Issue 231 - June 06, 2021 |
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Sairam dear brothers and sisters,
Embarking on any opportunity to serve, should be our primary duty. We do know by now, and understand, that this body has been given only to help and serve others. Everything else this body does or engages in is incidental! But what happens as we gradually age and our body doesn’t cooperate anymore?
Once while speaking to a group of youth in Kuala Lumpur, Swami said, “If you are young you can do seva through the body – that is hand, head and heart. After some time the hands may get weak; you are unable to engage in seva with the hands. Then, you can still do seva with your head and heart. After some time, the head also may becomes weak, and you can't even remember your own name. Then only the heart remains. With love you can still do seva. And if you can't do anything at least pray for everyone. Keep praying - samastha loka sukhino bhavantu - Let there be peace, Let there be peace. Without inner peace, you cannot enjoy the outer peace.
Inner peace comes from? ‘I want peace’. ‘I’ - ego, ‘want’ - desires. If you remove ‘I’, if you remove ‘want’, what remains is peace. Peace was always there. It got into pieces because ‘I’ and ‘want’ came in. If you remove ‘I’ and ‘want’, it goes back to its original state of peace.
So, all the seva is only to help you remove this ‘I’ and remove this ‘want’. All seva is for removing ‘I’. ‘God has given me so much. There are so many more who are not as fortunate. How fortunate I am! I should become humble. I can serve those who are not having what I have. I get an opportunity to share and serve.’ Then, the ego dies!”
Sairam
Bhuvana Santhanam
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ātmano mokshārtam
(Emancipation of one’s self)
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Excerpt From Divine Discourse |
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From dawn to dusk, whenever we meet anyone, there is one question that we ask – “Who are you?” But not even for once we ask ourselves the question “Who am I?” Nobody desires to know “Am I the body? Am I the mind? Am I just the conglomeration of senses?” vedanta tells us – the ultimate knowledge of the vedas – “We are not the body, we are not the mind, we are not the senses. I am Shiva who is the embodiment of chit, ānanda – Consciousness and Bliss.
There is some subtle inner significance when I call someone as ‘Bangaru’. You don’t get anything out of gold; it is like any other inert matter like a stone. The gold ore, which we get from the bowels of the earth is just like the stone. But in order to get gold, you need to transform it, melt it and processes it to get the real gold. Only when we remove all the impurities, we are going to get the absolutely pure gold, a very little quantity. In human life, we experience three qualities: tāmasik, rājasik and sātvik. tāmasik qualities are equivalent to the animal qualities. Animals are interested only in food, sleep, procreation and fear. Even if one crosses over the tāmasik quality of inertia, there is the rājasik quality. There are two types of rājasik qualities: ‘I’ and ‘mine’ – ego and attachment. When you transcend rājasik qualities, you will the attain sātvik quality. When you have the sātvik quality, you will know that all are one and you experience this kind of unity. When you develop this sātvik quality, you will realise that you are the ātma, you are divine. Just like how pure gold is available along with a stone, the sātvik quality is also hidden in the tāmasik and rājasik qualities.
It is a big mistake to think “I have to attain liberation from somewhere.” You are the very embodiment of the ātma. You are ever pure, ever blissful and ancient. Because in your personality many evil qualities have got in, that is why you are not able to realise your divinity. The true effort on our part is not reading or writing about divinity but to believe in divinity. When you just believe in the mantra ‘I am divine’ and keep on chanting it with conviction, definitely you will become divine.
Where there is love, there is no trouble. When you develop such pure and divine love, then you can lead a very joyful life. First thing you need to believe you are divine and behave accordingly; then you really will be on the right line. Therefore, your first duty is to find out and realise that you are divine.
An excerpt from the Divine discourse delivered on February 04, 2016.
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By KM Geetika
Entrepreneur
Singapore
It's been exactly two years since the Sai youth in Singapore started conducting the Values Formation classes for children at the Marymount Home, which reaches out to vulnerable children and women. The classes started in March 2019 and it has been an amazing experience and enriching journey, to share joy, knowledge and love with these beautiful children, week after week. Swami has been guiding all of us on our journey. His unseen presence is felt in every session which we had with the children. Every session was an experience to cherish, but especially one incident out of them had a profound impact on me.
Recently we were requested to shift the classes from Thursday to Sunday, as there was another class on self-defense training for the children on Thursday. My immediate reaction was, Sunday is the only time available to spend with the family, time to relax and focus on my daughter who is preparing for a competitive exam this year. Accordingly, I had informed one of the sisters from our group, that I won't be able to do conduct the classes on Sunday. Before they went ahead with the change, we still had one class on Thursday. Inwardly I was guided by Swami to do on the topic ‘Grit’ for both the sessions.
