result in sorrow as in the case of this thief. The thieves of desire, anger, greed, etc., are present within us. The ignorant one is not aware of it. People are interested in searching faults of others, while ignoring their own grave mistakes and shortcomings. To search others faults is a vicious trait. To search one’s own faults is a sacred trait. Valuables are within us not outside. Search truth within you.

God does not exist in a foreign land, He is in you.
Sin is not elsewhere.
It is there where a wrong action is committed.
(Telugu Poem)

Experience Bliss And Share It With Others

Dear Students!

Remember that your body is God’s gift; and it belongs to God. You should try to understand the nature of the body and learn to follow the commands of God. Who is responsible for your body? It is your parents. A pot is made by the potter. The potter is the maker of the pot. Your blood, food, head and money have all come from your parents.

Some students tend to ignore their parents when they grow up and attain some high position. You must have gratitude and respect for them, considering them at par with God. Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava (revere your mother and father as God).

Even as a young man, Chaitanya was always immersed in Krishna consciousness. One day, his mother Sachi Devi told him, “Dear Chaitanya! Your devotion to God is laudable indeed. But you should not ignore your mother’s desire, as your blood came from me. I wish that you get married”. Respecting his mother’s desire, Chaitanya got married. Chaitanya went all over Bengal, singing Krishna’s name in ecstatic joy along the streets, using cymbals and a drum as accompanying instruments. God wanted to test him. Some of the people were averse to his singing. One day, someone snatched cymbals from his hands. Chaitanya said to himself that it was an act of Krishna, meant for his own good. He continued with his singing, using drum. The next day, his drum was also snatched. Chaitanya reasoned that Krishna did not like the use of external instruments and that He liked the inner feelings as cymbals and the inner voice as drum. Nothing could disrupt his intense devotion for Krishna.

Likewise, Radha also felt in her ecstasy of devotion that Krishna came to her house and knocked at the door. The next moment she laughed and told herself that the entire universe was His house. Where was the question of knocking at the door?

The whole universe is the Lord’s abode,
Where then is the front door for that mansion?
Play on the life strings of your body,
Offer yourself at His feet and shed tears of joy,
See heaven in that experience, oh Jiva!
That is the main entrance to the Lord’s abode.
(Telugu Song)

She regarded her veins as strings of music; and she considered herself present in Vaikuntha with ecstatic tears trickling down her cheeks. Who is Radha? This Dhara (Nature) itself took birth as Radha. Dhara Aradhana (continuous worship) is the Adhar (basis) for Radha. She was in constant contemplation of Krishna. She had no attachment to her body. She had attachment to Krishna alone.

This kind of ideal has to be emulated by our students. Always keep the heart pure. Experience bliss and share it with others. That is real life.

– Bhagawan’s Discourse in Sai Sruthi, at Kodaikanal on 21st April 1992.