“WHAT NEXT?”
February 1, 2009
OM…OM…OM…
Sai Ram
With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Our Most Beloved Bhagavan,
Dear Friends . . .
This morning I would like to dwell upon three important points. The first point is that the ultimate state of awareness, which we call brahmi stithi, is also called the realised state, or samadhi. Samadhi, the realised state, the state of awareness, the state of bliss, brahmi stithi, all mean the same. That is one point that I would like to discuss this morning, because the realised state is our aim.
We may belong to any religion, but the realised state is the ultimate goal for all. Our aim is to attain the realised state. To reach the state of realisation, to experience the state of bliss, is the ultimate reason for which we all have come. It is the purpose of our spiritual journey and the end of our spiritual train. That is one thing. Any number of things can be said about this state, but this will be sufficient for now.
The second point is what should we do about achieving awareness? What is to be done? Unfortunately we are caught up in a cobweb of our own making. We became arrested, chained by our own imaginations and misgivings, so we have no time to think of where we are and what we are. Days are passing, years are rolling by, but we have no time to assess or to know ourselves.
We are something like a student who gets no result. He attends his course and appears for the examination, but gets no result. Throughout his life he cannot apply for a higher job anywhere, because he doesn’t have an examination result. We have no time to know, assess or evaluate where we are or who we are. What’s next? We do not know. What’s next? Evening darshan. What’s next? Tomorrow morning’s darshan, that’s it. We do not know where we are and what is to be done. That’s the reason why we are going to spend the next couple of minutes on the subject of brahmi stithi--the realised state, the blissful state, the state of awareness.
What are we supposed to do to enjoy life in this state, to be in a realised state? What is it that we can do? What is to be done? Why do we say, “I am not doing anything. I am working in the canteen. I am working in the hospital. I am working in the university”? Why do you say, “I am doing…”? Is it enough? Is what I am doing the correct thing? Has doing this led me to the ultimate? Has it taken me to the goal, the spiritual objective of enjoying the blissful state of awareness, brahmi stithi? What exactly is my role here? Is it proper if it is adopted?
The third point is about the role of the guru in our life, and the ultimate state of our role while in the world. These are the three important things in this morning’s topic, when we think of “What Next?” “What Next?” is this morning’s topic. Years pass by and our training is over. We are aging. We have read a number of books, and we have been doing whatever we each believe in. What’s next?
In this connection, my friends, it is clearly stated that as long as the mind, or manas, follows the intellect, or buddhi, we are sure to progress. We are sure to advance. We are sure to improve some day. Intellect, or buddhi, is very close to consciousness, conscience, or Divinity. Intellect is very close to Divinity. The result is that intellect reflects the spirit, or the consciousness. Therefore, whatever the intellect says, if it is followed by the mind, we are improving. But if the intellect starts following the mind, we are on the downward trend, like the modern economy or today’s economic market.
This is the first indication for knowing what’s next. Let us understand whether the mind is following the intellect, or whether the intellect is following the mind. Why not follow the mind? If we follow our mind, there is no end to it. The mind is always focused on the outer world. The mind always faces outward. The mind is drawn towards the exterior. The mind is always after sensual pleasure. The mind is always dual, seeking worldly experiences and sensations.
If the intellect follows the mind, we are going to be worldly, more and more worldly, craving more and more dual experiences, with an endless life of desires! It is an endless hope or a hopeless life, whatever you may call it. Therefore, it is not desirable that our intellect should ever follow the mind, because the mind is always cunning. The mind is devious and crafty. The mind is selfish, manipulative, and calculating. The mind is of the outer world. The intellect should never follow the mind.
On the other hand, if the mind follows the intellect, the situation is reversed. The intellect will take you on an onward, inward journey. We can compare it to the command module of a spaceship that lands on a planet; likewise, we should go up and up. That is possible if the mind follows the intellect. The two are opposite, my friends. The intellect follows consciousness, which is non-dual. The mind always comes after the body, which is dual. The intellect flows upward, while the mind is downward facing. The intellect is Divine, while the mind is physical. The intellect is for transcendental experience, the mind for sensual pleasure. Therefore, it is better that we follow the intellect: Buddhi Grhasmati Driyam.
