Sunday, Feb 5 2012  

INTERVIEW WITH SWAMI
(Compiled from various meetings with Sri Sathya Sai  Baba)

Question 1: Why are some  people born more beautiful, or more intelligent, than  others are? Why does not  God give everyone equal beauty, abilities and talents?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: It is  not God's partiality or fault. It is the human  being who is responsible. His  actions, thoughts and words are responsible for  all good and bad. It is the  mind that creates the differences. Pleasure is an  interval between two pains.  It is the way you look at things that  matters.

There is a vast ocean of talents  and qualities.  All human beings have vessels to fill. Some people, through  their actions, are  able to fill the vessels to the brim; some fill only half;  others can fill only  a quarter, or less. They possess intelligence, beauty,  talents, and etceteras,  according to how much they can fill their vessels.

You even judge beauty these days,  as in Miss  India , Miss World. But, that is all physical beauty, which is  transient. What is  important is the beauty of the atma (Self).

Question 2: How are good  or bad actions carried into the next birth?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba:Swaasha (breath) carries the actions, for the  breath stops when a person dies. The  body is still there after death and we call  it a corpse and burn it as useless.  So, the body cannot carry anything with it,  just as a flower cannot carry its  fragrance. It is a breeze that wafts the scent  of the flower and makes its  fragrance reach you. Similarly, imagine a municipal  lorry, the breeze carries  the bad odour to you again! In the same  manner, good and bad actions are  carried by the breath and surround you in the  next birth like an invisible  garland. The pattern of your life is then governed  by what the garland has good  or bad scent.

That is why man must understand  that everything  he does has a reaction, a reverberation and a reflection. It is  he who writes  his own destiny by his actions. It is essential for man to live a  good life with  good thoughts and good actions. Only through such a life can he  realise the  divinity in him. The concept Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahma  = God) is  also incorrect, since it indicates duality. Aham (I) and Brahma (God) become separate. The statement ought to he Aham Aham (I am  I).

Question 3: Many people  feel that Hindus worship countless gods. How did  this happen?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: India   has a wonderful religious tradition. It has  something for everyone, to suit  everyone's needs. Many people do not understand  this excellent idea and make  derisory comments on our having too many gods. This  tradition has evolved to  suit the needs of different people, just as we have  shirts of varying types and  sizes to fit different people. With the ideal of One  God, there is only one  shirt and, if it does not fit or if it is unsuitable,  people turn away from  God. But, here, if someone likes Krishna , they can  worship Krishna ; others can worship Rama, or Narayana, or Shiva, or even  snakes and lions! What more do you need to propagate the  idea that God is in  everything everywhere? That is why I often say don't worship  God as a picture,  but worship the picture as God. This will slowly lead to the  realisation of God  in you. That is where the Hindu spiritual path is  practical and good.

Question 4: Why does not  God prevent cruelties in the world?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: God is  only a witness (saakshibhoota). He does not  act. Man acts according to  the dictates of his intellect (buddhi) and  himself suffers the  consequences of his actions (karma). There is neither  good nor bad for  God. Take the knife as an example. A murderer uses a knife to  kill another man,  a slaughterer uses a knife to slay animals, a surgeon uses a  knife to amputate,  and a cook uses a knife to chop vegetables. If a magnet is  placed among all  these knives, it will attract them all equally and not  according to the kind of  tasks they perform. God is like this magnet. All knives  are the same to Him.  However, the hands that wield the knives have to bear the  consequences of their  actions, dependent on right and wrong.

Question 5: When we have  troubles and are in difficulties and we pray to God, why  does He not take them  away'?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Troubles and difficulties are part and parcel of human  life. They are the  results of your karmas. There is no point in praying  to God to wipe away  all such troubles and difficulties. The right type of prayer  would be to ask  God for courage and strength to bear all the difficulties,  problems and tragedy  with equanimity.

Question 6: What is the  difference between the politics of yesterday and those of  today?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: The  present state of affairs can be described as the state  of jumps and bumps. Now,  take the example of your body and limbs. Each limb is  important in forming the  composite whole. All the limbs joined together make up  the body, which is the deha (body, person). Similarly, in the desha (country, nation),  every aspect should be tended to, just as one takes care  of every part of the  body.

Question7: The view that  women should not take ups Brahma vidya (spiritual  knowledge), nor chants  the Omkara. Is this correct? Also, in ancient  times, were spiritual sadhanas (endeavours) forbidden to women?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Brahma  vidya and chitta shuddhi (spiritual  knowledge and purity of  consciousness) do not depend on whether a person is a  man or a woman. All have  an equal right to benefit from Brahma vidya provided only they are able  to take it up with discipline and dedication. At  no time have there been any  taboos against women. Lord Vishnu (the  Preserver) taught Bhu Devi (the Goddess Earth) the glory of the Bhagavad- Gita. Parameshwara (Shiva) taught Parvati the Brahma  tatva (divine essence) through the Guru Gita. Ishwara (Shiva) initiated Parvati into yoga shastra and mantra shastra (science of yoga and science of mantra). The Brihadaranyaka  Upanishad mentions Yajnavalkya teaching Maitreyi the Brahma  vidya. So, women in ancient times were not  denied the pursuit of  spirituality.

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad mentions Ciargi and Maitreyi hasking in the splendour of sannyasa (renunciation) and brahmacharya (celibacy, chastity). Madaalasa  Chudaala and others were able to receive Brahma jnana (divine wisdom)  while in the grahastha (householder, i.e. married)  stage of life. Even  today, there are many that belong to this vast category. It  is sheer absurdity  to deny women the right to earn Brahma jnana. But, in  worldly matters, it  is necessary for them to maintain certain limitations in  the interests of dharma (righteousness) and loka kalyana (the good  of the  people/world). For the sake of safeguarding morality and for the social  health  of the world, women have to accept some restrictions. This is not to say  that  there is any fundamental inferiority in them.

