Thieves or Masters?
On March 1st this year, the holy festival of Mahasivarathri will be observed around the world. Here Bhagavan Sri Sathya SaiBaba reiterates the real meaning of the various disciplines sages have exhorted us to observe.
Man is wasting precious time by ignoring his status among all living beings, his equipment for the grand spiritual pilgrimage to divinity, and his one fundamental task—achieving liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The sages of the past have realized the value and dignity, the worth and responsibility of human life; and they have laid down disciplines like the vigil and fast on Sivarathri to inspire man and instruct him on the upward path to God.
Sivarathri is a word that connotes the dual nature of man and his duty to discriminate bet-ween the higher and the lower. Siva means jnana or higher wisdom—the unifying universal vision. It also means the lasting, the timeless, the beneficial, the holy, and the auspicious. The second word, rathri, means the darkness of ignorance, the blind pursuit of tawdry pleasures, the bewildering will-o’-the-wisp of sensory joys. It also means the transitory, the fleeting; it connotes the maleficent, the inauspicious, the sacrilegious. So the message of Sivarathri is: Discriminate between Siva and rathri, the prana [vital force] and the body, the dehi [the indweller] and the deha [body], the spiritual and the material, the kshethrajna [knower of the field] and the kshethra [field].
Relying on merely the literal meaning of the words, people wait a whole year for this particular holy day in order to miss a meal and call it a fast, to miss a night’s sleep and call it a vigil! In Sanskrit the fast is called upavasa, and it means something far more significant than missing a meal! It means living with, or living near (upa: near; vasa: living). With whom? Near whom? Near and with God. Upavasa means living in the unbroken, constant presence of the Lord by namasmarana [repetition of the name]. That is the real fast, holding fast to Him.
Vigil or jagarana means keeping awake, shaking off the sleep of the senses and being fully aware of the light of love that is the divine essence in all. It means shaking off the drowsiness and laziness, and having deep concentration in meditation and sadhana [spiritual effort]. Look at the word for “heart” in Sanskrit: hrudayam. It means hrudi-ayam, that is, in the heart He is; it is the place where He resides, where He is installed. By vigilance and the practice of the constant presence of God, you must install Him in your heart and see Him as installed in all other beings as well. That is the main purpose of these holy days and the regulations laid down for their observance.
Truth is the basic principle of the godward life. It is emphasized in all the scriptures of man. Rama [in the epic Ramayana] suffered exile in the forest for 14 years to maintain his father’s pledge. Dharmaraja [from the epic Mahabharata] suffered exile for 12 years to keep the word he gave during a game of dice. Harishchandra [a king] sold his queen and son into slavery and himself became the watchman of a burning ghat [steps leading to platform near a river] so that he might live up to the truth. These are shining examples of truth, which mothers teach every child in this land. These holy days must be set apart for the contemplation of these great ideals.
The sages addressed all human beings as “children of immortality—amrthasya putrah.” But, in spite of this definite assurance and the inexhaustible joy that can be experienced therefrom, man degrades himself into an anrtha putrah (child of falsehood), and starts wailing that he lacks this, that or some other comfort or contraption! Thieves who rob him of valuable treasures like peace and contentment, equipoise and courage, are being honored as masters; and masters who ensure peace and happiness are treated with irreverence and disgust. The thieves of lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride, and hate are honored as welcome guests; and the real well-wishers like tranquility and humility are shown the door!
You desire to drink a sweet drink, but imagining salt to be sugar, you drop salt into the cup instead of sugar. That is the state of man today. He craves for peace, but does not know how to attain it. The means he adopts do not lead him to the anticipated end. A large percentage of people who come to me ask for moksha, self-realization or liberation from the bondage of grief and joy, birth and death. But when I offer to bless them with the consummation of their wish, they do not come forward; they would rather have it five or ten years later. So all the thirst and craving is just a pose; it is a fashionable slogan and nothing more. Man must be sincere. His word must be in conformity with his feeling. His action must be in conformity with his word. At least from today, resolve on this practice. Do not be false to yourself.
According to the practice on such holy days, the Prasanthi flag will now be hoisted by Me on this building. The flag represents the spiritual victory of the sadhaka [aspirant] who conquers the passions and emotions that drag him down and who cultivate the love and equanimity that elevate him. So when the flag goes up and unfurls on Prasanthi Nilayam, you, too, must hoist it in your hearts and unfurl it there, so that it may announce your spiritual victory.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, February 1969
