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Posted on: June 23, 2016

Guru Poornima Special Offering
(Daily Episode)

Part - 15

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

PROGRESS IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY DOES NOT MEAN SPIRITUAL PROGRESS!

The astonishing progress of science and technology has not brought with it corresponding powers of discrimination and wisdom. Man must realize that the sense organs, through which he explores the external and discovers the powers latent in Nature and the physical universe, function because of the Divinity which is immanent in them. Without the power of the Divine, the eyes cannot see, the ears cannot hear nor would the mind be able to think.

• Divine Discourse, May 12, 1984.

REFLECTIONS

Sai Ram. The above Sai quote, is ideal for the present day, when almost everyone, in particular the young, is overwhelmed by the astonishing gadgets now available, and indeed spends a large part of his/her time, sending messages to all sorts of people, trying to find out what others are saying, following the gossip that is choking the airways or just playing games. This is merely the lower end of getting hooked on science and technology. One could also go to a higher level, becoming fully absorbed in understanding science itself or in using scientific knowledge for discovering technological applications, like a new and more efficient way of harnessing solar energy.

At this stage, let me make it perfectly clear that there is per se nothing wrong in science or technology or in inventing scientific gadgets. I am from a scientific background myself and therefore all for Science & Technology, provided

a) everything is kept within bound, and

b) neither the knowledge nor the gadgets that knowledge gives us is misused, particularly to harm or hurt others.

But does it all end there? Certainly not, and that is the point Swami is making in the quote we heard earlier.

To appreciate better what precisely Swami is telling us, let us for a moment ask ourselves a few simple questions like: “How do scientists go about their business? How do they work? What are the tools they use?” And the answer to this is that man seeks scientific knowledge

a) by keen observation, and

b) by thinking deeply about how his observations can be explained?

For example, thousands of years ago, people in Egypt and Greece, India as well as in China, independently discovered pattern in the movement of celestial objects across the sky, particularly the night sky, and derived empirical rules that allowed them to prepare almanacs, some of which are in use to this day. In other words, observation and hypothesis testing formed the two pillars of scientific enquiry. Where observation was concerned, in the beginning, humans used their senses directly, that is to say, they used their eyes and ears mostly to record their observations. Later, they began to use instruments, starting with those that enabled them to measure distance, weights and time.

Soon followed others that could measure temperature, pressure, and so on. Along the line came the telescope which enabled one to look deep into space and the microscope which allowed one to peer inside small and tiny objects. These days, despite all the complex electronics and automation that form a part of scientific equipment, all of them represent nothing but extensions of the senses. In short, the pursuit of scientific knowledge depends solely on the senses and the human brain, which helps to codify the observations first into patterns and then into theories with predictive power, and so on.

That somewhat lengthy preamble was intended merely to drive home the point that no matter what, science as it is today, simply cannot go beyond the senses and the mind. And yet we do know intuitively, that there are dimensions beyond the science and the Mind. The ancient seers dared to explore that transcendental realm, and were ecstatic to discover there a Supreme entity that we popularly refer to as God. Thus it is that Swami often used to quote the ancient rishis who said,

There IS something beyond the realm of the senses, words and thoughts which is indescribable. We have been there and experienced the bliss of becoming one with that Supreme and indescribably effulgent entity, i.e., God.

Keeping that in mind, let us return to the Sai quote. What Swami is saying essentially is:

O man! You are so proud of your abilities to explore to the farthest reaches of the Universe and into the deepest recesses of the atom. Wherefrom did you get the ability to do so? When you make a discovery, you thump your chest and proudly declare, “I made that discovery”. But when you die, where does that ‘I’ disappear? All that remains is a hunk of flesh that your relatives are in a hurry to get rid of, after shedding some tears may be. All your fantastic discoveries and achievements relate to what is within the boundaries of space and time, and have been made using your senses and their extensions called instruments and of course the power of your Mind. But wherefrom did the Mind get that power?

Sadly, few have either the time or the inclination to ask such questions these days. In the Gita, Krishna explains to Arjuna how God is immanent in every human being at three levels. Simply put, the power of God is present in every single atom in the body, which is why the laws of physics and chemistry are able to operate and help the heart to work as a pump, the nerves to conduct electricity, the acid in the stomach to breakdown the molecules that constitute the food we eat and so on. All that is the power of God operating at the gross level.

