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Posted on: Nov 23, 2015
SATHYA SAI SPEAKS - 90TH BIRTHDAY SPECIAL
The Perfect Birthday Offering of Unity, Purity and Divinity
5oth Birthday Benedictory Discourse, 23 Nov 1975
When the Lord comes in our midst there are two important aspects to His descent that stand out among others. One is His powerful and enchanting presence, which has the potency to transform and raise all who comes to Him. Everyone who comes to Him benefits, some considerably and few immensely, depending on one’s receptiveness. The other aspect is the message that He brings, and this has some unique benefits of its own. Adherence to the message has the power to manifest the Lord in one’s life. A tryst with Divinity could be a blessing for good acts of the past, but it is in loyalty to the message that one completely benefits and finds redemption, and also a means to express one's devotion to the Lord. So it is indeed of paramount importance for each of us to dwell on His message.
As part of the 90th Birthday offerings, we brought to you excerpts of a discourse from the Golden Jubilee Birthday Celebrations of Bhagawan. During the grand 50th Birthday celebrations, Baba gave discourses specific to the Seva wing and the Bal Vikas wing, apart from discourses revealing His own message and mission. In this concluding part we present a few clips from the discourse Bhagawan delivered on the 50th Birthday - 23 Nov 1975. Let us listen and re-listen, read and re-read even as we imbibe the essence contained.
As we celebrate the glorious 90th Birthday of our beloved Lord, we can only imagine how wonderful the Golden Jubilee celebrations must’ve been. Now when we look around we are greeted by and immersed in the energy of Swami’s sevadals, devotees, students and visitors. During the 50th Birthday no one was more energetic and jubilant than Swami Himself. Though many of us were not fortunate enough to be around then, Bhagawan has most compassionately permitted us devotees to document at least a part of these celebrations. One small yet significant segment of that is what we have been revisiting in this special Sathya Sai Speaks series.
No birthday is complete without a birthday gift, and the gift must be to the liking of the recipient. So what is the gift we can offer Swami on His birthday? Truly speaking, that is something each one of us must discover for ourselves. Yet we can say one thing for sure, a good place to begin the search is Swami’s own message. So on this most joyous occasion of Swami’s 90th Birthday, let us go through a few clips from the discourse He delivered on the 50th Birthday, 23 Nov 1975.
The little poems Bhagawan begins His discourses with are always special. This discourse began with three and all three describing different themes.
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One may be proficient in Vedas and Vedanta. One may have the ability to compose poetry and prose;
yet if the heart is not pure, ruin is the result. This is a simple truth I am communicating to you.
How can a dog understand the significance of a fast? How can an ox understand the taste of beaten rice (Attukulu)?
How can a donkey relish the fragrance of sandalwood? How can a blind man appreciate moonlight?
The attributes and qualities which were assumed
When, to save the boy, Dhruva, He came from Heaven;
The attributes and qualities which were assumed
When, to save Prahlada, the Supreme Being came;
The attributes and qualities which were assumed
When, to save the poor Kuchela, the Lord of the Vedas came;
Now, with the very attributes and qualities has come He,
Whom the Gods adore, the Refuge of the rejected.
The Lord of all the worlds, the Lord of infinite Glory,
As Truth-Consciousness-Bliss in one form embodied,
As Puttaparthi Sathya Sai, the Over-lord of all that is.
(Sri Sathya Sai Natha, Sri Natha, Loka Natha
Satchitananda Murthi Puttaparthi Satchakravarthi).
In the first Padhyam Swami explained the importance of purity, placing it higher than intellectual acumen. In the second Swami explained that even the best of objects cannot attract those that do not recognise the value of the object. And the last one was a beautiful verse describing who Bhagawan really is. It is indeed a hint that the knowledge of His divinity is accessible only after one has earned the deservedness. But the knowledge and deservedness is worthwhile only if the opportunity leads to purity.
In the following clip Swami explains the importance of human life what must be the ends we must strive for.
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Embodiments of the Sacred Atma! The life which depends simply on eating is an insignificant life. The life centred on the Atma (Self) is an eternal life. What we must aspire for is not a long life, but a divine life. What we need to enhance is not for the length of our life, it is goodness of our qualities.
Everything is sorrow, everything is temporary and transient, everything has some attributes, everything is zero (nothingness). If we constantly ruminate upon these four statements, we would understand the truth that life has been given to us to serve others. Hands in the society, head in the forest. If we really want to do penance, then you must enter into society and serve with your hands.
“In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the evil, as well as to re-establish righteousness, I advent age after age.” “Those that meditate upon Me thinking of none else, I carry the responsibility of their needs and welfare.”
When we follow the essence of such statements of Bhagavad Gita every second in our life, we would be more religious and self-contained, and no other path would be pleasing to us. We should remember that we are not Anna jivas (life based on food) but we are Atma Jivas (life based on the Self). Man’s Divine strengths cannot be found outside or in the external world. His strengths can be found only in himself and in his good qualities. God or sin is not something external to you. God cannot be found outside. God is within you. The sin that you commit is not committed from outside you, it is been committed by you.
Swami explained that the very purpose of the advent of an Avatar is to uplift those devoted to the Lord and those who express that devotion in goodness. Life in itself is such a precious gift, what could we say about the life that is spent with the knowledge of the Lord in our midst then. What can we do to ensure that this life is not spent in vain? What does Bhagawan want us to fill our lives with to make it worthwhile?
Time is everything. It is to perform actions that can sanctify time the body has been created. So dedicating this body which was created for sanctifying time to social service will bring fulfilment to our life. It is impossible for man to always live like a drop of water on the surface of oil, distant and separate from the society. It is impossible to even exist bereft of society.
Having been born and brought up in society and enjoying all the aspects of society, if one wishes to live in isolation of society, living is purposeless and useless.
