Good and Bad

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, 18 Apr 1971
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Mar 17, 2002

The body is the temple where God dwells within, and is installed in the heart. But, it is not enough if you go on repeating this very pleasing axiom and pretend that you have joined the ranks of the good. To make that statement is a great responsibility. For, you must behave every moment, as if you are aware of the God within. The priest in the temple first cleans the altar, then he scrubs and polishes the vessels used for worship, and then, he pours water sanctified by Manthras in order to cleanse the idol, and finally, he offers adoration through flowers and fragrance, reciting the meaningful names of God.

You have also to cleanse the senses, the instruments of action and knowledge and remove all the blemishes of bad habits, bad tendencies, feelings and thoughts. Render yourselves pure, steady and unselfish. Then only can you deserve the chance of worshipping the God within. Until then, the temple will be a ruins, infested with bats that revel in the darkness. Vyakthi is used to refer to the individual man, not without a certain degree of appropriateness. The Samskrith word means, "He who has made manifest the divinity in him" - that is the answer. That which was unmanifested due to the heavy overlay of Saadhana, and the A-vyaktha has become Vyaktha. He who has achieved this is the Vyakthi, not each and every single human. Keep the mirror of the heart untainted by Kaama (desire), and its chief attendant Krodha (anger); then, the God within clearly shines therein.

Throw your Inclination on the Side of the Good

As soon as you rise from the bed in the morning, examine for a few moments your thoughts, plans, habits and attitudes to others, which are about to pounce on you and decide the shape of things to come, throughout the day. Identify in the motley crowd the vicious, the wicked, the evil, the harmful, the one that are born in anger, that breed on greed and assert that you are not willing to be led by them. Throw your inclination on the side of the good, the constructive, to renounce, and rise up a purer, stronger and happier man than when you went to bed. That is the real Saadhana, not simply spending a few minutes, watching your breath, or wandering homeless and living on alms.

There is a belief that is strongly held and justified by many that good deeds and bad will cancel out and it is only the balance that one has to suffer the consequences of! That is to say, the consequences of sin can be diminished by the consequences of acts of merit, done by the same person; ten sins and eleven meritorious acts mean that the balance is favourable to the doer! But, this system of accounting does not hold good in the spiritual field. The consequences are there, but, they do not cancel out. It is like this: a man scatters seeds of thorn plants as well as of fruit trees. Both grow together, and both have to be endured. They sprout distinct and as ruled by their own innate Dharma. You may have in an orchard of 1000 fruit trees one thorn bush, but, that will not turn into a fruit tree, by association with the rest. What has to be done is to pull out and destroy the bush. Identify it as thorny and harmful; and, then, by discrimination, pull it out by the roots. By the roots - for, when the rains come, the tree will sprout again, if the slightest trace of life is in it.

Be vigilant about your Steps

Only very few are now able to spot out the thorny bushes and uproot them; so, they have to suffer the thorns, even while they are enjoying the fruits. Reap the mixed harvest, you must, if you do not take note in time. As I said at the beginning of this discourse, the tragedy is: Man seeks to avoid the progeny of sin, with pleasure; he seeks to earn the fruits of meritorious deeds, but, is not inclined to follow the meritorious path! Be vigilant about your steps. Do they lead you along the road that will take you to the goal you have in view? Or do they turn away from it? How can you reach the east, when your steps lead west?

Many persons ask me, "Swaami! when can I realise the truth? Please grant me, self-realisation". My reply is, you will be liberated the moment the 'I' goes; do not ask for 'my' liberation. 'My' liberation! The I should go. The I and mine should go. That is itself liberation. This I has been created, protected and grown by your own ignorance. A baby has no I or mine. It easily gives up anything from its grasp; the I hardens with the increase of intelligence, and it does not part with a doll or toy. Do not allow the role of the separate I to damage the springs of love and sacrifice, in your heart.

In order to escape the nefarious influence of this ego, cleanse the heart with constant contemplation of God, His glory, His Leelas, His beauty, His amazing attributes. Contemplate the vast, so that your heart too might overstep its limits and become vast. Bhoomaa (the vast), that alone confers joy. Another directive I give is: Be more concerned with your own progress, your own correction than with the good and evil of others. There is time enough to worry about the good of others, after you have become good, yourself. But, try as far as you can, to give Aanandha (happiness) to others; desist from causing pain to others.

The Way to realise the Unity of all

You must feel the pain of others as your own; you must be happy when others are happy. That is the way to realise the unity of all. Above all, be vigilant; for, the fruits of Saadhana may be destroyed by negligence. When the rains come, the earth is again green, for the seeds of grass are underground, though you thought the land was dry and fallow. Sathsang, Sathkarma (good company, good deeds) - these have to be kept up, all through life.

Deepaavali (festival of lights) celebrates the destruction by Krishna of Narakaasura, king of Prakjyothishapura. Narakaasura means the demon who has with every act of his, taking a step towards hell. It symbolises ignorant and evil-minded men. And, which is their Pura (habitation)? It is called Prak-Jyothisha! 'Prak' means 'the first, the initial'. 'Jyothi' means 'light'; and 'sha' means 'forgetting, ignoring.' The city which has forgotten or is ignoring the primal light, the body where man lives which has neglected the Aathma which is the primordial source of light, Jnaana (intelligence), that is the Prak-Jyothi-sha-Pura, over which the Naraka (hell)-ward marching demon ruled. And, Krishna saved him, by destroying his demonic tendencies and showing him the light.