Many Religions, One Purpose
Mr. T. G. Krishnamurthy is a long-time devotee of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the president of the Sai organization of Madras. We present here an inspiring talk he gave at the Manhattan Sai Center in New York City on the similarity of religions and how Swami wants us to grow spiritually.
We pray to the Lord, who can appear in any transcendental form at the wish of His devotees.
We bow to His form that is pure consciousness, all pervading, and the seed of all souls.
He is the indweller of every heart; to Him we offer our most respectful obeisance.
[Translation of a Sanskrit prayer]
Ever since human civilization came into existence, man has wanted to live in peace, in bliss, and in love. Based on this desire, many religions have cropped up. Every religion teaches the same thing, but in different ways. The Koran says, “Desire not the world, then God will love you; desire not what others have, then others will love you.” The Hindu religion says, “One who follows the Sanathana Dharma [eternal path] is a Hindu.” What is this word, “Hindu”? Hindu does not mean an “Indian;” it refers to every human being. The word Hindu is derived from two words, himsa and door—himsa means violence, door means far away. One who keeps away from violence, one who loves non-violence, or one who loves peace, is a Hindu. This means that every person is essentially a Hindu.
Now what does Christianity say? Lazarus, Mother Mary’s brother, was seriously ill. Mother Mary sent her elder sister, Elizabeth, to bring Jesus home from the village where he was preaching. When Elizabeth met him there, Jesus said, “Please go back, I will come tomorrow.” But by the time Elizabeth returned, Lazarus had died. As per Hebrew custom, his body was wrapped up and placed in a cave on the same day. The following day, Jesus arrived and asked for Lazarus, but was told that Lazarus was dead. Jesus then had the cave opened, went in and brought out Lazarus alive. Two rich people witnessed this incident and said to him, “We want to follow you, please accept us.” Jesus replied, “Give up all your possessions and follow me.” The two people asked, “How is this possible?” Jesus said, “A camel can pass through the eye of a needle, but not a rich man through the gates of heaven.”
Buddhism says, “Give up your possessions, have no attachment whatsoever. Follow your intellect, which is your conscience, and conscience is God itself. Thereafter live in peace and bliss.” Thus all religions teach us that we have to give up our possessions as a way of attaining peace, bliss, and love.
Men, however, try to attain peace by accumulating wealth or by enlarging the boundaries of their countries. Alexander the Great campaigned from Greece to Macedonia and on to India, killing, plundering, and collecting wealth. His caravan carried all this accumulated wealth and possessions, including camels, pythons and 7,000 horses. He eventually reached Babylon, where he fell sick. His physicians told him that he had less than three days left to live. He asked what would happen to all the treasures he had amassed and was told that he would have to leave them behind. Alexander the Great then remarked, “Do you mean that I won all these wars and wealth for your sake?” The doctors replied, “Yes, because you will not be able to take any of it with you.” Alexander the Great understood at last that man comes with nothing and goes with nothing.
Purpose of Life
How do we attain peace and bliss and become loved by all people? We put this question to Bhagavan, “Swami you address us as embodiments of love; yet are we really the embodiments of love?” If we question ourselves, we find that sometimes we are, and at other times we are not the embodiments of love. But He keeps saying we are. We accept this whether we deserve it or not. Our goal is to become the embodiments of love that Swami wants us to be.
When Swami asks why we wear glasses, the answer is: to see. “What is the purpose of the watch?” He asks. We reply: to tell the time. But when He asks us the purpose of our lives, we have no answer. We are born, we study, we get married, and we have children and provide for them. They then become youth and send their old parents to old age homes. In old age homes, when asked what they have achieved in life, many people respond, “Firstly, I do not know what I have achieved and, secondly, I am in this place where nobody loves me. I am alone and unhappy.” Is this the purpose of life? Certainly not.
Swami gives us a clear answer. He explains the highest of philosophy with such clarity that the least educated person can understand. He says, “You are born not to be born again. You should work hard so that this is your last birth.” He explains that if a student is still in college after the last semester, then he is a failure. Similarly, if we do not achieve our goal, we are failures in life. One has to be cautious and remember that time is precious. We are born and we are here, but the time of our departure is drawing near. We cannot ask death to delay itself by a day or two. Thus, we have to utilize our attributes—sathya (truth), dharma (right conduct), shanti (peace), prema (love), and ahimsa (non-violence), and make use of the time we have left to attain our goal.
The Foundation of Faith…
Swami asks, “How do you know that the two people you call your parents are your parents?” We reply that our mother told us and that we believe in her words, we have faith in them. Thus, faith is the basic quality of a human being, and it must be unconditional and unmotivated. We are all seated here because we have faith that nothing untoward is going to happen. If we did not have that faith, we would not have come here. So it is very important to develop faith, which is the basis of all religions.
