Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 49

Triple yearnings, triplets of divinity

 

It is only natural and reasonable to expect that this vast flow, this constant movement must have something fixed and unmoving as its base and support. This is exactly what is posited as Atma or the Supreme Brahman (Parabrahman). 

 

The very first vibratory movement on that base happened when the Supreme Brahman became the Highest Godhead (Parameswara) and expressed the three thirsts for wisdom (jnana), wish, and action. That very movement was known as the primordial act (karma), the act of Being, transforming itself into becoming, the act of creation (srishti).

 

The importance of action (karma) necessitated the triple aspects of Divinity: Brahma (who causes creation), Vishnu (who supports and sustains) and Maheswara (who dissolves and destroys). The law of karma rules the motions of the stars, the planets, the galaxies, and other heavenly bodies in space. The same law directs and con trols all that happens in all the worlds. It is inscrutable in its very essence. No one can penetrate the time or space when karma was not. What, why, when, and how events happen is beyond the capacity of people to predict with accuracy. They are laid down from eternity to eternity.

 

Experience non-action in action and vice versa

 

Just as a work being done or an activity that is engaging one can be referred to as karma, no work being done and no activity being engaged in are also karma! On seeing people silent and calm, sitting quiet and doing nothing, we infer that they are free from activity. How, then, can they be described as doing activity? What is meant by saying, “They are not doing any work; they are not engaged in any activity”? That statement means only that “They are engaged in keeping themselves away from any work or activity.” 

 

So, it can be affirmed that people sometimes are busy doing work and sometimes busy keeping work away from their attention; that is to say, they are engaged in activity (karma) as well as inactivity (a-karma). If they are not engrossed or attached with the action they do and are engaged in it as their duty, as their way of worship, and if they are not attached to the fruit of their action, then they can practice inactivity even in action. This is the highest spiritual discipline.

 

The very first act with which the career of a living being starts is “breathing and vibration of vital airs”. When one thinks of it, it is wonderful how it happens. It is an amazing mystery. No human being resolves, at the moment of earthly life, to draw in and breathe out the air that exists around him. It proceeds without being willed or wished for. Not only people but every living organism is evidence of this great marvel.

 

Doubts may be raised: How can anything happen to people without their knowledge or their resolution? It is best to answer this doubt by confessing that people can’t unravel such secrets. Even if an attempt is made to reply that nature is the cause, the question still remains: What exactly is nature? Breathing begins when life begins; it is an automatic, natural act, it is said. But all this is only saying the same thing in other words. They do not explain anything. It can as well be said that we are ignorant how it happens just when it is most essential. It is indeed surprising that the act of breathing is a mystery even to the person who breathes.

 

As you think, so you become

 

When we reflect on the fact that yogis exercise their will and stop their pulse beats and their inhaling-exhaling process, we realize the power of will in inducing action (karma). Action, we can infer, is not something hanging loose in midair! Unless we become doers, deeds do not emanate. An axiom in the Nyaya Sastra says:

 

As one knows, so one wishes; as one wishes, so one acts (na jnathi, icchathi yathathe). The Vedanta Sutras also proclaim the same truth.

 

That on which attention rests, that is the thing wished for (yad-dhyaayathi, thad icchathi). That on which the wish rests, that is the thing for which deeds are done (yad-icchathi thad karothi).

 

That for which deeds are done, that is what he becomes (yath karothi, thadbhavathi). The manifest nature of the individual is moulded by desire. One shapes oneself in line with hopes, aspirations, attempts, and achievements. Even one’s own future life is designed through one’s decisions and deeds. The force that one’s “reason” exerts on oneself and that directs one’s will in specific directions is known as nature (prakriti). When once it is discovered that one’s own level of intelligence is the prime factor in determining one’s inclinations and desires, then, it is easy to follow the means by which one can win release from the hold of nature.

 

continued...

 

Love.