We are all born with Divine love within us. All other feelings and emotions are unnatural to us; the most natural, most spontaneous, most inner and innate emotion of every being is pure Divine love.
- Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai
With the Blessings of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, we are delighted to present our One Hundred and Eighty Eighth issue of Ananda Vahini.
In this issue, we present a short video excerpt of Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai, guiding us on how to perform actions without the sense of doership.
The newspaper article by our beloved Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai on simplifying Sanathana Dharma, as published in the Kannada daily - Vijayavani, on March 30, 2021 has been shared here.
An initiative, 'Sai Covid Nutrients Care' at Mandya district, Karnataka by Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust along with volunteers has begun effective May 14, 2021 onwards, the details of which are presented here.
We also bring you a question-and-answer column, 'Sadgamaya - Towards the Truth', where Sadguru, during His Divine visits and satsangs, cleared spiritual doubts of devotees by compassionately providing simple yet profound responses.
An excerpt from the divine discourse delivered on October 01, 2015, has been included here.
Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai expounds on the teachings of Kathopanishad, one of the most sacred texts, which reveals the true purpose of life, and showers wisdom for enlightenment on sincere seekers of truth. May the Divine bless everyone to imbibe divine qualities and become one with God.
We present Episode 24 (Part-II) of the 'Kathopanishad' video series in this issue.
- Sathya Sai Grama Communications Team.
You are Just an Instrument
God is the Real Doer
By Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai
ENDING IGNORANCE
THE SANATANA DHARMA WAY
- BY SADGURU SRI MADHUSUDAN SAI
In the previous article, we discussed the idea of the self-manifested brahman – the Supreme God of sanātana dharmā, who manifested the entire universe with all the movable and immovable entities, on His own, like the spider that brings out the web from its stomach, lives in it and swallows it back. The universe emanated from brahman is sustained by brahman and ultimately dissolved by brahman into His own self. sanātana dharmā thus believes that – all that which exists is brahman or Divine – as it is made by and made of brahman.
Though brahman has no particular form and name, He incarnates as avatārs, time and again, to set things right in society by not merely annihilating the evil and protecting the virtuous, but by transforming humans into better beings.
The question that intrigues one is, ‘Though the world is nothing but brahman, and human beings are also manifestations of the same brahman, why is the world saturated with problems?’
To understand this seeming contradiction, we need to delve into the teachings of the upaniṣads.
A quick look around will tell us that more or less all elements and creatures of nature follow a set path governed by the natural law. For instance, the ecological balance is maintained through the food cycle, where the grass is eaten by the deer, which in turn is eaten by the lion. And when the balance is lost, there is natural extinction of the species in the food chain, which sets the balance right. Or take the example of the water cycle, where the water from the oceans evaporate and condense to form clouds, which bring the rains into the rivers, and they flow and merge into the oceans, thus completing the cycle. However, in the case of human beings...
With Swami's infinite grace, blessings and compassion, the 'Sai Covid nutrients Care' was initiated at Mandya district for Covid-19 patients on May 14, 2021.
Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust and its volunteers reached out to a few backward taluks of Mandya district. The district administration and district medical officers therein were very supportive and cooperative.
Nutrients were provided to 700 Covid patients in 8 Covid care centres, situated at Pandavapura, Srirangapatna and Malavalli taluks, along with the medical staff comprising dry fruits, glucose biscuit packets and energy drink tetra packs. On a daily basis, they will be provided with glucose biscuit packets and energy drink tetra packs or buttermilk. This service will continue till Covid is rampant.
SADGAMAYA - Towards the Truth
No good or bad can happen to you
if I have not willed it
Devotee: Swami, I am working in the corporate world where internal politics is very high. People want to take all the credit and do not hesitate in tarnishing others’ achievements. I find it difficult to carry out my Dharma in the light of Your teaching, ‘Bear all, do nothing; Hear all, say nothing.’ How do I avoid getting affected by all this?
Swami: One thing you must bear firmly in your mind is that nothing will happen to you if I have not willed it. Nobody can do anything to you, be it good or bad unless it is willed by Me. If you strongly believe in this, then who can harm you?
Look at the plight of Draupadi from the epic Mahabharata. She was married to the mightiest of warriors, the Pandavas, who were the greatest heroes of that time. Their wicked cousins, Kauravas, cheated them in the game of dice and asked for Draupadi’s honour in their court as the winning prize.
