What’s In A Name
On Yugadi day [Telegu New Year] in 1973, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba said that the New Year day is in no way different from the previous or next day. It comes and goes every year and it is up to us to make a difference by transforming ourselves. Read on for the rest if His discourse.
In every country today, men have become power‑mad and they resort without any compunction to self‑praise and dry declamation. They develop hatred against others, foster envy and feed their fatal egos. They plunge the society to which they belong into fear, anxiety, and disorder. They do not know that if elevating ideals are adhered to and practiced, they could gain eternal fame. They are content with cheap applause and short‑lived publicity.
You have gathered here today, since this is Yugadi festival day, the day reckoned by you as the day that ushers in a new year with a new name. This day is New Year day only because you have decided to call it so; it is not astronomically or climatically or meteorologically different from yesterday or tomorrow. Even as New Year day, many hundreds of thousands of such days have happened on this globe, and many thousands have been celebrated as festival days, too. So, too, this Day has come and this, too, will be gone.
If the New Year day is used by anyone to begin a new way of life, a new step toward self‑realization, or self-enlargement through service, then the celebration has a worthwhile meaning and significance. Otherwise, it is devoid of value. The red letter on the calendar, which indicates this day as separate from others, is a warning and a reminder of this duty that you owe to yourselves.
The name of the New Year that begins today is inspiring and auspicious. It is called Ananda, spiritual bliss, inner joy, and unshakable calm. That name is a clarion call, which must ring in your ears all the 365 days of the New Year—earn ananda, be ananda, and become ananda. Cleanse your instruments of consciousness, devote yourselves to service so that you might weaken the forces of ego and strengthen the forces of social unity, and cultivate japa [repeating the lord’s name] and dhyana [meditation] so that you might rise toward Godhood—these are the steps by which you can earn and establish yourselves in ananda.
Engage yourselves in your duties as intelligently and as devotedly as you can; but carry out your duties as if they are acts of worship offered to God, leaving the fruit of those acts to His will, His grace, and His compassion. Do not be affected when the results you anticipate are not produced; do not anticipate at all, but leave it to Him. He gave you the time, the space, the cause, the material, the idea, the skill, the chance, and the fortune, and you did but little on your own.
So, why should you feel as if you are the doer?
Do your duty as a sincere sadhana [spiritual effort]. Ananda is the name of the year and you are happy it is so. But what is in a name except what you put into it or extract from it. A man named Rama must be inspired by that name to manifest in himself the qualities that led Rama into the immortality that his name attained. If a person carries about with him the name Dharmaputra, it is only a shameful burden unless he justifies the burden by being as righteous as Dharmaputra was, or at least endeavor his best to manifest dharma [righteousness] in his life.
Man cannot reap the full fruits of his life here if he only gathers riches, or collects popular votes, or loads his head with learning. He has to cultivate and practice virtues too. He has to adhere to dharma. The shrutis [scriptures] direct that man has to earn just enough for his upkeep by honest means and use the rest of his time and skill for the general good. Dharma‑artha, earn artha [material prosperity] through dharma. Then, you will certainly have plenty of divine grace.
Dhritarashtra, the father of the 100 Kuru [Kaurava] brothers who fought against their 5 Pandava cousins—legitimate claimants to a share of the ancestral patrimony—had neither of these two, though he had abundant riches, superior armies, and greater military strategy. So, Dhritarashtra had to witness the total extinction of his dynasty and kingdom. Most men are Dhritarashtras; they pursue falsehoods and ignore truth, they amass the trivial and ignore the crucial.
They do not realize that death is stalking silently behind them; they do not notice the quick paces of time; they do not know how precious is the chance that the human body, the human intellect, the human society, and the heritage that it has accumulated for him has brought him, here and now. They are unaware that the same spark of divinity that illumines every thought, word, and deed in them is activating every other being in the universe, too. They do not sense the brotherhood and are not thrilled by the feeling of universal kinship.
They are sprawling in the slime of self-praise! They are slaves of their egos. Consequently, they are never free from fear or anxiety. They also spread scandal about others, and so they bog themselves in sin. Though they claim the respect of others, they are objects of ridicule and hatred. They seek faults in others and so their eyes revel only in faults. They cannot see good in anyone, so they are consumed by envy and greed. Do not try to master others; master your own self, your own senses, and your own mind. That is the real victory; they are the real enemies.
