Sri Sathya Sai Baba Articles

Om Sai Ram

The Complete Sunday Talk given by Anil Kumar September 3rd, 2000



Sai Ram.

With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of our Bhagavan,

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

One:

We have been wondering why many of us feel dissatisfied or discontented. We know many people complaining that they have not reached anywhere as per the expected standards along the spiritual line. Discontentment is there in the spiritual line. Why? There is discontentment and dissatisfaction in the world. And the same dissatisfaction is prevailing here in the spiritual path also. Why? That is the question that has come to many of us.

Two:

I am able to know exactly where I stand in the world. In the field of education, I know where I stand: undergraduate, postgraduate, doctorate, post-doctoral dissertation, post-doctoral degree. Where I stand academically I know. Spiritually where I stand, where I am, I do not know.

Economically, I know where I stand. I have few thousands. I have couple of lakhs. I’m a crore-pathi. I know I’m a millionaire. I know what I am financially. I do not know what I am spiritually.

Academically, I know my personality. Economically, I have my identity. Politically, I know what I am – whether I am a citizen or a man of some position or whether I have some authority or controlling ideology - what I am I know. Spiritually what I am, I do not know.

Socially I know how I’m advancing by being respectable, by being more respected by everybody of some stature in society. Everyone says, "You are that and this." Oh, is that so? So nice. I can be still better. When a hundred people say I am a good man, let me try to get a good name from two hundred people next time; some five hundred people thereafter. Let the whole town praise me, organize some function in appreciation of my goodness! Right? So, socially I know where I stand. Spiritually, I do not know.

What is to be done now? How to know that, where I exactly stand? Why do I not know this when I know everything else? When I am able to know where I am in every aspect of life, why is it, how is it that I do not know where I am or what I am in spiritual field? Why?

This has been a question that has been bothering many, many, many people, and students too who have put me this question in the class when I said, "Now let us have some question hour." (Then I could know that I have gone into the risk now!) When I said, "Questions are open", they made me nonplussed. They said, "How to know, how do you know where you are in the spiritual standard?"

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My friends, from the knowledge I have, from the facts I could hear from the Divine lips of Bhagavan and from Sai literature, I want to share with you a few points. I repeat once again (I find joy in repeating, being a teacher) that I do not know anything else other than what Baba has said. So I am telling you what Swami has said on this particular point.

I was reading a book where I had a revelation the other day. There are two kinds of people it seems. The first set of people are those, the seekers of Truth no doubt, who are after somebody to teach them, to let them know the technique, to let them know about meditation, to inform them about Divinity, to let them know what the sacred texts say about everything. So, one class of people is after somebody to inform them, to let them know. That person we can call a teacher. So, many people are after teachers. What does Bible say? What does Bhagavad Gita say? What does Koran say? What do sacred texts say? So, all that is to be said, all that has to be taught is done by teachers. So one class of people is after teachers.

Then there is a second class of people. The second group of people are not after teachers. They are in search of the Reality. They are in search of the Source of Knowledge. They are in search of the Divinity. They are in search of the Truth embodied in a physical frame. They are in search of the Divinity in a human form. They are in search of a personality holding all the essence contained in the sacred texts, moving in our midst. You call him a Master. You call him an Avatar. You call him a Prophet. You can call Him in any way you like. They want to learn from that very personality, not through the medium of a book. This is the second class of people or seekers of Truth.

So we have two classes of seekers of Truth: the first class who are after teachers; the second class who are after Avatars or Incarnations or Prophets or the Master or Guru. We could give any name because Guru is also Avatar.

Now the first class of people, those who go to a teacher, will have a fund of knowledge. They can answer any question from the book. "What does T. Murthy say? What does King Solomon say about it? What is said in Book of Psalms?" They are ready to say. "What does Mathew say about it? St. Luke, according to St. Luke’s Gospel? According to Mathew’s Gospel? According to Karma Yoga? According to Bhakti Yoga?" etc. etc. Flooding of information as you find on the Internet or on the computer! So, the first class of people are computers, Internet, a fund of information. They can boost of knowledge. They can feel proud of their stuff, the resource material, the information. They can be happy about it. They wanted that and they got it. We have nothing to complain about.

The second class of people is in search of the Reality, a Guru, a Prophet, an Avatar. What happens here in the second experience, in the second class? What happens here?

