Live Up to Your Role

In this discourse to the service arm of His organization, Bhagavan Baba emphasizes seeing the Divine in the served as key to personal transformation.

Divinity is present in everyone in an unmanifested form. All human beings are sparks of the Divine like the waves of the ocean. Every man is the embodiment of the divine sat-chit-ananda (being-awareness-bliss). This has been described categorically in the Bhagavad Gita [Divine song]. As God is the embodiment of love, man is also an embodiment of love. But man today does not manifest it fully and properly because of his selfishness and self-centeredness.

Though humanity has advanced considerably in the material and scientific spheres, it has gone down grievously in the moral and spiritual spheres. Selfishness is predominant in every action. Behind every thought and word, self-interest is prominent. It is only when this selfishness is eradicated can divinity be revealed.

In rendering seva (service), one should recognize the omnipresence of the divine in all human beings. Men have not developed the spirit of tyaga (sacrifice) or aversion to bhoga (sensual pleasures). True service calls for a spirit of sacrifice. Sacrifice has been declared to be the only means to achieve immortality.

Man is prey to discontentment

Men appear to be in quest of God. They do not realize that God permeates all that they see. All forms are divine. However, as man’s vision is externalized, he is unable to have the inner vision of the Divine.

Man craves for peace. Though the source of peace and bliss is contained within him, he seeks them in the external like one pursuing a mirage. Owing to restless activity, endless worry, and limitless desires, man has lost peace of mind, and has become prey to discontent and misery. At the outset, peace has to be cultivated within us. And then that peace has to be extended to the family. From the home, it should spread to our village. Thus, peace should begin with the individual, and spread across the whole society.

In the Sai organization, efforts are made to propagate the values of truth, righteousness, love, peace, and non-violence. This is only propagation, but not practice. Mere preaching is of no avail. Truth must be practiced. Bharatiya [Indian] culture upholds truth and righteousness as the highest values. If people do not live according to truth and righteousness, their humanness is worth nothing.

Of all the virtues, love is the foremost. If love is fostered, all other qualities flow from it. In every form of sadhana [spiritual exercise], love has the first place. Love is the supreme mark of humanness. Love is God. Live in love. Start the day with love. Fill the day with love. End the day with love. You have to engage yourselves in seva, eschewing every trace of ahamkara (conceit). Our degradation is the result of forgetting God. When we remember God, our life will be filled with peace and happiness.

Man has three kinds of ichcha-shakti (wishing abilities). One is: swechcha (wishing freely); two: parechcha (carrying out the wishes of others); and three: anichcha (non-wishing). Swechcha does not mean freedom to act as you please, using your strength and possessions as you like regardless of the rights of others.

Meaning of the wishing abilities

True swechcha (freedom to act as one wishes) consists in taking a decision with your own mind, carrying it out in action, and wholeheartedly accepting the consequences for good or ill. This is true freedom of will. The freedom that you desire in doing what pleases you should also imply that you freely accept the consequences flowing from its fulfillment. Parechcha refers to what one does at the prompting or bidding of others, but laments the consequences resulting from such actions, casting the blame on others for what one suffers. Anichcha refers to fortuitous happenings that occur without one’s own willing or as a result of actions prompted by others, and are accepted as providential.

Having got the precious human form, men must seek to live according to the true requirements of that form. It should be realized that man is not born to wallow in ignorance, poverty or sin. He is born for a higher destiny. He should live up to the role conferred on him.

King, sanyasi, and the dancer

Once a sanyasi (monk) expounded to a maharaja [king] the sacred truths of the Vedanta [Hindu philosophy]. The king was pleased with his exposition, and offered him a plate full of gold coins. The ascetic declined to accept it, saying it was not in keeping with the clothing he was wearing to accept any material gifts. “What need have I for these things when I have renounced every worldly thing?” he said. The king was pleased with the sanyasi’s attitude.

