Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Fourteen disciples of Sankara had given fourteen different verses describing the nature of detachment. After that, Sankara himself gave the Dwadasa Manjari or the set of twelve verses.

Out of these twelve verses, this is an important verse and lays great emphasis on detachment. Lust stands out as a prominent leader of all the bad qualities. The other three, that is, anger, greed and attachment follow this leader and do things which are dictated by him. In fact, Kama, the God of lust, is responsible for our birth; and Kala, the God of time, is responsible for our death. Rama is responsible for our life and all the good therein. If by our conduct, we can deserve the grace of Rama, Kama and Kala are not going to trouble us very much. Like fire covered by ash, like water covered by a precipitate, like the eye covered by cataract, our wisdom lies dormant, covered by Kama.

It is necessary for us to enquire into the source and nature of Kama. Till we are able to do so, we will not be able to distinguish between what is lasting and what is only temporary, what is right and what is wrong. Kama increases our attachments and thereby weakens our memory and intelligence. Once the intelligence becomes weak, we will become inhuman. Thus, Kama has the capacity to ruin our life. If we understand the nature of Kama well, it will go away from us in one moment. If we give a high place to it without understanding, then that will get the upper hand and will begin to dance on our heads.

There is a small story for this. In one village a marriage was to take place. The party of the bridegroom came to the village and was staying in a home. The party of the bride was staying in another house. In between both these parties, there was one individual who was demanding all kinds of comforts from both the parties. This individual used to go to the bridegroom’s place and tell them that they were always coming late and causing lot of problems to the bride’s party. People belonging to the bridegroom’s party thought that he was some respected elder from the side of the bride. Similarly, he went to the bride’s house and told them that they were not respecting the bridegroom and members of his party and were not giving them all the respect that was due to them. This individual was enacting a drama. He was going to the bridegroom’s party and was behaving as if he was a respected elder from the bride’s side, and he was also going to the bride’s people and behaving as if he was a respected elder from the bridegroom’s side. When this drama went too far, the two parties started investigating who this gentleman was and found that he belonged to neither side. At this time, this individual quickly disappeared without telling anyone.

In the same manner, we have the two parties of Pravritthi and Nivritthi, that is: that which deals with this material world and that which deals with the spiritual world. Once you have these two, Kama enacts this particular drama of going to one and the other and posing as a well-wisher. But once you make an enquiry and find out the origin of this Kama, it will disappear, even as the individual in our story disappeared.

This disease of Kama cannot be cured by any medicine. It is not going to be suppressed by a change of place. The only way it can be cured is to earn God’s grace; and therefore, if you want to suppress it, you have to deserve God’s grace. In order that you may deserve such grace, the Gita says that the sadhaka should become a daksha.

Daksha is a name for one who has learnt all the possible branches of knowledge, such as Pravritthi, Para Vidya, Nivritthi, Apara Vidya and so on. You might have heard the stories of Daksha contained in our Puranas. This Daksha of the Puranas had all female children. One of them is Sathi Devi. The name Sathi Devi stands for wisdom. Because this knowledge or wisdom is present with Daksha in the form of a daughter Sathi Devi, Easwara sought Sathi Devi for himself as his bride. In so choosing Sathi Devi as his bride, Easwara became related to Daksha.

So, if we want to get near God and establish a relationship with God, we have to seek and acquire wisdom. When you acquire wisdom, all other branches of knowledge will automatically come to you. But, today, one is a sadhaka only in name. We are spending all our time in eating food. The sadhakas of today eat heavy food, sleep like Kumbhakarna and become fat beyond all limits. This is the reason why Indian culture is being ridiculed to some extent. One who does not cause any hurt to others one who does not trouble others, and one who does his own duty without depending on others can be recognised as a worthy individual. In this young age of yours, you should try to reach the divine and remain humble. You go to colleges for acquiring education, but you forget why you have gone there. Students must spend their time in understanding the main purpose for which they want to get education. Many go to colleges and waste their time in pursuit of sensuous pleasures. At the time of their examinations, they open their books for the first time.

You will not get this age of yours ever again in your life. You must realise its sanctity, only then you will be able to acquire knowledge. You must try to grasp the essence of what you study. If your head is empty and receptive, one can fill it with some good things. But if your head is already filled with all kinds of ideas, how can we put anything further into it?

The Bhagavad Gita states that if a large number of impure ideas enter your head, it cannot be rectified all of a sudden. They have to be got rid of slowly and steadily. Sometimes we feel that these bad ideas are so deeply rooted in us that it is very difficult to uproot them. You should have a firm determination to get rid of them. Ideas come to you slowly and over a period of time as a result of your own deeds. We should recognise which of them are under our control and which of them are beyond our control.

