Atom of Majesty
Bhagavan Baba clarifies the symbolism behind His manifesting the lingam on the holy night of Shivaratri [on February 26 this year]. In the ensuing discourse, Baba emphasizes that His mission to establish righteousness on the earth will succeed and we, His devotees, should reciprocate by imbibing His teachings in our daily lives.
Man’s mind is too full of the world; his stomach demands too much of his time and energy. His desires and wants are multiplying too fast for his capacity to satisfy them; his dreams are far too real for him, leading him into false victories and absurd adventures. Engrossed in the material world, he has lost all sense of spirit, sweetness, and sublimity. Under this new dispensation, truth has become just a word in the dictionary. Compassion is reduced to a meaningless travesty. Humility, patience, and reverence—these are as invalid as a flameless lamp in the far distance.
The only hold that man has in this dreadful darkness is the name of God. That is the raft which will take him across this stormy sea, darkened by hate and fear, churned by anxiety and terror.
People admire the phenomenal advance of science. But the advance has been from fear to greater fear, from destruction to more destruction. In prehistoric times, men killed each other using bows and arrows; now they kill entire populations with the help of atom bombs; this is praised as remarkable advance!
The scientist cannot stop the rise of greed and hate in the human heart; he can only forge the weapons they require and improve upon their lethal efficiency. Mankind lives in daily dread of extinction as a result of the discoveries of science; for, any moment, the storm of hate may rain the bombs on their homes. In reality, science has deprived man of self-confidence. He is not sure of even himself. He is afraid of himself. Even at the slightest provocation, he is transformed into a wild and vicious beast.
Ideals of Sanathana dharma
You must be thankful that here at least you can calmly consider your own inner nature, and resolve upon ways and means by which you can mould your destiny along the lines of love and contentment. The ideals laid down by Sanathana dharma (eternal religion) for ensuring a happy peaceful life for man individually and for society are valid even today. The disciplines mark-ed out therein are as beneficial today as when they were first ordained in the shastras [scriptures]. Their value is unchallengeable, unchangeable.
Do not imagine yourselves as Hindus for the reason that you are born in Hindustan [India]. You are too entangled in the rules of caste, the ceremonial of rituals, and the coils of astrology to grasp your own inner reality. You do not realize the spark of divinity in you and try to raise it into a flaming fire of divine splendor, reducing your petty ‘I’ into ashes. Sanathana dharma enlightens you about that [divine] spark, and teaches you how to foster and develop it. When you ignore this dharma and allow science to entice you, you are bringing disrespect to your culture and country.
Seekers from overseas are trekking toward this country [India] attracted by its ancient lessons, that teach the way to acquire inner calm and inn-er light. They are apprehensive of the calamity toward which their countries are heading. They have confirmed the validity of many practices that you have been led to discard as superstitions. They have opened your eyes to values that you had neglected with an air of superiority born of little acquaintance with science. They have found that mantras (sacred formulas) have potency to transform nature, that Vedic [specific scriptural] recital can infuse harmony, and that wrong pronunciation of mantras has deleterious effects.
God is the closest companion
The name of God, with all its halo of glory and majesty, can cleanse the mind of passion and emotion and make it placid and pure. When the name is repeated without concentration and without reverence, it cannot cleanse the mind. The vice and wickedness will remain. The rakshasa (demonic) heroes [in the epic Ramayana]—Ravana, Kumbhakarna and others—performed tapas (penance) and drew the Lord to their presence. However, despite receiving the desired boons from Him, they persisted in their vicious ways. We value cows for the yield of milk. We value men for their character, their friendly sympathetic attitude, their readiness and ability to serve, safeguard, and save.
The truth that there is perfect identity between the individual and universal is proclaimed by the silent announcement every breath of yours makes: Soham (I am He). God is the closest, fondest, and most reliable companion. But man, in his blindness, ignores Him and seeks the company of others. God is present everywhere, at all times. He is the richest and the most powerful guardian. Yet you ignore Him. The Lord is here, near and loving, accessible and affectionate. But, many do not open their eyes to the great opportunity. The name will bring Him nearer to you. Now, the name is on the tongue, the world is in the mind, and the owner of the name is in the heart. The world and its attractions are distracting you, obliterating the answer the Lord gives to the call of the name.
