What is the Correct Age to commence Sadhana?

Sri Sathya Sai in Trayee Brindavan

Who is your true friend? There is only one friend and that is God Himself. Subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Math are at a worldly level. The world is the book that you have to read and study. God is your true friend. You should have a pure heart. These three things should be kept in your mind. When you do this, your life will find fulfillment.

Many students say that they will chant the name of the Lord after studies are over, after getting employment, after retirement, and so on. What is the surety that you can do it at that point of time? You cannot do it then. That is why you should start early, drive slowly and reach safely. If you start thinking of God from a small age, you can continue it for a longer period of time. Many people get into military. When they join the military, they are given training, they go for drills and later they are given the rifle. They learn firing and then they are allowed to fight in a war. After the training, the soldier will be able to fire at the enemy. If he was sent to the battle field without training, what would he do there? He would not be able to do anything. His life would go waste and the weapons would also go waste. Hence first of all, there should be training. That is what you have to do even in life. If you get trained in the spiritual path from a young age, it will be helpful for you all through the life and even at the end of life. Whatever you practice right from your young age, you will become an adept in that and it would be easier for you in the later part of life.

A boy was smoking right from his young age, and he got used to it. At the end, while he was dying, he put his fingers on his lips as though he was smoking! If you practice doing Japa right from a young age, you will continue doing Japa till the end of your life. Everything comes by practice. Hence you should practice first. When you practice from a young age, it will become a firm foundation. If you do not practice now, you will not get anything in the end. You should get trained for this from a very young age. If you want help to get rid of this bondage of life and death, you have to practice from now onward. You should practice from your young age as the singers practice for their singing and the cricketers practice every morning and evening. You will not get anything without practice. The Sadhana (spiritual practice) you do when you are young, comes to your rescue when you become old. That is why students should start practicing contemplation on God from a young age so that they don’t suffer in the future.

Atma Vidya

Anything may be converted into a useful thing by refinement. The salt water of the ocean is converted into fresh and pure water by the action of sun and clouds. This water serves the needs of many species. The refined water which is sweet acquires lot of fame and name like the rivers Ganga and Godavari. There is no name and fame for the ocean. But it is the water from the ocean that got evaporated and got transformed into the river water that acquired a lot of name and fame. You have to strive to become pure and sacred. For that, you should serve the society. As you go on serving the society you become pure. Service to the society is very important. All your education is useless if you do not serve the society. If a monkey is trained to ride a bicycle it can also do so. Is it education? By practice you can learn anything. As you read books all the content of the books get transferred into your head. Is it also education? That is worldly education. That is helpful only for begging for jobs! It is meant only for feeding the stomach. That is also necessary. However, true education is that which is changeless. That is Atma Vidya (Education of the Soul). Krishna said in the Bhagavad Gita that He is spiritual education among all kinds of education (Adhyatma Vidya Vidyanaam). That spiritual education is true education. Subjects like Physics and Chemistry are helpful only at a worldly level. But they do not transform you. It may lead only to a rise in your ego. Rise in the ego triggers a downfall. Hence you should put in efforts to sanctify your life without getting yourself ruined. Put your education to good use. Use your education for the welfare of humanity and the society. When education is put to the service of society and the fruits of the education are reaped in the form of development in the society, your education will be meaningful. Today, students don’t think of the society. All the time they keep thinking about themselves. They are selfish. If one gives up one’s bad thoughts and gives up one’s ego, only then can one prosper in life. Cleaning of the mind is known as Sadhana. Namasmarana (chanting of the name of the Lord) is a way of refining one’s mind from bad thoughts.

Students! All this worldly education is important for you all. Worldly education is necessary. But first try to look at yourself and then help others. If you don’t have place to stand, how can you bear the responsibility of others? Hence worldly education is also necessary. Along with the worldly education, you should have spiritual education too.

Ihamunu Sukhiyimpa Hema Taraka Vidya;

Paramunu Sukhiyimpa Brahma Vidya.

The worldly education is to confer happiness in worldly life.

The spiritual education is to confer happiness in the world hereafter.

One is worldly education and the other is spiritual education. When both kinds of the education are combined, then it becomes Atma Vidya. This is also necessary. Why else should I start this College? Through this College, I brought you towards Me and am trying to help you get rid of your laziness. The word ‘College’ is broken as ‘Ka’ and ‘lazy’. When the part ‘Ka’ is removed, you will become lazy. You should try to remove all laziness from yourself.

Yashoda wanted to catch Krishna and she went out of the house in search of Him. So many neighbours complained about Krishna saying, “He is going on stealing butter and also breaking the pots. It is acceptable if He eats the butter but why should He break the pots which we have been preserving for generations together. This is what your son is doing.” Yashoda was disgusted with this. Krishna liked butter so much. So Yashoda kept butter in one hand and hid the stick in the other hand and kept it behind. Then she called out for Krishna by showing the butter. This butter attracted Him to His mother. That is what Sai is doing today. Sai is coming to you with the butter of worldly education in one hand and the stick of spiritual education in the other hand. Thus He is trying to put you on the right path. You have practiced the worldly education for lives and births together. You have gathered a lot of dirt in yourself and you cannot get rid of all that in one day. Gradually by practice, you should get rid of it. By practice you get wisdom, and not just like that. By practice you get wisdom and by wisdom you come to know of sacrifice and then peace follows. You have to practice till you get peace. If you have inner peace then you have peace everywhere. If you do not have inner peace, everything outside seems only pieces. You should try for that inner peace. You are the embodiment of peace. When you contemplate on this, you yourself will attain peace. Peace is not somewhere else. You yourself are the embodiment of peace. If you find that peace, you will not have these tribulations. 

Therefore, everyday you should try to understand from where you have come and where you are going. If you stop on the middle of the path and ask a passerby where you came from, nobody will know that except you.

A person wanted to go somewhere and went to the railway station. The station master asked him where he wanted to go. If he replies, “I don’t know where I came from, I don’t know where I have to go”, the station master will think that the person is mad. You should know where you came from and where you are going. Otherwise it is equal to being like a mad person. You should get an answer to one of these questions. Today, nobody is thinking along these lines. If you ask a student as to where he came from, he says that he has come from Delhi. If he is further asked what for he has, he will reply that he has come for studies. If he knows the source and destination of his travel, then it is enough. You should identify where you came from and where you are going. Then you will end up in doing necessary and right kind of work. Therefore once you realise that you have come from the Atma and you have to go back to the Atma then you will always perform actions to reach your goal. If you forget that, there is no way you can travel. Your journey goes on only as long as you remember your goal.

Source: ‘Where Have You Come From? Where Are You Going?’ Discourse 28, My Dear Students Volume 5; Divine Discourse on June 2, 2000 at Trayee Brindavan