Unity Based on Divinity

“Christmas is celebrated in innumerable centers in all parts of the globe, mostly by attending service in a church, followed by gala parties where people make merry with drinking and dining. It is only in Prasanthi Nilayam that people from several countries in the world, following different faiths, speaking different languages, engaged in different avocations, join together in the true spirit of brotherhood, start the day by chanting God’s name and glory, and spend the day in divine activities. Not even in the birthplace of Christ is Christmas celebrated with such unity and spiritual fervor,” observed Bhagavan Shri Sathya Sai Baba, in His Christmas message of 1993.

Embodiments of Divine love! In the world today all those great personages who are held in high esteem have earned good name only by their character and conduct. To accomplish anything one wants, one should have firm determination. Those with fickle minds cannot achieve anything.

All religions and scriptures agree that going to the aid of fellow‑beings in times of need and saving them from distressing situations is the greatest virtue. Every human being has equal rights in the world. All belong to one family. It is essential to practice forbearance and equanimity to enjoy peace of mind. There are people who are good and bad, rich and poor, educated and uneducated in every country of the world. Though born in the same family and breathing the same air, some are narrow‑minded and have crooked ideas and indulge in selfish deeds, while others are good and selfless.

It is everyone’s duty to be friendly toward all beings since the same atma [soul] is present in all beings. Comprehending this truth, it is the duty of everyone, who is born as a human being, to do good to others on the basis of love.

There is no need to search for God anywhere, since God resides in every being. The body is, therefore, to be considered as God’s temple. Today man is breeding bad thoughts in his mind, thereby polluting the heart that is the seat of the Divine.

From animal to the Divine

In every human being, there are four kinds of potentialities: animal, demonic, human, and divine.

The one with the divine quality will be engaged in the contemplation of the atma within and enjoy atmic bliss and sanctify every moment of his life by doing good deeds. He realizes that the same atma is there in all beings as the inner Self and he leads a blissful life, discarding selfish thoughts. He is a realized soul who is aware of the truth that revering others is revering the Lord and hurting others is hurting the Lord. Such people radiate divinity though they are in a human body.

The ‘human’ types follow the path of truth and righteousness. Using their sense of discrimination they are engaged in activities in strict accordance with truth and righteousness. They discharge their responsibilities without craving for position, power, pelf, or fame. Such a person lives in harmony with his fellow beings and discharges his duties with firm belief in the three precepts: fear of sin, love of God, and morality in society.

The next type is the demonic person. Such a person does not care for the code of conduct for human beings, indulges in shameless pursuit of sensual pleasures, is filled with ego and pride, and does not hesitate to hurt others for selfish purposes. He goes on nonchalantly committing sinful deeds. Egoism is his life breath and attachment is his backbone. Such a selfish person is termed as demonic.

A man lacking wisdom is like an animal. A person who is steeped in ignorance is considered to be no better than an animal. Such a person’s life is centered only on sense gratification. His thoughts never go beyond the senses because of his ignorance of the divinity within him. He deems the transient earthly pleasures as heavenly bliss and lives in delusion, devoid of discrimination.

Every man must make an effort to rise to humanness, shedding his animal and demonic qualities, and then strive to realize his divine nature. Nowadays, we find that men are going down in the reverse direction, from the human to the demonic and animal states.

Jesus’ message

On December 25th, when Jesus was born, three kings came to his birthplace. These three gave expression to the three different views about the new‑born babe. One of them, looking at the infant, said, “This child looks like one who will be a lover of God.” A second king said, “God will love this child.” The third king declared, “Verily, this child is God Himself.” The first one viewed the child from the physical point of view. The second saw the child from the mental viewpoint. The third saw from the atmic (spiritual) point of view.

These three declarations indicate how one can progress from the human to the divine level by destroying the animal and demonic qualities in man. Man today worships inanimate idols and images, but makes no attempt to love his fellow human beings in flesh and blood. This was the first message by Jesus. Though one sees his neighbors day after day, be does not choose to love them. How can one believe that such a person can love an invisible God? If a man cannot love a fellow human being who is visible before his eyes, how can he love what is not visible to him? This is not possible. Only a man who loves living beings around him can love the invisible Divine. Love must start with love for beings that have form. It must be extended to all beings. This is the primary stage in spirituality.

Spirituality does not mean preoccupation with meditation, worship, etc. It involves total extinction of the animal and demonic qualities in man and the manifestation of his inherent divinity. When the attachments and hatreds in which man is enveloped are removed, the inherent divinity in man, the sat-chit-ananda [truth, awareness, and bliss] in him will manifest itself.

There is no need to search for the omnipresent Divine in any specific place. When you are yourself divine, why search for the Divine elsewhere? It is a mark of ignorance.

Jesus performed many miraculous deeds, relieved the sufferings and distress, preached sublime truths to the people, and ultimately sacrificed His life. For over a hundred years after His martyrdom, Christ’s message did not have any impact. Four centuries later Roman emperors accepted Christianity. Even after many centuries humanity is yet to realize the inherent divinity of man.

Man is searching for reasons for every belief or action. Should you seek a reason for sanctifying the time spent by you on any action? When you are engaged in unselfish activity for the common good of society and discharging your duties with dedication, you are sanctifying your life.

There are four basic elements in every action. They are karana [instrument], karma [action], kala [time], and kartavyam [discharge of duties]. Karana is the reason, karma is the action, kala is the time, and kartavyam is the duty that has been discharged. We can cite an example for this. Supposing you want to go to Madras [Chennai] to see your relatives. You go to the bus‑stand in the morning, sit in the bus, travel for eight hours and reach Madras in the evening. Now, seeing your relatives is the cause. Sitting in the bus and travelling is the action. Spending eight hours is the time factor and seeing your relatives in Madras and getting satisfaction there from is the goal.

