| When I
was at Uravakonda, studying in the High School, you know I came away one
day and threw off my books and declared that I have My work waiting for
Me. The Telugu Pandit described the incident of that evening to you all
in his speech. Well, that day when I came out publicly as Sai Baba, the
first song I taught the gathering in the garden to which I went from the
Telugu Pandit's house was
Dusthara bhava sagara tharanam.' In shops, things are kept in separate packets and each one specialises in some particular article or sets of articles. But in an Exhibition, hundreds of shops join to make all varieties of things available and there is a great deal of window-dressing arrangement and display. I have been all these days generally giving individual advice, like the packets available in shops and giving answers to individual questions. This 'speech' today is a new experience for you. I am addressing a gathering today; but even though it may be new to you, for Me it is not new. I have given advice to large gatherings before, though not in this Appearence. Whenever Nirakara becomes Sakara, it has to fulfill the Mission and it does so in various ways. But the one purpose of the re-education of Man persists, whatever the yuga or the era. The first sixteen years of this Life have been, as I have often told you, the period when Bala Leela predominated and the next sixteen is being spent mostly in Mahimas in order to give Santosha to this generation. Santhosha or joy and contentment are short-lived sensations; you have to catch the mood and make it a permanent possession: Ananda or bliss. After the thirty second-year, you will see Me active more and more in the task of Upadesa or Teaching erring humanity and in directing the World along the path of Sathya, Dharma, Shanti and Prema. Not that I'm determined to exclude Leela and Mahima from My Activity after that. I only mean that re-establishing Dharma, correcting the crookedness of the human mind and guiding humanity back to the Sanathana Dharma will be My Task thereafter. Do not be led away by doubt and vain argument; do not question how and whether I can do all this. The cowheards of Brindavan also doubted whether the little boy who grew in their midst could lift Govardhanagiri and hold it aloft! The thing needed is Faith, and yet more faith. Once Krishna and Arjuna were going together along the open road. Seeing a bird in the sky, Krishna asked Arjuna, "Is that a dove?" He replied, "Yes, it is a dove." He asked Arjuna, "Is it an eagle?" " No, Arjuna, it looks like a crow to Me. Is it not a crow?", asked Krishna. Arjuna replied, "I am sorry, it is a crow beyond doubt." Krishna laughed and chided him for his agreeing whatever suggestion was given. But Arjuna said, "For me, your Words are far more weighty than the evidence of my eyes: you can make it a crow, a dove or an eagle and when you say it is a crow, it must be one." Implicit faith is the road to spiritual success. The Lord loves not the bhaktha but his bhakthi, remember. The Lord's Grace is like rain, pure water, falling equally everywhere; but its taste gets changed according to the soil through which it flows. So also the Lord's words are sweet to some, bitter to others. The Lord's ways are mysterious; He blessed Vidura with the words, 'be destroyed' and Dussasana with the words, 'live for a thousand years'; He meant that Vidura's 'I' will be destroyed and that the wicked Dussasana will have to suffer the ills and tribulations of this world for ten centuries. You do not know the real reasons behind the actions of the Lord. You cannot undestand the motives of other men who are almost like you in everything, actuated by the same motives and having the same likes and dislikes! But yet, how easily you discover the motives of One who is far, far above the level of Man! How glibly you talk and judge of something that is as strange to you as atmosphere to a fish! They are fourn types of persons: the 'dead', who deny the Lord and declare that they alone exist, independent, free, self-regulating and self-directed; the 'sick', who call upon the Lord when some calamity befalls them or when they feel temporarily deserted by the usual sources of succour; the 'dull',who know that God is the eternal companion and watchmen, but who remember it only off and on when the idea is patent and powerful; and lastly, the 'healthy', who have steady belief in the Lord and who live in His Comforting Creative Presence always. You proceed from 'death' to 'life' and from 'illness' to 'health' by the experience of the buffetings of the world. The World is a very essential part of the curriculum of man; through the agony of Asanthi is born the infant, Sujnana. The pains are worth while; they indicate the birth of new life. From Asanthi you get Prasanthi, from Prasanthi, Prakanthi; and from Prakanthi, Paramjyothi. It is like the alternating of night and day, this recurrence of joy and grief. Night and day are twin sisters, both are necessary to increase the fertility of the soil, to activate and refresh life. They are like summer and winter. There are some who ask Me, 'Baba! Make this summer less hot!' But in the heat of summer the Earth takes in the needed Sathwa of the Sun, so that when the rains come, she may yield a plentiful harvest. 'Seethala' and 'Ushana' are both in the Plan of God and yours is only to know this and treat both as valuable. Thorny plants and thornless plants are both there in nature; the wise man knows the value of both; he plants the thornless one and surrounds it with the thorny ones, so that what he fosters is left unharmed. Karma can save, as well as kill; it is like the cat which bites; it bites the kitten in order to carry it in its mouth to a place of safety; it bites the rat in order to kill and eats. Become the kitten, and Karma will rescue you like a loving Mother. Become a rat, and you are lost. Paramatma draws the Jeevatma towards itself; it is the nature of birth to have this affinity, for they are the same. They are like the iron and the magnet. But if the iron is rusty and covered with laters of dirt, the magnet is unable to attract. Remove the impedimant; that is all you have to do. Shine forth is your real nature and the Lord will draw you into His Bosom. Trials and tribulations are the means by which this cleansing is done. That is why Kunthi prayed to Krishna, "Give us always grief so that we may never forget Thee." They are like the dietary and other restrictions that the doctor prescribes to supplement the effect of the drug of Namasmarana. Sai is Sarvajanapriya and so any name which gives you joy you can take up. Tastes differ according to temperament and the character one has earned by generations of activity as a living being in this world. The proprietor of a coffee hotel goes to a nearby druggist for a pill to ward off his headache; and the druggist when he gets a headache, goes to the coffee hotel for a cup of coffee which he thinks will cure him. Men are like that; loko bhinna ruchih. The jnani says, 'Sarvam Brahma Mayam'; another, a Yogi, says all is Sakthi; a third who is a Bhaktha says all is the leela of Bhagavan. Each according to his taste and according to his progress is spiritual Sadhana. Do not hurry or ridicule them, for they are all pilgrims trudging along the same road. Sadhana is the most required to control the mind and the desires after which it runs. If you find that you are not able to succeed, do not give up the Sadhana but do it more vigorously, for it is the subject in which you did not get passing marks that requires special study, is it not? Sadhana means inner cleanliness. You do not feel refreshed if you wear unwashed clothes after your bath, do you? Nor do you feel refreshed if you wear washed clothes, but skip the bath. Both are needed, the Bhaya and the Bhava, the external as well as the internal. Children believe your words when you say that the policeman will catch them or the ghost will beat them. They are full of Bhaya, Vinaya and Viswasa! But having grown old and filled your heads with all kinds of doctrines and dogmas and theories and arguments, you have now to use your Viveka and discover God the hard way. This I will tell you, there is no escaping it; all creatures have to reach God some day or other, by the long route or by the short route. Vijayadasami, 1953, Prashanthi Nilayam |