Reveal Your Hidden Divinity
Dr. K. L. N. Swamy joined the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning at the Whitefield Campus in Bangalore as an English teacher in 1988. Soon he was promoted to Principal. He has translated 234 poems recited by Baba before His discourses and has published an anthology of short plays based on human values. Excerpts of his talk at the Manhattan Center in New York are presented here.
If you don’t raise your hands in worship, full of adoration
If you don’t sing the glory of the Lord until your mouth aches
If you don’t have thoughts of compassion and truth
Why be born in this world and bring disrespect to the wombs of the mothers
Swami says that you pay taxes for water, light, and other utilities provided by the land. But what tax do you pay for the brilliant light you receive from the sun, the torrential rains that sustain you, and the other bounties that the Lord has given you? You can pay tax by singing about the glory of the Lord.
Manhattan was not in my original schedule, but Swami willed it and I am here. All these years I wanted to visit the U.S.A., but I never had the courage to ask Him for time off from the very hectic university schedule. Whenever I did ask Him, He either ignored me or told me to sit down. To talk to Swami is very difficult! One of the big impediments causing lack of courage is the ego. People react to you based on whether Swami encourages or ignores you at darshan [being in His presence]. If Swami speaks with you, people are very forthcoming in talking to you. God forbid if Swami ignores you or scolds you; then the very same people will also ignore you. So, Swami is one and we are all zeros! If Swami is not there, then we have no value.
My daughter, who lives in the U.S.A., came with her young children to attend my son’s wedding. After the wedding, she was scheduled to leave on September 25th and asked me to accompany her back to the States, knowing that I could not go without Swami’s permission. Meanwhile, the September 11th incident took place, and we were worried about her safety. I again wrote to Swami asking for His permission to escort my daughter home, but there was no response.
Desperately I spoke with the Registrar and applied for six-weeks’ vacation. He said that permission would be granted if Swami said ‘yes’. But Swami plays His game to test you, especially when you need Him the most. We would try to catch His eye and He would turn His face and look elsewhere. There was just no eye contact. The vice-chancellor asked Swami, “R. K. Swamy wants to go to USA.” Swami turned and said, “So what’s the problem? Let him go.” I made the reservations, but I could not take the risk until He conveyed His permission to me personally.
Finally, as I was sitting in darshan line on September 21, He looked at me and said, “When are you going to America?” He held my hand very lovingly and said, “You go to America, enjoy yourself, and come back.” He still kept holding my hand and asked me for details about the work in my absence, and then He gave me vibhuti [holy ash]. He also gave me permission to speak to the devotees in America. That moment when Swami was looking into my eyes and holding my hand was the moment of immortality, the moment when I felt that Swami and I are one. That meeting with the Lord was so different from a meeting with a fellow being. That is one memorable moment I want to cherish and relive over and over.
Swami always says that you are divine, but you have to realize that you are divine. He says that you keep searching for divinity when it is always within you. There was a merchant who used to shout and sell his wares. One evening he checked into a wayside inn. He felt the owner was over-friendly to him and probably was looking for an opportunity to rob him when he went to sleep. Very tired, the merchant slept. The owner was disappointed for he could not find the money although he searched for it everywhere. In the morning, the owner asked the traveler if he slept well. The merchant replied, “Yes, how about you?” The man replied that he could not sleep because he was looking for the traveler’s money all night. The merchant was very smart and said, “As I was very tired and needed to sleep, I hid the money under your pillow.” Swami says that you are in the same plight. You don’t search for divinity that is within you, but keep searching for it in the world, which is the main cause of your misery.
How can we realize our divinity? The only way is through service. Those people who try to bring some kind of relief to suffering humanity can feel God within themselves. Swami also says that by singing the glory of God and by developing an integrated awareness, we can feel God’s presence. He further says that by removing the mind, which is nothing but a bundle of desires, we can recognize divinity. Swami tells the students that the mind can be stilled by developing good vision. By seeing and listening to good things, good thoughts are created in your mind. These thoughts transform into expression, which is action. This action will bring you good results.
Swami says that every action is dependant on the food you eat. He illustrates this with the story about a sanyasi [renunciant] who used to visit the house of a devotee. Whenever he came, the latter offered him good food. After the meal, the renunciant would rest there. On one such visit, his host served him the meal, as usual, in his best silverware. While he was eating, the renunciant quietly put the silverware in his bag and went to rest in the room. But he could not sleep. Instead, he wondered why he had stolen the silver items. He decided to make inquiries. So he asked the host about the cook who had prepared the food for him. The man replied that his wife was sick so his neighbor’s wife had prepared the meal. The sanyasi asked if she had a tendency to steal. The man answered, “yes, she was a thief.” The sanyasi realized the cause of his having stolen the items. Not only is satwic [pure] food important, but the person who prepares the food and his thoughts also should be pure.
Swami is very careful in imparting the right knowledge to His students. These students are not selected by any examination or interview, but are all chosen by Baba. The students are disciplined and kept on a tight schedule. They get up very early in the morning. After Suprabhatham [morning prayers], they have a hot drink of milk or ragi [millet] and then go for exercise. Then they have a wash and breakfast and go to the college. They maintain the entire campus—cleaning, plumbing, electricity, and so on. The beauty is that they do all this with love and devotion for Swami. Although Swami spends most of His time in Puttaparthi, they feel His constant presence with them.
Swami, too, loves His students and calls them His property. He is a strict disciplinarian. One day in Trayee Brindavan [Swami’s home in Bangalore] He came and sat on the jhoola [swing] and the boys gathered around Him. A young man crossed over me in a hurry, and Swami saw him do that. He was so angry with the student and with me too. Swami turned to me and said, “Because of you the boys are undisciplined. Look how the boy crossed over you. Is that good manners to cross over an elderly person?”
Swami uses illustrations to make the boys understand and always be alert. With Swami near us we see God. Swami says, “I am a form, but it will not remain always. So, practice the worshipping of the formless God.” How do you worship the formless God? He explains that you meditate on the flame and think of the light. Spread this light throughout yourself and then through all of humanity. Slowly you will expand your vision and love for humanity, and in the course of time you will become divine and become one with the entire race.
Swami also explains His point by similes. For example, He says that a tremendous amount of evaporation takes place from the sea, yet its level remains the same. Torrential rains make the rivers swell and run towards the sea, and still the level of the sea remains the same. Similarly, Indian culture is like the sea; despite the various onslaughts on its civilization, the culture is still the same.
Of the 84 million species in creation, God created man in His own image. God thought that if He told man he was divine, he would proclaim himself superior to God. So, God called a conference of demigods and asked them how He should hide divinity from man. They debated for a long time and eventually came to the conclusion that the best place was to hide it was in man himself. He would have to struggle and meditate on God, do his sadhana [spiritual effort], and practice austerity.
Swami is transforming all these students to make them realize that they are divine. In my 46 years of teaching, these young students are the finest I have come across. I feel that in the course of time, through these students, Swami will bring about a new social order of peace, love, truth, and non-violence to humanity and will usher in the Golden Age. Swami says:
Where there is faith there is love.
Where there is love there is truth.
Where there is truth there is peace.
Where there is peace there is bliss.
Where there is bliss there is God.
