United Souls of America for Sai - Commemorative Volume Celebration 85 years of the Divine Advent

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

Judging and Criticizing... Changing the habit

Andres Zambrano: It was on October 2nd, 1984, in Caracas. Venezuela that Sai chose to bring Andres into this world. He was fortunate to be born into a family of Sai devotees as his parents and grandparents were already in Sai's magnificent fold. When he was about 3 years old, his family opened up a Sai center in their home for more than ten years. Andres moved to the United States with his family in 2001. and by Swami's grace he is blessed to be actively involved with the Sai Organization of the USA. Currently. he is pursuing his bachelor’s in psychology which he hopes to use to help in Swamis Divine mission.

Often the times in which we live seem to be negative and chaotic, Adharmic and immoral. However, the external world may be an internal key to constant happiness and path towards Self-transformation can begin with the habit of not judging others. As Sai devotees, we often listen to Bhagawan Baba's words stating: "Instead of searching for others 'faults, search for our own faults." or "When you point one finger at others note the three fingers that point towards you. That is, when you point out one fault in others, you must examine thrice whether there is any fault in you.'

However, I observe how difficult it is to follow this particular precept. If you really stop for a second and think about how much time in a single day, we spend either in criticizing someone, gossiping about someone judging etc it is astonishing how much energy these activities consume. It seems to be that our minds by default will look first at the faults of others. Their shortcomings. and mistakes instead of looking first at the good qualities that the person may have.

I remember one instance in particular at Darshan in Prashanti Nilayam. It was one of those Darshans in which your mind is running wild. and I remember being in the first line sitting in between a Japanese brother who was in perfect meditation position, with clean ironed white clothes. not even blinking or moving even after a few hours: and on the other side. a brother who was very careless about his personal hygiene: dirty clothes. with a strong cigarette smell coming out of him. moving around and talking. In my mind, I kept saying, "this Japanese guy, perfect devotee, I bet Swami will call him for interview or at least will talk to him, so much discipline. this is what Swami really wants, this other dude should be ashamed of himself, how could he not even shower to come to Darshan. " ... and so on my mind kept talking and talking without any control. After a few hours, Swami appeared in His majestic wheelchair the three of us joined hands in the excitement that our Lord was corning. Swami approached the spot we were in and with a beautiful Divine expression. He smiled equally to the three of us. Nothing less or more. nothing special to any of us. At that exact moment. something clicked inside me saying. "If the Lord of the Universe, being perfect as He is who knows your past. present and future. don't judge any of us under any circumstances; how could I, with so many mistakes attempt to judge so easily my brothers and sisters'?.

I really felt miserable, but it was a beautiful teaching. Swami in His infinite compassion shows us how easy it is to live a life full of joy and Happiness by following three simple steps: "Be good, see good, and do good. That is the way to God." However, we tend to "be wrong, see wrong, and do wrong". Forgetting that every time we do it we are only damaging only ourselves.

Yes, no doubt there is plenty of badness in the world right now even in our own brothers and sisters and one could say that not being aware of that is blindness and childish innocence, but honestly do we really gain something by being observant of all the negative qualities around us'? Are we in a better position to even be able to look at it assertively or take action to fix it? Just think how Swami being Karuna Sagara (Ocean of Compassion) would see the situation.

The process of judging is so quick and natural that we may sometimes not even realize we are doing it. The next time you Judge someone and become aware of it, think of the assumptions you may have made...and determine whether they are fair ones or simply those based on prejudice.

Imagine a life in which you would focus on goodness, and just identify the goodness in every single person that you may come across, even if someone harms you or speaks ill of you, decide that you will smile and think that that person is teaching you a lesson and that you should be grateful to him. Imagine a world in which we would not be afraid of judgment, knowing that the only qualified judge to criticize yourself is You as your inner consciousness, and the constant joy you will derive from yourself by seeing Goodness (God) everywhere.

What better way to spread Swami's Love than following this simple teaching? It is a simple matter of monitoring the way we think until we create a new habit, the habit of seeing the good in everyone. By practicing this we will develop many other virtues and qualities on the way, like tolerance, patience, perseverance, determination, humility, kindness, and understanding. Remember, whatever you see outside is just a reflection of yourself, let's make that reflection as pure and clean as possible' We are all in a process of learning and improvement, so don't be ashamed if you realize that some of your thinking is a bit shallower than you would like. Instead, make a conscious effort to do this less and less, until you change it completely. In Sai's Love - Andres Zambrano