God resides in everyone
Reason is a bad guide in spiritual matters unless it is rinsed of all traces of ego. Else, it discovers arguments to support the point of view that is pleasant to the person. A merchant had a fierce dog in his garden, to guard his house against trespassers. One day, when a traveler was passing by, the dog attacked him with bared teeth; defending himself, he [the merchant] hit it [dog] on the head with a thick stick he was carrying. Howling with pain, the dog retreated into the house.
The owner was enraged at this; he was not satisfied with the explanation of the traveler. He dragged him [the merchant] to the judge for abusing his dog. “Why should he hit him on the head? He could have hit him on the tail,” he argued. The traveler replied, “He jumped toward me with intent to bite me; if he had threatened to bite me with his tail, I would have certainly hit the tail.” The judge dismissed the case.
Do not attempt to justify your own prejudices and preferences by specious arguments; that will lead to self-deception not self-knowledge. That will heighten egoism rather than reduce it. God resides in every one as lingam in the subtle form. In the anga (body), there is sangam (contact with the outer and inner world); in the sangam resides the jangam (the moving, traversing, and changing place) and as the basis of the jangam, there is the lingam.
Linga is a word of two syllables: lin and ga; lin means “that into which everything merges (li-yathe),” ga means “that into which everything goes (gam-yathe).” The linga is a symbol of the universal into which all particulars merge, and from which all particulars emerge. The linga is the swa-swarupa (the real form of the reality). The lingodbhava (materialization of linga) announces the advent of the Avatar (Divine incarnation) as the guide and the leader.
Man is a treasure chest
The way in which the Avatar has to be used for one’s liberation and uplift is as follows: watch His every step, observe His actions and activities, and follow the guiding principle of which His life is an elaboration. Mark His love, His compassion, His wisdom, and try to bring them into your own life. Man has become artificial, crooked, and twisted out of his normal shape. He has left behind the simple natural ways and made his mind a cluttered room for ideas, worries, anxieties, and terrors. He can live on very much less and with much greater joy for himself and others. If he just remembers that he is a treasure chest with the Divine spark in it, he will be more loving and more useful.
God incarnates for the revival of dharma (righteousness), which includes morality, truth, virtue, love, and a host of other qualities that uphold the communities of man as well as the individual. The generally accepted purposes, including serving the devoted, destroying the wicked, and re-establishing the sacred tradition, are all secondary. For, he who is righteous will be guarded from harm by righteousness itself; he who is unrighteous will fall into disaster through the evil that he perpetrates. The one task includes all else.
I shall fulfill the task of establishing dharma, regardless of others’ comments. Comment is a natural corollary. I do not pay any attention to it; nor should you. The higher the hill, the deeper the valley. Praise or blame will not affect Me in the least. The unshakable foundation on which My work is proceeding is ananda (bliss). I cannot be moved away from it by anyone, at any time. The Pandavas [the righteous brothers mentioned in the Mahabharata] knew best. That is why the Avatar, Krishna, was the heart of the five brothers. Dharmaraja [the eldest of the Pandavas] represented the head, Arjuna the shoulders, Bhima the stomach, and Nakula and Sahadeva the legs. That was the one living body that fought and won the battle of good versus evil at Kurukshetra (the battlefield of the Mahabharata war).
Do not yield to cunningness & lose faith
Dedicate your heart to God; and, God will be one with you, as the heart of your heart. Do not exaggerate the creation and the manifestation of the linga; it is only the manifestation of an atom of My majesty. In Me, who can create worlds and fill the universe, there are things more worthy of adoration; they are universal love, the teaching of dharma (virtue), the revival of the Vedas, the fostering of the good, the benediction on sadhakas (spiritual aspirants).
Do not yield to cleverness, casuistry, and cunning, and as a result lose faith. Asked how many oranges there were after he had been given one and was holding one in his own hand, a boy told his father, “There are three.” Asked to explain, the boy impertinently counted the oranges with his finger, “One, two … one plus two is three.” “Well,” said the father, “you eat the third orange, I will have these two.” That put an end to the conceit of the young fellow. Be straight; follow the straight path; and, you will reach the goal.
Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 8
