The treasure under your feet

ALL acts must be done as offerings to him, dedicated to Him, prompted, planned, executed and blessed by Him. The smarana (remembrance) of the Name will help this Saadhana. The name has to be repeated with the heart yearning for the Named. It should not be like a tape-recorder reeling off the names of a gramophone plate that has stuck, repeating the same note. Know that this life is for realising Him, not for winning petty triumphs. Your ideal, your determination and your activity, all three must be directed to the same consummation, the attainment of Supreme Bliss. The Name will make all activity as welcome as worship; it will add witness to worship itself; it will concretise the Named. It will confer the Wisdom that reveals the Truth.

The sweetness of the Name is appreciated most by those who walk the path of Bhakthi. Once Jnaanadev and Shaanthadev happened to go together through a dense forest; they were both overcome by severe thirst but, could not discover any source of water, except a deep ruined well, with water far too deep and the sides overgrown with bush and briar. Jnaanadev assumed the form of a bird, flew in and slaked his thirst. Shaanthadev, who was a great Bhaktha, yearned for the Grace from the Lord whom He called agonisingly by Name; the Lord heard the prayer. The waters of the well rose and overflowed, to the place where the Bhaktha was, he could slake his thirst and move on.

God is undefinable by Names or Forms

The magnet cannot draw to itself a bit of iron that is covered with rust and dust. You cannot yearn for God when your mind is ladden with the rust of material desires and when the dust of sensual craving sits heavy on it. Clear the rust, know the Glory of the God and repeat His Name, in the silence of the heart. Any one of the Names which denote Him can be selected. Do not listen to people who canvass for one particular Name and cavil at others. Do not be misguided by people who make pompous polysyllabic formulae and recommend them as superior to other similar Names. Vasudeva, Krishna, Gopaal, Gopeevallabha, Govind, Giridhaari — all these indicate the Lord who is known to most as Krishna. But, Meera was affected most by one Name: Giridhaari. That gave her inexhaustible joy, more than any other name. There is no superior or inferior grade of Names so far as God is concerned. You must have noticed that I do not recommend any one name for adoption by you; no, I do not insist on the Sai Name, either of this body or the previous body. All Names are the names of Sai Baaba, they are all mine.

This is the greatness of the Sanaathana Dharma (Eternal Religion) — this insistence on the Oneness behind all the apparent multiplicity. The Aathma that it declares to be the basic Truth does not contradict the doctrines of any faith. God is unlimited by space or time. He is undefinable by names or forms. He owns all names and will respond to any one of them. Picture Him in any form while meditating on him; He assumes that form, while conferring Grace. It is because India stressed these characteristics of the Highest Principles that she has been for centuries the Beacon of Spiritual Light and Hope.

Now we find anxiety, fear, faction, hate and vengeance stalking across all countries. Neighbours hate each other; members of the same family hate each other and fight among themselves. Villages are torn by factions, they fight among themselves. Nations are arming wildly and breeding hatred among themselves. Man has reduced himself to the status of a wild beast. No two minds are willing to co-operate in common tasks. The spark that arises in the individual mind has spread a world-wide conflagration of hate and greed. This has to be scotched in the individual, the family, the village, the city, the nation — in fact wherever it raises its head. Sathya, Dharma, Shaanthi and Prema can put out this fire. Man is suffering, because he is not aware of the treasure he has in himself. Like a beggar ignorant of the millions hidden under the floor of his hovel, he is suffering dire misery.

*Editor’s Note. The date of the discourse is 1967, the exact date is not known.