“Sai Pearls of Wisdom”
Part 14
ANIL KUMAR'S SATSANG:
BABA'S CONVERSATIONS WITH STUDENTS
OM…OM…OM…
Chronology of conversations of Bhagavan With students and teachers
The months and the period are
given with reference to the coverage published in the Telugu Sanathana
Sarathi (the monthly spiritual newspaper printed by the Sri Sathya Sai Books
and Publication Trust). I usually write all that is transacted in the
Divine dialogues with Swami, and send them for publication to the Telugu
Sanathana Sarathi. So the chronology for the months mentioned here, refer to
the month of publication in the Telugu Sanathana Sarathi. I think that is
clear.
So we started with the year 2001.
Having done the whole of 2002 with the Divine Grace, we have come to 2001, and
all that relates to the month of June 2001.
With prayers to Swami, soliciting His blessings on everybody here, I start this evening, the month of June, year 2001. We will go episode by episode.
Values are on THE decline
This is a mythological story. I do
not know how many of you know the Ramayana (the story of the Hero, the
Divine Son of Emperor Dasaratha), or how many of you know the story of
Mahabharata (epic account of the great war – its origin, course and outcome
- between the five Pandavas brothers and the hundred Kauravas). But since you
have been here several times before, and heard Bhagavan's discourses, it is my
foolishness to think that you have no idea. (Laughter) I am not all that
bad. So you will certainly have some idea of the great epic Ramayana.
One day,
Bhagavan as usual sat on the chair in the evening after completing His
interviews. Then He began in a disappointed manner.
He said, “Ideas are perverted
today. The behaviour is improper today. Affections are missing. Times have
changed. The mentality and attitude of people is very disappointing. They are
totally different from the past.” That was the initial comment of Bhagavan.
Then Bhagavan started
substantiating His statement by making references to the mythology of this land.
Bhagavan said that in the ancient days, values had played a predominant role in
society. People held values in very high esteem. And today, values are on the
decline.
He mentioned
the three wives of King Dasaratha, from the epic Ramayana. As Baba told
it, the three wives of the king were so intimate that their relationship was as
if they were born to the same mother. Sisterly feeling they had. They never had
any sense of competition. They lived in unity and love. And then Bhagavan
mentioned a point connected with the birth of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha and
Shatrughna, the four brothers in that great epic Ramayana. Am I all
right, do you follow me?
King Dasaratha had to marry three
wives. Why? Because he had no children from the first marriage. So the first
wife prayed to him again and again to get married because there should be an
heir to the throne. So, in response to her prayers he married again. Even then
he didn’t have children.
Both the queens then prayed to him
to marry again. And he married again. So that was why he had three wives. The
name of the first wife is Kausalya; the second wife, Sumithra; the youngest
wife, Kaikeyi.
Well, he was deeply frustrated, as
he still had no children. So his preceptor Vasistha, advised him to perform
yaga (a sacred ritual), to appease the gods so that he would be blessed with
children.
So Dasaratha, with these three
queens, did yaga as per the instructions of the family preceptor,
Vasistha. That’s how the story goes. And out of the fire, came the Fire God with
a golden vessel of pudding -- you know pudding, something like your porridge.
And there the Fire God said, “Oh
king, let your three queens divide this pudding into three parts, and each
partake of their portion tonight. And they will beget children.”
That was the blessing of the Fire God, and the Fire God disappeared.
Birth of Rama
Accordingly, King Dasaratha asked
for three golden vessels and divided the rice pudding into three parts. He
called the wives and gave one portion to each with instructions to eat the
pudding without fail, saying a word of prayer in order to have children.
Yes, the three queens then washed
their hair, the first queen, the second queen and also the third queen. But it
so happened, the second queen, Sumithra, after having washed her hair, climbed
up to the terrace of the palace. She placed that golden vessel of rice pudding
on the parapet wall and then started drying her hair. A thought flashed into her
mind, which went like this.
