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Other Baba-books
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The original
Sanskrit verses and with comments taken from the writings of
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'Residing in
the heart of all beings they have from Me remembrance, knowledge and
reasoning; 1 2a 2b 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18a 18b
" Listen to this chapter sung! " " Listen to this spoken
chapter in Audio " śrī
bhagavān uvāca Usually,
the
word
-ūrdhva- is taken to mean "above", "high", etc. But if
you consider the world to be a tree, then it has its roots in Brahman;
that
is,
the roots are above and the branches are below! This was
taught to Arjuna by Krishna thus: "The tree of samsara or life is a
very peculiar one. It is quite distinct from the trees of the world.
The trees that you see in the world have their branches above and their
roots below. It is a topsy-turvy tree." Arjuna
intercepted
with
a question. "How did it get the name aśvattha? It
means a banyan tree, is it not? Why was the tree of
life called so? Why not some other name?" A strange name for a
strange tree! "Listen, aśvattha means anitya,
impermanent, transient; it also means the 'banyan tree'. Its fruits and
flowers are good neither for smelling nor for eating. However, its
leaves will be ceaselessly quivering in the wind. So it is called chaladala,
meaning
'quivering leaveś. Worldly objects too are ever
wavering, unsteady, ever changing positions. In order to make people
understand this truth and strive to overcome it, it is called aśvattha.
"This
disquisition
is
to make man develop the higher vision and yearn for
steady faith in Brahman. The objective world can be truly
understood only by two types of examination: the outer and the inner.
There is a reasoning that binds and a reasoning that liberates. He who
sees the world as world sees wrong; he who sees it as Paramātmā sees
right.
The
world is the effect; it has a cause; it cannot be different
from the cause. It is just a mutation of Brahman, which
constitutes it. The millions of beings are the branches, twigs and
leaves; the seed is Brahman, in which all the tree is subsumed
and summarized. He who knows this, knows the Vedas." - Gītā Vahini, pp. 209-10 adhaś
cordhvam prasritās tasya śākhā The
tree
of
creation is hanging down with its roots in heaven; or else, it
will dry for want of sustenance; it is called aśvattha, the
horse tree, for aśva or horse is in Indian tradition the
symbol of restlessness, wavering agitatedness. The banyan tree which is
the aśvattha shivers in every leaf, with the slightest
whisper of wind. You must have heard of the Aśvamedha or Horse Sacrifice, a
great rite in the past. The inner meaning of that rite is the
destruction of the wayward mind, the aswa! - Sathya Sai Speaks VII, p.
288 na rūpam
asyeha tathopalabhyate tatah padam
tat parimārgitavyam [to
verse
4:]
Creation is happening from beyond the beginning of time.
First the lotus arose from the navel of the Primal Person, called in
scriptures Nārāyana. From this lotus, the Lord Himself
manifested as Brahmā; Brahmā felt an urge to look at all
the four quarters; so, he developed four faces. Brahmā became
aware that he must activate himself, so that creation can happen, so He
seated Himself in the padmasana posture of yoga and
entertained the idea of all this creation. - Bhagavatha Vahini, chapter 33 (p. 240) nirmāna-mohā
jita-sanga-doshā The
deha or the physical body is only an upadhi
or instrument. It is the spirit within which is the sakshi or
the witness. Karma cannot cease as long as attachment to the
decaying body continues. Attachment to the body should be substituted
by the realization of the reality of the ātmā. The deha
or the physical body composed of the five elements, namely, earth,
fire, water, air and ether, and subject to disease, decay and death,
cannot cross the ocean of samsara. That is why one must
surrender himself at the Lotus Feet of God and realize that he is not
the deha (the mortal body) but the dehi (the divine
ātmā inhabiting the deha), not the sarira (body)
but the sariri (the divine ātmā residing in the sarira).
-
Summer Showers in Brindavan 1979, p. 123 na tad
bhāsayate sūryo mamaivāmśo
jīva-loke Each
one
has
to return to his home to which he originally belonged. For a
time, a man may go out from his village elsewhere on some work. But
once the work is over, he will feel restless and will not be at ease
until he returns back to his village, to his home. The place he has
visited may be good and attractive, but he will feel out of place until
he gets back to his home. So also, the pilgrim of jīva, until
he reaches back to the place of his origin, will not have true peace
and happiness. What is that place of origin of the jīva? In the
Bhagavad Gītā, it has been said: mamaivāmśo
jīva-loke śarīram
yad avāpnoti
īśvara manifests Himself among
individuals who aggregate
together to constitute a community. Every individual is an aspect of īśvara.
