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Posted on: June 16, 2016

Guru Poornima Special Offering
(Daily Episode)

Part - 8

In 2006, eager to start a service which will help everyone to connect with Bhagawan's teachings on a daily basis, Radio Sai began 'Sai Inspires'. All who subscribed to this service, received an email from us which had a concise message of Baba accompanied with His image. This daily offering was received well, and soon the subscriptions grew. Today nearly 100,000 people from all corners of the world wait for this message to help them tide over their day with peace and ease. The power inherent in these discourse capsules is indeed tremendous. How much we benefit from it and how best we harness this energy depends purely on how seriously we ruminate over these words and how sincerely we put our learning into action. To help us in this noble and elevating exercise, Prof. G. Venkataraman has taken time out to elaborate on these messages. His reflections will not only give us a deeper understanding into what the Lord is communicating to us but also give us tips to translate them into our daily practical life with more ease.

The best way to value the Master is to master His values. As we prepare to celebrate Guru Poornima (July 19), when we pay our respects and obeisance to the Divine Master, let us work to offer Him the tribute that the Lord loves the most from us - to make our lives His message, to make His love and wisdom shine in us. To aid us in this endeavour we have this series where Prof. Venkataraman for the next 26 days from June 9, 2016 shares his insights on select Sai Inspires messages. We hope this will help us to understand His teachings better and bolster our determination to walk on the sacred path.

Sai Inspires Message

HOW TO PURIFY THE MIND?

How is the mind to be purified? Through service to society with dedication and identification with everyone. You have to cultivate this feeling of Ekatmabhava (oneness with all). By engaging yourselves in service, you develop this sense of oneness. In this context, the supreme importance of love should be recognized. Love is your true nature. But modern man, in his preoccupation with the world of external phenomena, is failing to discover his own true nature. Of what avail is all the knowledge about the physical world if a man does not know what he really is? Love is the basis for this self-discovery. Love is the means and love is the proof.

• Divine Discourse, November 21, 1990.

REFLECTIONS

Sai Ram. This again happens to be a Sai quote relating to the Mind. No surprise in that, since the Mind plays an exceptionally key role in deciding which way we go, during the journey called life. As Swami often reminds us, the Heart is the Lock and the Mind the key. Turn the key one way and the lock snaps shut; turn it the other way, and the lock opens.

The same is true of life. If we turn the Mind towards the external world, the Mind easily becomes so absorbed in it, that it fails to see any connection between the world and God on the one hand and between one’s own life and God on the other. Apart from some cursory acknowledgement of God in a vague sort of way, the individual behaves as he has little connection with God and thereby wastes his life. God did not put us in this world with a human form and such superior intelligence for us to trivialise our lives in this manner. In turn this means that our Mind must remain focussed on God and the main purpose of life.

But how is one to do that, when the Mind is so keen to wander in the world and get lost? In the above quote, Swami offers a neat and simple trick. He says effectively:

O man! You love to go into the world and be with people? Fine; by all means do so. But do it My way, for that would help you fulfil the purpose of life, besides bringing you close to Me!

Now what exactly is that way? Swami gives the answer, and its essence is contained in the following points:

• God is in all beings, meaning He is in you, me and everyone else, even if we do not happen to quite like them.

• Since God is in all, try to deal with all remembering that if you hurt anyone you are actually hurting God.

• Likewise, if you serve anyone and please that person, you are really pleasing God.

• So, why not be alike to everyone, and love as well as serve all?

That is the simple magic formula that Swami gives us. By serving everyone without exception, you take no risks whatsoever, since God is present in all and every bit of service you do gets counted for bonus points.

You may say, “Well, that’s OK, but what has all this got to do with the Mind. The quote you started with was all about the Mind? I do not see any mention of the Mind in your magic formula. How do you explain that?” This is what one would call a ‘great question’.

You see, the moment one resolves to be alike to everyone and treat all alike, one straightaway wipes prejudice, saying this fellow is good and I like him, while this fellow is bad and I do not like him. Such an attitude wherein one makes no distinction between friend and foe is called ekatmabhavam, i.e., a feeling wherein one acts in the belief that there is no difference between beings since the same God is in all.

You may find it a bit difficult to understand this, but let me give a simple example from my own personal knowledge. Way back in 1940, I lived for a short time in a small village in South India, where my elderly uncle happened to be the Village Headman. These days, that might seem like a minor post but back then the Headman was almost like God in the village. Now one day, a cholera epidemic broke out in the entire neighbourhood, and the District Medical Officer showed up with his entire crew, went straight to the Headman, that is to say my uncle, and said, “I have orders to inoculate every single man, woman and child in this village. So please spread the word around and have the people assembled.” My uncle arranged for this by sending people who carried drums, went round the streets, beat the drum loudly and then asked everyone to assemble before the Headman’s house. They of course did not mention that they had to come for a prick! The villagers were so scared of injections that they all would have gone into hiding!

Once the villagers assembled, officials made sure that no one would get way without an inoculation, and one by one we had to line up, hold out our arm and take the injection, either with a smile or howling. My uncle had to get the shot first, just to prove it was safe and the right thing to do, and later everyone in his family had to get the prick. Now the reason I am mentioning this is because after taking care of our village, the DMO went to a neighbouring village, a bigger one, where there was a Police Station. There he inoculated not only the Police Sub-Inspector and the Constables, but also those who were held in the lock up. In other words, where his job was concerned, the DMO treated everyone alike – that is the point I am trying to make.

Now you may say, “Listen, that man was a doctor, and he was just doing his routine job. And his job was such that he HAD to treat everyone alike. You can do that always.” Technically you would be correct. But what Swami is saying is that no matter what job one is doing one could always be the same to all in the sense of being kind and considerate, and always adhering to Sathya and Dharma. Furthermore, when there is spare time, one could, instead spending it playing video games or merely watching TV for hours while munching potato chips, one could, for example, try to visit handicapped children and engage with them to make them happy, or visit an aged persons home and render assistance and so on.

While some might consider all this totally unproductive and an utter waste of time, God does not think so. He clearly says that when you serve anyone with Love, that Love and service actually reaches Me. In other words, this is the simplest and the easiest way to turn the Mind towards Me, even while you are fully immersed in the world, and engaged in what one would call worldly activities. And, by the way, when the Mind is engaged in service, it is in fact turned towards God. Ever noticed the feel-good feeling that comes after an extended period of such seva? That is bliss or ananda, that comes as the direct result of communing with God.

So you see, when one serves, many things come together, purification of the Mind, the chance to cultivate the feeling that all are one or ekatmabhavam as Swami calls it, and above all, serve God Himself. That is why we have sayings such as:

Hands that serve are holier than lips that pray,
and
Service to Man is service to God!

Think about it! Thank you and Jai Sai Ram.

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Radio Sai Team