‘Look here, if the elder one,
Kausalya the first queen, should have a son, he is going to be the king. Or, if
by any chance the youngest, Queen Kaika, should have a son, he will be the king,
as per the promise given by Dasaratha at the time of marriage. Anyway, in either
case, I am going to be the loser. If I have children, they have to serve either
the son of the first wife, or the son of the third wife. My son can never have
the position of king.’
See, this was the thought that
flashed into her mind. In the meantime, an eagle flew by and picked up that
golden tumbler with the rice pudding and flew -- flew from that place. Then
Sumithra was in a panic, her legs trembling, her voice fumbling, totally afraid
of her husband, for she had not partaken of the rice pudding as per his
instructions.
Afraid of punishment, she went
softly, prayerfully to the first queen, Kausalya. She told all that had happened
to her. Similarly, she also told the youngest, Queen Kaika, all that had
happened to her.
“See, you have that golden cup
with rice pudding, you also have a golden cup with rice pudding. My golden cup
is lost because that eagle came along and flew off with it. I don’t know what
will happen to me. I don’t know what punishment King Dasaratha will give to me.
I am very afraid. Sisters, you should help me.”
Naturally, the two others took
pity upon her. The first queen said, “Don’t worry; I will give half of my share.
Don’t worry. Bring another golden cup. I will give half of my lot.”
Similarly, the other one, the youngest one, Kaika, said, “Don’t worry sister. I will give half of my lot.”
In that way, the middle queen,
Sumithra, received half of the pudding belonging to the first queen, Kausalya,
and half of the pudding belonging to the last queen, Kaika. All of them prayed
and worshipped that night, partaking of the rice pudding as per instructions.
And all of them, naturally, by the grace of the Fire God and as a result of that sacred ritual, begot sons. The first queen, Kausalya, gave birth to Ramachandra. The youngest, Kaika, gave birth to Bharatha; whereas the second one, Sumithra, gave birth to twins. One is Lakshmana and the other one is Shatrughna. The reason for the birth of twins is that she had received half the share of the pudding from Kausalya, and half the share of the pudding from Kaika. So she gave birth to twins.
A Divine Plan
And Baba explained this, saying,
“Look, this is the Divine plan: Out of the two that Sumithra had, Lakshmana
always stayed in the company of Rama. The other one, Shatrughna, always stayed
in the company of Bharatha. The first half of the cup shared with Kausalya
resulted in the birth of Lakshmana, so Lakshmana was always in the company of
Rama. The half cup shared with Kaika was responsible for birth of Shatrughna,
who always spent his time in the company of Bharatha.”
Sumithra was so lucky, that both
of her sons served their brothers. This, too, Bhagavan explained: “Will you find
that kind of love, that kind of intimacy, that sort of sympathy and
consideration among queens of this type? All the three are the wives of the
king. They never fought with each other. They lived in perfect harmony and
unity.”
And then Bhagavan mentioned a
small anecdote from Ramayana:
Four swings
or cradles were ordered and each child was laid to sleep in the cradle. But
Lakshmana went on crying, day in and day out. The mother, Sumithra, could not do
anything to stop the baby from crying. Nobody in the kingdom could solve the
problem. The child went on crying.
But finally the preceptor,
Vasistha, came and said, “Look here, Lakshmana does not want to be separate from
Rama. Take this child and place him in Rama’s cradle where he is lying.” So they
took the baby Lakshmana to lay at the side of Rama. And the baby stopped crying.
So it was like that right from the
beginning. Lakshmana followed Rama, as his shadow. Similarly, Shatrughna
followed Bharatha, as his shadow. They always lived together. That was the kind
of fraternity, the brotherhood that they had.
The two other brothers in Ramayana
Well, you must have understood by
now that my nature is to always put questions in order to get answers from
Bhagavan (Laughter). The answers from Bhagavan are authentic. We don’t
have to question them because He is same Rama, born now as Bhagavan Sri Sathya
Sai Baba. He is able to explain much better and in a more authentic way than
anybody, or any other book for that matter.