Even pundits acquire their jnana through the reverential homage they pay to the feminine deity Saraswati. The divine patrons of learning, prosperity and wisdom are all  feminine: Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. This should show the  reverence  paid to women.

Question  8: Why does  Swami give gifts?

Sri  Sathya Sai Baba: Gifts of  rings and pendants  are an expression of Swami's love... It is not that Swami  wants to draw people  to him with gifts. When you wish to show affection to your  son, or if you want  to make someone happy, you make him a sports shirt or buy  him a present, do you  not? Swami also wants to bring happiness in this manner.

Question 9: Does a gift  also act as a protective talisman?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Yes!  They are also like my visiting cards and send me  instant flashes when the  person is in danger or in need of my help. Sometimes,  these gifts are made for  specific reasons: for the sake of a devotee's health,  or I may give someone a  gem stone so that rays from it may constantly influence  him or her to follow  the right path. I want to tell you that whatever Swami does  has a purpose. He  never does anything without reason.

Question 10: Why  does Swami give vibhuti?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Flowers, leaves, fruit and other edibles have a temporary  life. Even water  breeds germs if kept in a vessel for days. Only vibhuti remains  unchanged, as  it is the final result of the five elements of creation. Our  desires have to be  reduced to ashes and vibhuti is symbolic of this detachment  and renunciation.  One's mind has to become desireless and detached like the  ashes in which  everything is burnt out. It is that kind of pure mind that has to be offered to God.

Question 11: Is it  necessary to perform pujas (ritual worship) and ceremonies?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Everything depends on the individual concerned. Whatever  he or she does has  to be done with faith and sincere devotion. God cannot be  fooled with mere  ritual.

Question 12: What about  ceremonies and rites for the dead? Is it wrong not to  perform them?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: This  again depends on one's mental attitude. After a  person leaves the body, the  soul takes birth and takes on a new body somewhere  else. You must know this.  Upto now you must have had so many lives, you must  have been a mother and a  daughter so very many times.

What is required really is  gratitude to one's  parents, by remembering them on the day of their death.  Though they may shed  these bodies in which they are your parents, you still owe  them the debts of  having given birth to you and of having given you their blood  to give you your  present form.

You can express this gratitude  through the  ceremonial shraadha rite, or by any other method, even by thinking  of them with  sincere and loving gratitude on the death anniversary. It is  heartfelt feeling  that is important.  

Question 13: Why doesn't  God make people suffer for their sins in the same lifetime?  Why in other lives  when they cannot know why they suffer?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Then  how would you account for the punya (good deeds)  they do? They Have to enjoy  the benefits of their punya, too! All that may not  always be Possible in one  lifetime....

Question 14: Why does  Swami have more restrictions for women? They do not have easy  access to Swami!

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Everyone has the same kind of access to Swami. This does not depend on  their being men or women. Everyone receives the same grace,  depending on their  devotion, their need, or their work. Swami may say so; that  nevertheless women  have more hurdles to overcome when they want to convey  something to Swami.

There are times when the man who  stands next to  me never catches my attention, as hard as he may try; while a  devotee sitting  far away in a corner amid a crowd easily catches it. It all  depends on who has  to receive what and when. Everything happens according to  that will, not because  of the physical form of man or woman.

Also these differences are visible  to  you at your level of consciousness. For Swami, these are not differences  that  count. The atma is not different in man or woman. The atma is eternally   conscious, pure and selfeffulgent. The atma is neither masculine nor feminine,   nor yet neutral. It is only the body that limits, deludes and wears names.  

Question 15: What is the  principal cause of all troubles and sorrow?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Attachment and ego are the main causes. Jealousy is  another factor.

Question 16: How  can jealousy be conquered?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: By  having love for everyone, by thinking of others with  love and wishing them  well. More than all, by realising that jealousy is  physically most harmful. It  does damage your internal system and, later on, you  will have to suffer the  karma of the bad things caused by your jealousy.  

Question 17: Why has God  created bad traits and negative tendencies in humans?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: These  are results of man's own actions. God is only a  witness to events. Human beings  are themselves responsible for the good and the  bad in them. Remember that the  things you do not do can never hurt you.

Question 18: But Swami  says that there is nothing good or bad!

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Yes!  This is from God's point of view. For humans, this is  a relative matter, since  what is good for one may be bad for another. What is  good at one time may be  bad in another season. Good and bad are thus two states take two  fruits, phalam, which are good. Once they are eaten and  digested, they become  excreta, malam, and that is bad.  

Question 19: Scientists  say that something cannot he created out of  nothing.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Yes,  hut what they think of, as nothing is really anything. There is no nothingness  in the Universe. The scientist makes such  statements because, with his limited  vision, he cannot see all things or know  them.

Both science and spirituality begin  as inquiry, a  quest. Spirituality comes full circle, like the letter 0, while  science reaches  the half circle stage, resembling a C. Science has a lot of  catching up to do,  for it has only discovered a fraction of the truth. It is  like a small piece of  cloth you can see protruding from a fist: you can only  conjecture about the  whole, its looks and size, for it is hidden and you cannot  see it.

Question 20: But, science  has made many advances  flights to the moon and  other planets, for instance.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Yes. Whatever science has done for humanity is to be welcomed,  hut it is still a  growing and advancing field. Scientists used to say that you  couldnt split the  atom and today that is no longer true. The scientist  learns as he progresses.

Today's investigations become old  tomorrow and lead to new investigations, which will become old the day after  tomorrow. There  is no end to this, and so the truth lies in something that  contains within it  both the old and the new. God alone envelops the old and the  new and so the best  way to advance is Godward.