For All Mankind

Sathya Sai Baba urges us to abide by the quintessential Vedic message—employ our body and mind to realize the pervasive Divinity in and around us.

With just a few virtues but with scholarship vast 
What good can one do?
What honors can one gain?
With ten acres of land on which no crop can grow
What can one gain?
It’s enough, if one has a fertile patch.

Embodiments of love, the Rig Veda, the first among the four Vedas [Hindu scriptures], has come down to us in exactly the same way that it was recited in the past. It is a far-spreading tree with many branches. Of the original 25 [Vedas], only two are now available. But, these have been preserved intact by means of an elaborate system of memorization, wherein one set of pupils recite seriatim, another does so back and forth,  and a third does it omitting alternate syllables. The techniques have distinct names like jada, mala, shikha, danda, rata, dhwaja, gana, etc. The reality—the core in man—is laid down as prana (vital energy) in the Rig Veda. But, this is inconsistent with the view that the atma [self], which is embodied in man and all living beings, is eternal universal consciousness with no attributes, characteristics, or modes.

The Rig Veda speaks of three bonds that encumber man—adhyatmic bond that refers to the physical and mental illnesses and diseases that affect a person; adhibhoutik bond that brings about pain and suffering through involvement with other living beings, especially poisonous insects, scorpions, wild animals, etc.; and, adhidaivik bond that causes terror and loss by what can be called as ‘acts of God’, such as floods and drought, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, avalanches, thunderbolts, and meteors against which man is helpless. The Rig Veda prescribes means to overcome or modify the consequences of these calamities by achieving progress in physical, mental, and spiritual fields of activity.

Righteousness regulates action

The Rig Veda is primarily concerned with karma [action], and is part of the karma kanda (the path of action to attain the Absolute). There are three stages in the soul’s journey to its source: karma, dharma [virtue], and Brahma [the eternal].

Karma is the sincere discharge of one’s duty as laid down in the scriptures, and is beneficial to our standard and status. Through karma done for some benefit in view, man progresses toward karma with no benefit in view, such that he does it as a rightful obligation, undeterred by defeat or unaffected by success. He does karma that is regulated by dharma. Thus his consciousness is purified and elevated, and can help him to become aware of his reality as the self which comprises everything including Brahman (eternal self).

Without bud and bloom, no fruit does emerge
Without tiny fruit, may be trite and tender,
No taste of sweetness can grow and gratify.

The flower is karma, the tender fruit is dharma, and the taste that gratifies is Brahman. The bud blossoms through devotion while the fruit emerges as virtue, and ripens as one becomes aware of the One [Self]. The three are inevitable ingredients. To give you a familiar example, the coconut chutney you make at home has four ingredients: salt, chilies, tamarind, and the kernel of the nut. To procure all these, clean and pure, in the required quantities is karma, the path of action. To put them together, and grind them into a paste is also karma, part of the path. Then, you taste it to discover whether it tastes like the genuine chutney. This is the path of dharma. When you find that if a sprinkle of salt would make it authentic, you add it at this stage. Or, if it is more, you mix with it some more paste that is without salt until it is just right. And, you derive delight that is the reward. That is the stage of joy, of contentment, and the end of desire—Brahman.

Being born, growing up, and aging are karma; we realize that to live for oneself is not the way to happiness. We take to the path of dharma or virtue, sacrifice, and service. But, we soon discover that involvement with problems does not give lasting joy. So, we turn toward the ever-lasting source of peace, harmony, and delight—Brahman [God].

Vedas have universal validity

Vedas teach not only karma (rites, rituals, vows, sanctifying observances etc.) but also dharma. In fact, it is said that the Vedas are the roots that feed dharma and hold it fast. Since dharma is the sustainer of the entire world and the law that regulates the cosmos, Vedas have universal validity. There are latent as well as patent forces that urge every particle or wave in the cosmos. When they are operating in coordination, all is well. But when they are unbalanced and operate without equilibrium, disorder and disaster are caused. For example, the sun, moon, earth, fire, air, and water all have to maintain a balance so that order reigns.

When the environment is disturbed or distorted, danger is imminent. When water is contaminated, man suffers physical and mental illnesses thereby. Science and technology boast of their achievements in conquering the five elements—space, air, fire, water, and land. They are dealing with them as if they are playthings amenable to their whims. They do not deal with them as means for peace and prosperity on earth and its inhabitants. Their attempts to analyze and take advantage of the five elements are resulting in fatal pollutions and natural disasters like droughts, and even earthquakes. The five elements have to be adored and treated reverentially as the Rig Veda directs. Worship them in humility. Then, they would reward you with plentiful power. Today, that reverence has disappeared in the greed for exploitation.

