Make Your Heart the Temple of God

In the beginning, white ants may appear to be very small in number, but in no time they may multiply and eat away the entire root of the tree. Similarly, howsoever great one may be, if evil thoughts enter one’s mind they will ruin one’s life completely.
(Telugu Poem)

Where there is smoke there must be fire. 
When there is a driver to run the train, 
And a person to control the traffic signals, 
Should there not be a Creator behind this world?
(Telugu Poem)

The World is the Reflection of Your Inner Being

This visible world consisting of sentient and insentient objects is constituted by five elements. The entire world is the reflection and manifestation of these five elements. All the forms with their various limbs are nothing but the different forms of God. That is why Purusha Suktam declares, Sahasra Seersha Purusha Sahasraksha Sahasra Pad (the Cosmic Being has thousands of heads, eyes, and feet). It is God who pervades the entire universe with His thousands of heads, hands, feet, and eyes.

Make Sacred Use of Five Elements

The universe is the effect and God is the cause. The entire creation is the manifestation of cause and effect. The cause is in micro form and the effect is in macro form. Both the microcosm and macrocosm are the very forms of God.

Brahman is subtler than the subtlest, vaster than the vastest. He is the eternal witness and pervades the entire universe in the form of Atma. Atma is Brahman and Brahman is Atma.
(Telugu Poem)

God is the smallest among the small and the biggest among the big. Small and big are only different in form, but they are one with respect to their innate infinite power. The microcosm and macrocosm are inseparable and are interdependent. Therefore, you should never consider Nature different from God. Nature is God, God is Nature. The five elements present in Nature are the forms of God. That is why our ancients worshipped earth as Bhu Devi, water as Ganga Devi, air as Vayu Deva, fire as Agni Deva, and sky as Sabda Brahman. But people today do not treat these five elements with reverence and make unsacred use of them. Showing disrespect to the five elements amounts to showing disrespect to God. Therefore, you should sanctify your life by making proper and sacred use of the five elements.

God is the creator, sustainer, and annihilator of everything that was there in the past, that is there in the present, and that will be there in the future. He is the master of all the three periods of time, past, present, and future. According to the Telugu calendar, the name of the first year is Prabhava because God is the Prabhu (Master) of time. Therefore, you should have faith in the Master. Only then can you experience peace and happiness in this world.

The Same Atma is Present in All

Students!

This is not the first time I am telling this. I have told you on several occasions in the past also. In this world, there is a continuous conflict between good and bad, righteousness and unrighteousness. This is inescapable. On the one hand, you have the Kauravas, and on the other, the Pandavas; Dharma (righteousness) on one side and Adharma (unrighteousness) on the other. There is a constant conflict between the two. The attitude and priorities of the Kauravas were just opposite to those of the Pandavas. For the Kauravas, the priorities were first I (self), next world, and last, God. But the Pandavas gave first place to God, next to the world, and last to I. All those who follow the path of Dharma will always give first place to God. That is why according to Indian culture, the first year of the Telugu calendar Prabhava connotes God. Not only that all the years that follow are also named after God. God is beyond any measure. That is why the sages have extolled Him as Aprameya (immeasurable). It means He cannot be comprehended by direct or indirect evidence or by any other inference. None can describe God as this or that. He is a fool who says this is God and that is not God. What is the reason? Mamatma Sarva Bhutantaratma (I am present as the Atma in all beings). The same Atma pervades all just as the same current illumines all bulbs.

Jewels are many, gold is one 
Cows are many, milk is one 
Beings are many, breath is one 
Flowers are many, worship is one 
Unable to understand this reality out of his ignorance, 
Man has become a victim of many troubles 
For the sake of his mundane existence. 
What else is to be conveyed 
To this assembly of noble students?
(Telugu Poem)

Is there any difference between the worship performed with different flowers such as jasmine, rose, marigold, etc? Flowers are many, but worship is one. Man has developed all these differences to lead his mundane life. To observe differences is the attribute of Pravritti (outward). But the true, eternal, and immortal goal of life is only one and that is the Atma. Divinity is uniformly present in all. But people perceive it in different ways depending on the capacity of their intellect.

