Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

THE Goal of man’s life is neither happiness nor sorrow. Man can find fulfilment in life only if he can trace the origin of happiness and sorrow. In fact, man attains wisdom from sorrow and not out of happiness. The sages and seers of yore had to face great hardships and troubles before they could set great ideals to the rest of the world. That is why their teachings have left an indelible impression on the hearts of the Bharatiyas. Both the individual and the society can achieve progress and prosperity only after undergoing many trials and tribulations. Man has to face not only difficulties, but censure and criticism also. But noble souls will never care for difficulties or criticism. Welfare of the society is their main objective in life.

You should welcome sorrow just as you welcome happiness. You will attain equanimity of mind only when you treat happiness and sorrow alike. In the human body, head is considered sacred whereas feet are not considered sacred. When somebody comes to your house, is it possible to welcome only the head and ask the feet to get out? When you welcome the head, you welcome the feet also. Likewise, when you welcome happiness, you welcome sorrow too.

The boys and girls of today are the future citizens of the country. They have to uphold the glory and good name of Bharat by their ideal conduct. They should cultivate humility and reverence towards parents and elders. Consider the whole world as one family and love everyone. If you want to buy anything, you have to pay its price. Likewise, you can attain the human values, namely, truth, righteousness, peace and non-violence only when you possess the wealth of love. There is no wealth greater than love. One can conquer the entire world if one has love. Today human values are on the decline because man lacks the wealth of love. One can be called a human being only when one possesses human values. The culture of Bharat exhorts,

Sathya and Dharma are very essential for humanness to blossom. One should adhere to Sathya and Dharma under all circumstances. King Harishchandra sacrificed all his wealth and kingdom for the sake of upholding truth. He did not budge from the path of truth even when he had to sell his wife and son and he himself had to become the caretaker of a cremation ground.

That is why it is said, Truth is God. Truth and righteousness are like the two eyes of man. One who does not adhere to truth and righteousness is verily blind. All the sacred scriptures, the Upanishads and the Vedas are based on these twin principles. The creation itself cannot exist without these two. Love is the undercurrent of both truth and righteousness. Love is the true wealth of man, be he a pauper or a millionaire. Just as a mother does not make any distinction and showers her love on all her children equally irrespective of their social status, so also God showers His love on all equally. God is the embodiment of love and is present in everyone in the form of love. You can attain Him only through love.

The Vedas have referred to this principle of love as the Atma. Truth, love and righteousness are all synonyms of atma. The Vedas call man atmavan as he is endowed with the principle of the atma. The atma is also referred to as Brahma.

Who is Brahma? The scriptures describe Him as one who emerged from the lotus that originated from Vishnu’s navel. That Brahma is the ‘I’ (aham) in everyone. So, this principle of Brahma is present in one and all, be he a theist or an atheist.

Soham (‘I am Brahma’) mantra clearly demonstrates this truth. This process of inhalation and exhalation has its origin in the navel of man. It repeats itself 21, 600 times a day reminding man of his divinity. Without paying heed to the teaching of the inner voice, man goes through various scriptures and the Vedas in search of divinity.

First and foremost, listen to the inner voice, which is your true preceptor and God. The Vedas describe God as amogha, as He is changeless, eternal and beyond description. God is also called Siddha as He is ever ready to fulfil the wishes of His devotees. Though God is always ready to answer the prayers of His devotees, He does not do so when their prayers are not wholehearted. When the prayers are sincere and intense, God will certainly answer them. He does not have any desires except the welfare of His devotees. To be a recipient of His grace, one has to develop sacred thoughts.

Who is man? One endowed with the mind is man. The mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts. You will be called a true human being only when your thoughts are based on truth. God is the common property of man, be he a pauper or an emperor. He is the friend of everybody. All have equal right to experience divinity. But one should have purity of heart to experience His grace. The heart should be filled with compassion. But today, there is no compassion, there is only fashion!

Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar was the epitome of compassion. He along with his aged mother lived in a village near Calcutta. They lived in such abject poverty that they had hardly anything for food other than gruel. As Vidyasagar had sincerity and earnestness, he used to study even under street lights.

One with sincerity can accomplish any great task. Vidyasagar passed the law examination and obtained a good job. Neither happiness nor sorrow is permanent. One follows the other with the passage of time. Likewise, Vidyasagar’s days of poverty were over when he began to earn a handsome income.

One day, he told his mother that he wanted to buy some good saris and jewels for her as he was earning sufficient money. He asked his mother to express her wish. The mother said that she did not need anything at that time and would express her wish at the appropriate time. Being an obedient son, he would never force his mother in any matter. As months passed by, his salary increased substantially.

