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2. ALL THE WORLD IS A STAGE

Embodiments of Divine Love,

At one time Napoleon taught his soldiers, "Be clear and the rest will follow." He meant that pure feelings and actions will give one a pure heart. The whole world is a drama composed by God where every individual is an actor and God is the Director. Only the Director God creates the actors and designs all of the scenes. Whatever may happen is the manifestation of the Divine acts blossoming from the heart. Every human being is the spark of the Divine with Love as his natural trait and the goal of every living being and animal is to realize and manifest this Divinity. In this universal drama of life we are all acting to express Love; the end of transformation is to become the embodiment of Love. Prior to this Love is information and this information (knowledge) gathered throughout our lives culminates in individual spiritual transformation. Though everyone has been created out of Love, how unfortunate it is that man's responsibility and proper role to Love has been forgotten. In this drama everyone should play his role well, because if he does not, he will lose his reputation and respect. As everyone is a spark of the Divine, everyone should express the quality of Divine Love (Prema).

There is a "chinna katha," a small story. Once there was a very loving man swimming in a river. As there had been a heavy downpour, the water was flowing very turbulently. Suddenly he saw a scorpion floating in the water. Out of concern he gently picked it up and placed it in the palm of his hand. As it is the nature of the scorpion to bite, it bit the man and he quickly dropped it back into the river. But since he could not bear to see the scorpion drown, he again lifted it up to save it and again he was bitten. A cowherd boy came up to him and asked, "Why do you try to save it when its nature is to bite?." The kind man replied, "It may be the scorpion's nature to bite, but I am a human being and my nature is to Love. Why should I disregard my nature?."

See that you never change your nature and move away from Love. Love should never be converted into greed or anger. The whole world needs Love. At one time the Gopikas prayed to Lord Krishna:

"In this dry and parched land,
In order to grow the saplings of Love,
Send rains of Love. Let rivers of Love flow,
So we may reap the harvests of Love."

One's whole life should be full of Love. The true meaning of life is Love. Love is essential for life. The mind should be full of Love, the heart compassion.

True human life must have Truth and Love. Today man is dropping Love for pleasures because he is not understanding the nature of Love. Worldly life is temporary, momentary and ephemeral. Earlier the ladies sang, "I am God." Everything is the form of God and God has an infinite number of forms. When one has determination concerning this Truth, then Love will naturally flow. Right from birth to death man is searching for Bliss. A boy is happy if he passes and goes to the next class in school. But how long does this happiness last ? Soon he desires a first class standing in university, and when he achieves it he is happy. Then he wants to be a post-graduate. He achieves it and is happy, but for how long? He then desires and obtains a job and then a wife. After getting these he is happy, but for how long? Next he wants a son, then a daughter. He goes on struggling for happiness, desiring objects one after another until he retires. Then he wishes for peace. Thus happiness comes and goes; it is impermanent. All the worldly happiness is not equal to the spiritual happiness of the Atma.

What is Truth? Truth is evident when one expresses selfless Love. A life lived in Truth is Bliss. One's life should be full of Love. A heart without Love is poisonous. You may smile and say hello, but if it is not expressed from the heart, but only from the lips, it is not genuine or truthful. Today the world is behaving in such an artificial manner that all are only attracted by falsehood. For example, if you drop a handkerchief, someone retrieves it for you and you say thanks, it is often an artificial thanks. Only pure selfless Love is Divine Love; all other love is artificial. Some only pray to God during difficulties and when they have no difficulties they forget God. Spending our life in gratitude and giving something back is the proper role in life's drama where God is the Director and His nature is Love. This Divine drama should not only be an expression but also a propagation of Love and Truth. All this life that we think is real is only a dream and all the pleasures that one experiences and enjoys are not Truth.

There was once a poor man who had a wife and a son for whom he could not afford to provide. So he left home to earn money. In the meantime, unknown to him, his son died. One night he had a dream that he was a very rich man living in a large bungalow with five healthy sons, servants and all other amenities. After he awoke from the dream he couldn't find his bungalow and his five sons; he visited his wife who informed him of the loss of their only son. Now he thought, "Should I weep for the poverty and the loss of my only son that I am suffering from now, or should I weep for the loss of my five sons and riches in my dream?. Which of these is the Truth?" Neither are the Truth. "I" am the Truth. In the waking state I have problems and in the dream state I had no problems, but both are false. The Truth is God and "I" am that God. Past is past and it can never return and tomorrow is uncertain. Today is the present; but it is not the ordinary present, it is the omnipresent. Both the waking and dreaming states exist in the mind, but don't follow the mind as it is like a mad monkey. Don't follow the body; it is like a water bubble that may burst at any time. You are truly the form of Supreme Bliss, non-dual, eternal, pure, unsullied, the witness, beyond comprehension, attributeless. Sai is the Supreme Preceptor. God is the eternal witness, but such Divinity is forgotten today and man struggles for the fleeting things.

