Grow in Love

The magnificent Poornachandra Auditorium was packed to capacity on November 19th, when Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba inaugurated the Third World Conference of Sathya Sai Organizations by lighting a lamp on the elegantly de­corated stage. A revolving globe appropriately revealed the many countries in every continent from which delegates had come for the Conference. After the chanting of Vedic hymns, Bhagavan delivered His address.

          Treat mercifully those who struggle to survive:
help them as fully as you can; realize the responsibilities of the
family; move reverentially with others: win the blessings of
Sai and earn good fame among fellow men; examine your
daily activities on the touchstone of righteousness; may you
become individuals shining in virtue.

Embodiments of love! The reconstru­ction of man is indeed the reconstruction of the world. Only when man becomes better can the world be bettered. Only when the individual becomes good can society be happy. Progress in externals like politi­cal, economic, and social spheres is not enough. The mind of man must be refor­med. This cannot be affected through food only. Materialists who argued that human problems can be solved by ensuring food, clothing, and shelter reached their climax when in the 20th Century the atom bomb was exploded. Man can reach full­ness only when the three lines of progress­—material, mental, and spiritual—are all pursued with earnestness.

Sanathana Dharma [eternal order/religion] enables one to attain this fullness. Really speaking, very few have grasped the uniqueness and the impor­tance of this religion. Nowadays, many elders and political leaders are afraid to utter even the name “religion” before the gatherings they address. They shape their lives in accordance with a new order, which has no religious slant whatsoever. In fact, they have not understood what religion really means. They do not attempt to dis­cover the significance and the role of religi­on. Many speak from platforms on Hindu­ism and Sanathana faith but very few of them have understood the genuine core. The Sanathana Dharma is the very basis of living. It deals with the total personality. It embraces all faiths and has established worldwide influence. Sanathana means eternal; only a dharma that can win uni­versal acceptance can be named Sanathana. The religions we know about are all derived from a person or prophet who is adored as the ideal. Islam has Muhammad, Christi­anity has Jesus, Buddhism has the Buddha. But Sanathana Dharma is not derived from or through a person. It is the primal essen­ce of all other faiths. It is the essence of all the messages prophets proclaimed. It is welcomed by all mankind, for it welcomes all mankind. It is therefore to be deplored that some Indians boast selfishly, “Sanathana Dharma is our religion.”

Newton, a Westerner, discovered after a series of experiments that the earth had the force of gravitation. But we cannot conclude that the earth had no such force until Newton’s discovery. So, too, though the principles of Sanathana Dharma are in­herent in human consciousness and have their impact all over the world, the people of Bharat [India] have long practiced and experi­enced them and discovered their value and validity. They have earned invaluable bliss therefrom. Just as atomic science develop­ed in one country and later spread to other countries, the Sanathana faith, developed in India, has spread to other countries. Even a material process like atomic science cannot be held down in one place; in the same manner, this spiritual science, too, spre­ads all over the wide world.

Sanathana Dharma is bound to overcome today’s rampant materialism, for it can harmonize the secular and the spiritual into a single way of life. It can bring to­gether into closer kinship both man and God. It is based on the Divine that is the reality of the self. So, it is not limited to one country, one individual, one period of time, or one sect. It has a variety of procedures, points of view, disciplines, and guidelines, in accordance with the special features of the region, the age, and the en­vironment. It is coeval with man on earth. This faith, though first explicit in Bharat between the Himalayan range and the three seas, has become a world faith through its innate divine strength.

The Divine is manifest in every human being. The religions professed may be different, the manifestations may differ; but the Self that Sanathana Dharma posits is the same in all. “The thousand‑headed, thousand‑eyed, thousand‑footed Person” posited there is the Divine Self, appro­achable through many paths, expressing in many forms.

The units of the Sai Organization have to exemplify and promote this Unity in Diver­sity taught by Sanathana Dharma. The very purpose with which the Organization was formed is to stress on this Unity. The essence of all religions, the goal of all paths, the destination of all spiritual effort, is this Sanathana or Universal Eternal Faith. It is like the ocean; particular creeds are rivers that flow into it. It is the vital air on which humanity has to live.

In our Organization, there must be a con­stant attempt to cultivate love that tran­scends caste, creed, race, and class dis­tinctions. This sense of equality is its special feature. It is not enough if the units under­take material, moral, and spiritual teach­ings. Emphasis is on the atma [soul] and the awareness of the oneness of the atma is a must.