My friends, this morning we have to question ourselves about what is next. We begin with this query: “Am I following the mind (manas), or am I following the intellect (buddhi)?” If my mind is following the intellect, good! I am progressing.
Unfortunately, our intellect follows the mind. We do not know. Without knowing, we are decaying. We are deteriorating. We are ruining ourselves without our own knowledge. We are heading to a bottomless pit. This is the first thing to which I would draw your attention.
The second point is this: when I portray the mind as an enemy, then I begin to focus on the fact that the mind is a betrayer. I focus on the mind as being a mirage, full of fleeting images and unending desires. The next question is: what should I do with my mind? What shall I do with the garbage in my house? I can throw it out. What shall I do with the mind, which I cannot throw out because it is within me?
Why? I do not know that it is all the work of the mind. I can know what my enemy is doing. I know my enemy can put difficulties in front of me. My enemy will put obstacles around my spiritual journey. I am able to detect an outer enemy, but I am not able to spot my inner enemy. The mind is inner, and does its business from within. We do not know that it is a game of the mind. Our question will be: “What shall I do? Will I be happy without the mind? Did God not think of this factor?” No, no, no!
The mind can experience a drop of nectar, a drop of Divine bliss. Yet it wants to race forward, forever thinking ahead, forever seeing worldly bliss, which is temporary and fleeting. The mind should experience at least a drop of nectar of the Divine bliss. Then it will no longer want sensual pleasures and will run after the intellect only. It will never go back to the body, searching for sensual satisfaction. It will never search for worldly treasure or insufficient values.
The mind should experience a drop of Divine bliss. How is it possible? What am I to do? It is the mind that makes heaven out of hell, or hell out of heaven. I cannot fight with my mind. No one should do that. If anyone continually fights his mind, he lands in a mental hospital. You find that most mad people talk to themselves, grinding their teeth, angry with themselves because their mind is fighting with itself. Let’s not fight with our mind, no! Let us tame the mind, train the mind, and not fight with the mind.
How do we tame and train the mind? How can we make the mind experience the Divine drop of bliss? We can do certain things, but a very important factor is this. Once we forget that we are the doer, and forget that “I” am doing everything, the realisation happens that “I am I,” and the “I-ness” is gone. Once the identification with the “I-ness” is gone, and the idea that I am the doer is gone, the mind will be open and empty. Then it feels, enjoys, and dances. It enjoys the delight of spirit and consciousness.
To tame and train the mind is to lose one’s “I-ness”. By “I-ness” I mean identification with the body and doer-ship: “I am this, I am that; I achieved this.” If “I-ness” is gone, the mind is very eager. The mind can serve as a wonderful instrument, a powerful instrument, a positive instrument.
If not used in this way, it is going to land us nowhere! We think we have achieved something, but we have not. We may think we have gotten something, but we have not. We think we know, but we do not. It is the mind that continues giving false signals, false impressions and imaginations.
SURRENDER BODILY IDENTIFICATION AND DOER-SHIP
My friends, for the mind to follow the intellect, what has to be done? Train the mind; do not fight with the mind. What is the way to train the mind? Give up identification with the body, and also try to give up the notion of doer-ship, the feeling that “I am doing it.” That is what is next. By doing so, what will happen?
When I am not the doer, immediately I get frightened because I want to be credited. I want to be acknowledged, praised, congratulated, complimented, and felicitated. When I say I am not the doer, then I am afraid I may lose credit. I am afraid that I may lose my notoriety. When we forget the doer-ship, when we rise a little, if not totally, above the sense of doer-ship, there lies an instrument in the hands of God. It is then His duty to bring you all success. All success is guaranteed once the “I-ness” or doer-ship is given up.
