The Race and the Prize

In this Divine discourse delivered nearly a half a century back, Bhagavan Baba urges us to visualize, seek, and merge in God—the ultimate prize in the race of life.

Man’s life has a beginning and an end; the beginning and the end are both governed by the law of cause and effect. The nest of a bird built with arduous circurnspection on the branch is swayed by the gale, and felled by the storm. The lovely petals of the rose, dancing in the breeze, and spreading fragrance around, are blown to the ground by the sudden gust of wind. Man, too, triumphs by the stroke of some unseen hand. Man is aghast at the consequence that he experiences; he is unaware of the cause for he has no inclination to seek it. The cause for birth is the same as the cause for death: fascination for sensory objects and the trail of activity that it involves.

Children are happy since they have not yet got involved in such activity. They scatter joy and enthusiasm, innocence, and confidence around them. How is it  that they are so fresh and gay? Their minds are free from the infection of pleasure-seeking of senses. They are raveling in the untainted joy of their own innate nature. That is the reason why [Jesus] Christ  advised all the grown-ups to become children so that they may be saved. How sweet is the smile of the babe in the cradle, or of the child playing in the garden? That is the genuine nature of man which he tarnishes foolishly, year by year, as he grows.

Move toward the goal—God

In the pure pellucid lake in the heart of man, the lotus of divine aspiration is blossoming; instead of offering that flower (of divine aspiration) at the feet of God, you try the trick of placing at the feet flowers that fade, fruits that rot, and leaves that dry. Offer the heart that He has endowed you with, filled with adoration and love! Your ananda [bliss] is my ahaara (sustenance), and,  hence, cultivate it. It grows only when you meditate on the source of ananda, the goal of ananda, namely God.

Sita [Rama’s wife] was interned by the cruel King Ravana [the demonic king of Sri Lanka] in the most beautifully laid-out garden in Lanka, called Ashokavana (the forest of no-sorrow). The flower-beds, lawns and greeneries, trees and creepers, bowers and groves were most pleasing to the eye, and refreshing to the mind. But, Sita derived no joy therefrom! She found therein only empty vanity, lust for power, and foul pleasure. But, Sita felt real ananda when an ugly monkey started repeating Rama’s name from the branch of the tree under which she sat! That [Divine] name was, for her, the source of unfailing ananda.

The stage of life, the status in society, the profession, the company into which you are ushered, and the recreation you like—all these are to be used by you for cleansing the inner mirror so that God may be reflected clearly therein. Grihastashram (the householder stage of life) is a step in the ladder to God-realization. You do not settle down on a step, or stay on a rung, or build a home on a bridge. Move on, climb ahead, and cross over toward the goal of God. From iham (this world), you proceed to param (the world beyond); through the practice of dharma (code of virtuous conduct) pertaining to life in the world as a member of the human community, you transcend the world, and earn the right and the qualification to know about the dharma of the beyond, the nature and glory of the Divine. Ihadharma gives ananda; but paradharma reveals to you the source of ananda, and merges you in that source.

There is no bondage or release

The Lord, who incarnates to restore dharma, advises that all acts of dharma have to be renounced for the sake of the ultimate liberation or moksha; and, in the  Bhagavad-Gita, He recommends, in the last chapter, that one should even give up  the craving for moksha or liberation, for  in reality, there is “no bondage and no release.” It is only a delusion born of ignorance, which disappears when the light of knowledge is allowed to illumine the place where darkness prevailed before.

When you know that you are ill, you should try to take a medicine so that you will not need any other medicine ever afterward. You should not fall ill again. When you engage in activity, you must choose such an activity that will not involve you in its chain of consequences. Karma [action] must be such that it does not involve you in further karma. Karma dedicated to God, karma done in a spirit of surrender, with no concern for the consequence—these alone can prevent the sprouting of further shoots off of each individual karma.

As a result of recent movements in worldthought, man’s heart is being hardened by hate and greed, and, not softened by love and sympathy. Intelligence (the dhee) which the Gayatri (a quintessential Hindu prayer) prayer attempts to urge into enlightened activity, blinds man from recognizing the might and majesty of God in the beauty of nature, in the sublimity of space, and in time and causation. It [The thinking] is perverted so much that questions like, “Where is God to be found?” “Why does He not reveal Himself to me now?” arise in the mind.

You can find God if only you would look into yourself and understand yourself. He can be realized only after a long process of cleansing, and at the end of a systematic disciplined preparation. Without learning the alphabet, how call any one dare condemn a classic? The culture embedded in the ancient texts promoted the composure and mental poise that is needed to delve into the depths of one’s being. It is concerned with making every one aware of the atma [soul], the basic truth, the only entity of which everything else is a by-product.

Religion, a product of awareness

Confusing religion with social customs  such as taking a bride, dining with some one or declining to do so, people talk glibly discarding religion or disregarding it. Religion is the mother, and how can any one do without her or deny her or discard her? You can divorce a wife and marry again; but, you cannot deny a mother, and declare another as the person who gave birth to you. Religion is not constituted of human fancies; it is the call of the spirit from which we have come, of the sea in the heart of the river. It is the sense of kinship one feels when one sees other beings immersed in grief or joy. It is the exultation one feels when one experiences truth, beauty, and goodness. He who denies religion has no discrimination, no heart, no feeling, and no emotion. Matam (religion) is the product of mati (awareness). Only, he who has none of the above will argue that religion is harmful or superfluous.

