This
is the transcript of the talk delivered
by Mr G S Srirangarajan, a former
student and currently a faculty member
in the School of Business Management,
Accounting and Finance of Sri Sathya Sai
University, on August 23, 2007 in the
Divine Presence in Prasanthi Nilayam.
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Mr.
G S Srirangarajan addressing in His
Presence
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Bhagavan says that
this entire Universe arises from the mind.
Mano Moolam Idam Jagat. Therefore, needless
to say, all the problems that arise in this
manifest world are ultimately related to the
mind. The only aspect that separates a human
being from His own Truth, from God is his mind.
If we were to
think deeply, we would realize that the purpose
of all religions, the purpose of all spiritual
practices, be it the Karma, Bhakti or
the Jnana Marga – are all associated
with just one objective – mastery over the mind;
so as to turn the mind inwards and realize one’s
own true Self.
If this is the
essence of all spiritual practices and the
secret of our bondage and freedom, obviously
this becomes the very purpose for which the
Cosmic Lord comes down in a human form – to
correct man, to transform him – which in essence
means turn his mind inwards and make him realize
his own true nature.
How does Bhagavan
accomplish this feat? Once a devotee prayed to
Swami, “Swami you say that this whole world is
nothing but a projection of our mind and is
therefore nothing but a dream. But you too have
taken a Form in this dream, so are you also not
a part of this dream?”
Bhagavan smiled
and replied, “Yes my dear, I too am part of your
dream. But I am like the roaring lion in the
dream. My roaring will wake you up from this
dream unto reality!”
Let us have a
glimpse of how Bhagavan – the Cosmic Lion roars
and wakes each one of us into the reality of our
own Self. The roar could come in any form. It
could be a dream, a smile, a deep look, a
conversation, a single word, even a whisper or
even His Silence!
Let me take
recourse to a few conversations that I have had
with Bhagavan and some that I have heard in the
last few years at His Lotus Feet, to illustrate
how He wakes us up from our deep slumber.
Where Am I
From?
The most common
conversation that I have heard between Bhagavan
and a devotee in the Mandir verandah is Swami
asking the devotee, “Where do you come from?”
Invariably, the devotee replies: “Swami,
Canada”, “Swami from Delhi”, “Swami, Italy” and
so on. But this dialogue goes on every day and
often one starts wondering as to why Swami asks
the same question every time. Does He not know
where we come from and why the same question
again and again?
Later, we
understood that Swami does this to set us on the
path of introspection. We start thinking, “Hey
what is wrong with my answer? What does Swami
expect from me?” Thus begins our inward journey,
a journey of self introspection wherein the mind
is used as the instrument to turn itself within
and look for a deeper meaning and purpose in
life.
Now we all know
that an appropriate answer to this question is,
“Swami I have come from you.” Many devotees have
given this answer and we have seen a blissful
smile on Bhagavan’s face. But well, you can
never outsmart Him. When I discovered this
answer I got fully prepared for the situation,
if at all it would arise; and arise it did. One
day, it was Darshan time. Bhagavan came towards
me and asked, “Where do you come from?”
With great joy and a sense of pride for I was
well prepared, I replied, “Swami, I have come
from you.” Immediately, I saw a frown on Swami’s
face instead of the blissful smile that I
expected and He said, “That is different
saar, which place do you come from?” I knew
I was caught. Whom was I talking to? The
indweller of my heart. How could I play with
Him? Swami wishes that the answer must come as a
result of deep self enquiry and not merely from
the tip of our lips! The journey inwards has to
be undertaken.
‘You Are
God’
There are several
occasions when Swami has even asked many
devotees, “Who are you?” I remember one occasion
when we all were seated right over here. Swami
was floating amidst us slowly with a beautiful
smile on His face. As He just came close to me,
He turned to a M.Sc. student sitting just
opposite to me, and asked him very casually,
“Who are you?”
The student was
taken by surprise and remained dumbfounded.
Bhagavan patted his cheek and very naturally,
with a spontaneous ease He said, “You are God.”
It was as simple as it would be for us to look
at this mike and say ‘this is a mike’ or look at
a table and say ‘this is a table’.
The Truth is as clear as that to the
Cosmic Lord, nay He is the Truth Himself and is
revealing Himself – the true Self to all of us.
This incident left a deep impression on that
student and on many of us who heard those sweet
words from Bhagavan’s lips.
