Thou Art That..a Divine Reminder

A blissful evening at His Feet...Divine Discourse...Speeches

Posted at 12:20 Hrs. IST on 21st July 2009

True to the famous Bible saying, "The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He casts down, He also lifts high", in Prasanthi Nilayam, Bhagawan most unexpectedly makes what seem to be an ordinary day into a momentous day and He has His own wherewithal, supported by His Divine logic to bring in such an unexpected surprise, which could not be perceived by man’s blurred myopic vision.  

19th July 2009, the day was Arudra, the auspicious Shivarathri of the Month, and the day was made most momentous when Bhagawan chose to deliver yet another Divine Discourse, off the cuff from the devotee’s point of view, dwelling on the most intricate of the spiritual subjects, Atma, Aham Brahmasmi, and Tat Twam Asi.

The surprise call came when Bhajan was on in full swing, as Bhagawan asked His translator Mr. Anil Kumar to address the concourse of devotees. Though caught unaware, Anil Kumar in a classic rhetoric demo gave a scintillating speech describing the being Sathya Sai Baba in “His own words”, dwelling on the higher spiritual principles Thatwam Asi and Aham Brahmasmi, before concluding talking on the significance of His Divine Darshan and greater importance of working towards nation building.

Starting off, quoting scriptural texts, Anil Kumar highlighted the purpose of Divine Incarnation saying that God comes down in human form to demonstrate the entire humanity as to how to be ideal and how to lead an exemplary life;  awakening and kindling the latent divinity in us happens to be the main objective of Divine incarnation.

 Illustrating beautiful examples from Bhagawan’s own Divine Discourses, he reiterated Bhagawan’s own teaching, saying that man has to realize that he is basically Divine. Referring to the greater spiritual formula, Tat Twam Asi, Anil Kumar dwelt upon Bhagawan’s Divine Discourse in Brindavan delivered way back  in 1972 wherein Bhagawan spoke about the subject “Who is Sai Baba?” Sa (+) Amba (+) Shiva… Sa (Divine) (+) I (Mother) (+) Baba (Father) is Tat Twam Asi, that is SaiBaba… Similarly, when we reverse the term SAI into IAS it gives a beautiful definition, I (Aham) (+) S (Brahma) (+) A (Asi), meaning Aham Brahmasmi… I am Brahman… The Name Sathya has all the four Vedas in it, SA stands for Saama Veda, A stands for Athavana Veda, Ya stands for Yajur Veda and Sathya itself is Rigveda…

Quoting Bhagawan about His Avataric Mission Statement, Anil Kumar urged the vast concourse of devotees that, none of us are here on our own…it is He who has brought all of us here…it is merely His Will, mercy and compassion that brought all of us here…Bhagawan can accomplish anything and everything…He has come with a Divine Mission…He has come to help us in attaining liberation, for fulfillment of our own devotion, to make proper use of our Shakthi by making all of us worthy instruments in His Mission. We need to develop equanimity, composure, equal mindedness…pleasure and pains are two sides of the same coin, You cannot lead your life keeping pain on one side and pleasure on the other…both exists together…pleasure is an interval between two pains, said Anil Kumar.

All the Vedas, all the Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita, all scriptures, The Holy Bible, and all other holy texts, …all of them are said in a simple, practical and easiest style by Bhagawan alone, …such that we practise, live, breath religion and find out our identity THATWAM ASI….declared Anil Kumar amidst thunderous applause. … All that we read in the stories, epics are realities today, reenacted today in His presence; realisation of the divinity within is the climax of spiritual pursuit…

With Reference to Divine Darshan, Anil Kumar explained, why some are having some experiences during darshan and some others not…we need to be the correct medium to pass the energy…His darshan is the Divine Energy…we are able to find our long lost self in Bhagawan during darshan…waiting for Bhagawan is meditation…having darshan of Bhagawan is receiving Divine energy…constant thought of Bhagawan is contemplation… we are able to find all these three in one, during Bhagawan’s Divine Darshan.

What would have happened to all of us, our lives, had we not been here…had we not seen or experienced Bhagawan? It is His compassion…deservedness that is granted, conferred upon us that enabled us to be here in His Divine Presence. He wants total development of our personality; being citizens of our country we need to be responsible; true heirs of United India (Akhanda Bharatha)…We need to love and work for our country; patriotism and love of our country is the hallmark of our lives...mother land is Divine…mother is Divine…mother tongue is Divine…Let’s all submit ourselves at the Lotus Feet of our Veda Matha, Loka Matha, Sai Matha...declared Anil Kumar ending his inspiring rhetoric excellence.