My friends, the greatest eloquence or the highest standard of communication, the depth of communication, the gravity of intimation, the highest of communication is done by utter silence. By utter silence. Not eloquence, not oration, not teaching, not speaking. Silence is the vehicle of communication. Silence is the greatest eloquence. Silence is the highest style of communication. This is done by the second variety, the second class of Guru or Prophet or Incarnation.

The first is a teacher who teaches. The second is a Guru who does not teach. He communicates. Teaching is different from communication. Teaching is a process done by verbalization. Teaching is verbal. But communication, it can be or could be through vibrations. So a teacher teaches, while a Master communicates. A teacher confers knowledge, while a Master gives you wisdom. A Master gives you wisdom. A teacher speaks verbally, with his lips, while a Master communicates.

A teacher does everything by remaining outside. A simple example: A teacher is there. Here I am. He teaches me. A teacher is outside. A teacher is different from you. You are not the teacher unto yourself. No. I go to a teacher and that teacher teaches me. This is an external expression, an external medium of communication. A teacher who is more informed, a teacher who is better informed, a teacher who is more experienced teaches me externally. He tells me. I hear. His communication is external. My hearing is external through the windows of my ear.

But the Master is different. He communicates from within. He’s not outside. The Divine Master is inside. The Divine Master talks to you from within. The Divine Master directs you from within. The Divine Master is in touch with you from within. And ultimately you and the Master are One. You do not remain separate, whereas you are separate from your teacher. A teacher is higher than you are; a teacher is more informed than you are; and a teacher is more experienced than you are. But here, you and the Divine Master are one and the same. No question of experience here because you are the experiencer in relation to the Divine Master.

So in the presence of the Divine Master you do not experience. You are the experiencer. Whereas in the presence of a teacher, you are a student, you are a disciple, you are a listener. You are passing through the process of listening, hearing, teaching, learning. But in the presence of Divine Master, it is not teaching, it is not learning, it is not hearing. It is becoming One with Him.

So there are not two here. You and the Master are One. There, when you and the Divine Master within become One and the same, there is stillness. There’s absolute silence as you find in the depth of an ocean. It is only towards the shores of the sea that you find the gushing waves making a sound, the rising waves and the foam dashing against the shore. The noise – you may call it Miami Beach or Marina Beach, it doesn’t matter whatever beach it is - if you stand near a beach, yes, you find the sound of the gushing waves. But in the depth of the ocean…no noise. It is only silence. It is only the Silence. So a teacher communicates with all the sound of the gushing waves toward the shore, where the student stands to hear him, to receive knowledge from him, while the Divine Master is silent, making you silent. In that silence, both become One. Silence unifies; sound divides. Silence brings together, while the sounds diverge and divide.

So that stillness is the communication of the Master from within. That’s the reason why we are at a loss. We do not know whether we are near a teacher or whether we are with the Master! Some of us say, "Swami’s not talking to me!" because we consider Swami as a teacher. So, "He’s not talking to me. I think that I am His student. I consider that I am a student. I consider that I have come here to learn from Him, to hear from Him. He’s not talking to me. Therefore I am frustrated." This is the first class and quite understandable. We can be quite sympathetic showing all concern, with no hatred, without any evaluation of high and low, with no assessment or judgement, without any sense of guilt. We can understand.

So long as we come here with the feeling that we are coming to a teacher, so long as we are here with the feeling that we have to hear from Him, that we have to learn from Him, that He would speak to us, when that does not take place, then frustration, depression, disappointment, insecurity, sense of fear, all negativity arises in us because every visit is not so blessed, Every day is not so blessed. Every day you cannot expect an interview. Every visit you cannot expect an interview. Every moment you cannot expect Swami to talk to you. Then that will certainly lead to frustration, depression. That’s what happens.

Many, many people ask me, "Why is it that we find so many long faces here? Why long faces? Why?" Above all the creatures, 84 lakhs of creatures in this world…(The ancient seers counted. We don’t have time to count!) 84 lakhs of species are there in this world. Of all the creatures in this world, man is a special creation, very special, endowed with a smile on his face. But we have lost that ability to smile. We have lost that opportunity to smile. Oh, what a shame it is! What a loss it is! We don’t have to worry for not having property. We don’t have to worry for not having positions. We don’t have to worry for not having status. We have to worry for having lost a smile on our face! A smile that is lost on our face is a life that is totally lost. Yes!