Who is near God? The one who follows God's commands and manifests Divine attributes. The secret is to have full faith in God; then one is a true human. The word for man is "manaci" (ma-na-ci). Man is the embodiment of Love. If we reverse the syllables in manaci, it becomes "ci- na- ma." Today's man is a cinema man; he is artificial and lacks compassion. But if he would follow the commands of God, everything else would follow. Though you have gold (God), from which you can make any type of jewellery (receive any Grace), you pray, "I want Bliss, Grace and Love." But all of these are ignorant utterances. The correct goal is in the prayer, "God, I want You." Everything is nothing without God. Everything material in the world is really nothing. Listening and experiencing this Truth is true Happiness and Love.

Start the day with Love,
Spend the day with Love,
End the day with Love,
This is the way to God.

But we are starting and ending the day with sadness and weeping instead. Napoleon has said, "Be clear and the rest will follow." Napoleon had great control over his mind. When one has mind control work can be transformed into worship. Do all acts, whether of service or in one's profession, to please God.

How does one experience God? You are wrong to say that you are the one who is working. For example, if you make a plan for a house, the idea has first come from the heart (God) and all that comes from the heart is Divine. You are not the doer, God is the Doer. When you are hungry you satisfy your hunger for yourself. When you love a child it is for your own satisfaction that you kiss him. So all works are done to satisfy your own self. This truth is not recognized. One should perform all acts only for God or Atma and not to satisfy the mind and the inert body. When a doctor performs an operation he uses a knife, but who did the operation? The knife? No! The doctor performed the operation with the knife as the instrument. Similarly, you are the Master (the Atma), so make proper use of your instruments the body, mind and intellect.

It is our good fortune to play a part in this drama designed by God; it is not possible for all to act in this play. In this play, every role is assigned by God; there is selection. Today in the worldly life, there is no selection, but only election. What happens in an election? You are not a candidate selected by God but you have to give a note (money) to get a vote. In selection God is in you as conscience. If we have been selected by God, we are most privileged to listen to Him. Love is the most important; there is nothing beyond Love. Everything is Love, so live in Love. Be happy; serve and worship God, then you will gain Eternal Bliss. None should put on castor oil faces. Smile, because Baba likes to see smiling faces. There are two types of smiles. One is a smile and the other is the loud laughter as in a cinema. You should not laugh loudly. The language of God is silence. Be pure of heart and steady in devotion. When the heart is full of Love, there is sweetness. The ladies sang, "Lord, Your Love gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by...." One should recognize that such sweetness cannot be found anywhere except in God. Put into practice all that is learnt in the texts or else that learning is useless. As all acts are performed through the body. Love should emanate through you. In a tumbler of water, the tumbler is only a container. Without the tumbler you cannot contain the water. Likewise, the body is like a tumbler full of Divine Love.

Jayadeva prayed, "O tongue, the one that knows the taste and talks of God is the only worthwhile one. O tongue, no one has your quality of patience. How carefully and peacefully you move amidst the enemies (thirty-two sharp teeth). Knowing the taste of both sweet and bitter things, you eat the sweet and throw out the bitter."

The tongue has the sacred quality of discrimination between what is good and bad, what should go in and what should stay out. It is has no associations and visits no one; it remains in the mouth. Some people go from house to house like rats and cats. The tongue should not accuse others and spend time in falsehood. Let only the name of God dance on the tongue. The tongue is "nataki," a dancer. What does nataki mean? It is a vehicle of maya or illusion. It dances continuously. How can one control natakfl Reverse the syllables to "kitana" (continuous singing). Continuously singing the glory of God with Love is the only way to reverse the illusion, not by force but by "source" (realizing the Atma). This is the role that one should play in the Drama to gain a very good reputation. One should deserve God's Love; when you are not accepted by God, you are cheap. God's Love is immense like a Divine mother's Love, so through your exemplary conduct and by following His commands He will submit Himself to you. God creates the devotee', and the devotee also creates God by constant remembrance. The devotee has no value without God and without the devotee there is no God. The unity of God and the devotee exalts the human quality and proves that God and the devotee are one and the same. This Sacred Truth is made unsacred today.

When we take birth we cry, "Koham? Koham?" (Who am I ?). When we die we should have the answer, "Soham" (I am He). In an exam when you write the correct answers you will get good results. Learn well, pass the grades, earn the degrees, and then God will claim, "You are Mine." When God says this it is our greatest fortune. In order to safeguard this fortune, think of God continuously and sing His name with Love.

Swami ended His Discourse by singing, "Prema Mudita Manase Kaho, Rama, Rama..."

April 7, 1996, Easter Sunday.

Chapter 3