September 9th, 2007
“Tips to Truth”
OM…OM…OM…
Sai Ram
With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
KEEP YOUR MIND ON GOD WHILE ENGAGING YOURSELF IN WORK
This morning our topic is “Tips to Truth.” We will discuss a few tips on how to acquire and experience the Truth today. Yes, the Truth, which is One, can be experienced, can be learnt, and can be talked about.
Human life is a combination of duty and objectives. Man is duty-bound; he has to take care of himself, he has to maintain his family and he has to fulfill his obligations as a responsible citizen. In fact, human life is given in order to discharge one’s duty.
Discharging duty is yoga. One cannot get away from doing one’s duty. But there is an emotional yearning; there is an urge within every one of us. Though we have all physical comforts and all financial matters well-looked after, there is a deeper urge within every one of us. And that emotional urge is a sort of pining, longing for Truth. Everyone wants to experience the Truth, to know the Truth. So, we can say that everyone has a passion for the Truth.
On one hand, I have duty, and on the other hand, passion. I have so many obligations on one hand, and on the other, my eagerness to know the Truth. What can be done? Baba said this: “Keep your mind on God, engage yourself in work, and engage yourself in work with both of your hands. Let the mind rest in God.”
“But Swami, I am not able to understand. If I don’t put my mind in it, how can I do my work? Mere hands can’t do work, no! The mind also has to be put in there. How is it possible?”
Now Baba explains clearly: “A driver of a car listens to your conversation, answers your questions, cuts jokes, and enjoys humour; yet driving is always foremost in his mind. Driving is his prime objective.” Similarly, our mind may be engaged, our mind may be busy in the discharge of mundane duties and responsibilities; but at its forefront, the mind should always rest in God. It should be placed at the Feet of God.
That is the first among the tips to Truth: Let the mind be at the Feet of God and hands be busy in discharging our duty.
Our interest in spiritual matters is due to swami’s grace
The second tip: Some of us have a doubt whether we really enjoy God’s blessings; that is, whether we are the recipient of His grace or not. Some people ask me, “Does Baba know me?” Others ask, “Does He still confer His grace on me?” Some people ask, “How can I earn His grace?” These are all questions I frequently hear.
But the answer is the same: Without His grace we would not think of spiritual matters. In fact, we would never think of God at all. We would never consider Divine actions or spiritual interests. All of these things are the result of God’s immense grace. We, too, will be very busy, like many people in the world who are in the rat race. We will be very busy in the money-earning process and the money-burning process. We, too, will be very busy going round to hospitals for regular blood-pressure and blood-sugar checkups!
Well, the fact that we are so comfortable and so happy thinking of Him, is this not enough proof of His grace? In this world right now, how many people can spend time in such thinking? It is only a negligible amount, a decimal proportion of the people—very minimal.
So this is the second tip to Truth: Never doubt whether you have the grace of the Lord or not; never doubt whether you have His blessings or not. Be sure that you are blessed, and that the merciful Lord has taken you into His fold. That’s the reason why we are here. That’s the reason why we think about Him. That’s the reason why we get involved in His activities.
LET ALL YOUR ACTIONS BE PLEASING UNTO GOD
Thirdly, we often get lost in work. Continuous work exhausts us. We go on working, on and on, and in that exhaustion, and because of it, we feel desperate. We ask, “How long should I work like this? I have been working for the last 25 years. I have no time to read. I have no time to concentrate. I have no time to meditate. I have no time to read the scriptures. I am so busy. I am not interested in my work, but there is no way to get out of it.” So many people are like that.
If I just ask someone, “Sir, would you like to make a trip to Puttaparthi?” He’ll reply, “Mr. Anil Kumar, I really want to, but...”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I have no time. I can’t get out of my schedule. My whole business depends on me. The entire office demands my presence. How can I go?”
So though we really want to go, we cannot. Okay, then, are we happy? No! We want to get out of our work, but we cannot. We are bored with our business, accounts, and money transactions, but we cannot leave them. So, what is to be done now? Well, we don’t have to run away from our jobs. We don’t have to give up our businesses.
Let all our actions be pleasing unto God. In the business I do, or the teaching I do, or the engineering job, or the job of a doctor, or whatever it might be, let it be pleasing unto God. “Oh, God, please see that You bless my work. Oh God, see that I hold on to Your values. May this work glorify You, and may this work prove to the whole world that one can be a devotee and also be dutiful.”