Many people ask me, "Why many people are serious?" Many people are asking me: "Why? Why many are serious?" I said, "Confusion!" We cannot find fault with anybody. We are all confused. We’re in a state of confusion, and confusion reflects on our face.

What is this confusion? The confusion is because of this: We have come here with some expectations. We come here hoping that Swami will talk to us. We come here hoping that we will have interviews. We come here hoping that He will take a letter. We come here desiring that He will collect a flower on our birthday at least. We come here wishing that He would come forward with some solution to our urgent, immediate domestic or family or official or a business problem. When once He turns away, when I have to see His back, or the empty Hands waving into the air, I am depressed. I am confused and I don’t have guts to say this openly because everyone would philosophize the situation.

We’re afraid of these pseudo-philosophers. We want somebody to sympathize with us. We want somebody to understand our position. We want somebody to show us the way, to console, to understand the situation, rather than philosophize: "Swami will take care of you. Don’t worry. He may not look at you. You will understand if you are in my position." A fellow is dying. If I go and tell him, "Don’t worry, I am also going to die tomorrow." He will say, "Why don’t you join me now! Why don’t you join me now! Why tomorrow?"

So, my friends, it is easy to philosophize things. It is easy to spiritualize things when you consider that it is the other man’s problem. When once you think it is your problem, we act in a childish way. No one is an exception, please take it from me. No one is an exception. When it is a personal problem, we are childish. When it is a problem of some others’, we are sages! We are saints! We are prophets! We are ready to give sermons if that man finds the time! That is really horrible. We cannot bear it.

Please step into my shoes and imagine. Why are we so serious? Why are we so tensed? Why are not we happy here? And if we are not happy here, where else can we be happy? Some say, "Meditate!" Shall I meditate on my problem? Why don’t you meditate instead of talking to me! Yes. That is all nonsense. A man with a problem immediately needs a solution, not a meditation. A realized soul will never speak like that.

So, my friends, we have to think once again, deeply enough to find an answer to this question. Why are we tensed? Why are we unhappy? Why do we have long faces? Why do we continue to have problems? What is the reason for our frustration? What is the cause for our depression here?

The only reason, the first and foremost reason, is our expectations. And the second reason is our confusion. Why confusion? Because we take Swami to be a teacher, while He is a Master. Bhagavan is not a teacher; He’s a Master. If He’s a teacher, He can teach, He can talk to you directly. As He’s a Master, He talks to you from within. He communicates to you from within. That is what you call ‘inner voice’, what you call ‘conscience’. The Divine Master communicates to you from the point of your conscience, from the level of your inner voice, not from the physical level of that height, of that personality, wearing that robe, merely a physical frame. The physical frame that you find outside starts communicating with you from within. That’s what is meant by ‘Antharanga Sai, Anatha Natha Sai’. ‘Antharanga Sai’ means the ‘Indweller’. Baba being within you, He communicates from within.

Another point is this: The Divine Master communicates through vibrations, not through verbal communications. It is not verbal expression, not talking by words. No. Not putting things into words, black and white, in letters. No. Vibrations. Please believe me. There are many, many people who told me that when Swami walks across, when Swami walks in front of you – many, many told me – they find a kind of cool breeze touching them. They find some cool breeze out of Swami touching them. Many, many told me. If I think it is just their imagination, it is my misfortune. If I think it is all their hallucination, it is my bad luck. Many people can’t say that. We feel a kind of vibration. We feel a kind of shock. There are some people who find a jerk in their body when Swami passes just by their side. There are some people who find some cool breeze touching them. How is it possible? Does He talk to them? No. There are some people who say this: When Swami looks straight into their eye, they find something like when the cork of Goldspot (a carbonated soft drink) is released. The Goldspot soda springs up, ‘zzzzzzooommm!’ like that. Like a Coca-Cola or Sprite or Seven-Up…zzzzzaaaapppp! like that. When Swami casts a glance at you, just a look, zzzzzaaaaappppp! all the flood comes up immediately. He didn’t talk to you. He didn’t open up the cork of your heart with the wrench of words. Just it bubbles, it overflows. The fountain of joy is released. He didn’t talk to you.

When He looks at you, it feels something like a cloud: The hot rays are really scorching. You are exposed to hot sunlight, scorching. You cannot leave your seat because that seat you reserved from one-thirty in the afternoon! You cannot leave it, allowing yourself to get out of that hot, hot sun. Suddenly a cloud comes, giving you some coolness and comfort, no more scorching, no more burning. Because of the cloud, ah! you enjoy coolness and feel refreshed.

