Sacred Vision Leads To Liberation

There is no place in the world which is not pervaded by Divinity whether it is a city, a village, a forest or any other area. There is also no form in the world, which is not divine. Wherever one may be, whether on top of a hill or in the ocean or on plain ground, God will come to the rescue of one who has no other source of help.

Turn Inward For God Realisation

Man undertakes a lot of spiritual efforts (sadhana) in pursuit of knowledge of the “Self.” One may study all the scriptures, go on a pilgrimage to holy places, seek the guidance of preceptors, or take up other types of sadhana(s), but he cannot attain Self-realisation by all these means unless he turns his vision inward to understand his own Self. If he cannot comprehend his own reality, how can he expect to realise the latent Divinity in him? In fact, only when one realises his own human qualities will he be able to progress towards God-realisation.

Buddha made a lot of efforts in his attempt to acquire the “_Atma Jnana_” (wisdom of the inner Self). He studied all the books available on the subject. He went on a pilgrimage to all holy places and had dips in holy rivers. He also met great saints and seers, but he could not have satisfaction. The reason for his failure to achieve his aim is that all these efforts are only pertaining to the external, transient, and changing world, which can be termed as negative. The proper path is to utilise the five senses vouched to man in the right manner. If you misuse these five senses gifted to you, and direct them for wicked pursuits, how can you expect to realise God?

Develop Good Vision

What man should do is understand the sacred purpose for which the senses are vouched to him and put them to right use. That is why Buddha pronounced “Samyak drishti,” i.e., “Good Vision” as the first step in the right direction. This means that, since you have the faculty of vision, you cannot go on seeing everything and everyone that meets your eye. You should develop sacred vision. You must see what is good and see no evil. That which is auspicious, divine, and not detrimental to moral values may be taken as good. The vision that arises from the depth of heart is sacred. The external vision of physical eyes cannot be taken as pure and sacred. This is negative. The vision springing from the heart is positive and when it is expressed through the negative aspect of the physical eye, the resultant synthesis of positive and negative becomes sacred. You should develop the sacred vision through the eye. This cannot be achieved when your feelings, thoughts, and actions tend to be wicked.

Today, man is not fostering fear of sin, love of God, and morality in society. That is why our country is in such a deplorable plight. Because, in the modern world, the fear of sin and love of God are absent and there is no peace. The primary need today is to put the five senses gifted to mankind to good and proper use in the right manner. If you cultivate good vision, you will breed good feelings (samyak bhava). This will, in turn, lead you to do good deeds. Performance of action is the main purpose of the human body. The thoughts arising from the heart should be expressed through words, resulting in action through the limbs of the body. The purity of thought, word, and deed is termed as “_trikarana shuddhi_” (triple purity of heart, tongue, and body).

Cultivate Harmony Of Thought, Word, And Deed

The saying that the “proper study of mankind is man” refers only to this harmony in vision, thought, and deed. This harmony reflects genuine humaneness. Undertaking an elaborate study of spiritual literature and pilgrimage to holy shrines will be useless unless you have proper vision. With this truth in view, Buddha prescribed “_Samyak drishti_” as the basis for pursuit of the wisdom of reality.

Wellington of Kerala who spoke earlier referred to the axiom “Help Ever, Hurt Never.” Everyone should follow this principle and try to extend help to the needy to the best of one’s ability and avoid giving trouble of any type, either by thought or word or action. If it is not possible to help, at least desist from harming anyone. If you develop “_Samyak drishti_” (good vision), you will be able to speak “_Samyak vak_” (good words) too. The words that emanate from the depth of heart will always be good and true. The words coming from the throat or the tongue may not be good. Words should come from the heart so that they will reflect love and compassion which reign in the heart. That is why the heart is called Hrd+daya=Hridaya. The vision, speech, action, and hearing should certainly conduct self-inquiry of whether the vision or speech comes from the depth of the heart. This is the right spiritual inquiry which ensures purity of heart.

Recognise That God Exists In Everyone And Every Place

Buddha’s cousin Ananda met Buddha after Buddha attained Nirvana (enlightenment). Ananda shed tears because Buddha had given up worldly attachment and was getting ready to shed his mortal coil. He sought advice from Buddha entreating him to show the right path. Buddha told his cousin Ananda, “I am very close to liberation. You must also come to this state. People lament over the death of their kith and kin. This is sheer folly because one who laments over the death of another will also have to die later. Only God is beyond birth and death. He has no beginning and end. He is the eternal witness that always shines in full glory. Birth and death are inescapable for all, except the Divine. While so, why do you cry? You also must make an effort to understand the truth that God who is eternal is in everyone. Turn your vision towards the Divine. He is everywhere.

