Bhagavan Baba – Spiritual directions/advice on Operation of Sai Centers 

Questions & Answers

Published by Sri Sathya Sai Central Council of Malaysia in conjunction with the MINI CONFERENCE of FAR EASTERN Sai Centers Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 1984

OTHER CENTRE ACTIVITIES:   STUDY CIRCLE  &  MISCELLANEOUS

Q: Swami we are conducting study circles in our center, and we would like your advice to all aspirants?

A: You must be guarded against pride that infests that scholar who has mastered a certain number of ancient texts. Do not judge others as inferior because they do not participate in your type of study circles. You can be very wrong, if you estimate a person's spiritual development, by mere externals. Inner purity cannot express itself through pompous shows. Delve into the significance and the meaning of what you read and always have before you the goal of putting what you read into practice. Unless you do so, the study circle will remain half circle forever, it cannot be full circle.

Pay attention to another point also. Do not confine your studies to this circle and these books. The whole universe is a university for you. You can imbibe wisdom from the sky, the clouds, the mountains, the rivers, the daily phenomena of sunrise and sunset, the seasons, birds, trees, flowers, insects, in fact all beings and things in nature. Approach these teachers with awe, reverence and humility, they will respond with their lessons. Do not worry that you have no mastery of Samskrith; Samskar is enough equipment for the university that lies around you. Samskrith is the language of the ancient scriptures and of classical literature; Samskar is the language of the heart, the refined medium of fruitful communication with nature, in all the manifold outpourings of Divinity.

(Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. IX, Page 53-54)

Q: When I can get knowledge from reading books, why should I attend study circles?

A: Knowledge about what this author says or what that sage teaches is not what your study circle must aim to acquire. Not information, but transformation; not instruction, but construction should be the aim.

(Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. X, Page 51)

Q: How do we make “study circle” produce results?

A: Question yourself calmly and decide to benefit by practicing the processes mentioned in them. This is the proper plan of study - Reading, Reflection and Regular Application in life. Studying is work. Inquiry into the value and Applicability of what is studied is WORSHIP; the experience of the validity and value of the practice is WISDOM.

(Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. X, Page 51)

Q: What kind of books should one read Swami?

A: Good books pertaining to any religion could be read and maybe read by others. Distribute good books to some. To the illiterate people you should read out from the books and impart to them some good (spiritual) knowledge.

Many of the members of Sathya Sai Organizations think that they are only to promote Sathya Sai ideals and the name of Sathya Sai. It is not correct. Through the name of Sathya Sai, what has to be promoted is Goodness, Faith in God and God-lines. The name and form of God is not that important, because His names and forms are countless and whichever name and form one takes to, all belong to the ONE God only. What is required is faith.

(Seva Dal, 4/83, Page 9)

MISCELLANEOUS

Q: What is the highest form of sadhana, Swami?

A: The highest sadhana is the recitation of the name of God with full intensity of thought and feelings, and with deep faith, and also the loud singing of the glory of God.

(Spiritual Diary, Page 183)

Q: What are Sai ideals in daily life?

A: There are two aspects to the question: spiritual life and the life in the role of the individual as a member of society. Spiritually, divinity is in everyone. The divine, God, is love. Love is my form and so is yours. If you allow lesser feelings like hatred, resentment, envy, fear, anger, etc., then you have filled your hearts and minds with that which creates a false separation from your real self - LOVE. The task of your spiritual life then becomes a concentrated effort to purify the mind and heart. When the heart and mind are purified, the truth of man's divinity ·is revealed in a flash. The Sai teaching directs you to see all diversity as transient and ephemeral, and to look always to the ONE Reality. The practice of the constant presence of the divine is equally necessary and equally beneficial.

Besides spiritual life, you have also a duty to the people amongst whom you live, a duty to mold society into a spiritual community. Society can be influenced only through personal example. Through your righteous conduct and harmonious life, you would prompt others to enquire into your source of this undisturbed peace and happiness. You should elevate society through service to the weaker members of the society. Love must be the basis for service to society.

(Sanathana Sarathi, 12/83, Page 302)

Q: Bhagawan, please enlighten us as to the correct relationship between the Individual and Society.

A: The individual and society are intertwined inextricably. There must be illumination for both. Ananda must surge out of the individual and fill the lake of society, and from thence, stream into the ocean of Grace. Society is just a name for a group of individuals; but it has no corporal body. Individuals are the limbs that nourish and support the 'corpus' called society.

Society shapes the individual, provides the arena for his development and sets the ideals he should plant before himself When the individual is stronger, more intelligent, more service minded and more efficient as a worker, society benefits; when society is more aware of its role and the need to cleanse that role with humility and wisdom, the individual benefits.

Sai has resolved to transform the individual and society by promoting this mutual regeneration, by the action of one on the other. Hence the formation of this Sai Organization and the establishment of its units in all countries, for the sublimation of the human into the Divine.

(Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. IX, Page 11)

Q: Swami, is it enough to enjoy the vibration when praying, using mantras and singing bhajans without understanding the meanings?

A: While praying and using mantras, formulas or such expressions, one must know the real meaning and significance of the words and their deep implications. One individual for example did not know the full implication of the word “Siva”. He meant by that word, the form of God - who is supposed to live in Kailas with his consort and family. He told me that “Siva” meant “I am Siva” and was shocked when asked. “Then what is Parvathi to you?”

Many people do japa and join bhajans, but they are not aware of the meaning and value of the words they utter mechanically. Elders who propagate mantras and pose as spiritual teachers do not themselves know the inner meanings of what they recommend to others or hand on to their disciples. Sivoham means that you are Divine.

(Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. IX)

Q: What is the importance of silence, Swami?

A: Be silent yourself, that will induce silence in others. Do not fall into the habit of shouting, talking long and loudly. Reduce contacts to a minimum. Carry with you an atmosphere of quiet contemplation, wherever you happen to be. There are some who live in a perpetual hullabaloo, in a tornado of noise. Whether they are in an exhibition or in a fair or in a hotel, or a temple or the Prasanthi Nilayam, they wag their tongues and will not stop. These will not proceed far on the Godward path.

(Sadhana Inward Path, Page 169)

Q: What are the virtues of silence Baba?

A: One of the first principles of straight living is the practice of silence. For the voice of God can be in the region of the heart only when the tongue is stilled. Conserve sound, since it is the treasure of the element akasa, an emanation from God Himself. Silence is the speech of the spiritual seeker. Soft sweet speech is the expression of genuine love. Love sings lullabies. It soothes. It applies to balm.

(Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. Vll, Page 207)