Tread The Path Of Love To Experience God’s Love

Do Your Duty With Divine Feelings

Forbearance is truth, forbearance is righteousness, forbearance is the teaching of the Vedas, forbearance is non-violence, forbearance is sacrifice, forbearance confers happiness and heavenly bliss. In fact, it is everything in all the worlds.

(Telugu Poem)

Like fire in the firewood, oil in a til seed, Atma is all-pervading. It is the word of Sai that stands for truth.

(Telugu Poem)

Embodiments of Love

Human life is very noble and exalted; it is filled with the fragrance of virtues. A country does not signify a piece of land. It is the people who constitute a country. When people get transformed, the country will be transformed. Progress of the country involves the progress of its people. Worldly and scientific progress does not constitute real progress. Real progress also does not depend upon economic progress or social changes. Real progress depends on the transformation of the mind of man.

Brahman Permeates The Entire Cosmos

The Sanskrit word Manishi (man) is derived from Manas (mind). The mind is the conglomeration of thoughts or Sankalpas. All actions are the reflections of Sankalpas; and they result in pleasure or pain. When we see the country is not good, it only reflects that its people are not good. When its people become good, the country will also become good. The country is not separate from its people. But one individual does not connote society; one tree cannot be reckoned as forest; a single house does not constitute a village. Only a group of trees make a forest, a group of houses make a village and a group of people make society.

Since ancient times, the Bharatiyas have been denoting the universe by the name Brahmanda. Brahma is the all-pervasive Divinity, Anda means a sphere similar to an iron ball. When the iron ball is heated on fire, the heat does not remain in some corner of the ball; it spreads all over the ball. Similarly, Brahman is immanent in the entire cosmos, which is conceived in the shape of an egg. This is the meaning of Brahmanda. And Brahman is present within and without everything, right from a speck of dust to a gigantic star.

This truth can be realised only by a human being. Therefore, human life has special significance. It is said, Karmānubandhini Manushya Loke (man in the world is bound by action). Also it is said, Nara Janmam Uttamam (human birth is the noblest of all). Its validity can be established only when man realises the fact Ekatma Sarva Bhutantaratma (one Atma dwells in all beings).

The five faculties known as Sabda, Sparsha, Rupa, Rasa, Gandha (hearing, touch, sight, taste, smell) are common to all beings, including man. Also the concentric sheaths of the body, which are known as Annamaya Kosa (food sheath), Pranamaya Kosa (life sheath), Manomaya Kosa (mental sheath) and Anandamaya Kosa (bliss sheath) are common to all beings. But the sheath known as Vijnanamaya Kosa (wisdom sheath) is special to man alone. Because of this Buddhi or intellect, human life is considered very sacred.

Divinity As Bhur Bhuvah Svah Is Present In Man

The Gayatri Mantra conveys the truth that all the three worlds – Bhur (materialisation - body), Bhuvah (vibration, Prana - life principle), Svah (Prajñanam, radiation - Atma) are present in man. So, God is present in man in three forms. Bhur is the material form or the body which by itself is Jada or inert. Bhuvah is the life-force or vibration that causes the body to move. Svah is the radiation or inner power of the Atma which causes vibration. So, divinity in the form of materialisation, vibration and radiation is present in man.

Vibration is caused by the intake of food; and so food is regarded as God – Annam Brahma. But without the impact of radiation from the Atma, there can be no vibration. Radiation is present in man as awareness or Prajnana. Prajnanam Brahma (Brahman is Supreme Consciousness). In Vedanta, Brahman is also called conscience. So, God as conscience is present in all. Vibration and materialisation are His derivative forms which sustain the body. Human body is made up of matter, materialisation. It is akin to a machine. Howsoever costly the machine may be, it cannot work without electric current. Vibration is like the main switch. The divine power of radiation is the electric current which makes the inert machine move. A piece of iron is inert. It has no legs to move and no wings to fly. But when a magnet is placed in its vicinity, the iron piece moves towards the magnet. What is that which makes the iron piece move? It is the power of radiation. The radiation spreads vibration. Thus, all the three forms of Divinity – Bhur, Bhuvah and Svah are present within man.

The next aspect of Gayatri, “Tat Savitur Varenyam” is an invocation to radiant Divinity. ‘Tat’ means ‘That’, the very form of Truth; Savitur mean radiant Divinity. Varenyam means most auspicious and venerable. The aspirants then express their resolve to meditate on that effulgent form of Divinity in the words “Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi”. Dhimahi means meditate.