We can be dutiful and yet be a devotee. Duty and devotion are complementary. They are not contradictory. While shirking my duty, I cannot call myself a devotee—that is bogus. A true devotee must discharge his duty excellently, honestly, uncompromisingly, and in a most ideal way.
Now the “tip to Truth” is this, as Baba puts it: When once we offer our work to God, the whole thing becomes Divine. If you think, “I am doing this, and how well I am doing it! Nobody can ever do it like me,” then the work remains on the human level. But on the other hand, if you say, “Swami, You made me do this. You have given me the opportunity to do this,” it becomes spiritual. So, everything done in His name is spiritual, whereas everything that is claimed from our viewpoint is merely physical.
ACTIONS OFFERED TO GOD BECOME SPIRITUAL
Therefore, my friends, as Baba says, let us offer whatever we do to God so that it becomes spiritual. “Okay, Swami, what is the advantage?” If I tell everybody, “I have done it,” some people will appreciate me; some newspapers will publish my photograph and wherever I go people will identify me. When I take the credit, and when I claim, I have recognition; but by giving it to God, what do I get? He gets the credit, but what do I get? “Swami has made me do this, oh! Swami is great, but how about me?” Well, naturally, when some problem comes, we are in a fix.
Baba explains this point clearly, my friends. Those of us who are busy in our own way, with our office work, college work, hospital work, business, or whatever it may be, Baba says, “By doing our work in the name of God and offering it to God, all the mistakes made therein—all the sins, noticed or unnoticed, will be rectified and corrected.”
I don’t say “excused”; if all sins were excused this day, then we would just open a fresh account tomorrow, and start the day with sin. No, that’s not the way. He corrects, He rectifies. All our mistakes are corrected; all our defects are rectified once the work is done in His name, once this work is offered to Him.
The second advantage of offering the work to Him is that we will not be committing further sins. Enough is enough. I have committed so many mistakes, enough is enough; let me not add to the account!
deposit your actions with god, the divine banker
So there are two advantages: God sees to it that all the present mistakes are corrected and that we don’t open a fresh account.
Swami gives one example. Suppose a person has a 500 rupee currency note in his pocket that is torn in one place, full of dirt, mud, and ink stains—it’s totally spoilt. Nobody will take it. Can he throw it out? No. But how can he make use of it when nobody will take it?
So he goes to the bank, and gives them this torn, stained, currency note. What do they do? They accept this spoilt note and give him a brand new one, as long as the number is intact. That is important—the number must be intact.
So you see, when you hold the spoilt and torn currency note with you, it is useless to you, but the bank will take it. Similarly, all our actions are like this currency note. It is torn—these are our mistakes. Full of dirt—these are our defects. Depositing with the bank—that is offering to God. With the number intact—that is our devotion. Receiving a new currency note—that is a new chance. This is the example given by Bhagavan Baba. Nobody else can give such a great example!
It is only our good God who is capable of giving such examples. Nobody else would choose a currency note as an example while giving a spiritual discourse! But Baba says that spirituality is not separate from life. Unfortunately, most of us think that spirituality is a Sunday affair or a Saturday affair. It is not. It is a minute-to-minute, second-to-second, moment-to-moment affair.
BENEFITS OF depositing your actions with god
Okay, sir, now suppose I have a brand new 500 rupee currency note that is so new I hesitate to fold it. Anyway, I do fold it, and I keep it in my shirt pocket. Well, I go to a restaurant for a cup of tea. When I go there, I keep checking whether I have the 500 rupee note or not, so my hand is always on the chest pocket. Then I go to a movie. I sit there. I watch the movie, but still my hand is on the chest pocket, to safeguard against theft. So I am always worried about keeping the money safe. Instead, if I deposit the 500 rupee note in the bank, it is safe and I will also receive some interest.
A good action is like a new currency note deposited in the bank of God. He will give you interest—that is, His grace. Interest is what you get in the form of grace because you live in trust. When you live in trust you gain. This is the thing that Baba says.
So whether the currency note is spoilt or new, it is beneficial to deposit it in the bank. Our actions, whether good or bad, may be passed on to the account of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba the Divine Banker. He will take care of all of our accounts. This is one of the tips to Truth.
