You are all I

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, Dhaarwar, 14 May 1971
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Mar 17, 2002

You must live in conformity with the basic ideals of our organisation. The Seva to which this organisation invites you is the very first step in the growth of the spirit. Seva is the manifestation of your willingness to work, irrespective of reward; for, work is dedicated as worship. That attitude robs egoism of its sting and instils in the mind the divinity inherent in all creation. Faith in God is the very taproot of all spiritual activity, either through this organisation or otherwise.

There shall be a system and an order in the organisation - every unit has to follow the 'All India' pattern. No state can arrange things in its own way. Mysore, Kerala, Gujarat, all states have to keep before them the same pattern, and not venture on separate individual types of units. Every unit must respect and follow the rules and regulations laid down at the All India Conference, from year to year.

This conference is just a chance for you to move a day or two in good company, and charge your batteries, for further stages of the journey to God. When one is added to one, it becomes two; when one is placed by the side of another one, it reads as eleven! That is the measure of Sathsang, the companionship of the wise and the good. All these petty ones must end up in that one. That is the ultimate goal, the journey's end. The Vedhas direct man through Karma (activity) into Upaasana (worship) and finally into Jnaana (the wisdom that breaks the shackles).

When you surrender, give yourself fully

The leaders in each unit, that is to say, the president, vice-president, the secretaries and others, must themselves walk aright and be right. They must all join the Nagarasankeerthan, the choral singing along the roads of the village or the town in the early dawn. If the rich and the influential sit at home and ask the rest to go and take part in the Sankeerthan, we do not need them as presidents or office-bearers. No unit must depend on such people, however rich they happen to be. Money comes and goes; but morality, once come, grows! Try to break the coconut, with the fibre on! It is an impossible task. You have to take out the shelled nut from inside the packing fibre; then, if you hit at the shell, the kernel becomes available for use. Remove the fibrous cover, sensual desires, so that you can get at the kernel of spiritual joy.

Many of you declare even before Me that you have surrendered everything to My will; this is mere verbiage. Your mind is not your own! You are its plaything, tossed about, as it fancies and frolics! How then can you claim to have given it over to Me? You have to give yourself, fully over, when you surrender. Nothing should be held back. And, what is it that you can call your own, which you can give Me? Your offering of homage is but pouring back into the Kaaveri river the waters of the Kaaveri! There is nothing creditable in that.

The weighing machine, on which you stand and exult that you have put on ten pounds since the last weighing in, laughs at your exultation! It chuckles within itself, 'Yes! When death overtakes you, you will be ten pounds heavier for the undertakers!' You have come into the world, which is a Dharmakshethra, abode of righteousness; so be righteous.

Practice what you direct others to do

Your destiny is not achieving the peak pleasure, but climbing the peak of bliss. Dhaya (compassion) and Dharma (morality) will take you higher and higher, until the summit. So, practise these qualities even in your smallest acts, to the best of your capacity. You cannot always oblige; but can you not talk, obligingly? You can; but, you don't! The tongue has the extra power to harm and hurt; so, you must exercise extra control over it. Do not pain anyone through your words; spread love; be full of love. If you cannot love man, how can you hope to love God?

Develop indifference towards accumulation of wealth or power. Dhritharaashtra held on to his kingdom and his hundred sons; finally, he had to lose his throne and lived on in misery as the lone survivor of the dynastic holocaust! Once there was a big quarrel between Lakshmi, the consort of God Naaraayana, and the Goddess of wealth and Jnaana (knowledge) which was the intellect of Naaraayana; they began to argue that each was superior to the other. Wealth was more useful, said Lakshmi; without knowledge, wealth is a danger, said the intellect. But Naaraayana intervened and said both are either good or bad, according to the use man puts them to!

Use the office you hold in the units to the best advantage, namely, to overcome your ego, to inspire others in the Godward path and to relieve distress. Don't go through the routine of Bhajan, Dhyaana and Nagarasankeerthan, because you have to; or, because someone else will usurp your office, if you do not stick on. Share it with others, act from the depths of your hearts. Do not indulge in mere talking. Practise what you direct others to do, asserting that it is beneficial.

When Motives are pure, Knowledge will be pure

Merge in God, submerge your mind in divine activity; "leeyathe gamyathe ithi lingah": "that in which all merge, that to which all proceed is Linga." God is called 'chittha chora' (the thief who steals hearts); when you know that he does so because he likes hearts, it is your duty to keep the hearts clean, so that He will be more pleased at His booty. That 'thief' is your only well-wisher. The rest are interested in what you leave behind when you die; they search for your 'will' and 'insurance papers!'.

