Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 11

Past deeds affect the present 

Our present condition and circumstances are decided by deeds done in previous lives. In a similar manner, the conditions in which we have to spend the future are determined by what we are doing now. Between one life and another, one death and the next, the individual either progresses or regresses, expands or shrinks. Like a frail ship caught in a stormy sea, one climbs the froth-rimmed peak of some gigantic wave and, the next moment, is hurled with terrific speed into the deepest trough. The rise and fall result inevitably from good and bad deeds.

O ye children of immortality! Listen! Listen to the answer given in the message of the sages (rishis) who had the vision of the Most Majestic of Persons (Purushothama) who dwells beyond the realms of delusion and darkness:

O, ye human beings! Brothers! The only means for you to liberate yourselves from the succession of deaths is “knowing Him”. Do not imagine that you are sinners, for you are heirs to eternal bliss (ananda). You are “images” of God, sharers in undiminishable bliss. You are by nature holy, ever-full; you are indeed God moving on earth. Is there a sin greater than calling such as you sinners? You are dishonoring and defaming yourselves when you acknowledge the appellation “sinners”! Arise! Cast off the feeling that you are sheep. Don’t be deluded into that idea. You are Atmas. You are drops of divine nectar of Immortality, which know neither beginning nor end. All things material are your bond slaves; you are not their bond slaves.

These are the words of the sages (rishis). How can those who have not themselves delved into this truth appreciate this Indian (Bharathiya) interpretation? Indians are the fortunate ones who have achieved great strength in spirit by holding God as father, mother, guru, friend, and the beloved. They have adored God as dearer to them than anything or anyone, here or hereafter. How can those who are aware only of mere sensual pleasure know this supreme truth? The craving for sensual pleasure veils the truth from the inner eye. That craving manifests in multiple ways, creating more and more desires and laying down more and more urges to action. These desires and urgings hide the truth like a thick curtain.

 

Inner search for breaking out of illusion

The recognition of this curtain is a big stage in spiritual progress. This is the illusion (maya) principle of Vedanta. From immemorial times, though the truth was self-evident, this curtain has hidden it from people. This was discovered by Indians ages ago as the prime obstacle. How to remove the curtain and cognize truth? Indians knew that the solution does not lie in the objective, external world, so it would be futile to seek it there. The search in the external world, even for ages, cannot ensure success. Only inner experience can guarantee conviction.

To gain experience, Indians entered into austerities and disciplined inquiry until they “identified” the Truth and announced it to the world. They discarded the urges of the senses and the manifold attractions of active involvement in the objective world. They taught the world this lesson. The mind was the instrument for the Indian seekers to discover this secret, which is the basic principle of wisdom as treasured by them. It became imperative for them to use the mind itself and study its nature and characteristics. They realized soon enough that study of the external world led them nowhere. They diverted their attention to the internal “regions” of their consciousness. Thus, they laid the foundation for the Vedantic structure; this was the beginning of Vedantic inquiry.

Summary- Essence

Let us see how Swami beautifully takes us through an unimaginable sequence in today's post

1) First Swami warns us, revealing the essence of Karma theory. He re-iterates that what we are going through now, in this birth, is the effect of  what we did in previous births and whatever fresh actions we are pursuing now, are going to shape up our suffering/happiness in the births to come.

2) Having warned us, in case we get guilty of whatever we have been in this birth and we are worried as to  what we are going to suffer in future births, Swami pats on our back and confirms, "You are “images” of God, sharers in undiminishable bliss. You are by nature holy, ever-full; you are indeed God moving on earth. Is there a sin greater than calling such as you sinners? You are dishonoring and defaming yourselves when you acknowledge the appellation “sinners”!"

3) We start thinking, all right , Swami has assured that we are not sinners in essence and we are pure SELF?

