September 21st, 2002
The secret of a long life
This happened on the 21st of September, 2002. (I think we will
complete all of the stories of September tonight.)
Swami asked somebody, “Do you know how to live a long life? Do you
know the secret of a long life?”
Who can answer that? Nobody can answer that. “Swami, I don’t know.”
“It’s very easy.”
“What is it, Swami?”
“Only two things are needed.”
“What are they?”
He said, “One is sacrifice and the other is love or prema. Sacrifice
and love will give you long life. Thyaga or sacrifice is the medicine,
while love is the diet. If we take the medicine without following the
diet, the disease will never be cured. If we follow the diet without
taking the medicine, we are nearer to the grave. Unless we have the
diet and the medicine together, the disease cannot be cured. So the
medicine of sacrifice and the diet of love — both are necessary to
live a long life.” That’s what Baba said.
At this point, Swami gave an example from the United States —
Rockefeller. Today, in the United States there is the Rockefeller
Foundation. This charity is working all over the United States. How
did this come about? Rockefeller was fabulously rich -- very, very
rich. He had no time to think of anything other than making money.
He reached the stage where he forgot the amount of money he had
because he was so busy.
But Rockefeller fell sick at the age of about 48. And the doctors
said, “Look here, you are not going to survive for more than eight or
ten months. You are not going to live much longer.”
Who said this? His doctors in the United States spoke this. Doctors
in the U.S. are very, very responsible, to the best of my knowledge,
because they will be sued in the courts of law if anything goes wrong.
Then they would have to pay money throughout their lifetime, oh yes
-- so they have to be very responsible.
So those doctors said, “You won’t live very long.”
So Rockefeller started distributing his money to everybody —
educational institutions, medical institutions and many others all
over the United States, with the result that he lived for almost 90
years. A person, who should have left this planet earth 40 years
earlier, got an extension of his life. How is that possible? Because
of his sacrifice. That’s what Bhagavan said.
What is required today is for our hearts, which are hard like stone,
to melt. Even stones wither and become ordinary sand with continuous
exposure to rain and heat. Similarly, our hearts of stone should
melt, seeing people’s misery, so we will be prepared to sacrifice.
That is the gist of the conversation we had with Bhagavan on the 21st
of September.
September 17th, 2002
only a witness
This happened on the 17th of September, 2002. Bhagavan seemed upset
with some fellow — maybe an administrator or a student or a teacher.
In this big organization, there will be disappointments for Him — ways
we might have failed to come up to His expectations.
So He was a little bit upset and He looked at me and said seriously,
“When something is wrong with the wife, the husband is responsible.
When something is wrong with the children, it is the mother’s mistake.
If anything goes wrong with the students, the Principal is
responsible. If the Principal commits any mistake, then the
Vice-chancellor is responsible.”
All of them are seated there. Immediately the thought came to me,
if the Vice-chancellor commits a mistake, it must be the Chancellor’s
mistake. Who is the Chancellor? Baba! (Laughter) You know what He
said?
Swami immediately said, “If the Vice-chancellor commits any mistake,
it is not the mistake of the Chancellor. (Laughter) Why? Here the
Chancellor is only a witness. He is only a witness -- it is not His
mistake.”
How to control the Mind
Then He told one chap, an accounting fellow, “You go, finish your work
and return with all the latest statements within one hour.”
The man left. I was watching the situation.
“Swami?”
“What?”
“You want him to go faster than the wind -- faster than wind?”
“Yes.”
“Oh-ho, Swami. Can he go faster than light? Is it possible?”
“Yes, why not?”
“Oh, I see.”
Then I thought I should be careful. I wanted to turn the mood.
“Swami, is there anything that moves faster than wind and light,
anything in the world? Light moves at the fastest rate, you know
that. Is there anything that moves faster than light?”
Swami said, “Yes, there is one thing.”
“One thing? What is it, Swami?”
“The mind,” He said.
“Swami, how?”
“If you want to go to New York, you are there right now.”
“Even before light can reach there?”
“Light may take time, but the mind is already there. So the mind
moves faster than wind and light”, Bhagavan said.
