This is the transcription
of the talk delivered by Sri B Arvind in the divine
presence of Bhagawan Baba on the 29th of July 2005.
Offering my Humble Pranaams at Bhagavan's Lotus Feet.
Beloved Bhagavan, esteemed elders, dear brothers and
sisters.
The Message of the Messiah
Once upon a time there was a
Messiah who had come to Earth. After spending a long period
on Earth, he decided that he would quit. So he went on top
of the mountain and told everyone present, "Listen, today I
am going to quit. I am no longer a Messiah." Hearing this,
the people were shocked. They said, "You can't quit! If you
leave us, how will we communicate with God? How can we keep
in touch with Him? So you can't do this!" He said, "Listen,
you're a fisherman; when you get tired, you don't go
fishing. You are a manager; when you get tired, you don't go
to work. I am a Messiah, and I don't want to do it anymore
so I am quitting."
The people could not convince
him. And so, they said, "Before you quit, please give us one
message from God. A message following which our lives will
be fulfilled – the greatest and the most wonderful lesson
that God has to give us."
The world always looks for
compactness, shortcuts. They asked this from the Messiah.
They said, "Before leaving, do this much for us." He said,
"So you want to know what God wants you to do?" They all
chorused, "Yes!"
"Okay, I will tell you. But are
you ready to follow it?"
They said, "Yes! We are ready to
follow it, even if it means giving up our lives,
even if it means giving up our wives, our children,
our husbands, our relations, everyone. We are
ready!"
He said: "Think again. Are you
ready?" They said, "Yes, even if it means going
through the fires of hell. Even if it means getting
crucified upside down. We are ready to undergo any
torture, any amount of sadness for God."
The Messiah
smiled and said, "Listen…God wants you all to be
happy!"
And there was
a stunned silence. |
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Brothers and sisters, we are
all ready to suffer for God. We are all ready to undergo
pain for God. But are we ready to be cheerful for God? To be
happy for God every moment of our lives? What is it that we
want in our lives? We want to be happy every moment. And
what is it that God wants from us? He wants us to be happy
every moment. Then where is the problem? Why are we not
happy every moment of our lives?
This has been answered in
various ways, in various scriptures, by various religions.
And I feel that being in the Sathya Sai Institute of Higher
Learning, this is the greatest gift we receive: the gift of
this higher learning; learning how to be always happy.
We are unhappy because of what
people term Maya – ignorance; and we have the
Jagad Guru, the Lord of Lords amongst us to help us
overcome this. Talking about ignorance, or Maya, I
am reminded of an interesting anecdote.
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Once upon a time there
was a fisherman who used to go to the beach and
throw out his fishing net. He would catch his fish
and return. In the ocean there were so many fish but
there was one particular fish that was never caught
in the net. All of its friends and relatives used to
get caught but not this fish. So one day, all the
other fish went to this fish and asked, "How is it
that you never get caught in the net?" The fish
explained, "When the fisherman comes, he throws his
net. At that time I swim close to his feet so I
don't get caught in the net."
To escape from this
net of Maya the only way is to take refuge
at the feet of the fisherman – our Lord! That is
what Jesus meant when he went to the fishermen and
said: "I am a fisher among men." That is what
Bhagavan also said in His very first discourse as a
tiny lad: "Manasa Bhajare Guru Charanam,
Dushtara Bhava Saagara Taranam."
At the Sri Sathya Sai
Institute of Higher Learning, Swami is our Mother,
our Father, our Guru, our Friend, our Everything:
Tvameva Mata Cha
Pita Tvameva,
Tvameva Bandhus Cha Sakha Tvameva;
Tvameva Vidya Dravinam Tvameva,
Tvameva Saravam Mama Deva Deva.
Mama Sai Deva. |
As You Think, So It Is
I used to wonder how should I
establish my rapport with my Master, my Guru, my Friend, my
Everything? And then what I did was this: (I am being very
honest and frank in laying before everybody what I did and
how wonderfully it worked.)