This was followed by a speech by former Vice Chancellor S.V.Giri…Catching up from Anil Kumar’s speech, Mr. Giri began with Tat Twam Asi divulging into the great good fortune that all (students) are fortunate to receive in His Divine Presence… Sitting close by, in a reverential mood, we are all prepared to listen and that is the great good fortune that all have been blessed with in Prasanthi Nilayam in His Divine Presence… absolute communion by simply being in His Presence. Quoting the illustrious story of Nachiketas who persistently aspired for the highest knowledge, Mr. Giri urged the students to attain mind control, an absolute necessity. What is pleasant to you at the moment is not what we should be looking for; but the more righteous should be aimed at; do not look for immediate pleasurable things, commit yourself to higher goals and perseverance coupled with patience will bring desired results, said the speaker exhorting to students to follow suit…  Making a mention of Bhagawan’s often quoted subject, Unity, Purity and Divinity, Mr. Giri touched upon another favourite subject quite often heard in Prasanthi Nilayam, Love for God, Fear of Sin and Morality in Society, urging the students that once we have the basic purity achieved by discharging our duties in proper spirit, understanding the basic unity in the cosmos, we will finally end up attaining Divinity. Referring to the millions and millions who have been yearning to come over to Prasanthi Nilayam, without success, the speaker stressed on the greater importance of being in His Divine Presence. Mr. Giri concluded with few words on the supreme significance of Divine Darshan being conferred upon to all in Prasanthi Nilayam.

This was followed by Sathya Sai Speaks, an exhilarating Divine Discourse dwelling upon the greater principles of Atma and how Love for God is essential to understand and experience the bliss of Supreme Atma.

Gist of Divine Discourse:
Everyone, time and again ask me about the true nature of Atma; but it is not possible for everyone to understand the true nature of Atma. The nature and the glory of the Atma are beautifully expounded in the Upanishads. In fact, we find better exposition of the Atma in the Upanishads than in the Vedas. The Atma is extolled in fine phrases like Shabda Brahmamayi (embodiment of primordial sound), Characharamayi (embodiment of dynamism), Jyothirmayi (embodiment of Illumination) etc…
Atma is the source of everything. It is the fountainhead from which everything emanates. Atma is the fundamental source from which the principle of Buddhi, Manas, Chitta, Viveka, Vijnana etc. , take their origin.

Atma is not the combination of two syllables. It is essentially the embodiment of the principle of unity, which manifests in utterances like “All are one; be alike to everyone”. Atma is the Eternal Truth, which is the source, the sustenance and mergence.

The other names for Atma are “Om”, “Pranava”, “Brahman”, which expresses the formless aspect of Divinity, whereas Rama, Krishna, Shiva are manifestation of Divinity in name and form. Man has to engage himself in sadhana to grasp and experience Divinity. He has to go through the sadhana of concentration, contemplation and meditation. Concentration leads to contemplation and contemplation in its turn leads to meditation. One cannot engage Himself in meditation in the first attempt itself. You cannot meditate all of a sudden. You have to go through the three stages of concentration, contemplation and meditation. A sadhaka succeeds in his sadhana only by constant practice. It is only by constant practice mind becomes steady and enables the sadhaka to progress from concentration to meditation. But fickleness of mind is the cause for depression. It is only by cultivating a steady mind one can overcome depression. It is by nourishing constant integrated awareness alone one can experience the Bliss of the Atma.

Daiva Preeti (Love for God) is most essential to experience the Bliss of the Atma. It is by dint of “Daiva Preeti” and sadhana that one can experience the Supreme Atma. One should not fritter away the precious time in vain gossip. One should firmly believe in three things… I am of human nature…I am not of animal nature…I am Divine!!!

One should be nourishing these thoughts deep down in one’s personality and then alone one can experience Divinity. Daiva Preeti and Sadhana are most essential to achieve this. In fact, Avatars come for the purpose of enabling humanity to experience and achieve Divinity. That is the Mission of the Avatar.

Nothing happens without the Divine Will…And in Prasanthi Nilayam, no speaker shares the podium and divulges his thoughts without Bhagawan’s Will and Bhagawan never delivers a Divine Discourse, out of turn, without a Vision. Reminders if one could call them, the two speeches by the two senior spokesmen of Prasanthi Nilayam were real treats that served as reminders of the great good fortune conferred upon all those who bask in the Divine Aura of Prasanthi Nilayam and Bhagawan’s Divine Discourse served as a reaffirmation of what have been hearing from Him time and again.

..And the surprise did not end there...the Divine Discourse was followed by a Sarva Dharma Bhajan before Arathi was offered…After boys chanting the customary revised universal prayer, Samastha Lokaaha Sukhino Bhavanthu, Bhagawan whispered something in a boy’s ear and what followed was a full throat chanting of a new Universal Prayer Samasthah Jeevaha Sukhino Bhavanthu…and the vast concourse of devotees repeated at full throat…Samasthah Jeevaha Sukhino Bhavanthu!! Still more to come…as per the Divine Command, the next morning, 20th July 2009, there was full throat Vedam chanting in the Mandir, for an hour from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and the same to be continued in the evening from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

It is true, mortals may not understand and perceive the depths of His Divine Vision with their blurred myopic vision…He has a Mission to foster the Vedas and to protect His devotees those who are treading the righteous path…The Timeless Theater in Prasanthi Nilayam is sure to have much more coming up!