Give the Giver the Gift

In the following discourse on His birthday in 1968, Swami promises: I am yours, you are Mine, forever and ever. What need is there for attracting and impressing, for demonstrating your love or My compassion? I am in you; you are in Me. There is no distance or distinction.

This is a pot, a thatch, a house, a wall, a jungle, a hill, the ground, the lake, the fire, the wind, the sky, the maker of the day, the light of night, the stars, the planets, the inert and the vital, the he—his person; these are all distinct from Me. This material world is different from Me—thus as a witness, I cognize all this and fill each with the principle of existence of any disciplinary process, for I am without the help above and beyond all this.

This is an auspicious moment in the history of India. You have a great chance to understand the truths embodied in the scriptures of this land and the ideals embedded in the ways of living that are prescribed by the codes propounded therein. So that you may attain the only goal of human life, namely, realising the Divine and becoming Divine, the Eternal has limited Itself and come in this human form. It will reveal the ideals again and re‑establish these among all men. Of course, it is difficult for those who are unacquainted with the scriptures to grasp the mystery of this advent.

I may tell you, nevertheless, that all the five elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth) have been created by the will of the Supreme. They have each to be used by you with reverential care and vigilant discrimination. Reckless use of any of them will only rebound on you with tremendous harm. External nature has to be handled with caution and awe.

Control the tongue

So, too, your inner nature, your internal instruments! Of these, two are capable of causing great harm—the tongue and sex. Since sex is aroused and inflamed by the food consumed and the drink taken, the tongue needs greater attention. While the eye, the ear, and the nose serve as instruments of knowledge about one particular characteristic of nature, the tongue makes itself available for two purposes: to taste and communicate. You must control the tongue with double care, since it can harm you in two ways.

Without the control of the senses, sadhana [spiritual effort] is ineffective; it is like keeping water in a leaking pot. Patanjali (the celebrated sage, author of the Yoga‑sutras) has said that when the tongue is conquered, victory is yours. When the tongue craves for some delicacy, assert that you will not cater to its whims. The monks and monastic dignitaries in this land have fallen prey to the tongue and are unable to curb its vagaries. They wear the robes of renunciation but clamor for tasty delicacies and thus bring the institution of monkhood into disrepute. If you persist in giving yourself simple food that is not savory or hot but amply sustaining, the tongue may squirm for a few days, but it will soon welcome it. That is the way to subdue it and overcome the evil consequences of its being your master.

Control your taste and talk

Since the tongue is equally insistent on scandal and lascivious talk, you have to curb that tendency also. Talk little, talk sweetly, talk only when there is pressing need, and talk only to those to whom you must. Do not shout or raise your voice in anger or excitement. Such control will improve the health and give mental peace. It will lead to better public relations and less involvement with contacts and conflicts with others. You may be laughed at as a kill‑joy but there are compensations enough for you. It will conserve your time and energy; you can put your inner energy to better use. You may take My special birthday message for you: Control your taste. Control your talk.

This is but a part of the larger program of controlling the senses. Your devotion to God is best expressed by achieving control of the senses. The senses rush toward the temporary and the tawdry, thus they foul the heart. I require from each of you no other gift, no more valuable offering than the heart I have endowed you with. Give Me that heart as pure as when I gave it to you, full of the nectar of love I filled it with.

Do not be jubilant because this is the day when this body became manifest, through birth, 43 years ago. Birth and death are inevitable incidents in the careers of physical sheaths. Worth is judged by what happens in the interval. That is what one has to be jubilant over. Utilize that period for the progress of the spirit.

There are three lines along which endeavor has to be directed: (i) Spiritual exercise and discipline; (ii) cultivation of detachment, and (iii) Development of confidence in one’s Self. Without these three, life is wearisome and a wasteful journey through the sands. Give up and renounce—that is the virtue you need for spiritual progress. It is not the value of the thing that is given up that counts; it is the loftiness of the impulse behind the act.

Each moment is a step to God

So long as one is dominated by sense pleasure, it cannot be said that his spiritual life has begun. Now many clamor for the experience of spiritual bliss, but few earn it because they find themselves too weak to reject the clamor of the senses. A little enquiry will reveal that the senses are bad masters and very inefficient sources of knowledge. The joy they bring is transitory and fraught with grief. Mere knowledge will not endow you with the spring of joy in the heart; only the contemplation of the might and majesty of God, as seen in the universe, can be a never‑failing source of joy. No two can agree on any matter, be they brothers or sisters, life-mates, or father and son. It is only as pilgrims on the God-ward path that two can heartily agree and lovingly cooperate.

You can be a pilgrim even while attending to your daily duties. Only, you have to feel that each moment is a step toward Him. Do everything as dedicated to Him, as directed by Him, as work for His adoration or for serving His children. Test all your actions, words, and thoughts on this touchstone, “Will this be approved by God? Will this rebound to His renown?”

In the epic of Ramayana, you find the father (Emperor Dasharatha) is infatuated with his dear wife, and he sends his son Rama to the forest in exile for 14 years. The son, however, is such a true follower of righteousness that [later] he exiles his dear wife to the forest in obedience to the whisperings of a section of his people. The father was the slave of his senses; the son was the master. God will approve the latter and disapprove the former. So, also, those who have no conception of the Lord who is above and beyond all human conventions may cavil at some of the actions of Krishna, but those who are aware of His Divinity will understand their true significance.

All men are cowherds

When you dedicate yourselves to the glorification of the Lord, you will revere the body, the senses, the intelligence, the will, and all the instruments of knowledge, action, and feeling as essential for His work. While others will get intoxicated with pride, the bhakta (devotee) will be intoxicated with prema (selfless love).

