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The Sunday Talk Given by Prof. Anil Kumar

“Two Resolutions for 2010”

January 17, 2010

OM…OM…OM…

Sai Ram

My humble Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

TWO RESOLUTIONS FOR 2010

The topic for this morning is “Two Resolutions for 2010.” What are these two? These two resolutions are what we will come to understand in the course of the talk this morning.

HAVE RESPECT FOR LIFE

The first of the two topics is “Respect for Life.” We should have respect for life. The year 2010 should be full of respect for life. What do I mean by that? Do we have respect for life? No! If we have respect for life, why are we behaving the way we are today? Go through any newspaper, or watch any TV channel at the local or the global level, and you will find that wars, conflicts, contradictions, misunderstandings, and group thinking prevail. There is no love, only hatred, while the world is threatened by nuclear holocaust. The whole world can be burnt to ashes any moment. Is that a sign of respect for life? I don’t think so.

Apart from that kind of selfishness, politics, power, and concentration on finance and money have almost made us disrespectful of life. Therefore, I thought that of the “Two Resolutions for 2010,” the first topic must be respect for life. If you have respect for life, the whole earth will be a paradise, all your fellowmen will be angels, and you will have a heavenly experience, with the spirit of respect for life.

FOUNDATION OF ETHICS IS RESPECT OF LIFE

In particular, ethics speak of this respect for life. In ethical values, respect for life is at the highest order and highest level. There can be no ethics at all if we have no respect for life; therefore, the fundamental teaching of ethics lies in respect for life. Let us develop this theme more and more. If we have no respect for life, then you may ask what the effects are. What may happen if we have no respect for life? The answer is simple: you will be unreasonable, losing all sense of reason. There will be no “I” logic, no rationale, and no scientific thinking. Everything will be in darkness if you lose respect for life. What you speak and the way you act will not stand the test of reason, logic, or scientific evidence. A lack of respect results in a life which is not reasonable.

Here’s the second point: if we lose respect for life, then what does that mean? It means a state

of thoughtlessness ─ ”I have no thought.” A man of thought will have respect for life. When you are thoughtless, you don’t think of tomorrow, and you don’t think of your fellowmen or community. Therefore, you are thoughtless if you have no respect for life.

Thirdly, a lack of respect for life takes you to war. War results because of the lack of respect for life. Therefore, my friends, I think that respect for life should be given priority in this year of 2010. What do I mean by that? Many things can be said about having respect for life.

DEVELOP TRUE AND PURE LOVE

To sum it up, to put it into two words, respect for life means sympathy and love. Have sympathy and love. These two are enough to cultivate and develop the spirit of respect for life. What do I mean by love? Love, as we know and experience, is attachment, which is certainly not true love. True love is not infatuation, nor is it possessiveness. Real love does not have ego or attachment, nor is it mundane, self-centred, narrow-minded, regional, factional, or linguistic. Love is universal, fundamental, Divine, and free of blemishes. This kind of love wants you to love all beings. This is what Baba says: “Love all and serve all.” When you love, you feel like serving all beings.

“Love all beings” means loving not merely human beings, but all birds, beasts and animals. Today, we find cows being killed in slaughter houses. If we visit mutton shops, we see how sheep are mercilessly killed. Killing an animal means that you have not given that animal the right to live. Just as you have the right to live, an animal also has the right to live. You cannot rob it of its right. This fundamental right is to live. By killing animals you are denying their basic right to live. Love means loving all beings: human beings, plants, and animals, as well as the whole universe or organic world.

Love means not causing pain to anyone. My friends, when we talk we may offend someone unknowingly. When we devise certain plans, our manoeuvring and manipulation may lead to pain for someone. Our thought process may be the cause of pain for another. We may also pain others by our actions. So let us be cautious, and know that love means not inflicting pain on anyone by thoughts, words, or deeds.