Then I said, “Swami, with vegamu (vegamu means speed) is mano vegamu –
the speed of the mind -- natural?”
“No, no, it is rogamu. It is disease. The mind that runs fast is not
a natural quality. It is an ailment. It is a disease.”
“Oh, I see, Swami.”
Then I said, Swami, “How do I control the speed of the mind? Can I do
it by yoga?”
And He said, “No, no, no. By following yoga, you will be suffering
from a new disease. Yoga gives you a new disease.”
“How do I control it, Swami? That is my question.”
Then Swami said, “All the methods you people follow, the yoga and
other spiritual practices to control the mind, to reduce the speed of
the mind, appear to give you some temporary, artificial results. But
the results that you get from these are not cognisable and they are
not lasting either. It’s like a millipede or a centipede that moves
forward — backwards, forward, and backwards -- but stays in the same
place.”
So, all of those spiritual practices are slow. They don’t help us in
any way. That’s what Bhagavan said.
“Swami, You said we should control our mind, but that it is not
possible by our spiritual practices. Why should I control my mind
first? By controlling my mind, how can I do my job? I must teach my
class. So how can a person do it? I have to do some marketing. By
controlling the mind, how can I be a businessman?”
And Swami said, “No, no, you are wrong.”
See how nicely He was explaining the subject. Please follow
carefully. This is not simply a dialogue or a drama. A little
explanation of the context is necessary to have complete understanding
of Sai’s way of teaching. Sai sayings, Sai ‘pearls’, are passed down
to us.
Swami said, “One example.”
“What, Swami?”
“The car is proceeding.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“The car is speeding up.”
“Good.”
“When you stop the car, the four tires come to a halt.”
“Yes.”
“Even then, you can switch on the lights and have the air-conditioned
facility inside. You can have your snacks; you can play and you can
talk. You can do all your work inside the car even though the car is
stopped. Understand? Similarly, though the mind is under check - put
under total control - or the speed of the mind is reduced, you can
still do your job. You can do your activity just as we do while seated
inside the car. Am I clear?”
That’s what Bhagavan said that time.
In my mind I was thinking, “Okay Swami, could You just give me one
more example?”
Bhagavan, the Mastermind, the perfect mind, the Divine mind, the
Indweller, the prompter, the leader, the Super mind said this, “Look
here, you are wearing ironed clothes, well washed and ironed, white
clothes.”
“Yes.”
“Suppose you begin to feel, ‘If I wear this white dress and go
outside, it will be spoiled. My dress will become dirty, so I will
not wear it.’ Is that how you think? No. You should wear your dress,
but at the same time see that it does not get dirty. You should be
careful in your movements. Don’t you do that? Similarly, make use of
the mind. Make use of the mind because the mind is your instrument.
The mind is God’s gift. For humanity, the mind is the cause for
bondage or for liberation: ”Manah Eva Manushyanam Karanam Bandha
Mokshayo.” So mind should be under check, but it should be used
properly.” That’s what Bhagavan said.
Next Swami said, “How is the mind today? The mind is running fast, as
if a thousand horses are driving it. That is the speed at which the
mind is running. That’s why we are mentally disturbed, why we are
mentally agitated. We need psychiatrists everyday because the mind is
not under our control. We have forgotten that the mind is only our
instrument. But we identify with the mind and suffer.” That’s what
Bhagavan has said.
“Swami, that was nice. I could understand.”
Bhagavan was in a good mood so I could ask a small question. “Swami,
you said it is necessary to control the mind.”
“Yes.”
“Who is to control the mind? Who is to control my mind?”
Then He said, “First you know that. If you know that, it will be
controlled.”
“Oh-ho.”
“First you know that mind should be controlled. Then you will
understand the controller who has to control it. You will know this
all by yourself. “
“Swami, should I control it?”
Swami said, “What is this ‘I control’? Chi! ‘I’ control the mind.
This ‘I’ is only the name and form. With this ‘I’-ness of name and
form, you cannot control anything because you are bound. You are
chained. You are limited by this ‘I’-ness or ego. So you have to drop
this ‘I’ control -- you have to drop it.”