Do not waste time in unprofitable talk. Do not change your beliefs in accordance with changing loyalties and changing surroundings. While accusing others of time‑serving, be careful that you do not fall into the same evil. God is inherent in every thing, in every being. You can find Him in and through all that you see or do. In the golden chalice of your heart, He is the wisdom that fulfils. Closing your eyes to this fact, you are spreading your hands outward to snatch it.
You may be compassionate, but, that emotion must be regulated. A compassionate man once brought home a fish he found struggling on the banks of a river in full flood; he placed it between the folds of a warm blanket and poured hot coffee down its throat. He thought it was suffering from cold. The hot coffee killed the poor thing. He could have saved it by throwing it back into the floods. He lacked the intelligence to express his compassion.
Many leaders in the present time have compassion, but possess no intelligence. They do not know how to solve the distress and sympathize. They talk about peace at home and prosperity abroad; but their acts betray their ignorance or the means to succeed. How can they succeed, if they promote hatred and dishonesty? Any success won by adopting wrong means will only be trivial and temporary. Peaceful means out of love alone can ensure lasting benefits and real peace. Fear not; frighten not. That is the message of God to man. Brutes fear; beasts frighten. Man has to be above both the weaknesses. Have faith in truth and be fixed in morality. Do not be afraid of anyone, for God is with you; and do not frighten anyone, for the Divine sees all.
Talking of names, let Me mention this, too. Some people who do not care for truth or righteousness might adopt the name Sathya Sai, and raise institutions in that name, for they crave only the outer shell of fame and fortune. But you must know that they are unconnected with Me and are engaged in acts that I have not authorized. In fact, I am the witness of your activity, not a participant. I am like the electric fan, switch it on, it gives cool breeze. Switch it off, it allows you to swelter in the heat.
I have no likes or dislikes. Those who talk ill of Me are also remembering My name, deriving joy therefrom, and perhaps earning a few paisa [pennies] thereby. They are happy when they write falsehoods; you are happy singing the truth. I am unconcerned with either. I have come on a task that I have imposed on Myself. That task will go on, from victory to victory, irrespective of praise or blame. It can neither be halted nor hindered.
No trace of fear can tarnish the purity of the heart that is shining in the splendor of truth. I am Sathya Sai.Like the name ‘Sesha Sai’ with which God is known, meaning, He who is based on, who reclines on, the massive coils of the poisonous snake Sesha or the massive coils of objective desires, ‘Sathya Sai’ means—He who is based on truth, who reclines on the truth that the massive coils of objective desires cannot entangle. Truth knows no defeat; truth knows no fear. It marches on heedless of acclamation or declamation.
Do not attach yourselves too much to the world and its wiles, for it is ever changing fast and furiously. Be ever ready to fall into the hands of death, gladly and gracefully, with gratitude for the chances afforded while alive. Never grieve, for God is resident in you as your truth. Later, in the last stages of your life, when you look back upon your failures and successes, you will have to say, as Purandaradasa [a prominent composer of Carnatic music] said, “Alas. We do not find joy in this life as man.” Do not spend your days in such a manner. Be warned now itself. Use the days allotted to journey toward love, joy, and peace.
In this part of the country, the New Year day is called Yugadi—the inaugural day of the age, as if a new big epoch is opening today. This is an opportunity to contemplate on the vastness of time, of its speed, of the short span of time which you share in this life, and which has to be put to the best use. Contemplate on the beginning of things, of nature, of life, of man, of the heart—all emanating from God and journeying toward God. Dwell on the grandeur of this procession from birth to liberation, life after life. Become aware that you, nature, and all that is, was, and will be are God.
To attain this awareness, love is the surest means. Do not inflict pain on anyone through thought, word, and deed. Control your passions, emotions, and impulses, especially, anger, envy, and greed. They thrive on the ego and make it a dangerous weapon. When you are enslaved by your passions, how can you stand forth and claim respect? Only cowards yield to their senses or passions. Brave men face up to them and win. A hero overrules his mind and curbs his impulses, while the zero is overruled by them.
Stand fast, like a rock, when the waves beat on you. Have faith in your ideals, in God. Do not allow faith to falter when failure comes into your door. Meet it as a new challenge, and triumph. Your vishwas (faith) must not be like your shwas (breath); for, shwas comes in and goes out. Let your vishwas be firm, with no alternations of entrances and exits. If faith is one full continuous stream, grace, too will, be showered on you in one full continuous stream.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, May 1974
