Sri Sathya Sai Baba loved Arunachala and sent many devotees to this sacred place. In fact it was because of Swamiji's precise instructions telling me to come and stay at Arunachala that I ended up living here -- previously I had scarcely heard of this place.
In an earlier posting I mentioned that Sri Sathya Sai Baba gave his first spiritual teaching to devotees when he was 14 years old when he sang the bhajan -- 'Mansare Bhajore Guru Charanam' which states that the feet of the Guru is no different to the 'Om' that pervades the Universe or to Lord Shiva and the great Arunachala.
Throughout his life Sri Sathya Sai Baba gave illuminating discourses on the mind and consciousness, and below is an excellent and extremely helpful dissertation on the nature of the mind.
Discourse on the Mind
The entire world is based on the concept of I. So long as
this I-principle exists in you, you will be involved with the outside world.
And as long as the world exists in your experience, you will not be able to
free yourself from sorrow and misery. During deep sleep you do not have the
thought of I and mine. Once the I-thought disappears there is no longer any
world for you, and when there is no world there will be no sorrow. Therefore,
eradicate the cause of sorrow. Relinquish the feeling of I and mine. Then you
will be in Ananda, You will be in unending bliss.
What does being in Ananda mean? Is it related to the
possession of health or wealth or power? Aren't there many people in the world
who have lots of wealth? And aren't there many also who are blessed with
health? And aren't there many others who wield power? But are any of these
enjoying real happiness? No. What is the reason for this? The reason is that so
long as anyone still has the thought of I and all the desires and attachments
that go with it, he will be unable to manifest true joy.
When thirsty animals see a mirage they run to it to quench
their thirst; but they cannot find water there, and so they get exhausted and
perish. In the same way, man seeks happiness in the objects of the senses and
runs after them. But he cannot find the inexhaustible springs of Ananda there,
and so he gets exhausted and dies in a most futile and pitiful way.
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| Sri Sathya Sai Baba |
The moment you free yourself from the thought of I, you become God Itself. It has been said 'Brahma Sathyam Jagath Mithyam', that God is real and the world is unreal. But more correctly, the world is both real and unreal. It is an illusion which is unreal, superimposed on God who is real. If you want to understand the nature of the world you must first make an effort to find out who you are and whether you are real or not. The moment you find out your own truth, you will be able to understand the world.
One of the great sayings of the Vedanta which you are
enjoined to repeat and meditate on is, 'Aham Brahmasmi', which means 'I am
Brahman', 'I am God'. In this saying you use the word I before the word God.
Where did this word I come from? What is its meaning? Is it the same I that you
use many times every day to refer to your individual self? No, that personal I
is not what is meant in the statement, 'I am God'. Beyond the personal I, which
is the I-thought, there is another I which stands behind it. That is the true
I. That I is your own true nature. That is the true I meant in the statement,
'I am God'.
This true I is not just there when you repeat Vedic sayings.
It is there behind every I you use. Suppose you say, 'I am a man'. Here also,
standing behind the subjective I, there is the true I which is your natural state,
your unchanging truth. The word 'man' is the feeling of limitation you impose
on that truth. The true I is always full in itself; it is complete and
unlimited. But, the word 'man' is partial, incomplete and limited. When the
word 'man' with its limitations and boundaries joins the true I which has no
limitations or boundaries, then the limited I-thought arises.
The I-thought can be compared to a river bounded by name and
form. Once it merges into the limitless ocean it loses its name and form and all
its limitations. Before that it had a separate identity as a river. But once it
merges it becomes the ocean. In that way, when you remove the I-thought, you as
a limited man merge with the unlimited ocean of Divinity and become one with
It. Then you as a separate entity called 'man' disappear.
What is the origin of the I-thought? The I-thought takes its
origin from the Atma, the true I, the one eternal Self. From the one Self
arises the thought of I. And out of this I-thought all the rest of the mind takes
form. In truth, the I-thought and the mind belong to the Self; they are both
just aspects of the Self. The relationship can best be visualized as the Self
being the grandfather, the I-thought, the personal self, being the father, and
the mind being the grandson.
Consider a cloth which has been made into a handkerchief.
Its basis is cotton, which does not have any specific form. It may be
considered as pure and unlimited. From this cotton has come the threads. By
joining the threads together a cloth has emerged. In the same way, from the
pure and unlimited Atma the I-thought has emerged. From this, in turn, has come
the mind. Therefore, your mind and the I have both originated from the pure,
unlimited Divinity, the One Reality which is your true Self.