Sometimes we feel so bad, so ashamed of our own actions, of our own thoughts, that when Swami comes our way we catch hold of His feet, crying, “Swami I am so ashamed of my thoughts, I am very sorry.” Then you start crying, and He will immediately say, “No, no, no. You are a good boy.”
“Swami, am I a good boy?”
“Yes.”
“Why or how can it be?”
“No, no, no. Past is past.”
If you take a bank loan, you have to pay interest. Sometimes people pay more interest than the actual amount of the loan they take. But when you deposit money in the bank, you get interest, that’s all. You don’t have any loss at all. There are fixed deposit, and in five or six years you’ll double the amount.
But in Baba’s bank, your deposit doubles every minute. One prayer song, double benefit, two prayer songs, double benefit, and one minute of silence, triple benefit, five minutes of meditation 100% interest! What a profit! If we want to do business, let us do business with God, not with anyone else. Other fellows may cheat you; they may say your agreement was different from what you had thought, or that prices have gone up and they are sorry but they can’t pay you. Or other fellows may file an insolvency petition, and you lose the whole amount.
But Baba won’t say anything like that. He will say, “I know that you pray, I hear your prayers; I know you meditate.” Why? The worldly banker is outside, but the Divine banker is inside. An accountant in that bank may sometimes go wrong in their calculations, but the Divine accountant Bhagavan Baba is very careful in noting the accounts, good, bad, and all.
Once He said in one of His poems:
God will count every one of our actions, whether good or bad.
God sends us forth into this world,
with the balance sheet of our past life merits and demerits.
You get all good for the good deeds that you have done
and you may have to face the consequences of bad actions,
whatever that may be.
Therefore, my friends, it is always safe to do anything in His matchless name, because sometimes He will say all our loans are waived. It’s like when a teacher tells you that you don’t have to take an examination, but you are deemed to have passed. It’s a double promotion! The waiver is there, provided we are devoted to Him.
to be free from bondage, never become agitated
The third point of tips to Truth is this: We should never be worried or agitated, come what may. There may be pressing work, a pressing need, or a pressing situation. There may be certain occasions when we have to make a decision, this way or that. That will naturally make us worried. But what does Baba say? When once you offer it to Him, when once you pray, you will be peaceful and make correct decisions.
When we are peaceful, we make correct decisions. On the other hand, when we are disturbed and agitated, all our decisions will be negative and we may also shout at people. The other person is not affected because he has already become used to your shouting.
In some families, when the husband is in a bad temper, he goes on shouting. If you happen to be there, you may see the housewife smiling, undisturbed. When this fellow is shouting, how can she smile? I have a very close relative with a husband, Vishwamitra, a man of bad temper. He is always shouting, and she simply smiles. When this was happening once, I asked her, “How can you smile?”
“It is already the 55th anniversary of our wedding,” she replied. “You see, I got used to this fellow. So I am not disturbed.” She simply smiles. So he shouts and shouts, and his blood pressure rises, but she remains quiet.
In offices, most bosses get admitted to hospitals, not the subordinates. The fellow who committed a mistake is healthy, but the boss who shouts at him will be in the hospital. A mistake is a mistake.
Therefore, my friends, once we do anything in the name of God, we will be peaceful and be able to make the correct decision. We will never have any kind of tensions whatsoever. But how can we continue to be peaceful? In the morning I am very peaceful because I have just emerged from deep sleep, but in the evening, I may lose this peace. My peace may be torn into pieces by the evening. How can we be peaceful both in the morning and evening? Baba tells us to always feel God is within you. Then you will be able to maintain your poise, peace, happiness, and bliss. Just like this, our devotees sing:
When once I feel that He is Antaranga Sai, that He dwells within me, that He is there within me, I will not lose my balanced state of mind. I’ll never have that kind of loss of temper or patience, or a chance of turning emotional.
“Swami, may I have some more benefits if I am peaceful?” These days people are highly calculating, always looking for their own advantage. Some people do not say “Sai Ram” unless they have some obligation toward you. Soon after your work with them is over, they don’t recognise you anymore. In the world, there are such types. What can we do? We have to live with such people.
So people ask, “What is the advantage of being peaceful?” Baba says, “You will be free from bondage, bandha, if you are equanimous and peaceful. If you are peaceful by being equanimous while doing your duty and making your decisions, you will be free from bondage. You will be detached, and you will be absolutely spiritual.” That is what Bhagavan has said.
