The Present is the most Sacred of all Time

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba during the Summer Course in Spirituality and Indian Culture
held for College Students at Brindavan, Whitefield, Bangalore District in May 1973
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Apr 25, 2002

To be born again and again, to die again and again, to lie dormant in the womb of the mother before every birth, is an endless cycle of Samsara. Please, Oh God! By your grace, quickly get me out of this troublesome cycle.

Divyatma Swarupas! Whatever is born into this world and takes a form is sure to change, decay and pass away. But before one dies, between birth and death, there is an intervening period. The changes that come about in that period such as growth and decay are inevitable. These changes in life occur for all living things. Every human being must consider and make an enquiry about the manner in which he is spending the time between his birth and death. Are we making appropriate use of the time and fulfilling the purpose of life? Vichar helps to gain Vairagya - enquiry helps to gain detachment. He will see that most appearances which man puts on are only pretentions. As soon as the merits of his past births are over, he will give up this transient life and die. He will take with him all the good and all the bad that he has done during this life. We try to inquire into the significance of the phenomenal world when we witness birth following death and death following birth. Is this cycle of birth and death the only significant feature of this world? On an inquiry, we conclude that we die to be born again and that we are born to die again. This conclusion is not the right thing.

Generally speaking, people take medicine so as to cure themselves of their disease; but correctly one should take medicine so that one does not have to take it again. Similarly an individual having taken birth should try that he may not take birth again. To be born to die and to die to be born again gets one caught up in the wheel of time. Without having a body, one cannot do anything in the world. The body has got a gross form and this gross form is only a means to fulfil the main purpose of life. This body is as much responsible for bondage as it is for our liberation. They say that man's mind alone is responsible for man's bondage and man's liberation. This is not the complete truth. Both body and mind are responsible for our bondage and liberation. Without the body, one cannot recognise the nature of one's mind. The life, mind and intelligence become evident only while accompanying the body. Therefore, we must use such a sacred body for the useful purpose of seeing truth.

Man is the most sacred of all the animals. To be born as a man is an extraordinary gift. Therefore, man must use this life of his in a purposeful manner. The disciples of Sankara have pointed out that man remains in a miserable state in the womb of the mother during this cycle of birth and death. He gets some relief from such suffering after his birth. Therefore he must make his life a sacred one. The world is comparable to a big machine. Each individual is a cog in that big machine. The totality of all beings constitute that machine of the world. We may feel the futility of our lives when we are compared to a small pin, a bold, or a screw in that huge machine, forgetting that the machine is dependent upon a small pin etc.

For example, imagine a railway train travelling at a great speed. This train will not come to a stop even if Lakhs of people try to do so. Those who make an attempt to stop it may be harmed. But if the driver puts on the brake, with the help of a small pin, the train will stop instantly. This train, which is travelling at a great speed, and which could not be stopped by Lakhs of people, has been stopped by the use of a small pin. In the same manner, when man uses his mind, his ideals, his intelligence and when he faces sorrow, trouble and untruth in this world, he can have the capacity to counter the sorrow in the world. This is so, in spite of his being only a small pin or a bolt in this big machine of the world. Therefore he must regard himself as a good and useful person in the context of the prosperity of the world.

We should not be afraid at any time that life will fly away from this body. This body is made of elemental substances and that the body will perish is an obvious and natural thing. When we think deeply, indeed it should not be a surprise that life will fly away from this body. What should cause surprise is that life could at all stay in the body for such a long time. There is a small example for this. Let us take a cycle tyre or a car tyre. If in that tyre, a small pin is pierced, all the air that is in the tyre will go out. While all the air that is in the tyre goes out under such conditions, we should really wonder how this tyre of our body which has nine big holes in it can at all hold life in it without its leaking out.

Everything is held together by God's strength. God is present everywhere. You are only a means through which God is seeing everyone in this world. You are only imagining that you are seeing with your eyes but you are in fact seeing with God's eyes.

This world is full of God and everything that you see is God. Body is like a water bubble, temporary and transient, destined to perish. A poet describes this situation by saying that you cry when you are born, you cry when you die, you cry all the time in your life for one thing or another; but you do not cry when you find Dharma declining. Each one of you is a small particle in the kingdom of God. You should try to keep in check all the organs of your body. Only then you will achieve the desired result. If you take a stick and beat on the anthill, will the snake die? If you punish your body, will the sensuous desires disappear? If you give up eating and drinking, will you realise yourself? Without knowing who you are, how can you have knowledge of the divine? First thing to do is to find out who you are.

