Ask for Me

In the following discourse Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba says that we are not taking full advantage of His being amongst us. We ask Him for petty trivial worldly pleasures when all that we should ask is for Him, because if we have Him we have the world.

Today, you had the nectar of Ramayana [Hindu epic] from these two pundits [learned persons]. They spoke with genuine joy when they dilated on the incidents of the Ramayana. One of them spoke today about the hospitality shown to Bharatha [Rama’s brother] and his retinue by the sage Bharadwaja, and how Bharatha reacted to this. The other shastry [a person learned in the shastras or scriptures] was persuaded to select Narada’s [a great sage] description of the qualities of Rama [one of the avatars of Vishnu] to Valmiki [the sage who authored Ramayana] as the theme of his talk.

Rama nama [name of Rama] is so sweet that I could see all of you relishing these talks. If a man talks about Rama without himself being inspired by the glory of the Lord, it sounds hollow, it is of no benefit. It is like the image of a table filled with edible dishes seen inside a mirror—the dishes in the mirror will not fill a hungry stomach. No language can picture the actual bliss that the name can confer; words can at best delineate only an atom of that joy.

Man comes into the world burdened with maya [illusion] and its instrument, the mind. The mind expresses itself through attraction and repulsion, raga and dwesha [affection and hatred], toward the external world. Raga is rajasik [passionate] in its effect and it can be used for one’s uplift, as Narada did, to fix attention on the Lord. Dwesha is tamasic (negative), as Durvasa [a sage] expressed in his dealings with Ambarisha and others. Without raga and dwesha, the mind cannot function at all. If these two are removed, there can be no mind and no maya, and you get fixed in jnana [knowledge]. Let raga and dwesha go and let Rama enter. Then there will be no manas [mind] or maya.

Have no evil, pride, and egoism

The Taittireeya Upanishad [treatise on the Vedas] analyses the mind and its behavior very well. It gives directions to merge the mind in God and to develop the weapons with which you can foil the tactics of raga and dwesha. Use them for positive purposes, as Narada and Durvasa did. Have attachment to the Lord and aversion toward evil, pride, and egoism. Water and fire are incompatible; fire is put out by water. But with fire, you can convert water into steam and use it to haul long lines of heavy wagons.

How does one overcome raga and dwesha? By discrimination, by inquiry, and by reasoning. Arrive at the truth by this means. Duryodhana [a prince], though he stuck to falsehood, greed, and envy, had a wonderful time according to the Mahabharata [Hindu epic], with flags flying and banquets everyday. However, Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandavas, had exile, poverty, and privation as reward for his high morality. This does not mean that Vyasa [the sage who wrote the Mahabharata] is a cheat or a fool.

Prosperity did not induce caution, humility, or discrimination in Duryodhana. However, dharma [righteousness] stood firm in Yudhishthira despite hardships; shraddha [faith] was steadied and strengthened. Therefore, Yudhishthira is revered and Duryodhana denigrated even today, centuries after they died. Valmiki also pictured Rama as wandering forlorn in the forests, but He never for a moment wavered in the path of dharma. So He is revered even today as the embodiment of dharma.

Be examined & progress

The guru‑shishya (teacher‑disciple) relationship established between these boys and those who initiated them into the Gayatri [Vedic formula] also has a special dharma (spiritual quality) that directs the shishya to learn with gratitude and the guru to teach with love. There are cases when the shishya was made to forget all that he had learnt when the guru was displeased with his behavior.

India has been a yogabhumi, thyagabhumi, and vedabhumi—land of divine communion, renunciation, and spiritual intuition. It spoke of samadhi, the wisdom that sees all as equal repositories of divinity. Samatwa [equal-mindedness] is just a matter of origin and essence. Water in lakes, pits, wells, and rivers is rainwater, though the taste, color, name, and form are different, based on where the rain has fallen and how pure is the container. Divine grace is like rain, pure, pellucid, falling on all. The manner in which it is received and used depends on the heart of man.

The Lord does not test a man just for fun. He does not pile calamity on calamity because He enjoys it. Examinations are held to measure achievement and award marks and honors. You must ask to be examined, so that your progress may be recorded.

Diksit [a devotee] spoke of Bharadwaja setting up a durbar [regal audience] hall, with a bejeweled throne and all other paraphernalia for Bharatha. Bharatha however, mentally installed Rama on the throne and stood behind, fanning his brother. Sage Bharadwaja applauded Bharatha for this act of genuine detachment. He was glad the citizens could see this and know Bharatha’s real nature.

The Avatarhas no blemish

Bharatha did not partake of the rich banquet that the sage had prepared; he was too grieved over the turn of events to think of food, drink, and sleep. He would not even drink a drop of water before he spoke to Rama. The thought of Rama was so intense in him that people saw Rama in the form of Bharatha. Ceaseless contemplation had made him an exact replica. That is the depth of the bhakti [devotion] that is fruitful. But you praise Me when all goes well and you call Me stonehearted when grief assails you. Grief or joy, whatever the Lord hands out, you must welcome with equal calmness.

It was declared that Rama was born of the payasam [sweet pudding] that was brought by the deity from the sacrificial fire. No Avatar is born flesh and blood, including this Avatar. The body of the Avatar is chith [awareness] substance; it is not jada [inert] like other materials. The embryo of ordinary mortals is jalodakashayi [enveloped in watery stuff]; the embryo of the Avatar is encased in ksheerodakashayi [the pure white milk of holiness]. That is why there is no blemish or trace of guna [qualities] in the Avatar.

