Going Beyond The Mind

Tyaja Durjana Samsargam; 
Bhaja Sadhu Samagam; 
Kuru Punyam Ahoratram; 
Smara Nityam Anityam.

Discard bad company; associate with good people; do always meritorious deeds, discriminate what is eternal and what is transient (before undertaking any work).

Know Thyself

Today people are making efforts to know what happiness is and are enquiring only about the external objects of the world, but no one attempts to know himself. It is of no use, knowing about everything in the world, without knowing about oneself. The whole world is based only on “I.” When you ask someone, whether a millionaire or pauper, “Who are you?” the answer will invariably commence with ‘I’; “I am so and so” will be the usual answer. On further questioning, one may say, “I am a doctor”, or “I am a businessman.” Doctor refers to the work he does and business refers to the profession. If you ask the name, the reply may come as Ramayya or Krishnayya. These are names assigned to the body. These are all transient. These do not represent the real you. You are a permanent entity. Without understanding this truth, man is carried away by ephemeral things. He indulges in selfish pursuits only. He is of no use to the world. Everyone is born and brought up by the society and is a limb of the society. Only when one works for the society he can be prosperous. Today everyone tries to live for himself without caring for the society.

Self-Confidence Is the Foundation for Life

You should not forget that self-confidence is the foundation for life. Just as you cannot build walls without a foundation, in the same way self-confidence is the foundation for a useful life. You can lead a useful life only based on self-confidence. When this is firm, the superstructure of self-satisfaction and self-sacrifice may be raised, leading to self-realisation or bliss, which is the goal of life. When man has forgotten the foundation, how can he expect happiness or peace? Self is atma, and one must know this reality and discard attachment to the body, mind, and intellect. Atma is the master; recognise this, and be the Mastermind. Do not identify yourself with your instruments. All organs of the body are propelled by the vibration, which originates from the atma. But for this, man cannot survive. It is a pity that man forgets this principle of atma and is not having peace or happiness. Man only appears to be happy. But he is not really happy, because God is the master of happiness and unless he identifies with the Divine he cannot be happy.

Pray For Bliss Only and Not For Petty Desires

When you think of God and pray to Him you should not ask for trivial things. You should ask for a thing that is not in you and is in God. It is bliss that is not in you, and God is the embodiment of Bliss. So you should pray for that only. People call themselves devotees and pray for the fulfilment of their petty desires. They are not true devotees. God is described as “Nityanandam Paramasukhadam, Kevalam Jnanamurtim.” (Eternal Bliss, Bestower of Great Happiness, Embodiment of All Wisdom). If you inquire deeply, you will know that God is not away from you. Good and bad experiences emanate from you only. As you sow, so you reap. All resultant effects arise from the cause of your actions only. One who understands this truth alone can understand the Divine principle.

Liberation Is Going Beyond The Mind

In spite of many efforts and spiritual sadhana, one is not able to attain realisation of Divinity because one’s vision is not good. Buddha investigated this very deeply, and found out in the end that mind is the stumbling block for progress towards realisation and became “amanaska”, in other words, eliminated the obstacles of the mind and attained Nirvana or liberation. He realised the atma. How to get rid of this mind? You can do this only by directing your attention to the intellect and start discriminating as to what is eternal and what is ephemeral.

Discarding the pursuit of bookish knowledge, which is superficial, you must pursue discriminatory knowledge. In this, you should not discriminate for your own selfish interests. You should have fundamental discrimination for the welfare of all. This is broad-mindedness, which is expansionary love. You should not have a narrow outlook, which is a contraction of love. You say “hello” while greeting a friend. It is not reflecting your love. You should be hollow inside, that is, beyond feelings and desires. You should proceed beyond the mind. Buddha contemplated for six years before he could achieve that “Buddhigrahyam Atindriyam.” He went beyond the body, mind, and intellect to realise atma.

Discard Maya Which Is Attachment to World

You analyse the word “Manice” the term referring to man. If you spell it in the reverse, it is “cinema.” So, today man is only acting as the actor in a cinema. Everything is only pretension, tantamount to hypocrisy. The term “manava” referring “man” when analysed gives the meaning that man is one who overcomes illusion (“ma” is maya; “na” is no; “va” is conduct). What is Maya? It is to consider a non-existent thing as existing. When you walk, your shadow follows you. Every action has reaction, resound and reflection. Even your feelings and thoughts are reflected in your behaviour. So long as you are filled with thoughts, you cannot make any progress on the spiritual path. As I have explained in an earlier talk, the term “man” itself has to be interpreted as M – Maya, A – atma, N – Nirvana. Only when you overcome Maya, you can realise atma and attain Nirvana or liberation. This can be attained only by self-confidence, meaning confidence in the atma and not in the instruments thereof.