Our intellect may be compared to a mirror. Holding a small mirror in your hand, you can capture the reflection of the sun and stars which are millions of miles away. The circumference of the sun runs into crores and crores of miles. Such a gigantic sun is reflected in a small mirror. That is why it is said, Viswam Darpana Drishyamana Nagari Tulyam (the entire world is like a city seen in a mirror). The entire universe is reflected in the small mirror of our intellect. Therefore, this universe or the world is not outside. They are within you. They are the reflection of your inner being. What is present in you, you see the same thing outside. In fact, there is nothing outside that is not present in you. Here, there, and everywhere, wherever you see, you find only one Atma. Why do you search here and there when the principle of Atma is everywhere? In fact, all the five elements are one.

I explained to you the three principles of Advaita the other day: Padartha Advaita, Kriya Advaita, and Bhava Advaita. You may wonder when the very meaning of Advaita is oneness, then how can there be three forms associated with it? In fact, you are experiencing these three types of Advaita in your daily life.

What is Padartha Advaita? Here is a cloth. It is not a cloth but a bundle of threads; not even a bundle of threads, it is cotton. Therefore, cotton, threads, and cloth are one and the same. Their usage and their names and forms may appear to be different, but there can be no threads without cotton and no cloth without threads. Cotton, threads, and cloth are different only in name and form. But the underlying substance is the same. Therefore, you cannot say they are different from each other. This is Padartha Advaita.

What is Kriya Advaita? You perform many types of service activities and various actions, but if you do all of them to please God then all your actions become one. Sarva Karma Bhagavad Preetyartham (do all actions to please God). You offer food and fruits to God. Before offering, they are merely food and fruits, but after offering they become Prasadam. You prepare sweet pudding, tamarind rice, curd rice and various items. Before offering to God, you may call them by their respective names. But after offering to God, everything becomes Prasadam. Therefore, all the actions that are offered to God correspond to Kriya Advaita. Here there are no two entities. Ekameva Adviteeyam Brahma (Brahman is one without a second). Not two, only one. 

The third is Bhava Advaita. There are only five elements in this body, that body and all other bodies. You may want a particular object from others if it is not already there with you. When the desired object is with you only, why do you want to acquire it from others? The five elements that are present in others are present in you also. Similarly, the Atma that is present in you is present in all. Therefore, all are one. Ekoham Bahusyam (the One willed to become many). The same gold takes the form of various ornaments. Similarly, the five elements which are the manifestations of Divinity are present in all. With regard to this, there is no difference whatsoever. This is Bhava Advaita. Man’s life can become meaningful only when he tries to understand and experience these three types of Advaita. When you keep the feeling of duality in your mind and try to exhibit non-duality outwardly, you get only restlessness. Here is a small example

Develop Love for God

Once there was a very wealthy person who had nothing else to do other than ‘loading and unloading.’ Because of his excessive eating and lack of physical work, he suffered from indigestion. He went to a specialist and asked him the remedy for it. He was an expert doctor. He said, “You don’t need to spend even a naya paisa to cure indigestion. In fact, you have yourself invited this trouble because of excessive eating. Don’t you know how much your stomach can hold? But on account of your greed, you are overloading it. Hence, the indigestion. Your power of digestion is less but the food you consume is more. That is the cause of your indigestion. Therefore, I prescribe a very good remedy for this. Try to listen. Keep a small piece of salt in your mouth and suck its juice.”

Now salt is available in the form of powder, but earlier it was available only in rock form. The wealthy person did accordingly and got cured of indigestion. It was the time of his birthday. As he was cured of his indigestion, he wanted to distribute sweets to all and celebrate the occasion. He went to a sweetmeat shop and wanted to taste the sweet before buying it. When he put a small piece of the sweet in his mouth, it tasted salty. He told the owner of the sweetmeat shop that his sweet was not good and went to another shop. There also he had a similar experience. In this manner, he went to five sweetmeat shops one after the other but did not like the taste of the sweets in any of these.