Similarly it is when Swami looks at you, so comforting, so consoling, so encouraging, so much of enthusiasm. He doesn’t talk to you. Just a look, a touch, a smile is the message. Baba’s smile is a message. Baba’s darshan is a message. Baba’s looks have got a message. This is the style of functioning of the Divine Master. We are confused because we take this Divine Master to be a physical teacher. "He does not talk to me. He doesn’t shake hands with me. He doesn’t look at me. Daily I feel that I am not important." That is the tragedy.

You can be close to a teacher. If I am a brilliant student, the teacher loves me. If I am a promising student, the teacher likes me. He wants me to sit in the front row. Or rather, even if I am anywhere, he goes on staring at me because he finds in me a good student. You can be near a teacher. You can draw his attention. Supposing I am late to the class. I go on raising my neck to draw his attention, to be funny. Let me be smart to draw his attention like some people who peep their neck in between the two shoulders of those who are seated side-by-side. They push their neck like that to draw the attention of Swami, like a giraffe. (Well, Swami’s attention may not be drawn. They’ll have sprain in the neck! That is a guarantee!)

So, you can draw the attention of your teacher. You can be close to a teacher. But you cannot be close to a Divine Master because the Master is in you. The Divine Master is in you! How can you be near to yourself? If I say, "I am near to myself," what do you say? "I met you one hour back. You were all right. What happened now? Psychic?" So, you cannot be near to yourself. You are yourself. That’s all. So, Divine Master is in you. So, there’s nothing like being close to a Divine Master.

We are confused. And He doesn’t allow you to be near Him. No. Because He is a Divine Master. He wants you to see Him in you. But He allows you for some time to be near, so that for all times you will feel Him within. Sometimes, to begin with, He’s a teacher and then He wants you to take Him as a Divine Master. You come to Him as a teacher, establishing a physical contact, establishing word-to-word contact, establishing a sort of conversation, a dialogue, in order to reach, in order to view Him, in order to enjoy Him, in order to find Him as the Divine Master. Then we will not be confused. This confusion is because we still remain in the first stage of taking Him as a teacher. He’s the Divine Master. He communicates from within.

A teacher is separate from you, but a Divine Master and you are one and the same. As I said, there is sound between teacher and student. But with the Divine Master, between you and the Divine Master, there’s only the depth of silence. It’s only the depth of silence. That’s what Baba said. These aren’t my words. What did He say? "It is only in the depth of silence that the Voice of God is heard."

Is it not a contradictory statement? The Voice is heard in silence. It is only in the depth of silence that the Voice of God is heard. That’s the reason why, when I am silent, I can experience, I can enjoy that supreme silence. Then the report, the ‘communication’ in the state of silence, is the greatest eloquence of bringing an identity between the disciple and the Divine Master, both being one and the same.

And further, the author goes on to say one more point: You understand a teacher, but you experience a Divine Master. Teacher’s teaching is understood. But the Divine Master is experienced. There is nothing to understand because Divine Master does not make you a scholar. The Divine Master will never make you a knowledgeable man. A man of letters has little to say about anything. A man of bookish knowledge is one of borrowed knowledge, of second-hand information. But the Divine Master’s communication is original, creative, nescient, fresh. The Divine Master’s communication is fresh. It is not borrowed.

A teacher’s information is borrowed. Sometimes a teacher’s teaching has greater clarity than the Divine Master. Some people say, "What did Swami say? What did Swami say? Oh, you were also there. Did you not hear?" Some people ask me, "Sir, what did Swami say? I saw you there. Did you not hear? Well, I did not understand."

"Oh I see. Why did you not understand? Why do you think that when you have not understood that I could understand? I am not wiser than you are. Why do you overestimate me and underestimate yourself?"

Sometimes we feel that we do not understand Swami. We do not understand Swami, but you’ll understand your teacher. If my students do not understand my teaching, I’ll be out of my job in the next second because my teaching must be understood for my survival, for my salary! A Divine Master is not meant for understanding. Please understand this: He’s not to be understood. When we try to understand Him, instead of understanding Him we may rather misunderstand or get confused because He will never allow you to understand. He will never allow you to understand Him:

He grants interview in the morning. He’s so close to you. But in the evening He will say, "When did you come?"