Though I could not see my
Bhagavan with me always, I imagined that my Bhagavan is with
me whether I eat my food, whether I sleep, whether I talk,
whether I am in the classroom. I imagined that Bhagavan is
with me and I would talk to Him. Anything I found
uninteresting I would tell him, "Swami, this is not
interesting for me." Anything I found interesting, I would
also tell Him.
In
fact, it became so much so that when walking on
the road I would say, "Bhagavan, You walk on
this side because vehicles are coming on that
side." At the same time I would say, "Swami, now
so many people are coming; please don't go and
start talking with them. Be only with me." (I
meant only in my imagination.) This was because
in the beginning I used to pray, "Bhagavan,
please don't leave my hand, always hold on to
me."
One night He came in my dream. He called
me and said, "You are praying in the wrong
manner. Remember, I will never leave your hand.
You don't leave My hand, okay?"
And so, this is how it went on. I imagined that
my Bhagavan is always walking with me. Because
this is what the Truth is: though we cannot see
Him, though we cannot hear Him, He is always
there. And so this went on everyday and I was
happy.
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All A Hallucination?
But then one day a small
problem came up. I told Bhagavan, "Bhagavan, see this is the
problem; it is not getting solved." And I wrote it down in a
letter to Him and I came to the Mandir. And I was so sure
that when Bhagavan came, He would take the letter from me.
So I was sitting there, and as Bhagavan passed by I held out
the letter. He merely passed by without even looking at me.
At that moment I felt crushed. I felt that all that I was
doing was nothing but hallucination!
Is it really true that
Bhagavan is with me or am I merely imagining Him? Are these
all my hallucinations? I was shaken. I said, "Then whom do I
tell this?" It was something which I didn't want to tell
anybody and I said, "I cannot even tell it to Bhagavan. Is
it that I am alone in this world? Do I really have nobody?"
And the next week was torture because I felt so lonely. I
felt helpless.
And then that night I had
another dream. In that dream it looked like the whole world
was out to strangle me. And when I was running, Bhagavan
came out and said, "Come with me." Even in the dream I was
still very angry with Bhagavan so I just walked with Him.
Then Bhagavan said, "Shall we go to the park?" I told Him,
"Why are you asking me? You do what you want!"
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Then Bhagavan said,
"No, no, no before you do anything you tell me. How
can I do anything without telling you? So shall we
go to the park?" I was surprised.
As we were walking
towards the park, Bhagavan said, "Arvind, I am
scared to walk on this side of the road. Can I walk
on that side?" When we reached the park, Bhagavan
said, "You sit here and block me, because you see
those people there? If they see me they will come
and talk to me. Then whom will you talk with?" And
at this moment I was shocked.
In the dream I said, "Bhagavan,
how do you know all this?" At that time Bhagavan put
on His angry face. He said, "Until four days ago you
used to tell me everything. You used to share and we
used to be so happy. For four days now you have been
so silent, I don't know why." And the dream ended
there. |
Bhagavan is always with us but
we may not be able to feel Him. If the radio set is out of
order, can you blame the transmitting tower? No. The radio
waves are always in the air. The tuning system is broken, so
we were not able to tune in and we blame the tower! This is
what happens.
It once happened that Bhagavan
came and mentioned to a senior teacher here, "So many people
are writing letters." Then the teacher said, "Bhagavan,
maybe they have some emergency – that's why." Bhagavan then
looked at Him and said: "What? Once they come under
Me do they have any emergencies? The very moment they come
to Me there is no emergency in their lives!" And
this is the greatest benefit we have. We have all come under
Sai.
Let me narrate one incident.
We always think that we have come to Puttaparthi. We have
come via rail, road, or airplane to Swami. Let me mention an
incident that will make us all realize how fortunate we are.
