Resolve and Implement
Hal Honig, the National Sai Service Coordinator, spoke to the devotees at the Manhattan Sai Center and shared some experiences from a visit with Swami in Puttaparthi. He spoke about Baba’s teachings and shared ideas how we can start to incorporate them into our lives.
We were with Swami for a few weeks in the summer [Hal had taken a group of young adults]. Unusually, during our stay, Swami asked me almost every day, “When are you leaving? When are you leaving?” I replied that we were leaving on September 7th. “Very happy!” said Swami.
In one of our interviews, He asked me, “Do you do japa (reciting the Lord’s name)?” I said, “No Swami, I don’t.” Suddenly, He made a very wide circle with His hand, and the next thing I saw was a beautiful japamala (rosary) made from crystal beads connected by little bits of silver. It was amazing and very impressive to see how the beautiful rosary materialized from nowhere. He first put it around my neck, then took it off and said, “Do you know how to use it?” I had a vague idea, but very wisely I said, “No.” He held the japamala between His thumb, index finger, and middle finger and said, “Well, these three fingers represent the three qualities of a human being. What are the three qualities? [They are] satwic (pure), rajasic (very active) and tamasic (sluggish). The index finger represents mankind and the thumb represents the Divine. So when you do japa, the human and the Divine join together and move the beads one by one while you repeat the name of God. You can choose any name that you love, [like] Sathya Sai, Jesus, or Buddha. The important thing is that you should know what you are saying and say it with feeling.”
I realized the significance of that message in hindsight. We left Puttaparthi on September 7th 2001, got back to New York on the 9th, and the World Trade Center incident happened on the 11th. Swami, later commenting on the events of September 11th, said that we should all be courageous, and that this is the time, more than any other, when we should develop the habit of repeating the name of God. The lesson for us is to strengthen ourselves in times of difficulties and tribulations by repeating the Lord’s name.
The other important message comes from the September 11th incident itself. About two years ago, in His New Year’s discourse, Swami said that a time will come when there will be change of feeling and realignment in the world. That is really what is happening. Look how the feelings between Russia and the United States have changed. All this indicates that His mission is accelerating, for He has only 20 years left before He leaves His present form. In those 20 years, the world will become vastly different and better than it is today, although the process looks painful. We are going through a period of enormous change. Change is crucial because it is an opportunity for us to do some very important work on ourselves.
After the September 11th incident, about 80,000 low-income people lost their jobs and are struggling with whatever money they have to live a decent life. They depend on soup kitchens, churches, and groups such as ours for their food. Swami says that when you start any service project, first determine what the need is. What is the need here? It is very clear. People need food, housing, and guidance. These people are not only hungry, but they are homeless, desperate, demoralized, and depressed. We cannot solve all their problems, but we can set an example, which will be meaningful and helpful. This is the situation not just in New York but throughout the U.S. It is a national emergency and we, as Sai devotees, must address it as best as we can.
A beautiful aspect of humanity emerged after the September 11th incident. We saw a lot of people with very good intentions coming to the city to try and help. Some of these people did not possess the skills needed at that time. As a result, their good hearts and good intentions could not be put to use. That has led us in the Sai Service Organization to encourage our members to acquire a variety of extra skills, such as Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), by attending courses that city governments, the Red Cross, and others organize. As the National Sai Service Coordinator [U.S.], I have asked the regional service coordinators to inform their members of the extra skills they can acquire, so that for future use we can form a computerized national list of members with specific skills.
Swami is giving us ample opportunity to use our hands and our time in a manner He would like. What does that mean? It means that we must love all and serve all. We have to increase our efforts with diligence and love and we must do it now. At the same time, many things are happening in the world that are really shocking and disturbing. So it is equally important for all of us to develop a correct attitude toward life. That begs the question: What is life all about? What do we expect from it?
Very few of us really believe that pain and pleasure go together. We always feel that life should be pleasurable, fun, but it is not like that. We have all experienced the fact that any happy period will come to an end, and pain will automatically follow. Swami says, “Pain is a period between two pleasures.” If you study the Gita [a Hindu Scripture], it does not say not to seek pleasure. It says that when you seek pleasure, know that you are also seeking pain. They are two sides of the same coin. It is through our experiences that we learn and grow. Only by meeting the challenges in our life do we really evolve and change for the better. The right way to approach life is to regard everything that happens to us as a gift from God. One of the root causes of our unhappiness is that we make comparisons all the time, “Oh, this person has more money, this person has better looks…” and so on. The body, Swami says, is given to us to help others and to do our duties. We are eternal beings. The body is temporary, it dies, but the soul does not. Over many lifetimes we take on many different forms in the school of life, until eventually we complete the course and graduate.
Swami tells us that we should regard everything in creation, including the pain and suffering, as good. When you are in pain and are suffering, Swami says, you should tell yourself, “This is good for me.” It is very easy to say those words but very hard to implement. When something bad happens—you do not get a job or somebody is sick—the last thing in the world you feel is ‘this is good for me.’ But Swami tells us that happenings contain very important lessons for our spiritual training because they help us develop equanimity. He says our hearts must be like big rocks on the seashore. The waves dash over them continuously day and night, yet they remain firm and do not give way. Similarly, though we are bombarded by worldly problems, our faith in God must be as strong as the rocks. Then we will experience the blessings of true devotion. It is hard to develop equanimity. We tend to be easily overwhelmed when things do not go our way. We think that the world is near and God is far away. Swami says that is not how it is; the world is far away, while God is near. He is your nearest, dearest, and closest friend.