“Well, Swami, should I drop it? Hmm. If I drop this ‘I’-ness, then
what will remain in me? Where am I, what am I and who am I? When
this ‘I’-ness is gone, what am I?
And Bhagavan said, “When the ‘I’-ness is gone, you are not the mind;
you are not the ego; but you are the Self. You are the Self.”
“I see. What is the Self, Swami?”
“That is Atma. That is the spirit. That is consciousness. That is
Parameshti.”
We were talking about this yesterday. Parameshti is Divinity. It is
consciousness. It is the Self. It is the spirit. I was very much
frightened to think of dropping this ‘I’-ness because I am happy with
this ‘I’-ness. “I am so-and-so.” Uh huh. “I am this and that.” Oh-ho,
good. I can say what I am!
“But once this ‘I’-ness is gone, well then what will happen? It’s all
emptiness; it’s all a void?”
Then Bhagavan said, “Oh no, no, no, no. It’s only in that emptiness,
in that void, in that nothingness, in that silence, in that lacuna
that you experience the Self. You experience the consciousness. You
experience the spirit, the real, the Atma. That will control the
mind.”
“How, Swami, how?”
Swami said, “Once you go there, this disappears. When a policeman is
there, the thief will run away. Similarly, once the spirit is there,
the mind will say, ’Pah’ (Laughter) and will keep quiet. When the cat
is around, the rats go into their holes totally terrified, horrified,
completely frightened. In a similar way, once the real spirit or the
Self, or consciousness, or Parameshti or Divinity or the Atma is felt,
is experienced, is realized, there will be no more ‘I’-ness. There
will be no more psychology. There is no more of intellect. There will
be nothing whatsoever because you are that supreme Self.” That’s what
Bhagavan said.
The role of the intellect
“Swami, that was good. Now, what is the role of the intellect in this
process? Bhagavan, You are so kind -- You explained what the Self
is, what the Self can do, and the mind and its vagaries, its whims,
its fancies, and the troubles that the mind will create. Now, what is
the role of the intellect?”
Bhagavan said, “The intellect will take you towards the spirit.”
Something like Northwest Airlines or Trans World Airlines -- it will
take you from Chicago to Los Angeles. So similarly, it will take you
from this to that place, from the realm of the mind to the realm of
the spirit -- from the airport gate #1 of Hong Kong to that New York
Kennedy Airport of the spirit.
(Anil Kumar says to the audience, “Not that I’m partial to the United
States but it’s the only country I visited, so I’m giving these
examples. That’s all. Had I also been given the chance to visit
other countries, I would have used examples such as Moscow and
Leningrad enthusiastically. I pray for a chance someday. I have
every hope, you know. I’m not hopeless yet!)
“So, the role of the intellect is to guide you, to take you, to
transport you, to establish communion with the spirit. Up to now,
there has only been communication. No more communication; the topic
should be communion because communication is time-bound. Communication
is limited. Communication is between two. In communion you become one
with the two. So, the role of the intellect is to establish this
connecting link of communion between the mind and the spirit.”
“Swami, only You can explain things like that.”
I have got this weakness where I cannot control my emotions,
particularly in appreciation. Sometimes when Bhagavan speaks, I may
look odd to the students, or ill- mannered to some of the devotees, or
uncultured to some others. But I am not under my own control.
“Swami?”
“What?”
“Only You can explain like that.
“Manchadi -- good, good.”
When milk is boiling, some water has to be added, so it calms down.
I can tell you, my friends, no one can explain these subtle things in
a simple way. Because we went around so many temples, we went on so
many pilgrimages, we heard the talks of so many gurus, now we are
confused, confounded, totally mad and vexed with spirituality. So
that topic has become a ‘God-forsaken’ topic. But here is Bhagavan
Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who can explain the most difficult things in a
simple way, certain that we can understand it. That is the purpose of
the Avatar. The purpose of the Avatar is to make complicated things
simple, while the purpose of the modern man is to make simple things
complicated! Modern man complicates things. The Avatar simplifies
things. In such a simple way, Bhagavan explained this.
