Give up Selfishness and Strive for Self-Realisation Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Dasara Discourse 27 September 2006

Give up selfishness and strive for self-realisation

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Dasara Prasanthi Nilayam 27 September 2006

The physical world as perceived by the naked are only temporary. They are never real and eyes is considered as truth. permanent. But Divinity is not like that. Di- But it is only illusory. vinity is what it is —yesterday, today, and Divinity is the only reality. tomorrow. It is Divinity always! Unable to realise this truth, people are wasting their time. Not reposing your faith in such a true and (Telugu poem) eternal God, you are deluded into thinking that what you see in this objective world is Embodiments of Love! true. Hence, first and foremost, try to recog- God is only one, now and forever. Not realis- nise the eternal truth. Only when you have ing this truth, you are wasting your precious recognised the Truth are you deemed to have time thinking that all that you see in this ob- recognised everything else. All others are jective world is true. No! None of these ob- only transitory. The entire universe is subject jects is real. Truth is eternal, beyond the three to change. It is temporary and unreal. Today's periods of time —past, present, and future. mountain may be reduced to a mere hillock That is Divinity. tomorrow. Today's rivulet may transform it- self into a mighty river tomorrow. How foolish it is to think that the worldly vi- sion, which is subject to change from time to The country of Bharat was once beautifully time, is real. You are a student today. Tomor- described as: “lofty mountains, large rivers, row, you will become an officer in an organi- huge trees with many branches, which make it sation, and, after some years you will be a re- a beautiful country.” tired officer. Then, which is true? Is it the life People today repose their faith in ephemeral as a student or as an officer or as a retired of- and unreal world and forget God, who is the ficial? embodiment of truth. That is the root cause A boy and a girl wish to get married. Before for all the sorrows and difficulties faced by their marriage, who is husband and who is humanity. You say you are encountering dif- wife? Once they are married, they are referred ficulties. From where did they come? Diffi- to as husband and wife. But how long does culties are the consequences of one's past this relationship last? It is only temporary. deeds and thoughts. Thus, all that you see in this objective world Everything in this world is susceptible to and all the relationships between individuals change. It appears to be unchanging, but it is not true. God is the only changeless principle.

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We have therefore to install such a changeless As long as one has attachment to the physical and eternal God in the altar of our sacred body, one has to experience sorrows and dif- hearts and offer our love to Him. Thereby, we ficulties and sin and merit. can experience bliss. That is the foremost The body is made up of five elements and duty of a human being. What is human life, is bound to perish sooner or later. after all? Is it merely eating, drinking, sleep- But the indweller has neither birth no ing, and dying ultimately? By doing so, how death. can the human life be termed as sacred? The indweller has no attachment whatsoever and is the eternal witness. Man, at the time of his birth, is very pure and (Telugu poem) sacred. As he grows old, gradually he loses his purity. This is not proper. A human being The dehi (Indweller) in the deha (physical has always to maintain their purity. body) is eternal. It is referred to as the Atma. We identify the physical body with certain Take, for example, My case. I was born. I names. For example, the name “Anil Kumar” grew up to be a boy, youth, and old person. is an identification of a particular form. Simi- But the childlike simplicity and purity are al- larly, the name “Sathya Sai Baba” represents ways there in Me. I am always like a child. As this physical body. It is not possible to iden- age advances, there might be several changes tify the physical bodies, without names. in the physical body. They are all at the physical level. It is only out of our delusion A human being lives in the world, donning a that we are exposed to the arishadvargas (the physical body that is ephemeral. All that we six enemies of desire, anger, greed, delusion, see in the objective world are the creation of pride, and jealousy). As a result, we are un- our own mind. What we cannot see with our able to realise the Atma (Self). physical eyes is the truth. That is the Atma. Hence, when someone enquires, “Who are It is said, Jantunam nara janma durlabham you?”, you should reply, “I am the Atma.” Do (Of all living beings, human birth is the rar- not refer to the name given to your physical est). Having attained such a rare birth as a body. human being, you have to strive for self- realisation. Do not waste our energies in The name given to your physical body is the worldly pursuits. one that is given to it by your parents. The whole world calls you by this name only. It is One who is a realised soul is the liberated per- not the name that is important. Both name and son in the real sense. Such a person constantly form are temporary and unreal. As long as contemplates upon the Atma. On the other you live in this world, they are relevant. The hand, one who is constantly engaged in the moment you depart from this world, none pursuit of material comforts has their gaze cares for them. fixed on the panchabhuthas (the five elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space), pancha For example, a millionaire has plenty of koshas (five sheaths of the soul) and panchen- money and is, in fact, rolling in wealth. His driyas (five senses). end is nearing. He is undergoing great suffer- ing. All his relatives surrounding him are rest- One who realises the truth that the physical less. In fact, they are weeping. Exactly in that body is ephemeral and the mind is like a mad moment, wisdom dawns on him. He is re- monkey will develop an insight into the inner minded of Adi Sankara's verse: Self. The physical body is like a water bubble. People know about it, yet they lead their lives Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam, reposing their faith in such a physical body. Punarapi janani jathare sayanam.

