Climbing the Highest Mountain

The following is an excerpt from the address given by Dr. Thorbjoern Meyer, Chairman, Coordinating Committee Europe Group One, on Gurupoornima day at Copenhagen.

SAI‑ideals, when assimilated by the indi­vidual devotee, give a new confidence in the real Self, and gradually one dares to be, just to be—openly and wholly—what one really is. To realize that to be is to experience one’s own Divinity and the Divinity of the whole creation. This is sathya, truth, the first of the basic SAI‑ideals.

When we express this (inner) truth in our actions, it is dharma, because to express the immanent Divinity in actions is: to see good, to hear good, and to do good. It is a philosophy of life complete­ly transforming man. It requires total unity of thought, word, and deed. Dharma is and has always been the same “Sana­thana Dharma”. The way it is act­ually expressed in daily life might vary with time, place, and circumstances like age, culture, sex, and life stage. But basi­cally it remains the same throughout the ages: to express the immanent Divinity, the one and only truth, in action.

He has told us how our intelligence should be used to discriminate, as a God­-given faculty standing next to atma. This discrimination is helped by the ahimsa [non-violence] principle: never to harm anyone, anybody or anything by what we think, say or do. When we are able to identify ourselves with the entire creation (and experience all as manifestations of the One and only), ahimsa comes about quite naturally. Finally we radiate and express prema, unselfish Divine Love, because truth, love, and light are Divine principles gene­rating compassion and understanding.

Then we have reached our goal of har­mony and happiness, because now we feel shanti, inner peace, total equanimity, regardless of ups and downs in the transi­tory, outside world. This unshakable stability within is what enables us to think God, to breathe God, to talk, and act God, finally unite with Him and be God, and stay in that incommunicable bliss when the last hour arrives.

Though highly imperfect and only a beginner on the spiritual path of glory, I can paint this image for you and know it is truthful, because of the incomparable wisdom of Bhagavan Baba’s Divine teach­ings, and because of His compassionate grace where He allows human beings like you and me to involve ourselves in His work even while we are ourselves in the process of reformation.

In the midst of a world governed by an ever‑increasing material greed, some of us have become seekers. We found out that something was utterly wrong. Selfishness is closely followed by its twin brothers greed and envy, and on this level of ego, distrust, hatred, and violence are increas­ing all over the world. When we started to experience this as a glaring dissonance, we were motivated to seek harmony in our lives.

I believe this quest for harmony and happiness is as old as mankind. There is a thought-provoking old legend about the downfall of man, when God decided to take away from man the divine spark within. The lesser gods and the archan­gels suggested to bury it deep down in the ground, but God said that man would search everywhere and find it. Then the lesser gods suggested to bury it at the bottom of the sea, but this also God refused, as man would eventually find it even there. As a last resort, the lesser gods suggested to hide it at the top of the world’s highest mountain, where man couldn’t even breathe, but God resolved that at some stage man’s search would also bring him there. Then the lesser gods and the archangels gave up, but God said, “No, let us hide it within the heart of man. That is the last place he will look.”

Now materialism and modern science have been ever pointing at the outside world as the source of happiness. But as this “happiness” more and more clearly remained an interval between two sorrows, earnest people all over the world are to­day turning to the way of the spirit as the answer to the crisis that faces humanity.

All along He has been the director of the play. But now that so many conscio­usly take the first step toward Him, He takes a hundred toward us. He has even taken a human body and is here ready to show us the way.

Once in ancient Greece a disciple of the famous philosopher Socrates asked, “How am I to go to get to Mount Olympus?” (the mountain of the Gods) and Socrates answered, “Make sure that each step you take leads you in that direction.”

Through many lives mankind has strug­gled to find happiness and harmony, and now at the peak of this Kali‑age, with all its resistance, an increasing number of people are turning their awareness toward the inner truth. A spiritual hunger is growing all over the world. We have, so to speak, reached the foot of “Mount Olympus”.

Now we have to choose our path uphill. At this stage, the Lord Himself is there as our guide saying, “Follow the master, face the devil, fight to the end, and finish the game.”

So it seems that in struggling uphill of this, the Lord’s mountain, which is higher than the world’s highest mountain, the devil will try to stop us.

Who is this devil we are to fight in order to proceed? And where is he? Sathya Sai points out that he is staying with us and is our selfishness, our small ego, our own polluted mind, our own attachments, and ignorance.

But such a fight is not going to be easy! It will really be like fighting kith and kin. We have grown accustomed to our world­ly attachments, we like them and do not feel as separate entities. Not at all! Must we really fight our own self? Like Arjuna, we are hesitating. But like Arjuna, we have “Sanathana Sarathi” (the ever-existing charioteer), now in the form of Sathya Sai to show us the path of truth, sathya, the inner truth, the voice of the divine spark hidden in our very own heart. He is telling us that through the conquest of passions and de­sires we may win, come to the point where we can give up attachments, and more and more express this inner truth, our true Self, in our actions as dharma.

But are we prepared to follow His ad­vice? Do we open our eyes for the guiding light? Are we prepared to go on climbing the spiritual path and fight the devil?

It is our choice! We must decide! If we can muster the courage and self‑disci­pline required, just a dim light is enough to see where we should put our foot for the next step. He has begun to teach us. If we choose to learn, we will develop our capacity to distinguish the transitory from reality.

When climbing the highest of mountains, after a while it is not possible to advance further without the cooperative skill of several strong and reliable mountaineers who can help each other. Invariably the foot will slip while climbing, so when the passage is difficult the climbers are tied together in order to support each other. Still each of them must be always alert and pay one-pointed attention to the next step and to the mountain‑guide, who is the only one who really knows this very particular mountain. An incautious step may be fatal and send you rolling down to disappointments and disaster.

Likewise on the spiritual path, we need both a disciplined sadhana (spiritual discipline), close co‑operation with other one‑pointed devo­tees (satsang), and the Sadguru as the guiding light.

With the Sathya Sai Organization Bhagavan Baba has given us a unique means of implementing His ideals in our daily life. Through the study circles we are clarifying our intellect, and by means of bhajans (devotional singing) we are purifying the qualities of the heart. Bal Vikas or Education in Human Values is an extremely important task, where the gurus selected are working not only for the benefit of the young ones but also for the whole of society, and in the process it is an excellent opportunity for the gurus to come nearer to Him. Seva [service], which I feel has been neglected to a cer­tain extent by westerners, is to be regard­ed as an outstanding possibility of impro­ving one’s sadhana in the very best way through unselfish service.

The rules and regulations are meant to keep us on the narrow, but safe path. When we pass the deepest canyons, they are the safeguarding fences, and, when there are sidetracks, they are the sign­posts. Sathya Sai Baba is Himself the inner motivator and the experienced, all­-knowing Guide, whom we must trust and follow. Remember, we are on our way to His abode, to our home. When the highest mountain is to be climbed, the Guide must impose a strict discipline en route in order for us to avoid the many dangers.

In His endless wisdom, Bhagavan Baba has designed all this for His devotees. Gradually it becomes a way of life to work through the Organization. It becomes the very process of living to express His ideals in the Organization and little by little everywhere in our daily life. We are following the Master, making our life our message and spreading the One truth through our example. This will change the devotee, it will involve his family, it will influence the community and the whole of society—and eventually the rela­tions between the nations. Through these ideals and this work the world can be changed. Through His grace we may see the brotherhood of man and the father­hood of God as a living reality.

And this, I am sure, is the way to ascend “Mount Olympus”, to reach the Lord’s mountain‑top, His abode, our parental home, where all the universes become One. —And He says it is our birthright to go and stay there—to be one with the One.

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Sept. 1983