Nothing exists without Atma

I told you yesterday that Aham (feeling of me & Mine) is the son of Atma and mind is the son of Aham and also speech is the son of mind. The relationship for all these is with Atma. Atma (the Divine spark) is there in every being and that is the nature of true Love. Nothing exists without Atma. What is the oneness in everyone? That is called SAT, CHIT, ANANDA. We call it as CONSCIOUSNESS. This is GOD. It is in everyone. Forgetting the Consciousness we think of Conscience. We are unable to know what consciousness is. We are not able to see or hold the air that is around us. Just because you are not able, is there no air? It is there. Same way, even if you cannot realize it, consciousness does exist. This ’Being’ is called SAT. This is eternal. It is not a thing that comes and goes. People say ‘God appears to me when I sit in meditation’. This is a mistaken notion. God does not come from anywhere or go to anywhere. HE is there in you. When your heart becomes pure He appears to you and when it is not pure He disappears. There is no coming or going to God.

Atma latent in everyone is the same

Whether it is in Sai Organisation or in any Organization, or in any region, or in any country, or in any spiritual society, human mind remains the same. Body is the same. Chariot is one. Charioteer is one. You must develop this faith. Cars are of different makes. There are fiat cars, ambassador cars, dodge cars, Ford cars, Benz cars and the like. Like there are so many makes of cars, there are different types of human beings. Each person is akin to a car of one make. But Driver is the same. He is the embodiment of Atma. All human beings must try to understand that Atma is one though the bodies are many. There will, then, be no diversion of mind to believe in diversity. Unity, thus, is accepted. Realize this truth and let there be incremental transformation in us towards good manners and actions. Love all with brotherly affection. Even if there are some misunderstandings, every attempt must be made to correct them with mutual understanding and reconciliation. The Ego factor that overpowers the mind must be controlled first and eliminated eventually. Once accomplished, the misunderstandings get wiped out. Today we should think the knowledge void in us, is being consecrated to the Fore God along with Ego. Please do not, therefore, conclude your visit with the feeling that you have come here for Dasara, heard Swami’s discourses, and returning home! Please try to put into practice, at least, one or two advices and thus sanctify your lives.

Radiance of Atma and progress of science

Life is a blend of both sunshine and shade. There is no happiness without sorrow and sorrow without happiness. Wherever there is sunshine, there will be shade. Shades may look many but sunshine is only one. How? When sunshine falls on a tree, we find pockets of shade below the tree. Sunshine is only one but shades are many! This is an illusory feeling in human mind because unity is mistaken for multiplicity due to lack of elementary wisdom. But the radiance of Atma is one. We feel proud of the progress of Science. If, truly speaking, Science developed there should be no scope for lack of elementary wisdom. Along with the growth of Science, ignorance also is increasing. It only means that knowledge inputs are not prudent enough. If you put on a torch light, can there be darkness? If darkness persists in spite of switching on the torch light, it means there are no cells in it or bulb may not be working. If both are there in working mode, there is no possibility for getting darkness when the torch is switched on. Therefore, today’s knowledge base has more of vested interests and not really aimed world welfare. One country wants to destroy another country. Is this the development that Science can boast of? Science has to foster real knowledge when only it is holistic literacy.

Atma is present in all human beings

It is said in Katopanishad that every human being is in possession of a body akin to a chariot and Atma comparable to a charioteer. Are there two bodies in any human being? Are there two charioteers to a chariot? There can be two charioteers at different times but there can be only one charioteer at any given point of time. But the Atma connectivity is different. Irrespective of different births and different bodies, Atma remains the same which only means that there is only one heart. No human being can live with two hearts. There will only be one body and one heart. This is common in all human beings.