SACRIFICE IS AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE

Love also means sacrifice. A mother is ready to sacrifice her life for the life of her child. Why? It is because of her love. A wife is ready to sacrifice her life for the life of her husband. Why? It’s because of her love for her husband. Therefore, sacrifice is an expression of love. Where there is no sacrifice, there is no love, only selfishness. The expression of love is sacrifice; the absence of sacrifice is selfishness. Therefore, let us learn to sacrifice. Baba sacrifices all His time, energies, and resources for all of humanity to make everyone happy, and so that everyone may lead a prosperous and blissful life. A happy, healthy, and pleasurable life lies in making others happy. There will be no pleasure if you cause pain to others. So love means not inflicting any pain on anyone, and developing the spirit of sacrifice.

TRUE LOVE IS LOVE FOR GOD

Above all, true love is love for God. Spiritual love for God is Divine. In a social setting, when you love God you love everyone, because the same God is present in everyone. If you love socially, it is not possible to love everyone, because you have your own limitations, your own ideas, dogma, fundamentalism, agenda, goals, and motives, which will never allow you to love all. In order to love all, you should love God first. When you love God, you will be able to love everyone. That kind of love is Divine. That love is spiritual. That life is God’s life.

God’s life is not anything different from human life. Human life is governed by certain limitations, but God’s life is beyond. We do have love. If this love grows above and beyond our limitations, and if that love is ever expanding, then that is true love. To quote Baba, “Expansion of love is life.” This is the quality of Divine love. Therefore, my friends, respect for life is the first of the two resolutions for the year 2010.

RESPECT FOR LIFE LEADS TO INNER REALITY

Respect for life also wants us to “be,” and not to “be seen.” We may appear to be good, but let us actually be good, and not just appear to be good. Let us be spiritual, and not simply appear to be spiritual. Let us be honest, not only appear to be honest. “To be” is more important than “to appear.” This is a sign of true respect for life. When you respect your life you will not be a hypocrite. You will never have double standards; you don’t cheat yourselves or deceive others. Why? Because you are what you are. You are in a state of being. Be and never want to be. Never wish to be. Never only appear to be, but be always what you are. Be what you should be. That is the sign of respect for life.

When you are in that state of “be,” it will take you to your “being”─ the true reality. The reality is being ─ being is possible from the state of “to be.” From “be” to “being.” If you just appear to be, you are only an actor. It is only a drama, and in a drama you are not what you should be. You appear to be the role you play. In a drama you may play the role of Jesus Christ. You appear to be Christ, but you are not Christ. But if you imitate Christ, if you follow his footsteps, you are the Christ. Be a Christ, and don’t merely appear to be a Christ. This is respect for life. When you are in that state of “be,” it is easy to experience “being” ─ your inner reality and your true, cosmic, universal Self.

THE BENEFITS OF RESPECT FOR LIFE

Then you may ask me another question. What are the benefits if I have respect for life? What do I get? Or what are the profits and gains if we respect life? Well, the first and foremost is that you will be creative. You will have creative powers because life is creative. Why? It is the gift of the Creator. He has given this life to be creative. You can be creative if you have respect for life.

Second, if you have respect for life you are ready to help anybody in times of need. You are ready to extend your helping hand to the poor and suffering. This will make you a man of action ─ a karma yogi. This is the sign of respect for life.

When you respect your life, you develop awareness, alertness, wakefulness, and watchfulness of your inner being, of what you really are: not what others think you are, not what you think you are, but what you really are. Respect for life will help you to experience being what you really are. That is the third point.

Fourthly, respect for life will make you responsive, receptive and sensitive to the suffering of others, as when an area is affected by a tsunami, floods, or earthquakes. We read in the newspaper today that in Haiti, because of the earthquake, one hundred thousand people have died. What havoc and damage that earthquake has brought into the Haitian people’s lives! Immediately we find the whole world responding. President Obama announced that the United States is ready for rescue operations. You find all the nations ready to help Haiti and the earthquake victims. Recently Andhra Pradesh, Kurnool, and Mahboob Nagar were affected by floods. The whole country came together. Gujarat was affected by an earthquake. Everyone took up rescue operations voluntarily. This is respect for life. To help others is certainly an expression and manifestation of your respect for life.

RESPECT FOR LIFE CREATES FREEDOM AND PERFECTION

A man who has respect for life will enjoy freedom. What do you mean by freedom? My friends, we think freedom means to act in the way one wants, to speak in the way one wishes to. No! Freedom means to act in the way you should and to speak in the way you should so that you can enjoy this freedom. This kind of freedom is the birthright of a person who has respect for life.

