I treat this to be one of the best days in my Life as I have been given this opportunity to write about one of Swami’s teachings which is going to be narrated by my Lovable sister in Sai Bhajan centre, New Zealand on Sunday, 3rd May 2009. I am delighted and consider this to be a sort of a service indeed. I always wanted to recite, narrate my experiences, sing or enact a play in a Sai Centre, I now believe that it is Swami who has given me this opportunity through my sister. Thank you.
Sai Ram, I bow to Thy gracious Lotus Feet.
Prema Seva Satya Shanti - These are the words that have been familiar to me since my school days. In our school, students were divided among four groups or squads and the groups were called Prema Seva Satya and Shanti. It is indeed nostalgic when one thinks about his/her school days. Today, all of a sudden, the thought about our school groups dawned on me and I paused to think more deeply about the subject. I could immediately relate to Swami’s teachings on Human Values. These names made more sense to me now after having read Swami’s teachings and here is where I realised that the institutions like schools had these names to ensure that the students familiarise with the names and its core meaning, from a young age.
Now let us indulge ourselves in these holy teachings of Swami on Human Values and connect to every word and its significance.
Prema (Love)
Swami always stresses on this quote - “Love All, Serve All” He is the embodiment of selfless Love. In his discourses, deeds, messages, expressions, Swami emphasises on the importance of Love. Love is Divine, as Love is God and Love must be the Goal. We often think that we are blessed to be born as human beings and carry on with our duties at all stages, but in the course of time, we tend not to give ample love to all beings around. We tend to develop some sort of a complex within us and fail to give love and live in love. Swami states “There should not be any trace of dislike on the score of nationality, language, caste, economic status, scholarship, age or sex. One must Love all equally”. Love in indeed, is the most fundamental moral value, it is the source of happiness and there cannot be any peace or security without Love. Love is the only way to gain nearness to God. God does not measure distance in terms of meters or miles, it is the intensity of Love that decides the distance.
A person may perform his duties well, he may be very religious and render his prayers regularly, but, it is of no use if he has no Love to share. It is a mere waste of time if he does not live in Love. He will not be able to render any service if there is that void of love in his heart. Services must be rendered only with Love. Love must not be limited to just one circle of beings, God wants us to love all and love without condition and without limit. And not just our spouses, our children, our family and friends....but even those that do us harm, and those that wish us ill, even those that get under our skin, and those that we disagree with.
Swami declares “Prema (Love) is my distinctive characteristic, not the creation of material objects or of conferring good health and happiness by sheer exercise of My will. You might consider what you call miracles as the surest sign of divinity, but, Prema that welcomes you all, that makes me rush to the presence of the seekers, the suffering and distressed wherever they are; that is the real sign!”
Seva (Service)
Service to mankind is indeed service to God as Swami states it. Man, in his life time must render service to his fellowmen whole heartedly. A man is born to do Seva and not to dominate or empower the authority on others to do the work. As Swami always says “Hands that help are holier than the lips that pray”. It doesn’t suffice when one prays for hours together and waits for its results eventually blaming God for the result he attains. Instead, he needs to render his wholehearted service to the needy, to his kith and kin, for; Seva brings about that greatness in man. While thinking on these lines, I am inclined to talk about some helpless souls on this earth who are ignored by their own children. What is the use of the existence of those men who have abandoned their own parents? Some people take pride by admitting parents to Vriddhashrams (old age homes), for they claim to have no time to serve their parents. The selfishness creeps in and conquers a highest position in a man’s life that he fails to render service to his own parents. What is the use of performing religious and routine duties without having realised the necessity to serve ones own people. It is absolutely necessary for us to realise the importance of our parents and it is their Love that has made us the beings we are. We need to primarily give them that genuine Love from within and serve them throughout. As one of Swami’s quotes highlight “Service springs out of Love and it scatters Love in profusion”. Rendering service to just ones own close circle, kith and kin is again not enough. Service must be rendered to the society, to the nation.
Swami always places selfless service at the highest level in the hierarchy of spiritual disciplines. It is His service that has given lives to millions and millions of people on this earth.
By doing service to the society, service to the nation, our minds widen, our heart is filled with Love and devotion and this in turn closeness to God will be attained.
Swami states that the people who render Seva are benefited more than the recipients of service, in terms of spiritual progress. In one of his discourses, He states this beautiful message – “Do not believe that you can by means of Seva, reform or reshape the world. You may or may not, that does not matter. The real value of Seva, its most visible result, is that it reforms you, reshapes you. Do Seva as a sadhana (spiritual exercise); then you will be happy.”
Swami quotes another beautiful example in a discourse addressed to the Seva dal volunteers – “Seva is a small word, but it is filled with immense spiritual significance. Hanuman is the supreme exemplar of the ideal of service. When the Rakshasas (demons) asked Hanuman, during his search for Sita in Lanka, who he was, he replied simply: "Daasoham Kosalendrasya." He was content to describe himself as the humble servant of Lord Rama. Though he was strong, learned, and virtuous, he had no trace of pride. That is a fine example of uprooting of the ego, which service must bring about in us. No one can serve another while one’s ego is rampant. The attitudes of mutual help and selfless service develop the "humanness" of man and help manifest the Divinity latent in him”.