Only love can capture Atma in its true sense

Though atma does not have legs, nothing can move faster than it! The atma does not have hands; but it can hold everything. The atma does not have eyes; there is nothing that it cannot see. Love is the only path to understand and get hold of such atma. That love exists as “Rasa Swaroopam” the life fluid in all. The poets describe it as the “Nava rasa”, nine life fluids, but there exists only two rasas, life fluids. One is “karuna rasamu”- compassion and the other is “Soka rasam” misery or sorrow. All the rest of the rasas are found in these two. The ‘Karuna rasa’, compassion, is the rasa of love. Once one has the rasa of love, one has God! That is why Swami says, “Love is God, Live in love!!” Man should live with such love. Years may roll by, seasons may change, wars may take place, but with just a drop of Lord’s grace man can overcome anything.

How to understand Atma: With Analogies

Man thinks that it is the eye that sees a particular scene. No! The eye is lifeless, inert. Who is the one that sees? It is the atma that sees. There are the bulbs that glow in the car. One may think that it is the bulbs that glow, but it is the current flowing in the bulbs that makes them glow. It is similar with the ears: one hears the sound from the loud speakers and thinks that the loud speakers are the basis for the sound emanating from it. But the moment the flow of current stops the loud speakers go mute. So here too it is the current that is the basis for the sound. The ears can be compared to the loudspeakers and it is because of the current called ‘atma’ that the ear is able to hear. The tongue, which speaks, is like a mike, which is useless without the current flow. Hence it is the atma that is the basis for all the senses. Without mentioning the name of ‘atma’, the scientists today say it is a power or energy. This energy too is a form of power. Energy is useless without matter. Just as energy is useless without matter so also matter is useless without energy.

Life dedicated to know Atma is the real life

Therefore in this world the atmic life is most important. The lives lived through the body, mind or through intelligence are no lives at all. Wasting time in sustaining the body and ultimately perishing with time has become the main routine for man. Influenced by the space and time, man is unable to realise the truth of life. From dawn to dusk man is engaged in enquiring about several things in the world and in reading the texts, but what is it that man has understood and gained? Man is not gaining any knowledge. All that one understands is useless because it gives momentary satisfaction and leads to dissatisfaction in the long run. It is like a mirage. One may follow the mirage endlessly but it will not quench one’s thirst. The mirage is not water, but looks like water. Therefore the happiness, prosperity, luxuries and comforts that one experiences in this physical world seem like the true happiness. But these are not true experiences of happiness or bliss. If it is true happiness that one experiences in the physical world, then it must give permanent happiness. But man experiences happiness and comfort one moment and sorrow in the next moment.

Same principle of Atma is present in everyone: With Analogies

Embodiments of Love!! Recognise that it is one Atma that pervades all. Do not foster any feelings of hatred. The principle of love and bliss is one. One must prove to everybody the effects of such principles as effulgence. But today people only see the form and not the effect. This is the year of “Swabhava”. Swabhava is the feeling of Atma and one must follow that. That neither grows nor diminishes. It remains unchanged throughout. One should know the effect clearly and understand the atma. What is ‘prabhavam’, the effect? It is the ‘chaitanya sakti’ the power of awareness. This principle of awareness is all pervasive. This awareness is ‘in you, with you, above you, below you and around you.’ The aspect that is omnipresent is the principle of ‘atma’. How is it possible to divide it? One must never divide this principle of self. It is very easy to remember that all are one.

Nothing is permanent in this world except Atma

Embodiments of Love!! In daily life, the nature which is experienced through the circle of birth and death is the presiding deity of life. This world is the form that deludes every man. Matter is the basis for the world. The world is the combination of matter. Ultimately, it is the matter that attracts man. This matter or material is not permanent nor does it symbolise truth. How can the untruth materials give ever-lasting peace to the truthful life? All that is visible to the naked eye is bound to change. How can the ever changing material give eternal happiness to the transient world? “Aham yat tat na!” this is the main principle of wisdom that forms the primal basis for this world. The principle of eternal Brahman is not based on form. The word ‘Aham’ has the meaning of ‘Atma’ according to Vedas. The sentence, ‘Yetat naa’, means ‘that is not me’. The ‘Me’ here refers to the transient, ephemeral body. Man sees the different material objects in the world and considers them true and permanent. This is a mistake. The vision that sees the unstable objects and considers it as transient and fleeting, the same vision also sees the body. Hence the body and form, which is the illusion of vision, too is temporary. It is the mistake of man to consider and believe the transient body to be permanent. From ancient times man has been striving to redeem himself by getting deluded, attracted and by using the objects of the transient world. Therefore, efforts must be put in change the temporary to permanent.