Surrender for success. Success is caused by surrender. They go together, just as fire and heat go together, or ice and coolness go together. Likewise, surrender and success go together. Surrender the idea that you are the doer. All the scriptures, epics, and mythologies explain the values of surrender. Arjuna did the same in the Mahabharatha. Hanuman did the same in the Ramayana.
We know the old stories. Last night I was talking to my friends, telling them we have too much in our heads. Too much has gone into all of our heads, with the result that our heads are stuffed with matter. Our heads are stuffed with worldly knowledge, and full of recapitulations, memories, and recollections. Our heads have become an almirah, a storage cupboard. Our heads have become a library.
Everything appears to have been known before. Everything looks as if it is already known. For example, if anyone comes and tells me an incident from the Ramayana, I say, “I know.” If anyone says, “This is what Lord Shankara said,” my response is, “I know.” (Laughter) Why? We have gone too much into our heads. The head, stuffed with knowledge, should know that all it contains is information, but not the taste of information. As the proverb says, the taste of the pudding is in the eating of it. Likewise, all the stuff in our head is useless unless it is experienced. What is all that stuff for? We have become computer discs. We have become DVD’s. Play, play, repeat, but without the taste and experience of it!
THE RESULTS OF SURRENDER
Therefore, my friends, we know what surrender is, but we do not know the advantages of surrender. We know that doer-ship should be given up, but we do not know what we need. We heard the story of Arjuna, and we heard the story of Hanuman. These stories of surrender have been told over for ages and ages, life after life. Let us realise that by surrendering we are not losing. If I surrender fame, I lose fame. But if I surrender my body identification, I will gain consciousness and I will gain realisation. I will gain the blissful state. I will enjoy awareness.
By surrendering physical belongings, bag and baggage, you may be losing in the material sense. But in surrendering your body identification, the whole world belongs to you, because you are the world! The world and you are not different. You are God! God and you are not different. You are going to be the master! What more is to be suffered? What can be worth more than that? What more can be thought of beyond being God for one’s own self?
This morning, when we think of what is next, this should be our objective: follow the intellect and see that the mind loses its identity with the body, or the feeling of “I-ness.” This is the hallmark and significant feature of our spiritual journey.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AND THE REALISED STATE
The fourth point to which I would like to draw your attention is the following concept. Someone asked Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, “Swami, what does samadhi look like? What is awareness? What does it look like? What is the blissful state? How does it taste?” The man was asking about its taste, as if bliss is a sweet and can be bought in a candy shop. The man also asked what the blissful state looks like, as if samadhi is a museum. “What is the state of awareness? I have no idea, Swami. Please tell me.”
Do you know what he said? Sri Ramakrishna replied, “My dear son, why do you worry about that which you do not know? How can you think of that which you do not know? How can I tell you what cannot be told? How can anyone speak of that which cannot be described? It has to be experienced, so how can I describe it?”
The disciple did not stop questioning Sri Ramakrishna. The man pleaded with him, saying, “Swami, if you say that you cannot describe it, what am I to do? Where am I to go? I have come a long way.”
The Master replied compassionately, “Once you understand your mistakes, defects and omissions, when you try to remove them, avoid them, and give them up totally, you will enjoy what is the beginning state. The mind is full of thoughts. The mind is stained and tainted. Once these things are gone, there are no mistakes. Identified mistakes lapse, and once they are completely washed away, you will experience what bliss is.”
It is the same for you and me. Therefore, my friends, what is next? The immediate job is to cleanse ourselves, a cleaning process! Yes, once in a while the body has to be cleansed, so it doesn’t fall ill. Similarly, the mind needs to be cleansed now and then, so that it is fit to attain or experience the state of bliss, said Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
ROLE OF THE GURU
How do you go about cleansing? It is quite easy to say give up your identification with your body. Those are just words, letters of the alphabet. Give up the doer-ship─very good─just words, verbosity! Just words and sentences, but what do they mean? How does one do it? How can you give up body identification and go beyond the body?