Then I said, “Swami, there are two
other brothers in Ramayana. One is Vali and the other is Sugriva. There
was no brotherhood between them. Though they were brothers, they always fought
with each other; whereas, today you are saying that Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha,
Shatrughna lived in friendship, understanding and fraternity. You also said
Kausalya, Sumithra and Kaikeyi had the relationship and the bondage of love
only. But I don’t find any kind of understanding or amity between Vali and
Sugriva. Though they are brothers, they fought with each other. How do you
explain this, Swami?”
With a smile He said, “There was
no fighting between them. (Laughter) There was no enmity between them.
There was only misunderstanding.” (Laughter)
“Oh I see. (Laughter) Why, then, Swami, was there this misunderstanding?”
Misunderstanding between brothers
“The elder brother, Vali, had an
enemy by name Dundubhi. This Dundubhi was always fighting with Vali over an
issue involving a woman. Dundubhi came to Vali and said, ‘Come on, fight with
me, if you have guts!’ ”
“Vali, being a warrior, started
chasing Dundubhi. Dundubhi was up running in front, and Vali was chasing him. At
that moment, Vali called his younger brother, Sugriva. ‘Brother, I am leaving
this kingdom. I am going to fight with my enemy. You be in charge of this
kingdom until I return.’ ”
“But Sugriva felt his elder
brother, Vali, might need his help. So, instead of staying in the kingdom, he
too started running with Vali, chasing Dundubhi. So, Dundubhi was running in
front, after him came Vali, and behind him, Sugriva. Finally they reached a
cave, and Dundubhi ran into the cave to hide so that he would not get killed by
Vali.”
“Then Vali turned back and saw
Sugriva, his younger brother, following him. He told him, ‘Please don’t follow
me. You be here at the entrance; you stay here at the entrance. If you follow
me, if both of us are killed, who will rule the kingdom?’ “
“With such good intentions, he
asked his younger brother to stay at the entrance of the cave, and Vali chased
Dundubhi. They ran, ran and ran, ran for days and weeks. Ultimately Vali caught
hold of Dundubhi and killed him. Being a mighty person, a hefty person, the
blood started flowing out of the cave.”
“Sugriva, being at the entrance,
saw the blood flowing out of the cave. Then he thought that his brother must
also have died in the battle, fighting with Dundubhi. So he thought he should go
back to his kingdom to rule. In the absence of the elder brother, the younger
brother should serve as the king. So he got a very big boulder - something like
a door - and shut off the entrance. He then returned and began looking after the
kingdom.”
“In the meantime, Vali came back
from within the cave to go outside. He saw the big boulder blocking the
entrance. He gave a kick and it fell down. Then he ran - he ran to his kingdom.
There he saw his younger brother, Sugriva, on the throne with queens on either
side, enjoying himself.”
“Then Vali thought that Sugriva
actually wanted him to die. He totally misunderstood him.
Out of fury and anger, he gave him
a kick on his chest.”
“Sugriva fell down and cried. He
started pleading with him, ‘Brother, my intention was not to rule the kingdom,
please understand me. Since the blood started flowing out of the cave, I thought
that you died there. Therefore, I came here to take charge of the kingdom.
Please don’t misunderstand me.’ “
“But his brother said, ‘Shut up. I
know your intention!’
“That’s how the enmity started;
that’s where hatred began. In fact, Vali and Sugriva, as brothers, had been very
fond of each other until this misunderstanding.”
I can only tell you, brothers and
sisters, here, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba will never make any role, any single
character cheap. He will take every position, every role to exalted heights by
telling some message behind every character.
Dhruva’s penance
Then I started speaking, “What a
nice story it is, Swami. I have not heard it before. Thank You very much.
But...” (Laughter)
“Dhruva happens to be the son of a
king, by name Uttanapada. That king, Uttanapada, had two wives. One is Suruchi;
the other one is Suneethi. Suruchi had a son by the name of Uttama. Suneethi had
a son by the name of Dhruva. But King Uttanapada was very fond of Suruchi, and
not of Suneethi.”
Here, friends, I should tell you:
Suruchi and Suneethi are two names with an inner meaning. Suruchi means - the
one who is agreeable, the one who is so endearing. Suneethi means - the one who
is moral. Names also convey a message. Every name provides an explanation.