"Your Time Has Not Yet
Come"
There was a convener in Indore
named Mr. Mandalay. Every Thursday he would hold bhajans at
his house. He noticed that the number of devotees coming for
bhajans was increasing and many faces were unfamiliar. So he
went to those people and asked them, "Are you new devotees
for Bhagavan?" They said, "No. On the railway station there
is a Sanyasi who says, 'If you want peace of mind, go to
this house on Thursday and you will get it.' Listening to
this Mr. Mandalay was surprised. He decided he would go to
the railway station and find out for himself. He went there
and as he approached the Sanyasi, the Sanyasi told him,
"Stop! Don't come near me. If you want to come near me there
are two conditions. Condition one: you should not fall at my
feet. Condition two: I will fall at your feet."
Listening to this Mr.
Mandalay was stunned. Next the Sanyasi said when
Bhagavan visited North India He went to the ashram
of Swami Shivananda. He said, "I was a disciple of
Swami Shivananda. Swami Shivananda was my
Mentor, my Guide, my Guru, my Teacher. When Bhagavan
came, he ran and prostrated to him and spent one day
with Bhagavan.
"The next day,
we all asked our Guru, 'Who was this lad?'
[Swami was very young at that time.]
Swami
Shivananda proclaimed: "He is the Jagad Guru!"
After that the Sanyasi
said, "Whenever I meditated in my third eye region I
could always see Swami." But he never made any
effort to come to Puttaparthi.
One day, while
traveling to Madras, He saw a photo of Bhagavan and
he enquired about Him. Some people told him that
Swami is there at Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh. He
was overjoyed listening to this. |
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He asked them, "How can I get
to Puttaparthi?" They said, "Very simple. Catch a train to
Dharmavaram. From there, take a bus to Puttaparthi."
He said, "I took a
train to Dharmavaram. By the time I reached Dharmavaram it
was late at night so I decided to sleep and catch the bus to
Puttaparthi the next morning." But he said the next morning
"I woke up in a distant cave in the Himalayas." And then I
heard a Voice which told me "Bangaru, your time has not yet
come. You will have to wait."
He said, "Sir, I have not been
able to step on to the hallowed land of Puttaparthi, while
you visit every now and then. You have had the chance to
have Darshan, Sparshan and Sambhashan with
Bhagavan Baba. Tell me, should you fall at my feet or should
I fall at your feet?"
Brothers and sisters, let us
never forget what a great opportunity it is just to sit and
look at Bhagavan. Sages and saints of yore have prayed for
ages and they just get a glimpse. We get Darshan for hours
together. It's time that we realize our opportunity.
Let Our Lives Be
Bhagavan's Pride
I would like to conclude with
one thing an elder brother told me. I asked him, "Brother,
what do you think we should do so that our lives will not be
a waste?" He told me something which seemed very radical.
But I would love to share it with everyone because it is the
truth.
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He said, "Arvind,
after Bhagavan completes His Avatarhood, suppose
Lord Indra comes to Him and asks, "Bhagavan, you
have returned! How was Your mission?" And before
Bhagavan can answer Indra looks at Him and says, "Bhagavan,
see that Arvind there, he stayed with you for thirty
years but there is no change in him! What happened,
Bhagavan?"
And that brother told
me that should never happen. What should happen is
that if Indra comes and asks, "Bhagavan, how was the
Mission ?" Bhagavan should look and say, "You see
that Arvind there? He was a piece of junk when he
came to me. And when you see what he is today you
will understand My Mission."
Each of our lives
should enable Bhagavan to point out and say, "If you
are to see the quality of My Mission, look at the
life of this devotee. Look at the life of that
student." And our life must stand as testimony to
Bhagavan's Mission. |
Bhagavan, I have only one
prayer: "Give us that Love and let our Love for You grow
every moment. Let it grow stronger and stronger."
Because in this life there is
nothing, I stress nothing more important or of any greater
value than loving Bhagavan, loving God, with all one's
heart.
Jai Sai Ram!