Sai Darshan Home <darshan.html>
Date:Apr 1998 Occasion:Divine Discourse Place:Kodaikanal

Man, Truth, Love and God

Its only from Truth that the entire creation has come out.
There is nothing in the world without the basis of Truth.
This is Suddha Sathwa (Pure goodness).
Behold ye people!
(Poem by Swami)

God is Sathya Swaroopa (embodiment of Truth). You find that human nature
is a combination of Sathya and Dharma. When man is not able to
comprehend his own human nature, how can he know the Divine? Everyone
should, therefore, make efforts to know the human nature. It is Nirmala,
Nischala, Nisswartha (blemishless, unwavering, and unselfish).

God in Man's Spiritual Heart

God is in every human being residing in his spiritual heart which is on
the right side of the body while the physical heart is on the left. It
is only a single seat sofa and not a double seated sofa or musical
chair. So, God is close to everyone being seated in the spiritual heart.
When you realize this, you will have the feeling of blissful happiness.
The heart is the seat of compassion and God is embodiment of compassion.
While so, man cannot have hatred towards any being at all. Man has to
make efforts to progress on the path of Truth and Righteousness.

God has no consideration of caste, age, sex or nationality. Take the
elements earth, water, fire, air and ether. Have these elements any
distinction of caste or nationality? They are embodiments of the Divine.

You should never misuse the elements or waste them. Names and forms are
many but the Atmic Principle is one. You should understand this. This is
the fundamental law of Nature. Though names and forms vary, there are
some common features in all. Hunger is common to all, though the types
of food are many. In a hospital there are many different types of
patients. All are not given the same food. For instance, diabetics will
not be given sugar or sweet preparations. World is a hospital. The
humanity is suffering from different diseases, physical, mental and
psychological. Three- fourths of the diseases are only psychological.
What is the treatment needed? It is only "daiva chintana", filling the
mind with the thought of God. You should never separate God from you. A
man with dual mind is half-blind. We should practice the principle of
oneness. There is only one God spoken of as many. Unity in diversity
should be comprehended. Human quality should reflect Divinity. You
should curb animal thoughts and breed Divine thoughts. There are two
types of persons. Those with animal and human qualities always show
hatred, jealousy, greed and anger. The other type with human and divine
qualities will always be happy, peaceful and full of love. They will
always adhere to Truth. Without such quality, spiritual pursuits will be
of no avail. You should always say to yourself "I am human, I am not
animal". Jealousy is rampant to a considerable extent amongst people
today. This is the root cause of anger, hatred and other evil qualities.
If a person owns a car and travels in it, don't be jealous. Satisfy
yourself that you have your legs to help you walk. If one is in a big
house, don't get jealous. Be contented and happy with the dwelling place
you have, though small. You should thus kill jealousy. Jealousy is
contrary to human nature. It is artificial and not pertaining to heart
which is natural. Virtues and vices are reflections of your good and bad
thoughts. Physical heart is on the left side while the spiritual heart
is on the right. This will help you in the right direction. It is
compassionate. But man breeds desires which contaminate the heart. These
should be checked and restrained to a limit. The body and all the sense
organs have limitations like the temperature, BP, capacity to see, hear
etc. Veda says "Na Sreyo Niyamam Vina". We should observe discipline in
life.

Limitations should be observed in everything. If you have enough minimum
resources like food, shelter and raiment you should be satisfied. To
maintain bodily health and get enough energy for your day-to-day
activities you should take food. You should not indulge in overeating
causing indigestion. If you exceed limit in anything, it may lead to
dangerous consequences.