How to know the Atma Tattwa

Who is ‘Jeevudu’, the individual soul? From where has it come? The individual soul originates from the Divine. There is a heap of iron filings in a place. There is another heap of silver filings beside it. There is yet another heap of copper filings followed by a heap of diamonds. Gold filings are heaped beside the heap of the diamonds. When a magnet is kept amidst the heaps, it attracts the iron filings; the magnet does not notice the value of either the gold, or the diamonds or the silver or that of the copper, but attracts the valueless iron filings. What makes the iron filings move towards the magnet? The iron filings do not have legs or wings nor has anyone dragged them with ropes. The magnet has ‘attracted’ the iron filings. The magnet has the capacity to move, to make the object fly and do anything. The magnet is likened to the principle of Atma. It is because of this ‘magnet’ that all the beings are able to function. Therefore, one must try to understand such sacred principle.

Jeeva tattwa and atma tattwa

Who is the human being? Where from he has come? Divinity is the source. Suppose we have piled up some iron pieces at one place, silver scrap at another place, copper filings at another place, diamond waste at one place, and gold gangue at another place, and placed a magnet amidst them. What will happen? Iron pieces flock towards the magnet because it has the power of attracting iron and not the other materials despite their higher value! Iron pieces have no legs, no wings and no rope attached .Yet they move towards the magnet because of the power of attraction wielded by the magnet. Atma Tattwa is akin to the magnet. It is Atma that makes life vibrant and the world functional. We should put in sincere efforts to understand such Atma Tattwa

Aham exists in everyone

The atma that dwells in all is one and the same. One may be named as Rama or Krishna or Madhusudhana or Sai, they are but names and do not depict the atma within. These are the names given to the perishable body. That entity which has neither birth nor death is represented by “I”. All the names are attributes of the physical body. The name that depicts or points to God is “Aham” meaning “I”. This “I” is common for everyone. A person named Rama replies “I” when asked “Who is Rama?” so also do the persons named Krishna or Narayana. The name and form of Rama, Krishna and Narayana may be different but “I” is common for all. Hence “I” is everywhere. “I” is equal to “I”. “I am I.” These aspects must be developed today. It is because of lack of people propagating such adwaitha principles that life today is immersed in dualism and without such principles one’s spiritual practices are futile as they would not yield the desired goal.

Atma is permanent and body is impermanent

Atma is permanent and body is impermanent: When one controls one’s mind, prana too is under one’s control and vice versa. The mind and the prana dwell in the ever changing body. Therefore in order to gain control over the ‘chaitanya’ or life in the body, one must turn the mind inwards and control the breath through Pranayama. One can attain the eternal union when one turns the mind inwards and controls the breath by practicing Pranayama. The second line of the verse reminds one to be aware of the permanent and transient things: “nithyanithya viveka vichaaram” When one inquires about the things that are permanent and those that are not, one realises that ‘atma’ or the soul is permanent and the body the transient. One also recognises through self enquiry that the atma also has the names ‘Sathyam (truth)’, ‘Sivam (auspiciousness, prosperity)’ and ‘Sundaram (beauty, bliss)’ based on its nature. Prosperity without truthfulness and happiness and bliss without prosperity do not exist. Sivam is the light of Sathyam. Sundaram is the manifestation of sivam. Truth is like the bright shining light. One sees the nature with the help of the light. The word sundaram conveys the happiness and bliss in understanding of the essence of both, the light which shows the objects and the objects that are seen. Therefore, atma is the embodiment of all the three attributes namely Sathyam, Sivam and Sundaram. Just as the firewood or the hearths are not needed after completion of cooking, likewise there remains nothing to be understood or enquire, once one understands the meaning of three attributes of atma.