"You spoke to me this morning! Why do You ask, ‘When did you come?’ What’s all this? What’s all this?"

"You have been seeing me here for the last so many years. You know that I know only Telugu, my mother tongue. When You start talking to me in Tamil, how am I to consider a language not known to me? You go on talking in Tamil. I don’t know the alphabets!"

What is my position? How am I to understand You, O God? How am I to understand? I have only to understand that I cannot understand. Swami talks in this way, He acts in this way only to make us understand not to try to understand Him. Why? Understanding comes out of the mind. It is the mind that understands. It is the mind that does not understand. It is the mind that misunderstands. Understanding, not understanding, and misunderstanding are the three states of the mind. But the Divine Master is above the mind.

A mad fellow is there whose mind is non-functional, a mad fellow. You teach him electronics. What will happen to him? He’ll bite you! Because he has no mind. His mind is not functioning. You talk to him, but he’ll close your mouth because his mind is not thinking. So, mind understands or mind does not understand. But the Divine Master is not understandable. The Divine Master cannot be approached with the mind. The Divine Master cannot be understood by the mind because the Divine Master is not the mental understanding. The Divine Master is the experience.

A teacher gives the understanding. That’s the reason why we want to understand Swami. But therefore, as the Divine Master, He won’t allow you to understand Him. First we get confused, then afterwards depressed. "My problem is urgent!" No. It is urgent to your mind. Rise above the mind. Then it is not so important.

So, we are yet to learn a fact…no, no,…a truth. Fact is different from truth. Fact is worldly. Truth is spiritual. Fact changes. Truth is changeless. So the time has come when we have to learn the truth that we are in the company of the Divine Master, not with a teacher. When once we understand that we are in the company of a Divine Master, we have to learn the ways, the approaches, getting ourselves equipped thoroughly to this new situation to which we have not been exposed till now.

"Till now people have been talking to me. Whenever I have a problem, I talk to my mother. Whenever I have a problem, I talk to my father. I go to a teacher. I go to my friend. They console me. They advise me. They help me." But this is a situation where you don’t get immediate external words of solace, external words of comfort, external directions, external guidance, physical nearness or proximity. Nothing! Because the Divine Master communicates from within. Let us wait to listen. Let us pray to listen.

We can ask a teacher. But we have to pray to a Divine Master. We have to pray to the Divine Master. You can just ask a teacher. You can ask a friend. You can ask a teacher, a friend, a philosopher, or anybody. But a Divine Master, you have to pray to Him. So, we have to pray. When you pray, He responds. Prayer within, response from within. Whereas outside, when you request externally or request outside, the reply is external. Very good. External answer, problem solved. But this is a problem that is of a different dimension, which is of a totally different nature.

Further, the author goes on to some other plane: When once we are conscious of the Divine Master, what happens next?

I have gone to a teacher, speaking on Gita. What happens? I got the knowledge. Wonderful! I am informed of all that I did not know till now. I go to a church on one Sunday. I listen to the sermon made by the pastor. So I am informed. There are many missionaries who speak on the points of laser sciences or gene principle. They can explain anything, the latest subjects. Wonderful! You are informed. You’re abreast the times. You have grown wiser. You have got knowledge. You are knowledgeable.

But in the presence of a Divine Master, what happens? It is not the knowledge that you received. It is not the information that you got. It’s not the listening. It’s not the understanding. What happens here? Awareness. Awareness is the gift of the Divine Master. Awareness is the gift of the Divine master, while understanding is the gift of the teacher.

So, let us be aware of this awareness. Awareness is the gift of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the Divine Master with whom we are living. Awareness of what? Awareness of Reality, awareness of Divinity, awareness of the Knowledge of the Self, awareness of Immortality, awareness of the soul, awareness of the spirit, awareness of the conscience, awareness of the Consciousness, awareness of life, awareness of the Eternity. This is the gift of the Divine Master.

"He doesn’t solve my family problem. He doesn’t solve my business problem. He doesn’t look into my political problem. He doesn’t give me any guidance. He doesn’t tell me whether I should do M.Sc. or M.Tech. or M.A. or M.Ba. He doesn’t tell me whether I should get married or not. Whether it is time to have a child or not." Stupid! Absolute stupidity! Utter stupidity! Total ignorance!

