Words relating to God alone constitute true Poetry

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

Oh man! Just as you cannot see the stars shining during the day, as a result of your ignorance you are not able to see God who gives you prosperity and just because of this do not think that God does not exist. Your not being able to see Him is a result of your ignorance. There is no death for the two great qualities Sathya and Dharma, truth and righteousness. Do not think that people who are teaching and propagating Sathya and Dharma are dead and gone. Do not also think that people who have faith in the Atma are not available on the earth. It is the seeds which they lay that sprout and give rise to great men in this world. Truth is a permanent thing, Dharma or righteousness will always be victorious. I have been searching and I have been searching then and now for a single person who has true human qualities.

In the old days, even worldly weapons used to be closely linked with Vedic Mantras. There is a nice example for this. The weapons used by Arjuna in tackling the illusory demon or Maya Kirataka have been explained to us in terms of the words of the Veda. Those weapons have been described by a Sanskrit word 'Geerbana'. If the use of such weapons has no discipline or if he has no control over himself or if he does not put himself in a proper attitude or position, these weapons called Geerbana become powerless and useless. In the old days, all kinds of weapons were such that their strength depended on the Mantras. In being able to recognise the strength of such weapons which depend on the Mantras, it becomes necessary for the person who wants to use them to follow certain spiritual rules and Vedic injunctions.

In this context there is another ideal which we must recognise and appreciate. We have already learnt that the life principle in a person is called Vasuvu in the early stages and as time goes on the same aspect in the intermediate stages is referred to as Rudra and in the third stage we have referred to it as Aditya. In this context we have to examine what is meant by early years. It is right to call the first twenty-four years of one's life as the first period. The next forty-four years of one's life will be referred to as Rudra. The remaining years or the third period of his existence will be referred to as the last or third period. It is in this context that the Sruti has stated that the total living period for man is one hundred and sixteen years. Thus the three periods Vasuvu, Rudra and Aditya put together account for the one hundred and sixteen years of a man's life and this period spent according to the Vedic injunctions will be referred to as a life of happiness.

Since one may live for hundred and sixteen years it is necessary to recognise the aspects of all the organs that contribute to life and this is what the Sruti has laid down. Because the first twenty-four years relate to Vasuvu and in this first period we recognise that the commandments are laid down by Vasuvu we should realise that such commandments form part and parcel of one's discipline and we cannot get over or disobey the commandments then laid out. Because it is in this period that the commandments have to be followed, the name Vasuvu has been given. When we move to the next stage, we come to Rudra and if we look at the origin of this word, we realise that it is a deity who makes you cry and who himself cries and is the cause of sorrow. This is how the word Rudra or its equivalent Rodana signifies that for all life forces you are giving divine strength.

For instance, as soon as a child is born, we expect the child to cry loudly. In fact, if it does not cry loudly it implies that all the life forces are still silent. It is only when the newly born child is able to cry loudly and freely that we come to the conclusion that all the life forces in the child are well and functioning. We think that there is going to be some disaster for the child if it is not crying properly. This has to be interpreted as saying that the newly born child is proclaimed to the world with Rodana or a loud cry. This is the power of Rudra. The meaning of this is that God is present in that child in the form of Rudra and by uttering a loud cry God is handing in the Rasa or the life force to all the organs in the form of Rudra. There is an alternative name Angirasa for this situation. Because in this case, God takes the task of giving the life principle to all the organs, He is called Agirasa. The child that is born proclaims itself to the world with a loud cry and the same child will end its life also with the same cry. This individual who is born questions himself with a loud cry 'Who am I? Who am I?', and when the same person ends his life, he ends it by crying 'Soham, Soham'. The individual who begins his life by asking the question 'Koham' or 'Whom am I?' and ends his life by finding the answer to the question saying 'Soham' or 'I am', He will be called Vedavidu or one who knows the Veda. It is in this context that divinity makes one utter a loud cry and is in this aspect called Rudra.

In common parlance, we understand Rodana as something connected with sorrow or pain. This common understanding is not the right one. Here, we must understand that the Lord's aspect is being expressed by one's breath by taking in the breath and giving out the breath. God is expressing himself by means of the loud cry and that is why he has the name Rudra which has its origin in Rodana. In calling this sound which comes with a view to protect one's own body by the name Rudra, there is some inner meaning. We generally associate the word Rodana with something which causes pain or suffering to the body. That is not the correct meaning here. This period of Rudra has been mentioned as the intermediate period and we have to understand this word to mean that in this period divine energy is being handed over to you. In the third stage of one's life named Aditya, just as the sun takes away all the essence out of water in the form of vapour so also Aditya extracts the life force out of all the organs in the human body in this period and therefore this is called Aditya.