Rama’s hermit hood vow

Dasaratha wept at the thought that he had no sons to perform the obsequies when he moved into the next world. When all are of the form of God and of the substance of God, who is son and who is father? Who is to offer food to whom when that high stage of wisdom is reached? Kshama (fortitude) is the father, shantham (peace) is the mother, vairagya (renunciation) is the wife, and the Lord is the son, the centre of affection. Dasaratha desired the lower type of son, the male heir, to save him from perdition. This desire brought his spirit before Rama again, when Sita was about to enter the fire in Lanka.

Ravana [the demon king of Lanka] was killed, and Rama asked Sugriva [monkey King] and Lakshmana [Rama’s brother] to crown Vibhishana [Ravana’s brother] as emperor of Lanka. Vibhishana pleaded that Rama Himself should bless him on his coronation, but Rama insisted that His vow of hermit-hood prevented Him from entering an inhabited city.

Then Rama sent Hanuman to Sita and requested him to bring her to the camp in a palanquin. Hanuman bowed before Sita and got a vision of Lakshmi rising out of the waves of the ocean of milk. He felt that that vision was enough compensation for all the births he had to undergo. When the palanquin neared the camp, a sublime splendor spread everywhere, which astonished the vanara [monkey] hordes. Rama sent word that Sita may alight and walk the remaining distance, so that they may fill their eyes with her glory. This is not mentioned in the books.

Purpose of Sita’s fire ordeal

When Sita was about ten yards away, Rama, who is butter when He melts and steel when He hardens, said, “Stop, I can accept you only after you pass through fire.” Lakshmana swooned at this thunderbolt and the monkeys who had to bring the fuel for the fire bent under the weight of those twigs. But the fire ordeal served two purposes: one, to scorch the slanderous tongues that haunt the tracks of Avatars at all times, and two, to retrieve the real Sita who had entered the fire prior to her abduction by Ravana.

Dasaratha came there in spirit to assure Rama that Sita was purity itself, and also to satisfy his parental craving to see his son. He appreciated the steadfastness of Rama and also saw the vanaras rise again from the battlefield and gather around Rama. The rakshasas [demonic persons] had already attained liberation for they had the vision of God when they drew their last breath. “The vanaras came down to be My instruments and so they have no death, neither are they born, except at My command,” said Rama.

Man, too, must become God’s instrument in order to escape death and birth. He has come imprisoned in the ego, and he has to liberate himself. Only making himself aware of the universal divinity can do this. Like a man sunk in poverty, dwelling in a hut that is raised over a vast underground treasure, man is suffering despite a spring of joy inside him, of which he is unaware. I have come to give you the key to that treasure, to tell you how to tap that spring, for you have forgotten the way to blessedness. If you waste this chance of saving yourselves, it is just your fate.

Don’t ask for comfort & riches

Most of you have come to get tinsel and trash from Me, petty little cures and promotions, joys and comforts. Very few of you desire to get the thing I have come to give, i.e. liberation itself. Even among these few, those who stick to the path of sadhana [spiritual discipline] and succeed are but a handful. The outer signs of sainthood—the long gown, the beard, the rosaries, and the matted hair—draw away many. They keep track of many such who move about in this land and follow them into the wilderness. It is very difficult to demarcate clearly the manifestation of the Lord, so I am announcing Myself and describing My mission, the task, the characteristics, the qualities that mark out the Avatar from the rest. Do not hunger for comfort or riches—hunger for ananda [spiritual bliss].

If you have faith and if you keep Rama’s name as a constant companion, you are in Vaikuntha [Vishnu’s abode] or Kailasha [Shiva’s abode] or heaven all the time. These are not distant regions that have to be reached by tortuous travel but the springs of tranquility that are in your own heart. You cannot have this chance of being near the greatest of all sources of joy in any other place. Here He is so near, so easy to attain, so full of grace. If you fall back, you will seldom get the chance again. Ask and get what will save you, not what will bind you.

You ask from Me a thousand things of the world, but rarely do you ask for Me. That is why I seldom address you as bhaktas (devotees). I usually address you as divyatmaswarupulara (embodiments of the divine), for that is your real swarupa [form], this divyatwam (divinity). Though you do not know it, it is a fact. Therefore, I can address you so, with confidence. I can even call you divya‑divyaswarupulara. But I find you cannot lay claim to bhakti [devotion], since it is a quality that will make you desire the Lord and nothing else.

How to curb Ravana tendency

Some of you claim to be Sai bhaktas or Rama bhaktas or Krishna bhaktas, but unless you are perfect instruments in His hand, you do not deserve that name. For example, Bharatha can call himself a Rama bhakta. He lived with Rama-nama in every breath. He was `with’ Rama in the forest and on the battlefield. He suffered as much as Rama. He was as much an anchorite as his brother. So, he too, became shyama [dark-skinned] like Rama.

Sravana, manana, and nidhidhyasana [listening, contemplating on what has been listened to, and practicing what is dictated by the transformed mind]—these are the methods by which Ravanatwa [the Ravana tendency] has to be curbed. What is that tendency? It is kama—lust, greed, inordinate desire for things of the sensory world, egoism, and the rest of the fatal brood.

When the pot of milk on the hearth starts to boil over, you pour cold water on it and it settles down in the vessel itself. Durvasa is the example of the pot boiling over, and Narada of the pot of milk that does not. Narada had the name of the Lord always on his tongue, so the senses did not establish mastery. If you, too, keep your senses and your wishes in check, you will gain by listening to these talks and by this visit. I will then be happy that you have taken to the path that will give you real strength and joy.

Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 3