“Now, one day, when King
Uttanapada was seated on the throne, Uttama, the son of his second wife, Suruchi,
came and sat on his lap. This was noticed by Dhruva, the son of the first wife,
Suneethi.”
“Dhruva also wanted to sit on the
lap of the father and ran towards him. But the stepmother, Suruchi, didn’t like
this. She pushed that boy away from the father and shouted, ‘You have no
business to sit on the lap of your father. Get out!’ “
“Dhruva was very sad and told his
mother, ‘Mother I was not permitted to sit on the lap of father like the other
brother. What can I do?’ “
“The mother also cried and said,
‘There is no alternative. I cannot help you, my son.’ That’s what she said.”
“Then Dhruva decided to do some
penance to please God and obtain the right to sit on his father’s lap. While
going to the forest, he met a sage called Narada.”
“Narada said, ‘Oh boy, where are
you going?’ “
“He said, ‘Oh sage, my humble
salutations to you. I am going to do penance in the dense forest. I want God to
be pleased with me and grant me my wish to sit on the lap of my father.’ ”
“Narada took pity upon him and
gave him a mantra (God's
Name) to repeat.”
“Accordingly, Dhruva went to the
dense forest, repeating the mantra again and again. God manifested in
front of him and said, ‘Oh boy, what do you want?’ “
“This boy Dhruva said, ‘I want
liberation.’ “ (Laughter)
“Then God said, ‘No, no, no. You
started your penance with the sole aim of getting the right to sit on the lap of
the father. That was your original wish. Now you are asking for liberation. You
are wrong; you should not do that. Moreover, there’s a long period before
liberation for you. You are still a young boy. Get married, rule the kingdom,
and after you leave this body, you will be liberated. You will remain as a star
in the sky permanently.’ “
“Even today, people refer to that
Dhruva star, which shines more than the other stars.”
That’s what Bhagavan explained
that day.
You wear coloured glasses
Then I said, “Swami, I wonder at
how beautifully You raise the level of every character. Only You can do that, no
one else. You don’t consider any character mean or low. You take them to
heights. I am full of wonder.” This I said joyfully.
Baba replied like this: “Anil
Kumar, all are good to me. All appear good to me. From my point of view, there
are none who are bad. All are good. Because you wear coloured glasses, some look
bad to you. But to Me, all are good because I am full of Love. With Love, you
find everything good and perfect. However…”
“However, I appear to be serious.
I appear to be disturbed. I appear to be angry. Not that you are bad, no. I want
to correct you, in case you may turn bad later. (Laughter) I want you to
be ideal. To correct you, I pretend to be angry, but anger is not in Me.” That’s
what Baba said.
Then I said, “Swami, You are so
kind. You have spoken enough about Ramayana as an epic of ideals,
depicting unity, co-ordination, love and understanding. But I have a doubt.
Bharatha is not like that. Mahabharata, another epic, is not like
that. It does not speak of brotherhood. It does not speak of ideals. But you say
that all ancient epics are full of ideals. I don’t understand, Swami. Please
explain.”
UNITE AGAINST A COMMON FOE
Then Swami started explaining like
this: “You are mistaken. There are 100 brothers - the Kauravas - 100. The
Kauravas are 100 brothers. The Pandavas are only five brothers. The total
= 105. You are saying that there is no brotherhood among them, no love among
them. You are wrong.”
“Why?”
“The eldest of the five of the
Pandavas, Dharmaja, went in search of some drinking water somewhere far away.
And there he saw a tank, out of which he wanted to collect some drinking water
for his brothers. He was about to touch that water when an angel, Gandharva,
appeared and said, ‘Don’t touch this water. Don’t touch this water. You have no
authority.’ “
“He said, ‘My brothers are dying
out of thirst. I want water please.’ “
“Then the angel Gandharva said,
‘If you answer my questions, I will permit you to fetch the water, and grant
boons, also.’ “
“Dharmaja answered all the
questions most satisfactorily. They were very beautiful, wonderful questions
called yaksha prashna. Prashna is a question, put by yaksha
(an angel).”
