CONVERSATIONS WITH SAI – PART Six
CONVERSATIONS WITH SAI – PART Six
A Visitor: Swami, one hears talk of Mantras.
SAI: Just the repetition of a Mantra is of no value, but if the Mantra is chanted with full knowledge of its significance, it has a great effect.
A Visitor: How can we improve memory?
SAI: There is not much use thinking about the past, because it is gone. Trying to memorize is not of much value. We will naturally remember that in which we are interested. A small story: Arjuna was 85 years old, a middle aged man. In those days people lived much longer. Arjuna said, ‘Lord, how is it that you can remember all the past lives, and I cannot?’ Krishna replied, ‘Well, what were you doing ten years ago on the third day of the month?’ Arjuna said ‘I do not know.’ Then Krishna said, ‘Well, you were alive then.’ Arjuna replied, ‘Yes, I was alive.’ Krishna then said, ‘Look back Arjuna, 60 years to the day you were married, do you remember that?’ ‘Oh, yes,’ replied Arjuna, ‘I remember that’. ‘Then, look further back, Arjuna, to the day you met your Guru and were taught the martial arts. Do you remember?’ ‘Yes’, replied Arjuna, ‘I remember.’ Then Krishna said, ‘It is obvious that people remember that in which they are interested, that which was sufficiently intense to cause them to remember the incident. But they do not bother remembering that in which they are not intensely interested. Now, you do not remember 20 years back, but you know you were alive then, therefore the memory is there, but you cannot recall it. Now, I remember everything, Arjuna, because I am interested in everything
A Visitor: (carrying a professional camera): Can I take Your picture now?
SAI: (in English): How many are here? Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten…..twelve.
A Visitor: Twelve disciples.
SAI: This is my camera (Swami opens His hand and there are 12 small pictures of Himself amid much exclamation from the group). Keep them in your purse. See, twelve! Full address also! Address here in India. No camera, no film, no flash. A visiting card. Puttaparthi is the address. (Sai opens a silver box and starts preparing leaves).
Visitor: What is that?
SAI: (in English) That is the nut. This is the leaf. See, the leaves, and this is the betel. This is not a bad habit. If it were a bad habit, Swami would not chew it. The leave’s juice purifies the blood. The nut digests. Here, they mix the nut and give it for digestion even with the little puppies. And the other thing that is put in is calcium. The three mixed make red colour. This is Indian. (The foregoing was said in a joking voice, accompanied with much merriment from the foreign visitors).
A Visitor: The pictures that people take of Swami and then produce for sale are not good pictures. They do not do justice to Swami. Swami is perfect and everything around Him should be perfect.
SAI: Some may like one thing and others may not like that thing. The liking and the disliking is not in the object, but in our minds. If a person judges just from appearance, then it indicates a lack of depth. First they should know Swami, and then make a judgment.
A Visitor: But Swami is beautiful and the pictures make Him ugly.
SAI: Love is the beauty.
A Visitor: How does one get devotion to God?
SAI:
Confidence is necessary. Food is the origin – the body is made from food. Without health, it is very hard to do anything. The stomach is of four parts: one quarter air, one quarter food, and one half water. Too much food is taken nowadays; there is no room for water. In India, rice and wheat are standard. They are all right if taken in moderation. But people eat too much and become dull. Too much food results in dullness of mind. Food in moderation does not result in sickness. Swami travels to various parts of India and does not get sick from food. Swami becomes sick only when taking on the sickness of a devotee. Otherwise, never. Too much milk is bad. It is Rajasic.
Visitor: Sai Baba, this is for me, this is not for anybody, just for myself – my food. Meat is important, meat is my food.
SAI: Food is important for the body. Food is the reason even for being born. Mother and father have been nourished with food and then give birth to a child. The parents have grown up on food. The whole body is a food bundle. The type of food you eat creates the kind of thought that will come to your mind. There will be a Sattwic effect if you have Sattwic food such as fruit and milk everything that is cool and not hot like strong onions. Meat gives the blood an effect, like passion and similar qualities. Dirty thoughts come with fish. Although fish is always in water, it has a bad smell.
A Visitor: How about lamb?
SAI: Meat is all right for those who concentrate on the body and want to have strength, but for spiritual aspirants it is not good.
SAI: Yes, the body will get proteins with meat, but mental proteins will not be there. If you are keen on a spiritual life, eating meat is not worthwhile; but if you are keen on worldly life, it is alright. There is another spiritual reason. When you kill an animal you give it suffering, pain and harm. God is in every creature, so how can you give such pain? Sometimes when someone beats a dog he cries, he feels so much pain. How much more pain then occurs in killing. Animals did not come for the purpose of supplying food to human beings. They came to work out their own life in the world. When a human being is dead, the foxes and other animals may eat the body, but we have not come to provide food for those that eat the human body; we have not come for that purpose. Similarly, man eats the animal, but the animal has not come to provide man with food. But, we have taken to eating meat as a habit.
SAI:
Anything that comes from the cow, a little milk, butter, cheese, is alright for the spiritual aspirant. There is no harm to the cow, and it is of benefit to take it. In Dwapara Yuga, before Kali Yuga, 5680 years back, milk came into favour. Eleven thousand years is the full length of the Kali Yuga.
CONVERSATIONS WITH SAI – PART Seven
SAI: Anything that comes from the cow, a little milk, butter, cheese, is alright for the spiritual aspirant. There is no harm to the cow, and it is of benefit to take it. In Dwapara Yuga, before Kali Yuga, 5680 years back, milk came into favour. Eleven thousand years is the full length of the Kali Yuga.
Visitor: Does Kali Yuga still continue?
SAI: Yes.
A Visitor: What should be done for my leg? It is still swollen and hurts.
SAI: Do not move around and climb on the hills. Take rest.
Visitor: Oh. When I climbed to that tree on the hill, I did not realize.
SAI: You must take care of the body. Body is like a boat. Life is like a river. On this side is the world; on the other side is God. And so, to reach the other side, that is to reach God, you must maintain this boat carefully. You can keep the boat for any length of time in the water; there is no danger. But if the water comes into the boat, then there is danger. You can remain in the world for any number of years, but don’t let the world take hold.
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
