Self-inquiry⎯The task to be engaged in
Man does not delve deep into the significance of all that happens around him. Siddhartha, who became the Buddha, had that urge to know and inquire. Most people live superficial lives. They are like logs of wood tossed up and down by the waves of the sea, insensitive, dull, tamasic. Haste lands them in waste; waste increases worry. They have no time to sit and meditate on the reality of their own existence, their own knowledge, and their own joy. If that is done, they can contact the source of all existence, all knowledge, and all bliss. They don’t take even the first step toward their self-inquiry. How then can they derive self-satisfaction at their vastness, indestructibility, infinite power, and wisdom?
Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 13
Only humanity has the capacity, the credentials for realizing the power of the Lord, for earning that power (shakti). It is indeed tragic that even after achieving human birth, people do not realize that eternal reality or even make an attempt to understand it. If this chance is missed, when can they attempt it?
Why, they do not concern themselves with the very purpose for which they have come! Did they come only for living like all other animals, birds, or insects, eating, wandering about, sleeping, and seeking pleasure? If the answer is “no,” then for what else? Can we say that a person is just another animal, like the rest? People have three things that animals don’t have: the power to reason, the power to renounce, and the power to decide on right and wrong. These are special powers; but of what use are they unless they are applied in actual practice? If they are used, the name “human” is apt, otherwise, the name “animal” must be used.
The three powers mentioned above should be applied by people not only in worldly matters but even in the investigation of the ultimate truth. Really speaking, if inquiry, discrimination, and renunciation are carried out while passing through the joys and sorrows of life, the conviction is bound to dawn in a moment that all this is unreal, that all this has no basis in truth. When such knowledge dawns, one is certain to tread the path of religion and spiritual discipline and take up the inquiry that will lead to the truth. This is the task in which people must be engaged.
…Hence, people are truly fortunate. But alas, people have forgotten the task for which they have come, ignored the question whence they came, closed their eyes to where they are, diverted their intelligence toward amusement and creature comfort, and wasted all their powers. What a tragedy! If in this most propitious human birth itself the Godhead is not sought, when else is a person to succeed?
Prashanti Vahini
The expression is simple, of course, but its implications are infinite and fundamentally satisfying. Therefore, all great teachers exhort the seekers to “Know Thyself”, “Inquire into yourself, since that alone can give you release.” The scriptures also confirm this exhortation. “That which when known everything becomes known (Yad vijnanena sarvam vijnatham bhavati).” The scriptures extol the importance and value of this inquiry and make it clear that inquiry into the atma is essential. The assurance is given that the atma is you, yourself, as in the sacred axiom⎯“That thou art (That twam asi).”
Sri Sathya Sai Vahini