The owner of the sixth shop understood his problem. Before the rich man could taste the sweet, the owner of the shop told him, “Look, there is a tap. Go there and rinse your mouth thoroughly and come. Then only you should taste my Laddu.” The rich man accordingly rinsed his mouth thoroughly after throwing away the piece of salt that was in his mouth. Then the Laddu tasted sweet. “Yes, this Laddu is very tasty,” he said. The shopkeeper said, “Oh mad fellow, when you have a piece of salt in your mouth, how can you appreciate the sweetness of any Laddu? Every Laddu will taste salty.” Likewise, a person suffering from the disease of atheism, and having the bitter substances like bad thoughts and bad feelings in his mind, cannot enjoy the sweetness of the Divine Name. When someone tells him the sacredness of service and such other spiritual practices, they appear to be tasteless to him. Does the defect lie in the Divine Name or spiritual practices? No, no. This is the result of his own disease of atheism.

Once some people went to attend a marriage. In the marriage, many types of food items were served. When sweets like Laddu and Jilebi were being served, five or six of them refused to take them, saying, “We don’t want.” It is not because they did not like sweets. They did not want to take them because they were diabetic. Likewise, there are theists, atheists, theistic-atheists, and atheistic-theists in this world. All the spiritual practices taste sweet to theists, but to those who have no love for God, the same spiritual practices appear tasteless. Students, teachers, and all others fill their hearts with sacred feelings so long as they are here. Therefore, everything appears sweet and good to them. But once they leave this place and enter the outside world, they become the victims of worldly desires due to the influence of worldly surroundings. The moment the disease of worldly desires sets in, they become distant from spirituality. Not only that, they start developing doubts and misunderstandings regarding spirituality. There may be a cure for cancer but not for the disease of hatred towards God and spirituality. Do they lack education? No. They lack sacred feelings. Ravana was the master of 64 forms of knowledge. He was wealthy and powerful. He had everything at his disposal. But as he became the slave of Kama and Krodha (desire and anger), all his knowledge, power and wealth had no meaning.

God Incarnates in Human Form to Uplift Man

A person who is a slave of his desires becomes a slave of the entire world. But one who conquers desires, conquers the whole world. The world becomes subservient to a person who becomes a servant of God. Therefore, never forget God. There are three important truths that the Vedanta teaches. They are like priceless gems. These three truths are: do not believe the world, do not forget God and never be afraid of death because death is inevitable. You should carefully treasure these truths in your heart. Do not believe the world because the world is subject to change every moment. Do not be afraid of death. Can you avoid death by fearing it? It does not spare anyone. One has to always keep in mind these three truths of Vedanta.

It is foolishness to confine God to a particular place and think that He is present only there. God is everywhere. There is no place where He is not present. There is no form that is not divine. He is present in both living and non-living entities. Scientists say that the world is made up of atoms. This piece of wood, this speaker are also made up of atoms. Scientists call it atom but the spiritualists term it as energy. Difference lies only in names, but the object is the same. Just like an atom is everywhere, divinity pervades everything. Every atom has a form. There can be no atom without form. You should have firm faith that God is the indweller of your heart. Just as our body is constituted by various limbs such as hands, legs, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc., all the forms that you find in this world are the different limbs of God. There are rocks in the mountains, trees in the forest, water in the ocean, soil in the earth, and flesh in the body. But they are all made of five elements. These five elements are the very forms of God. God has no separate form. God incarnates to demonstrate this truth to those who suffer from the blindness of ignorance. God comes down only in human form and not in any other form. What is the reason? All the living beings like birds, and animals are following their Dharma and leading a natural life. It is only man who forgets his Dharma. Birds and animals have a reason and a season, but for man, there is no reason and no season. That is why God comes in human form in order to reform man. Daivam Manusha Rupena (God is in the form of a human being). If God comes in the form of an eagle and tries to correct man, people would throw stones at it. Likewise, if God comes in the form of a he-buffalo and tries to correct man, he will not care for it. Rather, he will beat it with a stick, saying, who are you to tell me. Therefore, God comes in human form and moves among human beings to uplift them.

