O, Dance for Joy

In the following speech published nearly three decades ago, a close American devotee, John Hislop, congratulates the students of the Brindavan college campus for the extraordinary opportunity they have to adore and be in the physical proximity of Sri Sathya Sai. Hislop importantly alerts the students to realize that commands of the Avatar are indeed the mantras we all need to imbibe and live by. 

Respected students of the Sathya Sai College of Arts and Science assembled here on this delightful occasion…

First of all, I would like to say how impressed I have been over the past week by your extemporaneous speeches, in which you described your lives and your relationships with Bhagavan. These speeches revealed the depth and strength of character of each student-speaker.

You said that you were ordinary boys when you first came to this college in Brindavan; but, within a few days of your arrival here, your hearts opened like the petals of a flower in the morning and the fragrance of love for God now permeates every aspect of your lives. You mentioned that typical distractions of youth, such as cinema, drinking, smoking, and roaming in the streets, do not hamper you, and that now you crave only for Bhagavan’s love while dedicated to your studies. You said that wherever Bhagavan places you in the world after your graduation, you will work there for the welfare of the world with all your strength, energy, and devotion.

The word student implies that your goal is to gain knowledge. Nonetheless, an ignorant person, from my perspective, is someone who does not know God, whereas you young men are in a position to know God in a most extraordinary way. You said that when you speak, Bhagavan speaks through you and that your words are prompted by Him from within you. Bhagavan tells me that is indeed true; that He instills confidence in us and with self-confidence, words flow.

You do not see God as separate from you. For you, God is your direct personal inner experience. Indeed, you are not merely students but men of true knowledge.

The other day, when I was talking with Bhagavan and started to say, “In the thousands of years since Krishna….,” Swami interrupted and exclaimed, “Time since Krishna? …. I am Krishna! Where is Time?”

With folded hands, I saluted Bhagavan because once when we were driving in the car, He revealed Himself as Krishna to me.

I, then, explained that what I meant was that in the thousands of years from the Krishna Avatar to the Sai Avatar, there had been no opportunity to have God Himself as one’s direct guru. Swami, however, corrected me, saying that until the advent of the Shirdi [Sai Baba] body, there had been no such opportunity.

I said, “Swami, this is the best of time to be born.” Sai replied, “Yes. The most fortunate of all times; even more fortunate to be born now than in the time of the Krishna Avatar.”

This is your position, students! Not only are you born in the most fortunate of all times, but, you even spend your days in the presence of the Divine Avatar, Sathya Sai, seeing Him, listening to Him, experiencing Him, and speaking with Him.

I am sure that you are taking full advantage of this unprecedented opportunity. Nevertheless, I would like to point out two great potential values that are clearly evident and of which one should be aware while in the Divine presence of Bhagavan.

The first relates directly to you. You said that you put aside worldly distractions and that you give your mind and heart to God. As a result, the heart becomes soft, and from its depths there wells up a strong current of love for Bhagavan. Hence, you experience the bliss of a loving heart.

The second great potential value of being in Bhagavan’s presence relates to His grace. He has said that for each step we take to-ward Him, He will take ten steps toward us. “Toward us” means “toward the consummation of our lives.” And Bhagavan informs us that the consummation of human life is the realization that only God exists, and that we are not separate from Him.

To surmise, one potential value of each day spent in Bhagavan’s presence is the experience of having a heart overflowing with devotion to God. And, the second potential value lets one experience God’s grace. This creates the possibility for Divine grace to purify a devotee’s heart, destroying ignorance and bondage for-ever and ever.

Bhagavan is like the greatest of forest fires, powerfully burning everything capable of being burned. If we disregard our petty personalities and fix our attention on Bhagavan, the intense flame of His purity will burn away the impurities of our mind and heart. Then, purity merges into purity, light merges into light, while ego and worldly attachment are destroyed forever by Divine grace.

Therefore, in His auspicious presence, let us—Bhagavan’s devotees—turn away from transient personalities and the transient nature, and inwardly and outwardly hold on to only God.

Outwardly, we fix our eyes on the grace and power of Bhagavan’s form; our ears are tuned only to His voice and His words of wisdom for, verily, He is the shining Lord of wisdom. Inwardly, let all faculties be concentrated on Him and all our thinking be only about Him. May our intelligence contemplate the glory and majesty of His Divinity, and know thereby that He is the center around which stars and atoms, the infinitely great and the infinitely subtle, revolve. May our consciousness be filled with His blissful presence, and may our hearts be submerged in the limitless ocean of His love and mercy.

Thus, let us joyfully appreciate that He has stepped forth from the mystery of our hearts into our sight in response to our prayers and so that we may know that He exists, and let us worship Him to our heart’s content.

Bhagavan has stepped forth from our hearts, for He tells us that He is the subtle and innermost self in each of us and that our hearts are His dwelling place.

O dance for joy, students! O dance for joy, devotees! Worship the Lord, the truth, the way, the pilgrim, and the witness, for He is all of that.

In this transient world where everything disintegrates and passes away, the One unchanging, permanent eternal reality is God. Bhagavan’s song is:

Love is My form;
Truth is My breath;
Bliss is My food;
My life is My message;
Expansion is My life.
No reason for love,
No season for love
No birth; no death.

This is the Lord’s song. It says that His Being is that of sat, chit, and ananda [truth, awareness, and bliss]. This is the Lord’s description of His eternal nature. This is the eternal reality that every devotee can become aware of through deep and quiet contemplation on the Avatar.

At times, devotees ask Bhagavan for a mantra—a series of powerful Sanskrit words that the devotee may adopt and use. But, Bhagavan says that the mantra given by the Avatar is His command. Thus, obedience to the command of the Avatar is the mantra for the devotee.

We all know the basic range of Bhagavan’s commands to His devotees: “Be good. See good. Do good.” “All life is one; be alike to everyone.” “Start the day with love; spend the day with love; fill the day with love; end the day with love.”

The Avatar’s commands, if we but choose to obey Him, are as the flame of a lantern that will safely guide us through the dark forest of life. Bhagavan says that to come close to Him, we must please Him. Let us obey the commands of the Avatar and thereby come close to His Lotus feet.

~Hislop
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, January 1976