BHAKTHI AND HEALTH

Under the Divine Inspiration of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba by Dr. (Mrs.) Charanjit Ghooi

Excerpts shared for educational and spiritual purposes with reverence to the author. This is a non-profit project dedicated to selfless service.

GOD IS OMNIPRESENT (AUM)

Poornamadalt Poornamidam Poornath, Poornamudacltyatlie

Poornasya Poornamaadaaya Poornameva Avasisltyathre.

-         Sanathana Sarathi, May'94.

"The personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, since He is completely perfect; all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as a complete Whole. Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete by itself. Since He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete." -Baba.

God, The Divine, has the following attributes:

(1) Nirgunam

(2) Niranjanam

(3) Sanathanam

(4) Nikethanam

(5) Nithya Shuddha

(6) Buddha

(7) Mukta

(8) Nirmala Swaroopinam.

Baba says that God is the echo of the hills, the flutter of the leaves, the whisper of men, the babble of children, the Aum that is wafted everywhere. God is omnipresent but, to recognise Him, saints have had to prescribe thousands of methods. He is in every one, yet he evades discovery by all but a few. Being all­powerful, He is the Giver of all gifts, the Providence bestowing upon us all the wherewithal. Sarvam Asvrithya Tishtathi. (He remains all Encompassing).

There is nothing except God. Nature is His Manifestation. Man must recognise God in all human beings and in all else that exist. Since the Jiva limits his viewpoint to the physical frame, he occupies and confines his attention and interest, love and attachment, to a small circle of relations and friends; he limits God also to a certain, name and form and sees His compassion and Grace, Blessings and Benediction, limited to a small circle of "devotees," who adore that specific name and form. Human minds are narrow; so, He who grants fulfilment is also imagined to be narrow in his Grace. Ideally, therefore, when one prays, one should, in complete resignation, say, Thy Will Be Done and ought not to ask for this or that, for one has neither the wisdom nor the foresight to know what is best for him.

The Bhagavad Gita teaches that Envy and Greed can be overcome by. practising Love and Detachment. Since God is Omnipresent, the song of God, too, must be Omnipresent. So, in reality, Pranava or Aum is the Gita of God. God's song cannot be only for some people or in a language understood only by one nation. AUM is universal, eternal, full of essence of all spiritual significance. So, Aum, alone, can be the real Gita of God.

Our self is resonant with Pranava Aum. But amid the clamor of the marketplace and the noise of the commerce of life, our little selves are not able to hear it. Our own senses claim our attention. Our minds crave for being let free among the pleasure of the outer world. Obviously, our Passions and Prejudices have to be calmed before we can hear Aum, the song of the Lord that wells up from the heart.

March on with your eyes on the Goal. Do not worry about the past, its mistakes and its failures. Do not follow the whims and fancies of the Mind any longer. They will fill the Ear with praise or blame and drag you away from the Adhyatmic (spiritual) path. Follow the call of the Divine arising from the Hearts of all living beings. Serve it in an attitude of Worship, not expecting something in return. Do not accept even gratitude, having dedicated all your acts to the in-dwelling God. This will purify you so that you shall be able to listen to the Soham that your breath repeats every moment. Soham transmutes itself into Aum when the distinction between He and I has dissolved in the process of Samadhi.

Believe that the Soham merging into Aum is the Sai principle. SAI indicates: 'S' for Sai, 'A' for And and 'I' for the sadhaka himself. Thus, SAI, in fact, symbolises the Vedic dictum. Tat Twam Asi (Thou art That). In the first stage, the Sadhaka says, "I am in Sai"; in the third and final stage, "Sai and I Are One," the duality between the two having been shed. When Truth strikes the individual, like a streak of lightning in the midst of dark clouds, it confers Bliss and in that moment of Illumination, Aum is revealed in all its grandeur. By practising the teachings of Lord Krishna, one gains that illumination, the Jnana Jyothi Aum.

Krishna's flute is the expression, the elucidation, of the four Vedas and Aum is their quintessence. 'A', 'U', 'M' and the dot (signifying the reverberation of the sound in the depth of the heart), are symbolic of the four Vedas, the 'Rig', 'Yajur', 'Sama', and 'Atharva' Vedas. When man neglects the Divine aspect of his nature and fails to pursue the Sadhana that ensures the awareness of the Omnipresent and Omnipotent Aum, he falls prey to the Impulses and Instincts dominated by the Ego and develops faith in material gains. He spends his life in amassing wealth, power and authority over fellow beings and believes that holding others under his sway is a desirable achievement. If there were a vacancy in Heaven, he would surely apply for the position of God, for he believes that he has all the necessary attributes. He forgets that the real attribute for superiority is unshaken Faith in one's Atmic Reality.

Baba says, ''The Divine aspect of your personality will encourage Humanity, adherence to Truth, Love and eagerness to Serve with Fortitude and Detachment; cherish the first manifestations of these qualities in your life. The innate brotherhood that sanctifies the human race is destroyed by the weeds of Envy that grow in the Mind. These weeds ruin one's personality. Groom your personality by Developing the Faith in the Atman and have Nama (name) on the Tongue and Prema (love) in the Heart. Thus, sublimate your Ego. Before you were born, you had no kith and kin: when you die, they leave you alone. Why then develop this bond with them just for a short intervening life and for its sake, forget the very purpose for which this life has been granted? Always, be conscious of the flimsiness of worldly achievements while ever using your talents, skills, and everything else to the best possible advantage in the service of God in man. Believe in "Fatherhood of God" and "Brother­hood of Man." So, Do Selfless Service to All."