EVERY WORK IS SWAMI’S WORK
The next point in “Tips to Truth” is about doing Swami’s work. Some people say, “You know, sir, I participate in Swami’s activities, and I am very busy with them.” Some parents say, “You know, Mr. Anil Kumar, my son in the U.S. does a lot of Swami’s work.”
Oh ho! What to do? I don’t want to hurt their feelings, so I simply smile and say, “Convey my greetings to him.” But what is the Truth?
My friends, I quote a simple example. Swami promised Kasturi that He would visit his house, saying, “I will come to your house.” Poor Kasturi waited for six months, but it never happened. Well, he could not stand that any longer. Finally he asked Swami, “You promised You would come to our house. When are You coming?” Baba said, “Yes, I promised. Repeat your question.” He said, “Swami, when are You going to visit my house?”
Swami said, “Is it your house?”
“No, no. Sorry, Swami. It’s not my house. It is Your house, Swami.”
“I see. Then why do you invite Me to My own house?” (Laughter)
Therefore, when we say, “This is Swami’s work, or this is my work,” we are getting into unnecessary trouble like Kasturi. There is no such thing as “my work”. As a lawyer, as a teacher, as an engineer, as a businessman, whatever it may be, everything is God’s work. So let us not bifurcate, let us not dichotomise, and let us not divide the work into “Swami’s work” and “my work”. Everything is Swami’s work.
Here’s a simple example. Somebody said to Baba, “Swami, my son is doing a lot of work in such-and-such a place.” He thought that Swami would be happy.
Swami said, “He can do much more than what he is doing. He can do more; he is not doing as much as you say.” But this man did not keep quiet—he wanted to impress Swami. He said, “Swami, he is indeed busy, but in spite of it, he is doing Your work.”
Then Baba said, “I am doing his office work. When he is doing My work only on Sundays, six days a week I am doing his work.”
This means that the work we do in the office from Monday to Saturday, plus our service on Sunday, together equals Swami’s work. My friends, at least from now on, let us all be convinced that whatever we do is Swami’s work. There is no such thing as personal work.
there’s nothing personal around swami
Sometimes we have to learn bitter lessons. Once I received a letter in darshan, a highly emotional personal letter. I couldn’t help feeling emotional. Tears started rolling. Somehow I controlled myself, thanks to the readily available kerchief in my pocket. Swami noticed this from a distance. He silently came close to me and said, “Where is the letter?”
I said, “Swami, what letter?” (Laughter)
Bhagavan said, “That letter.” (Laughter)
“Which letter, Swami, where?”
“Ay, it is there in the pocket!” (Laughter) Now the cat was out of the bag. I could not build up the story any further.
So I said, “Swami, it is a personal letter.”
And Baba said, “Is there anything such as ‘personal’ here?”
I said, “Swami, it is a letter from my daughter.”
“Give Me that letter,” He said.
“Swami, it’s okay, Sai Ram, Sai Ram.”
Then He said, “If you don’t give Me that letter right now, I will disclose every sentence written in that letter loudly so that everyone will hear.”
Then I said, “Swami, don’t take the trouble; I’ll give You the letter.”
I have quoted this incident to impress upon you that there is nothing personal in front of God. He has taken our personal responsibility on His head. He has taken all our personal cares. So how can I say to Swami that this is personal and You are impersonal? Therefore “Tips to Truth” should make us aware of the fact that there is nothing personal. Everything is His.
PLEASURE AND PAIN ARE EXPERIENCES OF THE SAME MIND
The mind suffers and the same mind also enjoys. There is no mind that enjoys and a separate one that suffers. It is the same mind that experiences sorrow, delight, and pleasure.
In one of His discourses, Baba quoted the sage Vyasa saying, “All the pleasures in this life are due to your meritorious deeds in the past. All the pain that you undergo now is the result of your misdeeds in the past. So merit or sin will have its effect in the next life.” That’s what Baba said.
Once someone asked Baba, “Swami, if I suffer or if I enjoy because of my past, what should I do in the present? Should I laugh because of the past? Shall I cry because of the past? What is my present life?” Baba said that what you must do in the present is to clearly understand that pleasure and pain are experiences of the same mind.
When once you know the Truth—that you are not the mind—you are no longer affected by pain or pleasure. Therefore, what you should do in this life is not cry so that others will join in chorus, and not feel highly ecstatic because of your little achievements or small talents. Let us understand clearly: all the pleasures of one’s life, and all the grief of one’s life are just reactions, reflections, and resounds of the past, and they are related to the mind.
we are not the mind
So we must pray, “Oh Baba, help me to know that I am not the mind.” He should help us to know that we are not the mind. It is the mind that creates all havoc.
