Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

There is nothing greater than karma or duty and that duty must be done in a disinterested manner without having any attachment to the fruit of the action. When action is performed in a spirit of detachment, it will lead us to greater happiness in this world.

You should clearly understand the meaning of karma, bhakthi, and jnana. Yoga must be considered to be the common factor in all these. Patanjali has described yoga as the control of the faculties of the mind and only after that can we undertake any one of these paths, namely, that of karma, bhakth, and jnana. It is not possible for any one to abstain from action. Action is the basis for our existence. This body has been given to us for the sake of action. The obligation of man’s life is to sanctify it through action and to purify his time by right action. The stream of action flows through jnana also and ultimately leads us to the highest stages of realisation.

We think that karma, bhakthi, and jnana are separate but according to our philosophy, they are indivisible and not separate. Even if they appear to be separate, they are the same in form, time, name and nature. Here is an illustration. At first we find on a tree, a small bud. By preserving this bud, it develops into an unripe fruit. This unripe fruit develops into the ripe and mellow fruit. When the fruit becomes mellow, it becomes sweet. The bud, the unripe fruit and the ripe fruit are the three manifestations of the same reality. The path of karma may be compared to a path that is fraught with certain difficulties. When we think of the path of bhakthi, it seems to be less difficult and more pleasant. To attain the ability to go along the path of jnana or superior wisdom, action or the path of karma is inevitable. To give you another analogy, the path of karma may be described as a train journey. During the journey by a train, we get down at one station and get into another train and thus travel by different trains. The path of bhakthi may, on the other hand, be described as a journey in a through carriage. The path of jnana is like traveling in a through train.

Though the path of karma is difficult, it gives us varied experiences. There are three kinds of karma, namely, karma, vikarma, and akarma. According to the Gita, these are three ramifications. Karma may be described as the ordained duty. Vikarma deals with certain actions that are prohibited. But such prohibited actions, if and when they are undertaken for God realisation, become sanctified. Akarma is described as pure laziness or idleness. The karmas are clarified by the Gita and must be enforced in action and not merely talked about. Karma is our responsibility since our birth. The Gita refers to man as karmaja. Man is born through and for karma. Moksha or liberation and janma or birth are all derived from karma. It is not possible for us to spend one minute without karma. Though it takes a gross physical form, action helps us to spend our time usefully. As long as we have five senses of our body properly functioning, we cannot but undertake some type of action or other. Action will always lead to a reward or a fruit. The fruit of action is a reaction, a reflection and a resound of the action itself. But the Gita teaches us that the actions we undertake for God realisation must be free from any consideration for a reward or a fruit. All those who propagate the message of the Gita say that man has only the right to act and has not the right to claim the fruit of that action. But the Gita has not said that man has no authority to enjoy the fruit of the action. The Gita has said that man should voluntarily give up the right to enjoy the fruit of the action. It has not said “na phaleshu” or there is no fruit. It has said “ma phaleshu” though there is the fruit, the injunction is that you must give up the desire for the fruit of action. It is also described in our sacred Vedas that man achieves real happiness by voluntarily giving up the desire for the fruit.

One ponders over how man can enjoy through sacrifice. Without thyaga or sacrifice, we cannot have either bhoga or yoga but have only roga or disease. Take the example of our inhaling. After we inhale, if we do not exhale the air that we have inhaled, the lungs will be damaged. Similarly, our stomach will be upset if we do not excrete the food we have taken. If the blood that flows through the arteries does not flow through a particular point of the body, it will be stagnant there and then we will get a boil. Therefore, all our welfare is inextricably tied up with thyaga or sacrifice. If the child does not register natural growth, the mother gets very anxious about it. We are giving up the body that we inherit at the time of birth and by growing, we sacrifice the original state and attain the new one. Whether we do it knowingly or unknowingly, thyaga leads us to happiness. Sacrifice gives us supreme satisfaction. Knowingly we may not be able to do any sacrifice, but doing it consciously leads to great happiness.

We do not know when this body, made up of the five sense organs, will drop off. Though they say that a hundred years is the limit, do not believe it. We may die in childhood, in youth, in middle age or in old age. This we do not know. Whether we will die in our own village or in the wilderness, we do not know. Death is the ultimate certainty. The wise man must realise the truth and death during his lifetime. If you give up this deha bhranthi, the body illusion, during your lifetime, you will be able to develop the higher notion, the thyaga bhranthi. There must be a limit up to which you may nourish this body which can be compared to a boat. Your life is the river. On one side of the river is this world and on the other side is the other world. You have undertaken a voyage from this world to the other world, using the body as the boat and you must take care of this body until you reach the other shore. This body must be looked upon as a boat, as a means to an end but not as an end in itself.

We must take the Bhagavad Gita as the basis for knowing what perfect bliss is. God, who is Mahakarma Swarupa, has assumed the karma rupa and appears as Krishna. When Krishna, in a karma rupa, is delivering a message, Arjuna takes the sthula rupa (gross form). As long as Arjuna listened to the Gita in the gross form, he was not able to comprehend its significance. Arjuna prayed to the Lord to remove that great veil which was born in the sthula rupa and only when it was removed could he assimilate the Gita. All that Arjuna experienced was the result of that sthula rupa. Arjuna became subject to that great agony in his mind because he was thinking of the people in front of him to be important as his kith and kin and as his forefathers, as his fathers, as his brothers and others of the same family. Later, Arjuna was able to absorb the spirit of the message of the Gita, and he was able to have a glimpse of the Viswa Rupa. Dhritharashtra also listened to the same Gita. He could not find any wisdom, because he simply listened to it in his sthula rupa.