If you do the same things in your dream, there is no time factor or the cause and action factors. As soon as you wake up, you find that you are only in the bed and discover that seeing your relatives in Madras was unreal. All the four factors are absent in the dream state. Only where all the four factors are present it is real.

The purpose in view is termed lakshyam. You are born as a human being for doing your duty (karma). Life is given to you only to recognize Divinity and the body is the instrument for achieving this purpose (karana). When you have spent your life, you have done the action in the duration of your life (kala). You should have the satisfaction of having achieved the goal (kartavyam).

Christ preached only this truth and taught the people that the body should be used for service to society. This is the teaching of Vedanta [scriptures]. Vedanta declares that the body is intended only to do actions in the world in a selfless way.

The Christmas tree

Jesus was crucified on a Friday and He rose from the tomb on a Sunday. That is why Sunday is taken as the day of worship and service in churches. Catholics gave importance to Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, while Protestants gave importance to the birth of Christ. Catholics celebrate Christmas by worshipping Mary on the evening of 24th and Protestants celebrate the birth of Christ on the 25th.

There is a custom of putting up a Christmas tree on this day and worshipping it. The genesis of this custom can be traced to Germany. A preacher by name Jensen from England once visited Germany. When he was travelling in Germany on his mission, he noticed some Germans attempting to offer a child’s life as sacrifice to propitiate God who, they believed, lived in an oak tree. The priest was worried and questioned them why they were offering an innocent child to a tree. As they asserted that God lived in the tree, he took an axe and cut the tree. To his surprise an inexplicable vibration shook him from head to foot. He noticed the form of a child between the two portions of the tree that was cut by him.

This incident teaches the truth that God lives not only in human beings but also in plants and trees. From that time onward people started putting up a Christmas tree and worshipping it on Christmas day. The system of worshipping divinity in many forms including plants and stones, which originated in Bharat [India], has been prevalent for a long time in other countries too.

There are sanyasis [renunciants] even among Christians. The men are called monks and the women are called nuns. There is no difference in this regard among the various religions. In all religions the goal is one. Christianity propagated this oneness of God. But nowadays the pure permanent atmic principle is forgotten in the preoccupation with worldly pursuits.” (Bhagavan then described how the practice of having grandfather Christmas wearing a red robe and distributing gifts to children on Christmas day came into existence. Swami related the story of Nicholas, who began this practice when he became head of a church).

“In all religions, birthdays of great personalities are celebrated but the ideals for which they lived are not remembered and followed. If you do not care to follow their teachings, the celebrations lose their meaning and become artificial observances. It is not doing justice to the good people whose birthdays are being celebrated. Christ taught people to love all beings and serve all with compassion. It is only by practicing these ideals one can truly celebrate His birthday.

The divinity within should be reflected in every action. The seat of truth is in your heart. Worship means loving others with your full heart. You must live in love and lead a life of selfless service based on love. This is the only right way of celebrating the birth of Christ. God, in fact, has no birth and no death. God, who is changeless and permanent. The atma within is but a reflection of God, and it is the same eternal witness in all beings. Birth and death pertain only to the body. It is not correct to worship the body. Through the transient body man has to merge in the ultimate Supreme Reality.

Festival in Prasanthi Nilayam

Embodiments of the Divine atma! Christmas is celebrated in innumerable places all over the world. Nowhere in the world is it celebrated in the way it is celebrated here in Prasanthi Nilayam. People elsewhere may attend some church service and revel in drinking and dining parties. But here people from many countries in the world, speaking many languages, following different faiths and cultures, assemble together and start the day with singing God’s name and His glory regardless of their differences. They join together in spending the day in carrying the message of universal love. This is unity in diversity and true advaita [non-dualism] in action.

Whenever one does namaskaram [the act of worshipping the Lord with folded palms] to elders, what is its significance? It signifies the bringing together of the five senses of perception and the five senses of action into one, thus unifying the different senses. In namaskaram you have ‘na’ and ‘maskaram’—na means no, which indicates that your ego is given up, and you have no body consciousness. The unity of all the sense organs will wipe out the ego. This will lead to purity and purity will lead to divinity. This unity can be seen only in Prasanthi Nilayam.

Nowadays politicians and preachers talk of unity and purity but in practice they do not follow it themselves. It is only in Prasanthi Nilayam that this unity and purity are pervading naturally without any effort from anyone. All are living here like brothers and sisters of the same family.

The power of love

There are a number of foreigners here who are very affluent and command princely comforts in their places but have to put up with an austere life here. They live in sheds in a spirit of fellowship and camaraderie, bereft of even minimum comforts. They could not enjoy their life in their big mansions as much as they enjoy their stay here in such uncomfortable conditions. The reason is the divine love in them. If there is no such love in you, you cannot live here in such uncomfortable conditions even for a minute.

Embodiments of Divine love! Devotees who have come from far off countries! You are putting up with the life here in spite of the lack of amenities to which you are normally accustomed to back home and are feeling happy. This is indeed a big sadhana [spiritual effort] and can be termed even as tapas or penance.

The foreigners, in spite of their discomforts and difficulties, radiate joy through their smiling faces. This is because of their love for Swami. They are spending a lot of money to come here and undergo the rigors of a disciplined life most willingly and yet are always happy. But in spite of all the comforts, the people of our own country who gather here do not present a cheerful countenance.

Embodiments of love! One who remembers God constantly with love and devotion, will be happy whether he is in a village or a city, flying in the sky or in a forest, because God dances in his heart and confers delight.

Because of the lack of unity, this nation is experiencing a lot of difficulties and turmoil. Promotion of unity is essential for peace in the nation and the world. There is no use in simply greeting others with words coming from the lips; greetings should come from the heart with sincerity and love.

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Jan. 1993