Now comes the role of a guru. How do you fly? You need a parachute. How can you swim across the ocean? You need a boat or a ship. Similarly, to give up body identification and to grow beyond the mind and intellect, we need a guru. This is very important in our lives. We are extremely fortunate to have Bhagavan Baba as our Sadguru.
I did not simply say guru, I said sadguru. There is a difference between guru and sadguru. A guru is one who transmits knowledge, who directs and guides you. A sadguru is of a different nature.
ROLE OF THE SADGURU
What is His role here? A sadguru will not allow you to deviate. He will not allow you to divert. He will not relax until He sees to it that you come up to His expectations. Until you are put on the right track, He will follow you. That is the reason Baba said long ago, “I shall not forsake you, even if you forsake me. I shall haunt you, I shall chase you, and I shall follow you until you rally ’round, until I achieve what I really wanted through you.” That is why Bhagavan is a sadguru.
We should take advantage of the situation. What do we do, as we think of our Sadguru, our Divine Master? Naturally our mind becomes concentrated and our attention is focused. Otherwise, the mind is a marketplace. If we let it play enough, our mind will be very busy. It doesn’t allow just one thought at a time; sometimes many thoughts come at once.
Time and thought keep company together. Thought flow runs faster than time. Thought is faster than time. Once we go to sleep, we have no idea of the time, but thought continues, projecting in the form of dreams. Thought goes on haunting you, following you even in your dream. Time may stop as you sleep, because you do not know the time. Time stops in your dream, because you are not aware of time. But thought continues.
Thought is very powerful, particularly when we are sitting in relaxation. The mind won’t allow you to just sit and relax. Some people move their hands or feet. They move and talk among themselves. Why? Thoughts will make you restless and won’t allow you to relax. Therefore, my friends, the mind is a busy market, like Chickpet in Bangalore or Connaught Place in New Delhi. The mind is like the Chicago airport, with a flight arriving or leaving every ten seconds. That is the mind.
Once we think of our Sadguru, the Lotus Feet of our Divine Master, who loves us so much, our mind becomes focused. He brought us near Him. We were allowed to know Him only because of His compassion for us. We can be with Him only due to His grace.
THOUGHTLESSNESS IS THE AIM OF SADHANA
It is our responsibility and duty to think of His Lotus Feet for a moment. Once the mind revolves around His Lotus Feet, and is focused on His form, the mind becomes focused and attentive--what we call concentration. The busy traffic comes to a stop. Once you concentrate, what happens? The traffic in the mind comes to a stop. The thought flow comes to a stop, at least for a couple of seconds. In that way, we have stepped forward.
What happens when thoughts are arrested? The mind is in a pure state, meaning that other states are of the disturbing type. Suppose the mind continues to think of dancing. The thought of dance disturbs me because I am not supposed to dance in the morning, evening, and throughout the night. If I think of some sweets or dining everywhere, even in the classroom, my concentration is gone. Even good thoughts disturb you. Bad thoughts are much worse. So thoughts are thoughts, good or bad. Positive or negative, thoughts are going to disturb you.
Thoughtlessness is our aim. Our objective is to stop thought flow. It is the very purpose of spiritual sadhana. Thoughts, whatever they are, plus or minus, are going to disturb us. A pure mind is a thoughtless mind, or “no mind”. Withdrawal of the mind is a pure mind. Then what happens? Thoughts have stopped, so does life stop? I may become frightened. No, no! Life won’t stop, don’t worry. If life stops when the mind stops, we would have been gone long, long ago! In deep sleep the mind doesn’t function, but we wake up the next morning. If the mind stops, it doesn’t mean that life stops.
PURE LOVE DEVELOPS IN THE THOUGHTLESS STATE
My friends, when the mind stops, meaning when thoughts stop because of concentrated attention on the Lotus Feet of our Sadguru, naturally the Divine qualities of love and compassion will find their place. Pure love develops in a thoughtless state. In a state of mind which is pure, we can have pure love, which we call compassion. If it is love without purity, then it is selfish love. If it is love without purity, it may be lust. If it is love without purity, then it is self-centered, possessive, and attached.