If you realize that God is residing in your heart, you will not dare to
indulge in bad activities at all. The evil qualities are only acquired
and are not in you. You are embodiment of only love and compassion. The
bad influences are just like passing clouds which obstruct the vision of
the sun. Though the vision is blocked the sun is always shining. When
clouds clear you can see the sun in its full effulgence. Similarly, the
veils of ignorance covering the heart must also be cleared. One should
cultivate patience which is not commonly done in the present day life.
Haste makes waste, waste begets worry. So one should develop patience to
avoid worry. Our mind is compared to the moon; when thoughts arise it is
eclipsing the real nature just as the moon is eclipsed by the shadow of
the earth. If you keep the heart pure of the malaise of evil qualities,
you will have no worry at all. You should not allow wicked thoughts to
stick to you. In a pond, along with lotus flowers that bloom, you have
leeches also thriving, which suck your blood. Lotus cannot sustain
without water. So also human life cannot sustain without love. But you
should not let the leeches of worry breed in your heart of love. You can
travel in a boat on the surface of water but should not allow water to
enter into the boat. You should not allow the attachment to worldly
objects enter into your boat of life.

You are all embodiments of God. God is all-pervasive. You cannot
classify some as divine and some others not divine. All are reflections
of the same Atma which is common to all. This Atmic Principle is also
Sun-principle and Truth Principle (Surya thathwa and Sathya thathwa).
When one follows Sathya, Prema will be the reflection. When you walk on
the road, your shadow may fall on bad patches like drains, garbage,
etc., but you are not affected by it. You should proceed unmindful of
the path of the shadow. So also you must follow your heart with good
feelings unmindful of obstacles that may appear to come in the way. You
should practice truth. You should be grateful to a person that came to
your rescue in times of crisis. You should not forget the help done by
others. There are two things that you should forget. Forget the harm
done by others to you as you will then be harboring vengeance to
retaliate. Secondly, forget the help you did to others as that will make
you expect reward from them and result in disappointment when it is not
forthcoming. By observing these two norms, the purity of your heart will
be maintained.

"I am Atma, You are Atma"

Adi Sankara said, "There is no mother, father, no relatives or friends.
The only reality is 'you'. Therefore, be careful and awake to the
Reality." You should not worry about the family as these are passing
clouds. Vyasa was a great sage who gave the eighteen Puranas, Ithihasa
and Brahma-Sutra. But when his son Suka left the house in pursuit
Brahmajnana, Vyasa ran after him shouting "Oh son! Stop. Do not go
away". Suka stopped and told his father, "I am not your son. You are not
my father. I am Atma, you are Atma. Why are you under illusion?" So, you
must gradually give up all attachments and turn only to God. Having love
in your heart, when you put on the Divine glasses everything will be
Divine!

You are filled with worries throughout your life. Birth is a worry, life
itself is a worry, family, child, failure, sickness, old age, death,
mystery are all worries. These are all imaginary and psychological. You
say "My body, my mind, my hand, and my worry." Does this not mean that
you are separate from worry? It is your own creation. You are only one.
You are Atma, the Truth. Truth is God. There is only one God who is
described in many ways. Everyone should realize this Truth by spiritual
sadhana. This involves sacrifice Vedas declare that you can attain
immortality, not by any means other than sacrifice. You have to develop
the spirit of sacrifice. Thyaga (sacrifice) is yoga. Doing your duty
efficiently is yoga. Throughout life you should go on doing your duty
without aspiring for results. When you give to others, you should have
the attitude you are not the giver and the other is not the receiver. It
should be considered as an opportunity that is offered by the Divine.

Develop love. Follow Truth and Right Conduct (Sathya and Dharma). You
will shine as the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara. You should
not feel you have no powers. You should have self-confidence which will
lead to self-satisfaction which in turn encourages self-sacrifice
resulting in Self-realization. You must ensure that your self-confidence
is unshakable. What is self-confidence? Self is Atma. This is
conscience. Because of senses it is not realized. It should be
associated with higher consciousness and not the consciousness which
pertains to the senses. Man should try to realize the supreme heights of
consciousness. Consciousness is uniformly present in all. It is
"chaithanya". When people turn towards the worldly objects which are
transient, they pursue the negative path. When they turn towards the
Self, it is positive path.

