By
Sri Jagdish Chandra
- A Current M. Phil Student in
Swami's Institute.
This is the text of the talk delivered by Jagdish Chandra in
the Divine Presence of Bhagawan Baba on 18th Aug 2005, the
second day of the conference on "EDUCATION FOR THE 21st
CENTURY- EDUCATION TO EDUCARE".
With humility, and love, I offer myself
at the Lotus Feet of my Beloved Swami; my Lord, my Master.
Honorable Chief Guest, Distinguished Dignitaries, Revered
Elders, dear Sisters and Brothers. Sai Ram to One and All.
A few days back, as I was
going back to the hostel, from the mandir, I saw a person
wearing a T-shirt which sported a peculiar saying, it said,
"I was born Intelligent, but Education spoiled me." As I
walked into the Mandir today, and stood right in front of
the banner that portrays the theme of the conference, I read
"Education to Educare." What is this journey? How
does one go about it?
Let me start with a small
anecdote. A man once dreamt that he went into a beautiful
shopping complex and after making a tour and buying some
items he finally went to the billing counter. To his utter
astonishment, he finds God standing there! He plucks up
courage and asks the Lord,
God
Points the Way…
"God!
What are you selling here?" God replied: "Whatever is good
for you!" The man started thinking. After a while he said,
"God, then give me something that can take away my pain."
God said: "No, I will not do that, for trials,
tribulations and pain draw you away from the world and
closer to me."
Then the man said: "God, give
me happiness!" God answered, "No. I can bless you,
but happiness is up to you."
The man pondered a little and
said, "God give me all the things so that I can enjoy life."
"No. I have given you life so that you can enjoy all
things," replied the Lord.
At the end the man was
exhausted. He thought frantically and came up with a
wonderful solution. He said: "God, now I understand the most
essential, the most valuable thing for a human being. And
they are the Human Values! Give me Sathya, Dharma,
Shanti and Prema." This time God chuckled,
"Son, you have got me wrong! We don't sell fruits here. We
sell only seeds. It is up to you to inculcate them.
I can only point, but you have to follow." That is
what we have to do.
And what is the necessity of
these Human Values? They show man the highest of goals. The
path to tread - where to begin and where to reach. The
Ultimate Reality that each and every human being is
essentially Divine. And the basic purpose of his life, his
existence, is to merge back into the Source from where he
originated.
THE
FOUR BEAUTIFUL PILLARS THAT SHOW THE WAY
TRUTH
There are four Beautiful
Pillars that take us to the goal. The first is
truth, Sathya. Bhagavan beautifully teaches us that
Sathya is beyond our ordinary understanding of the word
truth. It denotes the Ultimate Truth - the Truth
that reveals to man that he is essentially Divine.
Divine
Arithmetics…Divine Lessons
It once happened that a group of devotees
came from Madras. And as Bhagavan glided by in Darshan,
He went and stood in front of them. Bhagavan asked the group
leader, "How many members are there?" The group leader said:
"Bhagavan, 20."
Swami said: "No, 21."
The man counted once more. He
thought there might an error. But his counting was perfect.
He said: "Bhagavan, we are 20!"
Swami
replied, "You forgot to count Me! I am always there
in that group! How could you forget this?"
Overjoyed, the man had to agree!
The next day Swami approached
the group again. This time the leader was ready to face
another question. But he did not know that a different
answer was asked of him. Bhagavan again asked: "How many
members?" The man said, "Swami, 21."
Swami answered, "No, 40."
There could be a slight
difference when one considers 21, 23, and 22. But 40 is
altogether a very huge number. He could not have made that
mistake.
And then Swami said: "You
think I am alone with the group? I am with each and every
one of you! Then if I am with each and every one of these
20, then in fact, we make 40!"
The final lesson was still
waiting. The next day Bhagavan came to the group. The group
leader too was ready but this time not to give an answer but
to learn from Bhagavan. Bhagavan asked: "How many members?"
