ANIL KUMAR'S SATSANG: BABA'S CONVERSATIONS WITH STUDENTS Professor Anil Kumar has presented this talk as an extra satsang. He has selected important messages Baba has imparted to the students gathered around Him during the afternoon sessions on the verandah at Prashanti Nilayam. These talks will continue.
Part One October 7th, 2002 OM…OM…OM… Sai Ram to Everybody! Pearls of Wisdom Are of Immense Benefit Bhagavan speaks to the students and staff in the evenings every day after completing the regular interview sessions. Bhagavan is so gracious that He spends an hour, sometimes one and a half hours, with students and teachers there in Sai Kulwant Hall, where we can see Bhagavan sitting in His chair surrounded by students and teachers. But, it is not possible for all the devotees to hear what Swami says because there is no public address system. It is informal or casual conversation. But during the conversation, there are certain ‘pearls of wisdom’ and these ‘pearls of wisdom’ can be of immense benefit to all Sai devotees. The Telugu edition of Sanathana Sarathi has been publishing all of Bhagavan’s informal talks with students and teachers for the last 27 issues. That’s two years and three months. I thought it was also necessary for the English-speaking devotees to know what Swami says to the students. So I collected the talks date-wise and gave them some headings. I'm so glad that all of you have arranged and planned to see that all these talks are conveyed to Sai devotees in different languages. May Baba bless you! I'm sure that Sai devotees from all over the world will be immensely thankful and grateful to you as these talks are not available to general devotees. These are all the points collected from His conversations with students and teachers; hence, they are most precious and valuable. We must start sharing these “Sai Pearls of Wisdom” with devotees. It is our responsibility and sacred duty, not only for the present but also for the benefit of posterity. May Bhagavan bless you in this endeavour. I am also sure that this line of activity will be encouraged to proceed further and further in the years to come. Your suggestions and comments for improvement are most welcome. Thank you. Sai Ram! October 5th, 2002 “I'm Born with This” Well, to get things updated is very difficult (will take some time). As I said, I have been doing this in Telugu for the last 27 months, or even a little more; so here I will begin and go in the reverse order. This happened on the 5th of October. Bhagavan granted an interview to a group of foreigners. He came out of the interview room gently, slowly, majestically, with a smiling face, adjusting His Hair with one Hand. He walked toward us and standing in front of us, looked straight into my eyes. He said, “Did you notice those foreigners?” I said, “No, Swami.” “He’s the Ambassador from Soviet Russia. He came along with two of his secretaries and a stenographer. I spoke with them. I spent a long time.” They were very much surprised there in the interview. They asked, “Swami, how do You know these things? You’ve told us so many intimate things, so many things that are not known to many people. How do You know? It’s also amazing that You speak our Russian language! How do You know it?” And Bhagavan said, “These things are not learnt, these things are not taught. I'm born with this.” My friends, this ‘punch line’ we can take as one of the Sai Pearls of Wisdom. The Avatar is born with these capacities and with these abilities -- the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent nature. They are not cultivated; they are not learned; they are not practiced. He is born with it. Swami made this comment and everybody was very much surprised. October 1st, 2002 Conscious, Conscience, Consciousness This happened on the 1st of October. As I said, I'm proceeding in the reverse order. This has something of general importance. Swami was talking with the Ph.D. boys. We have six students working on their Doctoral program in the Department of Management, and Swami was talking to them. Suddenly He asked one boy, “What is ‘conscious’?” The boy said, “I don’t know.” “Hmm! You are a Ph.D. boy. Don’t you know what ‘conscious’ is?” “Well, I don’t know, Swami.” “Hmm!” He asked another professor, “What is ‘conscience’?” “Swami, conscience is inner voice.” “No, no, you are wrong!” Then He asked another senior boy, a Ph.D. student, “What is ‘consciousness’?” “Swami, I don’t know.” Swami said, “Look here, ‘conscious’ is mind. Conscious is our mind. It is the mind that thinks. It is the mind that feels. It is the mind that reacts, responds, pulsates, and vibrates. So ‘conscious’ means mind.” Then Bhagavan went on to say, “’Conscience’ is the intellect. Why? Conscience is very close to the spirit, very close to the soul, very close to the Atma. Spirit, soul or Atma are one and the same. So, intellect is very close to Atma. This intellect is symbolized, conveyed or expressed by this word ‘conscience’.” Then Bhagavan said, “Then, what is ‘consciousness’? ‘Consciousness’ is the soul, the Atma, which is all-pervading, which is encased within the body, yet present everywhere. It is within the body and yet also present everywhere. How? Air is present within a balloon. Air is present within a bicycle tire. Air is present within a car tire. Yet also, air is present all around. Similarly, the spirit or Atma is present within everybody and is also present everywhere.” So these three words indicate three levels of awareness, three levels of consciousness, three levels of experience, three levels of comprehension, three levels of understanding, which we reach along the path of intensive sadhana or spiritual pursuit. We should not stop at a particular level. ‘Conscious’ being the mind -- if we stop at the level of the mind, we are only emotional; we are only passionate; we are bestial; we are more animal-minded. If we stop at the level of the ‘conscience’ or intellect, we are rather intelligent, self-introspective, self-evaluating, and self-assessing. In other words, we stop at the level of self-inquiry. We should not discontinue. We should still proceed further to reach the state of ‘consciousness’, the ultimate, the reality, the Atma, the soul or the spirit, the real Self, the cosmic Self, which is the ‘Universal Self’, as Bhagavan put it. And Bhagavan said laughingly, “Today you boys want to understand these things. But the modern boys don’t understand. They only know misunderstanding. They have no idea of understanding.” “There Is No Inert Matter” And then I put a question to Swami, “Bhagavan?” “Yes?” Here I want to inform you, my friends -- when there is enough time, when Swami is in a very good mood, we can ask any number of questions without hiding, without reservation. Well, I thought of asking this question: “Bhagavan, what is the difference between inert matter and consciousness, Atma or energy?” Bhagavan just turned to me and said, “Hmm, there is no inert matter.” “Swami, if there’s no inert matter, what is all this? This is inert. What is this floor? Inert. What are the walls? Inert. Body - inert. But the spirit is active. The spirit is consciousness; the spirit is awareness; the spirit is energy. Yet You say that there is no matter, there is no inert matter?” Swami said, “No! There is no matter at all.” “Is it true Swami? How?” Bhagavan said, “Only energy is present. Energy gets transformed into matter. Matter can be transformed back into energy. Energy and matter are one and the same. They are reversible processes. Matter becomes energy and energy becomes matter. Moreover, matter is composed of atoms and molecules that consist of electrons, protons, and neutrons that revolve with full energy. So how do you call it ‘inert’? When electrons, neutrons and micro-particles move with terrific energy, how do you call it ‘inert’? So there is nothing like inert matter. Everything is Divine. That Divine you can call ‘cosmic energy’ or ‘consciousness’.” This was a matter of revelation to all of us. And then He said, “Look here, Anil Kumar! What you say is proof of present-day confusion. Our boys represent misunderstanding, while you exhibit confusion. (Laughter) And today modern education is nothing but confusion and misunderstanding.” Well, I was rather happy because to be corrected by Bhagavan, to be commented upon by the Avatar is a privilege. It is a type of blessing. If I'm an instrument to receive information and spread the message to everybody, then I love to be corrected; I love to be chided; I welcome admonishment. So I liked it and everybody joined in peals of laughter that evening. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
