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Man’s Reality:
Inherent Divinity
From the earliest of times, man has sought
to find out his true identity and the true meaning of life.
But the ultimate answer has eluded most of men most of the
time. While the goal is inside, man always tends to search
for it outside. Baba explained this concept very clearly when
He said,
“You are not the body, the mind, the
intellect or the diminutive ego. You are the Infinite Universal
Absolute. You have to establish yourselves firmly, unshakably
in this awareness; that is your destiny, your duty to yourself.”
“Your reality is the Atma, which is
a wave in the sea called Paramatma (God). The sole object
of human existence is to visualize that reality and the relationship
between the wave and the sea. All other activities are trivial;
you share them with birds and beasts. But, this is the unique
privilege of man. He has clambered through all the steps in
the ladder of evolution in order to inherit this high destiny.
If all the years between birth and death are frittered away
in seeking food and shelter, comfort and pleasure as animals
do, man is condemning himself to a further life-sentence,”
Baba says.
During the Summer Course on Indian Culture
and Spirituality in 1977, Baba said,
“There cannot be anything more useful
than knowledge of one’s own self. What do we mean by
knowledge about one’s own self? It is the knowledge
of the Atma, your inner divinity. To know one’s own
self is the most important and useful aspect of one’s
learning.”
Inherent Divinity
Baba always insists that the Atma is immanent
in everyone. It is the spark of divinity, which gives every
man light, love and joy.
In a beautiful discourse on the 11th of May,
1971, Baba said,
“The Divine Principle is the very core
of man. Becoming aware of this Truth is the goal of life;
it is the source of strength which is unfailing and irresistible.
Close your eyes; you feel there is no one else here though
there are thousands. If you suffer from cataract or worse
still, if you are blind, you cannot realize this truth. So
too, the Divine is here; before you, behind you, inside you,
outside you and with you, and through intelligence you can
recognize it. But you are either blind or diseased with defective
vision or worse still, willfully inclined to close your eyes.”
Ref: “Sathya Sai Speaks” –
Vol. XI, Chapter-22
Since Divinity is inherent in all, Baba always
says that all have an opportunity for God-realization irrespective
of gender, age or status. He says,
“There may be differences among men
in physical strength, financial status, intellectual acumen,
but all are equal in the eyes of God; all have the right and
the potentiality to achieve the goal of merging in him. Note
that everyone from the beggar to the billionaire is prompted
by the urge to achieve Ananda, supreme bliss, based on inner
peace, that is unaffected by ups and downs. Every activity
is directed towards this objective.”
Stressing the importance of body in realizing
the Divine, Baba says “The body is the temple of God.
In every body, God is installed, whether the owner of the
body recognizes it or not. It is God that inspires you to
do good acts and warns you against the bad. Listen to that
voice. Obey that voice and you will not come to any harm.”
Baba always exhorts His devotees not to follow
the body and the mind and follow the conscience. “Your
conscience,” He says, “knows the real source of
joy; it will prod you towards the right path. Your business
is to take it as a “guide” and not disobey it
every time it contradicts your fancy”.
The Indivisible
One
“You and the Universal are one; you
and the Absolute are One; you and the Eternal are One. You
are not the individual, the particular, the temporary. Feel
This. Know this. Act in conformity with this,” He says.
“The greatest defect today is the absence
of Atmavichara, the inquiry into the nature of the Atma (spirit).
That is the cause of all this Ashanti (restlessness). Just
like how all pots are made up of mud, all ornaments of gold,
all clothes of yarn, everyone is made up of one basic substance;
that is Brahman; that is the Atma. Once you enter the depths
of the sea, it is all calm, it is all peace. Agitation, noise,
confusion all are only on the outer layers. So also, in the
innermost recesses of your heart, there is a reservoir of
Shanti (peace). Therefore, “See Always Inside”
– SAI.”
That’s how Bhagawan beautifully explains
the concept of the spirit and peace.
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