You can pluck a few leaves off of the tree or chop off a few of its branches, but the tree of religion is deeprooted in the human heart; it can never be destroyed or ignored. The fact that the body is but a shaky receptacle that is liable to crash any moment; that the senses are imperfect instruments of knowledge; that objects are not sources of pleasure or happiness; that the sense of ‘I’ persists in deep sleep too—these cannot be denied by decree or by swearing them off. Like all attainments, the attainment of selfrealization also involves hard discipline and concentrated effort. The price has to be paid!

Love the most lovable—God

Let us suppose you are abused, reviled, and grievously hurt in a dream. Though you are pained at that time, when you awaken, you are not aware of what  seemed real a few minutes ago. So too, when you awaken into higher consciousness of jnana (spiritual wisdom), all the grief and joy, the pleasure and pain you experience during the waking stage are found to be as ephemeral as dreams. If you report to the police that you had killed a person, they will throw you into the jail, but if you tell them that you killed a person in your dream, they will brush you aside as a nuisance.

Having come upon the world stage as ‘man,’ one should authentically act the role. The tree is known by the fruit. The human body is the temple of God.  God is installed there. Yearn for the realization of this truth, seek to discover it, and derive bliss therefrom—that is bhakti (devotion, the path of love to God). Love the highest; love the most lovable; do not just love anything.

Once there was a pundit  who taught grammar and rhetoric to a group of pupils. After finishing a course of lessons, he gave them an assignment to compose four lines of poetry. One young man, who struggled with himself to produce an appropriate rhyme, had the first two lines:

The full moon is shining bright
The tree has fruits at a height;

And in his despair he completed that quatrain with two more lines, more absurd than those two:

The food is not cooked aright!
Ganganna’s face is a horrid sight!

The assignment of course is completed; but, how futile, how pathetic, how worthless the result!

Meditation give good vision

Man’s years of life are also spent in such futilities. He completes the assignments of spending the allotted years, but how worthless is the achievement. Every one composes the four fines; but do they make any sense? Do they deserve attention or appreciation? No. They pursue every willofthe-wisp, every chance desire, every line of thought, and are satisfied that they have ‘lived.’ But, this complacence is entirely misplaced. When the accounts are closed, and debit and credit calculated, what is the net profit ?

You have wandered far and wide, but neglected your home. You peep into the stars in space, but keep your inner sky unexplored. You peep into others’ lives and pick faults, and talk ill of them; but you do not care to peep into your own thoughts, acts, and emotions and judge whether they are good or bad. The faults you see in others are but projections of your own; the good that you see in others is but a reflection of your own goodness. By dhyana (meditation) alone can you cultivate the good vision, the taste for good listening, good thoughts, and good deed.

Through dhyana, you get immersed in the idea of the universality and the omnipotence of God. Is it not your daily experience that a bigger worry overpowers the smaller one, and makes you forget it? When you fill your mind with the idea of God and yearn for Him, and pine plaintively for Him, all lesser desires and disappointments, and even achievements will pale into insignificance. You will forget them all; they will be submerged in the flood of divine yearning and in the ocean of divine bliss.

Yearn for God

I shall give an example from the Ramayana that will make this point clear. When Dasaratha, the Emperor [father of Lord Rama] died, there was no one at hand to perform the obsequies;  and so, they sent word to the younger sons, Bharata and Shatrughna who had left for their kinsman’s capital. They were not informed of the death, and when they came and saw the [father’s] body, they were too shocked and they ran to Kausalya, the eldest Queen, their stepmother. She burst into tears when the two boys ran into her apartment. They were shocked at this and  upon inquiry, were told the sad news of the death of their father.

Bharata was plunged in grief at this tragedy; he wept aloud, beating his breast. It was inconsolable agony. Then amidst the distress, he said, “Mother, how unfortunate I am. I had no chance to nurse him in his illness, during his last days. Alas, dear brother, you too lost the precious chance of service,” he said, patting Shatrughna on the head. After some moments, he continued, “Mother, how fortunate are Rama and Lakshmana. They were with him. They nursed him and ran little errands for him. They were with him when he breathed his last.

Since we were far away, did father leave any command for us? What was his last wish regarding us? Did he remember us,and ask that we should be sent for?” Kausalya said, “Son, he had only one word on his lips, and one form before his eye; that word was Rama, that form was Rama.” Bharatha looked surprised. He asked, “How is it that he uttered the name and craved for the form of Rama who was by his bedside, and did not yearn for me who was far away? O, how unlucky I am? Have I lost the affection of my dear father?” Kausalya replied, “Well, if Rama was by his bedside or near him, he would not have passed away.”

Bharata ejaculated, “Mother, where had Rama gone? Why was he away? Where is he now? Was he hunting in the forest? Was he on a pleasure trip on the [river] Sarayu?” The mother said, “No, no. He went into the forest for 14 years.” Bharata could bear it no longer. “Alas, what an outrageous tragedyis this? What crime and what sin did Rama commit to deserve this exile? Why had he to go?” “Your mother wished that he should go, and so he went;” said the elder queen. When Bharata heard this, the grief that he sustained on hearing of his father’s death paled, and the grief that arose at his mother sending Rama into exile for 14 years supervened overwhelming all else. The greater grief scours off the smaller.

So, too, the greater yearning will dominate and deluge the lesser. So, yearn for God, and all lesser yearnings will disappear. Loss or gain, honor or dishonor, health or illhealth, joy or grief—keep the mind steadily pointed toward God; that is the goal; that is the prize for the race of life. Overcome all obstacles by means of that faith, and treat the obstacles as ineffective and futile and have the sole goal  in view. Visualize God, seek God and merge in God—that is man’s duty.

Source: Sathya Sai Speaks