Assert with Every Breath
The Shastry [previous speaker], taking examples from epics and history, explained to you the power and influence of time on human affairs. What is good today may be bad tomorrow, what is practical today may be impractical tomorrow. Time has a way of making habits and outdated customs anachronistic. What gives grief today may yield joy tomorrow. Going to school is an unpleasant task for the child; but, later, he is thankful for having been forced to attend classes while young! Sita [from the epic Ramayana] renounced Ayodhya, the Palace and all the dreams of happiness she had, and followed Rama into the forest when he was exiled; but, the sight of a golden deer aroused her latent desires, and she had to face a series of calamities as a consequence of the emergence of ‘attachment’ to worldly objects! Time had conspired to keep the roots of desire alive in her heart.
The Ramayana teaches another lesson. The search for Sita is symbolic of the secret of self realization in the field of experience. Rama, when she was recovered, recovered the wisdom of self realization, now confirmed by experience. Jnana [knowledge] had become anubhava jnana [knowledge born from experience]. The Ramayana teaches that, when a person is yearning for the precious goal of self realization, all the forces of nature and creation will help him and render all assistance. Monkeys, birds, squirrel, and even boulders and rocks were his comrades in the task. Aim high; resolve on the most supreme adventure—everything will be set right to lead you on to the goal.
The world is the triple complex of gunas
In fact, you are urged on toward this adventure by your very breath, which repeats 21,600 times a day Soham (He I), emphasizing the identity of the indweller with the principle that is immanent in the Universe. You may declare with your tongue, “There is no God,” but, the breath repeats, So as it goes in and Ham as it goes out, making it clear that the He who is immanent is the I that is resident!
The regulation and restrictions imposed on daily life by the sages of India, the prescriptions for controlling and directing impulses and attitudes that they recommended, are all valuable in gradients of the culture and should be treasured, and put into practice. The world is the triple complex of gunas (attributes)—satwic, rajasik, and tamasic (the balanced, the passionate, and the dull).
The Upanishads say that the thunder teaches a three fold lesson, dha, dha, and dha—daya, dama, and dharma—to the persons entangled in these three gunas. Dama (self control) to the satwic who craves for ananda (bliss); dharma (right conduct, ideals of righteousness) to the rajasik, who craves for adventure, heroism, and activity; and daya (compassion, based on love, which enables attachment and sublimates greed) to those dominated by the tamasic qualities like craving for objective pleasures through attachment to senses.
The sages discovered the truth ‘Tat Twam Asi’ (That Thou Are). ‘That is the Divine, out of which all this arose, of which all this is, into which all this merges. It can be known by the bhakti marga—the path of dedication, of devotion and surrender of the self. The ‘thou,’ that is to say, the individual can be understood by the karma marga—the path of selfless activity, of the negation of the consequences of all activity, done in a spirit of adoration and with as much sincerity as an act of worship. Then, the process of identification of Tat and Twam (That and Thou) called the recognition of the Asi has to be consummated, through jnana marga—the path of knowledge, of sharp and relentless discrimination. When bhakti and karma merge, it leads to jnana. Bhakti sees everything as Tat; Karma wipes out the separateness of the Twam. So, the Asi (identification) process becomes easy.
Rendering services to the poor effaces the ego
Though all this is simple and explained in various texts that are expounded by eminent teachers every day to thousands, the truth is not experienced, the identity is not tasted. It is all stage acting. The words are not from the heart; they follow the cue of the script, written by another person. More is done for effect on the audience, and for the sake of applause and the yield at the counters! Of what benefit is a heavy shower of rain, if you keep your bucket upside down? Can it collect any water? When you listen to discourses on religion, if your minds are not receptive, you derive no benefit therefrom, do you?
Dr. Mistry spoke about the seva dal [service organization] activities in Bombay; about the donation of blood, about their visits to the hospital wards, and rendering services to the poor inpatients. Really, this is work that effaces the ego and endows one with real ananda [joy]. Dr. Mistry is Parsi [adherent of Zoroashtrianism]; note how he has mastered the Hindu scriptures also, so that he explained to you how Shiva, Parvati, and Ganapati could be interpreted as symbols of the karma, bhakti, and jnana marga to the goal.
Seva [service] rendered in the faith that all are forms of the One God is the highest karma. You must watch and see that the inspiration for the seva comes from the heart, not the head. When I was speaking some time ago to the lecturers and students of the Arts and Science College at Whitefield, I told them of the need to revere elders. The students now greet teachers with a nod, a movement of the head that is all. I told them that the nod meant distance, hostility, and discord. It makes it clear that students and teachers are engaged in opposite camps, that they are strangers. I wanted them to give up such ideas, accept teachers as friends, guides engaged in their seva while themselves students. I wanted love and reverence to flow back and forth between the two.
Heroic exploits of Krishna and Balarama
I must now finish and go to the children of the Veda-Pathashala, (school of Vedic studies) in the green room. They will enact a play saturated with spiritual nectar. For God is described by those who have tasted Him, “Raso vai sah” (He is nectar itself)! His story is bound to be sweet beyond words. The universe is sweet on account of Him; it gives joy because it is He. You do not know how to grasp that joy and hold on to it, so you swing between joy and grief. Acquire it to the full and for all time; then, there is no birth, no death. You are immortal; you are bliss, power, and wisdom.
In this play, about to be enacted by the boys, I depict the incidents in the lives of my old bhaktas, Kamsa, the Gopis, Akrura, Devaki, Vasudeva, and Nanda. It is the good fortune of these boys that I was with them many evenings, singing and repeating the lines, so that they may learn these great truths, enact the inspiring events before you and both derive and distribute joy. The boys may not be able to represent the roles to the fullest, yet you can imbibe the ecstasy and the spiritual lessons it in intended to convey.
The story starts with Kamsa plotting to bring his arch enemy Krishna, the seven year old cowherd boy, and his brother Balarama into his city and palace, so that he could kill him with the help of either the royal elephant, or the royal wrestlers. The subsequent scenes depict the agony of the maidens of Gokul at the separation from the Divine boy, the dilemma that agitates the foster parents, and the departure of the brothers to Mathura, where Kamsa was awaiting them. Krishna accepts the hospitality of an indigent devotee, rather than that of the monarch who had invited him. His arrival causes great joy to the populace.
Meanwhile, his parents who are in jail are elated at the prospect of seeing him, after years of separation. The warders inform them, as and when it happens, the series of triumphs that the City resounds with, marking the heroic exploits of Krishna and his brother, the killing of the elephant, of the wrestlers, and finally of the humiliation and destruction of King Kamsa himself! Krishna and Balarama enter the jail and liberate the parents, and there the Play ends.
Do not attach importance to the tender age of the actors; the words emanating from them are wise and curative; they are the teachings of the Vedas and Shastras. Treasure them in your hearts and depart to your places determined to put at least a few into daily practice.
Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 9
