From the Garden of the Heart
Man has to progress every moment; a stagnant style of living does not befit him. How long could we tolerate a boy staying in the same class at school? He must proceed from one class to the next one, year after year. Similarly, spiritual aspirants should not stagnate in their sadhana [spiritual effort]. From a master-servant relationship with God, he must advance to the body‑limb relationship and reach the stage of merging in the all‑inclusive One, that is to say, from dualism, he must proceed through conditioned non‑dualism to monism or non‑dualism.
In the initial stages, man worships portraits or idols of God with flowers and the sixteen forms of reverential homage. These include concentration, invocation, offering the Lord a seat, washing His feet, offering abhishekam [ritual bathing of the idol] , offering hospitality, clothes, a sacred thread, sandal paste, flowers, incense, oil lamps, food, betel nuts, aarati [waving the camphor flame], circumambulation, and prostration.
But good character, good conduct, and virtuous living are essential qualifications for the aspirant. Of course, floral offerings are commendable and the sixteen items are good. But, one should progress from this stage to the awareness of the atma [inner soul]. Flowers fade and rot eventually and their effect will not last long. God loves the flowers blossoming on the tree of man’s own life much more, fed and fostered as they are by his own skill and sincerity. They are the flowers of his virtues, grown in the garden of his heart.
Of these, ahimsa, the virtue of non-violence, is the very first. This involves much more than abstention from injuring living beings. One should desist from causing pain to any living being not only by his deeds but also by his words and his thoughts. One should not entertain any idea of hurting or humiliating another. The second flower is indriya nigraham (mastering senses). One should not run after sensual pleasure and sensory joy. The third flower is daya [compassion], sarva bhoota‑daya (compassion, toward all beings and all things), for, all is God. It is said that homage paid to any god reaches the Supreme Being. It can be said, with equal truth, that humiliation caused to any living being also reaches the Supreme.
The fourth flower is kshama, that is, tolerance, fortitude, or unaffected calmness. The scriptures identify kshama with truth, righteousness, knowledge, non‑violence, sacrifice, and joy. Without kshama man cannot be happy even for a kshana (moment) as it promotes divine qualitie, and reveals the inner divinity. One has to perform sadhana [spiritual practices] to earn it. Nourish the idea that God is equally present in all, in spite of possible ridicule from the ignorant, sarcastic criticism from the blind, or even praise from admirers.
The fifth flower is shanti, inner peace. Shanti does not mean that a person should not react at all to whatever others say or if they abuse him nor does it mean that he must be silent as a rock. Shanti involves mastery of all the senses and all the passions so that inner peace becomes one’s nature. The basic quality of shanti is detachment. The sea that likes to gather and possess lies low on the ground; the cloud that likes to renounce and give up is high in the sky. Shanti endows man with an unruffled mind and steady vision. The prayer for shanti is usually repeated thrice: Om, shantih, shantih, shantih. This mantra [holy formula] is repeated thrice as one prays for peace on the physical, mental, and spiritual planes. Man should not become angry or yield to fear. Emperor Janaka [Sita’s father] exemplifies spiritual calm in the upanishadic texts. He was known as Vaideha or one without body, not because he was disembodied, but because he lived in utter forgetfulness of the body and its needs. He saw, heard, and spoke only from the atmic plane of consciousness.
The sixth flower is tapas, austerity. Tapas does not mean forsaking your wife and children and escaping to the loneliness of the forest. Real austerity is the exact co‑ordination between one’s thought, word, and deed. An evil man can never achieve this; he is false to his own self. When man succeeds in this tapas, then the words he utters will have such power that they will be transformed into mantras.
The seventh flower is dhyana, meditation. Today, there are many methods of doing dhyana. Everyone describes it according to his whim and fancy. Sitting quiet and transferring one’s emotions and feelings on God is not dhyana. With the help of God one must transmute one’s emotions, desires, and feelings into divine qualities. One should not bring God down to one’s own level; rather we must raise ourselves to the level of God.
The eighth flower is satyam, truth, that which is unmodified by the passage of time. The Divine alone persists unchanged from the past, through the present and into the future. When this flower blossoms in your heart it will reward you with eternal fragrance.
Worship the Lord by offering Him these flowers. When only material flowers are used, devotion often does not last after one comes out of the puja [prayer] room. As soon as one crosses the threshold of the room, anger, hatred, and anxiety possess and degrade a person. Without developing these qualities embodied in the eight flowers, how can any one win God’s grace? Engaged in asatya Narayana vrata [always speaking the untruth] on all 364 days, what good do you hope to get by doing satya narayana vrata [speaking the truth] on the 365th day of the year? When you claim to be Sai devotees, justify the claim by cultivating these flowers of virtue and offering them to God, instead of flowers from the garden.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Jan. 1982