Swami on the origin of Aham or I

What is the primordial essence of oneself? The answer that comes from within is that it is Aham or ‘I.’ Where does Aham come from? The Atma is the source of Aham or ‘I.’ From ‘I’ is born the mind, from which originates speech. From the Atma, ‘I’ is born. From ‘I,’ the mind is born and from the mind, speech is born. Speech may thus said to be the great grandson of the Atma. All these namely, Aham, the mind and speech belong to the lineage of the Atma. The mind ought to be as pure as the Atma. In turn, the body ought to be as pure as the mind. Therefore, the entire family of the Atma should be pure.

Atma is present in everyone

The self is within you. The self, the spirit is in everyone. The atma the spirit in everyone is one. It is not divided. They are all the sparks of divine. So, never measure in terms of age being young that he has got less of faith and being elder he has got more of faith etc. the faith and age are not related. The quality is one and the same irrespective of age , quantity might differ.

You are atman; Realize it

Bhagawan said, You are all the embodiment's the divine. You are imperishable. The spirit or Atma is permanent. Out of the principle of Eternity of the Atma, should emanate eternal thoughts and sentiments. Therefore, this is all the code of divinity, the creation, sustenance and annihilation. In fact the whole thing goes around as per his will. God shines brilliantly in everyone. How can you point out mistakes in anybody, how can you blame anybody? With all the self confidence you may go to any country or perform any actions you will be successful. Hence believe in spirituality. The first thing is you should have faith in yourself. Just understand and enquire Who you are? You go on questioning and enquiring about everything but we dont enquire about ourselves. You may introduce yourself, I am so and so but it is not the truth. In the worldly sense it is merely a dialogue. You may identify yourself with a country you belong to but it is not the truth. You may introduce yourself that this is my name but that doesnt become the truth. You are not the profession you practice. What is the correct answer? If anyone question you who are you? You should say I am the atma, Body is temporary, so also the mind. You cannot identify yourself with the body. Leaving the body and mind. Understand Atma which is the main source that gives power to all the other things. Everyone is the embodiments of the divinity. In fact it is only God who is present in everyone. The divinity is all pervasive cosmic power. You have to make every attempt to know this cosmic power. You think that it is difficult but it is very easy. There is no other thing much easier than this. We find this difficult because of our body attachment. It is a very simple path. Whoso ever you deny you will be denying God. Whosoever you respect, you will be respecting God. You may do namaskar to anybody it amounts to respect to God because the very same God is present in everyone. The sacred texts declared that you are all the sparks of divine. We are all the sparks of the divine. We are all the sparks of the same divine principle. When you step into a room full of mirrors you see your own image, but you are not one there. Each mirror shows its own reflection. A bird that is foolish has gone into this hall of mirrors. The bird starts seeing all these reflections. The bird was so angry because it started feeling that these birds are my enemies and they will hurt me. This bird went on attacking every mirror and broke it into pieces and reflections increased in number depending on the number of pieces. Finally this mirror was broken. Then there is no reflection any more and then it just moved out of that. This is the feeling of ignorance. If a wise man gets into the hall of mirrors he will be so happy watching his own reflection, he will try to correct himself. He is a true human. He is a true human if he understands this unity and equality in everyone. When can you be a human? That object, that material present outside is present in you. We have to know the relationship between this object and the reflection. Make an effort to know that You and I are one. The name and form and the capacties and religions may be different. These are all the qualities of the reflection. The truth is to ndertand and experience that you and I are one. God is in you. He is not separate from you. He is not outside. He is not in any temple or Masjid or any distinct place. God is in you. When you go to a temple or dargah you are seeing your own reflection. You will be just seeing your own self there. Any spiritual practices you undertake is undertaken only to experience the inner reality.