4) Swami again reminds us that we are caught in an illusion that we are this body and we indulge in all pleasures, for gratifying our body sense. Swami says about this curtain of our illusion "The recognition of this curtain is a big stage in spiritual progress. This is the illusion (maya) principle of Vedanta. From immemorial times, though the truth was self-evident, this curtain has hidden it from people. "

5) What is the way out?

6) Swami says, what Indians did to fund out a way out. If we have not still  taken up this route, this is a reminder from our dear lord.

"The mind was the instrument for the Indian seekers to discover this secret, which is the basic principle of wisdom as treasured by them. It became imperative for them to use the mind itself and study its nature and characteristics. They realized soon enough that study of the external world led them nowhere. They diverted their attention to the internal “regions” of their consciousness."

Love.

Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 10

Chapter IV

The Miracle of Miracles

The children of India (Bharathiyas) believe that they are, each one, the Atma, the eternal Self. They are aware that the Atma cannot be cut in twain by the sword, that fire cannot burn It, that water cannot wet It, and that the wind cannot dry It. 

The Atma has no bounds. Its centre is in the body, but, its circumference is nowhere. Death means the Atma has shifted from one body to another. This is the belief that every Indian has firmly in mind.

The Atma is not subject to material or worldly limitations or laws. By Its very nature, It is free; It is Unbound; It is Purity; It is Holiness; It is Fullness. 

But, since it is associated with material, inert, bodies, It imagines that it is also a product of material composition. This is the wonder, the mystery, the miracle that It manifests! To unravel this mystery and explain this miracle are beyond the capacity of anyone.

Atma is unbound, eternal, full

How could the Full (purna) Atma get entangled in the delusion that It is “not full” (a-purna), “a fraction”, “incomplete”? Some people might say that the Indians (Bharathiyas) who declare that the awareness of incompleteness itself can never arise are attempting to wriggle out of an impossible situation. 

They might say that this is but a stratagem to cover up their ignorance of the Truth. How can the Pure, the Unpartitionable, lose Its nature to the slightest extent? The Indians are simple and sincere, and their nature is seldom artificial. 

They would never attempt to wriggle out of a situation by resorting to specious arguments. They have the courage to encounter in a brave way any problem before them.

Therefore, the answer to the question posed is: The delusion cannot happen! There is no basis for the error of imputing “incompleteness” for the “complete”. The “full” entity called Atma can never imagine Itself as “wanting” or “less than full” or feel that It is limited or controlled by the material sheath whose core It is.

Everyone knows that they feel they are the body. Can anyone announce how this feeling arose and persisted? No one can offer to answer this question. 

For, to say, as some do, that it is the will of God, is no answer at all. The plain statement, “I do not know” conveys the same meaning, as the statement “It is the will of God”. 

One is no wiser at the latter statement than after hearing the first. What remains is this: “The Atma in the individual (jivatma) is eternal, immortal, full. There is no death; what appears so is the shifting of its center.”

 

Summary- Essence

If today’s portion of Swami’s writing has to be explained, then one has to take up any of the Upanishads or Vedanta treatise and write down the essence of that entire treatise.

The first part of today’s post has been elaborated in the second chapter of Bhagwad Gita

Here the unseen has been explained by means of the seen to indicate its nature. The changeless Self is explained with the aid of ever changing world which is familiar to Arjuna and others. In the world of change, objects meet their end by means of instruments of destruction like weapons, fire, water and wind.

Arjuna’s grief was based on the assumption that he would be killing the elders and other relatives by striking them with lethal weapons. Hence in order to remove his grief the Lord points out the immortality and formlessness of the soul by pointing out the inability of all the four elements of earth, water, fire and air to destroy it. The body is perishable and possessed of a form; the soul is everlasting and formless. 

Therefore, the soul can never be destroyed by the elements of earth in the form of weapons or by the elements of water, fire and air and so it is sheer ignorance to lament for it.

Continuing the import of the previous verse, The Lord says that if a thing cannot be annihilated by any means of destruction discovered by man such an object must be everlasting. Since the Self is indestructible, it is necessarily everlasting. 

