Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Philosophy is the butter churned out of knowledge. But since human aspirations and ideals, which change from place to place and time to time, decide which aspects of knowledge are included in the churning process, it is often incomplete or inadequate or contradictory. Generally speaking, religious beliefs and practices, folkways, customs and traditions, educational methods, art forms, etc., help the formulation of the underlying philosophy.

Believing that the world, as cognised during the waking state, is real and that the highest goal is the attainment of happiness in that world, man accumulates the instruments and symbols of that happiness; he fashions after his own taste and inclination according to the dictates of his own reason, the laws, ideals, institutions and principles that would bolster that happiness. This attempt leads to a philosophy which can be named “Western.”.

But can the goal of Life be just this - to struggle amidst the waves of joy and grief that rise and fall in this visible objective world, to be carried along the current of desire, gathering food, shelter, comfort and pleasure, and finally, to flounder into the jaws of death? Consider what is happening now: in the name of progress, art is degraded into immoral and sensuous entertainment; educational advance results, not in advance of humility and reverence, but in rampant indiscipline, arrogance and irreverence. The emphasis long placed on the development of character and the promotion of virtue through education has now been dropped. In their place are enthroned as ideals: worldly success, self-aggrandisement, and high living. Laws, rules and regulations are multiplying fast, but there is no sign of unrighteousness and injustice being diminished. Greed is growing beyond control; the advance of science is marked, not by a proportionate advance in peace and happiness, but by a phenomenal increase in terror, unrest and anxiety. With his thousand-faced curiosity, man is analysing and utilising the outer world; but the inner world, which is basic, is ignored and forgotten.

Human life is a composite of the secular and the spiritual. But now, the flesh is coddled, while the spirit is consigned into oblivion. As a result, neither the individual, nor society, nor the nation can hope to have peace and security. The framework of Creation is an amalgam of right and wrong, joy and grief, cold and warmth; so, it is against Nature to expect only right, or only joy, only wrong or only grief. It is not possible to uproot right wholly from the world, nor is it possible to uproot wrong wholly free from grief in any form. The burden of wrong and the agony of grief can be reduced, however, in proportion to the loyalty that man offers to sublime ideals and his efforts to put them into practice.

So long as man lives on the level of the beasts, concentrating all his talents on the task of securing food, shelter, and other physical and material needs, the unrest now rooted in his heart cannot be got rid of. Therefore, the path of Dharma or Righteousness, which ensures inner purification and harmony, should not be given up.

What is Dharma? It is the way of higher life directed by the ideals one holds dear, by the level of attainment one has reached, by the status of the individual in society, and the individual’s own awareness of himself and his status. Mere awareness of “I am a human being,” will not guide him into the path of Dharma; those who are aware only of this will be guided only into the path of feeding, sleeping and the avoidance of fear from danger. Awareness of, “I am a human being,” is only half the truth. “I am not a beast,” is the other half. Always remind yourself of what you are, as well as what you are not; when this is done, when activities are in accordance with that awareness, man will be manifesting the full significance of the name he is known by.

When man has resolved to understand his reality by the method of enquiry, he must avoid the error of condemning the points of view held dear by others. It is not right to deny their validity. He has to give value to all aspects, consider all views; for, there is no clear-cut distinction between mine and thine, this and that other. Truth is Knowledge; Knowledge is Limitless. Truth has to be discovered by analysing the complex mass of facts and things.

Indian Culture is the product of the experience of generations in the field of this Truth, of Knowledge that is limitless, that is seen through the vision of the Wise. When students have the chance once to look upon this Culture, to contact its living embodiments and expres-sions, and to hold converse with its manifold manifesta-tions, all doubts regarding it will vanish from their minds. It is a fact that persons who are too lazy to learn, who have not grasped the validity of Vedanta, or the relative reality of the world, feel that Indian culture is at best a ruse to while away one’s time. We are not concerned with such persons. They have such ideas because they do not know that Vedanta is their own history. Animals are not conscious that they are alive; they live without being aware of life. If man too leads life in this manner, verily he is no better than a mere animal.

Your forefathers were being fed from infancy on breast milk reinforced by the mixture of sublime ideals and principles of righteousness. As a result, they stuck to the path of righteousness steadily in a commendable form. They strove to help each other; cooperated in all efforts to promote the welfare of others and sympathised when others suffered or incurred loss or injury. They did not allow feelings of hatred, revenge or violence to tarnish their minds. They recognised that their chief duty was to devote themselves to activities conducive to the general good.

Today, those who pride themselves on the enormous advance achieved by man and prance about prattling the stories of their paltry victories, are only demonstrating by their behaviour that they are totally ignorant of the high principles followed in life by their forefathers. What is the reason for the disappearance from the present generation of the sublime virtues of those days, of sympathy and mutual aid, of the peace and happiness that prevailed then? No enquiry is probing into this problem.

Can a King, declaring himself the master of a state, fulfil all the wishes of his subjects? Why, he finds himself incompetent to fulfil even all his own wishes! If he decides to pursue his fancies on the plea that he is the lord and master, his subjects draw him down from the throne. How does this happen? However high a person’s authority, he has to bow his head to some laws and limits that are laid down to ensure proper exercise of that power. They might have been laid down by the king himself, but once accepted and announced, he is bound to them as strongly as any one else. If he acts in contravention of the covenant, the subjects, too, would break away from the laws and limits that regulate their activities and behaviours, and anarchy would result. For, the saying goes, “As the ruler, so the ruled.” Therefore, the law-maker should obey the law; he who lays down the limit should himself respect it. This is the precious lesson, the shining lamp of wisdom, that the Ramayana is holding forth for the benefit of man. This is the excellence of the culture and history of India.

Students have to be instructed on these monuments of Indian Culture and informed of the ideals which they embody. Their intellects, thus charged and cleansed, have to be offered to the nations of the world as ideals to be emulated. They, themselves, will be saved thereby; they will serve as guides and leaders to others. Intending to place before them the Truth, to remove from their minds the ruinous beliefs that have sprouted there as a result of the craze for novelty in recent times, and to uproot the specious arguments and fantastic doubts that are clinging to their reasoning faculty, and, resolving to imprint on the pure, steadfast, and conceitless hearts of the young the peace and joy that their forefathers were able to live in, we have arranged to invite elders of invaluable experience in these fields, and instruct youth on moral, ethical, spiritual, physical and secular truths.

When such a sacred Yajna is held every year, present-day youth can easily understand and appreciate not only the Culture of India, but also the Wisdom garnered by people of other lands. Thus, they will be rid of all feelings of separation and difference; they will be equipped and made ready to demonstrate in their lives the Truth that has been revealed to them. This Summer Course on Indian Culture and Spirituality has been planned and arranged with this belief and in this faith.

May this attempt achieve Victory! May all beings derive therefrom Peace, Happiness, Prosperity and Security!