Social Life and Atmic Sadhana—A Message
What has sociology or the social sciences to do with the sciences of the spirit or the inquiry into the human spirit? This is a question that is commonly raised. So, too, many do ask: What has the spiritual student and sadhaka [an enquirer] to do with society and its problems? It must be said that both these attitudes are wrong.
No society can find its fulfillment, no social ideal can fructify, without the blossoming of the spirit of man. Mankind cannot realize the Divinity whose expression it is, without careful and constant attention being paid to the cultivation of the Spirit. How else can this Divinity express itself than in and through individuals? We can apprehend only the jagat [the world], this moving, inconstant, fantasia; we cannot see or hear, smell or taste or touch the Director of the Fantasia—God. In the same manner, we can apprehend the individual, but not the entity named society. For, society is no separate, distinct, complex formed out of elemental components. Society is the divine proliferation produced by the will of the Supreme.
Man is mortal; dust he is and to dust returneth. But in him there shines the atma [soul], as a spark of the immortal flame. This is not a term of flattery invented by the Vedantists. The atma is the source, the sustenance of every being and every organization of beings. It is the one and only source, substance, and sustenance. The atma is God; the particular is the universal, no less. Therefore, recognize in each being, in each man, a brother, the child of God, and ignore all limiting thoughts and prejudices based on status, color, class, nativity, and caste. Sai is ever engaged in warning you and guiding you so that you may think, speak, and act in this attitude of love.
Society cannot justify itself by planning to divide the spoils gained out of nature either in equal shares or unequal shares. The consummation that must inspire society has to be the establishment and elaboration, in every social act and resolution, of the knowledge of the one universal atma and the bliss that that knowledge confers. Sai does not direct, “The atma has no death, therefore kill the physical sheaths, the bodies.” No. Sai does not encourage wars. Sai directs you to recognize the atma as your closest kin, closer than the members of your family, your blood‑relations, and your dearest descendants. When this is done, you will never more stray from the path of right, which alone can maintain that kinship.
Familial attachment operates even against the performance of one’s legitimate duties. But attachment to the Divine fills that duty with a new dedication that ensures both joy and success. It activates man as nothing else can; it confers on him during the process of doing his duty the highest wisdom. Hence the advice: Do not enter the objective world (prakriti) in the hope of realizing the atma; enter the objective world after becoming aware of the atma; for then you see nature in a new light and your very life becomes a long festival of love.
There are many who use their scholarship and intelligence, even Vedic scholarship, in dreary debate and competitive display. They are enamored of their petty triumphs. They declare that society is an arena for winning such triumphs. But Sai calls on you to seek and strengthen another type of society, where there is no room for such trivial desires.
Disputative Vedic scholars crave for the fruits of their endeavors and efforts through ritual. Nature does not crave so; the clouds bring rain as a homage to God who is their Lord. But they (Vedic scholars) attribute it to the efficacy of their rites and use it to inflate their ego. They play about among the far‑spreading branches of the tree of desire. They are entangled in the coils of the three ‘ropes’—the tamasic, the rajasic, and the satvic [dull, active, and pure].
You have to go beyond the three ropes and the three bonds. You have to be ever in the unchanging eternal Truth. You must be established in the One, as the One, with no trace or taste of two. Earning and garnering should not interest you; you must not be caught in the pursuit of yoga and kshema [welfare], for you are full already and have no wants.
The ideal of a high standard of life instead of a high level of living has played havoc with human society. A high level of living insists on morality, humility, detachment, compassion; so the competitive greed for luxury and conspicuous consumption receives no encouragement and will be destroyed. Now man is the slave of his desires; he finds himself helpless to conquer the thirst for pleasure and luxury. He is too weak to keep his nature under control; he does not know how to arouse the Divine Consciousness that is latent in him.
Mere moral practices or instruction cannot help you to achieve this. It can be done only by spiritual sadhana [effort]. For it is a basic transformation. It involves the elimination of the mind, which is the arch-obstacle in the path. Grace of God, if invoked and won, can endow you with the power. And the grace is available within you, awaiting the call.
Man must give up reliance on the vagaries of the mind. He must act ever in the consciousness of his innate divinity. When that is done, his three‑fold nature (composed of the gunas—tamasic, rajasic, and satvic) will automatically express itself through only holy channels. That is the genuine manifestation.