Sarvatah panipadam tat sarvatokshi shiromukham
Sarvatah shrutimalloke sarvamavrittya tishthati.

He has hands and feet everywhere. He has eyes, faces, ears, and mouths everywhere and He is pervading every place in the Universe. What does this mean? It implies that all the beings in the world are only His multiple manifestations. Every being is the embodiment of the Divine. That is why the Upanishad declares “Ishavasyam idam sarvam.” All this world is pervaded by Ishvara, the Divine. All are embodiments of God. You are deluded that you are only human, basing your assumption on the body. The body may be human but the Divine is enshrined in the human frame. You are not one person but three; the one you think you are, the mental body, and the one you really are, that is atma (God).

Human life is the amalgamation of these three entities. How should you pray? “Trigunam trigunakaram….. eka bilvam Shivarpanam.” The import of this prayer is that man is a combination of the three attributes, satvika, rajasika, and tamasika and the three entities of body, mind, and atma. Such a man should offer himself to Shiva. How is this done? One should do all acts as offerings to God.

Control The Senses

In order to develop such a sacred ideal, one should have a good vision. If your looks are not good, your actions will also be likewise. When there is pure water in the storage tank, you get pure water from the tap which is connected to the tank. If the water stored is dirty, the water that comes out through the tap will also be dirty. The human heart is the tank and all the sense organs are the tap. Meditation, yajna, and other methods are only external. These are all negative pursuits and may give only temporary satisfaction. No positive results can be achieved if there is no sense control. How do Veda(s) describe the positive state? Veda(s) declare “_Nirgunam, Niranjanam, Sanatanam, Niketanam, Nitya, Shuddha, Buddha, Mukta, Nirmalasvarupinam_”, the entity that is attribute-less, immortal, ancient, eternal, transcending time and space, of blemish-less purity and permanent. We should have such a permanent entity as our basis. If we rely on temporary things, our life will also become meaningless.

Atma is permanent. Body is transient. So we should have atma as our basis. This should be our fundamental principle. If you fill your heart with sacred feelings and thoughts, your vision, speech, hearing, attitude, and action will all become sacred. (samyak drishti, samyak shravanam, samyak bhavam, samyak chintana, samyak karma). But today man does not bother about the purity of heart at all. He speaks as he likes; as a result, subjects himself to suffering. Since he has the faculty of vision, he keeps seeing all bad things. This gives rise to all bad feelings and wicked thoughts which lead to bad action. The basic reason, therefore, is lack of Samyak drishti or good vision. So you must follow the dictum “see no evil”, see only good; talk no evil, talk what is good; hear no evil, hear what is good; think no evil, think what is good; do no evil, do what is good.” In order to ensure this, one should control all his five senses. Whatever sadhana or spiritual practices one may pursue, all will be a waste, without the control of senses.

Base Yourself On The Atmic Principle

The Atmic principle cannot be expressed by words, cannot be comprehended by the mind and intellect. It is beyond all these. It is in everyone as “conscience.” It is part of the all-pervasive “consciousness” though limited to the adjuncts of the individual body. Consciousness is manifest everywhere. Only a drop of this is present in every being as conscience. “Conscious” is limited to the senses. When you sanctify the five senses, the conscience becomes sanctified and it merges with the all-pervasive consciousness.

This is the way in which Buddha did his spiritual sadhana. He first controlled the senses, cultivated sacred thoughts, which resulted in thorough purification of his heart. When his heart became sacred and pure, he attained Nirvana (Liberation).

If you have the fundamental principle of atma as the basis, even the temporary body, mind, and intellect will become sacred.

You need water for sustaining life. How do you get this water? The scientists have found that the combination of 2 parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen will produce water. They proclaim that water can be generated by this chemical process.

But they fail to understand who created hydrogen and oxygen. This is God’s creation and is the fundamental basis for the scientists to launch on their experiments. Nothing can be done by the skill of the human beings without the fundamental creation of Divine. Because of the Permanent Divine Principle, human beings enjoy extensive power (shakti). The Veda(s) say “yato vacho nivartante, aprapya manasa sah.” (Words fail to describe Him who is also ungraspable by the mind).

Develop Broad Mindedness

All the spiritual practices and rituals one undertakes such as penance, yajna, meditation, and other rituals are all good deeds but they cannot lead one to liberation (moksha). Heart is the main vehicle which helps one to attain liberation. Nammalvar in his prayers, stated that he was doing his worship with a pure heart (chitta shuddhi). You should develop broad-mindedness; you should not be narrow-minded. You should expand your love and not constrict it.