The man stood up. He did not know which to say - 21 or 40.
But he said: "Bhagavan, 40."
Swami said: "No, one.
All are One."
Who can teach this most important lesson
in just three apposite and powerful statements? To teach the
Reality which the Vedas, Upanishads and great Scholars have
struggled to expound! Only the Avatar can come to our level
and teach us everything in just three axioms. The only Truth
which God comes to teach is: "All are One! Everyone is
essentially Divine."
Bhagavan once said:
"I am not a Brahmana,
Kshatriya, Vaishya or a Shudra.
Neither do I relate myself to any of those four
Varnas.
I am Sathya Bodhaka…The teacher of Truth.
I am Sathyam, Shivam, Sundaram."
When one follows this Truth, what he actually follows is
Dharma. The Scriptures declare: Sathyam Nasti Paro
Dharma. There is no greater Dharma than
following Truth.
DHARMA
– What Exactly Is It?
There may be differences of
opinions over the definition of Truth, what exactly is
Dharma (right conduct) and how to follow it. As I
entered the portals of this Institute on my first day in the
hostel at Brindavan I remember a board which had the
following inscription: "A hostel is a place where each one
lives for the other; and all live for God." This is
Dharma simplified so that it can be easily put into
practice. Just do whatever you want keeping in mind the
Indweller in your heart and offer everything to Him - that
automatically becomes Dharma.
"My Krishna is
Suffering!"
When Krishna was suffering
from a headache He asked for dust from the feet of His
devotees to cure it. There were intellectuals and scholars
who recoiled at the possible blasphemy - but the Gopikas did
not listen to this. They said, "My Krishna is suffering! All
that I want is just to carry this dust and to place it
lovingly on His head!"
The scholars argued with them
saying, "How dare you do this? It is sinful? You will end up
in hell for all the remainder of your lives for having done
such a thing!" But the Gopikas replied "We don't mind
spending the rest of our lives in hell! But if it gives a
moment of joy to our beloved Krishna, that is enough!"
What can be greater Dharma than pleasing
God?
Top
Marks From God!
Once it so happened that the
examinations in the Institute were going on. A boy who was
on his way to the examinations hall found an old woman who
had met with an accident lying in a pool of blood! Not
knowing what to do, He prayed to the Lord within His heart;
He prayed to His Dearest Swami. He then took the lady to the
General Hospital and made sure that she received treatment.
He then ran to the examination centre. By then, most of the
time which was allotted for writing the paper had elapsed.
He wrote whatever he could for the paper and then went to
the Mandir. That day Bhagavan called him and said: "Good
boy! You will get top marks!" Needless to say, that
boy got top marks!
One's Own
Heart…The Simplest Guide
Thus, to the question "What is
Dharma?" there arises the simplest of answers.
Follow whatever pleases the Lord most. If
one ponders what is the means by which the most complicated
dilemma of Dharma can be understood, it can
be realised that the devotee's own heart is the simplest of
guides.
PEACE
When one practises Dharma
it leads to the next level of the Human Values…Peace. When
one practises Dharma to the extent that he
surrenders himself totally at the Lotus Feet of his Lord…
Sarva Dharman Parityajna Mam
Ekam Saranam Vraja
Aham Tvan Sarva
Papebhyo Moksha Yisyami Ma Suchah.
(One who surrenders to Me
forsaking all, I will take care of Him and even grant Him
liberation).
That Moksha, the
Peace that he feels, is the Peace which is mentioned as one
of the Four Pillars of Human Values.
The
Temple of a Thousand Bells!
A traveler once heard that under the
ocean lay buried a temple of a thousand bells. He was
gripped by a wish to find this temple and so he went to the
ocean. Day after day, he put his ear to the sands to listen
for the faintest tinkle of a bell. But he never came across
any sign of this. After searching for many days he finally
decided to give up. And on the last day he was standing on
the seashore one final time, just looking at the magnificent
ocean as the waves came crashing onto the shore; and he
gently lost himself in the symphony produced by the waves.