This is not awareness by any standard at all. In the world, anybody will tell you these things. "What subject I should study?" Go to any man. "Shall I study computers or what? Shall I study engineering or medicine?" That man will tell you, "Are you strong in mathematics?" "No." "Forget about it (engineering). Take to medicine, no problem. Join M.BBS. Without mathematics you can become a doctor." So these things anybody can tell you. How to make business? Anybody can tell you. Political career, anybody can tell you. But awareness, nobody can tell you. Awareness is not to be told.

How can I tell you how sweet the Ladu (Indian sweet) is?

"Sweet is Ladu."

"How sweet?"

"Very, very sweet."

"How sweet?"

"Very, very, very, very, very, very, very sweet. Very to the power of 1000!"

"Shut up!"

"How sweet it is."

Then what he will do? He will go to the canteen immediately and push one Ladu into your mouth so you cannot speak. Then what happens? You start tasting how sweet it is. You also eat.

So, my friends, this is awareness. Awareness is tasting, the process of tasting. It is not taste. Taste can be said. The process of tasting cannot be said. Tasting, how tasty. So, my friends, this awareness is the gift of Bhagavan Baba in the true sense of spirituality. Because we are not aware of this point, we are confused. He tells everything, what to do, what not to do.

There’s one point, which I want to tell you also, which is very important. The author says this way: When there is this total awareness, what happens is the breeze, the cool breeze that passes by the body of the Divine Master, as it touches you, it conveys a message. The breeze that touches the Divine Master and passes through you has a message to convey. The flowers, the plants at the place where the Divine Master moves about, have a message to convey. The sand on which the Divine Master trots has a message to convey. This is awareness.

You feel the vibrations from the very place. You feel the vibrations from all the plants around. You feel the vibrations from the coo-coo birds, the hummingbirds in the morning, at the time of Nagarsankirtan. You get a message from every friend that you meet because the Divine Master is in him. The Divine Master is in you. This sort of awareness is absolutely necessary so as not to be confused, so that we’ll never be depressed. We’ll never be frustrated. We’ll never be disappointed.

This is a heterogeneous group. When once we sit there in Sai Kulwant Hall, it is a heterogeneous group. By ‘heterogeneous group’ I mean it is not a group of post-graduates. It is not a group of graduates. It is not a group of school children. It is a heterogeneous group, meaning a mixed group. To a mixed group, the Divine Master has mixed approaches. The Divine Master has got His own method of communication.

Because He talks to a person, it does not mean that He should necessarily talk to you. Because one person gets an interview, it does not mean that you need an interview. Because the mind immediately says, "Why didn’t I get an interview? Why didn’t I get a Padanamaskar? Why didn’t He talk to me? Why He talks to others? Why? Why not?" The mind disturbs. The mind disturbs to such an extent that we don’t want to see the face of those people who got the interview because, "Why didn’t I get it? Why did you get it?"

And even after getting an interview, even after being so close to Swami, the mind is also disturbed! Why? "I’m great. You do not know. I am pretty senior. You do not know. I’m a man of charity. You do not know. I did so much of work for Swami. You do not know. None can equal me. You do not know. The sacrifice I have done, you cannot estimate. My spiritual career you cannot imagine." Chi! Utter nonsense! This is another madness.

So, this sort of mind, in either way - being close to Swami, being spoken to, being so near - gives you a psychology which is as bad as being away from Him because this closeness has made you egoistic. You feel so proud. That is equally a psychological disease, worse than leprosy is physically. Because ego and pride are just opposite of spiritual pursuits and spiritual endeavors. No spiritual man can be egoistic. No spiritual man can feel proud since there’s nothing to feel proud about because as Baba said, "You are God. You are God. Everyone is God. Body is a moving temple. Indweller is God."

When you are God, when everyone is God, when all are the reflections of the same, where is the need to feel proud? What is your achievement? Let me know. What is it that you have achieved? What is it that I have not achieved? You have known you are God. You are already God. Now you have known that you are God. I’m still in ‘knowing’. That is the difference. So really there’s no difference at all.

So, my friends, let us not get into this madness of being proud in positive situations, of being frustrated in negative moments of time. That’s all gimmicks, the dance, the monkey mind, as Swami always says. You must have heard that Phyllis Krystal wrote a book called, "Taming the Monkey Mind." It’s a good title indeed: "Taming the Monkey Mind". The time has come that we have to tame the mind first.