Next, says Krishna, God is present at a much higher level as the life force. It is not easy to explain what exactly life is, especially in scientific terms; but we all know when a person is alive and when the person is dead. Some mysterious power is present within when the person is alive and when that power is withdrawn or shut off, we find that the once active and vibrant person is now merely a hunk of flesh and bones that start to decay rapidly; which also is why the body, as it is now called, is disposed off quickly, maybe with some kind of a send-off. Vedanta refers to that mysterious life force as Prana Shakti and in the Gita, Krishna explicitly declares that He is the one who supplies all that motive power, the digestive power and even the power of the brain. So this is the second level of Divine presence within.

God is present at a third level also, as the power of awareness, which is highly tuned in the case of humans. More explicitly, He is present as the Conscience. A few subtle points must be carefully noted at this stage. They are:

• Conscience is present in all without exception. However, some refuse to ever listen to it; some listen to it occasionally, while yet others always obey their Conscience. It is this that makes people different, with some being near devils, some being reasonably good people and other being angels or saints.

• What is referred to as Conscience is nothing but the Voice of God, speaking from within, and giving good advice to every single individual all the time. If some people refuse to listen to good advice, it is their fault entirely, and they also end up paying the price. No use complaining at that stage.

• That also is why Swami says often: Your Conscience is your Master. Always follow the Conscience.

• Although every person has his/her personal Conscience so to speak, it is not as if there is a multiplicity of Consciences. All the so-called ‘Consciences’ are aspects of One God, and therefore speak the same language, the language of the Heart. Which also is why Swami sometimes says there is no such thing as Indian Truth, American Truth, Russian Truth and so forth.

A few important comments and amplifications to the above must be added at this stage.

• The question arises: “Why is it that some people listen to their Conscience while others don’t?” Swami has given the answer; it all depends on how sharp and tuned their buddhi or intellect is. If the word buddhi sounds strange, just note that it is nothing but the power of discrimination, and look up what Swami has to say about discrimination, especially Fundamental Discrimination - He has said a lot, and you will find it most educative.

• Recall Swami’s saying: “Bulbs are many but current is one”. What He is implying is that though beings are many, it is the same God who, residing in every single Heart, gives the same kind of advice to one and all. That is why the Language of the Heart transcends all religions, because God is one and NOT many!

• We should also pay particular attention to the remark Swami often used to make, namely, “I am in you, with you, above you, below you, behind you, around you,” etc. Through this saying Swami is telling us, “Bangaru, you may see Me with this form which people refer to as Sri Sathya Sai Baba. In truth, I am that Eternal, Transcendental Being that is Nameless, Formless and beyond both Space and Time. In this physical Universe, I am in you at three levels as I explained when I came as Krishna. I am also everywhere, as Krishna explained and revealed to Arjuna. This time, I shall merely offer a reminder, leaving it as an exercise to you to see Me not only within you at every single level, but also everywhere in the Cosmos, from the atom to the galaxy.

Keeping that last point in mind, let us return to the last sentence of the Sai Quote we started with. Swami says:

Without the power of the Divine, the eyes cannot see, the ears cannot hear nor would the mind be able to think.

This is nothing but a reminder of the fact that life itself and the motive power of the living body come directly from God. The strange fact is that every one of us uses the power of God every single minute in some manner or the other. And yet, do we take even one minute off during an entire year to ask: “What for has our Most Compassionate Lord given us such wonderful gifts as eyes using which we can see and enjoy so much beauty, our ears using which we can hear so many beautiful sounds, etc.?” One wonders.

Swami says the senses and mind no doubt are faculties intended to assist our survival; but the special and superior capabilities of awareness with which humans have been blessed are meant to make them realize

1) that there is God above,

2) that we all have come from Him, and

3) that life is meant to be a journey meant to facilitate our reunion with God.

To those who claim they are fine here on earth, Swami says,

O man! You may believe all is fine with you, and indeed it may well be true at this moment. But who knows what is in store for you in future? I alone do. If you come to Me and become one with Me then future would cease to have any meaning. Instead, it would be an Eternity of Bliss. Why do you thoughtlessly forsake that and bet on trinkets in the false belief that they alone would confer happiness? Happiness does not reside in objects, possessions, power and pelf. True Happiness is Union with God!

This, Swami does not point out in today's Sai quote, but He has stated this on many other occasions. It seemed useful to lead from what we heard to what we must always keep in mind, which is why I steered the reflections in this particular direction.

Think about it and write to us if you feel differently. Jai Sai Ram.

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Radio Sai Team