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Date : 8 March 1997 --- Occasion : Maha Shivarathri Discourse
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SIGNIFICANCE OF RITUALS
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Follow the truth to find wealth and prosperity. Truth remains the same in all the three periods of time. Truth is God. Man who follows truth suffers no dearth. Sacrifice certainly earns reputation. But today in the world there is neither truth nor sacrifice. Truth and sacrifice are the goals of life.
Practice and sincerity are the other essentials of life. By practice you can meditate. Through meditation you can cultivate sacrifice. By sacrifice you can be peaceful. So for everything practice is essential. Walking, talking and reading are all acquired by practice. Knowledge can be attained in no other way.
Your intellect or intelligence is determined by your own actions, from bad actions you will have a bad mind, and from good actions, you will have a good mind. The relationship between the mind and the action is reciprocal. For good and bad, it is only the mind that is the cause. In order to develop a good mind, you need good company. Tell me your company, I will tell you what you are. As is the company so you become. Therefore we should develop good company. Who is the real teacher in this world? One's own heart is the true teacher. So we need not search for a good preceptor. Heart is the true teacher. The very heart is the seat of conscience. When you follow your conscience, it guides you in the right direction. Time is another teacher. World is a book. God is the true friend.
We read many books like the Gita, the Koran, the Bible, the Ramayana and so on. But the world is the best book as it teaches secular and spiritual knowledge in the most practical way. There is nothing that you cannot learn from the world. Even the most intelligent man can learn from the text of the world. When there is no world, there is no education or knowledge.
Who is a friend? Present day friends are with you so long as you have money and position. Friends today may be enemies tomorrow. They are not good friends. Only God is a permanent, pure, selfless and egoless friend. If you take God as your true friend, you will never suffer. The worldly friends may be away from you. But God, the true friend is always with you, in you, around you, below you, and above you.
Throughout yesterday night you sang bhajans. It is a ritual and has a spiritual basis. Job, business or education has a spiritual aspect. Worldly activities (Vyavaharika) emanate from Spiritual functions (Paramarthika). The relationship is like that of waves and the ocean. The waves carry the taste and form of the ocean. Even the rituals (Prathibhasika) carry the quality of the spiritual functions.
The waves bear the whiteness, the coolness and the serenity of the ocean. The spiritual quality similarly does not change in the worldly aspect. Then comes the prathibhasika. Prathibhasika is the foam that has the character of the ocean. It is most essential that we know the relationship between the spiritual, the worldly and the ritual. Without the sea there is no wave, without the wave there is no foam, without spiritual content, there is no worldly life and in turn there cannot be any ritual.
The foam depends on the wave, which in turn depends on the ocean. Spirituality is the grandfather, the worldly activity is the son and the ritual is the grandson. All the three belong to one and the same family and one has legal right on the other - grandfather, father and son. The ocean is a great entity; it doesn't increase because of the merger of the rivers. It might in part get transformed into vapours because of the heat of the sun but it doesn't suffer reduction. The quality of the sea is not to get elated or depressed. The sea has no trace of ego or possessiveness. So it is a symbol of spirituality, and it gets reflected in the wave and the foam. But unfortunately in human life spirituality, worldly life and ritual remain diversified.
Spiritual and worldly activities should remain united. Then we will have peace in worldly actions. The reason behind the misery of the world is that we have forgotten spirituality and go after worldly activity. Worldly activities are like castles in the air or passing clouds; so spirituality should not be forgotten. Bhajans today are more ritualistic. They go by the tunes of music. But their content is eternal truth. When you sing wholeheartedly it will be melodious. God dwells in our heart. Hrudh+ daya=Hrudaya. That is heart with compassion. We also say mankind. Only when man is kind, we can say mankind. But today there is no kindness in man.
Never think that God is present in a pilgrim centre or a temple. God is everywhere, His permanent address is your heart. At one point of time, Naradha put a question to Lord Vishnu. "Swami I move in all the three times. I also observe good and bad which now and then, I want to report. Where will you be? They say Kailash, Vaikunta and Heaven (Swarga). Where are they? I do not know."
