I have been seeing your devotion and enthusiasm ever since I
entered your town this morning; and during the procession through
the streets, I could see the ardour of your Bhakthi (devotion).
Even now, I feel that that I could give you joy by merely sitting
here and giving Darshan (audience), for I can listen to your
silent prayers and you can sense My Prema (love). That is enough.
That gives Aanandham. You are born, you grow, you live and you
merge, all in Aanandham (bliss); that is the truth, though very
few know it. That is why I reminded you of it by addressing you as
Aanandha-swaruupulaara (embodiments of bliss). Your Swaruupa
(natural state) is Aanandham (bliss), however much you might have
ignored it.
Bhaarath has proclaimed this for ages; the Vedhas declare it;
the Shaasthras elaborate it; the Geetha and other sacred texts
describe how to experience this truth. Develop faith in the Aathma
and in the Shaasthras - they are the two eyes which will help you
to gain the vision. Do not let this chance go to waste by
clamouring for sitting space, causing confusion and disturbing
those who are engaged in listening. This is tragic: when good
things are spoken, you find it difficult to pay attention; but
when demeaning, distracting things are spoken, the ears are on the
alert. Well, listen quietly now and maintain this calm.
Plant the Seedling of Devotion in the Mind
Man should be the master of his behaviour; he should not be led
away by the impulse of the moment; he must be conscious always of
what is good for him. He should so carry on his daily tasks that
he does not make others suffer or suffer himself. That is the sign
of intelligent living. You should not give way to fits of anger or
grief or elation or despair. The confusion you exhibited now was
the result of Thaamasik (dark and dull) and Raajasik (emotional)
qualities. Be Saathwik, calm and unruffled and collected. The more
you develop charity for all beings, contrition at your own faults,
fear of wrong and fear of God - the more firmly established you
are in Shaanthi (peace).
The very name Bhaarath is derived from the two words, Bhagavaan
and Rathi, the attachment to God; that is why India has the role
of the "Teacher of the World." She is also known as the "Heart" of
humanity and revered as such by seekers. But how can those who are
starving feed others? It is your duty to sow and grow and store
and feed the world this great spiritual sustenance laid down in
the Vedhas and the Shaasthras.
In this spiritual sphere of mental peace and inner joy, the
responsibility for success or failure is entirely one's own. You
have no right to shift it on to others. The fire will go out if
the fuel is over; so stop feeding it with fuel. Do not add fuel to
the fire of the senses. Detach the mind from the temporary and
attach it to the eternal. The negative Shakthi (power) and the
positive Shakthi both together will give the light. Plant the
seedling of Bhakthi (devotion), namely, the preliminary exercise
of Naamasmarana (remembering the Lord's name), in the mind. That
will grow into a tree with the branches of virtue, service,
sacrifice, love, equanimity, fortitude and courage. You swallow
food, but you are not aware how that food is transformed into
energy, intelligence, emotion and health. In the same way, just
swallow this food for the spirit, this Naamasmarana, and watch how
it gets transmuted as virtue and the rest without your being aware
of it.
The real Test of Theism
Raavana discovered that Raama and Kaama cannot coexist in the
mind. Develop steadiness in the recitation of the name of God and
in the worth of that name. Then, even if the whole world says, "Do
evil," you will refuse to obey; your system itself will revolt
against it. And even if the whole world asks you to desist, you
will insist on doing the right. You have to cultivate four types
of strength: Strength of body, intellect, wisdom and conduct. Then
you become unshakeable; you are on the path of spiritual victory.
Once a person came to Me and argued that there was no God and
he was not prepared to believe in one. Well. I asked him, "Have
you faith at least in yourself? Which is your self? Your self is
God. You have faith in your judgement, your intelligence, your
ability, because God within you tells you not to falter or fear.
That assurance wells from within, from your basic truth, which is
otherwise called God. It does not matter if you do not call it
God; it is enough if you believe in Yourself; that is the real
test of theism," I told him.
I say the same thing to you also. The body is the temple of
God; in every body, God is installed, whether the owner of the
body recognises it or not. It is God that inspires you to good
acts, that warns you against the bad. Listen to that voice. Obey
that voice and you will not come to any harm. A lady wept that her
necklace was lost or stolen; she searched everywhere and become
inconsolably sad. Then, when she passed across a mirror, she found
the lost necklace around her neck. It was there all the time.
Similarly, God is there, as the inner dweller whether you know it
or not.
Two Ways of remembering the Lord's Name
Love is of three kinds: Swaartha or self-centred, which like a
bulb, illumines just a small room; Anyonya or mutual, which like
the moonlight spreads wider but is not clearer; and Paraartha or
other-centred, which like the sunlight is all pervasive and clear.
Cultivate the third type of love; that will save you. For all the
service that you do to others through that love is in fact service
done to yourself. It is not the others that you help, it is
yourself that is helped, remember.
You might have heard Me speak about Naamasmarana and its
fruits; how it slowly changes character and modifies conduct and
mellows you and takes you nearer the goal. Well, there are two
ways of doing this: with a Japamaala (rosary), turning the beads
automatically around, just as mechanically and as punctually and
as carefully as any other routine act of daily life; or, as it
ought to be done - repeating the name, irrespective of the target
number, dwelling deep on the form it represents and on the divine
attributes connoted by it, tasting It, revelling in It, enjoying
the contexts and associations of the name, relishing its
sweetness, lost in its music. Of course, you will be hankering
after the taste of the name only when you are gnawed by the pangs
of hunger. When you suffer from constipation as a consequence of
overindulgence in worldly affairs, you cannot relish the name or
the form.
The mind is the mischief-maker; it jumps from doubt to doubt;
it puts obstacles in the way. It weaves a net and gets entangled
in it. It is ever discontented; it runs after a hundred things and
away from another hundred. It is like a driver who drives the car
with the master in it, wherever his fancy takes him. So take up
the task of training it into an obedient servant; it is educable,
if only you know how to do it. Place before it things more tasty
and it will hanker only for those. Once it realises the value of
Naamasmarana, it will adhere to that method of getting peace and
joy. So start it now. That is My Aajna (command) to you today.