Follow the Easy Path of Devotion

Here you have to understand two principles of Bhakti (devotion) and Jnana (knowledge). Once two brothers Jnanadeva and Bhaktideva were traveling together. Both of them felt thirsty after walking for some time. Bhaktideva asked Jnanadeva, “Oh brother, I am thirsty, but cannot find water anywhere in the vicinity.” Jnanadeva said, “Let us see if there is a well nearby.” After walking some distance, they found an old well which had a little water at the bottom. Immediately, Jnanadeva assumed the form of a bird, went inside the well, drank water, and came out. Jnanadeva had the ability to assume any form. Advaita Darshanam Jnanam (experience of non-dualism is wisdom). Since he did not observe any difference between one form and the other, he could assume any form. But Bhaktideva did not have the power to change his form. He could not go into the well to drink water. Therefore, he sat there and started contemplating on God with love. As he was contemplating on God, water started overflowing the well. When he felt something cold touching his feet, he opened his eyes and found that water had come up to quench his thirst. Jnanadeva had to change his form, but there was no need for Bhaktideva to do this. As he turned his love towards God, whatever he wanted came running to him. There is nothing superior to devotion.

Once Bhaktideva sent a letter to Jnanadeva. What was written in it? Nothing. He folded a piece of white paper, put it in a cover, and sent it to Jnanadeva. When Jnanadeva opened the letter and saw, he did not find anything in it. If it is a formal letter, one can read it from the beginning to the end like “Dear Brother so and so… With salutations, your younger brother.” But there was nothing written in the letter. To give a reply to this letter, Jnanadeva kept on writing and writing. In spite of writing so much, there could be still some issues left in the letter to be answered. Therefore, he continues to write his reply even today. This signifies the principle of Jnana (knowledge). People who are endowed with knowledge are always engaged in research. They spend their entire life only in research. If you go on spending your whole life in research, when will you observe your inner reality? This is the fate of scientists today. They are always engaged in research and experiments. But they have no experience of reality. What do you gain by experiments? What appears new today becomes old tomorrow. This process of new and old continues endlessly. This endless experimentation is meaningless. The path of devotion is much easier than the path of knowledge. The path of knowledge is difficult and not within the reach of all. Man can achieve everything through devotion by chanting the Name of God and by the power of love.

God Resides in the Temple of your Heart

Students!

Focus your love on the path which is acceptable to your parents and society. Do not take to the wrong path. Regarding matters of divinity, do not go by the opinion of others. Mira always sang the glory of Giridhara Gopala. Maharana did not like this. In spite of this, she never stopped chanting the name of Krishna. She chanted it at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances. Unable to control his anger, Maharana dragged her out of the temple and closed the door of the temple. Mira was shocked. “Alas! Am I to leave You and go, oh Krishna! How is it possible? I cannot live without You,” she moaned. In this way, she underwent a lot of suffering. Then she realized that God is all-pervasive and not confined to the temple. Hence, she said, “Oh Krishna! My heart is Your temple and this is the temple You Yourself have built. The temple built by Maharana is temporary, but this temple of my heart is permanent.” She sang the song, Chalore Man Ganga Yamuna Teer (Oh mind! Go to the bank of Ganga and Yamuna). There is no need to book a ticket or make an advance reservation to go to Prayag, the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati. The left nerve channel in the spine is Ida, the right nerve channel is Pingala and the central nerve channel is Sushumna. The centre of the eyebrows is the place where Ida, Pingala and Sushumna meet. That is real Prayag where Krishna resides.

With His peacock crown, yellow robe, and shining earrings, Krishna looks resplendent. Oh mind! Go to the bank of Ganga and Yamuna. (Mira Bhajan)

Ganga symbolises Bhakti, Yamuna, Karma, and Saraswati represents Jnana. How are the waters of Ganga and Yamuna? They are pure and serene. They bring coolness to the body. Mira said, “Oh mind! Go to Prayag. Don’t go anywhere else.” Where is Prayag? It is within you, not in the outside world. God resides in your heart. However, when you manifest your innate divinity and experience it, you get bliss. When you read the names of sweets like Mysore Pak, Jilebi, Burfi in a book, can you enjoy their taste? No. It is only when you eat them can you experience their sweetness. Similarly, merely knowing that God is within you will not give you the taste of divinity. Only when you realize your oneness with God can you experience bliss. This is the reason why God incarnates on earth. He comes to give us the bliss of union with God. When you associate yourself with God at physical, mental, and intellectual levels, there is no bliss greater than that. This is the type of bliss the Gopikas aspired for.