On a particular Sunday, he sat by his mother’s side and said, “Mother, I have a lot of money with me, I pray you express your wish at least now.”

The mother said, ”Son, I want three jewels. As there is no school in our village, the children are forced to walk a long distance to attend the school. The parents are concerned about their safety and spend anxious moments till they return from school in the evening. So, please construct a small school in our village. This is the first `jewel’ I desire from you.”

Accordingly, Vidyasagar got a school constructed in his village. After some time, his mother expressed her second wish.

She said,” Our villagers are suffering from lack of medical facilities. When the children are afflicted with any disease, the mothers have to carry them to the town for treatment. So, I want you to construct a small hospital in our village. This is the second `jewel’ I expect from you.”

Vidyasagar built a hospital too. As days rolled by, Vidyasagar’s name and fame spread far and wide. People were all praise for his social service activities. After some time, his mother expressed her third wish. She said, “Son! The water in all the wells of our village has been reduced to a trickle. The villagers are suffering due to lack of drinking water. So, I want you to make arrangements for water supply in our village.” As per his mother’s wish, Vidyasagar provided drinking water to the villagers.

His mother was overjoyed. She blessed her son saying, “I wish every mother had a noble son like you who dedicates his life to the welfare of the society. What is the use of having many sons who bring disrepute to the family as did the sons of Dhritarashtra?”

Why does water scarcity arise? When there is a decline in Sathya and Dharma, the level of water in the earth also declines. As compassion and love have diminished in the human heart, water has become scarce. This problem is not due to divine fury as some people may imagine. It is because of the rise in evil qualities in man. If people strictly adhere to the path of truth and righteousness, there will never be water scarcity. People blame bad times for their misfortunes. But there is nothing wrong with time. There are adequate rains and perennial rivers. But they are merging into the ocean without being harnessed.

There is no dearth of scholars, scientists, educated and rich people in India, but the country is in no way benefited by them. They are afflicted with evil qualities of jealousy and hatred and they fight with each other. There is no unity among them. One may be rich or well-educated, but all the wealth and education will be useless if one lacks virtues. Man should cultivate the spirit of sacrifice. The Vedas say only sacrifice confers immortality. There are thousands of rich people in India, but they are not satisfied with the wealth they have. They crave to amass more and more. They ruin their lives because of their greed for money. They leave their mortal coil after depositing their wealth in foreign banks. Instead, why can’t they use the same for the welfare of their countrymen? Why can’t they involve themselves in social service activities? They mouth sweet words, but act contrary to what they say. They make any number of promises, but translate few of them into action. Why should they make promises at all, if they are not going to fulfil them? They are heroes in giving lectures on the spirit of sacrifice and zeros in practice.

Money is meant for sacrifice. This was the ideal demonstrated by Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar. He was an orator par excellence. Yet he was very humble. People thronged in large numbers to listen to his speeches. (Here Swami narrated the incident from Vidyasagar’s life when he taught the lesson of humility to an I.C.S. officer by carrying his suitcase in the absence of a coolie. The officer was put to shame when he discovered that the person who carried his suitcase was none other than Vidyasagar whose speech he had come to listen).

Today we are celebrating Easwaramma Day.

Who is Easwaramma? She is the mother of Easwara. This was not the name given to her by her parents. But after her marriage, Kondama Raju (Swami’s grandfather), being one of wisdom and blessed with a vision of the future, started calling her Easwaramma (mother of Easwara). She was christened as Namagiriamma at the time of her birth. But Kondama Raju told her that Easwaramma was the most appropriate name for her, as he knew that she was going to become the mother of Easwara.

Easwaramma was born in such a poor family that she did not even have proper food to eat. All that she had to eat was ragi sankati (gruel prepared from a coarse grain). Even I too eat ragi sankati only. Many people in Karnataka eat ragi sankati. I like it very much. I do not relish rice, kurma (curry), etc., Ragi sankati with groundnut chutney is My favourite food. Both ragi and groundnut are available in our village. When I come here from Puttaparthi, I bring ragi flour with Me. Easwaramma was illiterate. When I see the egoistic attitude, perverted mentality and ostentatious behaviour of the present-day educated people, I feel it was better that Easwaramma did not have any schooling.

When I was seven and half years old, I used to teach Pandhari bhajans to small children in our village.