That which is everlasting, or eternal will pervade everywhere. All-pervading indicates that It has only itself all around It and it is unconditioned by anything other than Itself.

That which is eternal and all-pervading must be stable meaning no change can ever happen to It. That which is stable is immovable. Mobility or moving implies the transfer of an object or person from one set of time and place to another set of time and place where they were not there already. 

Since Self is all-pervading there cannot be any place or period of time where It was not there before. As the Self is unconditioned by the concept of time It is said to be ancient.

When Swami writes the lines “The “full” entity called Atma can never imagine Itself as “wanting” or “less than full” or feel that It is limited or controlled by the material sheath whose core It is”, it takes us to the shanti  mantra of the Isavasya Upanishad

This mantra explains that Brahman is complete and whole and the universe, caused by Brahman is also complete and whole.

Brahman remains complete/Purnam, changeless, even while He creates this universe, with Brahman being the efficient, material and the instrument cause for this creation to emerge.

Thus, as Swami writes, “There can never be a delusion for the SELF to be incomplete/A purna” ever.

Love.

 

Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 9

Unity in diversity

 

Hymns (riks) arose on various deities and divine forces because the sages (rishis) knew that each person can cognize “One alone is” only from their own viewpoint and that it is different for different persons, depending on the stage reached in clarifying and purifying the vision. 

The sages announced through that statement their discovery that the One is the subject that all the sages and saints, seers and poets, hymnists and composers adored and praised in various languages, during various moods, through various styles of expression.

Thus, consequences of the highest value to the world emerged from the declaration quoted above, “One alone is; the wise speak of It as many.” 

For example, many are surprised that India is the one country where religious fanaticism is absent, and no one hinders or harms the religious observances of another. This country has theists, atheists, dualists, non-dualists, monotheists, and others; they live together in peace and harmony, without causing or suffering injury.

Materialists stood on the steps of temples (held sacred by brahmins and used by them for worship) and defamed and denied God. They called upon all to follow them. They declared that the idea of God is but an insane fancy. 

They condemned God, scriptures, codes of morality, righteousness, and guiding principles and said that they were all superstitions designed and developed for selfish aggrandizement by the brahmins. They roamed the land and propagated these conclusions. No one hindered them.

Buddhism, which systematically slighted Hindu rites and religious beliefs, was allowed to coexist in an atmosphere of respect. The Jains too did not accept the Vedas and the Vedic Gods. They asked in derision how such Gods could exist and be believed in. Examples of the spirit of tolerance rooted in the revelatory statement quoted above are innumerable. 

Until the ravaging Muslims sprang on this country, no one in this land of India (Bharath) knew what violence meant. Only when foreign hordes fell upon them and resorted to violence did the people come to know how intolerant humanity can be.

Indians (Bharathiyas), grown up in the culture of India, have deep faith in the equality of all faiths. Whether it is Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, or Christianity, they believe that no one should talk lightly of the worship of God. 

They believe that when anyone talks lightly of any one of the names of god or any of the forms of God whom others adore, they are insulting the one God. This was the message held forth by the Indian way of spiritual life. Those who have learned this truth and adhere to it are the real sons and daughters of India.

This truth is beyond the grasp of all; not all can achieve this knowledge: Who is the ruler of the Universe? Who is it that stands outside it and guides it? What is the cause of the existence of this cosmos? Whence did this originate? How did it happen? What caused this existence? The Vedas have many hymns (riks) dealing with these mysteries. Indians have probed them.

 

Differences due to past actions

 

Creation involves putting substances together; what is put together must come apart in course of time and get liberated. The individual is created, so disintegration and death will happen. Now, some are born happy; some enjoy healthy, happy lives. Some are born miserable; others are born without hands or legs. Some are born feeble minded or as defectives. Who hurt them or injured them? 

