Issue 245 - September 12, 2021 |
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Sairam Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Adi Shankaracharya in his Bhaja Govindam explains that through good company arises non-attachment; from non-attachment comes freedom from delusion; when there is freedom from delusion, the mind becomes steady and unwavering, from a steady mind comes liberation.
satsaṅgatve nissaṅgatvaṃ,
niḥsaṅgatve nīrmohatvam,
nirmohatve niścalitatvam, niścalitatve jīvanmuktiḥ
It is said, ‘A man is known by the company he keeps’. Swami has always reminded us that keeping good company is very important. We are all products of the surroundings that we are brought up in; the values, the outlook and attitude towards life embedded in each one us, is a result of all the influences.
Swami says, “Lot of people get into good company but only their bodies are there in good company, mind is going elsewhere. The body is sitting quietly. The mind is roaming all around. If you get into a good company like this, it is of no use. What is mind? The mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts. When you have pure thoughts, the mind becomes pure; when you think of God, it will become God mind. The way the mind is, the body and senses behave in the same way. Whatever water is there in the tank, that is what comes out of the taps. Whatever is your feeling, that is reflected in your life. If you want good feelings and good mind, good company is very important.”
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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For fire, heat is its nature. For water, coolness is its nature. For human beings, the true nature is love. One need to understand love which has its many forms. The love between a mother and a child is maternal love, between husband and wife, it can be referred to as attachment. Between two friends, it is friendliness. The love between a teacher and student manifests as selfless service. These are all different lower forms of love, but it is necessary to understand what true love is.
In true love, there is no question of giving and accepting. Love knows only giving and never receiving. Any love that expects something in return, cannot be true love. Only selfless love, which arises in our hearts spontaneously, flows towards everybody and serves everybody can be called as ‘true love’. We do love others, but once we desire or expect something out of the people whom we love creeps in, it turns to become an attachment. We have taken this human birth in order to learn this true love. Love keeps expanding all the time and never contracts. Broad mind is a hallmark of true love. Love desires only one thing–happiness and joy of everyone.
You have to recognise the fact that when everyone is happy, you too are happy. If you want to be happy, you have to make others happy. You become kin to others in the true sense only when you derive joy from their success. Sharing others’ sorrows and joys is the nature of true brotherhood. Developing the feeling of ‘Brotherhood of Man and Fatherhood of God’ is extremely important. Love gives and forgives. Self gets and forgets. Whatever others may do, we have to follow our dharma. It is better that we die practising our dharma than following somebody else’s dharma. Only when you practise the dharma of selfless love, you can call yourself human beings.
Shower love on everybody, whether others criticise you, hate you or love you, it shouldn’t bother you. You have to keep doing your work. Have love and compassion for everybody. Always be contented and have complete control over the mind. Only such a devotee is very dear to God. A dear devotee, is one who unifies his thought, words and deed and offers everything to God. Respect everybody irrespective of whether others respect you or not. Only when you practise your dharma, can you be referred to as human beings. The dharma of love is the ātma dharmā—the eternal dharma. Why so many lakhs of people follow Me, practise what I say and love Me? It is only because I practise the dharma of love all the time. If you have selfless love all the time, all things will find fulfilment.
Excerpt from the Divine discourse delivered by Sri Sathya Sai Baba on June 05, 2016.
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Joy of sevā
By Ms Lindhu Abhilash
Pharmacist, Middle East
Born into a pious religious family, my childhood revolved around temple visits and religious observances. Swami entered my life with the instrumentation of my husband and his family. I have had the opportunity to see Bhagawan in His physical form and also to participate in service activities as a sevadal. There was a continuous stream of miracles in my life which confirmed and strengthened my faith in Swami.
My association with Sai Hrudayam, Dubai was Divinely ordained. It was in the moment of grief, after my father in law’s demise, when the family was still struggling to come to terms, we had an opportunity to attend a bhajan session at Sai Hrudayam. This introduction, further led me to many service opportunities. Despite my tight work-schedule, I was motivated to participate in the service activities, because the joy I experienced through it was beyond comprehension. It was a mixture of gratitude and purposefulness in life.