For pure love to develop, we should come into the pure state of mind, which is a thoughtless state. We should pray to our Sadguru for a thoughtless state of mind that would continue to be pure and eventually develop into universal love, pure love within ourselves.
When there is pure love within us, what happens? What is happening otherwise? When the love within is confined to me, it is spread only to those closest to me, my immediate family and friends: I, my, them, you. This love is narrow and segmented, fragmented and divided, awful! Things get divided when the mind is centered on ego-self. On the other hand, when the mind is universal and when the love is universal, universal love makes you universal as well. “I am not an individual; I am universal. I am not the physical body; I am Divine.” This experience results in compassion, love which settles in the empty cup of mind . . . the thoughtless state.
THOUGHTLESSNESS DISPELS VASANAS
One example is given by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. The moment you find the light or the moment there is light, darkness dispels on its own. I don’t have to say, “Oh darkness, please go. Let the light come.” It is not necessary to produce a farewell board or a welcome board. The moment light enters, darkness is dispelled.
Similarly, when Divine, universal love settles into a thoughtless state, all vasanas vanish. What are vasanas? Vasanas is a really interesting word. We carry with us the luggage of our past lives. Sometimes we don’t know why we behave in a way of which we are not proud. Sometimes we act in such a way that we feel ashamed. Sometimes we do certain things which we cannot share with anyone. Why does that happen? Why are we diverted? Why are we perverted? Why do we act against our own convictions or feelings? Sometimes we act against ourselves because of vasanas. Vasanas are the traits, qualities, features, consequences and results of several past lives, inscribed as latent tendencies within us.
What happens? I am a saint in the morning, a sinner by night. I am highly spiritual in the morning, totally worldly by night. I am a man of sacrifice in the morning, completely selfish by the afternoon, because vasanas project themselves.
VASANAS APPEAR IN A COMPELLING SITUATION
Someone may say, “I am not like that.” A lady came to see Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and I quote her today: “Swami, I have no ego.” (Laughter) Ramakrishna replied, “‘I have no ego’? The “I” itself is ego. (Laughter) If you are ego-less, then you wouldn’t have said it. Once you say that, it is proof of ego.”
Everyone laughed. Ramakrishna went on to say, “Look here, lady, I’ll tell you if you have ego or pride. Wear a costly silk saree, worth ten thousand rupees, and observe how you behave. You will look at your saree and look at others’ sarees, because yours cost ten thousand rupees. You also will be looking at other faces to see if they care to look at your saree, worth ten thousand rupees. You will be worried until someone comes and asks you where you bought it. (Laughter) You will be worried and very restless until someone says, ‘You look beautiful in this saree. I have not seen anyone else wearing this colour. Where did you buy it? You are the only one carrying that shawl, the only one on the whole street.’ ”
Ramakrishna then said to the lady, “Then you will know whether or not you have pride or ego, not now.” He looked at another man in ordinary clothes and said, “Oh, you are in normal, everyday apparel. Wear a suit and necktie and you will see whether or not you have ego.” In Ramakrishna’s words, when a man wears fine clothes, a full suit and tie, he starts whistling also! (Prof. Anil Kumar whistles) (Laughter)
My friends, I can say that I have no pride. I can say that I am honest and that no one can bribe me. If anyone bribes me and I refuse, I can say that I am honest; but no one is bribing me, so I can say that. However, given the right situation, vasanas are ready to appear, like a spring sofa set, which is Ramakrishna’s example once again. As you sit on a spring sofa set, the springs in the cushions go down. The moment you stand up─zoom!─the springs pop up, something like curly hair. Vasanas are like that.
PEOPLE CORRUPT POWER
Vasanas do not find expression until they get into a congenial, cooperative and supportive atmosphere. A simple example is the statement that power corrupts. Lord Atkins said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!