Unfortunately, many people waste time and promote laziness and forget to contemplate upon the Soham Tatva (the principle of oneness with Divinity). ‘Time waste is life waste!’. If they waste time, they are wasting their life itself. Every individual either directly or indirectly is sinking in sorrow and pain. Whether it is a small or a big thing, whether it is about himself or about others, man is always leading life with worry. His whole life is full of sorrow.
To take birth is a worry,
to live on earth is a worry,
to lead a family life is worry,
death is a worry,
childhood is a worry,
old age is worry,
to live is a worry,
all actions are worry,
difficulties are a worry.
Even happiness is a worry,
worry is a worry.
What is not a worry?
When we understand this we should try and use whatever time we have in being helpful to others.
How true, what a waste it is to expend this precious life worrying. In the next clip Swami reiterates the impermanence of life and the frivolities we give too much importance to.
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Everything is nothing. We now are looking at thousands of people. But how long will we be able to see them; it is only for a short time. Thereafter a time will arrive when we are not able to look at our own body. Within a short time all these faces like lightning would disappear into nothing. We cannot see the face which we had in our childhood. So that form of our childhood has now merged in nothingness for us. Similarly the young body of our youth cannot be seen when we grow old. However hard you may try, you cannot get back your young physical frame when you are old. The body in which the childhood, youth and old age are embedded, how can we ever say or declare it to be the truth? That which has already passed by can never be got back.
So what is present now cannot be seen in the future. What we would be seeing in future cannot be seen or experienced in the present. So past is past, forget the past. We should let go of the past. Nothing can bring back the past. What is going to come to us in future is something which we cannot understand and we cannot experience now. The future is not fixed or certain. So we should make an attempt to sanctify the given time, the present.
In the clips we heard so far Swami exhorted us to sanctify our life by serving others. In the next two to follow, Swami gives us another message that is very close to Swami’s heart. The message of Unity. Swami’s birthdays are indeed a time when we can actually see differences dissolve and oneness shine. Swami too draws our attention to the very same experience to drive home the message.
Sai at first caught hold of older people. He taught them whatever they had to be taught. Then He came down to the youth and established colleges. From youth, He descended further to children and established the Balvikas. In the worldly education, we go from a child to youth and then to the old age. In the growth of spiritual education, it is the reverse. We start with the old people then we come to the young and then to the children. It is as an expression of this, that people wrote the essence of the Quran from right to left. While Hindus write from left to right, Mohammedans write from right to left. While Hindus wash their face in a certain way, the Mohammedans wash theirs in the opposite direction. There is nothing wrong in it. The same essential principles taught by the Vedas, the Quran too teaches. What the Vedas and Quran teach is also taught in the Bible. There is no difference in the content of the Bible, Quran and the Veda. There is difference only in the way it is practiced. But out of ego and ignorance each one claims their text to be greater and thereby they create chaos and confusion in the human race.
That is why I have said,
There is only one God, He is omnipresent;
There is only one language, the language of the heart;
There is only one caste, the caste of humanity;
There is only one religion, the religion of Love.
This truth has to be recognised as the essence of all religions and lived by; through that be determined to strive for the welfare of the society and world; this is the aim of Sai. Divinity cannot be confined to any caste, religion or creed. This is everyone’s right. All are children of God. The primary goal of all the Sai Organisations is to promote such brotherhood of man and fatherhood of God.
Truly, if today people from many countries have congregated here in Bharath and are able to experience the principle of unity through addressing themselves as ‘Sai brothers and sisters’, then we need to ask ourselves, where is the difference? Do the differences arise from difference in countries or difference in the hearts? The difference certainly arises from the heart.
If we have love that is free of selfishness we can have control over the entire world. Such sacred love we misuse by binding it with worldly attachments and passions and end up binding ourselves. Love and not lust is the essence of a happy life! One of our college students said, “Love lives by giving and forgiving; self lives by getting and forgetting”. Truly the main reason for forgetting and the reason for our inability to recognise what life is, is this selfishness.
In conclusion Swami tells us categorically how we must observe Swami’s birthday. In fact Swami explains when should we truly celebrate His Birthday.
Embodiments of the Sacred Atma! Considering today as Swami’s golden jubilee, as Swami’s birthday you all have joyfully gathered in this sacred and divine Satsang and are experiencing bliss. But Swami has no desire to celebrate Swami’s birthday. When is Swami’s birthday? The day when Divinity blossoms and shines in your hearts, should be the day you consider as Swami’s birthday. When you call out, “Swami Swami Swami” and crave for Swami but do not put to practice Swami’s wishes, it is useless even observing Swami’s birthday. So the day you put to practice and through practice spread these ideals, consider that day as Swami’s birthday and rejoice; that is My wish.
Worshipping God and harming other beings can never be considered devotion. Only one who can love other beings can love God. Loving God and not loving other beings is not true devotion and it is not proper to even call that a right form of devotion. One who wishes to love God must first learn to love other beings. When you cannot love a fellow human being who is so much like you, how can you love God who is infinite? Therefore before all else learn to love your fellow beings and for that purpose involve yourself in service to society and carry out your activities. First become a servant and then make efforts to become a leader; this is the essential path in spirituality.
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Let this birthday and every birthday of Bhagawan remind us what He considers His birthday worth celebrating. Today we celebrate His presence in our life and the fact that Avatar chose this day to come in our midst in a human form. But as pointed out the true expression of gratitude is when we realign our lives to the message He gave. Let us resolve to offer to Swami this gift of steadfast adherence to His divine message. Let us all eschew hatred and differences, strive for inner purity and dedicate our lives to serve the needy. May we all make this resolve today and pray to Bhagawan who gives us the strength and devotion it calls for.
Aum Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram…
- Radio Sai Team
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