Man today is beset with worries and appears crestfallen, because of his attachment to the body and worldly objects. He is devoting all his attention to his family, acquisition of wealth, and fame. If he just devotes a small fraction of this attention to God, he can get everything. Why do you not have this faith in the all-powerful Divine? You are prepared to sacrifice for the sake of petty worldly things. If you do this for the sake of the Divine, you can get unlimited grace, by which you and your family and those for whom you care will have peace and happiness.

Develop Faith in the Divine and Enjoy Peace and Bliss

The Bharatiyas have always practised the prayer for all the world to be happy. This is the correct prayer which you should make to God. You are also part of the world and you will also enjoy peace.

The term “Bharata” has a very sacred significance. “Bha” represents self-effulgent light. One who strives to seek the self-effulgent atma is a Bharatiya. In the musical field also, the terminology of “Bharata” has unique significance – “Bha” indicates “bhavam” (feeling) “ra” indicates “ragam” (tunes) and “ta” indicates “talam” (beats). The combination of Bhava, raga, and tala in harmony gives music that is pleasant to hear. Similarly, in all aspects such as moral, ethical, and spiritual, divine thoughts should be pervading. This is the characteristic of Bharatiya(s).

God is sat-chit-ananda with the eternal feeling (sasvatam - sat). You should seek chit (spiritual wisdom); then you get ananda (Divine bliss). You can get ananda only from ananda and not from a state of depression. You should worship the Lord with love as love is God and God is love. This gives you real happiness. Today people pretend as if they love while their inner feeling is not filled with love. “Yadbhavam tat bhavati” – as your feelings are so will be the result. Now we find that feelings are different from expression.

(Bhagawan narrated the despicable aspect of the body by the example of a flour mill where you get wheat or rice flour when you put wheat or rice, whereas what you put into your body comes out only as waste excreta).

Gain Divine Vision Through Sacrifice

You do not know when this body will cease to function whether in childhood, boyhood, youth, or old age. Death is certain. Though the body is like a garbage dump full of fecal matter, we have to maintain it in good condition because it is also the temple of God who resides therein. The body by itself cannot help you to cross the ocean of life. You have to surrender to the Lord. From dawn to dusk, one is engaged only in the pursuit of ways and means to fill the belly. People waste life in this way without making an effort to have a vision of the Divine. They stand in queue for a long time to buy a ticket for a movie or for travel, but, they do not like to stand in the queue for darshan of the Divine who can confer such great bliss on them as nothing else can.

You take the example of trees which bear sweet fruits for others, but do not themselves eat them. Similarly, cows give milk to others, but they themselves do not taste even a drop; rivers provide a copious supply of water for the people, for animals and birds too; but they do not drink even a sip of it themselves.

Man is enjoying everything, and is not doing anything for the society at large. Dharma protects those who protect it, but will kill those who attempt to kill it.

Serve God By Serving Humanity

You have got this precious human life as a divine gift. Don’t waste it by seeking worldly pleasures. Pray to God and serve God by serving humanity. Adi Shankara was propagating advaita jnana (non-dualism or monism) all through his life. But he too emphasized the efficacy of prayer through his famous Bhaja Govindam verses. He said mere scholarship will not come to one’s rescue at the time of death. One has to pray and worship God in order to get released from the bondage of birth and death. Devotion based on prematattva (Divine Love Principle) is essential for every human being for emancipation. Advaita is to see unity in diversity. (Swami held a silver tumbler in his hand and said that the silver in the tumbler will be retained even after it is melted and made into a plate. The forms vary but silver remains constant).

The primordial principle of Supreme Power is one. You may go on giving examples, like, jewels are many, gold is one; religions are many, goal is one; flowers are many, puja is one, and so on. Though you offer different types of flowers to God, He likes only the one flower that can never fade, that is, the flower of your heart (hridayapushpam). Since hridaya is the altar of the Lord, this is what He relishes most. You need food, clothing and shelter for living. But you should not forget that the basis for all these, is the Divine and therefore, constantly think of the Divine, even when immersed in worldly things.

Pray For Love Of God with A Desire-less Heart

Forgetting the declaration and assurance given by the Lord, you behave contrary to His directions.

God Proclaimed: Ask and it shall be given: search, you will find: knock and the door will be opened. You are not asking the right source, you are asking the world and not God, the creator of the world.

How can you get any response? You are not searching for the right thing. You are only searching for wealth and position which are unworthy and transient. What door are you knocking at? You are knocking at the door of grief. How can you get ananda? If you comply with the directions of the Divine correctly you will get appropriate results. If you open the door of your heart and love God you get what you need. Do not ask for any petty boon. Ask for God Himself. He can give you anything and everything you need. Pray for the love of God. You will get love. Through Divine love you will have prosperity here and hereafter.

Swami concluded the discourse with the bhajan “Prema mudita manase kaho” (sing with a love-filled heart).

(From Divine Discourse on 20th April, 1988 at “Sai Sruti”, Kodaikanal)