God is proclaimed as just and kind. How can such a God be so partial and prejudiced! How can such differential treatment come into the realm ruled by God? Such doubts are natural. 

But the vision of the sages of India who molded the thought of this land revealed to them that God is not the cause of these differences; they are the consequences of the acts indulged in by the individual in lives before the present one. They result in happiness and misery, health, and handicaps.

Good and bad are self-made, the effects of what was done in previous lives. Can the bodies of people and their conditions, the ups and downs people meet in life, can they not be the accumulated result of hereditary impacts and tendencies? 

When an item of work is done again and again, it becomes a habit, a skill; doesn’t it? Therefore, the skill or habit that a newborn exhibit must be due to constant repetition indulged in long ago. 

Of course, such practice must have taken place in a previous life or many lives. So, it is necessary to posit the validity of the belief in past and future lives, for all living beings. This is a basic belief in Indian spiritual thought.

 

Introspection-Summary

1)     Buddhism, Jainism- all these did not accept vedas. They asked in derision how such Gods could exist and be believed in.

2)    Materialists/Atheists denied existence of God, condemned worship of God.

3)    However, everyone existed in this great land of Bharath in peace, until the Muslims invaded our country. Swami writes, in this context, “Only when foreign hordes fell upon them and resorted to violence did the people come to know how intolerant humanity can be.”

4)    Who is the ruler of the Universe? Who is it that stands outside it and guides it? What is the cause of the existence of this cosmos? Whence did this originate. How did it happen? What caused this existence?

For all these questions, Vedas probed and concluded- “consequences of the highest value to the world emerged from the declaration, “One alone is, the wise speak of It as many.”

This “one alone” is Brahman, beyond manifest and unmanifest, as concluded in the previous post as well.

5)    Swami touches upon the theory of Karma towards the end of today’s part from the 3rd chapter and says, God can never be unkind to punish any one or cause misery to anyone. All sufferings/ happiness is on account of one’s own past action.

Swami writes, “Good and bad are self-made, the effects of what was done in previous lives.”

 

Love.

 

 

Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 8

Chapter III.

The One Alone

The very first experience in the history of Indian thought is the thrill of wonder. This is expressed in the hymns (riks) found in Rig-veda, the earliest revelations of the Indian mind. These hymns are all about the demi - gods (devas) or the Shining Ones. 

There are many such deities — Indra, Varuna, Mitra, and Parjanya to name a few. They appear in these hymns, one after the other. 

Of these, Indra, with the thunderbolt (vajra) as his weapon, is the chief. He is the mighty one who confers rain upon the earth. Indra is so called because he is the master of the senses (indriyas) He is the mind that handles the senses. He is also known as Puruhutha — puru meaning “often”, hutha “invited”, and the entire name meaning “the God who is most called upon”.

The mind (which is identified with senses since it masters them) is also adored in the Vedas as Rudra. The mind contacts the objective world and experiences it through the instrumentality of the five senses; this aspect of the mind is the Indra aspect. It has another capability. 

It can master the senses and become aware of the universal inner truth of the multiplicity called the objective world. This aspect of the mind is designated “Rudra”. Therefore, the Vedas describe Indra and Rudra as the One with two names.

 

One God with many names

It is possible to quote many such descriptions about the other Gods. Yet, ultimately, all descriptions lead to the same conclusion. 

First, the hymns (riks) adore deities as presiding over some function or other. Then, these latter get transformed into different names and forms of the One God who has all the worlds, who is the Witness, resident in all hearts, and the Sovereign of all creation. Gradually, all other meanings and reactions are suppressed as not relevant.

For example, an element of fear is associated with the deity Varuna. Fear sprouts and spreads in some hymns, but soon the wisdom of the Aryans (noble seekers) subjugates the fear. Many hymns are prayers to Varuna from people afraid of being punished by him for their sins. 

But the idea of a terrorizing God cannot flourish on Indian soil. Nor can many Gods of many natures. Indian culture and spiritual outlook upheld the One God or Iswara.