Atma is the Brahman present in all forms

To be able to decide something as ‘yes, it is’ or to say ‘no, it is not’ are but the phenomena or attributes of the dual philosophy or duality and not of the non-dual philosophy. It is possible for one to say that a certain thing is not so and so but it is impossible for anyone to say Brahman is this! The Brahman that is the eternal truth, the unchanging, the knowledge is beyond the words. One has to realise the truth that it is the Brahman that shines forth as one in the form of atma or soul in all the different forms. When one realises this truth then one can attain the divine state of the Lord Vishnu. It is to enable one to understand the significance of the divine state by developing equanimity, that Shankara has given the world the verses of the Bhajagovindam.

Equal mindedness would take you closer to God; With analogies

The tree which gives us what we want has been described as the Kalpavriksha. In this description, a tree has changed into Kalpa. A tree is something which perishes. Kalpa is something which is permanent. It is surprising that we associate a tree which is perishable with Kalpa which is permanent and imperishable. The ocean which is the source of such valuable things as diamonds and pearls and which teaches you aspects which are quite close to God, is often described in terms of a common thing like salt water. The moon who hands in coolness and comfort to man becomes feebler and feebler during certain periods. Thus, agencies which have been handing in valuable things to humanity are sometimes being described by names which are not quite just or appropriate. The names we use are not even natural. The permanent Atma resides in this impermanent body which is neither clean nor attractive. However, the organs which depend on the body, the mind which depends on the organs, the intelligence which has an association with the mind, all seem to follow the body, birth after birth. For that reason, some qualities which come with the organs, the mind and the body, seem to remain with us as residuary ones in each birth of ours. The crow eats bitter leaves and takes pleasure in so doing. The cuckoo eats tender mango flowers and enjoys the sweetness in them. Ordinary people, in their foolishness, enjoy trivial things. They will be deriving pleasure from the illusory world. On the other hand, people who have developed equal-mindedness will be enjoying permanent things like being close to God.

Focus on Atma and not on form

When we make an attempt to realise and understand the real situation and the nature of Atma, then the diverse names and forms that you see in the world will no longer trouble you. You will be able to fix your attention to the divine aspect which is one and not many. For instance, if you think of one individual acting in four different pictures or in four different acts of a drama, assuming four different roles, and if you want to answer the question whether this person is in reality one individual or four different individuals, you have to make some enquiry. Similarly, one individual, that is the Atma Swarupa, either in the waking state, or in the deep sleep state or in his samadhi state is feeling that he is having different names and forms and experiencing different situations as in the previous example. He, in consequence, feels and thinks that he is four different persons. What happens in our daily life is slightly different in that we do not have four different names for the different roles we play during our life. In effect we are giving importance to the form and the name which we have in one of these four states—the waking state—and we ignore what happens to us in the other three states. Again, to be able to realise that what exists in these four states is one and the same Atma Swarupa, we will have to go through some exercises of the type prescribed as yoga. By yoga, we also get equal-mindedness. By the good deeds done in our previous births, we get the Vishnu Tattwa or the aspect of Vishnu

There is only one Atma present in everyone

Today, one should understand and experience the oneness of the Atma which goes through every form and every living being in the world. For conveying this message, Sankara taught the Adwaitha philosophy to the world. It is absolutely necessary for everyone to realise this one supreme thing behind all creation. It is only then, that you will be able to develop equal-mindedness and reach the Divine spirit of equality of everything. We need not doubt at all the possibility of realising this oneness in a manifold world like ours. Because our illusions are closely linked up with our desires, we are given to accept the diversity as real. Thus, we are missing this oneness. There is a small example for this. In a cinema, we see different kinds of pictures but in fact all these pictures have been put on one film. The differences are not being caused by the electric light. They have their origin only in imagination of what you see. The electric light is only one and the film is only one but because of

Atma is one and the same in everyone

When we are able to realise and understand the significance of the statement that God in you and in me is the same, that oneness is nothing but the Atma Tattwa and that the Atma is identical with Brahman, the ignorance in us will be removed. This is the one truth, and this truth is independent of the different forms and different names which we come across in this world. Irrespective of the forms and names, there is a single reality in all that we see and that is Brahman.