We will have a separate session on
yaksha prashna, full of deep philosophy, which will be of immense
interest to all of you. Incidentally, if I am not misled, I am full of praise
for all of you, because you don’t seem to be fed up with me. (Laughter)
You don’t seem to be bored with me. You don’t seem to think my speech is
monotonous. I sincerely say it reflects more on your devotion to Bhagavan than
on my capacity to speak! I know full well regarding that point. I really
appreciate your interest in the subject. May God bless you!
"Now, this angel, Gandharva, was
extremely pleased with the eldest of the Pandavas, Dharmaja, and said, ‘What do
you want? What do you want?’ “
“Dharmaja said, ‘I want all my
brothers to be brought back to life.’ You see, every brother went there to the
tank. Every brother made an attempt to drink water, but none could answer the
angel’s questions, so they were cursed to death.”
“So, all the fellows died there -
only Dharmaja survived. And when the yaksha asked, ‘What is your desire?’
he replied, ‘Only one desire - that all my brothers should be brought back to
life.’ “
“And the result was that all the
104 brothers were brought back to life.”
“Then somebody asked, ‘Dharmaja,
look here. Those 100 Kauravas are your enemies. You Pandavas are five. You
should not have asked for the revival of those 100 sons called Kauravas, who are
your deadly enemies.’ “
“Then Dharmaja, the eldest,
started explaining in this way. ‘Among us, those 100 belong to one party. We
five belong to another party. But when we face a third party, we are not 100; we
are not five. We are 105! When it’s a matter of a fight with a third person, we
stand united.’”
What a lesson it is. Even today,
if all nations learn to stand united, if all people learn to stand united, the
world would be a paradise. The world would be the very heaven, beyond doubt.
That’s how Bhagavan explained it.
Who is greater?
Then, “Swami, in Mahabharata
there are two characters I have come across. One is Vidura; the other is
Sanjaya. Two characters. Of these two, who is greater than the other?”
That is my question. Both are
great people; both are noble people. But I wanted to grade them - you know,
first class, second class, as in an examination. (Laughter)
But our compassionate God, in His
infinite mercy gave the answer: “Vidura is a scholar. He is fully familiar with
ethics, morals and the conduct of life, whereas the other man, Sanjaya, always
stayed in the company of Krishna and led a righteous life. He led a spiritual
life. Therefore, Sanjaya is greater than Vidura,” He said.
"Oh, I see, Swami.”
“Who is Sanjaya, Swami? Is he the
Sanjaya of whom You are speaking? Because we all think that Vidura is greater
than Sanjaya.”
Swami said, “It was the Sanjaya
who heard Bhagavad Gita (the dialogue between Arjuna, one of the five
Pandavas, and Krishna, Arjuna’s charioteer and an Avatar of God), and started
reporting to Dhritharashtra (the father of the Kauravas). (Note: Arjuna was
confused and deeply unhappy. He was on a battlefield, where he was about to kill
kinsmen, friends, and revered teachers. He surrendered his will to Krishna,
asking for knowledge and spiritual guidance. Then Krishna taught the Truth to
the distressed Arjuna. This dialogue became immortalised as the ‘Bhagavad Gita’
– ‘The Song of God’.) It was Sanjaya who could see the entire battlefield
there, as if on TV, and he communicated what he saw and heard to Dhritharashtra.
Therefore, Sanjaya is certainly greater than Vidura.”
God is not responsible.
“Swami, having heard these nice
stories from you, I have one question, Bhagavan.”
"You always have questions.
(Laughter). Umm...come on, ask. What is your question?”
“Swami, what is pralaya? “
“Pralaya
means ‘extinction’. Extinction.”
“Then is extinction of humanity
due to man's actions or God's Will? How is it going to happen? How will
extinction of humanity occur? Is it through man’s mistake, or the Will of God?”
God won’t accept that it is His
mistake. He will defend His own stand as usual. (Laughter)
Now He looked at me and said,
“Extinction is man’s fault. God is not responsible.” (Laughter)
“Oh, I see Swami.” (Laughter)
“Then, what is the position of
God?“
“God is a witness. (Laughter)
That’s all. He is not responsible.”
