Be Grateful to the Doctors
Following is an excerpt from Swami’s discourse in Mysore, July 27, 1961 for Guru Poornima.
The world is a huge hospital and humanity is bedridden. Some are writhing in the pain of envy, some are bloated with pride, some are losing sleep through hate, some have become blind through miserliness, some are struck down by selfishness; every one has some illness or other. On this Guru Poornima day, you need to render gratitude to the doctors who diagnose your diseases and prescribe remedies, and to the nurses who help you back to health. You should also resolve today to follow the treatment recommended and the regimen ordered. It is not enough to learn the prescription by heart or to read the label on the bottle three times a day, or to visit the hospital every day. Praising the doctor or worshipping him might induce him to take pity on you, but your illness can be cured only by your taking the drug and obeying the restrictions on food and drink and on your habits.
I must also say that doctors who fight for the patient’s purse, or who try to grab a patient before a rival appropriates him, are a danger to society. Also dangerous is a doctor who despises other doctors, sticks to his own patent cures even though they fail, who is guided more by his whims, fancies, and prejudices, or one who considers the patient’s caste more important than the disease. Today we find doctors and gurus who have deteriorated to the level of wrangling for patients and their money, and for the sale of their own patent remedies.
This day is a day when mankind pays homage to the greatest of spiritual doctors, Vyasa. Vyasa is the greatest of such doctors for he put together the Vedas and composed the Puranas and the Mahabharata (ancient Hindu epic) and gave humanity the Bhagavatham (another Hindu epic). He is the primal guru for all who walk in the path of God. He planted the seed of theism and nurtured it, through shruti (scripture), smriti (moral codes), sastra (scriptures) and the Mahabharata. He gave the world the Gita and the Brahma sutras (law of the divine principle), the idea of the immanent atma, the story of the divine leela (play), the secret of this changeable creation. He lived around 3800 B.C. He was the great-grandson of the sage Vasishta, the son of Parasara and the father of that celebrated gem among Rishis, Suka. His life story is a series of miracles, a divine saga. He came from Vasudeva, announced the leela of Vasudeva to all, and finally merged in Vasudeva. He established the era of nama-parayana and made everyone aware of the sweetness of the name of the Lord, which evokes His form and His grace. Vyasa first revealed to man the secret of making the manas (mind) as clear and as full of cool rays as the moon on a full-moon night. That is why this Poornima (full moon day) is associated with him and with all gurus. Today every asthika (one who believes in God) must refuse to be content with a feast and a lecture. He should try to plant this day the namabija (the seed of the name) in his well-prepared heart, devoid of the thorns of egoism. He should water it with prema (love), fence the sprout with shraddha (faith), feed it with fertilizer of smaranam (remembrance). From the mature tree of the mantra (sacred verbal formula) he should pluck the fruit of ananda (bliss) and relish the sweetness.
A person may boast of the vast treasures in the vaults of his bank, but he will get credit only for that which he has actually earned and deposited therein. Do not fritter away the time allotted to you; offer it to Kesava (another name of Krishna) who is kalaswarupa (God of time). Know that waking from sleep is but birth, and going to sleep is death. Upon waking every morning of your life, pray, “Oh, Lord, I am born now from the womb of sleep. I am determined to carry out all tasks this day as offerings to Thee with Thee ever present before my mind’s eye. Make my words, thoughts, and deeds sacred and pure. Let me not inflict pain on anyone. Let no one inflict pain on me. Direct me and guide me this day.” When you enter the portals of sleep at night, pray, “Oh Lord, the tasks of this day, whose burden I placed on you this morning, are over. It was You who made me walk, talk, think, and act. I therefore place at Thy feet all my words, thoughts, and deeds. My task is done. Receive me; I am coming back to You.” Adopt these as your daily prayers. The best thing is to have your own self as the source of light, as the guru. The inner intelligence, the inner guru, will reveal the truth. This prayerful attitude will so educate your impulses that the inner intelligence will be fully revealed.
Begin with the cultivation of prema, faith, and devotion. All are actors in the drama designed by the Lord—dolls dancing and acting as He pulls the strings. The role you have might be that of an officer, a soldier, a peasant, a beggar, or a clerk. Act well your part so that the drama might be a success. Do everything in a spirit of dedication, as if in each moment you act, speak, and even feel in response to a command received. To get that mood of dedication, the bhakthi sutras (aphorisms on devotion) prescribe nine paths, but the easiest and the most practicable is smaranam, a life lived in the constant presence of the Lord.
A bar of iron sinks in water. But beat it into a hollow vessel and it will float merrily and even carry some weight. So, too, man’s mind sinks easily in the sea of sense. Beat it hollow, hammering it with the name of the Lord. It will float safely on a sea of troubles. Do not be like gramophone records, singing someone else’s song, ignorant of the genuine thrill of music. Sing from your own experience of the glory and grace of the Lord.
If you win the grace of the Lord, even the decrees of destiny can be overcome. On the bottles of some drugs, manufacturers have given a date beyond which the drug loses its efficacy. Of course, the drug will still be in the bottle, but it will no longer be effective. Similarly, the Lord’s grace can make it inoperative.
The guru is one who shows you the path for receiving that grace, and to such a one this day is dedicated.
Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 2
