The Search for Quiet

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, Bangalore, 23 December 1961
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Sep 1, 2001

The name "Sanaathana" that you have adopted for your Workers Co-operative Industrial Institute is strange, even for the department over which the minister who is here presides. But it is that name which has brought Me here. You are all Sanaathana (eternal), though you appear Noothana (new), on account of this new dress you are wearing. This you can discover only thorough Vidhya (learning) that instils discrimination and emphasises basic values.

Your chief minister said this morning when this society was formally inaugurated in Shriraamapuram, that all our troubles arise out of ignorance and that the spread of education will automatically remove them. I had to correct him and say that all our troubles are due to the fact that the educated are not educated at all in the subjects that really matter. They have neither Viveka (discrimination), nor Vinaya (humility), nor Vishwaasa (trust). They do not honour or render gratitude to parents. They laugh at those who turn towards God and those who give the world a minor place in the scheme of things. They do not appreciate the simple pleasures of meditation, of the recital of the name of the Lord, of silence and service. Still, they are burdened with heavy degrees and tiles which proclaim that they are 'educated.' That is the tragedy.

The educated have no iota of the peace that the uneducated have! They live in greater discontent and misery and are tossed about without a rudder in a sea of troubles. They do not know anything about the source of peace and Aanandha that they carry about within themselves; they allow the inner consciousness to go dry by neglect; they are not aware of the means to irrigate it with the waters of Prema and grow therein the fruits of Prashaanthi (tranquillity).

Without faith in God, Man is blind

They read books but do not correct their modes of thinking and living. The shelves of the dispensary are full of drugs; but how can your illness be cured if you simply learn the catalogue by heart, or even the pharmacopoeia? You have to select the drug you need, drink it, imbibe it, assimilate it and counteract the cause of illness.

For example; I have now been moving around this Bangalore and other places for more than 22 years; but though Lakhs of people have seen Me, those who have understood My nature are very few. This is because the simple exercises of Sravana, Manana and Nididhyaasana (listening, reflection and concentration) are not practised by people; they do not know how to recognise divinity in themselves or others. They simply prod and exhort each other to serve all as God's own forms. This has become mere conventional talk devoid of inspiration or meaning.

In India, from very ancient times, the glory, the divinity, the sanctity of man has been proclaimed and the way of recognising it has been taught. Only those who have learnt them deserve to be the sons and daughters of this land. Others are like the Kokil birds, the cuckoos that are born in the nests of crows; their place of birth is India, no doubt, but they are basically aliens, of a different species altogether. Guru Naanak said that without faith in God, man is blind; without it, your are moving corpses. Your life might be as grand, as beautiful as rich as the Taj Mahaal - but remember the Taj is but a tomb! Whatever the method of worship, whichever the name or form, it is faith that matters; it is that which gives life and energy for higher things.

Do ritual Worship for the Sake of Humanity

There is this panicky talk about the Ashta-grahakoota - of the calamities that the conjunction of these 8 planets will rain upon mankind. Like the tail of Hanumaan with the flame at its tip, which lengthened on and on, setting all Lanka on fire, this panic is increasing every moment and setting every one on edge. Believe Me, nothing will happen; no, there is no danger at all. Of course, in this terror, people are everywhere doing Yajnas and Puujas, which are by themselves good. They give you some courage and peace of mind. So far, so good. Even among these, I like the Puuja that is done not for the sake of the individual but for the sake of humanity. By all means, do Puuja in order to promote the happiness and peace of living beings. Develop that love for men everywhere. That is My mission too, My resolution, My Sankalpa (will), My Deeksha (vow) - the planting of love in every human heart.

The Lord is Prema; Prema is Paramaathma. If you fill your heart with Prema, hatred, envy, greed and egoism cannot enter it. There will be no Pralaya (devastation) for a Prema-filled earth. The only chaos that may happen in February next is the chaos of failure for many candidates in the general elections! No one else need worry over the conjunction. Chaos or no chaos, your duty is to pray for the welfare of the world and to work for it as far as lies in your power. Pray for Prashaanthi for all; do your bit for it by not adding to the Ashaanthi (disturbance) that exists. Every one is basically God; that is to say, basically, you. He is the inner motive in all. Every Indian knows this in the depths of his heart; He has imbibed it with the mother's milk; that knowledge, and action according to that knowledge, are the hallmarks of the Indian. That should make the genuine Indian fearless; for the Aathma, which He really is, cannot be affected by pain or death or joy or accident or calamity.

What is the use of searching for quiet, available only in the silence of the inner awareness, in the jungle of Prakrithi (world)? It is like searching for something you have lost in your room under the street lamp. Your "self" you have lost; search for it in you... that is the path of wisdom.