Divine Life

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, Venkatagiri, April 1957
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Feb 2, 2001

A Convention of the workers of the divine life mission must include all humanity, for no one is outside its pale; all are plodding along the road to the realisaton of the divinity that is immanent in each. The mission on which every individual has come is to merge the individuality in the universal. The life that each being is leading is saturated with the divine; Existence or Sath is derived from the source of all Sath, Brahman (supreme reality) itself; consciousness or Chith is derived from the source of all Chith, Brahman itself. Bliss or Aanandha Is derived from the source of all Aanandha, Brahman itself.

You are all Sath-Chith-Aanandha Swaruupa (embodiments of existence-consciousness-bliss); only, you are unaware of it and imagine yourself to be this individual or that, and subjected to this limitation or that! This is the myth that must be exploded in order that divine life may start. It is the divine that inspires, that activates, that leads and fulfils the life of each being, however simple or complex its physical structure may be. From the Anu (atom) to the Brihath (universe) every single entity is moving towards the estuary where it merges in the sea of bliss.

Divine life is the very breath of all beings; it consists of Sathya, Prema and Ahimsa (truth, love and non-injury). For, how can any one be false to another when there is no other at all? Falsehood comes out of fear. When there is no second, there is no fear at all. No one is loved more that the Self; so, when all is the self-same Self, all is loved as the Self is loved. As for Himsa, who is to injure whom, when all are but one?

Faith in the Almighty will remove Anxiety

How to lead the divine life? There is no special membership that entitles you to it. Every struggle to realise the unity behind all the multiplicity is a step on the path of divine life. You have to churn the milk if you wish to separate and identify the butter that is immanent in it. So too, you have to carry on certain processes of thought and action in order to get to the hard core of faith that this world is a funny mixture of Sathyam and Asathyam (real and unreal), that it is Mithya (false), in fact. The divine life does not admit of the slightest dross in character of delusion in intellect. So, people dedicated to it must emphasise this by precept and example.

Wipe out the root causes of anxiety and fear and ignorance. Then only can the true personality of man shine forth. Anxiety is removed by faith in the Lord; the faith that tells you that whatever happens is for the best and that the Lord's will be done. Quiet acceptance is the best armour against anxiety; not the acceptance of the heroic. Sorrow springs from egoism, the feeling that you do not deserve to be treated so badly, that you are left helpless. When egoism goes, sorrow disappears. Ignorance is just a mistake, mistaken identity of the body as the Self!

In fact, you must each one try to become ego-less and then the Lord will accept you as His Flute. Once, when a number of people were asked by Me what they would like to be in the hands of God, I got various answers: some said the Lotus, some the Shankha (conch), some the Chakra (discus) but no one mentioned the Murali (flute). I would advise you to become the Murali, for then the Lord will come to you, pick you up, put you to His lips and breathe through you and, out of the hollowness of your heart due to the utter absence of egoism that you have developed, He will create captivating music for all creation to enjoy. Be straight without any will of your own, merge your will in the will of God. Inhale only the breath of God. That is divine life, that is what I want you all to achieve.