A Bold
Request
For Bhagavan, the
entire world is one unified entity and He sees
nothing but His own Self everywhere. However,
looking at His physical form, one gets so easily
deluded in believing that He is just a human
being like us. Bhagavan says that He comes down
in a human form to live with us, laugh and talk
with us, but at the same time He rises to the
supreme heights to remind us of His reality and
to take us along with Him. It has been a very
common experience for we students to witness how
Swami mingles with us and makes us feel so
comfortable as though we are with our dearest
friend and then suddenly through a single word
or remark, He reminds us of His grand Truth and
reality.
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Almost a decade
ago, there was one undergraduate student from
Delhi. He was the son of a temple priest and
thanks to the past samskaaras and
family upbringing, he was a very devoted and
sincere student. He was a true Jignasu
– a seeker of truth and had just one wish – to
receive the grace of self realization from the
Lord. When he would talk to us, we would explain
to him that this was not an overnight affair and
one had to struggle a lot for it and so on.
One evening, it
was Darshan time. This boy was seated in the
first row across the passage where Swami used to
come walking giving Darshan. I was seated a
couple of rows behind him. As Swami came closer
to the boys’ section, suddenly, this boy knelt
down on his knees and looked pleadingly towards
Swami.
Normally, unless Swami gives an indication – no
student is expected to kneel down that way and
so I was truly concerned as to what would he ask
Swami, what would he do? The student in a loud
voice – loud enough for all around to hear –
without any hesitation or feeling of shyness,
asked Swami, “Swami I want Self Realization!” We
were shocked. How could this boy be so arrogant?
What would Swami say? But it was too late to do
anything and we just sat glued to our seat. What
happens next? It was amazing! Swami comes close
to the boy and in an equally loud voice promptly
replies, “I will give!” Who other than the
supreme Lord can dispense Self Realization – as
simply as that – just like distributing
chocolates!
We all were
stunned with Bhagavan’s response and the mind
received a strong jolt – once again turning
inwards to proceed on its partially traveled
journey. The Cosmic Lion had roared and woken us
up! It was unto us now to keep awake or go back
to our deep slumber.
A Child of
God
Once in an
interview in Trayee Brindavan, Swami explained
to us the meaning of true devotion. He said,
“How can everybody simply claim that they are My
devotees? It is I who must certify to that
effect. You saying that 'Swami I am your
devotee' is not as important as Me saying that
you are My devotee.” Bhagavan went on to say
that, first we must say, “Swami, I am Yours.”
This is like sending a registered post to
Bhagavan – not an ordinary registered post but
registered post with acknowledgement due.
Then, Bhagavan
must tell us, “Yes, you are Mine!” This is like
we receiving the receipt. Only then the
relationship is complete. Having heard all this,
I was deeply moved and this truth got embedded
in my heart. Towards the end of the interview,
Swami went around distributing Vibhuti Prasadam
to all of us seated in the room. As He
approached me, He asked like an ideal teacher
conducting the test on the syllabus that He had
just completed, “Who are you?”
I was so happy to
hear that and smilingly I replied, “Swami, I am
Your son!”
Immediately Swami
shot back. What did He say? It was again His
roar. He said, “No, do not say I am your son.
Son bhi ho sakta hai, daughter bhi ho sakta
ha – you may be a son or even a daughter.
Say, I am Your child!” What pearls of wisdom!
Bhagavan was, in one sentence taking us to the
reality of our true Self – wherein we are
neither male nor female. These
attributes are all related to the body and not
to the Atma. He wanted the mind giving this
answer to keep the Atma as its reference point
and not the perishable impermanent body. That is
our Lord. How subtly but yet profoundly, He
reminds us of our own Truth through every
gesture and word of His!
Beauty is
Within
Another wonderful
incident. This was in the Brindavan Campus
college auditorium. Swami had just completed
delivering His Discourse on the valedictory day
of the Summer Course. Towards the end, He had
materialized a beautiful diamond swan, which He
related to the mythological story of Nala and
Damyanti.
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The
Diamond Swan in Sai's Hand
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But what was more
joyous was that, Swami came walking across the
auditorium, between every row of chairs, holding
the diamond swan in His hand for all to see.
What compassion and love - the Lord walking
across every row of chairs in an auditorium. But
would He waste this opportunity without giving
one of His roars?
Impossible. As He
came closer to where we all were seated, He
stood for a while at one point. All of us craned
our necks to catch a glimpse of that beautiful
swan. Well, this was the right moment for
Bhagavan.
He withdrew the swan
and as we all suddenly turned towards Him, He
said, “That is only creation - who is the
creator? You all are interested only in the
creation, not the creator.” Wow! That was like a
lightning from the blue!
