Pure Love will save Our World

 

Pure Love will save our World -  The Teachings of Swami Sathya Sai Baba

This overview is based on extracts from “Spreading the Message of Pure Love in the New World”

 Prof. G. Venkataraman  

We need to understand and link the true nature of the human Spirit with the diversity that we see in the Universe.

One thing unique about a human being is that deep within each one of us there exists an entity called the Spirit. It is this self-same Spirit that has enabled us to go the Moon, South Pole etc. At a slightly higher level, human Spirit expresses itself through extra-ordinary creativity in many dimensions such as art, music, science and so on. If we take it to the highest dimension, the human Spirit gets revealed through noble virtues like compassion, selfless and loving service, amazing forbearance etc.

Throughout history, people exhibiting such qualities; have made a huge difference to humanity as a whole, setting inspiring example by their tireless service and matchless sacrifice. Remember such wonderful people as St. Francis, Father Damien, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa, to name just a few. These fellow humans like each of us, rose to greatness by invoking the Divinity latent in them through the Grace of God. We also can earn His Grace, if only we decide to and are determined to strive for it. Nowadays, people refer to this Spirit as the Soul.

Concerning the Human Spirit / Soul and its relationship to God

Today, people readily accept the concept of the Soul but mistakenly believe that it is different in each of us. That is not true and it is the first thing we must learn from Swami’s teachings. This is an extremely important point and to appreciate it fully, we must please pay careful attention.

Swami often uses the Sanskrit word, Atma, which means the Universal Soul. This change of emphasis is important - when the word Spirit alone is used, then one may ask: Since each of us has a Spirit and since we are all different, does it mean that there are many Spirits? In turn, does this imply that there are different Souls, one for each person? Swami’s reply (effectively) is:

No, remember that what you call the Spirit is the Soul. There is only one Soul in all, and that Soul is nothing but God. In fact, all of you are nothing but God! It is simple really, since THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD, WHO IS THE SAME FOR ALL! Atma is another name for God, and that is why I sometimes address you as the “embodiments of the Divine Atma.

This subtlety of meaning is all important - once we grasp this, we can be at one with our fellow man and with Mother Nature.

Uniqueness of the Atma

Frequently asked questions:

1. People are very different in their behaviour. At the same time, they are supposed to have the same Atma/ Soul. How is this possible?

2. If God resides in all, why is it that some people are so evil? How come there was a Hitler, and how come we have so many terrorists these days?

Answer:

Every human being is a composite of three different entities, namely, the gross body, the subtle mind and the eternal Atma.

Human Being = Body + Mind + Atma

Which of these three entities should a human being really identify himself or herself with?

Swami’s answers thus:   WHO AM I?

Am I the Body? I am not the Body; I am different from the Body.

Am I the Mind? No, I am not the Mind; the Mind is different from me.

I am not the Body, I am not the Mind; and then who am I?

I am the Atma!

The Atma which is essentially God present as the Indweller.

We know our Body came from our parents and is made up of atoms which come from the Universe. Hence, the body of every human being on Earth gets connected to the physical Universe as a whole. Likewise all creation is made up of atoms and all these atoms can trace their ancestry all the way to the Big Bang, (which is supposed to mark the birth of our Universe?)

The subtle entity called the Mind plays a crucial role and is the bridge between the Atma and the Body.

The Atma is supposed to be infinite and everywhere. How come then it can hide within the confines of a small human body?

The best way to understand this concept is to look at the clouds in the sky, they are interspersed randomly across. Clouds are just water vapour made visible. But where there are no clouds, there is still water vapour present everywhere in the atmosphere. We now understand how the Atma can be everywhere and also inside us. In other words, just as a particular cloud has only a portion of the water vapour that exists in the whole of the atmosphere, so also we have a “portion” of the Universal and all-pervading Atma within us. This “portion” is coupled to the Mind and Body, and that is why the human is often referred to as the embodiment of the Atma. 

Why the Atma is more important than the Mind and Body?

