 |
Thought for the Day
|
As written at
Prasanthi Nilayam
Source: Radio Sai
Global Harmony
Thought for the Day Archive
August 2005
August 1, 2005
There is only one royal road on the spiritual
journey - the path of love, love for all beings as manifestations of
the same Divinity that is the very core of oneself. This faith alone
can ensure the constant presence of God with you, and endow you with
all the joy and courage you need to fulfill the pilgrimage to God.
Fill the reservoir with water; then, when you turn the taps on, the
vessels will be full. Cultivate love and devotion; then all your
activities will be saturated with compassion and charity; they will
yield the golden harvest of joy and peace. The water must be pure;
the love must be unselfish and universal.
August 2, 2005
Know that seva (service) is a better form of
sadhana (spiritual exercise) than even dhyana (meditation); how can
God appreciate the dhyana you do, when you do not make any efforts
to alleviate the suffering of your neighbour? Do not keep yourself
aloof, intent on your own salvation. Move among your brothers and
sisters, looking for opportunities to help them, while at the same
time, having the Name of God on the tongue and the Form of God
before your mind's eye. That is the highest sadhana. 'Dil me Raam,
Hath me Kaam!' (Install God in your heart and go about attending to
your tasks at hand). Proceed in that spirit, God's Grace will be
showered on you in full measure.
August 3, 2005
God is not involved in handing out either
rewards or punishments. He only reflects, resounds and reacts. He is
the Eternal Unaffected Witness! It is you who make your destiny. Do
good, be good, and you will get good in return; perform bad deeds,
and you reap only bad consequences. Do not praise or blame God for
your fate! God does not even will that creation, protection and
destruction take place. They follow in their own natural course,
according to the innate laws of the universe.
August 4, 2005
Conserve sound, since it is the treasure of
the element Akasha (space), an emanation from God Himself. Reason
can prevail only when arguments are advanced without the raising of
voices. Silence is the speech of the spiritual seeker. Soft, sweet
speech is the expression of genuine love. Hate screeches, fear
squeals, conceit trumpets. But, love sings lullabies, it soothes and
calms. Practise the vocabulary of love and unlearn the language of
hate and contempt.
August 5, 2005
From the standpoint of wisdom, maya (the
illusion of the world) is unreal; in the vision of the enlightened
saint, maya is absent. This is indeed an intriguing phenomenon. To
the jnani (realized soul), who has crossed the shores of ephemeral
existence, it is non-existent; to those relying on reason, it is
inexplicable; to the ordinary man, it is a fact. The shadow you cast
is reduced bit by bit with every step that you take towards the sun,
until the sun shines right on the top of you and the shadow crawls
under your feet and disappears. Similarly, maya becomes less and
less effective as you march towards jnana (realization). When you
are firmly established in wisdom, maya falls at your feet and
becomes powerless to deceive you further and disappears.
August 6, 2005
Man has not come into this world merely to
strut about for a while, consuming food and gaily gallivanting. He
has come so that he may bask in the Presence of God, by cultivating
love in the heart and spreading that love. The earth is a great
enterprise, a busy factory, where the product is love. By means of
Sadhana (spiritual practice), it is possible to produce love and
export it to millions and millions of people who are in need of it.
The more it is shared, the deeper it becomes, the sweeter its taste,
and the greater the joy. By means of love, one can approach God and
stay in His presence, for God is love, and when one lives in love,
one lives in God.
August 7, 2005
We have in the atmosphere around us, the music
emanating from all the broadcasting stations of the world, but they
do not assail your ears at all times. Only if you have a receiver
and you tune it to the correct wavelength do you hear the broadcast
from a particular station; if you fail to tune it correctly, you
will get, instead of news, only nuisance! So too, the Divine is
everywhere - above, around, below, beside, near as well as far. For
cognising it, you require not a yanthra (machine) but a manthra
(mystical formula). Dhyana (meditation) is the fixing of the exact
location of the station in the band, love is the correct tuning in,
realizing the reality and the bliss it confers is the happy clear
listening!
August 8, 2005
Work in the spirit of love; it leads you on to
Worship. Work without any thought of the benefit you derive from it;
work, since it is your duty; work, since that is the way you can
offer God your gratitude for the skills He has endowed you with.
This kind of attitude towards work leads to wisdom, the recognition
of the immanence of the Divine in every being.