Were You a tree, growing upwards, 
I would cling to You like a creeper; 
Were You a blossoming flower, 
I would hover over You like a bee; 
Were You the mountain Meru, 
I would cascade like a river; 
Were You the boundless sky, 
I would be in You like a star; 
Were You the bottomless deep, 
I would merge in You like a river.
(Telugu Poem)

They said, “Oh Krishna, there should be absolutely no separation between us. There should be eternal union.” Such an inseparable union with God is the true principle of devotion. There are four stages in the path of devotion: Salokya (perception), Sameepya (proximity), Sarupya (identity) and Sayujya (merger). Being in the contemplation of God is Salokya, being near God is Sameepya, identifying with God is Sarupya and merging with God is Sayujya. There are four objectives of life, namely, Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire) and Moksha (liberation). Parama Bhakti (supreme devotion) is the Panchama Purushartha (fifth objective of life). There is nothing greater than this in this world.

Make your Human Birth Meaningful

Students!

Study well, acquire jobs, get married and beget children. There is nothing wrong with this. But never forget God. If you forget God, your life becomes meaningless. However great one may be, even a Prime Minister or a President, one should not forget God. Hero becomes zero if he forgets God. Everything in this world is subject to change. Come what may, never leave the Supreme Being. Try to go closer to God as much as possible. This is the real spiritual practice man should undertake. Only then can his human birth become meaningful. Jantunam Nara Janma Durlabham (of all living beings, human birth is the rarest). Why is it considered to be the rarest? Is human life limited to eating, drinking, roaming, and sleeping? Don’t birds and animals do that? Then what is the difference between you and animals? What is the special significance and sacredness of human life? What is the purpose of human life? Is it Khana, Peena, Sona, Marna (eating, drinking, sleeping and dying)? Even ants and mosquitoes do that. If you also do the same, in what way are you superior to them? What is the value of human life? Having attained human birth, you should reach the supreme state of blessedness. You should become recipients of God’s love and grace and experience divine bliss. There is no bliss greater than that.

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)

You should plant the sapling of love in your heart and not a thorny bush of hatred. What does the flute symbolize? The flute is hollow. So, make your body hollow and pray to Krishna to breathe His divine music into it. When the body is filled with desires, how can Krishna fill it with sweet melodies? First, make your body hollow, giving up all desires and illusions. When the body becomes hollow, Krishna will call you near Him, saying hello. Then He will pick you up, place you on His lips, and fill you with divine music which will immerse you and all others also in divine ecstasy.

One can aspire to become one of the two objects which are always with Krishna. One of these is a pair of sandals of His feet and the other is His flute. If you become His sandals, then you will have to bear all the pain due to stones, thorns, dust, scorpions, and snakes that you may find on the road. This is extremely difficult. It is much easier to become a flute in His hands.

If you continue to hold a handkerchief, your hand will start paining after some time. It is easy to drop the handkerchief rather than to hold it. Likewise, it is easy to give up desires rather than cling on to them and undergo suffering. This is termed as Vairagya (detachment). Develop this spirit of detachment to the extent possible. However, it is not easy to do so when you lead a worldly life. You say, my son, my daughter, my house. First of all, you should give up the feeling of mine and thine. Vedanta speaks about the principle of ‘Neti,’ ‘Neti,’ ‘Neti’ (not this, not this, not this). Everything is God.

(Bhagawan concluded His Discourse with the Bhajan, “Hari Bhajan Bina Sukha Santhi Nahi...”)

– From Bhagawan’s Discourse in Sai Kulwant Hall on 21st August 1996.