Human Values and Nirvana

The human body is constituted of the five elements, five sheaths, five
vital airs (pancha bhootas, pancha koshas and pancha pranas). Man has
also got five faculties - Sathya (Truth), Dharma (Righteousness), Santhi
(Peace), Prema (Love) and Ahimsa (Non-violence), which are termed human
values. Having been born as a human, it is a pity that one does not
realize these values. Anger, hatred and lust are not human values at
all. These are animal qualities unbecoming of a human being. With
truthful thoughts one can become a good person. But one without thoughts
becomes a 'Sadhu', wise person. He will always be in peace. Thoughts are
the root cause of Asanthi (lack of peace). First of the human values is
'Sathya' or Truth. If this is absent, you lose one part of the human
nature. If you don't follow 'Dharma' you lose two parts. If you lose
'Santhi you lose three parts and when you have no 'love' you have lost
the entire human nature and the body will be one with all limbs amputated.

Sathya, the first value, is like the head and one who fails to follow
Truth will be a headless torso. Dharma is like the shoulder and one
without this will not be able to do anything having become handicapped.
(He loses Bhuja-balam). One without Santhi is akin to a man without
stomach. How can one take food, which is essential to provide energy for
living when there is no stomach? If you lose these three, the life is
without love and becomes valueless. Love is essential for life. One
without love is only a living corpse!

Nowadays, you find hatred rampant everywhere. There is no love. The seat
of love is the spiritual heart on the right of the body. Nobody bothers
to recognize this. The absence of love leads to absence of unity. When
there is no unity, there is no purity and without purity, divinity
cannot be realized. Now what people generally do is to breed enmity and
narrow feelings of community. If there is love, the divisive feelings of
community and enmity will not be there. Even when one greets another as
"Hello", it is of low caliber and is only artificial and superficial not
coming from the heart. If you want to develop love, you must go on
adding to your circle of friends, loving and serving all. It should be
expansion and not contraction. It may extend to cover the entire
humanity. "Ekatma Sarvabhoothantharatma". The one Atma is there in all
beings. This is the basis of the Brahma thathwa, (Principle of
Divinity). When love is lost everything is lost in life.

Love in speech is Sathya
Love in action is Dharma
Love in thought is Santhi
Love helps in the consummation of these three values.

Embodiments of Love! You are struggling only to acquire ephemeral
worldly attainments such as wealth, fame, status and position.

To foster human values, you have to control your senses. Merely studying
scriptures, undertaking pilgrimages and meeting saints will not help you
to achieve realization. Buddha did all these spiritual exercises could
not achieve the goal. Finally he learnt that one has to turn his vision
within with the help of the eye of wisdom to attain Nirvana.

Buddha proclaimed that the word 'man' should be interpreted thus:

M - stands for Maya, which has to be controlled and got over.
A - stands for Atma - understand the Atmic Principle
N - stands for Nirvana - attain Nirvana.

When you get over the illusion of 'Maya' and understand 'Atma', you get
'Nirvana' - liberation. Therefore, Buddha preached sense control and
eradication of desires as of primary importance. He advocated good
vision, good speech, good hearing, good action, good thoughts as
essential for human beings.

Whatever sadhana one may do, it will be wasteful if there is no
sense-control. You should know the divinity that is immanent in
everyone. Though many are aware of this truth, they do not follow this
in practice. For example, though everyone knows that one should speak
the truth, they tell lies to escape from a problem or to have success in
business. If you tell a lie to escape from a temporary problem, later on
you will have to face a bigger permanent problem. You should control
this temptation of telling lie to got over a temporary situation.

