Man! Know Thyself

Al Drucker

The Sai revolution in human consciousness involves a massive re-education of mankind along spiritual lines. It is associated with the Avataric mission of Baba and the Sathya Sai system of education with its emphasis on education in human values. What is this Sai philosophy that is destined to make a powerful impact on the future course of civilization? Sai Baba declares that man is the greatest of all treasures in the universe and He advocates the study of man as the greatest of human pursuits because it will lead to the highest wisdom and the supremest joy that can ever be experienced. In effect, this philosophy returns man to his natural place at the center; but the focus here is not on man as a psycho-physical being but on man as the highest manifestation of Spirit.

The basic premise of this revolution in consciousness is that, no matter what one's circumstances and station in life are, there is no greater gift than being born a human being, for a human is the only being in this world or any other, who has the capacity to fully know the truth.

of himself; and when he knows his own truth, he knows the truth of everything else. And what is that truth? It is that the spirit as pure beingness, as pure consciousness and eternal delight, the one reality that is known as Sat-Chit-Ananda, is the unchanging basis of this whole universe, and underlies all the changing forms and phenomena that we experience through our mind and senses.

Baba tells us that if, instead of demeaning man by separating him from his essential nature, we value him as the great jewel that he truly is, by emphasizing his noble qualities and encouraging these to blossom forth in his character, then we find that his world-view changes dramatically, and he sees all the phenomena of the world and all the ideas that make up the cultural heritage of mankind in a totally new light. When our intuitive faculties are awakened and our hearts are purified we begin to experience the spirit directly; we find it pervading all fields of knowledge and know it to be the underlying reality that is the very basis of all knowledge.

Once we are embarked on that road, we no longer separate our experiences into secular and spiritual compartments. From that point on, all experiences are spiritual because the spirit is apprehended in every experience. It is the only reality, and it reveals itself as a sweet, all pervading presence behind the scenes, shining forth everywhere as beauty, truth, order, power, love, delight. Every human encounter, every experience, every subject of knowledge, every process, every name and form, is seen as a perspective of that one reality; all are windows through which the light of the spirit shines. In our educational process, we develop not only the intellect but also a finer awareness, in which the beingness that is the unseen root of our phenomenal world becomes known to the purified and sensitized mind. Bhagavan said that this kind of education can take hold only in an integrated personality where the springs of Sathya, Dharma, Santhi, Prema and Ahimsa are flowing freely.

We can associate this level of consciousness, where we become aware of the spirit present everywhere, with the cosmic Anandamaya Kosa, the universal bliss sheath, where the unity underlying all diversity is cognized directly. Bliss is an intensely subjective experience of unmitigating joyfulness. Yet such a subjective term dealing with an intense inner experience is the only one appropriate for describing the universe at this highest level of subtlety, because here it is no longer made up of objects or even ideas; at this level, the world as we know it has disappeared and the experience that remains can only be spoken of, as reported by realized sages who have known it, as unceasing joy and delight. Here, the individual self turns inward and completely loses itself in the true self, the immortal Atma, which now reveals itself as absolute sweetness and lovingness; from here on, God, man and nature all dissolve together, just as ice cream of different hues and flavours mixes together and dissolves on the tongue, leaving a sweet taste of pure delight. Once the eternal self is known, then we are unalterably established in God-consciousness; from that moment on, all distinctions vanish and we realize that all there is, is the one supreme reality, describable only as unending bliss.

These then, Baba teaches, are the three steps that lead to man's spiritual awakening: First, the springs of truth, righteousness, peace, love and non-violence which lie hidden in every man must be encouraged to flower in his character. By developing these, we cultivate all the noble qualities that make up a true human being.

Next, the spirit which we know to be present everywhere illuminating everything we call the phenomenal world, must now be experienced directly in the purified mind. In this regard, we practice detachment and discrimination, and develop our faith and devotion until the spirit becomes our constant companion, remembered in every phenomenon of our waking experience.

Then we are ready for the final spiritual ascent which is the culmination of our journey, where we experience the spirit directly as our own reality, the eternal self. To reach this level, we must eliminate, step-by-step, all the overlying sheaths that have veiled our truth until we finally discover that the beloved, the indwelling Lord, is our own inner self; and that inner self is the one true self of all. It is the same spirit which previously revealed itself to us as the joy we experienced in our explorations and discoveries and the love we felt when we realized our connectedness with everything and everyone in this vast world.

As we progress deeper into the spiritual path, we find that the world appears less and less objective and, instead, becomes a reflection of our own inner view. As we spiritualize our outlook and love becomes our unchanging inner experience, then love also comes back to us as our outer view. Nature is but an appearance projected by mind onto the spirit. When mind ceases in its busyness, then the spirit which is the only truth reveals itself as pure love and delight. Then the long dream is over and only the sweet self, the pure I remains.

The explosion of information in this century which has made the ancient wisdom of the East available to the common man around the world, the progressive development in the philosophy of Western science and the urgency for a new world outlook in the face of the threat of global catastrophe, are all factors pointing to a unique opportunity in the history of the human race for a great spiritual movement towards unity consciousness. Now, Baba has himself told us that the divine will has resolved to bring all of mankind into the transcendent awareness of the spirit. He said, "Everyone must develop the higher values and consider himself as Atma. To make known to all this Atma-Dharma is the mission for which I have come. I will bring all people near me, for they are all mine, and I am theirs. Then I will start teaching and training them until they become completely ego-free. For many years, it has been sweetness, kindness and soft persuasion; hereafter, it will be different. I will drag them, place them on the table and operate. It is my love that prompts me to save them, to open their eyes, before they get deeper into the morass."

What a wonderful promise this is by the sweet Lord of Parthi, to rescue us all from the bog we find ourselves in and lead us back home to our own immortal self, the one reality which is He and which is also we. And there within ourselves, He will reveal the Ananda we have been seeking in all those countless forms that we occupied and discarded in the long night of our ignorance... never having known our own truth and the truth of this marvellous universe... that it always was and forever is, nothing else but the one blissful Self.

—Al Drucker

Sanathana Sarathi, May 1989