There is an example for this. Once a wayfarer was walking along a street. It started to rain and it became a heavy downpour. He was looking for shelter. He found a small verandah in a house. He knocked at the door, but it was locked. He managed to stretch his legs reclining in the verandah. After a few minutes, another pedestrian who was looking for shelter requested him to give him room by folding his legs, so that both can squat. After sometime, a third pedestrian came to the same place and requested for accommodation. When the two pleaded that there was no room, he requested them to stand up, so that he can also stand along with them. In the place where two could sit, three could stand. This is the spirit of accommodation one should exhibit. This is an example of paropakara, the attitude of helping others. When one was lying down, he accommodated another by folding up and sitting. When a third person also wanted help, they adjusted and were prepared to stand. This is the spirit one should have while following the principle of “Help Ever Hurt Never.” The body is given for doing righteous deeds. The body should be put to rightful use.

Transform Yourself By Nine Types of Devotion

You should develop good vision. It should be one-pointed towards good things only. What is meditation? It is to concentrate on God alone. Many follow spiritual exercises. Great Saints like Aurobindo and Ramana Maharshi used to sit on the open terrace and concentrate on the stars in the sky. They developed this one-pointed vision. Even after closing the eyes, the vision will be still fresh in their minds. You will be recapitulating later. Don’t be thinking of finding out the mistakes in others and harping on them. Listen only to good things, like the glory of the Divine. The nine types of devotion shravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, padasevanam, vandanam, archanam, dasyam, sneham, and atmanivedanam (listening, singing God’s glory, remembrance, serving the feet of the Lord, obeisance, worship, obedient service, friendship, and self-surrender) are there for you to follow. You can follow any one of them. When you see anyone suffering, help the person. You should not think or speak ill of others.

On this New Year day, you should realise that many such new years have come and gone, but there is no transformation in your hearts. Every year, you should try to improve and transform yourself. By merely making sweets and eating, you celebrate the New Year. You can make sweets and eat any day. Why wait for New Year? When a new sacred feeling arises in your heart, that is the real onset of New Year.

From dawn to dusk, man is spending his time in worldly pursuits. The purpose of life is not eating, drinking, sleeping, and dying. You are given five senses which you must put to proper use.

What is Samyak drishti? While you are walking on the road, you should not look at everyone that passes or the poster on the walls. Thereby you may even run the risk of involving yourself in accidents. You must watch your every step. This itself is a good vision.

“Help Ever, Hurt Never.” This maxim will also help you to escape from accidents and dangers. Whatever work you do, do it as an offering to God. When you are feeding a beggar, do it as an offering to God and as if you are really feeding God. This tyaga is Yoga. Without sacrifice, if you want to enjoy everything yourself, you cannot have peace at all. Veda(s) proclaim that immortality is attainable only by sacrifice. The position and status in life are all fleeting and temporary. They can all disappear in a moment. That which is changeless and permanent is “_atma_” only.

From Samyak drishti (good vision), you develop good speech. At a place where so many people assemble like this, you should avoid talking about others and indulging in gossip. What do you gain from talking about others? Think of God only. What you see and hear get imprinted in your heart.

Your eyes are very small in dimension, not even half-an-inch. But you are able to see vast areas of land and even the stars which are millions of miles away. Where-from do the eyes get such power? It is only Divine Power. You have a new torch light with a new bulb and new switch. But you cannot get the light unless you put the cells inside. Your body is the torch. Eye is the bulb. Intellect is the switch. Only if you put in the cells of new thoughts, you will have the enlightening experience of good feelings. In this Tamil New Year and Vishu you should breed good thoughts. Think of God who is in you, around you, above you, and below you. Divinity is there around and within you. You cannot survive even a second without Divinity. You should always say to yourself “I am man, I am not an animal.” If you say, “I am man”, it is only half the truth. With a human form, you breed animal qualities. You should always recall “I am not an animal.” The combination of the two will make you desist from indulging in animal nature.

The unification of these two will make you realise your Divinity, which is the truth. Sacred thoughts are essential. They are the real rituals you should do. This word is karma kshetra – field of sacred activity. You have come to this world on pilgrimage. You should develop good vision, good speech, good feeling, good thoughts, and good actions.

Everyone should cultivate Samyak drishti (good vision) which will lead to other good features. Nowadays, everyone is having bad vision, bad thoughts, and indulging in bad deeds. How can such people realize Divinity? This is not correct. You should control your vision to make it sacred.

Bhagawan concluded the discourse with the bhajan “Bhajana Bina Sukha Shanti Nahih.” (No happiness and peace without devotion).

(From Divine Discourse on Tamil New Year Day
and Vishu (Malayalam New Year) on 14th April, 1998 at
“Sai Sruti”, Kodaikanal).