Here, there is need for us to understand the significance very carefully. When the rays of the sun fall on the salty ocean or impure water, the sun leaves the residue or the impurity behind and only takes out pure water in the form of vapour. As in this analogy, when we say that Aditya is taking away the life essence from our organs, he is leaving behind all the bad thoughts, the bad qualities and bad work and he is taking away in the form of essence only your good qualities and good ideas. The inner meaning here is that the good and noble ideas that you have are going to be imprinted on the heart of the Aditya or the sun of your life. We should understand here that whatever is an impure thought in you is not going with the Lord in this period. Therefore individuals who want to reach God and who want to become one with him or merge in him should see good and do good in their lives. It is only the impure portions of you that are left behind and are stuck in the world. The Sruti teaches us that impure thoughts are not taken by Aditya. It is only the sacred ideas that are taken by him. Veda preaches such noble and sacred thoughts and ideas.

Because the Veda has been given by Paramatma Himself, they have given an interpretation to the Veda that such an outcome from Paramatma is a poetical text. The work which a poet does, takes the form of poetry and this is meaning of calling the Veda a poetic text. This poetic text of Veda has been prepared by Paramatma Himself as the author and therefore the aspect of Paramatma and that of poetry are both to be found in the text of Veda. The Sruti has given us a meaning that because the Vedas had emanated from the Lord, the poetic texts are regarded as the outcome of the Lord and God is here regarded as a poet who has composed the Vedas.

In this context, we should also see what is it that characterises a poet. Here a poet stands for one who is able to recognise in one moment what there was in the past, what there is in the present and what will come in the near future. The poet is one who has this capacity. It is in this context that the Bhagavad Gita has addressed the Lord as a Kavi, as a Purana and as an Anusasita or one who lays down the meter. During this one month, those of you who have been learning Purushasuktha must have learnt that the word Kavi can be applied only to Paramatma. In calling Paramatma a poet, what is implied is that he has handed over to the world some selfless and spiritual aspects which are full of noble ideas. That is why he has been called the poet. That which is intended to look after man's prosperity and that which contains the noblest of ideas and that which contains the aspect of the Atma alone is true poetry. It is only in the context of Vedic and divine words, that the word Kavi becomes significant. However, today even those who write a few meaningless words and produce a few useless sentences are also called poets. Everyone is not eligible to be called a poet. It is only he who is well versed in the Vedas and has the capacity to picture God in his mind that can be called a Kavi. Whatever words or writing which come from an individual, if they come in the form of Vedavani from the depths of his heart having a divine aspect can really be called poetry.

It is in this context that the text of Bagavada which describes God has been acclaimed as one of the greatest texts and Potana the author of Bhagavada, himself described it by saying 'What I am now going to write are the words which relate to God, the one who is going to make me write them is Rama the Lord Himself who is residing in my heart. However if I write these words by the prompting of Rama which is in my heart, then they will become sacred'. That is why the Bhagavada has become a sacred poetic text. If anyone writes with ego and if while writing he thinks that he is a very learned scholar and is doing something which he thinks that others cannot do, and if he does what he does with jealousy, that work can only be described as exhibitionist and it cannot be poetry in the true sense of the word. The students possibly know that Saraswati's picture in our mind is one in which she is wearing clean, white and pure clothes and this is a symbol of purity and it is in this context that we say 'Suklambara Dharma Vishnuhu'. Saraswati is the Goddess of speech and she is identical with Vedavani and this is the reason why, if the words that come out of one's mouth come from his heart and come in a selfless manner, then one can conclude that these words are coming from the Goddess of speech within you and could be referred to as true poetry. One may ask why we have brought in Vishnu here in the saying 'Suklambara Dharma Vishnuhu'. The aspect of Vishnu here is not the conceptual Vishnu with the conch, wheel and Gada. The word Vishnu here signifies the aspect of omnipresence.

There is another word coming here and that is Sasivarnam and this stands for the colour of Vibhuthi. Traditionally Vibhuthi stands for the divine. That Vibhuthi stands for divine strength is also seen in the various ways in which Iswara is described. One of the descriptions is that his whole body is coated with Vibhuthi and has the colour of Vibhuthi. This simply means that amongst the several strengths which Iswara possesses is the strength of Maya. It is necessary for us to take one other meaning for this. What remains out of our own life is a small quantity of ash at the end. Such a big body consisting of so many different organs, the working organs, and the sensory organs and so on, doing so many different things while it is alive, when it dies the whole body burns away like a piece of firewood and is reduced to a small quantity of ash. You can purify or transform any matter with Agni or fire and all matter reduces to ash. Vibhuthi is sacred and its form does not change whatever you may do. If you burn iron it reduces to ash, if you burn wood it reduces to ash, if you burn the human body it reduces to ash; if you burn anything it reduces to ash. It is only ash which does not change its form. When it is burnt, it remains as ash. The one thing that remains permanent and the one thing that does not change whatever you may do to it is the ash. There is a lesson in telling you this and that is ultimately everything reduces to ash. It is in this context that several Pandits take this ash in the name of all the five different elements, they use the ash and put it on their forehead. The meaning of this is that all the elements in the world are identical with ash and are essentially nothing else. What remains permanently as an unchanging thing is ash and this is the reason why Iswara himself wears ash all over the body. Ash is the only thing which is symptomatic and equivalent to God and that is the reason why I create and give Vibhuthi to the devotees who come to me. This is to convey to them that ash is permanent and even liked by Iswara. Because the aspect of Vasuvu, Aditya and Saraswati are all present in this ash, it is neither pure white nor dark but is a combination of both these colours and is described as Sasivarnam.