Respect for life also wants you to be perfect. Perfection is the aim of a man who has respect for life. A man doesn’t want to be imperfect, or semi-successful .He wants to be one-hundred percent successful. That is a sign of respect for life. How to be a man of perfection is the next question. As an example, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba said, “The end of culture is perfection. The end of knowledge is love. The end of education is character. The end of wisdom is freedom.” Baba refers to perfection as culture.

BABA IS OUR ROLE MODEL

Let us observe Baba. How can He be a man of perfection? What is the fundamental secret of His life, so that He is an example of perfection? That perfection lies in His simplicity and humility. Baba is extremely humble, totally simple. His simplicity and humility are the fundamental secrets that make Him a man of perfection. He never expects any prominence, domination, position, recognition, propaganda, or anything. That makes Him a man of perfection. Therefore, my friends, if we want to be men of perfection, the ultimate expression of our respect for life lies in being simple and humble, that is all. That brings us everything, all credits and honours, which makes us closer, nearer, and dearer to God Himself.

What kind of simplicity does Baba have? What kind of humility does Baba have? Let us observe Him. I will give you one example: Baba made a porridge of cereal, milk and sugar for a boy who fell sick. Baba showed His motherly love in an utterly simple way. I also see Baba going close to poor people. In His biography it is written that Baba visited the house of a cobbler. He spent some time in the cobbler’s hut. That is His simplicity.

You will also see Him very close to beggars, who are very poor people. There were times when Baba asked all the peons and helpers in the ashram to sing, and Swami went close to them in His wheelchair. He surrounded Himself with helpers, peons, and attendants, who were poor people. He was very joyful. That is His sign of simplicity.

At one time He called all the village artists and directed them to enact a drama. They were all rural people cut off from the madding crowds, with no sign of urbanisation and civilisation. Yet He was very happy with them. That is the sign of simplicity. The kind of respect He gives to others is a sign of humility. How He respects others’ feelings, how He respects others’ views, how He respects others’ positions, and how He respects you as a true human being, are all signs of His humility.

You should see Him feeding the poor or serving during Narayana Seva. He is personal proof of simplicity as He feeds birds and dogs in Brindavan, Bangalore. You should see the animals jump on Him when He comes close. The ducks come close to Him with their wings fluttering on either side; the peacocks jump for joy when coming closer to Him. He has love for everyone, and is a perfect example of humility and utter simplicity.

A man who has respect for life will not be ambitious. Every ambition binds you to this world and puts you in the cycle of birth and death. Every ambition and desire is bondage. Baba has no ambition. Therefore, my friends, to develop respect for life is to share those qualities. This is one of the two resolutions for the year 2010.

MAKE MEDITATION A PRIORITY IN 2010

Now I refer to the second resolution. What is the second resolution for 2010? Let this year be a year for meditation. For a long time we have sung bhajans. Beginning in Baba’s fourteenth year, He has consistently spoken of namasmarana, and of bhajans, singing His glory. He has given us plenty of activities and literature, but now the time has come.

This year is the eighty-fifth year of the advent of the Avatar. The eighty-fifth birthday of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba falls in this year of 2010. It is now time to rise and improve the quality of our spiritual life. We should now be mature enough in our spiritual path. True maturity on a spiritual path is meditation. The topmost priority on our spiritual path should be given to meditation; therefore, the number two resolution for 2010 is meditation.

THE RESULT OF MEDITATION

Let me present to you certain points regarding meditation. I am not advocating any particular procedure or particular path to be adopted. You follow your own path; you follow your own way. I am not going to impose, dictate, or prescribe any specific method now. Meditation is meditation, whatever method you may follow.

Do we understand what meditation is? Before I go into detail, let me tell you one thing: you may eat any of the food in the South Indian, North Indian, or the Western canteens. The purpose of eating there is to satisfy your hunger and to appease your appetite. That is the result. Similarly, what is the result of meditation? Thoughtlessness, or withdrawal of the mind, or annihilation of the mind, is the sign of fulfilment of meditation. You can say it is true meditation only when you attain that thoughtless, “no mind” state. That is the mark of meditation.

