What is Life?

The pleasant season, which has just passed, will come back the same time next year. The moon, after the full moon day, loses its brightness and regains it after the new moon day. But it is not possible to regain the youth of a man or the water of a river which has flowed away. In such a pure stage of life, it is very essential that students develop Divine and auspicious thoughts. 

Undertake Pure and Sacred Activities only

Of all the things bestowed by God, time is most important. The body gets sanctified only when they are spent on sacred activities. But today man is spending half of his time on food and sleep, while the remaining is wasted in useless gossip and senseless activities. Man is wasting time in speaking ill of others and making fun of others. He is spending most of the time thinking about others. But he is not taking time out for himself or for contemplating on God. What is life? Man today is not trying to understand the true meaning of life. Despite taking the most pure and highest form of life as a human being, he is not trying to understand the secret or essence of life. Human birth cannot be attained so easily. There is only one way to God, do not leave it. 

You should not neglect the body. The body should be sanctified. For that you should involve yourself in sacred activities. You should develop pure vision. You should follow the words that you listen and the teachings of the elders. Your speech should be sweet and pure. You should utilise all the parts of your body in sacred activities. If you can’t do that, even foxes will not like your body as food. 

Once upon a time a person was going on a journey. On the way he saw a small Ashram adjacent to a burial ground. The traveler decided to go to this Ashram, take some rest, and then continue his journey. Inside the Ashram he saw a teacher imparting spiritual knowledge to his disciples. Captivated by this setting, he decided to sit there and listen to the teacher. The teacher’s talks went on till the evening. As dusk arrived, the traveler, along with the teacher and his students came out of the Ashram to refresh themselves after the long day. As they came out, they saw something near the burial ground, which they could not identify. When they asked the teacher he replied, “This is the dead body of a human being. Many foxes are trying to take it away. As this is a burial ground, this body was cremated in the morning and these foxes are trying to take it away as their food”. As the teacher was speaking, they saw something that baffled them. An elderly fox came at the site and told something to the other foxes. After this all the foxes left the body and went away. Not able to understand the proceedings, the disciples once again turned to their master. The teacher closed his eyes for some time and then conveyed to his students what the elderly fox had told his pack. The fox, according to the teacher, had told his pack “Dear ones! This is the corpse of a man who did not listen to the words of God or his elders. Even if he listened to them, he did not try to put them into practice. He never adhered to the command of God. He never saw anything that is Godly. His vision was fickle and he never saw anything that was sacred, pure and Divine. He did not involve himself in any activity that was good. All the time he tried to grab money from people, but he never fed anyone with his hands. He always wandered around the streets like a dog but never visited a temple, a religious congregation or a spiritual meeting. Hence we should not touch such an impure body”. The human body is very pure. It is very difficult to get this human birth. This body is given only to help others. To the extent possible, you should put all the parts of the body into pure and sacred activities.

One should not forget the path. Which path should you not forget? That path from where you have come, and where you have to go should not be forgotten. That is the very sacred teaching of Bhagavatam. The very nature of all beings is to get back to the source from which they have come and that is why it is said in Telugu, ‘Ecchatinundi Vacchitimo Acchatikeguta Naijamu Praanikotikin’. Hence the secret of human birth is to spend time on sacred activities. 

The Importance of Sense Control

Today people do not understand what sense control is. They don’t know what balance of mind is. In such a scenario man is moving around freely acting as per his whims and wishes without any control. Such wandering around only leads to the destruction of man. Through control you develop concentration. This also leads to stability. Human life without stability is worthless. You should understand the goal of life, understand the truth and merge in the eternity. This is the most important duty of man. While teaching archery, Dronacharya showed a lot of ways and means of achieving excellence. He wanted to teach his students how to develop concentration and unshaken faith. For these two to develop, a goal is very important.  Life without a goal is worthless. Dronacharya demonstrated this through a small exercise. He tied a dummy bird to a tree. He called all his disciples. He called each one of the brothers and asked them what they were looking at. Each of them gave various answers. Some said that they were able to see the tree, while some replied that they were able to see the branch, the sky, or the bird tied to the tree branch. Listening to their answers Dronacharya felt that none of them was eligible to learn archery. At last he called Arjuna. He questioned Arjuna, “What do you see there?” Arjuna replied that he saw nothing other than the bird’s eye. Your focus should be only on that which you want to achieve, the target which you want to hit, the object which you want to experience. Hence, Dronacharya felt that Arjuna was the only deserving student of archery. True quality is in achieving unwavering mind and focused vision. Having a goal is very important for students. But today’s students are not giving any importance to the goal. So they are not able to achieve the Divine status and enjoy peace and happiness. They are in the proximity of the Divine, but still they forget this Divinity and encourage sensual impulses. That is the reason why they are not able to transform their minds despite years of their stay here. What is the reason for this? They behave as though they understood the aspect of Atma, but they are unable to understand it completely. Because they cover themselves with the blanket – the feeling ‘I am the body’, they are unable to understand the aspect of Divinity. What is this blanket? This blanket is Maya - illusion. As they have draped themselves in this ignorance, they are unable to identify the Divine aspect around them. 

Once God called Maya (illusion), and said, “Maya I am getting defamed because of you. Everyone says that I am Mayopadhi (the Lord of Illusion).  I am receiving a lot of ill-fame owing to your association with Me. Hereafter you leave me and go away”. Maya offered her salutations to the Lord and said, “Oh! Lord, whatever is your command I shall adhere to it. But please tell me the place where you are not present and I shall go there.” God smiled and said, “There is no place where I am not present. You and I are twins. I questioned you only to know your answer.” 

Today, everyone says that God is everywhere. Everyone says that God is omnipresent, but not even a single person who has experienced the omnipresence of God is seen anywhere in the world. I do not understand whether they are using these words after a clear understanding or out of ignorance. Everyone, out of bookish knowledge, says that Swami is omnipresent and omniscient. This omnipresence and omniscience of God are true. But only after experiencing the omnipresence and omniscience of God, at least to some extent, will you get the authority to speak of these terms. Only when you partake nectar, even a drop of it, you receive the purity and sanctity of it. There is no use of having containers full of nectar without tasting or experiencing it. You should try to experience this omnipresence of God. It is a sin trying to cheat God just by speaking words on the omnipresence of God without trying to experience it. A few wise people tried to experience this. No one seems to have secured the authority to understand this omnipresence. Because they lost the capacity to control their senses they are losing out the energy to understand the omnipresence of God. Hence first of all one should try to contain one’s attachment to various objects of the senses. One should walk the talk. It is only then that one can understand the omnipresence of God, at least to some extent. You should think on the lines as to what you should rely on to understand this truth. Fruits of a tree cannot save neighbouring fruits. All the fruits are protected by the tree only. Trees are protected by the roots. Only when you rely on the root, you will receive the benefits from the trees and the fruits. When the roots are watered well, fertilised and protected; the tree yields in abundance. In the same way, when you understand the truth that God is the support for the universe and try to take refuge in Him, you will be able to experience the omnipresence of God. 

Source: Discourse 14, My Dear Students Volume 4; Divine Discourse delivered on June 19, 1989 at Sri Sathya Sai Hostel for Senior Students, Prasanthi Nilayam