He slowly went deeper and deeper inside that experience.
And in that depth, he heard a
small bell ring. And then he heard two…and then three…and
then thousands of bells ringing! So much so that he did not
hear the voice of the ocean - he only heard thousands of
bells ringing all around him.
LOVE - The
Ultimate Purpose!
Similarly, when man loses himself totally
in what God is telling him…what he hears, and what he feels
is Peace - the Voice of the Lord. And that Peace leads him
to the Ultimate Love.
I
used to wonder, God is such a poor businessman! He does not
know how to barter! How could He barter a few handfuls of
puffed rice and shower boundless wealth on Sudamma? How
could He take a piece of cloth from Draupadi's sari and
shower an infinite number of saris when she needed help? How
could the Lord eat the berries eaten by Shabari? How could
the Lord eat banana peels which had been already partaken by
Vidura? I could see the material actions but there was a
hidden aspect behind - the aspect of Beautiful Love!
Once a T.V mechanic went to a particular devotee's house.
And as he was repairing the T.V., he saw the Bhagavan's
photograph there. He asked the owner, "Do you believe in
this person?" The devotee humbly said, "He is my Master…my
Guide, my Everything." The mechanic said, "Mine too!" "How
can you say that?" said the devotee. The repair man gave a
very simple answer, saying, "If I have ten rupees in my
pocket, I would see it to it that come what may this ten
becomes a hundred, the hundred into a thousand, and the
thousand into ten thousand.
But here is God Who is giving
away whatever He has! Sometimes in the form of a Super
Specialty Hospital, sometimes in the form of a Sathya Sai
Institute of Higher Learning, sometimes in the form of a
Water Supply Project…and His projects never end! One after
another, even before a project can come to an end another
project starts! It is impossible for an ordinary human being
to do all this - He can only be God, our Bhagavan! In what
way can one measure Thy Love!?
Saint Francis of Assisi once
said, "Oh Lord! All through the day I searcheth for You! And
all through the night, as I dream, You searcheth for me!
When, when shall this dream come to an end and I shall meet
You?"
There was once a boy who had
newly joined the hostel and had been brought up in luxury at
his home. He had never learnt the art of sweeping and one
day he found that it was his turn to sweep the room. With
great effort, and with whatever courage and talent he could
muster, he swept the room. At the end of it and with the
broom in one hand, and the dust-pan in the other, he went in
front of Bhagavan's photo and said, "Swami, I have
accomplished such a great task! Now give me my reward!"
But then, at the following
Darshan, Swami came right in front of him, materialized
Vibhuti and gave it into his hands saying, "This is the
reward for the great task that
you
accomplished this morning." Sweeping the room is such a
small thing; does it require any merit or any talent? But
what transpired was just Love!
Anything that can make us
become better human beings and a little more evolved, maybe
sweeping, maybe mopping, helping in some way - that is dear
to the Lord! And when He sees that, He does not mind to come
down to our level and reward us even for sweeping! That is
the Love of God!
After
Love, What Next?
Finally, what does this lead to? What
does Love lead to? Once, there was a disciple who was always
at his prayers. His Master took him to task "How long will
you keep praying like this?" The disciple replied, "Master,
it is you who taught me to pray like this! It is you who
taught me that I should lean on God as He will solve our
problems." The Master retorted,
"When will you learn that God
is not a person to lean on? He is the one who rids
us of our tendency to lean. He makes us realize that we are
no ordinary human beings. We too are Divine! The day you
learn that lesson, you will no longer lean."
Lord, I would like to close
with a prayer inspired by a story which Shri Ramakrishna
Parmahansa beautifully narrated. It is about a small salt
doll that tried to measure the depth of the ocean. It went
into the ocean and it found that it could measure nothing.
It just dissolved.
Let each one of us, who are
simply puppets, merge into the Fathomless Infinity, into the
Fathomless depths of Love that You are!
Jai Sai Ram!