If Swami looks at someone, that man will be up in heaven; but if Swami ignores him, you will find him in the deep sea. But this drama is not necessary, because we are always exposed to the cosmic lens. We cannot be away from the cosmic lens for even a moment of our lives.
Therefore, my friends, we have to understand that we are not the mind. Our present spiritual duty is to make a deep, thorough enquiry into life and come to a conclusion that we are not the mind.
We cannot undo what has been done in the past. In our past lives, who knows what we have done? I might have committed some murder; so what shall I do now? I may have looted a bank in some past life; so what now? Or I might have distributed clothes to one lakh people in a past life; but I cannot tell anybody, “I did so much charitable work in the past.”
If you did say such a thing, “Oh ho,” they’d say, “this is not the place for you. The Bangalore mental hospital is the place for you!” (Laughter) You will be shifted there if you go on speaking of your past life. How can anyone know your past life, so how can we praise or condemn you for it? We do not know the past and it cannot be undone. In the present, however, we can realise that either good or bad, pain or pleasure, are not related to ourselves. We should remain unconcerned, because they are only the expressions of the mind, and the mind is not you.
It is the mind that makes you happy; it is the mind that makes you unhappy. It is not the hand or the leg which will say it is happy or unhappy; no, it is the mind, my friends. So that is what is to be done in the present, according to Baba. God will take care of all the rest.
BABA, THE DIVINE PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
We should also know another fundamental truth: God is a doctor. Our Baba is both a physician and a surgeon, MD and MS. He is also a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, and a member of Royal College of Physicians. He is both a physician and a surgeon, Baba the Divine Doctor. How does He tackle all of us as His chosen, favourite patients? How does He manage?
First of all, He will tell you things indirectly. On the stage, He will tell everybody to perform righteous actions, be peaceful, and never utter a lie. It is a general appeal to everybody. First, sugar-coated pills are given to you. If the body does not accept them, then He gives a pill of higher potency. So if you ignore His advice, and start telling lies, He will give you interview and tell you not to lie. So you stop and behave yourself properly as antibiotics have now been given.
If you still don’t correct yourself, the physician becomes a surgeon now. He will avoid you. He will neglect you totally. He will ask everybody, “How are you?” but He will not look at you. It is as if there is a vacuum where you sit, as if you are a non-entity. That is very painful—to be neglected by God, to go unnoticed by Him. It is the most painful thing. I pray that no one has to face such a situation—it is very painful. But we cannot blame Him. He first gave us some tablets and then antibiotics, and still they are not working. So surgery is necessary.
The operating theatre is always ready—the whole Kulwant Hall is the theatre. And we have a number of paramedical staff, the seva dals, (Laughter) ready to ask you to go to the last row, even if you got the first number! These paramedical staff are very active. Before the appearance of the doctor, they will be on duty. They love to be near the operation table of the surgeon. (This is all with fun, my friends. I am telling this with no ill-will toward anybody.)
If God is the Divine Doctor, what is the disease that He cures? We think we are quite healthy, so why should we go to a doctor? All of us are suffering from only one disease, and it’s not malaria from all of our mosquitoes. (I recently asked a group to meet me at 6.30pm on Samadhi Road. They said yes slowly, hesitatingly. Then I asked, “Do you have any other appointment?” Then they said, “Mr. Anil Kumar, at 6.30pm on Samadhi Road, we are forced to listen to the music of mosquitoes more than your talk. (Laughter) Because all the mosquitoes will be busy with their jazz music, so we cannot hear you!”)
So my friends, it is not anything to do with mosquito bites or dengue fever. There is one disease which all of us are suffering from, and that is the disease of birth and death. This life cycle is a disease. We are continuously in this life cycle of birth and death, birth and death.
the disease of birth and rebirth
We are born again and again, and we die repeatedly. This is the disease, and its name is bhava roga samsara. There is only one symptom of the disease: the life cycle, birth and rebirth.
Only the Divine Doctor can help us be cured from this disease. Nobody else can help you. You may say, “No, no, sir, there is a very good practising doctor in our city. He has gone all around the world. He will treat me.” But when he is also suffering from the same disease, how can he help you? If the doctor himself is not cured, how can he know how to help the patient? It is not possible. Therefore, it is only the Divine Doctor who can help us to get out of this sticky, cobwebbed disease of birth and death.