Dr. Charanjit Ghooi

If you carefully listen to the recitation of AUM in Prashanthi-Nilayam, early morning, you will observe that it resembles Pranayama: Breathe in 10 Seconds-Retain it in chest 40 Seconds-Exhale 20 Seconds-Retain 10 Seconds - in the ratio of 1:4:2:1.

Pranayama is done in order to regulate Panch Prana or the five Vital forces in our body as below:

1. Pran Prana - Seated in Heart;

2. Apana Prana - Anus;

3. Samana Prana - Region of Navel;

4. .Udana Prana - Throat;

5. Viyana Prana - All pervading.

Functions of Vital forces in the body are:

(1)       Prana Vayu is in Lungs and Respiration and is red coloured.

(2)       Apana Vayu is in Anus and Excretion, and is white & red coloured.

(3)       Samana Vayu is in Abdomen and Digestion and is pure Milky coloured.

(4)       Udana Vayu is in the Throat and Deglutition and Swallowing and is white coloured.

(5)       Viyana Vayu is all over body and Circulation of Blood and is of light colour.

   By doing Pranayama, we regulate all the vital forces in the body and improve all the functions of the body, thereby maintaining a healthy body. It washes all the evil electromagnetic waves arising from the Mind and produces soothing waves. Thus, the Mind sharpens the Intellect and Buddhi, promotes Good Thoughts, and leads to Good Actions and Good Deeds and thereby washes all Sins done by the Body. Mind is nothing but an endless stream of Thoughts, Bad and Good. In order to create all good thoughts and purity of heart, we have to:

1.Sing Bhajans 2. Do Satsang 3. Have company of good people, sages and saints 4. Obey the order of the guru, 5. Listen to speeches of saints and cultivate the harvest of wisdom. Baba says about Watch: W-Watch your Words A-Watch your Actions, T-Watch your Thoughts, C-Watch your Character, H-Watch your Heart.

Prana is the cosmic life principle; pranayama is the spiritual exercise. Prana is the vital force, the energy, the vitality which pervades the entire universe whereas breath is only a physical manifestation of prana and is called vayu. We establish our contact with the cosmic life principle through pranayama and accumulate a store of vital force within ourselves. Man is born with limited number of breaths. If you do pranayama, you consume 114th of your total breath. Normally, man takes breath 18 to 20 times per minute but during pranayama or chanting of AUM, he breathes 4 to 6 times and thus prolongs his life. Snakes and tortoises take breath four times a minute and have a long life. When man is doing pranayama, he is also prolonging his life. During Anger, Jealousy and Hatred, man has short and fast breathing. He, thus, loses longevity of life and makes his life short. During stress syndromes, Fear, Anger, Hatred and Jealousy are active. Man breathes faster and shorter and he loses a lot of vital force accumulated in different systems of his body like Brain, Heart, Lungs, Kidney, Liver, Digestive System and Excretory System making all pranas and five vayus irregular and causes diseased organs in the body.

Bhajans make a man healthy in the following ways:

(1) Tranquilise the bad electromagnetic waves with soothing sounds. (2) Regulate five pranas. (3) Regulate five vayus. (4) Awake the latent power of kundalini and all chakras, sharpen the intellect, Buddhi and Memory.

God, who is the Effulgent one (as stated by Rig Veda) must be prayed to and worshipped with Mantras (as stated in Yajur Veda) and pleased by sweet songs that are most endearing to Him (as said in Sama Veda). God is most pleased by songs (Bhajans) alone and not by words or speeches. Baba has said He is always present in a place where Bhajans are being sung with a full and devoted Heart. Names of Gods are many: Rama, Krishna, Narayana, Allah, Waheguru Nanak, Zoroaster, Mahaveera but when Bhajans are sung with Bhava and from the heart they also shake the omnipresent God's consciousness.

Pranava (Aum)

Baba says, "When the lion awakes from sleep and roars, all the tiny animals that lay still till then, take to their heels. So too, when you awake and repeat the pranavmanthra, all the paltry animal instincts that strutted about in the darkness will flee. In your own heart, you have the Entity which is beyond Time and space; and if you go contacting it by the pranava or by any other symbol, the wild thoughts and impulses will not dare to approach you. If you have the Grace of God, no graha can harm you; maleficent influences even from the most powerful combination of planets with which the astrologers terrify you will disappear in a trice. In order to get the Grace, there are two prescriptions; Priyam Vada, Speak Lovingly, so far as the next is concerned; Prema is the Weapon: Vichara is the Wheel which must be revolved perpetually to get the light of Prema. Until Prema emerges, you have to be in darkness of Hatred, where even the slightest movement creates Fear and Suspicion. Never yield to indolence or despair. Suffer loss and grief gladly: they help to toughen your personality. So also, if you do not continue the Satsangs, the Satpravarthana and Bhajans and Namasmarana, then all your life is a waste."

"The desire to know God, to love God and be loved by God is not a desire that binds. When awareness of God dawns in all its splendour, every worldly sensual desire is reduced to ashes in the flames of that awareness."

- BABA

"Meera Lago Rang Hari Aur Sabhi Rang Chatatchali."