Easwaramma and Subbamma used to feel ecstatic watching Me sing Pandhari bhajans and dance to their rhythm. Sometimes, her husband Pedda Venkama Raju would give Easwaramma some money for the household expenditure. Once two annas were remaining with her out of this money. One could buy two bags of puffed rice for two annas those days. So, Easwaramma bought two bags of puffed rice with the two annas and distributed to the children. She always used to give away whatever she had with her. She was the embodiment of sacrifice.

She used to talk lovingly to all those who came to her. When devotees would feel sad that Swami was ignoring them, she would console them saying, “Whatever Swami does is for your own good.”

When I was being taken to Uravakonda for further education, all those children whom I used to teach many good things in the evening felt very dejected. At the time of leaving, ten of those children came to Me and offered one battu (three paise) each as Guru Dakshina (an offering of gratitude to the teacher). When I gave this money to Easwaramma, she was moved to tears. She held My hand and exclaimed, “What a spirit of sacrifice at such a tender age!” Till she breathed her last, she kept those coins with her.

Initially, I was staying in Subbamma’s house. But when the number of devotees increased, a new mandir was constructed. One day Easwaramma came in when I was having My food. When others tried to follow her, she told them not to come. She held both My hands and pleaded, “Swami, there is no hospital in our village. Consequently, when the children become sick, mothers are forced to carry them to Bukkapatnam. I am unable to see their suffering. My children and others’ children are one and the same for me. So, kindly construct at least a small hospital in our village.”

I promised her that I would fulfil her wish and accordingly I built a big hospital, which was inaugurated by the then Central Minister, Bejawada Gopala Reddy. Easwaramma’s joy knew no bounds. The whole day she did not feel the need for food and water as she felt highly contented and overjoyed. She caught hold of My hands and expressed her happiness as her wish was fulfilled in a big way.

I told her, “Be happy.” After some time, she approached Swami again and wanted a school to be built in the village. As desired by her, I got a school constructed. Initially, it was a small one. Later on, I made it into a big building. She was very happy. She went to the school, kissed the children and showered her love on them. She was extremely happy and said, “In this Age of Kali, it is my good fortune to have a son like You, who has done whatever I wished.”

Then she wanted the village to be provided with drinking water. I promised that it would be done. I found that bore wells were being dug to overcome water scarcity. But they become useless within a short period of time. So, I got a big well dug in the Old Manidir.

If the intention is good, the result also is bound to be good. As My intention was good, a copious spring of pure water gushed forth even at a depth of seven feet! At the back side of the Mandir, an entrance was provided for people to collect water. As you are aware, Swami has now provided drinking water from the river Tungabhadra to the entire district of Anantapur. Nearly 300 crore rupees were spent for this purpose. If the ministers, leaders and elders come together, they can undertake such public welfare schemes. But this requires concern about public welfare and spirit of sacrifice.

Before Easwaramma passed away, I fulfilled all her three wishes. There is no fee whatsoever in our institutions. Education is offered totally free to one and all. Our hospitals are also free. Nowadays doctors charge at least two to three lakhs for a heart operation. No doubt doctors need money. But there should be a certain limit.

It is very unfortunate that the Bharatiyas are selling food, medical care and education. In fact, they are selling themselves! Bharat is a sacred land, a land of sacrifice and spirituality. It is being converted into a land of material pleasures. Spirit of sacrifice is very essential. Share whatever you have with others. A small amount of food is enough to satiate your hunger. Why crave for the entire river Ganga when a small glass of water is all that you need to quench your thirst? Do not harbour greed and other evil qualities lest you should suffer the same fate as that of Duryodhana and his tribe. Fill your heart with love.

You are all young. Make efforts to mould your future in the proper way. Develop the spirit of love and sacrifice. Share your love with your friends. For example, if you have two pens, give one to someone who needs it. If your parents raise an objection to this act of charity, convince them by saying, “What is the use of having an extra pen? It is better that it is given to somebody who needs it.” This will certainly make them happy. There is no wealth greater than love. Respect and revere your parents as God. Offer salutations to them when you wake up in the morning, before you go to school and when you go to bed at night. Never argue with them. Try to convince them with love. Remember that as you sow, so shall you reap. Whatever you do to your parents, your children will do the same to you. Never talk to them rudely. Be obedient.

Modern education system imparts only bookish knowledge. It is making the students highly ignorant. They study by rote and reproduce the same in the examination. The very next day if you ask them the same questions, there will be no reply. More than education, culture is important. Indian culture is very sacred. Put it into practice in your daily life. Talk with humility even when you are talking over telephone. Learn to respect elders and treat the guests with love and humility. No benefit accrues from merely acquiring bookish knowledge. Adhere to the culture of Bharat and live in love. Only then will divinity manifest in you.