The Atma is embodied and is not quite free. Swami draws an analogy to a balloon. There is air within and outside of a balloon. If the trapped air within the balloon has to join the air outside, then you need to burst the balloon. What this tells us is that though there is the Atmic aspect within us, it cannot give full expression to itself because the Atma is bound or entrapped by the Mind and Body. This precisely is where Swami question, “WHO AM I”? becomes very important.

As the Atma is God, clearly God is our Master or Conscience and that is why we must give importance to the Atma more than to the Body or the Mind. If we allow our Body to dictate our actions, we would be rather like an animal, guided merely by base instincts. If we allow the Mind to dictate our actions, then there is much greater danger. As the Mind is extra-ordinarily powerful, driven by hatred, one could even become a Hitler or driven by greed, a huge swindler.

If one follows the Mind or Body, it can not only cause harm to the individual, but may affect billions of people as seen recently when a handful of greedy Bankers caused a huge economic collapse and a world recession. The drug problem, terrorism and climate change problem to name a few - all these result when people become slaves to the Body or Mind.

Since the Atma is God or our Conscience, listen and put our Conscience in the driving seat and let It run our life. Our actions will then be virtuous, full of love and compassion. 

FOLLOW THE MASTER, YOUR CONSCIENCE IS YOUR MASTER

Why Pure Love must govern all our Action

In days gone by, Spirituality was largely about the individual becoming saintly and liberated from all kinds of worldly wants and desires. This quest must not stop there at the individual level but as a continuation. Swami explains that our actions are almost always in response to circumstances related to the external world. This means that our actions have to be in this world but does not necessarily have to be determined by worldly considerations. Rather, our actions must be governed by Eternal Values viz. Truth, Peace, Righteousness, Love, Non-violence etc. Swami refers to these eternal values as Pure Love.

While worldly love (love between parents, love between a mother and child etc) is good, it is born out of Pure Love and is restricted at a body level. Further, it is diluted with attachment and selfishness.

Consider this scenario - a mother with her own son and a step-son. She would be very partial to her own son and treat her step-son with less consideration. Pure Love is free of any trace of selfishness and self-interest.

Pure Love is the only way to tackle global problems humanity faces today.

Climate change:

Problem began when people in rich countries consumed enormous amounts of energy year after year, largely for maintaining a very high standard of living. All that reckless and non-stop energy consumption pumped huge quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, in turn causing a rise in global temperature. For years, few people paid attention to all this; in fact, most people did not believe in climate change.

Since standard of living is connected with earning money, people in not so rich countries also tried to earn money in their own way. Indonesians began burning huge sections of their forests so that they could plant palm trees for making palm oil which had a big export market. Similarly, in many South American countries, people began cutting huge chunks of the precious Amazon forest so that they could do farming, set up industries etc.

These two regions, really God’s gift to humanity, are like the two lungs of the planet Earth. When their size began to shrink, it only helped in increasing the carbon burden on the atmosphere. And then came the rapid development of China and to a lesser extent India, which accelerated the carbon dumping.

You might ask what has this got to do with Pure Love? Let’s look at what politicians and big business leaders are doing about climate change problem. Big business is clearly not in favour of strict control on carbon emission; carbon is emitted all over the place, by power plants that produce electricity, by airplanes, automobiles and so on.

Trillions of dollars have been invested in all these industries, and if controls have to be imposed, big business will be severely affected with its profits sharply declining. To make sure of their investments, corporate executives give politician’s lots of money to ensure that they apply pressure on their Governments so as to safe guard big business. They also pump huge amounts of money into the media; the public are misled into believing the climatic change problem is not as critical as made out to be. To date, meetings held by various Governments’ representatives have yielded no real solutions to this problem.

When greed and self-interest dominate strongly it blinds what Swami calls Fundamental Discrimination - the name given to the capacity to judge objectively between right and wrong, between what is good for all and what would benefit a few at the expense of harm and even danger to many.

What do Swami’s teachings tell us as a solution to this problem?

1) At a worldly level, we all appear different but we all are One because the same Atmic principle is in each of us. Remember the saying - “Bulbs are many but the current is one”. Swami also quotes Jesus “All are One; therefore be alike to everyone”.