Now let me explain certain other aspects relating to meditation. We often wonder why we should meditate. We think meditation is a spiritual activity which we can take up later, and not at this age, not now. We may sometimes doubt that it is possible to meditate, that meditation is meant for sages and saints who spend their time in forests, and that meditation is meant for celibates, brahmacharis, yogis, or renunciants.

No, my friends, today the whole world has come to know that meditation is for everyone. I will speak on the general application of meditation and its use. For your reference, I would appreciate it if you would read the Dhyana Vahini, written by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. In the Dhyana Vahini He explains all aspects of dhyana, or meditation, including the method.

MEDITATION Increases BODILY HEALTH

Now let me deal with some related aspects of meditation. This will surely be a surprise, my friends, because you think meditation is something different. No! Meditation will serve your body. Meditation is very important for your body. It is not for life after death. I will talk of other things, but first, meditation is very important for your physique and your body. Meditate for your body. Why? Experiments by doctors and top researchers the world over have revealed that meditation will help you fight infections, such as viral fevers, bacterial infections, cough, colds, etcetera. You can fight these infections through meditation.

Secondly, we also have chronic diseases. People are frustrated because of chronic diseases, as there is no escape from them. Researchers have shown concrete examples of winning over chronic diseases by meditation. So meditate for your body. God has given us some immunity inside our bodies. The body will not catch any disease immediately. There is some resistance within us. When our strength of resistance, or immunity, becomes weaker and weaker, less and less, we fall sick quite often. Our grandfathers were very healthy. Why? It’s because they had very high levels of resistance in their bodies. We fall sick often. Why? It is because of very low levels of resistance in our bodies. Immunity is less and less within us. Experiments have proven that you have more resistance and immunity with meditation.

Next point: to be alive, one has to be fit. One should be healthy. Without being healthy, what is this life for? We don’t want to lead a sickly life. To be fit and to be healthy, meditate. Meditation is for health and fitness. We also take medicine; there is nothing wrong with that. We have general hospitals and super speciality hospitals. We have all kinds of diseases. Physicians and surgeons are busy everywhere, and you can go in for a treatment. Go for a treatment when you fall sick, but meditation will give you additional strength for the treatment to be effective. The treatment should be effective, and bring about a swift cure. For the treatment to be effective, you need meditation as a support. Therefore, meditate, so that the treatment or therapy will be effective.

MEDITATION RESTORES ENERGY

Next, my friends, in this age full of tension, worries, and anxieties, we don’t go to bed early. Even if we go to bed early, we don’t get to sleep immediately. We think of the day’s problems, the current problems, and the next day’s problems. Most of them are imaginary. Past regrets and future tensions do not allow us to go to sleep. So our sleep period is reduced. We don’t sleep even five to six hours because of tension; therefore, we miss some necessary time for sleep. The sleeping period is cut short because of worries, resulting in lost rest. The next day we become weak, passive, and restless. If anyone asks why you are like that, your answer is, “I couldn’t sleep well last night. I missed my sleep last night.” Sleeplessness will make you passive and inactive. You may sleep, but you may not have enough sleep. When you do not have enough sleep, the next day your activity and your performance will be affected.

Now, if you meditate, through meditation that period of rest lost in the previous night is compensated. Meditation compensates for the loss of rest during sleeping hours. The period of rest lost on the previous night is amply compensated by meditation, so that you can be fully energetic and dynamic. These are the effects of meditation on our body. Please understand that. Therefore, don’t take meditation lightly.

MEDITATION REMOVES STRESS AND TENSION

Meditation has an effect on our mind. How? There is a famous doctor named Dr. Brian Weiss. Dr. Brian Weiss clearly explains that meditation will definitely help rid you of the fear complex. Most of us are fear-stricken. We live in constant fear, what is called fear psychosis. This fear psychosis is haunting us, day-in and day-out. Meditation will make you fearless and will make you free from this psychosis.