Satya (Truth)
Truth is ultimate and God is the ultimate Truth. God is Truth. God lives in Truth. God loves Truth. Swami gives such lovely messages about truth and a person, even if he is not a follower of Swami, tends to appreciate the beauty of the words that follow.
Everything in this world emerges from the truth and merges back into truth. Our existence is the absolute Truth in itself.
Everything that is material in nature is on a constant change. God is the ultimate truth this fact can be experienced only in the purified consciousness of our heart.
Swami in one of his discourses said “There are three levels of truth; Nijam (fact), Satyam (truth) and Ritam (absolute truth). Nijam or the fact is what we merely see through our naked eyes or speak according to what we have seen. For example: you see a person wearing a blue dress, which becomes the fact. Later that person may wear a white dress and so, the fact doesn’t hold good after this change happens. Hence, the fact is subject to change. Satyam or truth on the other hand does not change with time. A person may change any number of dresses, but the person, as such, remains the same. Ritam relates to Atma (soul) which is absolute reality. There is atma in every being and that atma is pure and eternal”.
The very first lesson for a child is to say the truth at every stage of life. A mother to her child advises to adopt whatever is true, to do what feels is right and to be truthful at all times. She quickly corrects her child whenever the child is not speaking the truth, ensuring that her child realises truth always wins. At school, a pupil is punished for not having spoken the truth. The teacher ensures that the pupil never commits that mistake again. As adults, if we are not honest to self and to the world, it is our atma (self conscious) that pricks us and prompts to be honest and undo the wrong deed. Thus, truth is embossed in all of us strongly and our atma guides us towards the righteous path, it is that inner voice that says “Truth has no fear, untruth shivers at every shadow”.
Swami always emphasizes on speaking the truth and speaking it politely and pleasantly. He says “If you cannot oblige, you can at least speak obligingly”. When I read this very sentence, I was reminded of a sanskrit line my mother always stressed on. It is – “Satyam Bruyaath, Priyam Bruyaath, na Bruyaath Satyam Apriyam”. (Speak the truth; speak the truth pleasingly, never speak the truth which is unpalatable). Swami in one of his messages has described this beautifully. He said, “If you want to know the way in which you have to observe Satya or truth in speech, look into Bhagvad Gita. It tells you that the best form of speech is “Anudvegakaram Vaakyam”. (speech that does not create pain, anger or grief to others). Simply because a statement will please the listener, don’t speak it out to win the person’s approval; if speaking truth will cause grief or pain, then maintain silence”.
Swami quotes “Both unpleasant truth and pleasant untruth have to be avoided, as Satya (or truth) is God Himself”.
Shanti (Peace)
We are unsure of what exactly is peace. As humans we complain that there is no peace in Life. To have a peaceful life Swami advises to overcome our excessive desires, destroy our ego and follow the path of spirituality.
Swami says – “You are seeking joy and peace in far-off places. But, the spring of joy is in your heart. The heaven of peace is in you”.
A man with a few words, who has no ego and who has overcome excessive desires and expectations is a lot peaceful wherever he is. He need not go to places seeking peace. One has to be contented with the life he has and needs to be disciplined in his words and actions, to be peaceful.
As Swami quotes “A man’s well-being depends upon his degree of contentment”. We must experience joy with what God has given us. A man is at peace when he is happy, when he is joyous. The word Joy reminds me of this excerpt I came across through one of a very good blogger's post. Thanks, Dharini
One day many years ago, Swami distributed ice cream to some boys. The brand name was JOY ice cream, and it was gifted by a devotee who owned the company. While the were enjoying the ice cream, Baba went around as usual, asking the boys how they liked the ice cream. And then suddenly He asked a boy, "Boy what do you think God is like?"
The boy was taken aback. He was fully immersed in enjoying ice cream, and God was, at least at that moment, far from his mind! Swami asked another boy the same question, and he too blinked.
After drawing a blank response a few more times, Swami smiled and slowly said,"God is SWEET like ice cream!" The boys became attentive. Swami continued, "God is SOFT like ice cream!" By now, the boys had stopped eating, while Swami went on, "God is COOL like ice cream!" And then the punch line: "He gives JOY like ice cream!"
What a delightful play on words!
Swami signifies that God gives us all that we need and we must be happy with it. One cannot easily detach oneself from activity; the mind clings to something or the other. Swami advises us to cling to God, He says, “let the mind do all the things for God and leave the results thereof, be it success or failure, loss or profit, to God. Then you will have Shanti and contentment”.
Sai Ram.
PS: Anju, thank you for giving me this opportunity to write about Swami with all my faith and your initiation to read it in Bhajan. Here is where I feel contented. I m now at peace and I consider this as my humble service. This it to Swami, with Love.