“Swami, how are we responsible
then?”
“Your selfishness, your greed,
hatred, lust, anger - all your weaknesses lead to extinction. God is not the
cause because He is the other name of Love.” That’s what Bhagavan said.
And He mentioned an earthquake,
which was in Gujarat. You must have heard about it. Swami said, “There is a loss
of human lives numbering to thousands. That is a sort of extinction.” That’s
what Bhagavan said. “And today, the modern mind of selfishness, where behaviour
is so distorted, diverted, perverted, that only is responsible for pralaya
or extinction.”
“Swami, I think we are not
responsible. (Laughter) These are the effects of Kali (Iron,
meaning dark or wicked) Age. (Laughter). Prabhava means effect. So
I am bad because of the effect of the Kali Age. So, humanity cannot be
blamed, Swami. Such is the Kali Age. What can I do?” (Laughter)
Bhagavan immediately said, "Hey,
why do you talk like that? It is not the effect. You should not change
your swabhava, your nature, according to the effect. Those influences
should not affect you. You should not change your nature, and be a victim
of the effect.” That’s what Bhagavan said.
This is the lesson, my friends,
which I want to explain: Swabhava is the nature, prabhava the
effect. Just because I am affected by the modern culture, just because I am
affected by modern civilization, I should not change my nature. All that is
external is prabhava - the effect. But all that is mine, innate, inborn,
is swabhava, my own nature.
Baba said, “Never change your
nature according to the surrounding influences.”
I see somebody smoking. That is
the effect. So I think, ‘Let me also smoke.’ It means that I am changing my
innate nature, which is wrong. So let there be any number of influences, but we
should not change. That is the lesson.
No profit, no loss
In the meantime, He called out one
person from the devotees.
“Come here. Hmmm, what are
you doing?”
He said, “Swami, well, I run the canteen in the Super Speciality Hospital.”
“Hmmm. Good.”
Then Bhagavan, with all affection,
said softly, “Look here, you should maintain the same standard - equal to, the
same as, in our hostel and in our canteen. The items should not only be
delicious, they should also be quantitatively good. So, all the food that you
serve should be qualitatively and quantitatively rich enough. And moreover, look
here. Prices should not be very high. Bring down the prices. Many of the
devotees who come here can't spend money like that. So you should be cheap. ‘No
profit, no loss’ should be the motive because we are not running a business
here.” That’s what Bhagavan has said. Then while talking to that man, He looked
at me. (Laughter)
I have to take care of them
Then He said, “Look here, all
these things I have to take care of Myself. I have to inquire, ‘What is
happening there in the canteen?’ ‘What is happening in the college?’ ‘What is
happening with the stores?’ ‘What is happening in the hospital?’ All these
things I notice, do you know that? I have to take care of them. I have to
personally take care of them.” That’s what Baba is. Swami explained that.
On hearing that, to be honest, I
took pity upon Him (Laughter) because there is nobody to help Him. He has
to struggle a lot. (Laughter)
Steps to happiness?
Then suddenly He looked at a book
I was holding. The title of the book is Steps to Happiness. He asked for
that book. “Yes, what is this? Not any novel or any fiction?”
I, with all my courage, took it to
Him. Swami looked at the book and read the title:
“Steps to Happiness?”
(Laughter)
“Yes, Swami.”
Then He said, “Are there any steps
to happiness?” (Laughter)
What am I to say?
“Swami, I have yet to read it.
(Laughter) I can only reply after I finish.” (Laughter)
Then Baba said, “There are no
steps to happiness. Happiness is only one step. That’s all, there are no other
steps.”
“Oh, Swami, only one? What is it?”
“Union with God is happiness.
Union with God is happiness. There are no steps to happiness.” So saying, Swami
left that place that evening.
JULY 2001
And now I pass on to the next
episode, which was in the month of July 2001.
Definition of Service.
This is an interesting session. I
do not mean that the earlier ones are not interesting (Laughter). One is
more interesting than the other. The interest is deeper and deeper, more and
more as we complete one session after another session.
The Divine dialogues are sweet.