August 9, 2005
When one proceeds to attain the Atmic vision
(vision of the Self), one has to negate everything one perceives as
being Non-Self, until at the end of the journey, the Atma alone is
cognised. The Atma admits of no definition, no description, no
designation. It is the end of enquiry, the culmination of all
endeavour, the silence that swallows all speech. The primary seed of
knowledge is "I am not the body". It contains three entities: I,
Body and Not. I is the Atma, the only truth. The idea 'I' applies
only to the eternal 'I', over which, the transient 'I' is
superimposed by ignorance born out of false identification with the
body.
August 10, 2005
This birth has been undertaken by you for the
mission of crucifying the ego on the cross of compassion. An
opportunity to be of some service to fellowmen comes to you as a
gift from God. Serve with a sense of gratitude, for it is God who
accepts it from you. Prepare yourselves for serving others, not only
by learning the necessary skills but also through japa (repeating
God's Name)and dhyana (Meditation) filling yourselves with God, lest
your heart becomes dry and cruel.
August 11, 2005
The mind of man is not an organ that can be
identified physiologically; it cannot be touched or operated on by
doctors or surgeons. It is an intangible bundle of resolutions and
hesitations, wishes and wants, pros and cons. It easily rushes out
after external pleasures and assumes the shapes of the things it
seeks. It can also be turned back into searching for inner
contentment and inner joy. That is why the mind is said to be the
instrument for both bondage and liberation. Allow the senses to lead
it outward, it binds. Allow the intelligence to prevail upon it to
look inward for bliss, it liberates.
August 12, 2005
When love is directed towards objects that
cater to the senses, it will dry up when they fail to give the
happiness you seek. When profit is loved, loss will undermine it.
Discontent will sap its springs, when you love with the motive of
worldly contentment. Even when ten million disappointments combine
to distress you, never give up love; fix it on the source of love,
the spring of love, the Supreme Goal of love, namely, God. Whatever
the obstacles, however much you are tempted to loosen the grip, hold
on to God; there is always a calm after the storm. A bout of hot
weather invariably brings welcome showers. Love saturates all
activities with joy and peace. Love ennobles the least and the
lowest. Love your self for the God that it embodies; love others for
the God that is enshrined in them, that speaks and acts through them.
August 13, 2005
Grief is caused, as joy is caused, by the
attachment of the senses to objects; once you know that you are not
the senses or the mind, but He who operates the senses and wields
the mind, you cross the bounds of pleasure and pain. Separate
yourself from the grief and you will find yourself the Emperor of
your Realm. The senses and the mind, with all the attendant
impulses, desires and attitudes become your servants, instruments
that carry out your bidding.
August 14, 2005
Love is the word which indicates the striving
to realize the falsehood of diversity and the reality of the One.
Love identifies; hate separates. Love transposes the Self on to
another and the two think, speak and act as one. When love takes in
more and more within its fold, more and more entities are rendered
as One. When you love Me, you love all, for, you begin to feel and
know and experience that I am in all. By means of dhyana
(meditation), you can realize that I am the resident in all hearts,
the urge, the motive, the guide, the goal. Yearn for that vision,
that awareness and make it your priceless possession. Then, you have
what you often ask Me for - sakshathkara (Direct Vision of Reality).
Your love has to be as pure and as free from the taint of ego as
mine so that it can merge in Me.
August 15, 2005
The sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) must have as
his objective the state of mental preparation for the realization of
Godhead. That is to say, his heart must be cleansed of despair, free
from hesitation and doubt, and open to the waves of bliss that surge
in from all sides, in God's Universe. Love brings the waves in, ever
expansive as they are! Follow the scriptural directives with faith
and sincerity. That will help you to realize the purpose of life.
Since every action has its appropriate reaction, beware of evil
intentions, wicked words, and acts that harm others and therefore
harm you. Lead your life revering everyone around you as moving
temples of the Divine.
August 16, 2005
Today, we have so many fields of knowledge in
the world. However, all these categories of knowledge do not
constitute what is regarded as Jnana (spiritual wisdom) in Vedantic
parlance. Atma Jnana alone is true knowledge. Ordinary knowledge
constitutes knowledge of material objects acquired through sensory
inputs and by investigation. But none of these can be Atma Jnana
(knowledge of the Self). In the highest sense, Atma (the Spirit) and
Jnana (Knowledge) are not different; they are one and the same. That
is why the Upanishads declare: "Sathyam, Jnanam, Anantham Brahma"
(Brahman is Truth, Wisdom and Infinitude); they are all different
names for the same Paramatma (God).
