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Kodaikanal Diary

16th May, 2014

Divine Discourse By Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

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Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, in His Light Body, visited Kodaikanal, a famous hill-station in the state of Tamil Nadu, India from 12-20th May, 2014. Over 100 students and guests accompanied Him. Every day, Swami spoke on various topics. Below is the transcript of Bhagawan’s Divine Discourse given on the 5th day of the Retreat, on 16th May, 2014.

(Referring to a Sai alumnus who spoke earlier). This boy was going through a tremendous dilemma. He was under tremendous pressure from a big business group. They were trying to ask him to fight a case for them which was not right, which was not dharmic. They were ready to offer him any amount of money to fight that case, but he flatly refused to fight because he said, “Swami would not approve of it. I don’t care about the money that would come, but this is something that Swami just would not like. I will not take part in unrighteousness.”

Generally, in this profession, all are liars only, no lawyers. But he is a lawyer. Swami is proud to say that he was a student of Bhagawan and is now a Trustee of the Sri Sathya Sai Saraswati Education Trust. He also helps the Trust with all the legal affairs. He has been an extremely useful and purposeful instrument of Bhagawan in this Mission of Education.

Not only that, his wife is also a lawyer. She also advised him, “We should never take up anything that is not righteous, which Swami would not approve of. We may have pleasure in the immediate run, but in the long run, we will definitely suffer because we would have hurt Swami.”

Such husbands and wives are the people who really can establish dharma. Dharma is not a pill. If you pop in the pill and drink some water, dharma won’t be established inside you. There is no shortcut to establishing dharma.

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One has to go through the grind of honesty, be willing to face whatever obstacles that come in one’s way, and be confident that dharmo rakshati rakshitah – the one who protects dharma is protected by dharma.

The gentlemen who was right here, he had given up everything. From those big mansions, big cars, he came down to a small house, and no vehicle also to move around. But he did not give up Swami. He always said that, “You are our biggest treasure.” Between nidhi (wealth) and sannidhi (Divine proximity), he always preferred to have sannidhi.

If you have the Lord with you, you also have the entire creation with you. Don’t go behind the creation and miss out on the Lord. When God is there with you, you have everything there with you. That, boys should establish in their hearts with firm faith.

There are many boys who become doctors and lawyers and engineers and businessmen, but if they don’t follow Swami’s teachings and values, then Swami will not have any place for them in His heart. If you want to find a place in Swami’s heart, it is important that you follow Swami’s values, Swami’s words. It is very easy to have Swami in your heart, but a real devotee is the one who is in the heart of Swami. You have to find a place in Swami’s heart by following His words. I am no different from My words. If you want Me, you have to follow My teachings. That is the shortcut.

Today, in the afternoon, Swami made everybody wait for a very, very long time because He was speaking to our young students from the pre-University section as well as many students from the Centre for Human Excellence, which is opening shortly, in the month of June.

There are many boys who are from very, very poor backgrounds. There are many students who do not even have their parents.

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Swami told them very boldly, “If anyone asks you, ‘Where is your father? Where is your mother?’ beat your chest and say it loudly, ‘Swami is my mother! Swami is my father!’” (Applause)

Swami said He is going to take care of all of their education and even their hostel expenses. They don’t have to pay one rupee for their entire education when they are studying in Sathya Sai School. Not one naya paisa, they don’t have to spend. They don’t even have to buy their toothbrush and toothpaste and soap! Everything will be given by the institution only. Are you happy, boys who came in the afternoon? (Boys respond, “Yes, Swami!”)

Tomorrow morning we are going for a picnic to a spot which is very nearby. Picnic doesn’t mean that you can go around running everywhere. You have to behave yourself and do what the elders are saying. After finishing breakfast, everybody should be ready by 10 o’clock. We will go in buses. We will have our lunch at the picnic spot, and then, after that, we will come back.

Vijay Sai is going to dance and entertain everybody. (Laughter) Because he is the Program Coordinator. What will you do, Bharatanatyam or Kuchipudi? (More Laughter) Not Vijay Sai. Where is the dancer? Gaurav. There is a boy. He only has his mother looking after him and Swami has taken over all his responsibility on His shoulders. What dance will you do tomorrow? (Boy responds, “Bharatanatyam.”) He has learned Bharatanatyam. He is going to perform for us tomorrow a dance, during the picnic.

