There is an Inner Meaning for every Story in Our Puranas

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/June 1974
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Jun 20, 2002

A good-natured person should never feel proud and boast that he knows the truth and that he knows all. It is a sign of culture that one tries to put into practice the few good things he has learnt and not merely talk about them.

Occupying the position of authority, assuming the qualities of a demon, causing fear and terror to people, if one conducts oneself in an inhuman and ferocious manner, will he be entitled to be called a man? I have been searching, I have all the time been searching, then and now I have been searching for a man who is truly a human being and who displays righteous conduct and good qualities.

Pavitratma Swarupas, students, boys and girls! From time immemorial our Vedas have been prescribing sacrificial ceremonies or Yagnas. In these Yagnas, two parts are contained, namely Mantras and Stotras or recitation. Some people think that Mantras and Stotras are the same. This is not so. It is common practice that different flowers are collected and formed into a garland. Here the flowers are not new. They are already there. The garland is new and is formed by the one who puts the flowers together. As in this analogy, the Mantras are like the flowers and the Stotras are like the garland. The Mantras are already there and are not new. The Stotra is like a garland and is formed newly by the Rithwick by grouping the Mantras together. This Rithwick or the Hota is protecting the Stotra and is also called 'Pushti'. This kind of song which comes from the two Vedas has been called 'Stuti'. Not only this, God Indra is invited to come to the Yagna with his chariot having the two Vedas Rig and Sama as the horses. Here Sama, while it has several other meanings in other context, means a song. In order to invite Indra to the hall of Yagna, they sing a song with one Rik and it is called 'one Rik song'. Sometimes, the inviting song consists of three Riks. Then the three Riks are associated with Agni, Vayu and Aditya. They have also been mentioned as Bhuhu, Bhuwaha, Suvaha or earth, space and sun. One common basis for all the three aspects is the sound or Pranava.

This sound of Pranava has been recognised by the Sruti as identical with Aum, the only letter that is significant. From time to time, our people have been making enquiries into who can utter this sacred sound and who cannot. But our Vedas have made no such distinction. Since this sound of Pranava or Aum has been recognised as universal and is the life in all the Vedas, it has been accepted that any one can utter it at all times. Without the sound of sacred Pranava, the Vedas will become lifeless. Any individual, if he utters this sacred sound Aum towards the end of his life, will become one with God. Our Bhagavad Gita has declared that this sound Aum is sacred to everyone and forms the basis of all creation.

We recognise that it consists of three distinct sounds 'A', 'Uh' and 'Ma'. In the Bhagavata, Bharata and in all our Puranas, this sacred sound of Aum runs like the life string. There are three reasons for man to be born. One is the sin, the second is an unfulfilled desire or some experience, the third is lack of knowledge or ignorance. The feeling that he has not fulfilled a desire and his wanting to take birth again to fulfil such a desire is one main reason. Man does several bad things and commits a sin. He has to be reborn to experience the consequences. Ignorance makes you seek a rebirth under these circumstances. These three constitute the basis for our rebirth. Valmiki has stated in his Ramayana that uttering the name of Rama will enable us to free ourselves from the three shackles which lead one to be reborn. He has also given the meaning of Rama by splitting the name into three parts 'Ra', 'Aa' and 'Ma'. 'Ra' is the basic letter for Agni and fire, 'Aa' is for sun and 'Ma' for the moon. The three letters respectively signify Agni, sun and moon. The fire burns away all the sins, the sun sheds light and removes the ignorance and the moon cools the agitation in one's mind. Thus, the utterance of the name of Rama removes your sins, your ignorance and your agitation and eliminates the possibility of your getting a rebirth. In this context, he has also been identifying the sound of Aum with the name Rama and both bring the same result. As Aum is the very basis of all the Vedas, so also Rama is the basis of all the creation. The three important aspects of Agni, Vayu and sun contained in the name Rama are synonymous with Ida, Saraswati and Bharati and are the basis for the whole world.

Although Ida, Saraswati and Bharati are apparently different and described as distinct, yet they are inseparably connected with each other. Just as Aum, the sound of Pranava is a total manifestation of three different and distinct letters and three aspects, the word Brihaspati or Prajapati is a total manifestation of all the three aspects of Ida, Saraswati and Bharati. This aspect of Brihaspati is also known as Vachaspati or the word of Veda and the same thing has been referred to as Brahmana or a Rithwick well versed in Mantras. Bharata is a Vedic word and has nothing to do with Bharata, the son of Sakuntala. There is a saying that what derives pleasures from the thought of God is Bharata and the name Bharata has a connection with this.

It has been mentioned earlier that Hamsa or the swan is the carrier for Saraswati. Hamsa is synonymous with the sound 'Soham' which stands for taking in and giving out breath. By saying 'Soham' the word is created and Saraswati stands for the word. So, we say that Saraswati rides over the swan. This is the inner meaning. Forgetting the inner meaning, in our traditions, different Gods have been described as riding over different kinds of carriers making it look absurd but our culture is filled with symbolic descriptions, all of which have sacred and significant inner meaning.

