Dharma Vahini - Post 24

Sairam All,

As concluded in the previous post, appended below is one of those intuitive articles which emanated from within aligning with the essence of this blog.

FORM TO FORMLESS

In Radio Sai, Swami's discourse on 9th Oct 2005 was relayed. Some excerpts from His maha vakya is reproduced below:-

QUOTE BHAGWAN

People often use two terms Deva (God) and Jiva (individual being). In fact, there is no jiva at all! All are embodiments of Divinity only! Then the question arises why do people die? Since people are not able to realise the immortal nature of the Atma residing in the physical body, they make use of the term death. Atma has no death at all! It is immortal. Those who realise this truth, merge in God. For those who cannot realise the truth, jiva remains as Jiva and Deva as Deva. The dual feeling persists in them.

God is only one. In fact, He is not different from you. He is in you; you are verily God! If it is not so, why should the Vedas declare Tatwam Asi?

Whatever I speak is only Truth. Since you are not aware of this truth, you are unable to develop faith in it.

UNQUOTE

Meditating on the Lord, the author  was wondering, how, as an ordinary devotee, immersed in the anupama sundara vadanam of Sai, can we realize the above wordings of our Sai Bhagwan??

Is there any logical beginning in this path of realisation?? How do we reach that stage when we realise that He and We are one?? What it means to us when we realize Tatwam asi???

The journey starts from the lines of the Bhajan “Hridaya mandir mein aao Sai mere, deejo kripa vardaan….."

ü After attending bhajans week after week, attending study circle, after visiting Parthi many times, after listening to His discourses, we are immersed in His divine form, His divine glory, His divine attributes and this continues for sometime (or for a long... time).

ü We reach a stage where seeking Swami Outside is not sufficient for us, as it is momentary and  and it happens ONLY when we sing His bhajans, when we involve ourselves in Satsang. Our thirst for Him reaches a stage where we need Him to be with us always.

ü It is time that we invite Him to come and reside in our heart, where we can find Him always, not only when we sit for prayers, but always.

ü When He is in our heart, when we know He is watching us, we start curbing all our desires, we put a check on ourselves, and we avoid committing all those things which our Lord will not approve. (Swami says to a devotee, "you are singing and calling Me as Hridaya Nivasi but look at your heart where you want Me to be installed, how much dirt is there!!! Unless you remove all that dirt (all 5 kleshas and  vasanas arising out of our ego), how can you afford to call Me and ask Me to come and stay there??"

ü At this stage, we experience our getting purer within, day by day.

ü Now, there is no time for worldly pleasures, for hatred, for envy, for prejudice. Swami used to tell us "Heart is like a single sofa, you cannot have Lord and also all your desires too, seated in that single sofa (Having Lord within our heart), the other (our desires/ our ego) has to be out"

ü When all impure and selfish thoughts are eliminated, only LOVE remains. LOVE for the in dweller Lord,

ü When we immerse ourselves in this LOVE, it rules us so much so that this LOVE expands and whom so ever we see, whatever we do, whatever we think- there is only LOVE, LOVE and LOVE.

ü We reach a state of supreme bliss, when the form inside our heart, which we placed once, vanishes, loses its identity as Sai, as Rama, as Krishna, as Devi. Because now, there is only LOVE, only BLISS.

Believe me, Brothers and sisters, at this stage, we do not have to go about declaring that I AM GOD. If and only If you have reached that state, then as a full pumpkin cannot be hidden in a morsel of rice, the fact that YOU HAVE REALISED GOD cannot be hidden, it will be revealed to the world. 

As Brother Hari explains in a talk, when King Bharatha,

immersed in his devotion for Sri Rama, walked on the streets of Ayodhya when Sri Rama was returning to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile, there was so much glow on king Bharatha's radiant face that the ayodhya vasis took him for Sri Rama and thought their Bhoopala choodamani has returned and started showering flowers on Bharatha. Bharatha became Sri Rama himself. 

Thus, ever meditating on the Lord who is LOVE (God is Love, says Swami), you yourself become THAT ( LOVE) on which your entire life's focus is !!!. ( Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavati)

"Thus, the Journey begins from "HRIDAYA MANDIR MEIN AAO SAI MERE… , and ends with the ultimate realisation, "PREM EASWAR HAI, EASWAR PREM HAI, HAR DHADKAN MEIN SAI SAMA HAI, EASWAR PREM HAI".

So, my dear ones, for realising "TATWAM ASI", we do not have to necessarily become smaller and smaller and get invisible at His feet, We can as well expand our heart, invite our Lord to come and stay in our heart and start the beautiful journey from bhoolokam (HUMAN WITH EGO) TO Vaikuntam (DIVINITY, AS LOVE) with our Vaikunta vasa, Sai Narayana, as our  eternal companion, Prana Sakha!!

CHIDANANDA ROOPAM SHIVOHAM SHIVOHAM

Love.