The Dangers of Doubt

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, Vaikuntha Ekaadhashi, Chitravathi River Bed, 28 December 1960
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Oct 1, 2001

Kasthuri now spoke to you about the Puraanic story of the Amrithamanthana (churning of the ocean for gaining the nectar of immortality). He said that when the Dhevas (demigod's) were overcome by conceit, delusion and Thamas (ignorance), the sages cursed them with age, greyness and senility; they became easy victims for the Raakshasas (demons); and so, to restore to them the lost splendour, the Lord suggested the churning of the ocean and the winning of Amritha (nectar of immortality).

You have to take this story in its symbolic sense. The Puraanas (mythological stories) always deal in parables. Each tale has a deeper meaning, something that is more valuable and useful than what appears on the surface. This meaning is to be practised in daily life; they are not stories told to while away the time. Indhra insulted Dhurvaasa because he was blinded by the power of office; the curse of the sage forced him to rethink about his reality, to discover his innate status. Then, he found that he was Amritham, of the same nature as Parabrahman (supreme reality) itself. In fact, he came to know that he was Parabrahman, moving about in the delusion that he was Indhra! The churning is the symbol of the Saadhana needed to remove the veil of delusion, more specifically, the Raajayoga Saadhana (royal path of integral spirituality).

When the Dhaivi Shakthi (power of divinity) declines and evil impulses predominate, even the Dhevas fall; they lose their special privileges and rights. Once Anritha (falsehood) enters into the character, you lose contact with Amritha. He dies many deaths, he who is false, afraid of truth, blind to his own glorious heritage of immortality.

In their inner Impulse, Men are subhuman

Sathya (truth) is that which is Nithya (eternal). Falsehood is poison; truth is nectar. Truth alone confers splendour or Dhivyathawam (divinity). So, when the Dhevas fell a prey to pride and attachment to unreality, they had to churn their thoughts and impulses, their feelings and emotions, their instincts and inspirations and bring out the cream of truth. The two groups who pulled the churning rope are the "forward leading influences ad the backward pulling influences," - the Dhaivi and the Asuri (divine and demonic) urges.

As I said, Indhra insulted Dhuurvasa and invited upon himself the anger of that sage because of the ignorance of his fundamental reality, his Ajnaana (ignorance), which plunged him in pride. What should be done to restore him to sanity is to re-teach the Aathmic (universal spiritual) basis of all the pomp and pageantry of office, the evanescence that is immanent in all created things.

Today, though in outward appearance people are human, in inner impulse they are subhuman or Raakshasa; he who has no Dhaana (charity or sacrifice) in him is called a Dhaanava. Dheva and Dhaanava are mixed in the human make-up and now the Dhaanava rules the roost. Therefore, man has lost his glory and his power and his splendour; he must win them again by Saadhana. So, make yourselves pure by incessant striving.

Man is but a Flame of the eternal Fire

The partaking of the Amritha created by Me is only the first step in this process for you: it does not mean much if you do not take the second step and the third and march on towards self-realisation. You must have faith in the discipline laid down in Sanaathana Dharma and in the ultimate divine basis of all creation. Get convinced that the world can give you only fleeting joy; and grief is but the obverse of joy. Strive now, from this very moment; for the time is rushing like a swift torrent. Develop the joy that will not decline, the joy that will ever be full. Be true to yourself. Be bold, be sincere. The only reality is the twin-bird on the tree, the Jeevaathma (individual soul) that tastes the fruits and suffers and the Paramaathma (supreme soul) that sits unmoved and merely looks on.

Mention was made now of the Mohini-ruupa (form of fascinating woman) and the way in which the Asuras were misled by the enticing charm of outward form. Now, all this talk of the consorts of the Lord, of Lakshmi, Saraswathi and Paarvathi being the wives of the trinity, are absolutely silly. They reveal only the Samsaaric (worldly living) glasses that you wear, the projection of your worldly fancies on the 'heavenly families,' the weaving of stories on the human model for the satisfaction of human cravings. These names are only convenient expressions for the Shakthi (divine power) that is immanent in Godhead. For example, Lakshmi is the personification of Dhaya or the grace of Vishnu; that is why she is said to dwell on His breast! So too, Paarvathi is half the body of Shiva, inseparably incorporated in Him! The powers of creation, conservation and dissolution are coexistent and continuous in Godhead. You may ask how the three can coexist. Well, look at electricity! The current can create, conserve as well as dissolve, all at the same time, and to the same extent. These Shakthis (divine energies) are similarly pictured as inseparably associated with the three aspects of the absolute. Man's duty is to achieve unity with the Shiva-Shakthi for he is but a spark that has emanated from it; he is but a flame of the eternal fire.

Bhakthi must confer Patience and Fortitude

Enter upon that task of Saadhana from now on; that is the lesson you must learn here. Otherwise, Yaathra (pilgrimage) leads only to the accumulation of Paathra (vessel) - you buy vessels from wherever you go: from Raameshwaram, Thirupathi, Kaashi, Haridhwar, Madhura, Kumbhakonam. That is the merit you get from pilgrimage, a storeroom full of vessels. You come from long distances, incur heavy expenses, suffer in the cold, in the open or lie in the shade of trees and wait for days expecting the longed for interview with Me; but in the end, you return and dissipate the Shaanthi and the Santhosha (peace ad happiness) you derive from this place.

