Keep Spirituality As First Goal

In spite of acquiring great wealth, 
peace eludes man; 
people forget to recognize humanness; 
this is the truth revealed by Sai.

What man has to aspire for today is not happiness. It is not sorrow either. In fact, happiness and sorrow are only transitory in nature. Man’s duty is to realize divinity in the unity of happiness and sorrow. Even while you feel elated at the prospect of happiness, you will encounter sorrow. Similarly, even while you feel depressed on account of sorrow, happiness will beckon you. Since ancient times, several great rishis made efforts to rise above the feelings of happiness and sorrow. They recognized the fact that it was only in times of sorrow that the divine nature in a human being manifested. More than happiness, it is sorrow that is helpful to man in several ways. "Na sukhat labhate sukham" (happiness does not come out of happiness). It is only from sorrow that happiness springs. The main source of happiness in man is sorrow. Just as we welcome happiness, we must welcome sorrow also.

Acquire The Wealth Of Love

Not only in India but in all countries of the world, children and youth have an important role to play. Money is quantitatively more than the materials it can buy. If there is real wealth, we can achieve anything material. Today man is wasting his life in the pursuit of mere material wealth. First and foremost, the wealth that man has to acquire is the wealth of Love. With the wealth of Love, everything else can be acquired. Several issues were being discussed in this conference for the last three days by the delegates comprising youth, the middle-aged, and old people. What is the outcome of these discussions? Whatever be the texts studied and sadhanas undertaken by man, everything goes waste if man does not cultivate the feeling of love in his heart. Today, what man has to recognize and realize is the principle of Love. That is true devotion. In the world today, parents, children, and even the wife, everybody is running after material wealth. Scarcely anyone wishes to acquire steady, selfless, and divine love. God's love cannot be acquired with wealth; nor with education, nor by the various sadhanas we undertake; it is only by offering pure, unconditional, and unselfish love for love's sake can one achieve divinity. People undergo so many difficulties today, not realizing the fundamental nature of this pure love. They are concerned with only the worldly and physical aspects of love. None can attain divinity by any method, except through love. If divinity is attained, everything is attained; if divinity is not attained, everything else is a waste. But, man is not making any effort to realize this truth. Assuming that material wealth is the foremost to be acquired, they are making several kinds of efforts to acquire it.

Embodiments of Love! 

Strive to acquire Love; try to achieve Love. Love is your real property. Realize this truth. There is no other quality greater and more valuable than Love. Even if some such quality exists, it is of no real use for the goal of life. Therefore try to recognize the love manifest in every human being. It is only then that you would have realized your own true nature. All the Indian Vedantic texts exhort one to realize one’s real nature. You are not the body. You are not the mind. You are not the intellect. You have to achieve that from which all these have emanated. Suppose you want ghee. What is its source? Milk. From milk comes curd, from curd comes butter, and from butter comes ghee. Therefore, if you go to the source itself, namely milk, you can be happy.

Contemplation On Soham Is Real Sadhana

Embodiments of Love! 

You are not the body, mind, intellect, senses, or antahkarana – you are verily the source of all these. Therefore, you should not waste your time in the pursuit of all sorts of material possessions.

Today, the members of Sri Sathya Sai Organisation are undertaking several types of sadhana. But, are they real sadhanas or illusory? No, no; they are not real sadhanas. They appear to be real for some time and later on, they are given up. You start doing japa as a sadhana and continue it for some time. Later on, you give up japa and enter into dhyana. Even this dhyana is only till you achieve your object of dhyana. When once it is achieved, it loses its purpose. Thus, all the sadhanas you undertake are only temporary. It should not be our aim and endeavor to achieve temporary results by doing temporary sadhanas. We must try to achieve that which is permanent, true, eternal, pure, and of lasting happiness. "Sarvadaa sarvakaaleshu sarvatra Harichintanam". We must always, at all times and under all circumstances spend our time in constant contemplation of God. This should become the very breath of our life and as natural as we inhale and exhale. This is "soham tattwa". This constant contemplation on the soham tattwa is the real sadhana. Wherefrom does this "soham" come? It comes from the inquiry "koham" (who am I?). The result of this inquiry is "soham". It is only when you realize this eternal truth, your sadhana will fructify.