Know yourself first; With analogy

Without knowing who you are and without realising the nature of your true self, whatever you may do in your life and whatever you may have achieved, you would have wasted your time and you would not have spent your life in a useful and purposeful manner. You are spending all your time reading newspapers which come from different parts of the world, and you are anxiously waiting to get news about some individuals from various parts of the world. But you are not anxious to find out what news comes from within your own heart. This news is the most important news. This world is like a newspaper. You can read a newspaper from beginning to end only once, but no one reads the same newspaper again and again, day after day. Similarly, we have come into this world and we have seen the newspaper of this world once. We should not attempt to see the same newspaper again. A newspaper of today is a wastepaper of tomorrow. In this way, if we subject our life to the repeating cycle of birth and death, we will be turning our life into a wastepaper. Therefore, we should not agree to see this world again and again. We should make up our mind and strive to see the Divine which is really the paper of taste. In this direction, Sankara did many things to turn the thoughts of people towards God.

How to understand Atma; By Shankara Disciples

There is some justification in our trying to first understand the aspects of the human body and then moving on to understand the aspects of the Divine. It is in this context that the disciples of Shankara proclaimed that various attributes of the human body, man’s conduct, man’s thoughts and his material desires have no permanent value and that a study of these things is not a study of the truth. Hence, they moved on to state that the proper thing to study is the Atma Tattwa since that is permanent and shows the way to God realization. They spent their time and effort in getting together the Bhaja Govindam verses for the benefit of people. One of the disciples gave a verse, the meaning of which is as follows: While one is in his boyhood, he has the desire to play and sing. When he grows into a young man he begins to think of love and women. When he grows older, his failing mind is full of worries and doubts. When is he to turn towards spiritual affairs and ask questions relating to Brahman?

Swami on the importance of life and Atma

Sacred minded students! Man generally desires to get something and in fact gets something different. By his ambitions and in his imaginations, man builds up several ideas which are like the nests of various birds. These desires are not generally fulfilled in the manner in which he wants them to be fulfilled. Life is like a long garland. This garland has two ends, one the birth and the other the death. In between these two ends, the garland consists of many flowers. Your dreams, thoughts, ideas, sorrows, joys and pleasures are the various flowers that make up this garland. We have to consider and come to a conclusion whether we shall regard life itself as the garland or whether we shall regard the connections of our body with life as the garland. When we look at the two ends of this garland, it will be quite clear that these ends, the birth and the death, are relevant only to the body and not to the Jiva inside the body. In that context, whether it is pain or pleasure, sorrow or happiness, dream or imagination, all of them are concerned with the body and not with the Jiva. It is the body which is undergoing many changes and transformations. The Atma does not undergo any change but remains permanent, steady, pure, selfless and firm.

Swami on the principle of Atma

Embodiments of love!! Embodiments of the Divine principle!! Every person should endeavor to manifest this Atmic principle within himself. You've got within you tremendous strength. It is not limited to this or that. If we increase this Atmic principle within ourselves, we can act like Sumathi. We can achieve great things, like Sumathi and Savithri. Therefore, we have got to understand the tremendous strength that is within us. If we foster that strength which is within us, none can match us. You are the form of everything. You are the one who is full of bliss. You are there in every place. You cannot be limited to this or that. Here, there, or everywhere, there is only one Atma.

You are Atma; Realize it

Embodiments of love! If you want to worship God, you need not go anywhere. He is not located at any particular place. You are all essentially divine. God has thousands of heads, thousands of feet, thousands of hands, ears and eyes. You are all the personifications of the divine. Consider this as the truth. Have always the strong conviction that I AM GOD. Then you become GOD. As you think, so you become. If you constantly think you are human, you remain human. You are not human, you are human in form, but basically divine. Atma, the self, is in you. Therefore you should keep this Atma pure and clean - that is your true nature.