Then Narayana (Lord Vishnu) said, "Naradha, Kailash and Vaikunta are branch offices. Heart of man is my address". When God is in the heart, you are in search of God elsewhere. Nowadays none prays or sings with pure heart. If you think of him with the pure heart once, God will manifest there. You make use of your mind to acquire wealth, and name. If that mind concentrates on the feet of the Lord, the gates of Heaven will open. Man's thoughts are worldly. His mind wants pleasure. If it concentrates on the feet of the lord for a moment, he will be peaceful. You spend days, months and years for the world, suffering long and working hard. What do you get? Nothing whatsoever. Everything is waste. You want to become a millionaire. Who is a rich man? Who is the biggest man in this world? He who has much satisfaction, is the biggest man in this world. Who is the poorest man in this world? He who has much desires is the poorest man. With all the desires inside, how can you be the richest? You keep all the essentials you require for life. But don't have too many desires; they will make you mad. Be happy with what you have. Discharge your duty well. This is sacrifice. Today what the world needs is truth and sacrifice.
Many call themselves Sai devotees. They are lakhs and crores. If they follow truth and sacrifice, the whole world will change. These two are the principles to change the world. It is truth that sanctifies the heart. Sacrifice will make the physical life sacred. God is present inside and outside. Without knowing the reality, if you spend all the time in the physical, fleeting ephemeral world, how do you redeem yourselves? You should love God and redeem your life. Money is necessary for your life. Nothing wrong in working for it. But you should not have too much desire for money.
Some people want to become as rich as Tata, Birla, or Kirloskar. They are very rich, but they don't have mental peace. With money you can have conveniences not peace. You can have dunlop bed, pillow and sofa set, ceiling fan and air conditioning. But if you can't sleep, these aids to sleep are useless.
Similarly, body, mind and intellect are given only to realise inner peace. Without peace, mind, intellect and senses are of no avail. We have to know this truth and conduct ourselves. The external things are meant to enjoy the blissful state of the spirit. Today we have everything, but we don't have peace and bliss. When we don't follow the right path, life is wasted. God has given the body to do good deeds.
Birds and beasts have their own activities. Human life is distinguished by its commitment to service. The man who cannot bend and serve, is a lazy man. Laziness is the rust and the dust. In Bharat there are plenty of resources. But there is shortage of food and water. The reason is we fail to do our duty and remain lazy. Time is God, don't waste time. Time waste is life waste. By wasting time, you waste your life.
Worldly activity should have a solid spiritual basis. There are two aspects of spirituality, the one with attribute (sagunamu) and the other attributeless (nirgunamu).
Here is water. What is the form of water? It has a name, but no form. When the water takes the form of ice, it has a specific form. Ice has a form. Every drop of water in the ice is formless. In every form there is a formless aspect. Some don't want the formless aspect. It is only foolishness. Formful and formless are one and the same. Without the formless drop of water, how do you get the ice with a form?
The Vedanta explains clearly these spiritual aspects. Many of these spiritual precepts are explained through TV and radio. That's all bookish knowledge. It is not practical knowledge. What is in the book should get into the head, and influence practice.
Water of the sea is saline. Because of the heat of sunlight, it becomes vapour. Once it becomes the vapour the salinity is lost and it becomes sweet. It becomes the cloud. The clouds come back as rain. Rain water is sweet and pure. Doctors call it distilled water. By the grace of the sunlight the cloud form becomes purer than its source, the sea. For pleasure and pain actions are the main cause. Everything is the consequence of your own action and comes back to you as reaction, reflection and resound. It is human frailty to blame others for one's suffering. When you suffer, pray to God. Only God can give you relief. God can transmute the earth into the sky and the sky into the earth. Surrender yourself to God, who is all powerful.
In the absence of proper orientation mind keeps on aspiring for ever increasing desires. O mind! don't desire, don't ask. If you ask more and more it will be neglected. Without asking Sabhari was given refuge and the bird Jatayu was also blessed. They just prayed. Prayer is the magnet. The whole world is iron. Prayer the magnet will draw near everything. So, praying to God, we should get the electricity of grace and allow it to spread all over.
The power of the spirit is infinite, non-dual and eternally blissful. With all this inner strength, immanent within us, we are foolish in thinking that we don't have anything. Everything is within. There is nothing outside which is not present in us.
The eternal truth and bliss are within us. Because we don't know that, we go abroad. We go to different places. We think that we would be able to acquire them. Develop self-confidence. Have full faith in the spirit, the atma.