August 17, 2005
Education is not for mere living; it is for
leading a life that is more meaningful and worthwhile. There is no
harm if it is also used for seeking a gainful employment; but, the
educated must be aware that it is not the be all and end all of
education. Again, education is not for developing the faculty of
argument, criticism, or exhibiting your mastery over language or
logic. That study is the best which teaches you to conquer this
cycle of birth and death, which gives you the mental equipoise that
is not affected by the prospect of death, or the blessings or blows
of fate.
August 18, 2005
The divine power has no specific form like
that of an object or a being, but it pervades the entire creation.
Out of the divine power originated all other powers with various
names and forms. There is only one power and that is the Atma. The
same Atma exists in the accuser and the accused, the worshipper and
the worshipped. The person who realizes this principle of oneness
will never give room to anger or jealousy. There is diversity at the
level of the body and the mind, but the Atma is the same in all.
August 19, 2005
As soon as you rise from bed in the morning,
examine for a few moments your thoughts, plans, habits and attitudes
to others, which are about to pounce on you and decide the shape of
things to come during the day. Identify in the motley crowd of these
thoughts, the vicious, the wicked, the evil, the harmful, the ones
that are born in anger, that breed on greed, and assert that you are
not willing to be led by them. Throw your inclination on the side of
the good, the constructive, to renounce, and rise up a purer,
stronger and happier man than you were when you went to bed. That is
the real sadhana (spiritual exercise).
August 20, 2005
Add two spoons of water to two glasses of
milk; the water is also appreciated as milk! So too, let your tiny
drops of love for things material merge with the stream of love for
God and be elevated. At present your sadhana can be described only
as adding two glasses of water to two spoons of milk! Have the love
of God filling and thrilling your hearts; then you cannot hate
anyone, you cannot indulge in unhealthy rivalry, you will not find
fault with anyone. Life becomes sweet and smooth.
August 21, 2005
God is described as 'Sath-Chith-Ananda'.
'Sath' is being. 'Chith' is awareness. When 'Sath' and 'Chith' come
together, there is Ananda (divine bliss). 'Sath' may be compared to
sugar, 'Chith' may be compared to water. When the two are brought
together you have a syrup, an enjoyable sweet drink. Likewise, only
when 'Sath' and 'Chith' come together, Ananda is experienced.
August 22, 2005
Often, people are carried away by what they
imagine are their spiritual experiences in their Sadhana (spiritual
exercise). All these exercises are designed purely to provide some
sort of mental satisfaction and nothing more. Ultimately, neither
Sadhana (spiritual endeavour) nor Sadhyam (the goal) exist
independently and apart from each other. Sadhana and Sadhyam are one
and the same. It is a trick of the mind to make Sadhana as the means
to Sadhyam. True Sadhana consists in giving up the Anaatma Bhava
(the idea that one is not the Spirit but the physical body). To turn
the vision from the physical to the spiritual constitutes real
Sadhana.
August 23, 2005
If we want Ananda (bliss), we must work along
the spiritual path, so that the illusion of diversity is removed.
When the mind is yoked to the Self, the Rajas (qualities associated
with passion) and Thamas (qualities associated with inertia) are
rendered ineffective and purified. Contact with the Self makes the
ego merge into the Self. A harmonized mind sees the Self everywhere.
August 24, 2005
Today, people mistakenly think that
spirituality has no relation to worldly life and vice versa. True
divinity is a combination of spirituality and social obligations.
National unity and social harmony are founded upon spirituality. It
is the Divine that links spirituality and social existence. The
Creator and the Prakriti (Cosmos) are inextricably associated with
each other. Hence, God should not be regarded as separate from
creation. See God in the cosmos. For instance, here is a tumbler
made of silver. The one who notices the silver in the tumbler,
thinks only of the material base and not the form of the tumbler.
The one who sees it as a tumbler, does not note its silver base.
Only the person who can recognise both silver and tumbler can
recognise that it is a silver tumbler. Likewise, without God, there
is no creation. However, most people see only the creation; very few
recognise that the creation is a projection of the Creator. It is
essential that every human being should have the realization that
without the Brahman (Supreme) there can be no cosmos.