There is a feeling of deep connect with the people whom we serve. My personal observation is that, the joy of spending a weekend serving food to the needy can never be obtained or replaced by going to a mall or watching a movie. The feeling of well spent weekend and deep satisfaction is only, when I participate in sevā. I eagerly look forward to the weekends so that I can serve more individuals.
The participation in the ‘Food ATM’ (Sai Hrudayam, Dubai has collaborated with a local organisation which distribute meals at cheaper prices to the blue-collar workers) has actually sensitised me. If a meal costing less than a dollar can benefit someone, then I must not waste it. Now, I am ever conscious of my expenditure. At every purchase, I ponder, if I can avoid the purchase or is it really necessary, perhaps it can feed many hungry souls. I have learnt to discriminate between my wants and needs. sevā has transformed me completely as, now, I think more of others than myself. I believe that I’m progressing slowly on the path of ‘I’ to ‘We’ to ‘He’.
sevā has given a sense of purpose in my life. My only prayer to Swami is that He keeps bestowing me with more and more opportunities to serve others and also gives me strength to execute them.
May this life of mine be utilised for serving others.
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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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When one realises the true Self, at that point in time one stops making decision for oneself. One stop thinking for oneself. Brahman takes complete control over the jīvātmā and the buddhi (intellect), manas (mind) and deha (body) cease to exist.
It is this process of transcension, where the indriyās (senses) are to be merged in mind, mind to be merged into buddhi, intellect to higher cosmic intellect and finally lose the individual identity into the ultimate consciousness. This way jīvātmā becomes a mere puppet in the hands of Divine.
Surrendering to the great Divine intelligence is the only way to become a perfect instrument in the hands of Brahman wherein His will can flow without any interruptions.
In the episode 34, Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai explains about wisdom and knowledge. Under the guidance of the Divine Master, let us learn these profound teachings of vedantā and follow Him in the path of Self-Realisation.
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INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE FOR THE WEEK |
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“Love has been travelling since the beginning of the time, but rarely does it achieve its final goal, the capacity to love all.”
– Swami Rama
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jagat hitāya
(Welfare of the World)
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Food ATM
Partnering with Food ATM, the meals distribution has been happening successfully for over two months. Food ATM is a commercial enterprise dedicated to feed the blue-collar workers. Each meal provided by them costs about a dollar.
A variety of delicacies are served in every meal which include roti/poori, vegetable curry/lentils, rice, rasam, and a sweet. In the month of August, a total of 3,420 meals were served.
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Snacks Distribution
The Sai youth have been involved in snacks distribution to the hard-working workers involved in manual labour, for a long time now. This month too, the Sai youth served a fruit, biscuits and laban (buttermilk) close to 200 beneficiaries in four different locations. This ‘act of giving’ these simple refreshments are enough to light up their faces who have been working tirelessly in the scorching heat of summer in this part of the world. These lit up faces are the tokens of gratitude that drives the youth to involve in more service activities.
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Serving the Servitors
The Sai youth form Sri Lanka continued serving the disposal truck workers who tirelessly carried on working despite various setbacks imposed by the country’s lockdown. The workers were incredibly grateful to receive the refreshments, as they said that due to health concerns and closed shops, they were unable to buy any food and often went to work on an empty stomach.
Weekly Food Distribution
The weekly distributions of home-made lunch packets were carried out with much enthusiasm. The parcels consisted of traditional curries which were prepared with love and care.
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Elders’ Home Medicine Pack Donation
The Sir James and Lady Peiris Cheshire Home situated in Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka houses 15 elders who are severely handicapped. The Sai youth extended their help by providing the much-needed package consisting of various medications for the elderly.
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Apekama – Distribution of
100 Dry Ration Packs
The Sai youth were delighted to help complete the ‘Apekama’—a special initiative by a youth organisation in Sri Lanka, with an aim of providing dry rations to 100 needy families within the month of August. After four weeks of hard work, 100 dry ration packs were provided to needy families of Pothupitiya Wadduwa locality.
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Donation of Oxygen Cylinders
The needs of the Colombo South Hospital, Kalubowila were provided by the Sai youth, as they equipped the Hospital with 18 medical oxygen steel cylinders (10 litres each) with gas, humidifier, mask and tubing along with six regulators.
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