How to Realize the Divine Within

During the birthday festival celebrations in 1966, Sathya Sai Baba inaugurated a library in Andhra Pradesh [southern India] and in His discourse pointed out that reading, without getting the urge to improve one’s character, behavior, and attitude, and also without humility, reverence, and loving service, only makes the head a library. It is not conducive to better and happier living. He asked the organizer to select for the library books that do not excite the emotions and do not diminish reasoning power, that is to say, avoid rajasic (passionate) and tamasic (dull) literature.

Nine paths lead to the grace of the Lord, say the scriptures. They are: shravanam (listening to His glory); kirtanam (extolling His glory); Vishnu smaranam (keeping the Lord and His glory ever in the memory); padasevanam (worshipping His feet); vandanam (adoring His image and His devotees); archanam (ritual worship); dasyam (service); sneham (developing the attitude of a companion and comradeship of the Lord); and atma nivedanam (dedication of oneself to the Lord). They are the paths that lead one to the goal.

Each individual must aspire for the grace of God, for that grace will endow joy here and hereafter. But unhappy man gets involved in the agitations of his mind and intoxicates himself with ignorance, so he denies himself the joy of basking in the grace of God. In India, the special sacredness of human birth and the ways of making it fruitful have been known since ancient times, but few realize this and benefit by it.

Nowadays, idol worship that Hindus have considered a valuable discipline is being ridiculed. This is a big error. For, as a cup or a glass is needed to drink milk, to imbibe the grace of the Lord a vessel called idol is necessary. The idol is a means and not the end; it is the outer form, as the inner content is Divinity. Western critics laugh at idol worship and say that Hindus reduce God into stone; but the truth is that Hindus elevate stone into God. God is the seat of illumination; He scatters all darkness of ignorance. That is why Sri Sankaracharya said: Bhaja Govindam (extol the glory of Govinda…) Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam, Moodha Mate! (… O Mind that is immersed in the eternal darkness of ignorance).

There was once a pilgrim who reached a jungle at nightfall. He found that he had to go through five miles of jungle before he could get shelter in a village. He had a small lantern in his hand. He lit it, but found to his dismay that the flicker could light only a yard ahead of him. How can I walk five miles with the help of this tiny circle of light, he lamented. A wise man passing that way saw his plight and said, “My dear fellow, hold that lantern in the hand and walk on. You can go five miles or 50, and always you will be in the circle of light around the lantern.”

So, too, on a raft made of two logs tied together, a man can safely cross the ocean. The instrument may be small, but the work it can do may be out of all proportion to its size. A small torch will help a man to pass through a thick forest. So, do not think that the name of the Lord is just a mutter of a syllable or two. Though small, through it the principle of Divinity can be realized. A tiny seed contains within itself the potency to produce the huge tree.

The scriptures say that in the Krita Yuga [the era of truth] man was able to achieve liberation through dhyana (meditation), in the Treta Yuga [the era when Lord Rama incarnated] through yajna (rituals), in the Dwapara Yuga [the Krishna era] through archana (recitation of prayers), and in this Kali Yuga [the Iron age] he can reach the goal through namasmaranam, constant dwelling on the name of the Lord. It is not enough if you know the glory of the name; it would be like the knowledge of the vitamins that a tablet contains. That knowledge cannot cure; swallow it, let it be assimilated, and then only the tablet will cure. Mere exercise for the tongue is no good; feeling, too, must saturate the name, and the brain must also be reminding one of the name. Then is the joy complete.

Everyone craves for shanti (peace) but performs acts that lead to the opposite end, a-shanti. He desires peace and courts worry. He plants the cotton tree and looks forward to the mango fruit. One must know how to earn what one needs. I am amused when I see man behaving like this. He is like the bird that sees the lump of flesh and hops toward it, unaware of the net that is laid to trap it. Man is unaware of the trap, of his being bound. Through the contemplation of the name of the Lord, he can escape from the net. But for the name to liberate him, his heart must be rendered pure. Otherwise, like the uncured copper vessel that turns cooked food into poisonous stuff, the vicious heart will turn all discipline into springs of dire pain.

People read the Ramayana [the epic] from beginning to end continuously for 50 or 60 years but they do not evince even an iota of the devotion of Hanuman. They make no attempt to bring the Ramayana into their daily life. They discourse on the bhakti [devotion] of Hanuman or of Radha, or they talk loud and long on Chaitanya, but of what they speak, they do not practice a bit. They sing songs on the glory and the grace of God. Even radio receiver sets do this; tape recorders also sing. God seeks sincerity and steady faith, not outer pomp and show.