You have heard that when the Divine cowherd boy [Krishna] played on the flute, the men, women, and children, and even the cattle of Brindavan hurried to Him. [It was] as if [they were] drawn by the irresistible magic of His music, divine melody, that stills all the turbid waves that we name as joy and grief. They left off the work they were engaged in; they had no thought other than attaining the Divine presence. The cattle stopped grazing, the calves stopped guzzling milk. The story of Krishna and the gopis (cowherd girls) has a deep inner meaning. Brindavan is not a specific place on the map; it is the universe itself.

All men are cowherds; all animals are cows. Every heart is filled with the longing for the Lord. The flute is the call of the Lord. The sport called rasakreeda (Krishna’s boyhood dance), where Lord Krishna is described as dancing with the milkmaids in the moonlight—every maid has a boy Krishna holding her hand in the dance—is the symbol of the yearning and the travail borne by those who aim at reaching His presence. The Lord manifests such grace that each one of you has the Lord all for yourself; you need not be sad that you won’t have Him when others get Him; nor need you be proud that you have Him and no one else can have him at the same time! The Lord is installed in the altar of your heart.

Be pure & humble pilgrims

Offer your entire self, your entire life, to Him, then your adoration will transform and transmute you so fast and completely that you and He can be merged into One. He thinks, feels, and acts as you do; you think, feel, and act as He does. You will be transformed as a rock is transformed by the sculptor into an idol that deserves the worship of generations of sincere men. In the process you will have to bear many a hammer strokes, many a chisel wounds, for He is the sculptor. He is but releasing you from petrifaction. Offer your heart to the Lord; let the rest of you suffer transformation at His hands. Do not defile time, physical sheath, or this life’s chance,  using them for paltry ends.

Your pilgrimage to this place on this occasion is but a part of the long pilgrimage upon which you entered when you were born, that may not end even when you die. Do not forget that fact. Be pure, alert, and humble, as pilgrims ought to be. Treasure the good things you see and the basic truths you hear. Use them as props and promptings for further stages of the journey.

It serves no purpose if you merely acknowledge that the Lord has come but do not yearn to benefit by the advent. In the previous ages, in what are called Krita, Treta, and Dwapar yugas (each yuga or age being a long cycle or time period in Hindu mythology), the incarnations of the Lord were not accepted as such by many. Even their parents, kinsmen, and comrades hesitated to adore them. Only a few sages who had cultivated the inner vision through study and sadhana [spiritual effort] knew their reality.

Relate with this Incarnation

Today in this Kali yuga [the Iron age], while the currents of contradiction and controversy are undermining faith and adoration, the good fortune that has brought you face to face with Me is something for which you must thank your merit won through many lives. This is no ordinary good fortune. This incarnation is moving with you, in your joy and grief to console, encourage, and cure. This relationship is something unique; it has to be kept unbroken, until the goal is reached.

Devotees who are attached to Me have a special responsibility. Vice-chancellor Dr. Gokak referred in his speech as per My direction that no one shall collect funds for any endeavor connected with My name. I want that you must replace dhana [riches]‑yearning with dharma [righteousness]‑yearning. Yearn for dharma, not riches. Do not extend your hand before man, but ask of the Lord, and he will fill it with priceless treasure. Have that faith and carry on.

I may make mention now of a letter written to Me by Dr. K. M. Munshi (A great follower of Gandhi, one of the architects of free India; a famous Gujarati writer, founder of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and dedicated to the revival of the permanent values of Indian Culture). He has written that he came, he saw, and he was conquered. Of course, what really happened was that his love merged in Mine; his ananda (Bliss) merged in Mine, and he is happy beyond expression. He has suggested in that letter that, just as there are some days that are celebrated all over the world as holy days, My Birthday must be an all‑world holy day. He has asked Me to bless this plan of making this day, a day of Sathyanarayana puja, the world over. I appreciate his attachment and devotion, but I do not encourage this adoration of just one name and one form, and that too, My present name and My present form.

Unfurl the flag on the hearts

I have no wish to draw people toward Me, away from the worship of My other names and forms. You may infer from what you call My miracles that I am causing them to attract and to attach you to Me and Me alone. They are not intended to demonstrate or publicize; they are merely spontaneous and concomitant proofs of Divine Majesty. I am yours, you are mine, forever and ever. What need is there for attracting and impressing, for demonstrating your love or My compassion? I am in you; you are in Me. There is no distance or distinction.

I am now hoisting the Prasanthi Flag on this Prasanthi Nilayam. The flag is a sign that is significant for each one of you. It is a reminder of your duty to yourself, and so when I hoist it on this building, you must unfurl it on your own hearts. It reminds you to overcome the urge of low desires, of anger and hate when your desires are thwarted. It exhorts you to expand your heart so that you embrace all humanity and all life and all creation in its compass. It directs you to still your impulses and calmly meditate on your own inner reality. It assures you that when you do so the lotus of your heart will bloom, and from its centre will arise the flame of divine vision, which guarantees prasanthi (infinite peace).

I must also tell you of certain preliminary disciplines: Practice when you are here the three disciplines of silence, cleanliness, and forbearance. In silence can be heard the voice of God, not in the revelry of noise. Through cleanliness you earn purity. By forbearance, you cultivate love.

You have come today to your own home. This is your home, not Mine. My home is your heart. So do not try to have your lunch elsewhere but in your home, where you get this day food consecrated by Me, the prasad.

Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 8