Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Sai on Omnipresence of God

"God is omnipresent. So do not act differently when you are away from My Presence. Be always and everywhere conscious of the presence. 

Be vigilant, even while engaged in little tasks. Maintain silence in the recesses of the heart, as well as outside. The Gita says, God’s hands and feet are everywhere. 

You can hear His footfall only when no other sound hinders. God, out of His Infinite Grace, assumes the form that the devotee yearns for. He is purity. He is the supreme wisdom. He is ever free, ever-merciful. Develop the awareness of God, see him and serve him in every living being." 

- Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Bhaja Govindam - Post 6

Verse 5

  

यावद्वित्तोपार्जनसक्त स्तावन्निजपरिवारो रक्तः ।

पश्चाज्जीवति जर्जरदेहे वार्तां कोऽपि न पृच्छति गेहे ॥ ५॥

Yāvadvittopārjana saktaḥ

stāvannija parivāro raktaḥ,

paścājjīvati jarjara dehe

vārtāṁ ko’pi na pṛcchati gehe

[As long as one has the ability to earn wealth so long dependents are attached to you;

Later on, when infirmity comes upon you, none at home cares to speak even a word!]

Sankara, in this verse, speaks about the transitory nature of wealth, name and fame. We command respect in our corresponding circles of influence as long as we are of use to those around. When our “utility factor” wanes, so does the respect we command. 

If this was how Sankara saw life more than 1200 years ago, modern civilization has not improved upon it today. On the contrary, the situation could only have worsened with the increase in materialistic values. We are looking at a universal situation. This happens in every country, among the rich as well as the poor.  

This verse is a powerful statement on human civilization in all ages. Self-centeredness seems to be at the core of human society as we have grown to see it. As much as we may wish to turn our eyes away from the truth, we cannot help recognizing some part of this verse being dramatized in our own lives, among our own kith and kin. 

Many of us acquire great wealth, name, fame, reputation and respect. We become CEOs, leaders of Spiritual organizations, great singers, great orators, great doctors etc., and seem to know all the “right” people. But when the titles are taken away from us or the process of time diminishes our abilities, fewer people seem to remember us anymore. But that is the nature of the world isn’t it?

One moment you will be hailed as a great leader of men, put on a pedestal, decorated and in the very same breath people will make you the villain of the piece. 

The poet is stating a human tendency at work throughout the world. There is no doubt that there are noble exceptions to this statement, but it does not blind us to the general truth of the poet’s words. 

Sankara is concerned with the false sense of security we get in the “comforts of family life.” He is using the above weakness in our society to create dispassion in our hearts for “the comfortable life”. This is the ultimate motivation behind such a verse. 

Deep personal experience of disappointment or disillusionment plays a key role in turning one towards the higher life. The poet uses this factor to the limit in this verse to stir ignorant mankind towards the spiritual life. 

Unless we turn away from the alluring comforts of home life, we will never make substantial progress in attaining spiritual perfection. Sri Sankaracharya, therefore, does not spare his words in creating disgust in our minds for home comforts, which hold back most people from pursuing the spiritual path more seriously. 

Rather, we must find our worth from pursuing our goal of self-development and self-purification. Because the only thing that remains with us is are our spiritual assets which are gained through introspection, reflection and contemplation on the higher values of life. 

It is experienced by almost all those who take to the spiritual path sincerely at some stage or the other in their life that anything may leave them, any relation may desert them, any property / any power, any fame, any reputation or any ill reputation, all these may be happening in their lives at some stage  but  THE INNER EXPERIENCE GAINED IN SADHANA IS SOME THING WHICH REMAINS WITH THEM AS A TREASURE, WHICH NO FORCE ON THE EARTH CAN TAKE AWAY FROM THEM, PROVIDED THEY ARE SINCERE IN THEIR SADHANA TO THE CORE.

Love.