Today, we are building the mansion of our life on a water bubble. We do not know at what moment it will burst. Human nature should rest upon the eternal truth, not on a momentary thing like the water bubble. Human life is becoming more and more uncertain today. Adi Shankara described the same point in one of his famous Bhajagovinda slokas thus:

"Maa kuru dhana jana yavvana garvam 
Harati nimeshat kalassarvam"

(Oh! Man! Do not take pride in wealth, family, friends, and youthful vigor; time will destroy everything in a trice.)

God Is In You, With You

Nothing is permanent in this world. Therefore, why should we rely on such impermanent things? Only atma is eternal. This is also referred to as Brahman. Brahman is divinity. This Brahma tattwa is also called "Brihat". The atma tattwa that has emanated from this "Brihat" is the real "Aham". This is true and eternal. We must, therefore, make an effort to realize such a true and eternal aham tattwa. These three terms appear to be different; but, in fact, the inner meaning of all these three is one and the same. This pure and unsullied Brahma tattwa is constantly with us, whether in the waking state or in the dream state or in the deep sleep state. That Brahman is divinity in human form. And such a divinity is in you, right now. In fact, you are verily that Brahma tattwa and none else. Therefore, it is futile to seek God in some distant place. God is in you, with you, above you, below you, and everywhere. Why should you seek such omnipresent divinity elsewhere?

Man, today, is wasting his precious life in the pursuit of physical, worldly, and artificial desires. Man’s life today is full of selfishness and self-interest. These two, together, are destroying human nature. Some people question, “How can we live in this world without self-interest?” But, let Me tell you, this is not the right way of leading a purposeful life. You are deluded to think that you are helping and serving society. No, you are in fact hurting society by your self-interest. I told you the other day in My discourse that spirituality should come first, then society, and then the individual. The unity of these three is SAI. Human beings must, therefore, keep spirituality as their first goal. It is only when this goal is pursued, society becomes nearer. When you reach the goal of society, then the inquiry should begin “Who am I?” It is only when you recognize who you are, you will be able to understand society. When you thus understand society, you will be able to realize the divinity in the form of society. You first try to understand your own nature.

Food Must Contribute To Spiritual Development

Embodiments of Love! 

You are not able to understand spirituality properly. You require, no doubt, food for the body, in the first instance. But, you must ensure that you take food that contributes to your spiritual development. Those who wish to attain divinity should never touch impurity. You should always take pure and satwic food like vegetables, and green leafy vegetables, etc. You should never consume impure items like eggs, meat, etc. Also, you keep away completely from intoxicating drinks and drugs. By consuming such items, all your sense organs will be paralyzed. Alcohol is not at all conducive to spiritual sadhana. In spiritual sadhana one has to attain ecstatic levels by a natural process, not by artificial methods like drugs and alcohol. All that is related to divinity comes by a natural process. That is what Sage Narada emphasized by declaring "Tripto Bhavati, Matto Bhavati" (become completely fulfilled, ecstatic, etc.). We must immerse in natural divine intoxication, not artificial intoxication induced by drugs and alcohol. Human nature transforms itself into demonic nature by consuming meat and intoxicating drinks. Certain types of food and medicines contain ingredients causing intoxication. We should keep ourselves away from such things. Even if it is a medicine, we should not take it. Under no circumstances, you should consume such intoxicating food and medicines.

Embodiments of Love! 

You are undertaking a lot of sadhana. Several people take milk and curd, assuming that they come under satwic food. Strictly speaking, they are not totally satwic. There are some intoxicating ingredients even in those food items. Therefore, we must consume them in limited quantities. All the food we take must conform to certain timings, standards, and limits. When we feel hungry, we should not eat to our fill. We must stop eating while we still feel that we can eat more. If we eat bellyful, the thamoguna (sloth and slumber) sets in. We should never give scope to this thamoguna. You are all doing sadhana. But some mistakes are creeping into this sadhana, knowingly or unknowingly. You sit for dhyana (meditation). You think achieving concentration is meditation. No, concentration is not meditation. In our daily life, we do several things with concentration. But, they do not constitute meditation. Some people think steady sitting is sadhana and it is great. This is not correct. It is possible that during meditation, our body moves and mind wavers. But, it is only from that wavering mind we should develop an unwavering and steady mind. That is the real dhyana (meditation). We must develop a firm conviction that we are not the impermanent body, but we are the true and eternal atma tattwa. It is only when you attain that stage in dhyana, it becomes the real dhyana. You should not begin your sadhana with the feeling that God is somewhere in a distant place and that you wish to install Him in the temple of your heart. First and foremost, develop a firm conviction that divinity lies in you. You must realize your own divine nature. Not only that, you must make others also realize that you are divine. Today, all our sadhanas are like the swords used in a drama on the stage. They are useful only for the purpose of acting, not in real life. We must gradually become free from our illusion. There are several types of dhyana like, sankalpa dhyana, sthira dhyana, chitta dhyana, etc.