Around 1964 or 1965, Swami took a few of us to the seashore in Madras. As we stood there, Swami pointed to a big boulder that was being pounded by the waves and asked, “Although these waves are hitting the boulder constantly with such force, do you think the boulder has moved in the last million years?” We replied, “No, Swami, that boulder has not moved.” Swami said, “See how strong that boulder is, even though it is being smashed repeatedly by the waves. If I hit you once, you would run away. You would not stand like this boulder—with strong faith. That is the kind of faith you should have. Do you have that kind of faith in Me? If I were to accuse you of something, or I did not talk to you or give you gifts, you would go away. That is the kind of faith you have.” We replied that we were beginners. Swami said, “For how long are you going to be beginners? Are you ever going to progress beyond kindergarten? You are growing physically. What about your spiritual growth? Where is your faith?” Swami takes every possible opportunity to teach us and encourage us to move ahead.
…Leads to Bliss
We claim to be devotees of Swami because we love Him. Why do we love Swami? Because it is our inborn nature to love God. The love should be unconditional, unmotivated, unalloyed, and uncontaminated. Swami gives an example of this kind of love from the Ramayana. When Rama went to the forest with Sita and Lakshmana, He always walked in front, with Sita behind Him and Lakshmana behind her. Every few minutes, Rama would ask Lakshmana if everything was all right. Lakshmana was very happy to feel his brother’s love and to get Rama’s darshan (divine vision) every time He looked back. After a while, they sat down to rest. Sita, jealous of the attention Rama gave Lakshmana, complained to Rama that He was very concerned about his brother’s welfare, but did not even once ask Sita if she was all right. Rama said, “Lakshmana is a man. If I do not show my concern for him and I do not talk to him, he will go away. Therefore, in order to see that he follows me, I have to keep engaging him. Your faith in my love for you is strong, so I do not have to shower my attention on you. You are my shadow. When I am walking, do I ask my shadow, ‘Are you coming with me?’ The shadow always follows.” Swami says all ladies are like shadows of Bhagavan. Men are not.
Faith leads to love and then to sacrifice. When a woman is carrying a child within her, the doctor places certain restrictions on her for the benefit of the child. The mother-to-be sacrifices for the sake of the unborn child, whom she loves. Furthermore, when a woman delivers her child, it may happen that she is unconscious and does not have direct proof that the child placed next to her is her own. However, because of her faith that it is her child, she loves and makes sacrifices for the child. Thus, faith leads to love and then to sacrifice. We have to sacrifice our bad habits, irrational thoughts and actions because we love God. Swami says, “When you love Me, all your thoughts should be on Me. You should not think of anyone or anything else.” This means that you do not even love your property. This sacrifice leads to bliss.
So, to attain peace, bliss and love, we have to start with the foundation of faith, which leads to love, sacrifice and, ultimately, bliss. When we attain bliss, we experience God within us and have the constant remembrance of God. For instance, a mother’s mind is always focused on her child. She may be involved in activities, but one part of her mind is always thinking of her child. This constant remembrance enables us to converse with the Lord.
God says that He answers every word that is uttered from the heart. How do we talk to Him from the heart? Imagine a millionaire whose only son is very ill despite the best hospitals and medicines that money can buy. If any man is able to save that child, the millionaire, despite his wealth, will shed tears of joy and express his gratitude from the heart. Similarly, learn to converse with God from your heart. He does not require fancy vocabulary, but every word must come from the heart.
When we are talking to Him, He also talks to us. He prompts us from within. We should develop the feeling that He is in us and with us forever. How does the Indweller prompt us? Take the example of the actor who forgets his lines when he is on stage in front of the audience. He works his way over to the curtain, where the prompter prompts him, and then he is able to deliver the dialogue. Similarly, the audience is the creation while the prompter is the Creator, and the curtain separating the two is maya (illusion). Our aim, as the creation, is to develop a relationship with the Creator such that we can hear His voice. Once we achieve that, we have love, peace, and bliss.
Swami says that we must perform our actions while always being mindful that the Lord is watching us. If we truly believe this, then we will always be on our best behavior. Once, a few of us traveled to Puttaparthi to invite Swami to visit Madras. In the verandah He asked how many were in our party. We said, “Eight, Swami.” In the interview room He again asked the same question and we replied that we were nine—including Him. He said, “No, there are sixteen because I am resident in each one of you.” So He, the indweller of our hearts, is watching all our actions. He warns us against anger, jealousy, faultfinding, and desires, and He encourages us to love Him.
He wants us to speak truthfully and not try to impress other people. There was a man who said that he wanted to be with Swami forever as he had enjoyed and experienced everything. Swami then asked him if he was prepared to go to heaven. The man said, “Actually Swami, my sons are not married, and my father is still alive. I have to eventually perform his final funeral rites, so how can I go now?” So Swami asked him if he would be ready to go after the death of his father. The man hastened to add that he still had to arrange the marriages of his children and see his grandchildren. Swami asked, “After you see the grandchildren, will you be ready?” The man replied, “Oh Swami! Who will look after the grandchildren if both the parents are at work? After they are married, I will be ready.” So, we say one thing and mean another.
We should have the conviction that we are the children of Sai. He is our mother, father, preceptor, guru, master, and our Lord. He is here to give us peace, love, and bliss. Our aim is to attend the University of the World and get the degree instead of just lingering on, taking birth after birth. Our ultimate goal is to be one with Him, the Lord.