Youth, wealth, reputation, status, authority - all are subject to quick ups and downs. There was one young man who wasted much of his father's income and lived through college a number of years, as an M.S.M. student! That is to say, failing in the March examinations, appearing again for the September examinations, again appearing in March - M.S.M. for short! At last, out of sheer disgust at his consistent feeble-mindedness, the university gave him a degree and got rid of him! When proposals for his marriage were mooted, he insisted that the bride must be a degree holder, a graduate! And a graduate she was! He reclined on an easy chair and sang, "My life is entirely happy now." He asked his wife "Get me a cup of hot coffee!"; but, she replied, "I am as much a graduate as you are; why should I alone prepare the cup of coffee? Come into the kitchen and make your coffee for yourself." Then, he sang another tune, "My life is entire darkness, oh." When everything goes well, it is heaven, when things go awry, it is hell! The same event is heaven today, hell tomorrow. Until your hunger is appeased, food is desirable; when it is appeased, food is a nuisance! When motives are pure, knowledge will be pure; when knowledge is pure, liberation is ensured.

Expansion is love, contraction is death

For example, consider the feeding of the poor, which many units are now doing. You arrange the feeding, once a year, on the annual day of your unit; but; is that enough? Does it solve the problem? Do they eat but one meal a year? They have to eat, as you do, many times a day. So, let Me ask you: instead of feeding hundreds one day in the year, let the housewife keep aside every day, when she takes out rice for cooking the food for the family, a handful, saying, "This is for the offering that Swaami accepts," and at the end of the week, feed at home three or four hungry people with that 'offered' rice. This is the real Anna-Samidh Arpana - "offering food as fuel in the holy fire of hunger." Old clothes can be collected and given to the poor, when new clothes are not available or not within your means. Children outgrow their clothes soon, keep them by and give them to the children in the poorer areas. Expansion is love; contraction is death!

The Sathya Sai Organisation and its units must not collect money or material from those outside the membership. Fund collection is as much opposed to this movement as fire is to water. If you yield on this point, spiritual advance will perish. Let only members contribute; do not ask all and sundry, or anyone who is not a member of the Samithi (unit).

In Mysore State there are some who distribute Amrith, Vibhuuthi (holy ash) and other articles announcing that they are showering from my pictures at their places; they do this free for some weeks, and later, they start begging for money, like any common mendicant! This is sin, to ask so and also to give so. Devotees should keep far away from such places and persons.

Avoid Pomp, Exhibition and Boasting

Visualise God in your hearts; why, go to such place or outside yourselves to see Him? In some other places, they announce that I make Myself present and communicate through writings on Rangoli powder etc.! I do not do such things, if I come at all to any place. I come directly, so that you see Me. I do not speak or answer through another person or another medium! Carry on Naamasmaran, Japa, Bhajan (remembrance, repetition and singing of God's name) in your own home; there is no special call for you to come to this place or that. Wherever you are, whatever name you like, whatever forum pleases you, I bless you, if your heart is pure. Avoid pomp, exhibition, boasting; be simple, sincere and sweet.

Cleanse your home of falsehood, hypocrisy and cruelty and then proceed to start Baalavikaas (children's club). Or else, the children will catch "infection!" Do not import into the Sathya Sai Organisation political faction-mongering, group-formation, scandal-spreading, and vote-catching, in order to win positions of authority or oust others from them. Do not create splits and parties among the devotees in order to establish yourselves over others! Even when you are slandered, you should not lose balance. Put up with slander and scandalising talks. Anger is the chief enemy of Saadhana, as Vishwaamithra discovered. One attack of anger exhausts three months of health and efficiency. Before encountering Jaraasandha in open battle, Krishna enraged him nine times; time after time, getting nearly caught and escaping form his hold; these bouts of rage so weakened him that, when the final bout took place, he could be easily overpowered!

Be vigilant everywhere, at all times

Contentment is heaven; grief is hell; anger is the foe; calmness is the armour; compassion is the comrade. You repeat Shaanthi three times, don't you? It is to encourage peace in the human, godly and natural milieu in which you have to live; also to develop peace, in the body, mind and intellect!

There is no visible master for those who are part of organisations run in the name of Raama or Krishna; but, in this organisation the master is here, available for help, advice and direction. You cannot behave in accordance with your whims and wishes here. You have to be vigilant everywhere and at all times. Discard the ego and serve. Don't go about with extended hand, and humiliate yourselves. Ask Me, when you need any help.

Extend your hand only for grace from God. Ask grace as of right, not in a grovelling style. Ask, as the child asks the father; feel that God is nearest and dearest. You are the reflections, the images; I am the Bimba (object), the object so reflected. Can there be any question of difference between the object and its images? You are all I. I am all you. I know I am the Aathma; you believe you are the body! You are sugar dolls; I am the sugar. Revere any name; the reverence reaches Me, for, I answer to all names. Denigrate any individual; it affects Me; for all individuals are expressions of My will.