To Get Rooted In Atma Tattwa Is Dhyana

Embodiments of Love! 

Knowingly or unknowingly you are doing sadhana based on what you think to be correct. If you desire to know what is dhyana in the real sense, ask Me. I will explain to you. In fact, you do not need any sadhana. Do as I say; you will get the result in a moment. Divinity is that which manifests right in front of you out of His grace. It cannot be obtained with the help of rigorous practices. Everybody is doing sadhana attaching himself to certain forms. In the process, he is trying to establish the glory of his own form. This is not correct. You should forget your own form and lose your consciousness in divinity. What is the use of doing dhyana, all the while concentrating upon one’s own form? When somebody inquires what you are doing, you reply that you are doing dhyana. How do you know that you are doing dhyana when in fact your body consciousness itself is lost in dhyana? That means, you are not doing real dhyana. Dhyana is that, in which you forget your own self; you develop purity of conscience and establish the eternity of your atma tattwa. Without achieving this, dhyana is a waste and real cheating.

Embodiments of Love! 

Cultivate pure and sacred love. You run after several elders, sadhakas, and gurus and try to be their followers. This is not gurutwa. You concentrate on one feeling of divinity that is already established in your heart. Do not change your mind every now and then. Let it be firmly established as your goal. Buddha followed the same principle. Earlier, Buddha went in search of divinity everywhere outside. He wandered in several places. But, he could not succeed in his endeavors. Ananda, his cousin saw the plight and inquired why he was wandering here and there. Then, suddenly Buddha realized that he was all the while following his manasika tattwa (mental impulses), which are impermanent and momentary. He, therefore, decided not to follow the mind. He, immediately started contemplating on divinity with full heart and attained Nirvana (liberation from bondage). It is clear from this example that one should never rely on the mind which weaves fantasies. Forget the mind, establish divinity firmly in your heart, and finally merge in that divinity. That is the real Nirvana.

What is the nature of the human body? It is made up of the five elements. It is unreal, impermanent, and perishable in nature. Keeping this body attachment, if you do dhyana, how can it be fruitful? How can it lead you to your goal? Therefore, you must forget the deha branti (the illusion of the body). Merge in divinity with atmabhimana (attachment to the atma). That is the real dhyana. That is the true tyaga (renunciation or detachment). That is your real yoga. That is your real bhoga. That bhoga is ananda (bliss). Always follow the principle, "Sathyam bhruyat, Priyam bhruyat, Na bhruyat Sathyam apriyam" which means always speak the truth; speak the truth pleasingly; never speak the truth which is unpalatable. Only then, will you be able to attain Nirvana. Several people aspire for liberation. Liberation cannot be attained by temporary sadhanas. It can be obtained by constant contemplation on divinity, forgetting the mind totally. That is real Nirvana. Wherever you see, if the mind only is visible, how can you attain Nirvana? It is only the one who forgets the mind can attain Nirvana.

Embodiments of Love! 

I presume you have never undertaken such a great sadhana so far. Do not bother; we will look into it later. First and foremost, begin your contemplation on divinity with pure love. Only then will you gain spiritual strength. Even the Pandavas started their spiritual quest by giving first priority to God, then to ‘we’ and lastly to ‘I’. In spiritual literature, every letter and every word carries subtle meanings. You must try to understand those subtle meanings and act accordingly. That is real sadhana. You need not do sadhana for attaining ephemeral and impermanent things. Try to attain divinity through love. Do all your sadhana with pure love. Only then will they become fruitful.

Guru Purnima

Embodiments of Love! 

Tomorrow is the Guru Purnima day. Any amount of time can be spent in explaining the importance and significance of Guru Purnima. The Guru is coming as Purnima (full moon) on Guru Purnima day. If you forget gurutwa (the real nature of guru), all your sadhanas will be of no use. Today, we are forgetting gurutwa totally. This is a great mistake. Keep the essential nature of a guru in your heart and do your sadhana to merge in divinity. Hence, tomorrow, we will try to know the significance of Guru Purnima, to some extent.

International Seva Conference, Valedictory Address, 23-7-2002, Prasanthi Nilayam.