Another doctor, Dr. Dean Ornish, who is a famous cardiologist, says that we sometimes end up as heart patients because of tension. Heart disease can be caused by tension and stress. Dr. Ornish will tell you that if you suffer from coronary heart disease or arterial disease, your heart disease can be reversed. One can overcome even coronary heart disease with meditation. The heart disease that is caused by tension and stress can take us to doom or death, but meditation is a cure.

Stresses and tensions can cause heart diseases, and also other diseases such as insomnia, migraines, and hypertension. These diseases are due to tension and stress. Meditation is a cure. Meditation will make you stress-free and tension-free, so that you will never become a victim to these diseases.

MEDITATION BALANCES THE MIND

There’s another point made by researchers at Harvard University in the United States. My friends, in the world today there are homes for the aged. Elderly people are kept in homes for the aged. The elderly wait for Father’s Day or Mother’s Day, when their children come to visit them. Most of the old people in homes for the aged are depressed and frustrated, because they are cut off from family ties with their kith and kin. Because the chain of love is broken, they are depressed. But, my friends, when these elderly people meditate, they have longer lives. They get rid of their frustration and depression. Meditation is the solution for depression and frustration, and it prolongs life in comfort. Even for the aged, meditation is the solution.

Baba has given us a program of silent sitting for bal vikas children. All bal vikas children should practice silent sitting from childhood. In our bhajan sessions all over the world, you must have noticed that at the end of bhajans, lights in all Sai centres are immediately switched off so that participants can meditate. Even in Prashanthi Nilayam, after bhajans devotees are allowed to go and sit in the Mandir to meditate. Meditation is necessary for children, school-aged boys and girls, youth, and all students at the university level. Why? Meditation improves your intelligence. You will become more intelligent, creative, and alert by the process of meditation.

When there is tension or worry in the mind, electrical waves move all over the body and make one feel weak, diffident, and unwanted. Through meditation the power of electrical waves can be reduced, so that you can remain calm, serene, and balanced in the midst of situations usually leading to tension. Even in storms or even in the midst of tensions, you can have serenity, calmness, and equanimity. Meditation will balance the mind and silence the electrical waves that make your mind weak.

PSYCHOSOMATIC EFFECTS OF MEDITATION

Therefore, meditation is the solution that helps balance both your mind and body. The body and mind are not totally independent. The mind affects the body, and the body affects the mind. This is called a psychosomatic relationship, the relationship between the body and the mind. So far I have explained the effects of meditation on the body, and of the effects of meditation on the mind. Now let us learn about psychosomatic effects of the body and mind together.

First: you feel revitalised, rejuvenated, and full of activity and energy. A meditative person is always active. You will never find that a person loses their spirit while they meditate. A meditative mind will always be active. So meditation will improve our sleeping patterns, which means the sleeping period is not cut short or extended because of getting up late in the morning or going to bed late in the night. Such sleeping patterns are disruptive, but meditation will improve them.

In addition, the body has important vital organs, like the brain and heart, which require blood supply. With meditation, blood circulation is increased and regulated to all vital organs in the human body. Not only that, but when organs are unbalanced and there is no supply of or generation of hormones in the body, we fall sick. Hormones should be generated within our body and should be stimulated. The human body has a built-in system similar to a recorder: the speaker and a camera are built into the system. Similarly, hormones are generated in the human body. When the hormones are not generated, there is an imbalance. Meditation will certainly help stimulate the formation of healthy hormones.

Sometimes we become numb, and lose the connection in our thought processes or memory, speaking on one point until the thread is disconnected, and then speaking on another point. The continuity of thought is gone. Why? Brain cells are not alert, not energetic. Therefore, to optimise brain cell functioning, meditation is necessary.

THE CURE FOR HARMFUL ADDICTIONS

Furthermore, today we have become addicts to all kinds of medications. You find people swallowing so many pills, six or seven pills every morning. That is why everyone wants breakfast to be ready, because the drugs cannot be taken without breakfast. Unless one eats something solid, one cannot take a tablet for blood pressure or diabetes. So you need to eat something. We depend on drugs, but meditation will help eliminate our dependence on drugs. Dependence on drugs will lessen with meditation, according to research being conducted today.

