The Path of Devotion
The following is an extract from a discourse that Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba gave during the celebration of the Hindu Samaj [Hindu society] completing sixty years in an atmosphere of shanti [peace]. The society was established in 1903.
At 60, the senses have lost their wildness and overwhelming power; they are powerless to drag the individual down into ruin. Then there is the chance to steady oneself in the contemplation of God and start on a newer and better career that confers lasting joy. This is true of institutions, too, and I would suggest that the Samaj (society) assumes the task that was once its inspiration: the revival of the values of sanathana dharma [eternal path] and the spread of atmajnana [knowledge of the spirit] among people of all ages. Without the blessing of atmajnana, no one can attain the goal of this human life, which is the state of undisturbed shanti, the stage of unblemished ananda [bliss]. The bhakta [devotee] is the most reliable witness of that ananda.
Bhakti [devotion] is not to be calculated on the basis of the temples one has helped to build, or the donations one is persuaded to give or the lakhs (millions) of times one has written the Name, or the time and energy one spends in the worship of the Lord. These are not vital at all; they are not even secondary. Bhakti is prema, true love, unsullied by the desire for merit, or attachment to the fruit, forgetful of consequence. It is the love of the star for the sky, the spring for the cliff along which it pours, the creeper for the tree, the river for the sea, the iron for the magnet, the soul for the over-soul. It is of the same sweetness in comfort or in distress, in bad times as well as good.
In fact, the bhakta is always in joy, whether the external conditions are favorable or unfavorable. He feels he is an instrument, and is not bothered by his whereabouts or what he does or the result that his actions have. Bhakti is not like pepper or salt, with which you flavor the dishes to suit your taste. It is not like pickles that you place on the tongue to add a twang to the appetite. It is the best food, the fullest food. It is not an attitude or a style or uniform to be worn and set aside.
Yudhishtir, the eldest of the Pandavas [five righteous brothers in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata] had that bhakti in full measure, and so he did not lose heart when in exile or lose his head when he got his throne back. Others, like Duryodhana [the eldest of the evil Kauravas in the same epic] use dharma [right action] to appeal to their foes’ conscience in order to escape from the consequences of their evil deeds.
[At the end of the Kurukshetra war], when Duryodhana was forced to emerge from the lake where he had hidden, the Pandavas surrounded him. At that time, he quoted dharma and argued that it was wrong for so many to fall upon a single man. However, this same Duryodhana had, along with a host of other evil-minded men, surrounded young Abhimanyu [Arjuna’s son] trapped in the padmavyuha, the lotus labyrinth [a military formation]. They killed him without any compunction! Dharma is not to be used as a means of justifying evil; it is the sole means of a good and happy life, just as bhakti is the very breath for that life.
A real guru [spiritual teacher, “dispeller of darkness”] can teach you the practical discipline that will guarantee dharmic life. A devotee, unfortunately an opium addict, used to come to Dakshineswar [the place where Sage Ramakrishna lived]. Many `respectable’ fellow devotees pleaded with Ramakrishna to reform him or remove him from his presence. The man could not be corrected by advice or admonishment.
So, one day, Ramakrishna called the man and asked him to specify the exact weight of opium he needed for one day. He gave the man a pencil of the same weight and asked him to weigh his dose against it every time. The only condition was that the man had to write the letter Om, the sacred pranavamantra [holy sound that existed at the beginning of the creation] on the slate before he used the opium. The pencil piece wore out slowly with every Om and the quantity of opium became less and less, until one day the desire itself disappeared. This is the sign of a true teacher.
The avatar comes down as the clouds come, to revive the drooping crops with their load of refreshing water. Once Akbar [a Moghul emperor] asked Birbal [his clever minister] why the Hindu religion believes that the Lord Himself incarnates as man to save humanity, rather than an angel being sent to carry His message and revive peoples’ declining faith and strength.
Birbal took some time to answer the question. He hid a wax image of Akbar’s little son on the boat they were sailing across the flooded Jamuna River. Then, suddenly throwing the model into the raging waters, he shouted: “The prince! The prince!” Akbar, fearing that his son would drown, jumped into the flood without a second thought. Birbal apologized and said that he enacted this drama only to prove that when the love that the Lord bore for man was so great, how could He send some angel or trust someone else to save humanity?
Dwell upon these higher truths and contemplate on the Lord, who is sarva–antaryami [the indweller in all]. What is the use of scholarship or the accumulation of knowledge if the secret of one’s self eludes you or if you do not know the art of being at peace with yourself and others? Man, by his attachment to the senses, is becoming worse than the beasts of the forest. These beasts at least have gratitude for kindness shown, they do not bite the hand that feeds them.
You say that the Lord resides in everyone, so have the faith that whenever you feed someone, it becomes an offering to God. The practical application of the theory of equality exists when each person serves the other to the best of their abilities. It is wrong to sleep soundly when your neighbor is in agony. You begin to weigh one form of Godhead against the other and you prefer one to another because this is more profitable and confers more boons quicker. This will not deceive the Lord; He sees through all your tactics. He cares for the purification of character, the ennobling of desires or even their elimination, the transformation of the vision into janandrishti [vision of spiritual wisdom] so that the creation reveals itself as Brahmamayam [embodiment of cosmic consciousness].
Of what use is the saying “sarvam [all] is Brahmam” when your vision is always seeing variety? What is the use of finding fault with others and exulting in one’s superiority, when with another voice you proclaim the principle of equality from housetops? All are the images of the same parabrahmam [divinity], so one must always be alert to feel that one-ness and to share in another’s joy and grief. The human body should not be despised, for it is a vehicle for the ever-present eternal atma-chaitanya [soul consciousness], the necessary instrument for the realization of the Absolute consciousness.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, March 1964