If someone says that power cannot corrupt, I will reply to them that when they get power, they will be completely corrupted, much worse than others. Power doesn’t corrupt, people corrupt the power. Power is lifeless. Many very humble people remain humble when they are in power. Though they are in power, they remain very simple and humble. But others, while enjoying power, become the other name of ego. What is the cause of ego? What is the cause for their pride? It is not the power, but the person. Let us understand that power will never corrupt the person. When a person has power and has the vasana of ego, the vasana will find expression automatically.
VASANAS DISAPPEAR WITH CONCENTRATION ON THE LOTUS FEET
Concentration on the Feet of the Sadguru will wash away all vasanas, and the balance sheet will be zero. What a wonderful deal it is, if I can call it that! What a wonderful bargain, what a wonderful guarantee, if I may dare say so! Attention to the Feet of the Sadguru will make the mind still, pure, compassionate and loving. It will give you a sense of belonging to the universal, that you are universal and cosmic, not merely an individual.
Besides that, it will clear all your vasanas. In political platforms, some government politicians promise to wipe out all your loans. The loans are not the politicians’, so they propose that the loans can be dissolved. Likewise, the viva (life) of vasanas disappears totally, once we concentrate on the Lotus Feet. I would like to draw your attention to that.
Further, the Guru Gita, which has a title similar to the Bhagavad Gita, records a conversation between Parvati and Lord Shiva. Shiva explains the greatness of the guru to Parvati. No other text is more authentic than the Guru Gita in explaining the power of the guru and the sadguru.
What does the Guru Gita say? When a person falls into the sea and is drowning, only a swimmer or a lifeboat can help the drowning person. If a person, who doesn’t know how to swim, jumps into the sea to help save the drowning person, they will both go to another planet! Someone who wants to rescue a drowning person must first be a good swimmer.
Similarly, when I am struggling in the sea of samsara (illusion), I am struggling in the sea of life. I have no chance of escape at all. I am struggling, breathless, suffocated, disgusted, and totally vexed. Who will come to my rescue? Only one lifeboat, only one saviour, can rescue me--the Feet of the Divine Master.
FAMILY LIFE
The Feet of the Divine Master are life-saving to a person who is struggling hard in the ocean of samsara, in the ocean of family life. No one can say that family life is comfortable. If anyone says so, he is the ultimate hypocrite. Let us keep him at a respectable distance forever and ever. Family life is full of bumps, jumps, and jolts. It cannot be smooth, like a cement road. It is not a bed of roses, certainly not. Family life gives you all kinds of shocks, lashes, and clashes, with the result that you struggle hard and don’t know where you are going.
Life starts with milk or the first cup of coffee in the morning, whether we get up at the right time or not. We are so worried about whether gasoline will be available or not, or whether the maid servant will turn up or not. We are afraid we may miss darshan. We may wake up and go to the darshan hall, but morning darshan may be cancelled. Even if you get front row seating, He may not care to look at you. If you see that He looks at you in the morning, then your problem is whether or not He will look at you in the evening, as if when He looks at you, He has never seen such a beautiful face before. (Laughter)
THE SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE
Our struggle goes on even in the spiritual field, my friends, only with a difference in the painting. The canvas is the same, because we want positions and power. We want prestige, power, and influence, even in the spiritual field. That is why people are restless. Some people suffer on the outside, while others suffer on the inside; but both of them suffer equally. We should understand exactly where the mistake lies. It is not the place that is responsible, rather it is our direction and where we are going. Therefore, we should constantly ask ourselves this question: what next?
The Feet of the Divine Master are like a crane that lifts. The Feet of the Divine Master are like a proclaimer, who collects items and drops them elsewhere, collecting the struggling souls, the human beings, collecting and educating the disturbed, agitated individual drowning in the ocean of life, and moving him to safe land. That is the effect and influence of the Feet of the Divine Master, according to the Guru Gita.
BRAHMATMA BUDDHI
Someone asked Ramana Maharshi, “Swami, how does one attain Brahmatma buddhi?” Brahma means “the universal, the Divine”. Atma means “universal consciousness”. Buddhi means “a type of attitude”. How can I have the type of attitude of universal consciousness or Brahmatma buddhi?
