Why being spiritual requires one to be environment-friendly

Nature is divine... Our nature is divine... See the connect? (Pic of Sri Sathya Sai in the sylvan settings at Kodaikanal).

A mouse trap in the house

There is a popular story of the mouse trap in a farmhouse. A mouse saw it through the crack in its hole and got very worried. It ran all around the barn shouting,

“There is a mouse trap in the house! There is a mouse trap in the house!”

However, none of the other animals and birds cared about what appeared to be the end of the world for the mouse. The hen, pig and cow actually told the mouse not to bother them with its flimsy problems. That very night, the trap clicked shut and the farmer’s wife went to discard the dead mouse. But in the darkness, she didn’t see that it is a venomous snake that is trapped and thus got bitten! Though the farmer administered her with first aid, she came down with a high fever.

To help her recuperate, the farmer culled the hen at home and prepared chicken soup. Days passed, the lady didn’t recover and the farmer’s house was filled with kind and worried neighbours. Now, to feed them all as an expression of gratitude, the farmer butchered the pig and made stew. In spite of the doctor’s best efforts, the farmer’s wife succumbed. The cow was slaughtered for meat to feed all the guests at the funeral! The mouse survived and wondered how things would have been different had the barn cared about the mouse trap in the house.

This story made me pause and ponder about how connected the universe is. However, since it did not indicate the basis for the connect, it felt like a random story constructed to inspire a point. Therefore, I ended with the thought,

“Interesting indeed! But this is probably just a story.”

The connection became evident only when I came across the 40th Birthday discourse of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

A toe-crushing story with far-reaching implications

Here is another story now.

The little finger on the right hand got to know that the little toe on the left foot had suffered a crushing blow. It did not bother about the toe because, c’mon, why should that problem which was so far away affect the little finger?

As time passed, the neglected toe grew from bad to worse. The injury got infected and, in fact, became gangrenous. The gangrene spread from the toe to the foot to the leg. Finally, the badly infected leg affected the body itself which died. When the body died, the little finger too suddenly found itself in the throes of death. Before it knew what was happening, it too died.

That is the story of connectedness with an evident basis of connection. The story was inspired from Swami’s statement in His Birthday Message.

“When a thorn pricks your foot, you get tears in the eye, for, they are of the same body. So too, when a worm is crushed, your heart must react to its pain.”

School biology teaches us that a cell is the smallest structural and functional unit of life. Though it can function independently and has it’s own life cycle, it is always a part of a tissue. The tissue too has its unique function, purpose and existence but it always is part of an organ. Once again, the organ is an individual in every sense and yet, it is always a part of an organ system like the circulatory system, digestive system and so on. Even the systems are not completely independent because they come together harmoniously to form the organism.

Here is puzzling question. Why do we assume that the organism is a completely independent unit? Going by how it is built, is it not logical that the organism is probably the ‘cell’ of the Universe?

Swami had expounded this in a practical manner long before the actual theory was published in 1979. 

That gives us the basis of the connectedness. We are independent yet connected to each other the way cells in a body are!

The Vyashti to Parameshti journey

During His Divine Discourse on the 27th of April 1999, Swami dilated on the cosmic connection.

“Though lakhs of years have passed since the advent of man on this earth, yet he does not know his real Self even today. The entire creation has divine origin, and the Creator is God. He willed: ‘Ekoham Bahusyam’ (I am One, let Me be Many), and the creation manifested by His Will. Srishti (creation) has its origin from Parameshti (supreme power). Samashti (society) is a limb of srishti. Similarly, Vyashti (individual) is a limb of Samashti. Without Srishti, Samashti has no existence, and without Samashti, there can be no Vyashti.

Since man has limbs such as hands, feet, head, etc., which constitute his body, likewise man is a limb of society and society is a limb of creation/nature (Srishti). Man is therefore not separate from Samashti, Srishti, and Parameshti. All human beings are just the limbs of the same body of God.”

This is a recurrent theme in many of His other discourses too. Among the many other implications that the message has, one thing becomes very clear - that serving the society and the environment is an absolute necessity for one to be spiritual or devoted to God. Not serving society or ignoring the environment calling them ‘worldly’ or ‘non-spiritual’ is ignorance and foolishness. It is akin to the little finger not being concerned about the palm or hand of which it is an integral part. If the little finger seeks to serve the body, it has to love and serve the palm and hand. If the devotee seeks to love God then society and nature too have to be loved and served.

And that is why being spiritual requires us to be environment-friendly. That is why the Indian culture (and many other cultures too) worshipped nature as God. That is why it makes absolute sense for an ashram like Prasanthi Nilayam to hold an international Go-Green conference.

Let us protect and show love to Mother Earth and Father universe.

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Sai Thy Kingdom Come - Thoughts on the Second Appearance of Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Can we understand His words?

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba left His physical frame on the 24th of April 2011. When that happened, there was widespread disbelief among the devotees. According to various public instances and references, Baba had said that He would be in His physical frame till 92, 94 or 96 years of age with the ‘96-years’ concept being the most popular version. How then, could He leave at 85? Thus, came the ‘theories’ of a second coming, a return to the physical of Bhagawan Baba. Then came the compilation - Sai, Thy Kingdom Come - by S.Narayan which brought together all the different things Bhagawan had said about the ‘length’ of His life. It presented evidence from the various scriptures, Nadis and the like while proposing a second coming. It also presented dreams and visions of different devotees that suggested Swami's second appearance as evidence. I must say, it felt really wonderful reading the same.

However, whenever I read, heard or came to know about different accounts regarding His second coming, a voice from within kept persistently throwing up a single statement which Bhagawan often made - a statement so poignant and profound that one could meditate for long just on it. This was the statement of Baba that my heart kept showing me,
“When you cannot understand my silence, how will you understand my words?”

The Mahasamadhi was a black swan event and it was chosen by the Avatar of the Age definitely to communicate several messages of wisdom to mankind. One of those, I firmly believe, is to prod us to start listening to and understanding His silence. Instead of doing that, if we start discussions and debates on when and how He will start 'talking' again, aren't we missing the whole point?

The Divine Word is the Veda Vakya

God’s words are always the TRUTH. In fact, a Vedic scholar was once asked,
“Swami keeps telling various things about what is in the Vedas. Are those things really present in the Vedic texts?”
The scholar, Sri Kamavadhani, replied emphatically,
“Fool, Swami’s Word itself is the Veda!”
According to him, Swami’s word defined the Vedic word and not the other way around. It was not the case of checking whether what Swami spoke was the truth or not for His speech defined the Truth.  His first name, Sathya, means Truth and the Universe realigns itself to follow His every utterance. 

So, don't get me wrong. I am not disregarding even slightly the words spoken by Swami. What I am pondering is simply about our ability to understand those words. There is the story of a sage undertaking a penance for centuries in an attempt to understand the Vedas. At the end of it, he realizes that if the Vedas were the four mountains, his understanding has been equivalent to a grain of sand! These are metaphorical stories to indicate that when it comes to divinity, the intellect and the mind are grossly inadequate in imparting an understanding. That understanding lies in the realm which is beyond the mind and the intellect. 

The debate here is not about what Bhagawan said, but of our understanding of what He said. 

Bhagawan's startling declaration in the interview room

The drama ‘Daivam Manusha Roopena’ (presented by the 11th grade students on March 29, 2007) was on the life of Shirdi Baba. When the scene of Shirdi Baba leaving the body for three days came, Swami went into the interview room. There, He made a revelation that literally left the students, Divij Desai and Harish Krishan. dumbstruck.