All over the world we find youth taking drugs like marijuana, taking injections like ephedrine, and having bad habits, like addictions to alcohol and smoking. These things are going on everywhere; it is almost a global threat. Though we know alcohol is injurious, most drinkers are not able to give it up. Though we know tobacco is injurious, most smokers are not able to give it up. So we are addicted to those vices and bad habits, but meditation is a cure for all harmful addictions. You will be free from all these things, if you are man of meditation.

MEDITATION REVERSES THE AGING PROCESS

Baba is very smart, even at the age of eighty-five. He has not lost his memory. Why go to the extent of Bhagavan Baba, or even Mother Teresa, who was very active till her last day? Why are they active? Some are conscious till their last minute, and they don’t die in a coma or in unconsciousness. They are fully conscious till the last breath. Some people, in spite of their old age, are very active. Why? Meditation reverses the aging process. Some people grow younger and younger, day-by-day, even though the calendar will show them getting older and older. By the calendar they are older, but by meditation they are younger. Meditation reverses the aging process, because the brain cells do not die.

The decaying process of brain cells is slowed down by meditation, so that you can continue to be young and smart. That is one thing. Now, my friends, I present the results of a scientific experiment. When you sleep for four to five hours, there is a reduction of about eight percent in your metabolic rate during sleep, which means relaxation for the body, so that you feel relaxed physically. However, with meditation, a twenty percent drop in the metabolic rate is observed. In meditation, the body relaxes by twenty percent, whereas in sleep the body relaxes by only about eight percent. This is a research finding.

JYOTHI MEDITATION

Therefore, my friends, meditation is the second resolution for 2010. Meditation in general, the broad spectrum of meditation, cleanses and purifies our mind, making us free from stress and tension. Meditation will make us more sensitive, more receptive, and more aware of ourselves, our reality, and of our purpose in life. Meditation will help us come closer and closer to God, the supreme Self. When the individual self becomes one with the supreme Self, it leads to oneness, or Divinity. Therefore, my friends, two resolutions for 2010 happen to be respect for life and meditation. May Bhagavan bless you.

I repeat once again that the Dhyana Vahini will help you in this respect, and so will jyothi dhyana ─ meditation on the lamp. Imagine a lamp at the centre of your two eyebrows. Imagine light all over your body, and light around your surroundings. It is the light that unifies and harmonises the body, mind, and soul, and the light that binds you together in perfect unison with all your surroundings, expressing the unity of the Divine. That is how to explain jyothi meditation.

PRANAYAMA─BREATH MANAGEMENT

There is another type of meditation: pranayama, or breathing exercises. This breathing exercise meditation has three steps. First inhale or puraka; second, after inhalation, when you retain your breath is called kumbhaka; then third, exhale or rechaka. Inhalation or breathing in (puraka), retention (kumbhaka) and exhalation (rechaka), these three steps combined are called pranayama.

First, the time taken to breathe in should be equal to the time taken to breathe out. Second, the time taken to breathe in and the time take to breathe out should equal the amount of time as the time taken for retention. By this process of breath management, you will have control over your thoughts.

Thought management results from breath management, which is meditation. But Baba warns us that this process is difficult, and that pranayama should be done under the supervision of an expert, because it’s possible to damage your lungs and have your mind turn mad performing pranayama.

SOHAM

The third type of meditation is what you call “watch your breath.”

Swasa Pai Dhyasa

Swasa means breath, and dhyasa is concentration. “Watch your breath” is what Swami says, also called Soham. Breathe in and breathe out. As you think of breathing in and breathing out, the Soham process, think “I am that. I am God.” This is the breathing process, or Soham. This process of meditation is the best, because we already unknowingly doing it in the breathing process. We breathe in and breathe out, but when we are aware or conscious of it, it becomes meditation. If you are not aware of it, it is a physical process. If you are conscious of it, it is meditation.

May Baba help you in the process of meditation, which will be the ultimate on your spiritual path. Sai Ram.

OM…OM…OM…

Asatoma sadgamaya

Tamasoma jyothirgamaya

Mrityorma amrithangamaya

Om Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu

Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Jai Bolo Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Babaji ki Jai!