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Purusha and Purushotthama

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, Prashanthi Nilayam, 20 October 1963
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Jan 13, 2001

Man has known about everything else, except death. Why should a person die? Of what benefit is it to die? Why does he die? The answer is: in order that he may not die again. He is born, so that he may not get born again. Having been born, man earns and acquires land, riches, materials, grain, articles of comfort and luxury, which he feels will give him happiness and which therefore become the object of his struggle. But, the object of realising God is forgotten. You may ask: "Why should any one seek company, do good deeds, direct his mind towards good thoughts?" You are listening to Me and what do you get when you so listen? You agree that I am giving you Aanandham, is it not? Well, what do you give Me in return? Give Me the Aacharana (following, observing) of what I am telling you; practise what I teach, that is enough. That is all I ask.

Man should not die like a cat or a dog. He should leave the world better and happier than when he came into it. He must get away, full of gratitude for the chance given to him to see God in everything that he saw, heard, touched, smelt and tasted. He must remember the Lord, with his last breadth.

Never allow your Attention to stray away from God

To get that recollection, a lifetime of practice is needed. When you are at the steering wheel of the car, you may be hearing the talk going on inside the car and even join in it; you may be doing other things, but, your attention will always be on the road ahead. When the mother returns from the well with three pots one over the other on her head, talking to her companions, her mind is concentrated on the baby in the cradle which she has left at home. So too, when you are engaged in the various duties and obligations of the world, never allow your attention to stray away from God, the Goal. Be always attentive to the signs of His glory and His mercy and His omnipresence.

A soldier is the result of many years of intense training; his courage and coolness on the front line are the product of several years of calculated exercise and discipline. As Raani Narasimha Shaasthri said, it is only after years of intense study that one can appear for an examination and the results are not announced immediately; you have to wait some more time for that. So, cultivate the habit of remembering the Lord with every breath; then only can you remember Him with the last breath.

There was an old man lying on his deathbed. I think he belonged to the Kannada country. While in his last moments, he could only blabber some word, which his children could not understand; they called in a doctor and asked him to give oxygen or something so that the words might become clear; they surmised that he was announcing to them where exactly he had kept the money he had earned. So, they did everything to get the words correctly. They could distinguish only one sound, ka! So they asked whether he meant Kanaka (gold), Karu (calf), Kanaja (granary), Kasabarike (broom)! When the broom was shown, he nodded his head and died. So, he had to take birth as a broom!

Death is a Consummation which is inevitable

You should not die like that man; you must die like Bheeshma. He lay on the bed of arrows while he taught the Shaanthiparva to the Pandavas, and he died with Krishna before him and in his heart. Death is considered as something to be afraid of; as something that should not be spoken about in happy circumstances! But, death is neither good nor bad. You have no choice in the matter. You can't get it sooner if you welcome it; nor can you avoid it if you condemn it as bad. It is a consummation which is inevitable; from the moment of birth, the march to the cremation ground has started. Some reach the place quicker than others, some go by a round about route and arrive late. That is the only difference, between man and man. But, yet, man walks about as if death is but a distant calamity. When some neighbour loses his child, you console him saying that it is all a dream, that children are born and die because they are creditors who have come to realise old debts incurred in previous births, etc., etc. But, when you lose a child of your own, you do not console yourselves by the same arguments. They are only for the consumption of others.

What dies is the Body, not its Occupant

Arjuna addresses Krishna as Purushotthama, for He only is supreme amongst the Purushas. Purusha means He who is in this Pura (fortified town), namely, this body. Each body has the Purusha in it and the entire universe has the Purushotthama immanent in it. So, after all, what dies is the body, not the occupant of the body, the Purusha. The faith that you have, the Purusha in you, will cleanse the mind of all evil and the senses of all evil propensities. The vessel too must be clean, not merely the drink. Without that, Smarana or Dhyaana done for however long periods they may be, will not yield fruit. That is why the Vedhas were entrusted to the Brahmins, along with rigorous rules of discipline. Without minds cleansed by that discipline, the study of the Vedhas is a barren exercise.

When a man was about to die, the wife asked, "What is to happen to me?" The parents asked the same question; the children asked, "What is to happen to us?" Even the servants asked piteously, "What is to happen to us?" The dying man looked around helplessly and asked all of them "What is to happen to me?" He should have foreseen the event, if he was wise and prepared himself with an answer to that question. Then he could have died in peace and seeing him die so calmly, his children too could have benefited.

Now, a fashion is spreading in conversation; "Oh! It is all God's grace," when something you consider good happens to you. If it happens to somebody you don't like, it is not God's grace evidently, for God is specially yours and not the other fellow's. When something you dislike happens to you, why don't you take that also to be a sign of God's grace? Resign yourself into God's hands; let Him give success or failure, what does it matter? He may be bent upon toughening you, or it may be for your good in the long run. How can you judge? Who are you to judge? Why judge? Do your best and keep mum. Fix your mind on this attitude.

Death will not give advance Information

You don't know when the cameraman is going to click. Mathew, who takes photographs at the Nilayam, at least jumps about in front of you with the camera pointed at this place or that; but, Death will not give any advance intimation, or say, 'Ready' and wait until you are ready. Therefore, be ready always, so that you may produce a good impression with His name on your lips and His form in your cleansed heart.

You do not now realise your good boon in getting Me as the guide. I shall not rest until I reform all of you. The basement for My work has been completed: now, the structure will rise upon it. I go around the whole world alone, with no paraphernalia and no publicity, because I am established in My own glory, in My own truth. I have Aathmic relationship with all, and so I am always succeeding.

To protect the crop, the weeds have to be removed and manure must be applied; that is the work of these Pandiths of the Vidhwanmahaasabha, instruments that were long unused and neglected. Join this great work; it is the chance of a lifetime for you.