The Divine conversations are so precious. They are so valuable. And our friends
here, who are endeavouring to make the Divine conversations available to all the
devotees around the world, please believe me from the bottom of my heart, I am
telling you, yours is the highest and the greatest service. There is no doubt
about it. Single-handedly, I cannot do it.
Baba gave one definition to this
word ‘service’. I want all of you to understand because you may not be aware of
the service you are doing. Therefore, I have to tell you - and this is not to
flatter you or because I expect anything from anybody. You must know by now: I
do not expect anything from anybody at any time. It is enough if I receive His
boundless Grace and Mercy. That’s enough. It is enough if He talks to me every
day like this. It is enough if I convey the message like this to everybody. This
is the thing I like most. Nothing else. Nothing else.
What did Baba say about this word
‘service’?
Definition of ‘service’: Anything
that you do to take a person near God is the highest act of service. Serving in
the canteen and the stores are acts of service, no doubt. But the highest
service is this: to share the message of Sai with everybody in order to take
devotees closer and closer to God. What more do we want in life? We thank Swami
for this opportunity given to us.
Types of Karma
In the time left, I can talk to
you on karma. K-a-r-m-a = Action. Bhagavan spoke to us in the evening on
this topic, karma. Karma is action. Most of you know that. He
referred to various types of karmas, various types of actions, and He
permitted me to liberally and generously put questions in between, keeping the
topic focused in a particular direction.
When Swami is speaking on karma,
I should not put a question on bhakthi or devotion. That is wrong. I
should not say, “Swami, speak of Your childhood days.” They don’t fit into the
context. So we should carry on the discussion along the same wavelength that
Bhagavan initiates. So, He decided to speak on karma that evening.
Oh, what a nice talk it was! This
point - the first point with which I will start - may be quite new to the
foreigners. Why? Because this concept is not present in any other religion.
Karma
is of three types. Karma has other meanings also:
·
The fruits of action
·
The consequences of
action
·
The rewards of
action
These are also the meanings of
the word karma. Swami mentioned three names:
So the consequences of the results
are what we get from all the three periods of time - the past, present and
future. Those of the past are called Prarabdha, those of the present are
Samchitha and those of the future are Aagami. That’s what Bhagavan
has said.
You cannot escape from the consequences of your actions
“Swami, what is the difference
between these three? The consequences of our actions - past, or present, or the
future - what does it matter? Would you please tell us the difference between
them?”
Then Baba said, “Whether they are
of the past, of the present or of the future, you can be definite and you can be
certain that you cannot escape from the consequences of your actions. Good
actions will bear good results. Bad actions will yield bad results. You cannot
escape from the consequences of your actions.”
Brothers and sisters,
As we act, let us be aware of
this. We may act happily, and then face the consequences with tears - by which
time it will be too late. So let us act well; then the results also will be
equally good. It is a caution, if not a warning.
Bhagavan gave one example. Here is
a train. It has three compartments – first-class, second-class and third-class.
The train travels onwards and reaches the platform. All the three compartments
arrive at the platform - not just the first-class compartment, not just the
second-class compartment, and it is never just the third-class compartment. All
the three compartments reach the platform. Similarly, the consequences of the
three periods of time face you. Accept the results; face the challenges. Good
for good; bad for bad. Whatever may be, that’s what Bhagavan has said.
With the last point, I close this
session.
“Swami, we see many bad people
prospering (Laughter). Don’t they face consequences? For instance, a
fellow like me faces so many difficulties, while another fellow has no problem
at all. He is a number one rogue (Laughter), but he seems to prosper.
Well, I don’t experience that at all. Why? Should it happen?”
Baba said, “It may appear like
that – anipinchu - it may seem like that. But results of actions –
thinipinchu - will make you face them, unconditionally. It may appear as if
there was an escape; but, be without doubt, the results of actions will make you
face them.”
That’s what Bhagavan has said and
we will proceed with the rest of the matter, I think tomorrow, right? Tomorrow.
OM…OM…OM…
Om Asato Maa Sad Gamaya
Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya
Mrtyormaa Amrtam Gamaya
Om Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti