Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

THERE are in this huge gathering people speaking many languages. Each one man understand only his language, and wants that he should be spoken to in that language. But, there is a language of the heart, which all can understand and all would like to hear. That is the language which I speak, the language that goes from My heart to yours. When heart speaks to heart, it is love that is transmitted, without any reservation. The trials and turmoils, the throes and thrills, the search and sorrow - these are the same in quality for all mankind. The responsive heart listens to these with sympathy and answers with love. Every one is eager to be happy; every one wants to work less and gain more, give little and get amply, but no one experiments with the other method, that is, wanting less and giving more. Every want is a shackle that hinders movement, that is a drag on the foot. A young college student can roam free on his two legs; when he marries, he becomes four-footed! A child makes him six-footed; the range of his movements is restricted. The more the feet, the less the speed, the tighter his grip on the ground; the centipede has to crawl. More things, more hurdles, more handicaps. Accumulation of sofas and chairs, cots and tables, shelves and curios clutter the hall and render movements slow and risky. Reduce wants, live simply, that is the way to happiness. Attachment brings sorrow in its wake; at last, when death demands that everything be left behind and everybody be deserted, you are overpowered with grief! Be like the lotus on water; on it, not in it. Water is necessary for the lotus to grow; but, it will not allow even a drop to wet it. The objective world is the arena of virtue and the gymnasium for the spirit. But, use it only for that purpose; do not raise it to a higher status and adore it as all-important.

There are people who go about declaring that there is no God, because they are not able to see Him. They say that they have searched in space, on the way to the moon, and even on the moon but there was no sign of the Almighty. But they themselves are, all the time, the mansions in which He resides! Like the blind bamboozling the blind into a fall, others too repeat like parrots this "fashionable slogan." No one sees the roots, but, they are there, deep in the soil, away from all eyes. Can you, do you assert, that there are no roots for trees, that nothing feeds them or upholds them, from below? God feeds, sustains, holds firm - unseen He can be seen by those who make the effort, along the lines laid down for the purpose, by those who have succeeded in experiencing Him. God is, as butter in milk, visible when concretised by sadhana (spiritual striving).

You do not see the foundations of a multi-storeyed sky-scraper. Can you, therefore, argue that it simply sits on the ground? The foundations of this life are laid deep in the past, in lives already lived by you. This structure has been shaped by the ground plan of those lives. The unseen decides the bends and the ends; the number of floors, the height and weight. God is the great Unseen, the vast Unknowable. Though you do not see the roots or know how far or how wide or deep they are clutching the earth, you pour water round the trunk, so that it may reach them, is it not? You expect that when the roots contact the water, the tree will yield fruit. Recognise, similarly, that there is God, as the very basis of Creation; pray to Him, and He will shower fruit.

The chief means by which you detach your mind from distractions and attach yourselves to the search of God are Yoga (communion with God) and Thyaga (sacrifice). Kama (desire) has to be got rid of by Thyaga and Rama (God) has to be secured by Yoga. Desire discolours the intelligence; it perverts judgement; it sharpens the appetites of the senses. It lends a false lure to the objective world. When desire disappears or is concentrated on God, Intelligence is selfluminous, it shines in its pristine splendour, and that splendour reveals the God within and without. That is the real Atma Sakshathkara (Realisation of the Self). I bless you that you succeed in the Sadhana in which you are engaged; if you are not practising any now, I advise you to take up the simple one of Namasmarana (remembrance of the Divine), along with reverence towards parents and elders and teachers, service rendered to the poor and the sick. See every one of them as your lshtadhevatha (the Lord in the Form you like most). That will fill your heart with Love and give you stability of mind and peace.