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Oh Lord! dertaking sacred activities. That is why the I am caught up in this cycle of birth and death. nine forms of devotion have been prescribed Time and again, I experience the agony ofbe- as sadhana (spiritual exercises): sravanam ing in the mother's womb. (listening), kirtanam (singing), Vishnusma- He has realised the fact that all his relatives ranam (contemplating on Vishnu), padaseva- and friends care for him as long as he was nam (serving His Lotus Feet), vandanam alive. He felt very sorry for his pitiable state (salutation), archanam (worship), dasyam and wailed, “My dear ones! All that I have (servitude), sneham (friendship), and At- earned during my life has been handed over to manivedanam (self-surrender). you. Even the palatial buildings and big man- One has to adopt any one of these sadhanas sions that I have built have been handed over for pollution control. Humanness is not con- to you. My bank deposits have also been fined merely to jivatwa (life force); it is asso- given away to you. Yet, you do not care to ciated with Daivatwa (Divinity). Every hu- think about me and are worried about your man being, in fact every living being, is an own future.” embodiment of Divinity verily! Even the in- True. People are worried only about wealth sects and bacteria! and property as long as they live in this world. What sadhana is a human being expected to They do not think at all about what will hap- undertake? Sadhana does not mean mere pen to the life principle after their death. As physical exercise. It is an enquiry into Truth long as there is life-force in the body, people at the level of the mind and intellect. What is are deluded to think, “It is my body, my mind, Truth? Is it the body or the mind or the intel- etc.” lect? No, none of these. The mind is a mad You are now sitting in this hall. As soon as monkey. It is fickle in nature. If you follow you get up and take two steps, you do not such a fickle mind, you cannot reach your true know what will happen to you. Once you de- destination. It has to be discarded one day or part from this world, who is related to whom? the other. Who are your friends and relatives? No rela- However, food and recreation are necessary to tionships at all! Hence, the physical body a certain extent to protect the body. Even that should not be given too much importance. food has to be pure and sathwic. If you thus Purify the body by undertaking good deeds. carry on your activities and lead a sacred life, Since people develop many kinds of relation- what more sadhana is required? ship with the external world, they are afflicted Whatever activities you may undertake, you with several impurities. Only when such im- must constantly contemplate on the Soham purities are cleared to a certain extent will one mantra, which reminds you of your innate di- keep good health. vinity with each inhaling and exhaling proc- For example, there were rains a few days ago. ess. The same principle has been explained in Because of the rains, the water was polluted. the mahavakya (great aphorism), “Aham Several people who drank the polluted water Brahmasmi (I am Brahma)” in the Vedas. became sick. In many places, people suffered From the time you get up from your bed till due to their ill health. you go to sleep, you must constantly remind yourself that you are verily Brahman and not Today, the food we eat, the water we drink, merely a human being made up of the five and even the air we breathe are all polluted. elements. Hence, this widespread pollution has to be controlled at least to a certain extent by un-