You should be clear about the distinction between the
I-thought and the impersonal, immortal Self. The I-thought takes birth and
grows; for a time it comes in and is associated with a body; then it
disappears. But for the Self there is no birth, there is no growth, no death,
no coming, no going. Once you recognize the truth that from the one unlimited
Self has emerged the limited I, and from that I the mind has taken birth, then
you will realize your true Self and understand the origin of the world and everything
in it.
Chaitanya or consciousness is all-pervasive. This
consciousness is also the substratum of the mind, but when it becomes
associated with the mind it is no longer pure. Mind takes birth, blossoms forth
and shines in man. With this mind man tries to analyze and understand the
external world. But, unknown to him, that world is only a reflection of the
inner thoughts that shape the mind. All knowledge is inside you. All the beauty
you see outside is but an image of the beauty already there in your heart. All
the research and experiments that you perform in the world are merely
reflections of the inner thoughts that are already within you. If you learn to
carefully concentrate your mind and go to its very root you will be able to
understand the basic truth of everything.
Make an effort to know who you are and what the deeper
meaning of this word I is. When you conduct this investigation you will unlock
all the secrets of existence. When you examine your own truth, you will
discover the very basis of the whole creation, and you will find the source of
life itself. Then the Divine Flame inside you will blaze forth and you will
realize the truth that the Divinity is your very core. In this you can be your
own guru. If you develop a high level of patience and calmness, and remain free
from selfishness, the basic truths that are always within you will naturally
manifest and shine forth in your awareness.
First you must free yourself from the defects in your
vision. Do not try to find fault with the creation. The entire creation is
saturated with Divinity. Today, man uses all his capacity and power of vision
to see the outside world, but he does not use his abilities to discover his
true Self. It is because of the petrified ignorance in his heart that man goes
on thinking and worrying about worldly objects and situations. And by diverting
his attention only to the manifested world he suffers disappointment and
despair.
If you think you can free your mind from worldly thoughts by
repeating mantras or engaging in various spiritual exercises you are mistaken.
It is only when you recognize your own real nature that you will be able to
become free of all worries and misery. Once you know yourself, nothing that can
happen in the world will be able to touch you or cause you any anxiety. And
once you understand yourself you will be able to understand the world in all
its fullness.
No matter how long you go on experimenting to find out what
this manifested world is, you will always come back to the realization that the
world of name and form consists only of the five basic elements, space, air,
fire, water and earth. The body, the mind and the senses are also made up of
these same five elements. So, the senses composed of the five elements are
enjoying the things of the world made up of the five elements. Of what avail is
that? These limited enjoyments are not real; one day or another they must come
to an end. Names and forms made up of the five elements can only give
rise to other names and forms which go on changing and finally disintegrate.
Aspire for the eternal joy that has no end. The Vedanta
declares, 'Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavati', 'Know God and you become God.' Once
you know the Divinity you realize you are the Divinity Itself. Then there is
lasting joy and fulfillment. That is why it is said, it is not enough to merely
hear the Rama story. You must become Rama Himself. You must realize your truth
as Absolute Bliss itself.
Therefore, endeavor to understand the principle of Atma.
Strive to discover the relationship between the I and the Self and banish the
I-thought completely out of your being. So long as that I-thought continues you
will not be able to free yourself from attachment and the anxiety and misery
that go with it. As was mentioned before, in the deep sleep state you do not
have the thought of I. When there is no I there is no world for you. The moment
you get up from sleep the I-thought catches hold of you and the experience of
world rushes back into your awareness. Once the world reappears sorrow automatically
follows.
Your distance from the Divinity is the same as your distance
from yourself, your true Self. It is the I-thought that has emerged from the
Divinity which separates you from the Divinity. Who is it that declares this I?
Is it the body? The body is inert. It cannot have the power to declare its
‘I’ness. Then is it the Self? The one eternal Self does not recognize any
second entity at all. If you examine this question carefully you will find that
the word I emerges by itself the moment the Self and the body come together. As
soon as this I-thought emerges the mind manifests itself and the world appears.
At the same time, the impersonal Self, the Atma, disappears from view.
The mind has 50 million different ways of manifesting itself
in the thinking process. Behind all these myriad thoughts there is the
seed-thought which is the source of all thoughts. This is the I-thought which
emerges from the One Self. Everyone, be he a theist or an atheist, says 'I' and
believes that he himself exists. Eventually everyone will have to realize the
truth of his existence by tracing back to the very root of that original
I-thought and discover there his true Self. Spirituality is nothing more than
that. It is recognizing your true nature. It is abiding in the very heart of
the Reality and enjoying it.
I bless you that you will steadily inquire into the Divine
Principle and realize the Ananda which is your own natural state.
