Sai Olympics  

The following is taken from Dr. J. Jagadesan’s talk at the annual northeast region conference of the Sathya Sai Baba Organization in May, 1999. A devotee since 1976, Dr. Jagadesan has been at the head of the Sai movement in Malaysia and is currently the youth coordinator for the Far East.

 I like to think of the Sai movement as the “Sai Olympics.” In the usual sports Olympics, one can describe four categories of people—those who hear of the Olympics, those who buy tickets to see the events, those who actually watch the events, and, finally, the participating athletes. The last of these, of course, is only a small proportion of the total group.

I see a parallel in the Sai Olympics. The first category includes those who hear of Sai. Next are those who buy Swami’s picture. Some of them, though, hang His picture in the back hall, and when visitors come, they put it away. The third category includes those who enter the Sai Center and watch what is going on. Finally come the participants, the athletes. Dear devotees—you are the athletes—everything is up to you. Within the athlete group, there are more categories. Sai sprinters are very active at first, but later they disappear. Some devotees are Sai marathon runners. They were active ten years ago, and they are still active now. They see the goal—God—and they are going for it.

The Sai movement attracts people with various temperaments. Those with difficult temperaments often continue to alienate others, even after they’ve entered the Sai fold. It is important to know where you are and to ask for Swami’s help and guidance.

Now let’s talk about surrender. This word is used in all religions of the world. Surrender is a state of mind. Swami says that once you have divine grace, what harm can the nine planets do to you? He asks us to work for God’s divine grace and surrender to Him completely. How do you do this?  Do you go to Puttaparthi and fall at His feet? Do you sing bhajans or put your head on His feet? What does surrender mean? Swami says that, You prostrate before Swami and declare that you have surrendered, but once you are away, you behave otherwise and allow faith to fade away.

Aspirants of divine grace proclaim that God is the inner motivator and that He is present everywhere, but they behave as if He is absent in the places they do not like Him to be. Do you want God to have selective omniscience, to be present only when you sing bhajans or when you do seva (selfless service) once a month? Some people do a lot of seva in Puttaparthi, yet when they get home, they have no time for it.

I am a busy person. I had a career in government service as deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Industry in Malaysia. I have four children. I am a consultant to the world bank. My schedule for the rest of this year is full. I do all this because the Sai movement is a great adventure. I want to test the limits of what I can do, and what Divinity will allow me to do. Each of us, both young and old, has incredible potential.

Take your life as a challenge. Test every ability you have. Shine as a star. Do not become mediocre and wander through life. Surrender yourself to God. Live in total awareness of Him. Surrender your actions. Have not only faith, but also confidence in God. Do not expect the waves of the ocean to be still. Surrender your problems to God. Surrender must not be theoretical or philosophical; it must be very practical. Christ said it beautifully: You cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you become like a child. Children understand this—and so can adults.

What is the meaning of the word surrender? We use the word in relation to war. When the Romans, for example, conquered Europe, the vanquished accepted the qualities of the conqueror—Roman culture, tradition, and religion. When the Japanese invaded and  took over neighboring countries, the vanquished had to accept Japanese law.

Surrendering to Swami is different. We accept all His Divine qualities because we are drawn to them. All negativity goes out of us. If God is love, we must be love. If God is peace, we must be peace. If God is charity, we must do charity. When we take on every quality that we think is Swami’s and live our lives accordingly, then we have surrendered. If we still have jealousy and are still backbiting, we have not surrendered, no matter how often we go to Puttaparthi, pray, or sing bhajans. When Divinity flows inside us totally and we become all the qualities of Divinity, then Tat twam asi, that thou art.

We need to live in a high state of consciousness, in total awareness of God, dedicating our activity to Him. Everything we do, we need to do with excellence. Whether we are sweeping the house, cooking or working in the office, we need to do it with excellence. Spirituality is nothing more than seeking excellence in everything we do. We fulfill every dharma (code of conduct). A husband needs to be the best husband in the world; a wife, the best wife. At the same time that we excel, we must surrender expectation. Do our best and leave the rest.

For example, a wife is cooking dinner. Her husband always praises a neighbor’s food or his mother’s food. Tonight she decides to cook the very best meal possible for him. The husband comes home after a hard day at work. He is worried about office matters. As he eats, he mentally appreciates the food, but his mind is elsewhere. The wife is eager for feedback, but she doesn’t get any. Finally, she tells him that he only compliments other people’s food and that she won’t cook like this anymore.