There is the One God (Iswara)! This axiom, that there can be only One and not many, has been current in India since very ancient times. Even in the ancient Vedic and Samhitha literature, this faith is already evident as an age-long belief.

But the notion of a personal God struck the thinkers and practitioners of this land as rather elementary, a kind of unripe stage in spiritual progress. It did not satisfy their highest aspirations. 

This attitude, found in the revelations of sages (rishis), has not been understood or appreciated by scholars and writers of other countries who have studied and commented on the Vedas and affiliated texts. They still dwell on the earlier belief in “many gods” or the later belief in “one personal God”. Ignorance of this kind brings a smile to the lips of the Indian (Bharathiya).

Daring search for the Supreme Oneness

Really, even those who learn in their mother’s laps to put faith in a God equipped with attributes, known by a name, and having a recognizable form, have later to rise to a stage higher than this and become aware of the One, which is spoken of as “having many names and many forms”. 

The spiritual disciplines (sadhanas) are directed to the realization of this truth. “The ONE —in Him alone is all this flux, all this changing cosmos established. He is the guide and guardian of every consciousness.”

All such denotations touch only the fringe of the ONE. Westerners said that one’s intelligence can succeed in this venture. But the seekers of this land showed a heroism that could not be measured or limited — a fact that cannot but be accepted. 

Western philosophers, renowned for their daring insights into the realms of the spirit, have shown only a tiny spark of this heroism, so they are amazed at the intuitive and experiential heights reached by the sages of India.

This feeling of wonder was charmingly expressed by Professor Max Mueller. “Into whatever unknown realms of experience their causative and positive inquiry led them, the Indian seekers ventured boldly therein. For the sake of success in this adventure, they never hesitated to discard whatever they felt as an encumbrance.  They were not affected by fear of how others might judge them.” 

Max Mueller exhorted people to involve themselves in the nectarine stream of the search for the Supreme, flowing in India, for he felt that the Indian spiritual aspirants pursued the path of right, the path of truth.

“One alone is; the wise speak of It as many (Ekam sath; vipraah bahudhaa vadanthi).” This indeed is most sublimely meaningful. This is the basic truth behind the spiritual efforts of India (Bharath) for ages. Even the theistic principle and practice that will spread all over the world with unprecedented benedictions in the coming years have as their basis this great axiom laid down by the sages of India, long  ago.

 

Introspection

Words fail to describe or even express how beautifully Swami takes us through, in the above part of chapter 3.

1)     Swami takes us through the ancient vedic literature which describes different deities like Indira, Varuna etc.

2)    Then, He subtly takes us through the fact that both Indira and Varuna have to do with mastering the senses and in that sense, He brings about the one ness in them.

3)    Then, He describes the urge for Ancient scholars to do away with this variety of names which resulted in one “Easwara”, who is the cause for this creation, a principle, which has nature (nature to create universe) but no form.

4)    Western philosophers were moving from this many deities to One God, in Indian scriptures, back and forth.

5)    Indian scriptures did not leave the world of seekers with this “Saguna, Nirakara Eswara” (In Panchadasi session, 2nd stage of starching the canvass, i.e. willingness to create).

6)    Swami brings in Max Mueller’s quote to highlight this continuous search of ancient rishis/true seekers – 

“Into whatever unknown realms of experience their causative and positive inquiry led them, the Indian seekers ventured boldly therein. 

For the sake of success in this adventure, they never hesitated to discard whatever they felt as an encumbrance.  They were not affected by fear of how others might judge them.”

7)     Their quest for truth culminated in one truth, the SELF/Brahman, who is formless and attribute less. 

Swami concludes thus:

“One alone is; the wise speak of It as many (Ekam sath; vipraah bahudhaa vadanthi).” This indeed is most sublimely meaningful. This is the basic truth behind the spiritual efforts of India (Bharath) for ages.”