What is sleep and death?

Things that confer joy can also confer grief when their real nature is not understood. The counsel of the wise calms our mind, and inspires our hearts. But, sometimes, it may disturb the mind and depress the heart when we feel it is denying or discouraging our pet plans and pleasures. But, the quality of the counsel is, on both occasions, wisdom. For example, rain is comforting, and therefore, quite welcome. But the drops, sometimes, turn into hailstones and hit hard, causing pain. They too are the same material, welcome in another form. Within minutes, the hailstones run as water on the ground, and become desirable gifts.

Peace is inherent in man. When ego becomes egoism, the aham [I] becomes ahamkara [ego] as it manifests itself within a form. The ‘I’—pure and simple—is still ‘being’; however, it ‘becomes’ when the ‘I’ identifies itself with something else such as, man, monk, or student.

The ‘I’ has become an ‘ism’, putting on a form which it is loath to give up, making the akar [form] into ahamkara, the egoist! When you are in bed, asleep, dreaming, and wandering through varied escapades and experiences, what has happened to the body that you had fostered as you yourself? And while in deep sleep, where have all the levels of consciousness taken refuge? Sleep is a short death; death is a long sleep. You, the ‘I’ in you, endows the inert material vehicle called body with consciousness. You are the cosmic consciousness—God—temporarily in the role of the ‘I’. The body-mind-complex is the instrument to be utilized for that role; use it for furthering God’s purpose, executing God’s will. This is the message of Rig Veda.

Another mistaken idea some people entertain is that of suicide. They plan to punish and destroy the body that is inert and incapable of initiative. The erratic mind and not the body cause the despair that overwhelms the will to live. Delve into the vagaries of the mind, learn to direct it along straight paths, and emerge as the victor over despair.

Vedic hymns have great potency

The hymns of the Rig Veda have been used across the ages to sanctify widely different events and experiences of man, both spiritual and apparently secular. The distinction is artificial, for all of life has to be spiritualized. The Rig Vedic hymns are chanted when a boy is initiated into Vedic studies or the recitation of the Gayatri and other mantras, when someone has to be blessed on some happy occasion, when a wedding has to be ceremoniously performed by invocating God, and when the body is buried or burnt after the soul has left. They have great potency and arouse beneficial thoughts on those who recite them and on the listeners too.

The seers, who envisioned the hymns of the Veda, chanted and communicated them. They—the seers—were 403 in number. Vasishtha is the foremost of them, with 104 hymns that he visualized. There is a story about sage Bharadwaja who sought to visualize all that has to be known through the Vedic voice of God. He prayed to the Lord of Heaven, Indra, to give him longer and longer leases of life but Indra, after obliging him more than once, laughed at his tenacity and said, pointing to a huge mountain range facing him, “All that you have mastered so far is but three handfuls of sand from these peaks. How can you ever master the Vedas fully?” But, the sage did not wince. He said, “I shall bear the burden gladly.” Burden in Sanskrit [ancient Hindu language] is called bhara and bearing is called bhara. So, he was known as Bharadwaja. Vamadeva and Agastya are the other seers of note whose visions helped the origination of 56 and 27 hymns respectively. Vishwamitra contributed another 56.

Accept blame as medicine

Vishwamitra was able to hand down the potent Gayatri mantra to posterity. His name means “friend of all” and “well-wisher of the world.” It was the Gayatri [mantra] that entitled him to earn that name. Rig Veda is entirely the product of the insight of such sages. Every name you use for God, and every illustration we imagine of His glory are found in the Rig Veda. Rama, Krishna, Sai, and Ishwara, are all the very essence of the glory it describes, though you may not recognize the sources. Mantra means ’the words that save those who meditate on them.’ So, whatever is uttered with such intention becomes holy, charged with love for fellow men, for the world, and for the elements.

Rig Veda teaches the lesson of serenity. Praise is like the perfume of the rosewater; when it is sprinkled on you, suffer it but don’t drink it—that is to say, accept it and thrive on it. Blame is like a medicine. Examine yourselves whether you have the illness and if you have, accept the blame and benefit by it. Serenity is a divine virtue. All the Vedas are intent on helping man to become aware of the Divinity in him and all around him. Picture for yourselves the peace that seers gained by that awareness, and yearn to learn the lessons the Vedas shed on all mankind irrespective of caste, creed, race, or nationality.

Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 15