The Vedas Propound The Unity Of Mankind

The Gayatri Mantra concludes with the prayer, “Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat” – May that Divine radiation drive our intellects in the right direction! Dhi means intellect. Divinity is always invoked in the sense of ‘Nah’ which means ‘we’. Unfortunately, in present times, people are not displaying this sense of unity or oneness. This type of collective concept has been conveyed by all the Vedas, Shastras, epics and Puranas, which is being ignored by the present generation. There has never been a sense of I in any of these texts of prayer. Selfishness is on the rise. It is the selfishness of man that is creating differences in society. A fish is better than a selfish man. People should realise that individual cannot survive by ignoring society.

In a house there lived a cat, a rat and a hen. One day, the cat killed the rat. Seeing this, the owner of the house felt happy because the menace of the rat was eliminated. The next day, the same cat killed the hen. This time, the owner became very furious. What was the reason for this divergent attitude? The master of the house nurtured a feeling of attachment towards the hen and animosity towards the rat.

Once there was a train accident. A person watched this on the TV. He was immersed in great worry because one of his close relatives was supposed to be travelling in that train. In panic, he rushed to the spot of the accident. When he found his relative safe, he was relieved of the worry and he started collecting statistics pertaining to train accident. See, the person who was greatly worried a moment ago was now engaged in collecting information about the accident. One is worried when one’s own people are involved, but one’s attitude changes altogether when others are involved. This reflects the narrow feelings of man. A person who walks on the path of Dharma will not observe such differences. The Vedas say, Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah (if you protect Dharma, you will be protected by Dharma).

Good Or Bad Depends On Man’s Feelings

Everything depends on our feelings. It is said, Yad-bhavam Tad-bhavati (as are the feelings, so is the result). The mirror has the quality of reflecting everything that is placed in front of it. When you make a salute, the mirror also salutes. When you make an angry face in front of it, the mirror reflects the angry face. Similarly, Nature has the quality of reaction, reflection and resound.

Once a young cowherd took his herd of cattle for grazing to a mountainous region. To pass his time, he started singing a song there. He heard the resound of his song which came from somewhere. The young man had no knowledge of the echo. Therefore, he felt perturbed and said to himself, “Who is that who is mimicking my voice and singing the song sung by me”! He shouted loudly, “Who is there? Hey! Who are you”? He heard his own words again coming from somewhere, “Who is there? Hey! Who are you”? Then the young man said, “Tell your name”. And he heard the same words. At this, he became angry and shouted, “Shut up”. But again he heard back, “Shut up”. The young man then said, “I will catch hold of you and beat you”. But the same words came back to him once again. The cowherd searched for the person who was mimicking his words but could not find anyone anywhere. Thinking that there was someone who was his enemy and was teasing him without being seen, he came back home with his herd of cattle.

On reaching home, he told his mother, “Amma! There is someone who is teasing me and making me angry. He insults me by mimicking my voice and by singing the song sung by me. When I searched for him, I did not find anybody”. The next day, the cowherd’s mother went with him to the mountainous region and understood the entire situation. She was a wise woman and made his son understand the reality. She said to him, “Dear son! There is nobody else who is abusing or insulting you. It is the echo of your own voice that you are hearing”.

In whatever way you speak and conduct yourself, you experience the same in your life. Therefore, do not hate or harm anybody. Both happiness and sorrow, good and bad exist in this world. You yourself are the cause of what you experience. Understand this truth. People should develop good thoughts, speak good words and do good deeds. Then they will get everything good in life.

See no evil, see what is good;
Hear no evil, hear what is good;
Speak no evil, speak what is good;
Think no evil, think what is good;
Do no evil, do what is good;
This is the way to God.

You Can See God With The Light Of Love

God is in everyone. Serve all. The best way to love God is to love all, serve all. Get away from bad qualities. You say, “I want Moksha (liberation), I want Sakshatkara (divine vision)” without understanding their meaning. What do you mean by liberation? Without knowing the meaning of liberation, you say, “I want liberation”. First know clearly what you want. When you say, “I want Moksha”, what do you mean by it? Understand it. What is this Moksha? Moha Kshaya is Moksha (removal of attachment is liberation). It is not something that you can find in an air-conditioned room. Eradication of attachment is liberation.

You say, “I want peace”. Where is peace? It is within you. Where do you search for it? Where do you get it? Nowhere! Keeping the handkerchief in your hand, if you search for it hither and thither, you cannot get it. You look at your hand, then you can get it. So, all that you desire is within you.