When we listen to anything, we must listen to it in our awakened consciousness. What we gather through our ears is not enough, but we should try to meditate upon it and then assimilate it into our own system. Only then, it gives us real nourishment, enlightenment and enjoyment. All our enjoyment may be classified into three parts: priya, pramoda, and moda. When we look at an object that is after our own liking and feel happy about it, it is priya. Moda is the joy we feel when we acquire the object we like. Pramoda is the higher joy, the joy we feel at what we have really acquired.

Today we use the word priya in a meaningless manner. Priya means only looking at the object and not getting it or enjoying it. We must develop that attitude of pramoda and through pramoda develop priya toward the object. We cannot enjoy real happiness through priya and moda. You want to have the darshan of the form of God. If you only look at it, it is priya and it does not give you much satisfaction. If you try to gain and master it, it gives greater happiness. When you are able to gain and master it, it gives greatest happiness. When you are able to enjoy it completely, you become a part of it and vice-versa. You do not get your stomach filled, when you look at a sweet in the shop. But when you have the sweet in your hand, you have the guarantee that you can eat it any time. But it is only half the achievement. When you have the sweet in your hand and whilst talking to some friend, a monkey may come and snatch it away. You cannot be absolutely sure of enjoying it. You get full satisfaction only after eating it, after it becomes a part of the digestive system.

The sadhana involved here is that it is no use looking at a sweet, but you should buy it, eat it, assimilate it and make it a part of your own system. That gives you full happiness. You must always conduct your enquiry in such a way that the object you see becomes a part of your body by proper enjoyment and assimilation. This is described as step-wise discipline. Following the right discipline leads to duty. If you look at a sweet and snatch it, it may amount to theft and acquisition in an improper manner. If you have the money, you pay the price and purchase the sweet. If the desire to eat is strong and you do not have the money, you may request the shopkeeper to give you one. He will give you one. Similarly, when you want to taste the moksha and feel you do not have sufficient strength, you may pray to God; and God, in His great mercy, will give you the needed faculty. That which you can procure in this manner is truth.

Truth can be easily gained. You should never give up the habit of discipline. Only when you reach the state of perfection, you do not have to think of regulations or discipline. You must carry on your duties and responsibilities as long as you remain in these ashrams beginning with brahmacharya and ending with sanyasa. If you want to build a house in the village, you require the permission of the department that controls it. If you want to roam in the forest, you may not require any permission from any office. On the other hand, as long as you are living in a society, you must necessarily discharge all your responsibilities that are built around the society. Even the sanyasi and the brahmachari have their own duties set aside for each of them. Today, we find great agitation for rights, but very few people discharge their duties and realise their responsibilities. Remember that only when you are able to discharge your duties properly, you get the authority. You should not hanker after power without doing your duty.

In order to attain and understand the Divinity, we must undertake sadhana and behave in a way that is like the Divine. This is the chief doctrine preached to Arjuna. Arjuna asked, “After having killed my kith and kin what can I do with this kingdom? Instead, I shall become a beggar and go about begging.” Krishna asked, “ D o you want to act according to your liking or according to my liking! If you want to follow your desire, then go as you please, but if you want to abide by the desire, then you must abide by what I say.” It is for the Divine to discriminate in this matter and decide what is right and what is wrong. In Arjuna’s thinking, greater importance has been given to the physical relationship of the body to body than the Divine relationship between man and man. Any love that is related to the body has an element of selfishness in it, and this can be compared to the electric bulb we have in a room. The light of the bulb is limited by the walls of the room and this is like selfish love. Love, if it is on a higher plane, can be compared to moonlight. There is, in that case, light within and without. This light, too, is hazy and not clear. Pure love, which is entirely selfless, is like sunshine. Sunlight gives us a clear view of all objects. God’s love is like sunshine. Human love is like the moonlight. Individual love is like the bulb in the room. You rise from the individual love and get into the state of mutual love.

One question is often asked. Krishna is the Lord of the universe. He is all-pervading, and yet the same Krishna was responsible for the destruction of forty lakhs of men on the battlefield. Is it violence or non-violence? This is my answer to this question. An individual, let us say, has developed cancer on his back. There are millions of germs in that cancerous boil. Does the doctor pause and ask, “Should I kill so many millions of germs?” Is it not the duty of the doctor to save the life of the patient? Which is of greater importance? Should he protect the life of the patient or should he have consideration for the germs? The doctor comes to the conclusion that these germs are dangerous and kills them and saves the patient’s life. In this process, the doctor has taken into consideration quality and not quantity. In the same manner, the world at this time had developed a cancer in the shape of Kauravas. When Krishna found that these Kauravas were like cancer, He became a surgeon, took Arjuna as His assistant and performed the great operation. In that operation, forty lakhs of germs were killed. So we must always take into consideration the greater need for protection of dharma. The protection of dharma is more important than anything else.

Our life becomes one of fulfilment when we lead it as one of morality. The greatness of life lies not in amassing wealth. Remember that money comes and goes but morality comes and grows. This view of morality has been safeguarding India from time immemorial. We do not now find morality in our society, our economics, our politics, our spirituality and other walks of life. Today, I hope and wish that the students will always bear in mind that through morality, they will make their lives pure and can thus uphold the great culture of India. Bright futures await them if they follow the path of dharma.