The answer of Ramana Maharshi is simple: when you give up dehatma buddhi, you will get Brahmatma buddhi. You have the buddhi, the temperament and attitude, that you are the body: dehatma buddhi. Once the attitude of dehatma buddhi is gone and body identification is gone, you will have Brahmatma buddhi, identification with the universal consciousness. Ramana Bhagavan says this.
BLAMING OTHERS MAKES US HAPPY
Someone said to Ramana, “Swami, so many people are troubling me. I have so many difficulties due to so many people.” We are always happy when we blame someone else, yes! If my son commits a mistake, I don’t blame my son. It is the fault of the neighbor’s son. If I ask my son why he received low grades in school, he may answer that the teacher did not teach him well. Oh, I see.
We are very happy to blame someone else. We are not here to be responsible for ourselves. That is why people say, “Oh, my God, if I get first class, I will break twenty coconuts!” Or, “Oh, my God, if I get a visa to go to the United States, I will offer my hair to You!” Visa versus hair, very good! You want dollars, and give Him hair. I don’t know why we make these offers to God, when even an ordinary businessman will not accept such a deal! Do you tell anyone that you will give them hair, if they give you five dollars? (Laughter)
People make this simple statement: “Someone is giving me trouble, and so that person is responsible for my difficulties.” In a recent discourse Baba said, “Let us not blame anyone.” No one else is responsible for my failure or my success. No one else is responsible for my achievement or my fall. No one else is responsible for my victory or my defeat today. No one else is responsible; only I am responsible!
Why? There is no “other”; I am the only one. How can I blame someone else? Suppose I ask you, “Would you wait for awhile, please? I am talking to someone else.” Naturally you will sit there waiting; that is expected. But suppose I am not talking to someone else inside and I say to you, “I am talking, so would you mind waiting outside?” By the time I come out, you would have run away, saying, “That man is mad! No one is there, yet he tells me that he is talking to another person.” You would naturally conclude that you went to the wrong place.
EKAM EVA-ONLY ONE
My friends, there is only One-without-a-second: Ekam eva. Ekam means “one”, eva means “only”, and adityam means “One-without-a-second”. Brahman or God is the only One-without-a-second. Therefore, when I blame you and think that you are responsible for my mistakes, it means that I think you are separate from me. Actually you are not responsible for my failure. No, you are not separate from me. Good or bad are the reactions, reflections and the sounds of my own thought and my own action.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa gave us a wonderful example. Suppose I have a fruit in my left hand, but transfer it from my left hand to my right hand. Shall I say that one hand is dirty and the other is lucky? Shall I say that one hand is beautiful, and one ugly? Both hands belong to me. Likewise, other people are not actually “others”. They are all you—the One in the apparent many: Eko ham bhavshyam means “the One into many”. “One into many” is the understanding that one is no other, but is the only One that exists. All the multiplicity, all the apparent reality, is our own imagination.
Many examples have been given in the past. Does it matter if we repeat them? As Baba said, “If you don’t mind taking coffee, many cups every day over the last sixty years, why are you disgusted to hear anything for the second time?” A number of examples exist. We may see many earthen pots full of water. In every pot is the reflection of the moon: ten pots, ten moons. Shall I tell you that you have only one moon, but that I have ten moons, and I shall show you the ten moons? How can that be? There is only one moon, and all the rest are reflections.
Similarly, this kind of jagat (universe) is nothing but the reflection of Jagadeeshwara, the Divine Himself, the Divine reflection. The Creator reflects by way of creation. There will be One only. That is our true understanding of the real Self.
What next? We continue next week, on the same day and at the same time. Thank you for being here this morning. Thank you very much.
Professor Anil Kumar finished his talk by singing “Bhajamana Narayana Narayana Narayana.”
OM…OM…OM
Asato Maa Sad Gamaya
Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya
Mrtyormaa Amrtam Gamaya
Om Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu
Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu
Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
Jai Bolo Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Babaji ki Jai!
Jai Bolo Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Babaji ki Jai!
Jai Bolo Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Babaji ki Jai!