Sunday Times 2
Marking Swami Sathya Sai Baba’s 88th birth anniversary
Swami was born on November 23, 1926 and attained Samadhi on April 24, 2011. On this day I would like to quote the meanings of the famous Baja Govindam sung by the Vedic scholar Sri Adi Shankaracharyar , who lived in early 8th century (788C Ekaladi:Chera kingdom -present day Kerala India.
Swami in many of his discourses mentioned the verses and their meanings from Baja Govindam for the upliftment of humanity. Here are some of them:
- Seek Govinda! Seek Govinda! Seek Govinda! Oh ignoramus, at the time of death the rules of grammer, which you are trying to cram and master, will not be able to rescue you at all
(Grammer rules mean all secular knowledge and earthly acquisitions. Mudhamati means a materialist, wholely worldly-minded, who does not believe in God or the spiritual entity that is in man)
- Oh, Fool! Give up your insatiable desire for earthly possessions; be sensible and develop serenity and contentment. Be satisfied and happy with whatever you may earn by the sweat of your brow and whatever has destiny marked for your lot.
-Enticed by the physical glamour of a woman, do not lose your senses; the body is nothing but a conglomeration of flesh, do not forget this any time.
- The water droplet on the lotus leaf is tremulous and unsteady. So too is life which is as uncertain. Know the body to be in the claws of disease, which may swallow it at any moment. Life is ultimately nothing but worry, misery and grief.
- As long as you are fit to make an earning, so long will your kith and kin be solicitous about you, but no sooner your limbs become infirm and your earnings cease, none will care for you, not even your own home-folk.
- As long as there is life in your body, your people may have concern for you, but once the life-breath ebbs out of your body, even your own wife will run away from you.
- Childhood skips off on sport and play. Youth flies off in pursuits of love-making. As one grows older he is drowned in worry about the security and future of his wife and children. One’s whole life gets spent in some kind of worry or other. And at no stage does man find time to lift his thoughts to God.
- Who indeed is your beloved and who indeed is your son? Strange indeed are these family bonds; who belongs to you and to whom you belong? Whence did you come, Oh brother! Reflect on the truth of it all.
- The company of the good weans one away from false attachments; when attachment is lost, delusion ends; when delusion ends, the mind becomes unwavering and steady. An unwavering and steady mind is merited for Jeevan Mukti (liberation even in this life).
- When youth is gone, where is lust and its play? Where is the lake when its waters have dried up? Where are the kinsfolk when riches are gone? When Truth is realised, where is the snare of Samsara?
- The pleasures and riches of worldly life are deceptive appearances. Understanding that they are all but a passing-show, be detached and dispassionate, cultivate renunciation and seek Brahman.
- One may have bathed in the holy Ganges or even in the Ganga Sagar; he may have performed many charities and observed many vows; yet unless one has glimpsed the Truth (God), he will not gain release even after a hundred lives.
- Who can disturb the peace and happiness of a man if he has the true spirit of renunciation and has controlled his desires, even if he be the poorest, sleeping only in the temple halls and choultries or under trees or on the bare ground and just with a deer skin to cover.
- Who are you? Who am I? From where did I come? Who is my mother, who is my father? — enquire thus and you will then realise that the entire world of experience, all the worries and problems are but a dream, a mere hallucination, born of imagination and delusion. With such a realisation, you will be freed from the delusions of the world.
- Do not look at anybody in terms of friend or foe, brother or cousin; do not fritter away your mental energies in thoughts of friendship or enmity. Seeking the Self everywhere, be amiable and equal-minded towards all, treating all alike.
- Free yourself from lust, anger, greed and delusion. Contemplate on ‘who you are’. Enquire within yourself, who am I? The fools who fail to apprehend the Self are caught in hell-fire even here and now itself and suffer torture.
- As readily as one takes to indulging in carnal pleasures, with the same readiness, alas, he is taken over by disease too. Even seeing death as the inevitable and only end of all, man does not refrain from sinful ways.
- It is wealth only that causes all harm and brings about one’s ruin. Bear this truth in mind always. Know that the pursuit of wealth does not lead one to happiness at all. The rich fear and are even afraid of their own sons. This is the outcome of riches anywhere and ever.
Regulated breathing and sense control, discrimination between the Enduring and the fleeting, the Eternal and the transcient, Japa and meditation, and submerging of the bodily and mental consciousness in the Consciousness of the Spirit, merging oneself into the total Inner Silence — one must practise these with unrelenting fervour.
Surrender yourself to the Lotus Feet of the Guru; with your senses and mind, disciplined, and freed from the shackles of Samsara you will behold the Lord who is seated in your heart.
So dear readers, irrespective of your religion, creed, and caste, read the above and try to realise and understand the true nature of our lives. One day, all will have to depart this world. Until then why not live in peace and harmony realising the truth of Unity in Diversity with full faith in God. God may be viewed in their own form according to their own religion. But realise that God is one to the entire creation, universe.