How to tame the mind? Will the mind allow itself to be tamed? Where is the mind to tame? Where is it? How to tame it? Is it possible? Why to tame the mind? These questions should come to our mind. The moment I saw the title, I got all these questions. Where is the mind? How to tame it? Who is to tame it? Why to tame it? What is the harm if I don’t tame it? These are the questions that came.

If I don’t tame my mind, what happens? Misery, sadness, imagination, fear, anxiety, terror, tension, worry, hurry, what not. When the mind is not tamed, when the mind is not trained, here comes all the horror, the terror, the tension, the hypertension, the blood pressure, and the cardiac arrest. These are all due to the mind that is not trained.

People say an ambitious man suffers from ulcers. The recent medical people say that ulcers are due to ambition, too much of ambition. "I want to become President of India! So, you constantly think, "President, President…" What happens? You won’t become President, but you’ll become a patient! So, too much of ambition is the cause for ulcers. And too much of thinking, too much of anxiety is the cause for blood pressure. Too much of tension leads to hypertension and cardiac arrest later. It is our mind that pays the medical bills, not the body. Poor body is so good. Body is so good. It has not done any harm at all. The tongue wants to eat as many sweets as possible. The ear is ready to listen to the pop-music of Michael Jackson. The hands are ready to hold the Gold-Spot bottle, OK? When the body is so nice, so good, like a flower, a rose flower, like a dew drop, so innocent, so pure, so chaste, so gentle, so tender, shining so brilliantly, the poor body suffers because of the guilt of the mind.

I am the thief, yet you are punished. See this: When the boss is corrupt, the clerk is dismissed. That’s what has happened here. The boss, the mind, is a monkey mind, while the body, a ‘perfect gentleman’, is punished. In fact the mind should be put in the hospital, not the body. (If this is possible, let us see someday!)

So, my friends, taming the mind is necessary in order to see that we are not tensed or that we are not worked up. For any silly problem, this is very necessary. We don’t need to reach Brahman. Forget about it. You see we’re very, very tensed every moment. Any simple problem: If gas cylinder is delayed for one hour, that is enough for ‘shake’ dance! What dance!

So, it’s time we have to tame our mind if we want to live long. If we want to be free from diseases, we have to tame our mind. Tame the mind so as to be balanced, so that it is not restless. "All right, I missed the bus. I missed the bus this morning. I must go to my office in time. Well, that should not hurry me. All right, I’ll get the next bus. It doesn’t matter."

So, a balanced state of mind is necessary. We have to tame the mind. When the mind is balanced then we can think of God, not till then. It’s not possible when I am in a hurry to go in an hour’s time to Bangalore, to catch the taxi, advance paid. In between I want Swami to grant me an interview and give me prasadam. He will not go by your timetable. No. So my friends, taming the mind is necessary to have that balanced state of mind. Taming the mind is necessary to be healthy.

Ultimately what should happen? The mind should not continue in that state. This is the next step. I tame the mind. Why? Why? How long shall I tame the mind? The mind is tamed today. Tomorrow? Again a monkey! Mind is so nice in the morning. By the evening, it’s so bad. By night, awful! So mind is changing day, morning, night. How can I tame it? When? How long?

The mind has to be tamed so long as necessary until it is lost. Until it is lost! Until the mind is gone. Until the mind vanishes. Until you can say, "Never mind. Never mind, I don’t want it! Never, never mind." Why? Because it is the mind that has created all the duality. It is the mind that gave you all the experiences of misery and happiness, all of which made you dance. No! So, the mind has to be tamed so as to be lost.

Here in India we educate our daughters. We give them all dresses. We spend a lot of money. Why? To prepare her to join their husband, to get away from here. Should you spend so much of money on her just for her to leave home? Yes, it’s a matter of pleasure. I don’t want to keep her at home her whole life, spending lakhs of money. No, no, no! I want to spend so much so that she may leave and join her husband.

So, we are taming the mind to get away from it. Taming the mind to lose it. Taming the mind to allow it to vanish in due course of time.

My friends, let us pray to Bhagavan within every one of us, the silent, unseen, hidden, latent Divine Master within us. May He talk to us through His own unique, Divine inner voice, at the level of conscience, giving no scope for any kind of duality or for any sort of borrowed knowledge. Let Him convey through His own Divine vibrations whatever He has to convey to each and every one of us.

May Bhagavan be with you forever and ever more.

Sai Ram

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Om… Shanti…Shanti…Shanti…

Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu!
 

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