If a man has full faith in God, he will never suffer. Difficulties would come like a mountain but pass off like a mist. He does not recognize his own indwelling Divinity and strength. Mentality changes. Desires have no check. How do you expect to be happy. Happiness is within. You are the form of bliss. Yet what is the use. The entire wealth is present under the earth. Because you don't know that, you suffer.
There is water underneath the earth. How to draw water. There is mud between you and the water underneath. The mud of worldly fancies has got to be removed. When you remove the mud of the world, you will get the water underneath. Otherwise, when once you install borewell there, it will go deep to draw water out of the bottom.
Singing the name of God is the borewell, and you can draw bliss out of your heart. If you do any work taking the name of the Lord, work will be transformed into worship. You may do anything, take it as the divine activity. Talk less, open your heart and do your duty.
But you go in the wrong direction. You open your mouth and close your heart. You betray and become a traitor to God. To the extent possible shut your mouth, open up your heart. For this reason the ancient saints observed silence. For small things and big things you indulge in gossip. The day you control your talk, you will be blissful. The one who talks cannot do. The one who acts will not talk. One who talks continuously is a lazy man who won't do any useful work. Cut short your talk. Open your heart. Then God will install himself in your heart. Today we did bhajan. You have done it from the worldly point. Bhagavan observed that when girls sang, boys did not join. When boys sang, girls did not join in chorus. All sang the glory of God. Why didn't you join together and reach the bliss? It shouldn't be like a worldly activity of competition, selfishness and narrow-mindedness.
One day emperor Akbar sat under a tree, he noticed a beggar also was sitting under it. As that beggar sang the heart of Akbar melted. He shed tears of joy. His heart was filled with happiness. When he returned, he called Birbal, his minister, who was a musician in his own right. He enquired why, the beggar's music transported him more than Birbal's own music.
Birbal explained, "Swami, that beggar did not notice the world, he sang in full concentration of God, there lies the sweetness. He sang to please God. I sing to satisfy you, to please you. Therefore my music is in such a bad state." We should spend our life in singing the glory of the Lord. Let him be a beggar, or a rich man or a great musician, after all it is singing only. Man woman distinction is only body consideration. You should concentrate on the name of God. When we don't do so, it is only a ritual. In future you see that there is spiritual content when you sing. Then only you will be blissful. There should be no differences in music and prayer.
The culture of Bharat is sacred. There is no caste differences. All belong to one caste. But there is difference in culture. Because of the difference in culture, the life pattern differs. You often quote Swami to your convenience; you quote Swami's caste of humanity to justify your marriage with anyone.
There is a poem in Sumathi Sathaka. A relative who will not come to your rescue in times of need, God who will not grant your boons, and the horse that will not ride in the battlefield should be given up in a minute.
But this counsel is given to Sumathi, a man with a good mind. Without having this good mind, if you find fault with others, even parents will not come to your rescue. The relatives will not come to your need. Before you want to ride on horse back make sure you know horse riding. The fellow who has not seen the horse at all, he blames the horse. It's all ignorance. An intelligent man will know the riding first, or he will not go anywhere near the horse. The one with full faith in God will pray to Him wholeheartedly and God will grant.
Without faith, on what authority do you demand? O God! give me this. God is not your servant. But if you have that faith and devotion, He will be the servant of the servants. If you are not a devotee, if there is no divine thought in your heart, God becomes a master.
So life is to be carried on basing on the circumstances. Hanuman in front of Rama, was very humble. In front of Ravana, an egoistic man he stood there like a warrior. God always submits himself to devotees. When there is pure devotion, He is with you; you should take the name of the Lord as the basis for your life.
God is fond of music. So Naradha, with tumbura continues to sing. When once you sing wholeheartedly, God will manifest. Thyagaraja's saying in a prosaic style, "Rama protect me," would not have draw the heart of the Lord. But he put his heart into it and sang. It melted the heart of God.
So music to find its fulfilment should come out of your heart. In future, all should sing unitedly. Earlier singing was at individual level. Guru Nanak started collective singing. In mass singing there will be unity of hearts. Then God will be drawn by that music.
This cloth is strong because so many threads are interwoven into it. If you separate the threads, you can cut them with your finger. The efficacy of collective singing is great. The voices and feelings stand in unison. So, in future sing wholeheartedly and work for your redemption and emancipation. Bhagavan's blessings are with you.
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