Last Thursday, during the session, unexpectedly, I was surprised to that see all the children walked in with note books in their hands; something which had never happened before. Upon enquiring, they mentioned to me that they wanted to take notes of the session. I was taken aback when I heard this. I told them it's up to them if they wish to do so, if not it's absolutely fine, and not compulsory as long as they pay attention in the class. We discussed at length about grit. I explained to them that it’s grit that pushes them towards success and not our smartness or the ability to learn quick that determines whether or not we’ll ‘make it’ in this world. Solely, what matters is our ability to weather the storms, to stand when others sit, to take action when no one else does.
I observed that the kids were attentive and paying attention to every detail to what was shown and taught in the class. It was like Swami has taken over the class and speaking through me, as things were happening effortlessly, making sense to them. I was surprised, they voluntarily took notes from the presentation and the video. Their enthusiasm and willingness to learn impressed me very much. It was unlike what I had experienced before during my previous sessions with them. There were almost 14 students and each one of them took notes and asked lot of questions. What was being taught to them was adding meaning to their lives. The twinkle in their eyes and the thumbs up they gave after that session felt as if they had discovered something new. It was so inspirational and moved me to tears. It made me realise that Swami conducted the entire class through me. What He expects out of us is just availability – to be present and rest is taken care. I have realised that I am nobody to decide anything for His work. His work will continue regardless of my presence, if not me someone else will do it. Since that day, I decided that I will keep myself always available for His children and His work. Even if it makes a difference to one child or a person, it's still worth it. And no matter what, every Sunday I will be there for these needy children.
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To help reach Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s human values-based education to the world, and to resuscitate the humanness of humanity, the Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence launched a unique, first-of-its-kind Institute of Human Values, to offer tailor-made courses totally free of any charges, curated by experts from around the world. The Vision of the Institute is to make better humans in their personal and professional spheres, by making them more sensitive towards society’s needs and exploring ways of their contribution to society in a meaningful and selfless manner, thereby creating a sense of global citizenship and responsibility.
The courses will help an individual balance the inside and outside, while progressively being a better human being, that will ultimately help him or her unravel the true meaning and purpose in life.
Learning from the heart is spiritual awakening, Baba would say. The Institute of Human Values is the first step to help lead the world into the beautiful awareness of its heart – a heart that operates from the universal human values of Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema and Ahimsa.
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kaṭhopaniṣad is a legendary story of a brave little boy, Nachiketa, son of Sage Vajasravasa, who meets Yama (the Hindu deity of death), and seeks spiritual wisdom from him. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge, ātman (Soul, Self) and mokṣā (liberation).
kaṭhopaniṣad is a legendary story of a brave little boy, Nachiketa, son of Sage Vajasravasa, who meets Yama (the Hindu deity of death), and seeks spiritual wisdom from him. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge, ātman (Soul, Self) and mokṣā (liberation).
The ātman (Self) is the pure consciousness which can be known only through relentless perseverance. One must divert the mind from its obsession with its natural habitat, the objective world, and maintain it in a state of unwavering equanimity. This triumph alone can remove one’s grief, once for all! The feeling that you (the jivi) are separate from that ‘One’ (the ātman) is the root cause of the cycle of birth and death.
Initially, Yama tested the sincerity and determination of Nachiketa by refusing and denying answering, by luring him with the riches of the world and distracting him with sensual pleasures. But Nachiketa, being a true aspirant on the spiritual path, discriminated between being a true aspirant on the spiritual path, discriminated between 'sreyas' (the good) and 'preyas' (the pleasant) remained unmoved and pined only to know the truth. Thus, he earned the deservedness to attain the supreme knowledge, brahmajnana (the knowledge of Brahman) from Yamadeva himself. Anyone who perseveres like Nachiketa is guaranteed to attain and experience Brahman.
The episode 24 – part II featured this week talks about jivātma and paramātma. Under the guidance of our Divine Master, let us learn these profound teachings of vedanta and follow Him in the path of Self-Realisation.
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INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE FOR THE WEEK |
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“For whom praise and dispraise are the same, and on whom greed and attachment have no effect. Consider him only enlightened whom pain and pleasure do not entrap. Consider such a person saved.”
- Guru Tegh Bahadur
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jagat hitāya
(Welfare of the World)
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The values programme in early childhood development focuses on children from the age group five to thirteen years, and provides weekly interactive sessions on the core human values through a range of fun activities. Recently, the Sai Youth conducted an activity on – ‘How we are all connected and each one of us play a key role in the house and society’ by using the demonstration of the human body. These sessions were conducted online due to increased COVID restrictions. In total, 11 kids are currently involved in the programme. |
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Sai youth in Singapore have identified the most vulnerable and needy elderlies, who can't walk and have no one to support them. The youth serve them with food of their likings.
For the month of May, eight elderlies were fed four times a week making a total of 32 meals per week.
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