Though Draupadi pleaded with everyone present there to save her honour, none came forward. Even her own husbands, who knew right from wrong, stood aside as helpless losers. In such a situation, what do you think saved her? Only her devotion to Krishna saved her.
Similarly, if you are devoted to Me and even if the whole world conspires against you, nobody will be able to harm you. If I have placed a difficulty in your way and it seems to you as if I am not responding, then you should firmly believe that “Swami knows what is the best for me, and so there must be a reason why He has put me through it.” That faith alone will help you tide over your troubles.
Despite having gone through the terrible ordeal in the court, Draupadi never asked Krishna, “Why did You allow me to marry these Pandavas in the first place? You could have got me some other husbands.” She did not question Krishna’s decision; she believed in His choice; she trusted His wisdom. She knew that whatever He did was always for her greater good- be it divinely facilitating her marriage to Arjuna or putting her through the ordeal, everything was His decision. Due to her devotion to Krishna and faith in Him, nobody could harm her.
EXPERIENCE DIVINITY
Devotion is not just about adoration, worship, singing bhajans or going on pilgrimages and worshipping many Gods and Goddesses. These are merely external customs. They are not connected with the internal effort to know God. The more we become extroverts, go outside searching for things, the more we move away from our inner Self. Just like the more you move towards the east, the farther you get away from the west. While the many kinds of worship, adoration, yaagas and yajnas are good, one must not forget to learn the true meaning behind these practices and be aware of why they are performed.
These various acts of worship are not performed to adore God, love God, and win His Grace. All this is actually done to draw out the inner divinity within ourselves. Divinity is like water that lies deep within the bowels of the earth. If we want to get that water, we cannot avoid digging into the earth. We have to keep digging deeper and deeper till we reach the water. On this water will be many layers of stones, rocks, and also soil. Only when we break through the layers of earth and stone can we reach the water.
Spiritual effort is similar. In order to reach the divinity that lies buried within us and experience it in our hearts, we must go deep within. The layers of stone and earth covering the divinity within us are the three qualities of 𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘴, 𝘳𝘢𝘫𝘢𝘴 and 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘷𝘢. Spiritual effort aims to break through these layers to reach one’s divinity and experience it in all its glory.
-Excerpt from the Divine Discourse - October 01, 2015
EXCERPT
The Story Divine (Part 1)
Authored by Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai
I was playing outside when curiosity got the better of me and the fragrance of flowers and incense sticks, and the rhythmic sound of cymbals made me abandon my game and drew me home. I guess that was the first time I noticed the picture of Baba, standing next to His pet elephant Sai Geetha. I was fascinated less by the curly haired Baba, but more by the large elephant Sai Geetha, an elephant for a pet was a totally new concept and made me think that Baba must be really powerful, if He could keep a giant elephant under His control all by Himself. Soon the inquisitiveness found a new object of focus, a bowl with some sweets that were kept as an offering to the Gods. I was tired and hungry and uneducated about the customs of the Bhajans, so with the instinct of a hungry and tired five-year-old, I lay my hands on the bowl of sweets, grabbed a few and put them in my mouth. This infuriated my devoted grandpa who was a picture of peace till then, and he planted a few rhythmic red hot spanks on my posterior while I made off with the sweets to safety. That was the first encounter, as far as I remember, with God and His devotees!
Visit www.saiprakashana.org - The official website and the Online e-commerce book store of the Books, Publications and Media division
Visit www.saiprakashana.online - An ongoing Library of Bhagawan Baba's Global Discourses in 15 languages, and chronicles this “Unprecedented” Mystical Manifestation of a Divine Being and His Continuing Global Travels.
Visit www.saiprakashana.com - Master website that hosts regional Sai Prakashana websites and Online stores
Visit https://www.saiprakashana.org/volunteer/ - A platform for Volunteers to be a part of the mission in various fields like content writing, transcribing, translating, transliterating, editing, audio, video-radio assisting and production, graphic designing, website development, etc.
Subscribe to 'Amruta Vahini', the monthly magazine from Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli today! From Divine Discourses to event updates, from photo features to travelogues, from book excerpts to news updates, 'Amruta Vahini' is a must-have monthly magazine!