In another example, the husband buys his wife a gift, but she has had a hard day, so she puts it aside. The husband is waiting for an appreciative hug. Every time we do anything, we expect a response from someone else. If we don’t get it, we get upset. Seek excellence, but do not expect the fruits of our actions. Rewards will come later, but we can’t expect them.

Have not only faith, but confidence in God. Imagine someone who goes to the Grand Canyon on vacation. Neglecting a sign warning him not to go near the edge, he goes too near and slips over. He falls 100 feet, then manages to grab a branch. As he looks down he calls on Swami, but alas, nothing happens. So he calls to Jesus, Mary and every other name of God that comes to mind. God is  angry at his lack of confidence. His voice thunders, “My son. I hear you! Why fear when I am here? Do not worry. Let go of the branch. I will catch you in the palm of my hand.” This person had the faith to call, but not the confidence to follow God’s words.

People want to do projects, but they find thousands of reasons not to do them. Have faith that everything is Swami’s work. Then, do it. Do not focus on the obstacles, just do the project. In Malaysia, we do massive things. We start with a zero budget. We ask only two questions: Is the cause noble? Is the motive pure? If both answers are yes, then we go ahead. We say, Swami show the way; guide us. If we start to work and we say, Swami, You must catch us or we are going to fall, then He must catch us. That is His job. He must respond to our faith.

Swami says that our bhakti (devotion) is greater than His shakti (divine energy). Our bhakti can draw His shakti to us even though He may be reluctant to give it to us. Even if He knows we will misuse it, He will give it to us anyway. Look at Ravana (demon king in the Ramayana epic). Look at all the great asuras (demons). Even though Ravana did many bad things, his bhakti was so strong, that God had no choice but to give him His shakti.

When we come to Swami, we expect all our problems to disappear. Instead, we have more problems. How many of you have found that after joining Swami, more problems assailed you? When people come crying to me, saying they have so many problems, I give a standard answer: Surrender it to Swami. They tell me they do seva, they go to bhajans, but they still have problems. I tell them they must surrender, and they say they have. I tell them they have not.

Let me surrender this handkerchief to this woman. [Jagadesan holds tightly onto the handkerchief] Take it. She cannot. Why? I am holding on to it. But when I let go and give it to her, I do not care if she washes it, throws it away, or whatever. It is hers now. I do not care anymore. Once I have surrendered the handkerchief totally, I will not worry about it anymore. If we surrender our problems to Swami, we must also surrender the worry.

Temples and churches are powerful because once we surrender our worry to God, our minds calm down. Then we feel the strength to go out and face the world and tackle the problems. Today, psychiatrists do the same thing. Some people who don’t go to church tell psychiatrists what they would normally tell God. Once we surrender, the worry disappears, and our minds become clear about how to challenge the problem. Worry blocks the mind. You might tell your problem to a friend, and the friend might offer an answer so simple that you wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself. But your mind couldn’t find the answer because worry made you unable to see the answer with clarity.

Surrender is not easy. We may surrender a problem to God, but the moment we leave the temple, the worry comes back. That is natural. We have not yet developed our minds sufficiently. Send it back to God. Chant a mantra or sing a bhajan. Or plunge into activity. The more active we are, the less prominent the problem becomes in our minds. We are able to push it away. But sometimes the problem will come back when we are trying to fall asleep. Chant or play a bhajan tape. Sleep will come because the mind becomes filled with thoughts of mantras and bhajans. They are tools to help us surrender.

I have tried to give you practical advice. First, look at yourself and ask which athlete you are. The more you acquire the divine qualities of God, the more you have surrendered. You become a jivanmukta (person liberated while alive). Next, surrender your actions to God. Have confidence in God. Surrender your problems to Him. Surrender the worry to God.

“When one has attained the state of realizing the divinity in every being, when every instrument of knowledge brings the experience of that divinity, when it alone is seen, heard, tasted, smelt and touched, man becomes undoubtedly a part of the body of God and lives in Him, and with Him. When this duty to your own progress has been taken up, you will get a new strength at the very first step; you will thrill to a new and purer joy; you will taste the fullness of bliss; you will be refreshed by a new holiness.”

~Sathya Sai Baba