2) We must always reject solutions based on the idea we are different; these are never satisfactory and soon lead to differences, enmity and even conflict. Solutions always based on selfishness, self-interest and advantage a few, forgetting the masses.

3) The rich nations must not seek solutions that favour them alone as this is not a long term strategy for success. Eventually, Nature will take its course and the consequences of climate change will hit the entire planet. Every nation, without exception, will suffer - Nature does not distinguish between rich and poor countries. Everyone will end up paying a big price.

4) The only viable and meaningful solution is for everyone, everywhere, to adopt immediately a strong ceiling on desires - voluntarily curbing a luxurious lifestyle and cutting out all excessive energy consumption.

5) Following these teachings will help in solving the climate change problem by reducing carbon emissions, people will lead far healthier lifestyles - less car, more cycling and walking; stop eating junk food; reduce tension, depression etc. 

Swami says “From God you have come and to God you return. Whilst on Earth, your true nature must show up in your various actions. Your true nature is represented by the Atmic component rather than by the Body or Mind. Since this aspect within you is essentially Divine, your actions must surely be good, based on Truth, Righteousness and Love.

Humans are not born to be greedy, enjoy sense gratification, self-indulgence, pleasure seeking etc. We have been exposed to these ideas by those who want you to spend your hard earned money in the “entertainment industries”. Look what happens at Christmas time. So much time is spent on shopping, partying etc. and very little on reflecting on the sacrifice made by Jesus and the remarkable teachings He gave.

It is time to stop listening to advertisers and utilize our time profitably for the gain of our communities and for the promotion of peace.

We must give more time to our children and families. When family ties loosen, then the family, which has for thousands of years been the brick of human communities everywhere, would collapse.

We are forever at the mercy of problems / circumstances that we ourselves have created, to our detriment. People are not only becoming excessively obese but highly prone to diabetes.

Everything essential is expensive, including food, housing, education, health care etc. Most people are deeply in debt as a result. Depression is common nowadays, so is the rate of suicide.

Our “fast and racy” lifestyle - we always seem to be in a hurry and have even less spare time. We must all learn to stop, pause, and take a moment to think deeply over what all this means. Is this why God made us? The Bible says that God created man in His own image. Is this how God lives, with two cell phones and out of a suitcase all the time? What is the example the Son of God set, coming on Earth two thousand years ago? What did Jesus die on the cross for? Why is it that more children know about the latest video games and movie star gossip, than the parables that Jesus taught?

As Swami constantly reminds us, God has given us life in the human form for a much nobler purpose than merely for making money, partying, and ruining our health in a hundred different ways, all for the sake of a few “kicks and some excitement”. Our real role models must be the saints and sages of all lands and all religions, for they all taught one lesson, the lesson of love (peace, compassion, sacrifice and selfless service)

Swami says that Nature is our Universal Mother and must be loved and respected in all ways. Unfortunately, we pollute the air, water and land recklessly and constantly, cut down forests and hunting down to extinction certain species of animal. Who gave us these rights and whose creation are these in the first place?

Meanwhile, we have a global population explosion, from a current 6.5 billion to a predicted 9 billion by 2050. We would need a lot more food and water to cater for an increased population. But land availability for agriculture and water availability are both on the decline.

In short, the time has come to re assess and change our thinking and our lifestyle. Let us endorse and practice the teachings of whatever religion we belong to. All religious principles include peace, non-violence, truth, love, sacrifice and selfless service.

Pure Love must also shine in our actions. Swami often tells us “YOUR LIFE MUST BE MY MESSAGE”

Every single action of ours must breathe and radiate Pure Love. Swami advises us to recite the following prayer daily in reverence to Mother Nature.

                                                                             O Universal Mother

I pray to You to flood my Heart with Pure Love

Let this Love then stimulate Pure Thoughts in my Mind

Thereafter, let those Pure Thoughts of the Mind be converted into good and loving words spoken by me

And, also good, selfless and loving actions performed by my body,

For the good of Everyone, Everywhere!

 

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