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The Sunday Talk Given by Prof. Anil Kumar
“Two Resolutions for 2010”
January 17, 2010
OM…OM…OM…
Sai Ram
My humble Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
TWO RESOLUTIONS FOR 2010
The topic for this morning is “Two Resolutions for 2010.” What are these
two? These two resolutions are what we will come to understand in the course of
the talk this morning.
HAVE RESPECT FOR LIFE
The first of the two topics is “Respect for Life.” We should have
respect for life. The year 2010 should be full of respect for life. What do I
mean by that? Do we have respect for life? No! If we have respect for life, why
are we behaving the way we are today? Go through any newspaper, or watch any TV
channel at the local or the global level, and you will find that wars,
conflicts, contradictions, misunderstandings, and group thinking prevail. There
is no love, only hatred, while the world is threatened by nuclear holocaust.
The whole world can be burnt to ashes any moment. Is that a sign of respect for
life? I don’t think so.
Apart from that kind of selfishness, politics, power, and concentration
on finance and money have almost made us disrespectful of life. Therefore, I
thought that of the “Two Resolutions for 2010,” the first topic must be respect
for life. If you have respect for life, the whole earth will be a paradise, all
your fellowmen will be angels, and you will have a heavenly experience, with
the spirit of respect for life.
FOUNDATION OF ETHICS IS RESPECT OF LIFE
In particular, ethics speak of this respect for life. In ethical values,
respect for life is at the highest order and highest level. There can be no
ethics at all if we have no respect for life; therefore, the fundamental
teaching of ethics lies in respect for life. Let us develop this theme more and
more. If we have no respect for life, then you may ask what the effects are.
What may happen if we have no respect for life? The answer is simple: you will
be unreasonable, losing all sense of reason. There will be no “I” logic, no
rationale, and no scientific thinking. Everything will be in darkness if you
lose respect for life. What you speak and the way you act will not stand the
test of reason, logic, or scientific evidence. A lack of respect results in a
life which is not reasonable.
Here’s the second point: if we lose respect for life, then what does that
mean? It means a state
of thoughtlessness ─ ”I have no thought.” A man of thought will have
respect for life. When you are thoughtless, you don’t think of tomorrow, and
you don’t think of your fellowmen or community. Therefore, you are thoughtless
if you have no respect for life.
Thirdly, a lack of respect for life takes you to war. War results because
of the lack of respect for life. Therefore, my friends, I think that respect
for life should be given priority in this year of 2010. What do I mean by that?
Many things can be said about having respect for life.
DEVELOP TRUE AND PURE LOVE
To sum it up, to put it into two words, respect for life means sympathy
and love. Have sympathy and love. These two are enough to cultivate and develop
the spirit of respect for life. What do I mean by love? Love, as we know and
experience, is attachment, which is certainly not true love. True love is not
infatuation, nor is it possessiveness. Real love does not have ego or
attachment, nor is it mundane, self-centred, narrow-minded, regional,
factional, or linguistic. Love is universal, fundamental, Divine, and free of
blemishes. This kind of love wants you to love all beings. This is what Baba
says: “Love all and serve all.” When you love, you feel like serving all
beings.
“Love all beings” means loving not merely human beings, but all birds,
beasts and animals. Today, we find cows being killed in slaughter houses. If we
visit mutton shops, we see how sheep are mercilessly killed. Killing an animal
means that you have not given that animal the right to live. Just as you have
the right to live, an animal also has the right to live. You cannot rob it of
its right. This fundamental right is to live. By killing animals you are
denying their basic right to live. Love means loving all beings: human beings,
plants, and animals, as well as the whole universe or organic world.
Love means not causing pain to anyone. My friends, when we talk we may
offend someone unknowingly. When we devise certain plans, our manoeuvring and
manipulation may lead to pain for someone. Our thought process may be the cause
of pain for another. We may also pain others by our actions. So let us be
cautious, and know that love means not inflicting pain on anyone by thoughts,
words, or deeds.
SACRIFICE IS AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE
Love also means sacrifice. A mother is ready to sacrifice her life for
the life of her child. Why? It is because of her love. A wife is ready to
sacrifice her life for the life of her husband. Why? It’s because of her love
for her husband. Therefore, sacrifice is an expression of love. Where there is
no sacrifice, there is no love, only selfishness. The expression of love is
sacrifice; the absence of sacrifice is selfishness. Therefore, let us learn to
sacrifice. Baba sacrifices all His time, energies, and resources for all of
humanity to make everyone happy, and so that everyone may lead a prosperous and
blissful life. A happy, healthy, and pleasurable life lies in making others
happy. There will be no pleasure if you cause pain to others. So love means not
inflicting any pain on anyone, and developing the spirit of sacrifice.