This day we are holding the Third World Conference of the units of the Sathya Sai Seva Organization. There is no special tea­ching to be offered to the office‑bearers of these units during this session. The life of Sai, the message of Sai, the ideals Sai holds forth, the lessons that Sai teaches the world—are all enshrined in one word, love. Many are perhaps hoping for a special message on the occasion of the in­auguration of the Conference. I do not attach any extra importance to a World Conference, nor do I feel any other gather­ing as less. These conferences are held to satisfy your desire to express your love. The petromax lamp needs pumping off and on; the pin must remove its grit some­times. So, too, in gatherings like this, you can exchange thoughts and make a few additions, or changes, improvements or amendments, in your attitudes and thought styles.

You are trying through various means to live the ideals of Sai and to spread the love that Sai evokes in you. How far have these efforts succeeded? How far have they benefited mankind? How have they helped this identification of the human­ness of man? Along with the process of listening to the exposition of the ideals and of the message, they have to be practiced in daily life. Only then can you declare that you have grasped the meaning and purpose of this Conference.

Everyone must become the embodiment of love. Love can be expressed only as love, through love. Lovelessness is at the root of the anarchy that stalks the world today. Unchecked self‑interest, misdirected activity, the wild antics of the ego, pompous living, and envious intolerance have caused this monstrous situation. Realizing this, you must be vigilant. Do not allow even a trace of ego, pomp, or cruelty to pollute your actions. Peace and prosperity can dawn on the world only when you move in society with love that is free from the taint of selfishness.

The question may be raised whether our organizations are free from this taint. They are not without it, for you are but humans. But you should endeavor ceaselessly to get rid of it and its attendant evils. When these bad traits are evident in others, you feel disgusted; how then can you tolerate them when they fasten themselves on you? During the discussions you hold, consider how best you can keep afar from selfish­ness, pomp, and cruelty; how best you can appreciate and emulate the equanimity and the love manifested by your fellowmen. Get rid of the desire to show off and to gather praise. These are considered to be but evidence of childishness. But those who have atma as the basis should never slide into this weakness.

Bear burdens bravely, declaring, “I am a man.” Try to raise yourselves into the Divine. Or at least try to live up to the standard expected of the human. The thought in the mind, the word on the tongue, and the deed by the hand—try to make all three one. Many people hope to lead good lives by doing good deeds and utter­ing good words. But I do not believe this is possible. You can never become good by means of good deeds. You must be good in order that your deeds and words can be good. First, endeavor to be a good person. Thereafter, it becomes pos­sible for you to do good. Be good; do good. It is not possible to predict when and where or for what reason a person’s life blossoms or expands. You may pray underneath a tree that yields bitter fruit, it cannot give you a sweet fruit. But when a branch of the sweet‑fruit tree is grafted on that tree, it can yield sweet fruits though originally it could not. This process of grafting is equivalent to satsang [good company] in human affairs—getting involved with the good and godly. So, do service to your fellow‑men with pure intentions and seek always good company. Then you can transform yourselves.

The evil traits that have grown through many lives and generations cannot be wiped away in an instant. So, mix in godly groups, cultivate good habits and attitudes, and involve yourselves in good activities.

In this gathering, people from many countries, speaking many languages, be­longing to many races, are present. They are all single‑mindedly united in love for Sai and in the love from Sai, in spite of differences in nationality, race, creed, color, and dress. This is the real lesson of Sanathana Dharma. This is my real task. This is the consummation of the yearnings of the ancient seers and sages of this land. Develop this oneness, this unity in love, hold it ever before you as the ideal. Re­ligions arise from the minds of men; they are not external to him. When minds are polluted, religion, too, suffers pollution. Those who deny religion can be denoted as having distorted or polluted minds. Of course, religion is not related to practices and prohibitions like, “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch this.” Every religion teaches only good principles and disciplines. When the mind of man is steadfast in the good, how can religion be bad?

Therefore, acquire the love that draws all into the One. By this means, you can put down the fears and anxieties, the greed and envy, the hatred and haughtiness that are today infecting the peoples of the world and establish an era of peace and joy. Let all the worlds be happy, this is the prayer that comes naturally from every human heart. This is the goal to which Sanathana Dharma leads. Everyone must sing of this goal; live in the melody of that song, and merge through that melody in the highest bliss, the Paramatma.

Embodiments of Love! Do not seek to find differences between one person and another. Seek rather ways and means to strengthen the bonds of kinship through love. Factions and fighting emerge among the followers of the same religion and members of the same family because they have not learnt to love. From oneself—same mind, many conflicting feelings emerge. Why? love has not been nursed and grown therein.

You must sow love and grow love and destroy the weeds of fear and hatred that have spread over the world. Make the world the happy ‘Home of Love.’

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Jan. 1981