Bhakthi is something sweet, soothing, refreshing and restoring. It must confer patience and fortitude. The Bhaktha will not be perturbed if another gets the interview first or if another is given greater consideration. He is humble and bides his time: he knows that there is a higher power that knows more and that it is just and impartial. In the light of that knowledge, the Bhaktha will communicate his troubles and problems only to his Lord; he will not humiliate himself by talking about them to all and sundry, for what can a man, who is as helpless as himself, do to relieve him? It is only those who have that implicit faith in God, who will deign to communicate only with the Lord and none else, who deserve Amritha (nectar of immortality).

Make Naamasmarana as Part of yourself

The Sthula dheha (gross body) should be ever immersed in Sathsanga (holy company); the Suukshma dheha (subtle body), that is, the thoughts and feelings, should be ever immersed in the contemplation of the glory of the Lord. That is the sign of the Bhaktha. He who shouts and swears and advertises his worries to every one he meets and craves for sympathy, such a one can never be a Bhaktha. Such men are miscalled Bhakthas. They make earnest men lose faith in godly ways; earnest men feel they are superior to these pseudo-devotees. And this is a fact. It is a great responsibility to tread the godward path. There is no sliding back, no halfway stop, no tardy pace, no side lane on such a pilgrimage. It is always up and up, right to the crest of the mountain.

Though your responsibility is greater, take it from Me, you are luckier than others. Do not deny with the tongue what you have relished in the heart; do not bear false witness to your own felt experience. Do not carp and talk cynically of the very thing you have revered and adored when the company into which you fall start retailing such raillery. It is said hat the Bhaktha can get the Lord everywhere easily but the Lord cannot get a Bhaktha so easily. Yes, it is difficult to secure a Bhaktha who has that unshaken faith, that attitude of complete self-surrender. Such an attitude can come only by Naamasmarana (remembering God's name), constant, sincere and continuous, as continuous as the act of breathing and felt to be as essential for life. That is the Japam, the Thapas and the Dhyaanam (silent recital of Lord's name, penance ad meditation). Naamasmarana like this will immerse you ever in Amritha, not just a drop on your tongue.

Saadhana has to be followed from a tender Age

Do you know how much I feel when I find that in spite of My arrival and Bodha and Upadhesam (teaching and spiritual instruction), you have not yet started this Saadhana? You simply praise Me and strew compliments; that I am the treasure-house of grace, the ocean of Aanandha, etc. Take up the name and dwell upon its sweetness; imbibe it and roll it on your tongue, taste its essence, contemplate on its magnificence and make it a part of yourself and grow strong in spiritual you. That is what pleases Me.

Do not wait until you are past middle age to practise this Saadhana; I know of some parents who drag away their sons who come to Me when still young; they tell them that they can take up religious practices in their old age. These parents do not know the extent of the loss. By some stroke of good luck, their children get the chance of knowing about the right path for Shaanthi and Santhosha (peace and contentment), but the parents are angry that the sons do not find pleasure in the articles that gave them pleasure! They feel there must be something wrong in the make-up of their sons; they tempt them to drink, to gamble, to exploit, to hate - to imitate them, in short - and take them along with them to perdition. But a straight plant means a straight tree; a bent plant can never grow into a straight tree. Rotten, overripe, worm-eaten fruits are not fit to be offered to God. Years of sin would have warped the character of a person beyond repair. So the Saadhana has to be followed from a tender age.

Doubt is a Component of the demonic Nature

Faith can grow only by long cultivation and careful attention. The old are haunted by the demon of doubt. I know there are many here who are afflicted by doubt. They think that I have hidden a vessel of Amritha in a spot in the sands previously fixed and known to Me only. That is why I know asked some from among those people themselves, to decide where we sit on these sands.

Kastuuri suggested this morning that since the thousands who have come to see the Amrithodhbhava (materialisation of nectar) cannot get a close view on this flat riverbed, a mound of sand be raised, whereon I can sit; I did not agree because I knew these doubters would immediately infer that the Amritha was hidden previously under the mound that was heaped up on purpose! This doubt is truly a component of the Raakshasa (demonic) nature, for it eats into the vitals of Bhakthi. It clips the wings of joy, it dampens enthusiasm, it tarnishes hope. Such men cannot attain the goal even at the end of a thousand births.

When doubt assails you, welcome the chance to see and experience and clear the doubt. But do not later deny the very truth of which you were once convinced and listen again to the voice of hate or foolishness. Do not put faith in the words of men into whose hands you will not entrust your purse; as a matter of fact, it is the words of such men that are now leading many astray. Really, this is a pitiable state of things, is it not?

Come to Me, eager to learn, to progress, to see yourself in Me, and I shall certainly welcome you and show you the way. You will indeed be blessed. All scriptures, all texts, the Geetha which is the milk of all the Upanishadhic cows, are intended to instil this thirst into you.

Do not vacillate and change Name and Form

The thirst has to be like that of the creeper for the tree-trunk, of the magnet for the iron, of the bee for the flower, of the waters for a fall, of the river for the sea. The pangs of separation must gnaw the heart; the entire being must yearn for union. Do not vacillate or change or try a series of Naama and Ruupa (name and form). That will only fritter away time and energy. Ceaseless contemplation of the Lord will give ceaseless taste of Amritha to you.

If you do not follow this path, you are doubly to blame; for you have contacted Me. The form usually creates doubts, for when only the name is there, you can build around it all your fancies, all that you want, to complete the picture. Do not be misled by such doubts when the form has come before you; make the moment useful, the life worthwhile.

(Finding that the vast gathering would not be able to see the materialisation of the Amritha if He did it while seated on the sands, Baaba first created a Shankha (conch), "the vessel from which the Amritha will now emanate," as He announced. Then He stood up in the centre of the crowd and "poured" from that empty Sankha into a silver vessel a sparkling stream of sweet and fragrant Amritha, which He later distributed to every person who had come!)