What happens in between birth and death? That is what is called samsara. It is the family life. Between birth and death is family life.
end-joy is to enjoy
Baba is the Divine Master who can play with words so skillfully; it is as if the words are waiting to come out of His mouth. They are waiting—every letter, every word, is waiting to jump out of His mouth, whereas we struggle hard to speak one word! We struggle to say one sentence, while Baba’s is a torrential narration.
Sometimes when He starts singing, I become helpless in translating. What shall I do? To add to my troubles, I usually translate to an audience among whom are many who know both English and Telugu. When I translate the Telugu songs into English, Telugu people wait for me at the gate to finish me off, (Laughter) so that they don’t have to undergo the torture again!
Swami’s poetry is original and fresh, you see. Tank water is not fresh, and tap water is hopeless, but Ganges water, on the other hand, is fresh. Ganges and Baba are both at the source. How can one duplicate the source? You can only memorise it by heart and reproduce it. Swami’s language and His ideas are this fresh, this pure, this true.
Why am I telling you this? Because samsara means ‘family’, which most of us know, but Swami puts it in a new way. He says, ‘some-sara,’ from some (‘little’) and sara (‘essence’). In this family, we have little joy. You may live for seventy years or eighty years, but only have some-sara, a little essence, not the whole essence. Who else can explain samsara like that? Let us all go hire a linguist, to see if just anybody can speak like that. Nobody else can, because He is Divine.
Swami once asked a boy, “Arre…what are you doing in Kodaikanal?” He said, “Swami, we enjoy.” Yes, it has a simple meaning; we know what the word ‘enjoy’ means. But see how Baba develops ‘enjoy’: He says, “Put an end to the joy. End-joy is enjoying.” End your worldly joys. Going to hotels and to theatres, useless talking and gossiping—end that joy. That is how to truly enjoy God’s gift of life.
We can’t help it, we love language! Because of this feeling, once while He was talking, I was so overcome with awe at His words that I couldn’t translate anymore, and I said “Abba, Swami!” and was quiet. Swami said, “You are here to translate, not to say ‘Abba, Abba.’ What is your job?” I told Him, “Swami, I am not a mike, I am a human being. I love Your language.”
He said there is another meaning of ‘enjoy’ also. The joy that you get at the end is also ‘enjoy’. What joy do you get at the end? You will get the fulfillment of life, the satisfaction, the bliss, the benediction of life—that is the joy that you get at the end. That is also ‘enjoy’ or ‘end-joy’. That is Swami’s beautiful interpretation!
We should not miss any opportunity to follow His every word; every word is a precious gem. Every word is a diamond! Nobody can speak like He does. Therefore, one has to understand the mystery of samsara, or family life, which one enjoys. And we have to put an end to that joy by singing His glory, so that we are free from the cycle of birth and death.
ignorance ends the moment you know your true nature
“Swami,” someone once asked, “Bhagavan, though I have been coming here for a number of years, I have not improved. No, I am not able to know the Truth. When will this ignorance end?” At least this man knows that he is ignorant. There are many who don’t know that they are ignorant. Nobody can help them.
My friends, you must have read many books by many authors. You must have also listened to the talks of many great speakers. Many great people say many great things, no doubt, about how to get out of ignorance. Answers are extensive, answers are exhaustive, and answers are aplenty. Some answers make us forget the question. Some answers make us never want to ask a question again. But Baba’s answers are straight. One arrow is enough; it will hit you straight on.
The question was, “Swami, when do I get out of ignorance?” And His answer was: “The moment you know your true nature, that you are essentially Divine, you are out of ignorance.”
And how long will it take? “The moment you know your nature. It may take centuries, repeated lives, or a fraction of a second—right at that moment.” That’s what Bhagavan said.
Further, Swami asked, “Why are you here?” That man was well-read, and he wanted to appear smart in front of Swami.
(My friends, one tip to success in front of Swami is not to open our mouths! (Laughter) Better to you keep your mouth shut, safely and securely, (Laughter) because if you mumble a few words, you will get into trouble from which you cannot get out! It has happened thousands of times with me, but I have not learnt my lesson yet. I am a successful failure, day in and day out. So far, it’s only been eighteen years of continuous failure—not very long!)