Is there anyone else interested in dancing there? Where is Tigrett? (Laughter) You were dancing all morning. Why was he dancing all morning? Did you see the coins? (Mr. Tigrett had earlier displayed the golden coins which Bhagawan had given him.) Have you got back all the coins? (Mr. Tigrett responds, “Yes, Swami.”) You got all the coins back, yes?

I have told Vijay Sai to keep the program very simple.

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For the elders, there should be a program that is useful and entertaining for the elders. For children, there should be a different program. For the students, there should be a different program. So we all can sit together and participate and we can all have a good time there, during the picnic.

For many years, Swami has not ventured out on a picnic, but because of the prayers of the devotees who have organized this in their house, He is going there. Swami had promised that He will come to their home and eat lunch, which somehow could not happen when Swami was earlier coming to Kodaikanal. But this time, Swami is going to go and have meals and lunch at their home.

Another fifteen minutes. Are there any questions?

Student: Swami, what should we practice to get purity of the heart?

Swami: What is your name?

Student: Sriranga.

Swami: What is your age?

Student: Fifteen.

Swami: How many fifteen year old students would ask such a question? Very rare. Very rare. Nachiketas asked such questions to Yama (the God of Death). But nobody asks such questions.

Purity is already there in the heart. Just like the grain of rice is covered by the chaff, chaff covers the purity, that is, the pure grain of rice. If you want to eat the grain of rice, you have to remove the chaff, the cover. If you want to eat a banana, you have to remove the peel. If you want to eat an orange also, you have to remove the peel.

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Purity is always there in the heart. The heart is always pure, but it gets covered by desires. Desires makes it impure. What kind of desires? The bitter rind around the orange is like the bitter desires you have. If you think of ‘I’, ‘I’, for yourself, then that is the bitter rind, that is the bitter desire. That makes the purity unavailable to you. If you remove that bitter desire of selfishness, you will immediately be able to access the purity.

So next time when you go to Ganesha, don’t tell Him, “Ganesha, let me top in my mathematics exam.” You should say, “Let all of us top in our mathematics exam!”

How much did you score in mathematics?

Student: 99.

Swami: 99! (Applause) If you think about all of you together, then there will be purity. If you think only of yourself, that is what is impurity.

Student: Swami, in Christian society, if anybody decides to serve society and dedicate their life, they celebrate the occasion, Swami. Why is it that in Hindu society, if anybody decides such a thing, why don’t they take it in the right spirit, Swami?

Swami: What is your age?

Student: Sixteen years.

Swami: Why are you asking this question? The answer is again in the first question – purity of heart. The parents have to be pure. They should not have selfish desires, that the child is only to serve me and my family, because he is born for me.

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Children are born to you. They are not born because of you. They have their own karma. They have their own praapthi1, because of which they take birth in a particular family.

In Christian society, they believe in service more than selfishness. This is the ideal of Jesus Christ, who said that, “We have to love our neighbours. We have to love our enemies, and we should not only think about ourselves.”

But Hindu dharma went one more step beyond that, that everything is brahma2.

We are all selfish. The selfishness is the cover that does not allow you to see the purity. If parents become a little more selfless and think that, “Son is not only for us, but also for society,” then we will also celebrate such an occasion.

According to the Hindu shaastras, all people have to go through the four ashrama-dharmas3. One is brahmacharya, that is, you spend your time - like all of you are spending - getting your education. Better you only think of God and your education.

After that comes gruhastha-dharma, like how, just now Venkatesh spoke. He is following the gruhastha-dharma now. He is having his family, but he is also doing his duty in a dharmic way.

After gruhastha-dharma comes sannyaasa. It means, you should be able to detach yourself from your family obligations and spend your time serving society. And finally, there is something called vaana-prastha dharma, that is, you detach yourself from society and only meditate on God and finally give up your life there, for contemplation of God. One has to follow all these four things. These are the four types of lives one has to live in a single life.