[In the epic, Mahabharata] when his son Abhimanyu died, Arjuna asked Krishna, “Oh Krishna, how could you allow such a thing to happen to my son? The boy was much too young. He still had to do so much in his life, why did this happen to him?” Krishna said, “You are mistaken. You are confusing the age of a body with the age of a being.” Swami explains this with an amusing story. A man found some very beautiful fabric in a store and thought that it would make a wonderful suit for himself. So he bought the fabric, took it home, and put it in a closet. Busy with day-to-day living, he forgot all about the fabric. About 10 years later, when he was moving to another home, he found the material and remembered that he had wanted to make it into a suit. He finally had it made and wore it to a wedding. Many people appreciated the suit and its fabric. During the dinner, the man bent down to pick up something and the pants split right in the back. Everyone at the wedding laughed. When Swami told the story, everyone laughed, too, because He is a wonderful storyteller. The point of the story, however, is that although the suit was new, the fabric was very old. Similarly, although Abhimanyu was young, his soul was eternal.
All of our good and bad deeds over all of our lifetimes are like debits and credits in a bank. So we must make every effort to increase our bank balance by doing service to humanity. Thus we win grace from the Lord and make our life experiences more fulfilling. No effort is lost or wasted. Your spiritual bank account is yours. Nobody else can add to or subtract from it.
Swami says that we are eternal beings and are here temporarily. Whatever name and form we may have, we are here because we have been given an opportunity to learn and to grow. In the Gita, Krishna says, “Never was I not, nor you, nor these kin. Nor will any of us cease to be hereafter.” We are atma—the soul, spirit—and we are eternal. Swami, while raising His right hand in a blessing, says, “Why fear when I am here.” If we remember that, it will help us enormously. Swami gives us many teachings in His discourses, but we seem to forget to make them a part of our lives. He always encourages us to practice as many of His teachings as possible. They are easy to understand, but very hard to practice. I’ll mention a few:
1) Ignore bad and improper remarks made by other people. Do not repeat them to your husband, wife, mother, father, or friend. Swami says, “Just let it pass.” Forget about it. Usually, we do exactly the opposite: “Do you know what she said to me? How could she….” By doing this, you are spreading it to your friends or family and are fanning the issue. Let it go. It does not really matter! Here Swami’s suggestion that everything in creation is good for us is very helpful. When you say this in a bad situation, you may want to laugh. But that is wonderful, for it is said in the Bible that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. It is beneficial to have a sense of humor at such times. We must learn to treat praise and criticism in the same way.
2) Swami says that we all talk too much. He wants us to silence our thinking. A thought is a ripple in the mind; a series of thoughts can become a wave, and many waves become a very big storm. So we must control our thoughts and our tongue.
3) Swami tells us not to brood over the past. There are many people who cannot get unstuck from things that have happened in the past, and they keep reliving those experiences. Each time that happens, they are recreating the incident and giving it fresh energy. This pulls them down. What should we do? We should just let things go. Swami gives an example about Socrates. He always walked with his head down so that he was not distracted by his surroundings. Once when Socrates was walking with his students, he bumped into another man who happened to be a government official. The man was very annoyed. He said, “Who are you?” Socrates said, “Sir! That is precisely the question that I am trying to grasp. Please tell me exactly who I am.” Swami says that we should never listen to anything negative. Let it go. He talks about the Kauravas [symbolizing unrighteousness in the epic Mahabharata] who were ruined by bad thoughts, by continually plotting against the Pandavas [the good brothers].
4) Our bodies are gifted to us to serve others. By serving others we can make ourselves very happy. He says we are always seeking pleasure. Pleasure does exist, but it is momentary. The body is not given for indulgence. We must focus on the permanent in life and not on the temporary.
5) Swami says that kshama is the noblest virtue one can have. It means forbearance, great patience and, more importantly, the capacity to forget and forgive. It can only be acquired by self-effort, not as a gift from God and not by reading books. We should learn to squarely face problems and difficulties and overcome anxiety, suffering, and sorrow. We should have no hatred or jealousy toward anyone. Those feelings can ruin a person totally. Swami gives the example of Ravana [demon king] who, by his jealousy and hatred, ruined the heavenly place that was Lanka. Impatience breathes and promotes jealousy. Kshama is best cultivated under sorrow, misery, and adverse circumstances. So He says to welcome tribulations, the more the better, for they are ideal opportunities to develop patience and forbearance. Swami says, “You should not be weak, but be brave and welcome troubles. Let them come, the more the merrier. It is only with such a courageous attitude that you can develop kshama, hidden within…” For spiritual aspirants, kshama is indispensable.
6) Swami always emphasizes the importance of good company. He tells a story about mosquitoes. A man sleeping outdoors was bitten by several mosquitoes and became very upset. So he got himself a mosquito net. The next night was much better, but a few mosquitoes sneaked into the net and he was bitten again. Now he was very angry, and he went and bought some Flit [an anti-mosquito spray], which he sprayed all over. All the mosquitoes were killed. Only a few mosquitoes had bitten him, but hundreds died. So where is the justice in that? Swami says that by being in bad company the good suffer too. He advises us to always seek good friends. “Know your ABC’s,” He says, “Avoid Bad Company.”
7) We must get these good principles out of our heads and into practice. Swami tells another story about a man who was carrying a large and heavy food basket on his head. He got very tired, so he stopped by the roadside, took the basket off his head and ate the food. After that, he continued his journey feeling a lot lighter and with a lot more energy. The point of the story is that we carry all kinds of things in our head. But we have to put them into practice or we will not benefit. So choose one teaching of Swami and put it into practice.
We have just started the New Year, and we should resolve to make at least one of His teachings a part of our life. Perhaps this year we should make an effort to cultivate patience. Persevere and it will become a part of you. We all talk about trying to do this or that. Swami says that we should not talk about trying, that we should stop trying and just do!