A king once ordered a building contractor to bring him fine, straight, smooth timber, without any knots; the poor fellow searched in all the depots throughout the land but could not find the timber without the knots, though he could procure a few lengths of smooth round wood. At last, he saw a plantation of bananas and there saw the tall straight smooth round knotless timber he was looking for. He brought the banana trunks to the king, but he derided the contractor for his stupidity: although the outer qualities were there in the banana trunks, the inner strength and stamina were not there. Similarly, the Lord, too, looks more for the inner purity and strength.

Of course, it is good to yearn for bliss; but you must know also the means by which it can be acquired. Death waits at every step and you must be conscious of the urgency of the endeavor. A farmer yearned to take up more land for cultivation and he went to the Tungabhadra area and the Nagarjunasagar area in search of land for cultivation. Finding that the price of land there was very high, he went to northern India. He learnt that in a Himalayan state, good land was cheap and easily available, so he proceeded thither. The Raja (King) promised to give him all the land that he could walk around from sunrise to sunset on a single day.

So, in his uncontrollable greed, he rose with the sun and without wasting a minute for breakfast, he walked fast indeed, he ran very fast in order to cover as much land as he could. He never took a second’s rest; he was happy that he could get a pretty vast area free. When the sun was about to set, he was within a few paces of the point from where he had started. He was too exhausted to take even the few steps he needed; he fell down on the ground. He coveted so much and breathed his last. His heart could not stand the strain of walking so fast, so long, with such hurry and tension.

At last, he got only six feet of ground for his grave. Greed spelt his doom. In spiritual matters, too, people have this greed. They are immersed in worldly tumult for 23 hours and 55 minutes, they remember God for 5 minutes only (when some fear overtakes them, it may be a few minutes more), but expect God to set right all their problems. To become pure enough to deserve grace, you have to remember God, whenever you get the chance, wherever you get the prompting.

Singing hymns makes the remembrance more vivid and the heart melts at the awareness of God’s glory when praise is poured through music. The Lord has announced to sage Narada, “Wherever my bhaktas [devotees] sing, I install Myself.” The Lord loves harmony, melody, and music. The name when sung attracts more. Beat the time and sing in tune. Birds that perch on a tree fly away when you clap hands beneath it and shout. So, too, to drive away the birds— lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride, and hate—that perch on the tree of your self, beat the time with both palms and shout, O Rama! O Krishna! That is enough; that saves the time needed to cleanse the area of the mind also.

The chance to realize God must be fully utilized. Of course, one must know the method and means of the marga (path). You may have a knife; but remember the knife is to be used for slicing fruit or cutting vegetables for the dinner. It is not to be used for cutting open one’s own neck. So, too, do not use the chance of this human career to ruin oneself, use it to liberate oneself.

The name is the boat by which you can cross the sea of life, so take care to see that it springs no leak, through kama (desire), krodha (anger), and the rest. These gunas (qualities) cause leaks in the heart, so if you have them, even grace when poured into it by God will fall through and go to waste. One has to be extra vigilant. I have said often that the mind is like the lens of a camera. Point it toward any object and click, it will create the impression on the plate. It is for you to choose the good and reject the bad. Try to merge with the vast, the magnificent, and the Universal. When a glass of water is poured into the sea, it is transformed into seawater. Do not pour it into the drain pit, for it will become drainage water.

Again, spiritual discipline has to be practiced regularly every day; it is like sweeping and dusting the floor of the home. A day’s neglect means accumulation of more dust. The altar of the heart will be clean if sadhana is regular. “Sarvada (always) Sarvakaaleshu (at all times) Sarvatra (at all places) Harichintanam (remembrance of God),” say the shastras. You may not have any other resource, but the strength derived by the repetition of the name is resource enough.

To slake one’s thirst, all the waters of the [River] Ganges is not necessary, a glass is enough. For the cure of the disease of “birth-death,” the tablet of name is enough. It is like the vitamin B-12 tablets now being given for various illnesses. The name is a panacea; there is no need to seek another, it has sufficient efficacy.

Samsara is the fate of mankind; remembrance of the name of the Lord is the means of liberation. Take the instance of Narada. Someone asked him why he was continuing to recite the name of the Lord even though he had access to Kailasa (Shiva’s abode) and Vaikuntha (heaven) and he had won the grace of the Lord in full measure. Narada replied, “What greater anandam [bliss] can I have?” When Tukaram was walking along repeating ‘Ram, Ram’ some passerby asked him, “What do you hope to get by this incessant repetition? Is it Kailasa or Vaikuntha?” He replied, “I do not know what is meant by Kailasa or Vaikuntha; I only know that Ramanam gives me heavenly bliss.” When the heart beats to the tune of Ramanam, that is heaven, indeed.

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Dec. 1966