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You must develop the faith that God is your physical heart is enlarged, it needs surgery. mother, father, and everything else and that Develop love. Only then can you be called a He alone is your sustainer and refuge. After real human being. all, who gave you your mother? Is it not God? Dear students! Everything in this world is by God's grace only. If you forget God and concentrate on You think Swami's discourses are very sim- other thoughts, you will lose everything in ple. But, the entire essence of the Vedas is life. If you constantly contemplate on God, all contained in them. The essence of all the sas- worldly thoughts will leave you. Hence, culti- tras (spiritual texts) is to be found in Swami's vate godly thoughts with love. Prema muditha words. manase kaho Rama Rama Ram (Sing the Why should you be proud of your education? sweet name of Rama with your heart filled However high academic degrees a person with love). Love is God. God is love. may have acquired, a human being must al- Devoid of this love, there is no mother, no ways conduct themself with humility and father, no brother, no wife. Everything is suf- obedience. Education with humility is the fused with love. It is only for our conven- watchword. At the mental level, one must be ience, for our pleasure, and for our own self- desireless. Only then can one be called a hu- ish purposes that we develop worldly rela- man being. tionships. Hence, give up selfishness and Excessive desires lead to danger. Do not in- strive for self-realisation. You must enquire dulge in unnecessary desires. That will lead to into yourself, “Who am I? Body, mind, intel- waste of time. Time waste is life waste! Time lect, chittha (consciousness), or ahamkara is God, don't waste time. Even the little time (ego)?” You are none of these. You are your- at your disposal must be spent in contempla- self. “I am I.” Recognise this truth. tion on the Soham (I am God) mantra. Only You are all pursuing education and acquiring then will your birth as a human being be sanc- academic degrees like BA, BCom, MBA. tified. How many people are there with such de- If you go on wasting your time in reading grees! What service do they render to society? newspapers, all that you acquire will only be They are all concerned with their own career useless. Nowadays, newspapers have degen- and earning. They do not at all help others. erated into a nuisance. You find all sorts of All this worldly education is for making one's unnecessary things in the newspapers. You own living. That is not the purpose of educa- might have seen several advertisements with tion. obscene pictures in the newspapers daily. You must render selfless service. The fruit of What sort of pictures are they? Fie on them! all actions must be sacrificed. Only a person We don't like to go through such newspapers who does this deserves to be called a yogi. A at all! These are not the stuff we have to read. yogi is not one who merely sits under a tree We have to visualise God, who is beyond and meditates, closing their eyes. Real sacri- name and form. God's name is sweeter than fice involves giving up your desires. One has the sweetness of banana fruit and dates. Why to broaden his heart. One should not be nar- are all these festivals being celebrated? Every row-minded. If one are inflicted with narrow- festival is meant to remind us about God. mindedness, the whole life will become nar- People of all religions have festivals to cele- row. Develop broad-mindedness. Cultivate brate. broad heart. The reference to "heart" in this context is not to the physical heart. If the All religions teach only good things.

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Realising this truth, conduct yourself carefully Satsangatwe nissangatwam, with proper understanding. Nissangatwe nirmohatwam, If you have a discriminatory intellect, which Nirmohatwe nischalatattwam, religion is bad? Oh! Nischalatattwe jivanmukti. The brave son of Bharat (India), listen! (Sanskrit sloka) (Telugu poem) Good company leads to detachment; Every religion preaches only good. Religion Detachment makes one free from delusion; per se is not bad. Hence, respect people of all Freedom from delusion leads to steadiness of religions. Only is when your mind is distorted mind; do you develop a bad opinion about a particu- Steadiness of mind confers liberation. lar religion. Once you develop a discriminat- Always be in good company. If you join bad ing intellect, you will realise that all religions company, you will also become bad. Hence, lead to the same God. never make friendship with a bad person. The Dear students! moment you come across such people, just say “goodbye” and move on. Please do not waste time. Sanctify every min- ute of your life and thereby experience bliss. You need not develop hatred toward them. You are essentially the embodiment of bliss. Whomever you come across, consider them as Hence, always be happy and blissful. Do not embodiments of Divinity and salute them. crave unnecessary desires and feel depressed Even when you come across people who hate when they are not fulfilled. you, offer your pranams (salutations) to them. Enquire, “How are you brother?” They will Happiness is union with God. Always be respond, “How are you brother?” happy and smiling. Even when you are faced with difficulties or during examination time, A human being is one with certain human do not put up a “castor-oil face”. Always be values. What are those human values? Sathya smiling. The more you feel enthusiastic and (truth), dharma (righteousness), santhi energetic, the more you will be happy. After (peace), prema (love), and ahimsa (nonvio- all, what is there for you to worry about? lence). They are all interrelated. Always Nothing, to My knowledge. A student who speak truth, observe dharma. Be peaceful. Be did not prepare well will be worried during happy and blissful. Conduct yourself with examinations. If you have prepared well, then love in society. why worry? You will surely get good marks. Love is God, God is Love. Hence, live in Hence, read well, pass the examinations with love. Then only can you acquire true knowl- distinction, and serve the country. edge. That is wisdom. The festival that is being celebrated today is Embodiments of Love! meant only to encourage you. The ten-day I always address you as embodiments of love, Dasara festival is meant to control your ten because I am suffused with love. Love is My senses. The legend says that Goddess Cha- property. You all are heirs to that property. I mundi killed the demon Mahisha during this will distribute that love to one and all. I do not Dasara festival. What is the inner meaning of hate anyone. I have no selfishness at all! My this story? Do not under any circumstances love is selfless love. associate yourself with demons. You are a human being and not a demon. How can there (Bhagawan concluded His discourse with the be friendship between a human being and a bhajan, “Prema muditha manase kaho”.) demon? A human being shall have relationship with another human being only.