Generally, parents ask, “Why do you not want to follow gruhastha-dharma? Why do you not want to get into a family?”                                                             1 Deservedness 2 The Unchanging Reality, God. 3 Four Stages of Life

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At that time, you have to answer, “Okay. If our shaastras say, I am ready to follow the gruhastha-dharma and at the age of 25, I am ready to get into a family. But tell me, what is your age?” And if the parent replies, “My age is 55 or 60,” you tell them, “You also follow your dharma. You should be in sannyaasa. Detach yourself.”

We should not pick the philosophy to favour us. If you teach your children, you have to practice it first. If you are following sannyaasa-dharma, then you should tell your child to follow gruhastha-dharma. But because of our own selfishness, all of our life we want to follow only gruhastha-dharma. We don’t want to cross over that. That is why, because of selfishness, we don’t celebrate in our culture.

The truth is that every time we cross a particular dharma into the next, there has to be a celebration. However, it is not necessary that for the sake of an individual, a family can be sacrificed. For the sake of a family, an individual can be sacrificed. For the sake of society, family can be sacrificed. For the sake of the nation, society can be sacrificed. For the sake of the world, a nation can be sacrificed. And for the sake of God, even the world can be sacrificed.

But all are not capable of leading such a life. One has to prepare oneself. It also has to come from poorva-janma-samskaaras4. One has to evaluate oneself and then decide whether one can take this path.

Married life is like a bicycle. It is not easiest to ride. Unmarried life is like a unicycle. Very difficult to balance. You can fall anytime if your concentration or focus is disturbed. Therefore, before taking up a life like this, either you should have a strong inner urge or you should have the command of a guru. In only these two cases should one venture out in these kind of rough seas. Unicycle is always more difficult than a bicycle.

                                                            4 Latent impressions of previous births. 

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For those who think that bicycle is the way, they may take the bicycle. For those who want the unicycle, they may take the unicycle. It depends on their strength.

But parents have to encourage children to serve the society. For serving society, one need not remain a bachelor. According to Me, simply remaining unmarried does not constitute a thyaaga-jeevi5. The jeevi who lives with a sense of thyaaga is a thyaaga-jeevi. He may be a married man or an unmarried man. It does not matter. She may be a married woman or may be a spinster. It does not matter. As long as the feeling of thyaaga, is there, for Swami, he or she is the thyaaga-jeevi.

‘Thyaagaineke amruthatvam-aanashuh’ - the way to immortality is only through sacrifice. All should develop this feeling. Not think too selfishly, but think of society also.

There is one more question.

Student: Swami, it is not only my question, but it is the question of most of the people over here. We have been most blessed souls to be in Your Divine Presence, Swami. It is our prayer to You that You may please let us know how we can stay in Your Divine Presence, not only in this life, but in the coming lives too. In this life, we are with you at this very moment. Even though I wasn’t with you in the physical state, I am right now with you in the Divine state, or in the Subtle Form. So, can you please let us all know how we can all be with You in the next life. There are many people who have not gotten the opportunity of staying with You in this life. So, including them, and including all of us present here, can you please let us know how we can continue to stay with You in the coming lives?

Swami: Why are you worried about the coming life? (Laughter) Present is omnipresent. Enjoy the present.

                                                            5 One who has sacrificed their life to service. 

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If there are no mango trees in the garden, how do you expect to get mangoes? You have to plant the seed in the soil, nurture it, have patience to let it grow and become a tree. Only then can you eat mangoes.

Present is like the seed sown. Future is like the mango which is grown. We have to work today, sow the seeds of good deeds. Manasyekam, vachasyekam, karmanyekam - unity of thought, word, deed. Sow that seed today. It will automatically lead to the fruits of purity and Divinity. You have to make your present Omnipresent, that is, you have to work in your present. Don’t worry about your past or the future.

Shankaracharya said, “Kuru punyam-aho-rathram,” - morning to evening, one should engage in the activities of punyam, or good activities. This will automatically bear fruit in the future. Don’t worry about the future. If you have worked in your present rightly, automatically your future will be Divine.

Student: So many people are saying we need world peace, yet so many people are still fighting. There have been so many Avatars that have come to the world to help spread love and peace, but how can we really know how the whole Earth is filled with love and peace, and we are all safe?

Swami: Where are you from?

Student: I am from Bangalore.

Swami: Which class are you in?

Student: I am going to fifth.

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Swami: He is a son of one of our devotees who has come at Swami’s invitation to Kodaikanal today.