Here is a small story. A king used to ask three questions of all the people who came to him. The first question was "Who is the best of persons?", the second was "What is the best time?" and the third, "What is the best of all actions?" The king was very anxious to know the answers to these questions. The king was never satisfied with the answers that he got from various people.

One day, he went to the forest for pleasure. He was moving about the hills and plains and felt very tired. He saw an Ashram and wanted to take some rest there. By the time the king reached the Ashram, a Sadhu was watering some plants. This Sadhu saw that the king came there rather tired, so he stopped watering the plants, ran up to the king and gave him some good fruit and cool water.

At that time, an individual wounded all over the body, was brought to the Ashram by another Sadhu. As soon as the Sadhu saw this, he went to the individual, cleaned all his wounds and gave him some herbs which would cure the wounds. He was also telling him sweet words which would console the person. The king came to the Sadhu and wanted to express his gratitude and take leave of him. The Sadhu blessed the king but the king was still troubled by his three questions and wanted to see if the Sadhu could enlighten him on that matter.

The Sadhu stated that the answers to the three questions were contained in the actions which the king had witnessed in the Ashram. The king requested the Sadhu to elucidate the matter. The Sadhu said that when the king came to the Ashram, he was watering the plants and that was his duty. At that time, on seeing the king, the Sadhu had given up his duty and came to the king and gave water and fruit. This was in accordance with correct traditions, as the king was his guest. While relieving the king of his thirst and suffering, another injured individual had come to the Ashram and therefore the Sadhu had given up the duty of serving the king and went to the other individual and began serving him.

Whoever comes seeking service from you is the best of individuals at that time. Whatever satisfaction you can give him by serving him will be your duty and this will be the best of work that you can do. The present, when you can do something, is the most sacred of all time. You do not see the future as your eyes cannot perceive it. Past has gone and you can do nothing about it. Thus, the present time in which you can fulfil your duty, the service that you can do to the person who comes to you and he who comes seeking your service are the three best things. These are the answers to the king's three questions.

At this young age of yours, you should recognise the present as the most important time. You must falafel your duty which is the best of work you can do. Your duty is to respect your mother and father. Your duty is to keep away from bad things and also to do whatever work you have undertaken to do, in the best possible manner. In doing these things, you will do the best of things and serve the country in the best possible manner. It follows that at this age you must strengthen the three qualities of discipline, devotion and duty. This present life of yours will not come back again and so you must attach importance to good qualities.

It is much better for you to live as a swan for a few minutes than to live a wasteful life like a crow even for 50 years. Prahlada had said that we should use our hands to do sacred tasks. At all times, you should use your mouth for uttering the name of the Lord. If you cannot show kindness and compassion, your birth is simply to ruin your mother's health. Since you have been in your mother's womb for so long and given her so much trouble, you must do things which will give her happiness. You must express your gratitude. You have to pay four kinds of debts in this world - debt to your mother, debt to your father, debt to your saint and the debt to God. Since the mother has given you blood, her life and strength and is responsible for your birth, you must show gratitude by respecting her. You must show gratitude to your father, who gives you money, education and protection. The Rishis or saints give you human qualities and so you must show gratitude to them. Ultimately God is responsible for all these, so you must show your gratitude to God.

In our country, there used to be a practice called the 'sacrifice of an animal'. This was also called by the name 'Bhoota Bali' or sacrifice of life. In ordinary parlance, 'Bali' means killing something. The word 'Bali' also means a tax. We are paying tax for electricity, tax for water and so on because we are getting these things from inaccessible places and given to us in accessible places. In the same manner, 'Bhoota Bali' is like paying tax to God for His having given us life and the chance of understanding the Atma. So we have to pay tax to God in return for this good He has bestowed upon us. This tax is paid in the form of Sadhana and good deeds. Man wants peace, happiness and bliss for himself. These can be had by paying taxes in the form of meditation for peace, prayers for happiness and bliss and various other Sadhanas for similar good things. In order to get what you want, you have to pay something. In an office, if you work full time, you get full pay. If you work part time, you get half pay. Today, we show only part-time devotion and we want full time reward for this part time devotion. How can we get this? If you give only part of your mind and ask for full return of the grace of God, it is like asking for full pay for half work. If you recognise with the fullness of your heart that everything that you do is by God's grace, then surely full return will be given by God. You try and you will get it.