Thought of the Month
Baba often says that nature is our true preceptor and that there is much we can learn from it. Here is what Swami says.
“The trees provide cool shade and sweet fruits equally to all whether they have fostered or harmed them. They teach man this lesson of equal mindedness. The mountains, by bearing heat and cold, wind and rain alike, teach man not to care too much for the body. The birds have no thought for the morrow and are content to live on what they can get. They teach man the lesson of contentment and indifference to the future. The departed convey the message of the impermanence of life and its pleasures. Nature thus teaches man in many ways to give up ideas of “I” and “mine” and look upon God as the supreme preceptor.
Although nature has been teaching these lessons from the beginning of time, man has not learnt to give up the ideas of “my people” and “others” and to develop the sense of oneness and equality of mankind and realize his divinity. Trees are foremost among teachers. Because of attachment to the body and self conceit, man forgets the lessons of nature and wallows in selfishness.
The mountains by their indifference to cold or heat, are teaching man that he should bear joy or grief with an equal mind and strive to realize God. Pleasure and pain relate only to the body. The atma is unaffected. This is the lesson to be learnt from the mountains.
We are seeing people being born and people dying. In spite of all this, man is unable to get rid of the delusions relating to the body. He does not learn the lesson of the impermanence and fleeting nature of physical existence.
Nature which is constantly teaching these lessons, is the true preceptor. The cosmos is a university. God is the cause. The cosmos is the result. God pervades the entire universe. Nothing can exist in the world without the power of the divine. The universe is a manifestation of the divine.”
Discourses by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Vol 3, p. 144
“The sun is teaching us that when one is oneself, there will be no exhaustion or elation, no disgust or pride. The task of the sun is not something imposed from outside and taken up under compulsion. that is why it is performed systematically and smoothly. He is also exhorting mankind to use the time that He creates and allots, fully and fruitfully, not merely for living comfortably and safely, but for living a moral and elevating life, worthy of the destiny that is man’s.”
Discourses by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Vol 3, p. 386.
“The trees offer their shade and fruits to one all—even to those who cut their branches and throw stones at their fruits. So too, we must not only help our friends but our foes too.”
Saiclopaedia, p. 6.
