The Discovery of Truth—that is the unique mission of Man

Man is a mixture of maya and Madhava; the maya (illusion) throws a mist that hides the Madhava (God). But through the action of the healthy impulses inherited from acts performed while in previous bodies or through the cleansing done by austerities in this body or through the grace of the Lord Himself, maya melts away, for it is just a mist which flees before the sun. Then nara (human) is transformed into Narayana (God) and this bhuloka (world) is elevated into a Prasanthi Nilayam (place of tranquility). The illumination of viveka (discrimination) will remove the darkness that hides the divine essence of man.

Today, man hopes to dispel darkness by the sword, the gun, and the bomb, while what is needed is just a lamp. How can darkness be swept away by darkness, hatred by hatred, ignorance by deeper and vaster ignorance? The very lust for victory promotes darkness. Leave all thoughts of conquest aside; strive to know the truth and when that is known, false notions fondly held by you will fall off of their own accord.

See clearly the lovely image that is hidden in the rock. Release it from that stony prison; remove all the extra stone that is encrusting the idol—that is the task for you. Do not worry about maya; concentrate on—Madhava; you are certain to succeed. A tree on the Godavari Canal Bund will not go dry. It will have a green crown as the underground water feeds its roots. Similarly, be a tree with the roots in perpetual contact with the flowing waters of the Lord’s grace and you need not worry about drought.

Radio Sai, S.S.S. Archive, The Real Nature of Man is Equanimity

Be thankful to the Lord that He gave you time as well as action to fill it with. He gave you food, as well as hunger to relish it. But that does not entitle you to engage yourself in action indiscriminately. When you build a house, you install a door in front. What is the purpose of the door? To admit all whom you welcome and to keep out all whom you do not want. It has a double purpose; you do not keep the doors wide open for all and sundry to come in as and when they like.

So, too, select the impulses, the motives, the incentives that enter your mind; keep out the demeaning, the debasing, and the deleterious. Admit the highest wisdom of the scriptures, the wisdom culled out of the crucible of experience, called anubhava-jnanam.

All water is not potable; the stagnant pool is to be avoided, the flowing river is better. Select and drink. Use the mosquito curtain, but see that the mosquitoes do not get in when you go to bed. Keep them out; do not imprison them inside the net. Sail in the boat that floats on water but do not allow the water to enter the boat. Be in worldly life, but do not allow it to get into you. Use the doors intelligently, to let in those whom you want and keep out those whom you do not need.

The lotus, born in slime and mud, rises up through the water and lifts its head high above the waters; it refuses to get wet though water is the element that gives it life! Be like the lotus. By action, done with all this care, the vision gets clarified. Man is blinded by the objective world and he believes that world to be real, meaningful and worthy of pursuit. The cataract grows in the eye and robs it of its efficiency. The cataract is the enemy of the eye. Ignorance, the cataract of the inner eye, blinds the intellect and robs it of its efficiency. So, it cannot see the Divinity that is your real nature. It misleads you into the impression that you are a man (manava), whereas you are really God (Madhava).

The rope is mistaken to be a snake and the perceiver flees in fear. The truth is, it is not the eye organ that sees; there are many whose eyes are good, so far as doctors can discover, but they cannot see! The eye sees because a microscopic spark of the rays of the sun illumines it.

The scripture says: “Chakshos suryo ajayatha” meaning, of all the senses the eye is but a window through which the soul from the eye the sun was born. The soul is the motive force that peeps out at the external world. Of what use is the eye, when the vision is not correct? That is to say, when you have no samadrishti (unity of vision). Samam means Brahman, the Absolute Reality; samadrishti means, seeing only Brahman, the One, in all things at all times.

This Ekatwam (Oneness) is the basic truth. All other experiences are partial, distorted, and false. Dwell on that, in your meditation. Fix it in your inner consciousness. That is the path of liberation that you must start treading; and today is as good a day as any for deciding to do so. You have meditated too long on riches, status, salary, children, relatives, fame, and the standard of living. They are all of minor interest, momentary value, and dubious profit. Meditate, fix your urge on the nitya, the satya, the nirmala, and the nishchala, that is, the eternal, the real, the pure, and the immovable.

Radio Sai, S.S.S. Archive, The Real the Pure The Immovable