No words to express what goes on within, as we read today’s most valuable and subtler expression from the source of all sources, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

 

Love.

 

Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 7

 

Eschewing dogmatism and violence

(Relevant extract)

 

The basic truth of nature is the One in the many; that is the key to its understanding. The Indians (Bharathiyas) grasped this truth; they held fast to this key. People of other countries were content to lay down certain axioms and enforce belief in them. 

They insisted on acceptance of these axioms and observance of rules and regulations that arose out of them. They held one single coat before the individuals of the society where they lived and required everyone to wear that same coat; there was no alternative coat for people it did not fit. They had to live without a coat to protect them against the chill wind.

The Indian approach was quite different. For each aspect or variation of feeling and thinking, volition and action, they made available a distinct name and form and provided modes of worship and ways of adoration in accordance with the emotional needs and intellectual caliber of the aspirants and devotees. 

Of course, a few had no need for such special consideration and treatment, but many took advantage of this concession and advanced in their march toward spiritual wisdom and liberation.

The message of India (Bharath)

(Relevant extract)

The ancient Indian religion fostered the faith that the Self in a person is no other than the Over self, or God. Indian religion directs long journeys by men and women toward the goal of the splendor of God consciousness or the consciousness of the Divine — through varied paths, confronted and controlled by varied circumstances, but encouraged and enlightened by various types of faith.

Although the practices and rites might be crude, they are not opposed to the ultimate truth. The seeming contradictions must be interpreted as incidental to the need to inspire people with varied intellectual, moral, economic, and social backgrounds. 

For example, the light that comes through a tiny piece of colored glass is of the same origin as bigger, clearer light. The extent, clarity, brightness, etc. of light depends only on the medium. The source of all light is the One Truth, the Source of all, the Basis of all, the Goal of all, the Reality in all, and the Centre in all. 

Like the thread on which pearls are strung as a rosary, God or the Over-self is interpenetrative in all beings. In all beings. That is the message of India (Bharath). All beings everywhere, anywhere!

Indian spiritualism has limitless vastness and immensely high ideals; it is a full stream of sanctifying ideations, flowing along with no decline or diminution, straight and smooth to the ocean of divine grace. The journey is direct, along a royal road toward the supreme goal.

Another point: The source of all spiritual principles recognized and revered by Indians (Bharathiyas) is God; He is the one supporting pillar. Therefore, no other support is needed for faith. Ancient Indian spirituality is the very foundation of all other faiths; it stands on the very summit. It has achieved victory over many opposing faiths, confronting them with many valid arguments and theories. 

What has to be borne in mind is this: Indian (Bharathiya) texts on spirituality are the most ancient in the whole world; they are the earliest studies and discoveries of the Atma, of personal and impersonal God, and of codes of conduct, individual and social, based on those revelations and discoveries. In no other country, among no other peoples, have such ancient teachings seen the light. 

There may be some misty ideas or brief glimpses, but they do not deserve the name “spiritual text” or “literature”. The Vedic literature pictures not only spiritual inquiries by the sages and spiritual aspirants and their results but also their lines of thought, their yearnings and aspirations, their secular struggles, and temporal problems.

Introspection

Here, Swami brings out the vastness of Indian philosophy as per the ancient Hindu scriptures, as compared to the limitations and restrictions imposed by few other religions, with the analogy of single coat with no option available as alternative coat.

Swami goes on to clarify that though, depending upon the aptitude, intellect and other attributes, there may be apparently diverse practices, rituals etc. in Bharath, when  one gets into the subtler aspect of each of them, they all point out towards only one thing- “Consciousness”. Swami describes this as “Over Self”.

Sai upholds the ancient Vedic scriptures as the most ancient scriptures when He writes, “The Vedic literature pictures not only spiritual inquiries by the sages and spiritual aspirants and their results but also their lines of thought, their yearnings and aspirations, their secular struggles, and temporal problems”.

 

Love.