What is peace? Peace is a feeling within. It is not a feeling without. When you are at peace, the whole world will be at peace. Again going back to the same question. Mama dharma6. If you follow your dharma, if everybody starts following their dharma, there is no question of police; there is no question of military; there is no question of having governments and politicians, because everybody will be following their dharma. The problem is, all do not follow their dharma. If a teacher teaches well, if a businessman does his business righteously, if a politician governs the country in the right way, then there is no question of having wars, there is no question of having destruction. But, because we don’t follow our dharma, that is why we land up in these troubles.

All the Avatars have come to establish dharma. What is that dharma? It is the dharma of your heart. What is the dharma of the heart? The dharma of the heart is to establish God within itself. If people become Godly, they become spiritual, then they will not be selfish. Because people don’t take to proper spirituality, it becomes difficult.

If you go inside a dark room with a small lamp, you cannot see the whole room. But wherever you take the lamp, you will be able to see that portion correctly.

If you have peace within, wherever you go around society, you will find peace around you. You can’t expect the whole society to be peaceful. But if you develop that dharma and peace within, wherever you move around, you will spread that peace to the others also.

Even when Swami came, He established peace at least in these many hearts, who are sitting here. If you take the responsibility of spreading peace, then you yourselves can change the world into a world full of peace and love.

                                                            6 Dharma of the individual self. 

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Avatar had come. He has done His duty. Now it is your turn to do your duty. (Applause)

No questions from the ladies? (Silence) In only two cases do people not ask questions: One, they think they are too intelligent. The other, they think the teacher is not so intelligent. (Laughter)

Devotee: Swami, before, darshan was meditation. Now, meditation is darshan. We have been trying, through meditation, but because of our own faults and distractions, we can’t stick to meditation. Please give a simple way of meditation through which we can find You within.

Swami: Meditation is already simple! You don’t need a simple way to do meditation. (Laughter)

You have pancha-karmendriyas7 and pancha-gyaanendriyas8. Once you shut off all these ten, that is meditation.

Suppose you want the room inside to be peaceful. What are you going to do? There is noise outside. You will close all the doors and windows, so that the noise outside doesn’t come inside.

Meditation is the same, where you can cut off all the external noise. Then you will hear the Voice within.

You are in a market. Your friend calls you on your phone. Because of a lot of auto-rickshaws, trucks, buses, you are not able to hear what he is speaking on the phone. What do you do? You take the phone and go to a quiet corner, so that you can hear clearly.

All you have to do is to go into that quiet corner, both physically and mentally. Karmendriyas and gyaanendriyas. Karmendriyas relate to the physical world. Gyaanendriyas refer to the mind. If you can, for a moment, stop using all these ten, then you will go into the state of meditation. You have to find a quiet corner.                                                             7 The five external senses of perception: smelling, tasting, seeing, touching, and hearing. 8 The five internal senses of expression: eliminating, reproducing, moving, grasping, and speaking. 

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If you want God to reflect in your heart, the water of the lake has to be still and also be clear. It takes time. Thought is like a stone. If you throw a thought inside the water, the water will again become disturbed and muddy. You have to then have patience to wait for the mud to settle down and the water to calm down.

Most people who take to meditation expect results in a jiffy. They don’t have the patience to wait for the mud to settle and the water to calm down. They get up, saying, “I tried enough, and I’m not getting any results.” If you are not succeeding, it only means that you have not tried enough.

Have purity when you want to see and feel God within, and have the patience to wait for the results. Even if you don’t get results after a long wait, persevere and try again. If you keep trying it again and again, you will become successful. But it takes time.

Nobody learns to ride a bicycle in a single attempt. It requires constant support. What happens when you learn to ride a bicycle? Your father holds you from behind so that you don’t go and fall. That is the role of a guru in meditation. If you follow the guru’s words, what Swami is telling just now, of shutting off yourself from the physical as well as mental senses, then it will help you become better. It is easy to shut ourselves off from the physical senses. But it is very difficult to close the doors of the mind. Even if a little window is open, immediately your mind comes in. This thoughtless state takes time - not one day, not ten days, not ten years, not ten births - even one hundred births, it may take!