Whatever you do will come back to you as reaction, reflection and resound. Out of narrow mind you begin to say, “God is testing me. Someone is harming me. Someone is punishing me”. God will never punish. You are punishing yourself. Your thoughts come to you as reflection. Your worries also come to you as reflection. What is the shape of worry? It is mentally created fear. You have created it yourself. God does not give. God is eternal truth, embodiment of love. To experience the love of God, you should tread the path of love.

The moon shines brilliantly. If you want to see the shining moon, you do not need a torchlight, a hurricane lamp or a petromax lamp. In the moonlight itself, you can see the moon. You do not need other lights to see it. To see the form of love, you do not need anything else except love. The light of love will help you to see the form of love. You can see God who is the embodiment of love with the light of love. A diamond is cut by diamond only, nothing else. The natural quality in everyone is love. Whether one is a theist, atheist, atheistic-theist, theistic-atheist, a pauper, a millionaire or a beggar, love is common in all. A recluse may renounce everything, but he cannot renounce love. What is the reason? The reason is that love is God. Live in love. The Gopikas pleaded with Krishna:

Oh Krishna, play Your sweet flute and sow the seeds
of love in the desert of loveless hearts.

Let the rain of love fall on earth and make the rivers
of love flow.

(Telugu Song)

Our body is like a flute, which has nine holes. A devotee should turn himself totally humble or hollow so as to gain the proximity of Krishna. The Lord then turns this hollow body into a holy instrument, filling it with His breath of love. A Gopika sought to know from the flute, “Oh the most blessed flute, won’t you tell me the secret behind your proximity with Krishna? He never keeps you away from Him. He takes you closer to His lips and blows His breath. Even when busy, He tucks you in His waistband. Oh flute, please tell me the secret so that I can emulate you to gain Krishna’s closeness”. Krishna decided to reveal the truth to the Gopikas. One day, when the Gopika was approaching, Krishna pretended to be sleeping. The Gopika repeated her plea asking the flute to reveal the secret. Then the flute replied, “Oh Gopika! I did no penance, I do not know any Mantra nor have I any special knowledge. The only thing is that I keep myself hollow. I have left everything to His Will. The Gopika understood then that it was sensual pleasure that was the real obstacle in the way to attain Krishna.

Develop Fundamental Discrimination

Undue or excessive desires are not good. Less luggage, more comfort, makes travel a pleasure. What is this luggage? Desires are the luggage. Relieving of mundane burdens is what is known as Vairagya (renunciation). It is easy to carry a 100-rupee note, rather than carrying all that money in the form of 10,000 paise coins. Quality is important rather than quantity. Swami wants quality. A cup of cow’s milk is preferable to a barrel of donkey’s milk. What is immortality? Removal of immorality is the only way to immortality. Always keep on doing your duty with divine feelings, without giving any scope to distractions. God is one. Jesus, Allah, Rama, Krishna, Zoroaster and Buddha are His different names; but God is one. One should not hate or criticise any religion. Help Ever, Hurt Never. When this kind of feeling is developed, there is no need to search for God. This is known as fundamental discrimination. Individual discrimination tries to cover up one’s own mistakes while magnifying the mistakes of others. A thief commits theft; he has no compunction about thieving. He thinks that he is doing the right thing because he is poor. But if he develops broader thinking, his attitude will change. By snatching a purse from someone, he is subjecting the victim to great agony, just as he was undergoing agony of poverty.

When Ravana abducted Sita and imprisoned her, his chaste wife advised him to return her to Rama. She said, “You have abducted someone’s wife. How do you feel if someone abducts me who am your obedient wife”? Ravana’s chief minister also echoed this counsel. Give respect and receive respect. Give love and receive love. You cannot always oblige but you can speak always obligingly. But this is not possible for everyone. Some people have too much anger and they always use harsh words. Such persons have to be corrected by the use of strong words. A slab of butter can easily be cut with a finger. But you cannot cut iron with the finger. It needs a sharp instrument to cut it. So, we have to act appropriate to the time and circumstances.

Some people are harsh by their nature. Even when they sit for Bhajan, they do not leave their anger. They keep on clapping, uttering peace, peace even while thinking angrily about someone. What is the use of chanting peace, peace with anger? How can they expect to get peace? Such clapping may help in killing mosquitoes; it has no other use. Man is attempting to reach moon even while harbouring hatred towards others. This type of attempt can never bring peace to the world. First man should have peace in his mind. Then only will there be peace in the world. How can there be peace in the world when people shout peace, peace, keeping atom bomb in their hand? Peace can prevail only when there is mental transformation in human beings. You can achieve anything when you have purity, patience and perseverance. Chant the Name of God with peace in your heart.

– Bhagawan’s Discourse in Sai Sruthi, at Kodaikanal on 21st April 1993.