Here is a story which illustrates how one should deal with a bad habit. One individual got into the habit of eating opium regularly. It was not possible for him to control this habit of eating opium. By taking the opium, he was always in a kind of coma and was in a weak state. While he was in this state, a saintly person visited his city. The opium-eater went along with the crowd to have the darshan of this saintly person. The saint was offering advice and comfort to many who were given to bad habits. Along with them, the opium eater also sought the advice of the saint. On seeing the opium eater, the saint said that his health was deteriorating and that he should give up eating opium. At this, the opium addict said that it was not possible for him to give it up easily and requested the saint to give him some advice as to how this could be given up. The saint asked him how much opium he was used to taking every day and was shown a certain measure as the average quantity that was being taken every day. The saint got a piece of chalk, equal to the measure of opium that was being taken every day and told him that he may continue eating opium but should not take more than the size of the chalk piece each day. The opium eater was quite happy, but he was also told that every day he should write OM three times on a blackboard with that chalk. In this manner, the chalk was reducing in size every day and so the amount of opium which the person was eating was also reducing gradually. Ultimately this habit was removed.

In the same manner, today one takes to smoking a few cigarettes each day and then this number increases to ten, twenty, and ultimately he becomes a chain smoker. In the same manner, various bad qualities have been growing in some of you. Even after knowing that those are bad qualities and are harmful if you do not make an attempt to decrease and give up those bad qualities, it is a sad state of affairs. What is the purpose of your education and knowledge if you do not give up a habit which you know is a bad habit. Therefore, no devotee should follow the path of ignorance and be called a moodhamathi, but should follow the path of righteousness and be called a mukthamathi. We should have our attention fixed on knowledge and wisdom.

It is also said that if you can get rid of your ego, you can understand Brahman; but then, you have to ask yourself as to how ego can be got rid of. Today, we think that what has come with a form is Ahamkara (ego). We also equate Ahamkara to arrogance. Ahamkara is not always arrogance. It is present at all times and in all the three aspects - sathwic, rajasic and thamasic. This ego has the capacity to take man into very crooked paths. It promotes selfishness and ultimately results in making man forget who he is.

Ego also appears because of beauty, education, wealth, position or caste. If you want to think of your beauty as the cause of your ego, you should know that beauty shines and disappears in a moment like a lightning. If you want to think of your wealth or your strength as the cause of your ego, these things are like mirages and they disappear in a moment.

If we regard the ego as depending on our position, one does not know when this position will rise or fall or even vanish altogether. The moment you lose your position, you become an ordinary person. So, there is no point in having ego which depends on position or authority.

If you want to feel important or arrogant because of your education, it is well known that true education consists of cultivating humility and removing the ego. True education does not bring arrogance. Education brings humility in its wake, and all educated people look at everyone else with humility and equal-mindedness. If we ask the question who is a blind man in this world, we get the answer that he who knows everything and yet is not able to see things in the proper perspective is a blind man. If only we are able to give service and conduct ourselves with humility when we see elders, that will be referred to as true education. Without knowing the essence of education, do not go about saying that you are an educated person. Your beauty, your age, your strength, your wealth and your position should not make you feel very proud because with advancing age all these will vanish. In this context, what is the point in your feeling proud of this leather bag of body.

You go and join schools, colleges, and universities for the purpose of getting education. Do not think that the education which you should get is confined only to the colleges or schools. Education should be got from all the world over. It can be got from a workshop. It can be got from a farm. It can be got from a profession or trade. Even moving in the market can give you education. All aspects of life can impart education. You must regard the world itself as a big university. From the time you get up from your bed till the time you go to sleep again, you are using your education for earning the pittance of a livelihood. If you cannot use your education to be near the feet of the Lord, what is the purpose of all this knowledge? You must have God in your heart and recognise all living beings as equal. You must make every effort to overcome the four obstacles, namely lust, anger, attachment and greed. So long as these thieves are in your home, there is no certainty that you will get the treasure of wisdom. But after driving away these thieves, you will get a bigger thief into your home and that thief is God Himself. That is why He has been called “Chitta Chora” or one who steals your heart.

The story goes that on one occasion Krishna walked by Suradas holding his hand for some distance. Suradas asked Him if He was Krishna and Krishna then let go his hand. Then Suradas exclaimed, “How can I know you and understand you? You are smaller than the smallest particle that one knows. You are larger than the largest thing that one can conceive of. You are mightier than the eighty-four lakhs of created species. You are the biggest thief among the big thieves. How can I understand you?” In recognition of the fact that God is the only one who can remove ego and Ahamkara from us, He has been called Madhusudana. This word is usually indicative of one who has conquered a demon by name Madhu. But madhu also means something which is sweeter than honey and for man, his ego is sweeter than honey. Therefore, in this context, one who can completely destroy this ego is called Madhusudana. Thus, our ego, which is very sweet, can only be removed by God who is also very sweet. We must have faith in Him and give up our ego and move closer to God. If you do this, God Himself will see when you have to be respected, what you have to be given and when. The entire thing will be His responsibility and all will rest on God Himself. Sankara’s message is that you should remove these four thieves, which are in the form of bad qualities within you.