Samadhrishti

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, Sathya Sai Bhajana Mandali, Malleshwaram, 15 December 1963
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Jan 13, 2001

Those who live in Malleswaram have made good arrangements for celebrating the Annual Festival of the Bhajana (community singing) that they have been conducting here. Bhajana always gives Aanandha and Shaanthi. See that it is not used for increasing your egoism, or mutual recrimination, or envy or pride, as very often happens. Be humble, be calm, be tolerant. Co-operate with all and treat every one with courtesy and kindness.

Bhakthi is not a uniform to be sworn on Thursday evenings, when you gather for Bhajana, and to be laid aside when the Bhajana is over. It must mean the promotion of an attitude of humility, of revering parents, teachers, elders, and others; it is a mental outlook, an attitude that is ever-present. It is the sustenance of the heart, just as food is sustenance for the body. Like the needle of the compass always pointing to the North, never deviating from that direction, returning to it, readily, gladly, quickly, whenever it is shaken off that line, so too the Bhaktha (devotee) must face the Lord ever, must be happy only when he is set towards Him.

The spiritual Thriveni leading to Samadhrishti

Many people think of God only when grief overtakes them; of course, it is good to do so; it is better than seeking the help of those who are also equally liable to grief. But, it is infinitely better to think of God in grief and in joy, in peace and strife, in all weathers. The proof of the rain is in the wetness of the ground; the proof of Bhakthi is in the Shaanthi the Bhaktha has, Shaanthi which protects him against the onslaughts of success as well as failure, fame, dishonour, gain and loss.

Bhakthi is the river Ganga. Vairaagyam (detachment) is the river Yamuna and Jnaana is the river Saraswathi of this spiritual Thriveni (confluence of three rivers). Jnaana is the through-train; you just board it, that is enough; it takes you direct to the destination. Bhakthi is the through-carriage; though it may be detached from one train and connected with another, if you get into it, you need not worry; so long as you stick to your place, it is bound to take you to the destination. Karma is the ordinary train; if you board it, you have to disembark, climb in and climb out at every junction, load your luggage and unload it, and do a good lot of work to reach your destination.

Bhakthi alone is enough, even to acquire Jnaana. It ends in Samadhrishti (seeing only Brahman in all) and it destroys egoism. Jnaana too gives you these. Naaradha once offered to teach the Gopees (illiterate cowherd women), the principles of philosophy, Vijnaanabodha, as he called it. Krishna agreed. But, they said, "We do not care for your learning and your discourse. We see Krishna everywhere and in everything and so, we have no hate or envy or malice. We have Samadhrishti and we have no Ahamkaaram (egoism). We believe this is enough for us." Naaradha found that what they claimed was correct; so he left discomfited.

You are not travelling Godward

Now, most of you are leading a double or treble life; Yogam (practising union with God) in the morning, Bhogam (enjoyment) the rest of the day and Rogam (suffering) at night. You seek Aanandha outside you and suffer from the ulcer of desire inside you. You utter one thing with the tongue and carry out the opposite with the hand. You claim to be seekers of Jnaana but you are attached to the delusion you have cultivated. You have a ticket for Calcutta but you are travelling in the train headed for Bombay! With the body which is your ticket, Vijnaana and Vairaagyam (world knowledge and detachment) as your luggage, you are travelling not in the train which goes Godward but in the train leading to Prakrithi (objective world). This is the pity!

The roots must go deep, deep down to the level of underground water. The trees that grow on the bunds of canals are green with thick foliage. Your roots must also go deep into the divinity that will keep you green whatever the dryness of the weather or heat of the sun.

You can recognise God in your own Self

This is the Age of Profit. The question that any one asks when he is asked to do a thing is, "What is the profit?", "How much is the profit?", "How sure is the profit?" Well. Let Me also ask, "Of what profit is all this feeding and growing, this striving and struggling, this earning and saving and spending, this losing and gaining, this speeding in cars and planes, if by these means you do not get peace in the mind, joy in the heart?"

All this activities only serve to hide the real nature of the individual, to overwhelm it under a mass of trivialities, to suppress the natural influence of the real truth of man. Develop a love for God, then you can recognise Him very near you, in your own Self. That is the assurance I am giving to all of you.