August 25, 2005
What is Jnana or wisdom? It is to know your
own true self, that is, self knowledge. Self knowledge is Self
realization. Jnana calls for the control of thoughts by appropriate
efforts. Constant contemplation on the Self is the means of
experiencing the direct vision of God, and Bhakthi (devotion) is the
means to achieve it. Whether one takes to the Jnana-Marga (the path
of wisdom) or the Bhakti Marga (the path of Devotion), the goal is
the same, illumination.
August 26, 2005
Try to get into the company of devoted and
God-fearing persons. When dust joins the company of air, it rises up
into the sky; when it joins the company of water, it sinks into the
depths of the earth. Your future is shaped by the company you keep.
So, choose your friends carefully and do not develop too strong an
attachment to anyone. Be friendly with all, but do not allow that
friendship to grow into bondage.
August 27, 2005
Dhyana does not connote merely the act of
sitting erect, motionless and maintaining silence. It means merging
of all thoughts and feelings in God. Unless the mind dissolves
itself completely in God, one cannot attain the fruit of Dhyana.
Lord Krishna, in the Bhagavad Githa, declares the ideal Dhyana and
its fruit to be "Ananyaaschinthayanthomaam Ye janah paryupaasathe.
Theshaam nithyaabhiyukthanaam Yogakshemam vahaamyaham", meaning,
"For those persons who adore Me without any other thought or
feeling, I will myself carry their burden, remain by their side
always guiding and guarding them".
August 28, 2005
Prema (Pure love) is like a precious diamond.
Love is unattainable to persons who are egoistic, selfish, conceited
or ostentatious. It can be obtained only through a loving heart. One
may ask, "Is not the whole world permeated with Love? Why, then, is
not Love patent?" The love which is associated with the world cannot
be considered to real love. Prema cannot be associated with the
body, the senses, the mind and the intellect. Anything associated
with these is only Anuraaga (attachment). The Atmic (spiritual) life
alone is a life filled with love. A life related to the body, the
senses the mind and the intellect can never be free from
selfishness, conceit and ostentation.
August 29, 2005
Without courage, firm conviction and strong
determination, no purpose is served by routine Sadhana (spiritual
exercises) undertaken mechanically. On the contrary, a person who
never swerves from his determination even under trying
circumstances, is called a Dheera (hero) and such a person wins the
grace of the Lord. We should try to seek fulfilment in our daily
life by anchoring our mundane activities in spiritual values. One
must follow the dictum, "Hands in the society and head in the
forest". That is to say, whatever be the activities you are
preoccupied with in society, you must be steadfast in holding on to
the spiritual ideals. This is the true sadhana, which will bestow
lasting peace on you. Remember that you are the changeless Atma
(spirit). All your sadhana should be directed towards establishing
yourself in this firm conviction and unwavering faith, culminating
in your life's fulfillment.
August 30, 2005
Vedanta (Vedic philosophy) has revealed many a
profound truth. For instance, it declares God to be "Acharam
charameva cha" (the One who is stationary and also moves). There is
an apparent contradiction in this statement, for how can anybody be
moving and stationary at the same time? The Vedanta has given a
beautiful explanation for this. In the dream state, we experience
ourselves engaged in all kinds of physical activities. But the body
that is seen in the dream as moving, is in fact, lying motionless on
the bed. The physical body is motionless, while the body in the
dream is seen to be moving. Both the bodies are one and the same; in
one state of consciousness, it is still and in another it is moving.
Vedanta declares that in the physical state, there is movement, but
in the state of Brahman (spiritual realm of the Divine), there is
only steadiness. Indeed, the purpose of Dhyana (meditation) is to
achieve this supreme state of steadiness and equipoise.
August 31, 2005
What is spirituality? It is the resolute
pursuit of cosmic consciousness. Spirituality aims at enabling man
to manifest, in all its fullness, the cosmic consciousness that is
present within and outside him. It means getting rid of the animal
nature in man and developing the divine tendencies in him. It means
breaking down the barriers between God and Nature, and establishing
their essential oneness. Goodness is a synonym for God. To realize
such a state of divine consciousness, devotion is essential.
Devotion aims at awakening consciousness of the Ishwara (Divine) in
man. All activity aimed at turning the mind towards God is a form of
devotion. To envisage and experience the Divine Sath-Chith-Ananda
(Being-awareness-bliss) within oneself is the true mark of devotion.
|