Another name Chaturbhuja is something which all of you know and understand. In one hand, He holds the wheel of time and in another, He holds the conch, a symbol of sound, and in the third He holds a mace, a symbol of physical strength, and in the fourth, He is holding the lotus, a symbol of the heart. This is the meaning of the four divine hands holding time, sound, strength and heart and this is why He is called Chaturbhuja. In the insignia that are given to the Lord, the Chakra represents the wheel of time, the conch represents the aspect of sound while the Gada or mace represents the physical strength and the lotus represents the heart.

We have understood easily the meaning of the word Chaturbhuja and the next name is Prasannavadana and this signifies the aspects of the ever-smiling face of the Lord. While true poets describe the Lord in this manner drawing on the devotion in their minds and with a pure heart, there are others nowadays who give alternative meanings for the same thing and advocate meaningless descriptions of the Lord. Such people also call themselves poets. This is really not the right way of describing them. According to such people, Suklumbara Dharma means one who carries white clean clothes and Vishnuhu is something which is omnipresent or that you see everywhere and Chaturbhujuam is taken to mean one with four legs and Prasannavadam is interpreted as an unchanging and expressionless face and we continually see an unchanging face and Sasivarnam is the colour of Vibhuthi. They have come to the conclusion that which has an unchanging and expressionless face and that which moves about in an uncontrolled manner and that which has four legs and that which carries white clean clothes is the donkey. People who give such twisted meanings to sacred words are the real donkeys.

When we talk of poetry, it should describe sacred things and should give us noble ideas and give us self-satisfaction. Only such can be called poetry. Everything that is written cannot be called poetry. But today it is unfortunate that individuals who give such twisted and incorrect meaning to various sacred words and convert sacred Dharma, sacred duty into unsacred acts and unsacred meanings have become many in number and because of this all faith is disappearing and disbelief and lack of faith is taking its place.

Pavitratma Swarupas! Students, it is absolutely essential that you should fill your heart with ideas which are in the thought of God. You must think that the words are coming from the seat of Saraswati within your body and you should think that any work that you do is arising from the seat of Aditya or Bharata within yourself. Our whole life is something which is intertwined with the aspects of Ida, Saraswati and Bharati. It is necessary that you should use your material body for fulfilling the purpose of your life which is to remember the commandments of Ida and the words of Saraswati. Also remember that the words that you utter come from Saraswati and are thus sacred and remember that you should only do sacred work which will take you close to the aspect of Aditya. What you have heard in the past one month has two important aspects and these are the aspects of Bharata and Brahman. Remember that these two constitute the very basis of all that you have heard for the past one month and think it over and recapitulate them again and give some attention to them and remember the inner meaning of these words and put those inner meanings into practice. It is only when you put them into practice that you will be able to propagate these ideas to others with whom you come into contact. If you only hear what is told to you and not put them into practice you will only be hearing all your life and you will not be putting anything into practice. Put into practice what you have listened to and prepare yourself to listen to more good things. I am hoping that you will attempt to put into practice all that you have learnt.

These two words Bharata and Brahman are not limited to a particular time or country or a community. They do not also limit themselves to any one sex or religion. They are much broader than that. They do not relate themselves to either the Brahmacharya Ashram or the Vanaprasata Ashram, or to the Grihastha or Sanyasa Ashram. They refer to the totality of life. They do not also refer to one individual or one country. They refer to the whole of mankind and they are broad ideas and refer to all countries and all time. You should get rid of all narrow ideas that you may have had in your mind earlier.

All these days I have been talking to you about things which are essential for you to lead your normal daily life in this temporal world. I have also stressed certain aspects of the spiritual world. Thus I have spoken about the material and the spiritual world. In the remaining few days that are left, I will join you wholeheartedly and sing with you, play with you and talk with you and in this way I will be able to communicate to you what is here at Brindavan and what for you have spent all your time at Brindavan. You should also know who is in Brindavan and what is the aspect of the person that is heading this Brindavan. I hope that in the next two days, I will communicate to you the answer to the question who is Sai Baba by being one with you, by mixing with you and by talking with you. In this manner I expect to give you immense happiness and send you back with pleasure to your place.