Conversations with Sai .. (Part F)

SAI: (to a visitor): If you had fashionable earrings would you wear them?

Visitor: Oh, yes, (Sai moves hand and there appears a set of golden, jeweled earrings which he gives to the visitor).

SAI: See, they are fashionable, but the value is not high. (Sai now moves over to where the visitor is sitting and himself places the earrings on her ears. Much exclamation from the individuals in the group.)

A Visitor: (who is somewhat bald) Swami, can you grow hair?

SAI: (starts to make some comment, but the visitor interrupts).

Visitor: No. Just a joke, Swami.

Translator: Swami can do anything. Swami says that He gives the earrings to the lady to bring joy in her. The more joy the more the disease will go.

SAI: That is the medicine for her. Joy is the medicine.

Visitor: I wanted to go to the hill to see the Kalpataru Tree.

SAI: This is the Kalpataru Tree. Swami is the Kalpataru Tree. Swami is able to give anything you want. If you want anything, here is the Tree. This is the gold shop also, and the camera shop! (Much merriment from the group.)

A Visitor: Swami's gifts are beautiful, but what if one wants peace of mind?

SAI: Only thoughts of God and intense love for Him bring peace. As worldly thoughts diminish, thoughts of God increase. Normally, the mind is all the time desiring these worldly things. As the desires are cut out one by one, the peace becomes stronger. You weave the threads and there is the cloth. If the threads are removed, there is no longer cloth. When there are Godly thoughts, there is peace of mind. Swami cannot give peace of mind; one has to work for it. We do meditation, spiritual practices in this temporary body. Though this body is temporary, you have to use temporary things to realize the Truth.

Visitor: But I wanted to know about peace.

SAI: Yes. If the desires are cut off one by one, then there is peace. When the desires go one by one then there is die-mind. Then there is peace of mind. Swami cannot give peace of mind; you must work for it yourselves. First, stop the questioning and ask, 'who am I?'. This is my body, my mind, my intelligence. But who is this 'My'? Who is it that claims the ownership of that which is declared to be 'mine'? 'My' indicates ownership. That 'My' is the life. As long as the life is in the body, there is this connection between the 'my' and the intellect - 'my' body, 'my' house, 'my' land. But the moment you remove the life from the body, there is no 'my' or sense of possession. Life is God.

'Who am I?' The answer is 'I am God'. The body comes and goes, but the Atma is permanent. The body has birth and death, but the spirit does not have any of these. You reach the stage where you say, 'I am God', but even there, there is duality, 'God and I'. That is not the full Truth. When we breathe, the breath makes the sound of 'So-Hum', 'He am I'. There is still the body consciousness, the 'I'. But in deep sleep, the declaration of 'He' and 'I' falls away and only '0' and 'M' remain, 'Om'; there is only the One.

Hislop : : One understands this and has for some time, but when does intellectual comprehension change to reality?

SAI: It will become reality only when you practise it intensely. You read so much. You do not have to practise all that you read. Take one or two things to practise and then it will become a reality to you. When you go to the hospital, there are so many medicines. You do not have to take all the medicines; just the ones that are needed for your malady. You do not have to eat all the medicines. Whatever kind of spiritual practices you sincerely want to do, you just take that medicine; do not collect all the other things. Because too much of this book knowledge just leads to doubts and confusion. You get too many doubts asking 'what is this?' and 'what is that?', and you waste a lot of time in this conflict.

H : What does the supreme Spiritual Doctor say is the correct medicine for me?

SAI: Meditation. For, in meditation you first get sense control. And yoga will help you with the body and when the mind is steady, concentration will come automatically. When you get such concentration, then you get peace of mind.
Hislop : : Swami says that "All is done by the Lord and not by you". But, the world over, there is the concept that man is responsible for his own actions.

SAI: You are God. As long as you are being human, there may be such thoughts.

H : As long as you are being human, does that imply the human state is an act of one's will?

SAI: Not an act of will. Just a matter of being confused. It is a delusion. You come here with doubts. Swami knows that, so he gives you a chance to ask. If a Jnani comes, a man with direct experience of the divine, Swami does not ask him what his doubts are. The fact that you have questions is evidence that you are on the worldly level. Baba's teaching will vary according to the level of the person.

A teacher in a school may at the same time be a renowned Vedic scholar, but when teaching a child to read, he can only say, "This letter is 'A' this letter is T" and so on. Mother may feed one child at the breast, give soft food to another, tell the cook to serve food to another, and tell the eldest to serve himself. But though her treatment of each child may be different, her love is equal for all.
There are four different stages in which man finds himself, and God gives different but appropriate help to each: first are those persons who are in distress; second are those desiring prosperity; third are those engaged in enquiry as to what is truth; and fourth are the wise.
At present in you, there is a mixture of conscious and sub-conscious. For this reason there is confusion and doubt. In the unconscious state there are no impressions. In the super-conscious state there is no doubt, there is decision; in this state there is no body and no mind, although there may be visions. There is still another state beyond the super-conscious. This is Divine consciousness where God alone is. In the super-conscious state there is still a very slight tinge of duality, of giver and receiver. In the ordinary state there are the three: giver, gift and receiver. In divine consciousness there is the giver only.
Really, all other than the One is false. Even Sadhana. Here a doubt may arise: how can Sadhana, something false, result in something other than false? It is like this: dreaming is unreal, but the dream may become so strong, so terrifying, that because of the dream one awakens. It is likewise with Sadhana. For Sadhana to become so strong that from it one awakens to reality, the Sadhana must touch the super-conscious level where both body and mind are transcended. It is from the deep transcendent state that Truth blazes forth.

H : One hears about various paths to Self-realization. What does this mean?

SAI: There are three paths. There is that of devotion; the Guru guides and all is left to the Guru to perform. Then, there is the perception that God is Omnipresent; the future comes up to the present and the past falls away from the present. God is omnipresent; so the present is God; this is knowledge. Then there is surrender to God. But surrender does not mean just doing all actions in His Name. Surrender to God is when the entire Universe is known as H is body. Surrender is when doer, deed and object are all God. It cannot be forced. It comes naturally. Faith is the foundation; surrender is the peak.