Swa-swarupa
In the following discourse given on Gurupoornima day, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba tells us how the guru urges man to follow the pursued inquiry of “who am I,” which leads him to the recognize that he has within all of tools to realize himself. The guru urges man to use reason to excavate the rocks of the mind so that the spiritual gems embedded inside can be collected and polished. The path of excavation is through prayer, and discipline paves the path.
Gurupoornima is a sacred day. It is the day that commemorates Vyasa, who taught man the secret of materializing the non-material divinity, of realizing the universal through the particular. By studying the vast literature that Vyasa composed, and by following the disciplines he has laid down, man can transmute himself into Madhava, nara [man] can realize he is Narayana, and the jivi [individual] can realize his identity with Brahmam. This is service done to humanity for all times and, so, Vyasa is acclaimed as lokaguru, world teacher. Man is not the body—he is the embodied one; he is not the scabbard, but the sword. He is not jada [inert] but chit [consciousness]. This truth has been expounded by Vyasa through rites and formulae, story and parable, exhortation and example, dialogues and dialectic, which are all contained in the sacred books he composed.
Vyasa is revered as an incarnation of Narayana Himself. As guru, he is gu (sans guna) and ru (sans rupa) like Narayana, the supreme Godhead. That is the reason why he was able to mark out the path of liberation for mankind in such universal terms and in such a simple style. He is specially worshipped on this full moon day because all his teachings are directed to the control and conquest of the mind and the deity presiding over the mind is the moon. On the full moon day, the moon is clear, cool, and bright. Thus, man’s mind must also be clear of vulgar desire—refreshingly cool for those who are scorched by the heat of worldly struggle—and bright with the realization of the effulgence of the Self.
Vyasa lights the ray of hope in mankind which is groping in the dark. He is the guru who counsels the disciple and promotes his real welfare. Therefore, the disciple must treasure his teaching, observe it strictly after understanding its implications, and experience the bliss of the merging of the river with the sea. Vyasa has elaborated the duties and obligations of both the guru and the shishya [student] and nothing will please him more than their observance by both. Thus, the special day is celebrated as both Vyasapoornima and Gurupoornima. All aspirants must this spend this day in rumination over what their guru has taught them and resolve to follow the path laid down by him with greater loyalty and steadiness.
The guru is the guide because he is divine. In fact, it is the divine in him that prompts others to take to the path of liberation. You should pray today that you may be blessed to overcome this world and attain the highest. Of course, there is no name that is not His and no heart where He does not reside. Therefore, He will respond to your call, wherever and whenever it is made.
The Lord’s name is the lotus blooming in the manasa-sarovar, the limpid pool of the mind. You must be like the bee that discards all else and rushes toward the lotus to drink the honey. Leave off the foul things of the world. Sensing the sweetness of the Divine, fly toward the lotus and settle down on it, imbibing the honey.
There are some who question the value of prayer demanding to know what benefits it confers on those who pray. Even tiny acts have their consequences. Why doubt the value of this highly important act? Have full loyalty to God; Do not try to serve two masters. Be not like the laborer who works merely for the wages. Be like kith and kin, anxious to help, waiting for the chance to be of service. If you count on the wages, your service will be selfish and not be perfect. When a man is the servant of the king, if his mind is fixed on the clothes and comforts that can be got by his earnings through that service, he is not the servant of the king—he is the servant of clothes and comforts. Worship performed with one eye on material things—such as family and fortune—cannot be the act of a servant of God. These are acts of a servant of family and fortune. and will not be treated as surrender to God.
Death is crouching like a tiger behind the bush to pounce on you. Still, you pass along, unaware of the danger. The thread of life may snap any moment. Therefore, while life lasts, use every moment for the sadhana [spiritual effort] that will lead you Godward. One day a poor Brahmin arrived at the court of Dharmaraja, the eldest of the Pandavas, pleading for wherewithal for the celebration of his daughter’s marriage. Dharmaraja promised to give him all that he needed and asked him to come the next day. Bhima was so elated at the request that he ordered the event to be celebrated with the beating of drums and hoisting of flags all over the kingdom. When the king inquired the reason for this sudden spurt of joy, Bhima replied, “You have now announced that you will live one more day. Is that not enough cause for joy, when everyone else is uncertain of even the next moment?”
Be convinced that family and fortune have to be given up—someday, sooner or later. The materials that nature supplies are not yours. They are given to you by the Lord on trust. What a tragedy! Acquiring this precious human career, you do not use it for rising up to the heights of God-hood, ascending the steps of viveka [discrimination], vairagya [detachment], and vichakshana [analysis, the right decision]. It is as pitiable as using the wish-fulfilling cow [Kamadhenu] for ploughing fields and not for sustaining yourself with the nectarine milk she offers.