Another point – the argument may be raised: “If one has to give up the desire for comfort, luxury, and pleasure, why should one be embroiled in society? This presupposes the belief that society is justified only by the provision of such worldly joys. But what kind of society can one build on such slender foundations? If built, it can be a society only in name, it will not be bound by mutual love and cooperation. The strong will suppress the weak. Social relations will be marred by discontent. Even when attempts are made to divide the resources of nature equally among all, the cordiality will be only on the surface. It will not be spontaneous. We can limit the resources available, but we cannot limit greed, desire, and craving. Desire involves seeking beyond the limits of possibility. What has to be done is to pluck out desire by the roots. Man must give up the desire for objective pleasure based on the illusion that the world is many, manifold, multi‑colored etc., and not on the truth that the world, nature, all creation, is ONE. When one is conscious only of the ONE, who desires which? What can be acquired and enjoyed by the second person? The atmic vision destroys the desire for objective joys, for there is no object distinct from the subject.
This is the true function of society—to enable every member to realize this atmic vision. The men and women bound by mutual interests in a society are not merely families, castes, classes, groups, or kinsmen and kinswomen; they are ONE atma. They are knit by the closest of family ties; not only the one society to which they feel they are bound, but all MANKIND—ONE. Vasudhaiva kutumbakam, as the Shastras [scriptures] declare; the whole world is one family. This unity must be experienced by everyone.
Natural resources and wealth are now being misused for the boosting of one’s ego. But when the atmic unity is realized, they will promote the new way of life through love. What is now `mercy,’ or legally enforced mutual `help’, will then be transformed into `Divine Love’ that can effectively purify the recipient and the giver. This consummation is beyond the region of common politics, ethics, or economics. They cannot transform the receiver and thrill the giver, however much they attempt to equalize. They do not have the appeal and they have no power to sustain. The equality they establish will be haunted by a shadow, the shadow of the ego. This shadow can disappear only when identity as ONE is known and felt.
It may be said that not all desires are wrong; the rajasic ones that harm and exploit others can be condemned; but why renounce the satvic desires? But desire is desire, though the object may be beneficial and pure. The fruit of effort, the mind that seeks it, the vitality that activates the mind, life itself—every one of these has to be turned toward the Lord, with devotion born out of the vision of the ONE.
Those who argue that the spiritual path is for the individual only and that the society should not be involved in it are committing a great mistake. It is like insisting that there should be light inside the house and saying that it does not matter if there is darkness outside. Devotion toward God goes ill with hatred toward fellow‑men. Fellow‑men and the world must be seen ever in the mirror of Sat‑chit‑ananda [being, awareness, bliss]. Kinship based on this recognition will alone last. That is the Sai Kinship. When you deepen that kinship, the true Presence, the constant Presence of Sathya Sai will be yours. Do not be led away by your fancies into the jungle of words and feelings. Be firm, true to your innermost nature.
Good and evil are based on the reactions of individuals; they are not inherent in things or events. Vedanta or atheism is accepted or rejected when one likes or dislikes it. They do not depend on logical acceptance or rejection. Only experience can establish their validity. Who can delineate Godhood as thus and thus? Those who do so are indulging in a futile exercise. They have no authority for declaring it. If they claim the right, they are but conceited people relying on their limited intellects.
Divinity is fully immanent in everyone; it is patent for the eyes that can see clearly and deeply. Whoever denies this is only cheating himself of his reality. He cannot dismiss it by denial, either from himself or others.
The conclusion, therefore, is inevitable that it is the duty of men to see in society the expression of Divinity, and to use all his skill and effort to promote the welfare and prosperity of society. Men must cultivate (1) this expansive feeling (2) this inclusive thinking, and (3) this intuitive vision. Without these three, man is but an inert being; if he derides these three, he loses his title to be human.
The spirit of renunciation, adherence to virtue, the eagerness to co‑operate, the sense of kinship—these are the characteristic signs of man. Life that considers these as encumbrances cannot be valued as `life’.
The brotherhood of man can be translated into life only on the basis of the atmic vision. All men thirst for peace, happiness, and bliss. They are the precious heritage that is their right, for they are God’s treasure. They can be earned only by recognizing the bond that knits man to man. All men are of one lineage; they are of Divine lineage.
All men are cells in the one Divine organism, in the Divine body. That should be your faith, your fortune, your fort, your fullness. Awareness of this alone gives you the right to call yourself a man. Learn to live as men. This is the sadhana, this is the message of Sai.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, April 1974
Krishna overturned the pot of curds and ran off with a ball of butter. Yashoda, the mother, was able to catch Him by means of the footprints on the floor left by the curd smeared soles! You, too, can discover the footprints, impressed as truth, beauty, virtue, humility, justice, peace, and love. Train yourselves to recognize the footprints in these.
~Baba