Take the example of Harischandra. He sacrificed his kingdom, wife, son
and everything and he himself served as a slave in a crematorium. When
Viswamitra gave an offer to Harischandra that he would give all his
possessions if he told just one lie, Harischandra flatly refused to
deviate from Sathya even if it cost his life. That is why Lord Shiva
appeared before him and blessed him giving him back his throne, revived
his dead son back to life and restored his wife and made him rule the
kingdom with renewed fame. Because of his extraordinary adherence to
Truth, he is even now remembered as "Sathya Harischandra".

Nowadays people resort to telling lies fearing that they may got into
trouble otherwise. Why should you fear to speak the truth? You have to
fear only when you commit mistakes. Today there is fear rampant
everywhere. Life is fear-stricken! You should practice Sathya and
Dharma. If you practice these, you need not fear. Whenever you are not
able to utter the truth, you may desist from speaking and keep silent.

Once a sage was doing penance in quest of Truth. One day Lord Shiva
wanted to test this sage. He came in the guise of a hunter who was
chasing a deer. The deer passed through the place where the sage was
seated. A little while later, the hunter approached the sage and asked
him whether he had seen the deer that passed in that direction. The sage
was in a dilemma. If he spoke the truth, the deer would be slain by the
hunter. If he did not speak the truth, he will be infringing the code of
conduct. So he prayed to the Lord to show him the correct path to save
him in such a situation. Suddenly vibration occurred in his mind and he
told the hunter "The eyes see something. But they can't speak. The
tongue speaks but cannot see. Under these circumstances, what can I
say?'. Lord Shiva appeared before him in his true form and blessed him
with liberation.

So you should not utter untruth simply to escape a situation. If there
is difficulty, be silent.

Conscience and Consciousness

Conscience is limited as an adjunct of the body. How does this merge
with Consciousness ? You have a balloon with air inside. It you go on
blowing more and more air into it, the walls become thinner and finally
it bursts. Then the air inside merges with the air outside. This is
merger of the limited air, finite with the infinite.

You go on expanding your love. Don't confine it to your own circle of
kith and Kin. Then finally the merger with the infinite will occur. This
is liberation.

Start the day with love,
Fill the day with love,
End the day with love,
This is the way to God.

Just as sugar, which is sweet, when mixed with water, tea, coffee or
anything imparts sweetness to the dish, Prema (Love) also is sweet
(madhuram) and will impart its sweetness to your words, actions and
thoughts. Love is the foundation, Truth is the wall, Santhi is the roof
of your life's mansion. Truth based on love is the best Dharma.

Love is there in everyone naturally. Instead of directing it towards
your wife, children and relatives, direct it towards God. By this
diversion you will get whatever you want. The heart is given by God.
Offer it to Him. You need not have any fear. Surrender your body to Him
as this is also a gift of God. Every action should be underlined by
Prema(Love). Do seva with love. You must cultivate the feeling that you
belong to God.

God is your Old Friend

You need not glorify God because that may keep you at a distance from
God. God is not new. He was there before your birth and He will be there
eternally. Where is the need to glorify Him? You must take Him as your
old friend. When you acquire friendship newly with a person you speak to
him with respectful words. When he becomes an old friend you treat him
with liberty and privilege. Consider God also as an old friend, so that
you can enjoy the liberty and be free with Him.

Devotees think that they can please God by describing His glory. This is
not true. You can melt His heart only with love. Plant the seeds of love
and let the water of good qualities flow on the dry land so that the
seeds will sprout and fed by rain of love grow into a tree sheltering all.

Embodiments of Love!

You are all basically embodiments of love only. There is no one in the
world without love. One will love at least his own kith and kin and
another may love money. Anyway, the basis is love which is divine. You
are a combination of love, peace, truth and God. You are mutually
related to one another through the bondage of love in spiritual path.
You must uphold Dharma by Truth and Love. "A seed to sprout should be
sown in earth or field. Sow the seed of love in the field of your heart.
It will grow as a tree and yield fruit of bliss."(poem.) Prema thathwa
is Jnana thathwa and Dharma thathwa. Understand and practice it.

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