TRUE LOVE IS LOVE FOR GOD
Above all, true love is love for God. Spiritual love for God is Divine.
In a social setting, when you love God you love everyone, because the same God
is present in everyone. If you love socially, it is not possible to love
everyone, because you have your own limitations, your own ideas, dogma,
fundamentalism, agenda, goals, and motives, which will never allow you to love
all. In order to love all, you should love God first. When you love God, you
will be able to love everyone. That kind of love is Divine. That love is
spiritual. That life is God’s life.
God’s life is not anything different from human life. Human life is
governed by certain limitations, but God’s life is beyond. We do have love. If
this love grows above and beyond our limitations, and if that love is ever
expanding, then that is true love. To quote Baba, “Expansion of love is life.”
This is the quality of Divine love. Therefore, my friends, respect for life is
the first of the two resolutions for the year 2010.
RESPECT FOR LIFE LEADS TO INNER REALITY
Respect for life also wants us to “be,” and not to “be seen.” We may
appear to be good, but let us actually be good, and not just appear to be good.
Let us be spiritual, and not simply appear to be spiritual. Let us be honest,
not only appear to be honest. “To be” is more important than “to appear.” This
is a sign of true respect for life. When you respect your life you will not be
a hypocrite. You will never have double standards; you don’t cheat yourselves
or deceive others. Why? Because you are what you are. You are in a state of
being. Be and never want to be. Never wish to be. Never only appear to be, but
be always what you are. Be what you should be. That is the sign of respect for
life.
When you are in that state of “be,” it will take you to your “being”─ the
true reality. The reality is being ─ being is possible from the state of “to
be.” From “be” to “being.” If you just appear to be, you are only an actor. It
is only a drama, and in a drama you are not what you should be. You appear to
be the role you play. In a drama you may play the role of Jesus Christ. You
appear to be Christ, but you are not Christ. But if you imitate Christ, if you
follow his footsteps, you are the Christ. Be a Christ, and don’t merely appear
to be a Christ. This is respect for life. When you are in that state of “be,”
it is easy to experience “being” ─ your inner reality and your true, cosmic,
universal Self.
THE BENEFITS OF RESPECT FOR LIFE
Then you may ask me another question. What are the benefits if I have
respect for life? What do I get? Or what are the profits and gains if we
respect life? Well, the first and foremost is that you will be creative. You
will have creative powers because life is creative. Why? It is the gift of the
Creator. He has given this life to be creative. You can be creative if you have
respect for life.
Second, if you have respect for life you are ready to help anybody in
times of need. You are ready to extend your helping hand to the poor and
suffering. This will make you a man of action ─ a karma yogi. This is the sign
of respect for life.
When you respect your life, you develop awareness, alertness,
wakefulness, and watchfulness of your inner being, of what you really are: not
what others think you are, not what you think you are, but what you really are.
Respect for life will help you to experience being what you really are. That is
the third point.
Fourthly, respect for life will make you responsive, receptive and
sensitive to the suffering of others, as when an area is affected by a tsunami,
floods, or earthquakes. We read in the newspaper today that in Haiti, because
of the earthquake, one hundred thousand people have died. What havoc and damage
that earthquake has brought into the Haitian people’s lives! Immediately we
find the whole world responding. President Obama announced that the United
States is ready for rescue operations. You find all the nations ready to help
Haiti and the earthquake victims. Recently Andhra Pradesh, Kurnool, and Mahboob
Nagar were affected by floods. The whole country came together. Gujarat was
affected by an earthquake. Everyone took up rescue operations voluntarily. This
is respect for life. To help others is certainly an expression and
manifestation of your respect for life.
RESPECT FOR LIFE CREATES FREEDOM AND PERFECTION
A man who has respect for life will enjoy freedom. What do you mean by
freedom? My friends, we think freedom means to act in the way one wants, to
speak in the way one wishes to. No! Freedom means to act in the way you should
and to speak in the way you should so that you can enjoy this freedom. This
kind of freedom is the birthright of a person who has respect for life.
Respect for life also wants you to be perfect. Perfection is the aim of a
man who has respect for life. A man doesn’t want to be imperfect, or
semi-successful .He wants to be one-hundred percent successful. That is a sign
of respect for life. How to be a man of perfection is the next question. As an
example, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba said, “The end of culture is perfection.
The end of knowledge is love. The end of education is character. The end of
wisdom is freedom.” Baba refers to perfection as culture.
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