The next day the same person turned up in court in the guise of a danseuse. She danced superbly before the king. The king was pleased and offered her a plate of gold coins. She declared that she was not willing to accept such a meager guerdon and wanted more. The king realized at that moment that the person in the dancer’s dress was the same person who had appeared as a sanyasi the previous day. The king told her: “Yesterday, you declined to accept the gift at my hands and today you ask for more than I have offered. What is the inner meaning of this difference in attitude?”

The dancer pointed out that everyone has to act according to the role assumed by him/her. Wearing the sanyasi’s robe, it was the proper thing for the ascetic to reject any material gift. But in the dancer’s role, she was entitled to ask for as much as she thought fit. That day, she was playing the role of the dancer.

When the king heard her reply, he felt that he had learnt a good lesson from her. “Here I am a king. I should conduct myself as a king, and not behave in any way unbecoming of a person wearing regal robes.” He appreciated the lesson that the woman had taught him.

Today someone may wear the ochre robe, but his heart is filled with foulness. He has desires from which even a householder is free. Such double life undermines Indian culture. Many of the pundits [religious practitioners] are well-versed in the scriptures, and can recite them by rote. They may flaunt their rudraakshamaalas (rosary of sacred beads used in japa—repetition of the holy name). They may wear precious shawls. But their actions are not in accordance with their costumes and adornments.

“Pandithaah samadarsinaah,” declares the Bhagavad Gita—the true scholar looks at everything with an equal eye. How can those who do not have this equal-minded vision be described as pundits? If one claiming to be a sanyasi has renounced all mundane things, but continues to entertain desires, how can he be regarded as a sanyasi? Today, many who parade the knowledge of the scriptures are bhogarajus (those who revel in luxury) or rogarajus (glorying in disease); they are not becoming tyagarajus (masters of renunciation).

Role of Sai sevaks

You are the members of the Sathya Sai Seva dal [service arm of the Sathya Sai organization]. As such you must strive to render service that is in keeping with your role. You are sevaks [those who do selfless service]. Have the feeling that whomever you serve, you are indeed serving God. Remember the spirit in which Hanuman, the monkey, served [Lord] Sri Rama. You should not imagine that because he was a monkey, he lacked intelligence or other qualities. He has been described as “tranquil, virtuous, and strong.” Such a person, when he was on a tree in the Ashokavana [forest] in [Sri] Lanka, was questioned by the rakshasas [demons] as to who he was and from where he had come. Hanuman replied, “Daasoham Kausalendrasya— I am the servant of Sri Rama, the Lord of Kosala.” He did not boast about his valor or knowledge. He was content to describe himself as the humble and devoted servant of Rama.

Bear in mind the maxim: “Without being a kinkara (one who is ready to carry out the Lord’s command), you cannot become a Shankara (the Divine).”

You have to transform your life through service. You should give no room for arrogance or self-interest to the slightest extent in your service activities. Install in your heart the feeling that the service you render to anyone is service to God. Only then does service to man become service to Madhava (God).

Dedicate your actions to God

Born in society, brought up in society, educated by society, and deriving countless benefits from society, what are you doing for the society? Social service should be regarded as an expression of gratitude to society for what it has done to us. Without society, we cannot survive. The God-given body should be employed for practicing dharma [righteous action]. As Prahlada [a devotee] said, “Of what use is human birth if the various organs like hands, legs, mouth, and ears are not engaged in the worship of the Lord? Such a man is a burden to the womb that bore him.” Shankaracharya, exponent of the jnana marga [path of wisdom], in the last reckoning, commended the path of bhakti [devotion] in his composition “Bhaja Govindam.”

Women are given to excessive talking. They should treat even their daily chores as a form of concentrated work. If they are unable to attend a satsang [getting together with holy people] on account of household duties, they should not feel miserable on that account. Discharge of duties at home is as sacred as attending a satsang. Only if you do your duties at home properly will you be able to render proper service outside. In whatever work you do at home, whether sweeping the floor or making chappttis [bread], convert it into a form of spiritual exercise. Infuse every action with love of the Divine and dedicate it to God.

Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 22