When Dhruva went to pray to Lord Narayana in the forest, Narada came and disturbed him in all possible ways, because he wanted to test whether Dhruva was really that strong where he could reach that stage to have a vision of the Lord. After many, many months of penance, Dhruva was not disturbed at all. Narada was highly disturbed, though.

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He went to Narayana and said, “He is only a five year old boy! How can he have such mental strength, which even I do not have after serving you for so many years?”

Narayana said, “This is not Dhruva’s first birth. He has done this for hundreds of birth, because of which, today he is so mentally strong.”

There is a big stone. Twenty times, a young man comes and hits the stone. It does not break. He gives up and goes away. Then an old man comes and strikes the stone. It immediately breaks. An onlooker, who has not seen the young man, might think the old man is so powerful, that with one strike, he has broken the stone. That is not the truth.

If you see people who have reached that state of mental calmness, mental purity, it is not because of this birth. So, don’t jump into conclusions by looking at the physical age. It could be an effort which has been put in for many, many births before. Have the patience, have the perseverance and the purity, and you shall definitely attain it.

You should never, never give up till you get what you want. Either you should perish, or the Lord should bestow the boon on you. The one who leaves it halfway through and runs away is not a devotee.

Devotee: Anantha-koti9 salutations, Swami, at Your lotus feet. Swami, you just put this thought, the way you explained.

Swami, we all keep saying - senior devotees, kids - that you keep testing us. We say it, probably, out of our ignorance. I feel, from the bottom of my heart, where You reside, that You would never test us. You only find reasons to bring us closer to You, because we distance You from ourselves very often.

                                                            9 Tens of millions 

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I just want You to throw light on that, because I firmly believe You never test, because there is nothing to test. You are us and we are You.

Swami: At one level, yes, there is nothing called test. But at another level, there are tests. If you want to reach the tenth grade and you are in the first grade, can you simply go to the tenth grade? Whatever you do, you may not go. Even if you pay money and leave the first grade, you will learn nothing.

Nowadays, a lot of people buy degrees. They buy education. They are not actually studying. But, for reaching the tenth grade, you have to go through first, second, then third, to fourth, fifth, and so on. If you try to jump there directly, you will fall and break your legs.

Everything has to be learned gradually. But unless you have learned it, there is no point in giving you more. If you do not know the alphabet, you cannot make a word. If you cannot make a word, you cannot make a phrase. If you cannot make phrases, you cannot make a sentence. If you cannot make a sentence, you cannot make a paragraph. If you cannot make a paragraph, you cannot tell a story.

These are small steps in life. Giving up everything, one fine day, will not happen. Giving up small, small things every day will help you give up everything one fine day. But before Swami gives you the Ultimate, He is going to shake the nail and see how sound it is.

Don’t you do that? If you buy an expensive piece of display, and you hammer a nail to the wall, you will wait, shake and then only put that piece. Else, the piece might fall and break into pieces.

So, yes, at every step, Swami comes back and checks if the nail is strong enough. Can I hang My portrait, or shall I wait for some more time?

I will make the boys understand it very simply. If you have to learn multiplication, first you have to know addition. You have to know subtraction. But before that, you have to know about numbers.

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If you don’t know about numbers, there is no point in teaching you about addition or subtraction, or multiplication or division. There is no point in that, because you will fail then. You will not be able to enjoy your education.

So what Swami does, is that at every step He comes and checks. What He has taught you, have you learned that? If you have learned that, then He will give you the next lesson. But these are little, little tests.

If the teacher doesn’t want to promote you to the next class without testing, why should Swami promote you? There are tests.

Devotee: Thank you, Swami.

Swami: But there are people who can get double promotion by learning hard.

All other questions we will take up tomorrow because it is late for dinner. All have to go take good rest and be there for the picnic tomorrow. Tomorrow evening we will have some more question answer sessions.

Are you happy here in Kodaikanal, boys? You are only a little happy because you don’t have enough space to sleep. Next year, we will make a building near the toilets where you all can go and stay there. But there will be a lot of space there.

Boys: Send the guests there.

Swami: How selfish you are! (Laughter) Right now I taught you all about selflessness. They are telling, “Send the guests there!” (Loud laughter)

That is not selfishness. That is love. They want to be closer to Swami and that is why they are willing to put up with all this discomfort. Very happy.