Bear joy & grief with equanimity
When you are everyone else, against whom are you angry? Who causes you trouble? Whom can you hate? When your tongue is bitten by your teeth, do you develop anger against the erring teeth and pluck them off? You do not because teeth are as much yours as the tongue. Cultivate the universal outlook that all are you—that is your Swa-swarupa, your real self. You are as universal as God Himself. You are only deluded into the belief that you are limited.
God is a powerhouse. If you desire that He should illumine your body (the temple where your Self is installed) then erect the poles of discipline at regular intervals of time well and truly straight, according to a prepared plan. Dedicated activity is the cable that these poles should carry. Fix the bulb, shuddha-manas (pure mind) and turn on the switch of sharanagati or surrender. Only then, in the illumination of jnana [knowledge], the self can be realised in all its glory.
That power will not reach you if you merely close an eye or the nose and yearn. The discipline has to be followed as it was laid down. A lump of steel may be worth less than five rupees, but by skillful observance of certain rules and measurements, if the steel is converted into springs, nuts, bolts, and screws, they can be put together into a watch worth 500 rupees. Therefore, the crude mind of an ignoramus can, by sadhana [spiritual practice], be transformed into that of a paramahamsa, a realised soul.
The mind is the means for bondage and liberation. It has rendered man a slave of the senses. However, if reason holds, it will soon discover that the joy derived through the senses is a mere fiction. Foster the spark of intelligence already in you and grow it into a big lamp, that will reveal you as the Self—the Brahmam—that you always are.
If the inquiry, “Who am I?” is pursued rigorously, you will reach the conclusion: “I am Brahmam.”—”Aham Brahmasmi.” You proceed from one negation to another until you arrive at that affirmation. “Am I this gross annamaya kosa? Or am I the subtle pranamaya, manomaya, or vijnanamaya kosas? Am I the causal anandamaya kosa?” you ask. There are many who declare that fundamentally you are anandam [bliss]. I do not agree with this view. The atma is above and beyond all these five sheaths—all these kosas—including the anandamaya.
This is the core of the teaching imparted by the guru. But among the disciples who listen there are many types. Shravanam [reception through the ear] is of many kinds: Mud listening (after a little time, the water evaporates and the mud becomes hard again. When the teaching is listened to, the heart becomes soft, but, it is soon forgotten and the heart turns hard again.); Kokil listening (repeating the same sound, in spite of the manifold tunes it listens to; the teacher may teach many viewpoints and suggest better attitudes, but the pupil’s mind is fixed. He repeats the same opinion ad-nauseum and is not prepared to change or modify it.); Crow listening (where the fixed opinion is cawed ceaselessly, whether people are anxious to hear or not.); Mosquito listening (where, though your opinion is positively hateful, you go on filling others’ ears with it.), one should avoid these methods of hearing and talking. Listen to good things in good company and ruminate over the things heard—in silence—and make it part of your life.
When asked which is your parent land, you proudly reply, “Bharatavarsha [India].” But you do not care to cultivate the traditions of this land, enshrined in the Vedas, Shastras, and Ithihasas [various scriptures] of this land, traditions that ensure happiness, contentment, and equanimity. Although you have butter in hand, you beg for ghee [clarified butter]! This is indeed ludicrous to say the least. As a reward for the merit you acquired through great toil, you have earned this human birth. You do not realise the cost, and you fritter away the precious chance. Every moment is a wonderful opportunity, which will not come again.
Your body is the field, take the pickaxe of reason and excavate the rocks of mind so that you may collect the spiritual gems embedded in them. Do not believe that there is joy in external objects—the joy is in you, not outside you. A dog runs away with a bone, and once secure in a lonely place it gnaws the dry bone till its mouth begins to bleed. It laps up the blood, mistaking it to be from the bone, but in reality the joy it derives is from its own blood. So, too, when a baby sucks its thumb and derives pleasure from it, it imagines the thumb to be something separate from itself.
The guru is needed to implant such obvious, but easily neglected truths. However, the best of gurus cannot help, unless one has the guri—the yearning to reach the goal. What can the most intelligent gardener do when the seed is not supplied?
The guru just discloses what is already existent—he urges you to ask, “kasthwam?” (who are you?), “koham?” (who am I?), and “kutha aayaathah?” (where has all this come from?), and he directs you until you get the answers.That is the service he gladly does for your uplift.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, August 1965