Likewise,
society
too has emerged from īśvara. An individual
has form but society has no such definable form. In the same manner the
world is visible but īśvara is invisible. Though He is
invisible, His existence becomes indisputable because there cannot be
creation without a creator. -
Summer Showers in Brindavan 1979, p. 24 śrotram
cakshuh sparśanam ca utkrāmantam
sthitam vāpi God
is
encased
everywhere as the child in the womb. Some declare that they
will believe only in a God that can be seen or demonstrated. This is
the usual argument of the worldly minded. But it is not easy to see,
with gross physical eyes, the Paramātmā, which is subtler than
the subtlest. You must first get command over a powerful microscope,
fit for the purpose. Either the jñāna-chakshu or the prema-chakshu
is wanted, the eye of wisdom or the eye of love; only with these can
you see God. - Upanishad Vahini, p. 76 yatanto
yoginaś cainam yad
āditya-gatam tejo gām āviśya
ca bhūtāni aham
vaiśvānaro bhūtvā The
Bhagavad Gītā also declares that it is God who
digests the food and distributes its essence to the entire body, in
order to sustain it and strengthen it. The energy that digests the food
is symbolized as the fire in the stomach. - Sanathana Sarathi, December 1978, p. 240. The
Truth
that
is in all beings, is also in you. Search for that; discover
that unity, the source of courage, of love, of wisdom. You do not
realize that it is He who digests the food that you consume, for, as He
says in the Gītā, "I am the vaiśvānarah fire that is in the
bodies of all beings and digests the four types of food they eat."
That fire digests food, but it is careful not to destroy the stomach
itself! He is the basis of all activity, though Himself unconcerned. - Sathya Sai Speaks IV, p.
346. sarvasya
cāham hridi sannivishtho dvāv imau
purushau loke Sat-Cit-ānanda
is kūtha-sthah (changeless; the never changing entity is ātmā
or Brahman). Sat-Cit-ānanda represents the integrated
reality of truth, consciousness and bliss. Kūtha-sthah is the
immutable and immortal reality ... Kūtha-sthah in this context
refers to the unchanging, immutable and eternal principle of
spirituality. - Summer Showers in
Brindavan 1979, pp. 52-3 There
are
two
purushas: the ksharah-purusha, and akshara-purusha.
The
ksharah-purusha is bound up with material life and
so is
subject to change. He is entangled with the five kośas or
sheaths, the five prānas (vital airs), the five indriyas
(senses
of
perception).
The akshara-purusha is the witness, the sakshi. -
Sathya Sai Speaks VIII, pp. 123-4. In
the
aspect
of purusha, there are two kinds: the individual purusha
and the group purusha. If there is one individual, he is called
purusha but when there is a group of individuals, it
should be described as Prajnanam Brahma. As
an example to illustrate this, if there is one tree we call it a tree
but if there are a large number of trees, we call the combination a
forest. In the same manner, if God is present in the totality, he is
referred to as creation. The individual is born because of God's
wanting to be born. -
Summer
Showers
in Brindavan 1978, p. 110. uttamah
purushas tv anyah
īśvara
is
present in all the living beings in God's creation. This was the
truth spread by Lord Krishna. - Summer Showers in Brindavan 1978, p. 52-3.
īśavasyam
idam
sarvam - all this is inhabited by God. Every person is a
sanctuary of the divine ātmā. Therefore, if you hurt others, you will
hurt īśvara who resides in them. - Summer Showers in Brindavan 1979, p. 154. yasmāt
ksharam atīto 'ham There
is
another
over-all purusha, the Purushottamah (Supreme
Personality), who is beyond the three segments of time, the three
universes and is everywhere at the same moment. His glory is evident in
all things and beings. You should strive to escape from the
identification with the body and feel that you are only the residents
of the body - the ksharah-purusha. Then, by sādhana you
are able to cognize the akshara-purusha, the witness of even the
ksharah-purusha, the jīva. By pacticing the
unbroken presence of the Purushottamah who is resplendent in
all creation, you can ultimately merge in Him, as the consummation of
all the lives you have spent here below. - Sathya Sai Speaks VIII, p. 124. On
the
other
hand the nameless, formless aspect of God is referred to as Purushottamah.
We
should
see here that if the formless aspect of Purushottamah
takes a human form, we call him purusha. Having taken the form
of a human being, the Purushottamah sets an example to other
living things and establishes the oneness of all creation. We should
recognize the truth that the aspect of the ātmā can be realized only if
you have a clean mind. - Summer Showers in Brindavan 1978, pp. 110-111. yo mām evam
asammūdho The
most
satisfying
prize is Purushottamah-prāpti, the attainment
of the Lord, the Supremest Purusha. Purusha is "he
who lives in the pura", namely the body, the physical body. He who
lives in the universe which is His body - He is the Supremest, the Purushottamah.
A
tiny
ant creeping over the foot is cognized by your consciousness;
that is to say, the purusha has consciousness filling the
entire body. The Purushottamah has consciousness filling and
activating the entire universe, which is His body. The individual tree
is the purusha, the forest is the Purushottamah. The jīvi
is the vyashti (individual object, part of whole), the samashti
(collective aggregate of individual parts; integrated
whole) is God. For the purusha to become Purushottamah,
the path is yoga (union of the individual self or ātmā with
the Supreme Being or Universal Self etc.), or jñāna (spiritual
knowledge; experiental wisdom) won by karma (activity, action,
work, duty; fate; consequences of acts done in this life and past
lives) and bhakti ( devotion, duty to God) - Sathya Sai Speaks IV, p.
78. iti
guhyatamam śāstram Aśvamedha-(yajña): 'Horse Sacrifice' A Vedic horse
sacrifice; At the end of life or a period of government of a king, a
horse with a plaque around his neck is sent out into the kingdom
accompanied by an army; Anyone who challenges the honor of the king
will be disputed. Also a method to separate from wordly detachment and
status. (see also S.B. 6.13, & S.B. 8.18)
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