Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

THE Sathyam-Shivam-Sundharam (Truth-Love-Beauty) manifestation of God responds to prayers addressed to any of Its manifold Names. It is endowed with infinite patience and compassion, though It has now assumed human form and can be expected to have human traits and even human failings, for, It has to deal with human frailties and rescue man from himself. Man has to be shown the means by which he can enlarge the circle of Love, and spread the Light of his reason wide. Unless man is able to see all humanity as One, he cannot be declared a devotee of God; for humanity is the progeny of God. The Divine is the string on which all this floral variety is strung into a garland. Yoga is the method by which the inner kinship is realised, and one's affinity with the Universe is experienced. Udh-yoga, the word which is now used for any type of employment, is best used for the highest job on which man can be employed - the discovery of this innate kinship. Of course, at first sight, the Divinity inherent in all beings and things will not be clear to the vision. How can any one read the sign G as jee, without being told by some one who knows and accepts that statement in good faith? Then, he reaches the stage when he can read G O D as jee o dee. But, what persuades him to read it as God, and not as jee o dee? Again, it is the Guru, whom you trust and who knows these things well. And, how do we know that the sound God represents for all the inscrutable all-pervasive Intelligence that pervades the atom and the star? Again, it is the Guru who had taught us so to accept it.

But it is not enough to know just this from the Guru. One must pursue the search and reach the ultimate Truth, the Truth that can explain the atom as well as the most distant star, now and for ever. Only the Kshethrajna knows the Kshethra - only God knows the Universe. To know the Universe, one must become God. In fact, there is no becoming God; one is God, masquerading as Sohan Lal, Sundher Lal or Indhu Lal! The I which you feel you are, the I that you were, when you were a baby, a boy, a young man, a middle aged man, an old man and a decrepit senile individual - that I is but a reflection of God in this Body-Mirror! You are but a wave on the breast of the Ocean, namely, God. Know this, experience this - that is the consummation, the goal! Know that all are waves, and then, realise that the wave is but the Ocean, with name and form that appear, last for a short time, and then disappear. In order to attain this Vision (Vijnana), man has to transcend three sheaths (koshas) out of the five in which he is encased - the Annamaya kosha or gross, with its equipment of the senses; the Pranamaya kosha or subtle, with its instrumentality of vital airs and the nervous system; the Manomaya kosha, the Causal, with its pattern of desires, motives, resolutions, wishes, both positive and negative, which form the complex called Mind. Deeper than these there is the Vijnanamaya kosha, the sheath of Intuition, which is laid over the Anandhamaya kosha, the. sheath of Bliss. But, man is now caught up in the tangles of the first three, and he does not venture any deeper, so that he is denied a glimpse into the truth whose door lies at the Vijnana stage only, and passes beyond the Anandhamaya kosha itself.

Embodiments of the Divine Atma! It is only through the cultivation of Love that the heart can be enlarged to receive these eternal absolute experiences; it is only through the practice of Truth that the great TRUTH can be experienced. Here are many teachers who have emerged recently, extolling each one, his own special brand of spiritual exercises by which he claims to give you supreme bliss. They give these brands attractive names, names redolent of the past, like Kriya Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Anthar Yoga, etc. But, there are no short-cuts to selfrealisation. The goal can be reached only through the purification of character and the cultivation of unselfish Love. Any yoga that does not result in the control of emotions, of the egoistic tendencies, of the greed for prestige and reputation, is bhoga (the path of enjoyment) not yoga (restraint). The body is but an assembly of instruments for Self-realisation; that is the culmination of all the lives which earned for you this equipment. The culmination of the tree is the fruit and the sweetness thereof! Embodiments of the principle of Universal Love! I was to have come and given you dharshan and this Anandha of sambhashan (delight of divine discourse) some days back; you had come that day and gone back disappointed. I know that some stories that heightened your anxiety were circulated, as the reason for my absence that day. And, even those who came to know the real reason attributed it to what they called miracle or mesmerism or some such cause, which they held to be reprehensible! It is easy to dismiss the Divine by some cheap phrase; but, that does not mean that you have negated It or understood It. I had to take on Myself the illness that would have been fatal to a very good person who had surrendered to God, and the call was so urgent and sincere that I could not possibly postpone My response, until all My engagements were fulfilled! You believe in such things when they are related to Rama or Krishna or others; for, you feel that belief does not impose any obligations on you. But, in the case of the Incarnation before you, you apprehend that when the Divine is recognised, certain consequences follow, and you try to avoid them. But, I carry on My task of Bhaktharakshana (rescuing the devotees, good and sincere seekers) regardless of what the world may think of it.