Immediately, our
mind did a summersault and went inwards to
appreciate and feast on this wonderful statement
made by Bhagavan. Do we all not get caught in
this pretty trap of His? Bhagavan compares this
to an aircraft and the pilot. He says that when
a plane flies across the sky, we get so
enamoured by its majesty, that we forget that
there is a pilot who is inside the cockpit
driving the aircraft. Bhagavan is the Cosmic
Pilot who is driving the entire Universe.
Again and again,
Swami propels our mind to turn inwards and again
and again we bring it out and let it loose among
the temptations of this attractive world. How
painful must this task be for Him? As Bhagavan
Himself says, “I alone know the agony of
teaching you every step of the dance.”
Who is Sai?
How do we express
our Love and gratitude to our dear Lord. Simple
- by helping Him to facilitate this journey of
ours. The journey may be painful, full of thorns
and stones, but let us not complain. Let us bear
all the difficulties for it is only after the
heating, hammering and twisting that the gold is
transformed into a beautiful jewel. Do we all
not want to be instruments in His Divine Hands?
Again, a beautiful episode and one of His Cosmic
Roars.
It was the Parthi
interview room and all the MBA students were
enjoying a beautiful interview with the Lord.
Towards the end, all students started praying,
“Swami, please make us your able instruments.”
Swami smiled and said,
“That is My duty saar, that is My duty.
You are all My instruments.” Pointing at each
one of us, He said, “You are My instrument, you
are My instrument…." and finally pointing at His
own body, Bhagavan said, "This too is My
instrument!” What? Our breath
stopped for several moments. If this Divine body
is also Your instrument, who are You Swami? Who
are You Swami?
The Player
of the Flute
He is the ultimate
reality, the Cosmic Self, the ‘I’ in each one of
us. The bodies are just instruments in the hands
of the Cosmic Self. We have no separate
existence of ours. What we perceive and feel as
a separate existence is only a delusion of the
mind. Just one more roar of the Cosmic Lion and
I shall stop.
This was right
here at one corner of the Mandir verandah. It
was 5.15 pm and the flute recital had just
begun. It was those days when before evening
Bhajans, there would a 15 minutes flute recital
inside the Bhajan Hall. One of my brothers was
seated at the corner. Swami came walking towards
him. The student folded his hands and knelt
down. Swami asked him, “Where is this sound
coming from?”
Pointing to the
speaker above, the student replied, “Swami the
speaker is up here.”
Bhagavan smiled and
said in a voice that all of us could hear – for
the message was meant for all of us – “The
speaker is outside here, but the actual player
is inside.” Saying so, He
smiled and went further. The message was loud
and clear. The real doer is within, and the body
is just the instrument.
A
Startling Revelation
The earlier we
embark on this inward journey, the better it is
for us. Why? Swami Himself gives the answer, and
this is not just a roar but this is like an
atomic explosion which has to wake us up. The
scene was the Bhajan Hall over here. The
occasion – a surprise Divine Discourse to the
staff of the Mudenahalli School and our
Prasanthi Nilayam Hostel teachers.
Bhagavan was
talking about the Mahabharata and the episode
where Lord Krishna reveals to Karna the truth
that he was actually the brother of the Pandavas.
We had heard Swami narrating this story before
and hence we were anticipating further details
from the Mahabharata story. But most stunningly,
Bhagavan gave a sudden twist to the story and
said,
“Understand that
after Karna realized that the Pandavas were his
brothers, he felt so sorry that he was fighting
and causing them pain for so long. He was filled
with uncontrollable grief.
My
dear ones, one day you too will realize that
there is only One Self and that all the others
around you are none other than your own
reflections – reflections of the one Divine
Self. At that moment, you too will feel
immeasurable pain for having hated and caused
harm to so many of your own reflections.
Therefore, to avoid such a situation, realize
now and at this moment that there only one
Divine Self everywhere.”
This alone is the
solution to all the problems of the world.
Manomoolam Idam Jagat. Therefore all the
problems are related to the mind alone. Mana
Eva Manushyaanaam Kaaranam Bandha Mokshayoho.
This mind is the cause for both our bondage and
our liberation. Turn it outwards and it binds us
to the world, turn it inwards and it reveals to
us our eternal Self and frees us forever. The
mind when turned outwards sees diversity in
unity, but when turned inwards, it perceives the
grand unity in creation and nurtures a world
full of love, peace and harmony.
May I conclude by
reminding one and all that our dear Lord Sai
stands for SAI – See Always Inside.
Jai Sai Ram.