Bhaja Govindam - Post 5

Verse 4

नलिनीदलगतजलमतितरलं तद्वज्जीवितमतिशयचपलम् ।

विद्धि व्याध्यभिमानग्रस्तं लोकं शोकहतं च समस्तम् ॥४॥

nalinīdalagata jalamatitaralaṁ 
tadvajjīvitamatiśayacapalam | 
viddhi vyādhyabhimānagrastaṁ 
lokaṁ śokahataṁ ca samastam || 4||

(The water-drop playing on a lotus petal has an extremely uncertain existence. So also, is life ever unstable. Understand it to be consumed by disease and conceit; and this entire world is riddled only with pangs.)

This verse focuses our attention on the uncertainty of life, so that we learn to make the best possible use of our time. Life is fickle. We really have very little time in one birth. Before we know it the “water-drop” of our life-span will have evaporated. This brings us to the excellent simile used to symbolize one’s life-span... 

If one sees a droplet of water on a lotus leaf, the first thought is the sheer beauty of the sight. It is one of nature’s thrilling sights. A closer look reveals another side attached to this beauty – its shaky, uncertain existence. It faces many dangers to its existence: 

i) A slight wind can simply blow it off the leaf.

ii) A slight wave in the water can shake off the droplet back into the water. 

iii) Even if it survives that, as soon as the sun rises a bit higher, even without any wind the droplet cannot avoid drying up out of existence. 

The poet in Sankara always finds the perfect simile – how much closer he gets to a comparison with our life span! 

Pratipaksha Bhavana is brought into play here also. If we realize the extreme uncertainty of life, it will impel us to take up our spiritual life more seriously, and with a sense of urgency. If this verse does that, the poet’s selection of the beautiful simile would not be in vain. 

The Pangs of Pain and Disease.

Even such a brittle life, short as it is, is riddled with the dangers of disease and conceit (arising from greed) waiting to consume us. 

One may argue that there is no problem of a short life as long as one enjoys it well, in good health and in happiness. But that is a Utopian dream. Life brings with it all the tests and trials. It does not spare anyone the pangs of pain and disease. 

The pangs are not only physical pains. There are even more unbearable pains lying in wait for the non-discriminating in the world... 

 

Gautam Buddha said,

Sarvam Dukkham Dukkham,

Sarvam Kshanikam Kshanikam

(All is sorrow and misery, all is fleeting and misery)

The remedy/solution

Thru the analogy of lotus flower, Acharya Sankara is also revealing the deeper vedantic meaning. 

Water in the pond is analogous to “all pervading” un manifested brahman. The droplet on the Lotus flower is jiva. 

The Lotus flower is the manifestation of the world. The flower is born from the water. (un-manifested to manifested form). The drop of water takes the flower to the real world and tries to “attach” itself to the flower. In the end, both jiva and manifested world have to merge into the un-manifested. 

The water drop, Jiva, is no different than the water in the pond – the un-manifested all-pervading brahman, also indicated by the Mahāvākya, ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ - That Art Thou (or You are that). 

Thus, the only purpose of a human birth is to aspire for liberation, to realize God, i.e. for the drop let of water on the flower to discard the flower and merge back into the water in the expansive pond!!!

We have to transcend all limitations, soar beyond all sorrows and float above all fleeting pleasures and passing joys. 

If we keep thinking of how to start this difficult journey, in that thinking, our life will be gone and when death kisses us, we are bound to cry heart of heart, “O, I missed  taking to spiritual path in this life, now the life is getting over”!

SWAMI SAYS, “GIVEN MOMENT IS NOW”, “PRESENT IS MY GREATEST PRESENT (GIFT) TO YOU”!

So, LET US START TODAY AND NOW. 

Has Sai not promised us, “Take one step towards me, I shall take 10 steps, Shed one tear for me, I shall wipe 100 tears from your eyes”!!

Each day is just passing and everything in life is possible through wealth and power but never has a man got back a moment, a day that has got over!

Love.