Find god in yourself, not outside
Swami asked, “Why are you here?”
That elderly man said, “I have come to see God.”
Swami said, “You are wrong! You are a fool, and all the others are double-fools.” (Laughter)
I couldn’t help but ask, “Swami, what’s all this? After all, what he said was that he came to see God. How can he be a fool? And when we appreciate his answer to Your question, how can we be double fools?”
“Not double fools, triple fools, multiple fools!” He replied.
“Okay, why, Swami?”
Swami said, “You say you have come to see God. But you are wrong. You are God. What is the fun of coming to see God when you are God?” He asked. What a simple, straight answer. Baba alone can give such answers.
Then that man said, “Yes, Swami, I realise it.” But my temperament was to continue the conversation so that we would have a little more information. (In the process, we may appreciate that we are fools—classical fools. All right, it is worth taking the heat. We can do it if we are strong. If we can bear hearing some roadside fellow accuse us of being fools, why not God?)
So I said, “Swami, You say that he is God, but I don’t see God in Him. Where is He?” I wanted to be smart now. That man was smart enough, and he was taught a bitter lesson. So now it was my turn, so I said, “You say that he is God, but I don’t see God in him.”
Baba asked, “Can you see your back? Because you don’t see your back, can you say that you don’t have a back? You are not only a fool, you are mad!” (Laughter) Though you don’t see it, you have a back. Similarly, though he is God, you don’t see God in him, because God is literally in him, not on him.
So I see another problem now. “He is God, and God is in him? All right, so what to do, Swami? Why should he come here? When he is God, when God is in him, why should he come here at all? What is the purpose of prayer? What is all this?”
Then Baba said, “Look, if you lose your pen here, you should search for that pen where it is lost. Having lost the pen here, I cannot search for it in the bus stand or railway station. It is lost here, so I should search for it here.”
Baba gives one example: It seems a college student was passing by and he saw an old lady under a street lamp searching for something. This boy wanted to be a man of service. So he asked the old lady, “Grandma, what are you searching for?”
The old lady said, “My dear grandson, you are a good boy. I am searching for a pin which I have lost.”
This boy helped her search for some time and finally asked her, “Grandmother, where did you lose it?”
She replied, “I lost it in my hut over there.”
“But Grandmother, why are you searching here? Why don’t you search in your hut?”
“There is no light in my hut,” she replied. (Laughter) “It’s no fun searching in the darkness. Here there is a streetlight, so this is a good place to search!” This is the example given by Baba.
So, Baba tells us to search for something where it has been lost. Similarly, you should search for God where He is to be found--within. He is in you. If you forget that fact, then you want to find God outside of yourself, and it turns into something like the grandmother’s story.
I also want to bring your attention to a statement made by the wonderful Lebanese English literature author, Kalil Gibran. He is a favourite all over the world. Gibran says that if you don’t understand your mind, if you don’t analyse it, if you don’t understand its ways of behaviour, then all the talks you hear are useless. This point is about the nature of the mind and its behaviour.
But Swami, He has His own style. He doesn’t copy anybody. If people say that a man’s style is the man, I say style is Baba, and Baba is style. He has His own style---His dress has its own style; His hair has His own style; nobody can imitate Him. It’s impossible. His style of eating, His style of drinking water, His style of adjusting His hair, arre! Style is Baba, that’s all. It’s fantastic; you can’t find any parallel. Maduradhipathe Akilam Maduram. Everything of His is most beautiful and sweet, a sight for the gods.
mind is the cloth and thoughts are the threads
Mind is a cloth made up of threads. Remove the threads, and the cloth is gone. The threads are your thoughts; the cloth is your mind. When thoughts are removed, the cloth of mind is gone. What Kalil Gibran said in two pages, Baba said in two sentences. But I am not comparing. Baba puts His statements in such a way that every ordinary man can understand them. You don’t need a PhD to understand Him. No, another PhD will spoil you further. Because the higher the knowledge, the greater the confusion. The more degrees one has, the more hopeless he is.
Take the simple example of a rose flower. We should enjoy the beauty of the rose flower. Ah, how beautiful it is! How fragrant it is! Instead of that, if you count the petals, pluck them and try to understand the chemistry of the rose flower, its beauty is gone. The beauty is lost through the process of analysis.