Like our having to point at the unreachable moon with a finger, the indescribable contents of our sacred Vedas and the unseeable divinity have been described to some extent in terms of commonly understood items like carriers, chariots and so on. This is only a method of conveying abstract notions to people in terms of things they know in their daily lives. Sometimes, the process of learning causes confusion and error. There is a small example for this. At one time, a learned pundit was giving his time to explain our Puranas to a group of people. Amongst the group was present an illiterate devotee who had complete faith in God. He listened to the Pundit saying that God Vishnu comes riding on a white Garuda, gives Darshan to devotees who pray earnestly and invariably answers such prayers. With implicit faith in what he listened to, he went off to a forest one day along with his cattle and started praying to the Lord and wanting to see Him come riding on a white Garuda and partake in the rice Gunji which he brought for himself. Not finding the Lord appear before him, he would not eat and drink and took a vow that he will not eat his food until the Lord came and participated in it. Days went by and the devotee was starving and becoming thinner and thinner.

The Lord was moved at this distress of the devotee and came in the guise of an old Brahmin. The devotee saw the old Brahmin and since his appearance did not fit with the concept of God which he had in his mind, namely dark complexioned individual riding on a white Garuda, he would not recognise Him and closed his eyes and started praying. After a little while, he opened his eyes and asked the Brahmin who he was. The Brahmin replied that he was the Lord come in that form but the illiterate devotee would not believe it as the idea that the Lord would come riding on a white Garuda was so firmly imprinted in his mind. Thus, by adhering to a symbolic story intended only to help the illiterate people, without knowing the sacred inner meaning, he deprived himself of the opportunity to serve the Lord.

We have to learn from this story that the Puranas had always described the Lord in many different forms as guided by the conception developed by the writers from time to time. In reality, no one can state with any definiteness that the Lord has one form or another. The Lord is omnipresent, has many forms. It is best for us to realise this and accept divinity in all living beings. Whoever comes to us and in whatever form he comes and seeks our love and attention, should be given the love and attention as we would to God Himself.

God is present in all the living beings. When you see any one of them, you should respect him as you would respect God. If you cannot respect a living human being who is right in front of you, how can you respect God who is unseeable and unreachable. Your mother and father are the first people, whom you should regard as God. Neglecting your mother and father, even if you spend all your time in God's worship, it becomes useless and lifeless. You should worship God as a life force and not as an inanimate picture.

One devotee started worshipping Rama as a picture or a photo. Even since he stated this, he met with several difficulties. He thought that probably worship of Rama does not suit him. He kept that photo in a closed Almirah and brought the picture of Iswara and started worshipping the picture of Iswara. Then his troubles not only did not disappear but they became worse. He was very disappointed and put away the picture of Iswara also in the closed Almirah. He brought the picture of Gayatri and started worshipping Gayatri. That day, he prayed to Gayatri in the traditional manner and put up some incense for Gayatri. He found that the smoke coming from the incense sticks was going into the closed Almirah. He felt very upset that the offering he was giving was going to the pictures of Rama and Iswara who never responded to his prayers. In his anger he took a piece of cloth and tied up the mouth and nose in each of the pictures, believing that thereby he will be preventing them from receiving his offerings and the fragrance of his incense. Immediately, the Gods appeared before him and he wondered how and why they did not respond to his prayers but responded immediately he decided to punish them. However, he wanted to clear his doubt by asking the Gods themselves and ventured a question to them and asked why while they did not respond to his prayers they responded with their grace the moment he decided to tie up their mouths and noses. To this the Gods replied that all his prayers were directed towards lifeless pictures but the moment he started tying up the mouths with a piece of cloth the Gods were being regarded by the devotee as filled with life and so they appeared before him.

The lesson we have to learn in this story is that God will respond only if we form a concept of Him as being full of life force and not as a lifeless picture. All those receiving devotion and respect from us, we should believe that there is life force in them. There should be no compulsion. All the respect should come from the depths of your heart and the fruits thereof will also be full of life. Worshipping the form and ignoring the orders that come from God is simply turning ourselves into disbelievers. In this way many devotees today are turning into humbugs. Even if you do not worship god, if only you bear in mind the orders that emanate from God and put them into practice, there will be no greater devotee than you.

Respect for mother, for father, for Guru or for God will be real and meaningful only when it comes from the depths of your heart. If it is superficial, the world may be deceived but the Lord cannot be deceived. Pavitratma Swarupas, students, boys and girls! It is not only in the spiritual sphere but also in the worldly sphere that everything we do draws out a reaction and everything we say draws out a resound. So, do good, see good and enjoy the good that comes to you as a reaction.

Today, if you smilingly give trouble to your parents, tomorrow with sorrow you have to suffer similar treatment from your children. So, if today you happily respect your parents, tomorrow with pleasure you can enjoy similar treatment from your children.