Some people always want to interpret, and they ask, “What did Swami say? What does it mean? What could it be?” I say, “Be silent and appreciate it.” Appreciate Baba’s statements; don’t try to interpret them, my friends. This is my appeal to you, because through interpretation, you may miss the Truth. In your explanation, you may miss the facts. Let us take His statements as they are, like distilled, unadulterated, unpolluted, pure, crystal clear water. Explanation and interpretation of Divine statements is a kind of venture that we should never get into. It may result in the loss of the Truth.
Moreover, you will understand the statement in one way, I will understand it in a different way, and another person in a totally new way. Swami’s statements are understood depending upon the context of our life, our background, and the situation at that moment. So the answer you get is different from the answer he gets, because each pertains to our individual realities. That is a characteristic of a Divine statement. Contrarily, when you and I speak, it’s just straight—there is no second meaning. Swami speaks straight sentences, but at the same time they apply to every individual, depending on the context in their life. I think I am clear. So, the truth of Truths is that the Divine answers are purely personal and independent, depending upon the context of life.
Another frequent question is this: “Swami, what is the greatest mistake in life?” (Because we want to be great in every respect, why can’t we be greatest in mistakes also? Why not?) What is the greatest of mistakes? But if you want to put it correctly, you should be asking, “What is the worst of mistakes?”
Some people say, “No, I don’t make any mistakes; there are no mistakes in my life.” But Baba makes it very clear: To point out the mistakes in others and to ignore your own mistakes is the worst mistake that can be made. Some people go on criticising, while they forget their own mistakes. That is the worst mistake of all!
“Swami, in one sentence, would You tell me the spiritual Truth?” Who else can answer that, other than Baba? Nobody can explain the truth of life, the fact of life, the quintessence of spirituality in one sentence.
He says, “Learn that life is a dream.” Life is a dream—this is a simple sentence. But what does Baba mean? You may have pleasure, but it is a dream. You may face pain now; it is also a dream. In your dreams at night, you may become the president of any country. You may dream that you are richer than Bill Gates, or you may dream that some fellow slapped you. That dream is gone once you are awake.
These experiences in the day are also dreams. Baba said this is a daydream, while that is a night dream. A dream is a dream, whether it is day or night. (Some people can sleep in the office also! (Laughter) In trains, you can find people sleeping in the neighbour’s lap; in buses we find people leaning on the back of the person next to them. Some people sleep in such a way that the people who actually have a reservation must get up to let this man lie down! Those are the dreams had in the daytime.)
The whole philosophy of life, the quintessence of spirituality, all this is summed up in one sentence: “Life is a dream.” I may have crores of rupees, but when I buy a small house, where are the crores? Should I cry about it? “I lost my crores, I lost my crores!” And then, at night I dream that I am a beggar. Should I cry then, too? “I have a job and a house, what is all this?” No, I can’t do that. Just as a dream is not permanent, like a passing cloud is not permanent, you should consider pleasure and pain, victory and failure, humiliation and elation, or whatever it may be, to be nothing but passing clouds. None will stay permanently. So, life is a dream. This is the quintessential Truth.
One more question: “Bhagavan, what is the cause of misery?” Ask anybody—everybody has some problem or another. If someone says he has no problem, then perhaps he is the biggest problem of all! He is a problem unto himself. So, nobody is free from problems. Life is problematic. But we should not become a problem for the problem, so as to be free from the problem. The problem should become bored. It should say, “This fellow is not bothered about me, so I will leave him.”
“Swami, why are we sad?” The answer Swami gives is a one-word answer, a quick answer. (Swami’s answer will come instantaneously. Swami’s answers come spontaneously. Swami’s answers come like a fountain, no gap between the questioner and Bhagavan’s Divine answer.)
In one word, the cause for misery is attachment. Attachment is the only cause for all the misery, that’s what Baba said. “Okay, Swami, so what shall I do?”
Swami says, “Be calm, cool, and natural.” Be calm, don’t get ruffled or emotional. Be cool; don’t be full of temper, anger, and fury. Be natural, because only artificiality is painful. Be calm, cool, and natural.
May Bhagavan bless us all with that state of remaining in calmness, coolness, equanimity, and silence. Let us listen to the whispers of Sai within us, so that we can be equanimous, balanced, able to develop the spirit of detachment, and finally to realise Divinity within ourselves.
May Bhagavan be with you forever and ever. Thank you for your kind and gracious presence. Thank you very much. (Applause)
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