♥ Om Sri Sai Ram. Swami is seated in a Yellow Robe.
The Child of Supreme Bliss has come back today as the son Nanda in order to play with His old play mates. That Rama Chandra has come back today without any incumberances in order to recognise His old servants. That Iswara has come back as Bala Sai in order to play with His play mates. That Maha Vishnu has come back on Earth to wield His ancient weapons. The Lord of Parthi has come back today as Parameswara, the Lord of this village, in order to bless His devotees and His children.
Embodiments of Divine Love Devotees, students, boys and girls. The vedic scriptures in India has said that the Leelas of Vishnu are very very strange and beyond description. The formless God comes down in human form in order to give joy and delight to His devotees and also stages many fascinting dramas. Whether it be Rama, Krishna or Sai Avatar it is the same Divine entity that comes down in different forms. Depending on this Truth I address you as Embodiments of Divine Love, Embodiments of Divine Atma. All of you are in fact Divine incarnations. The only difference is I know it but you do not know it. Only on the day when you understand and realise your inherent Divinity that you will be able to understand this Avatar and fill your heart with great Bliss. One who knows God becomes God. Nobody can understand God through lectures and scriptures. You may have very delicious food before you and keep chanting the name of these various delicacies in front of you or just keep thinking of them but your hunger will not be satisfied. There may be very many lectures on Krishna, on this day, yet if you do not understand the underlying truth then they are all mere stories. By merely chanting "Chapatti, Chapatti, Chapatti" your stomach will not be filled. Only when you take up a little food, chew it and digest it, then your hunger will cease. If you just celebrate the festivals as only a festival then this will be of no use. Only when we understand and realise the inner significance of the teaching then definitely we will find fullfillment in our lives.
The word Krishna has many kinds of meanings. In a very ordinary way we can think that Krishna was black in colour (Swami corrected Murthy Sir) ... "Not Black, Dark". Therefore He was called Krishna. There are many people who are dark in colour, if we call them Krishnas will they become Krishna ? These days there are many people with the names Govinda, Krishna, Madhava. Just by having those names will they become Divine entities? On a vessel containing sugar you write salt. Will the sugar turn into salt? Krishnas name was not based on His body.
There is an inner meaning for the word Krishna which all students should understand properly. The One who Cultivates, One who tills is Krishna. What is this agriculture of Krishna? In the villages you find many crops that are being grown in the field. The Bhagavad Gita says that your Hrudaya is the field. If you want to grow good crops in your heart first you have to till it and then remove all the weeds and put only goods seeds for a good crop. In the field of the heart you have to sow the seed of the name of God and get the flowers, the blossoms of love, and the fruits of Bliss. We have to remove the evil traits of desire, anger, greed, pride, infatuation and jealousy and give up the feelings of "I" and "Mine" and sow the seeds of love.
Today mans heart has become as desert. Because there is no love in the heart they have become deserts. That is why both the cowherds and gopikas went on praying to Lord Krishna,"In the Loveless desert of the heart you sow the seeds of love, with the emotion of love, when there is nectarine grain of Love and they flow as rivers, Oh Lord please sing your song of Love." The sense of the prayer was to get rid of their desert like hearts with the Love of Krishna and thereby grow the fruits of Grace. It is not good enough to love only Krishna. When they sung songs of Krishna they called Him the "Indweller". If you look for Him outside yourself you wont find Him. Because of the great attraction to Krishna devotees gave up everything.
The second meaning of Krishna is "that which attracts you" is Krishna. There is a magnetic power of Love in Krishna. Because of that Love, this attraction, devotees are attracted. When you keep a magnet near an iron piece there is an attraction between the two. The magnet attracts the iron to itself. But if there is rust and dust covering the iron they will not be attracted. When you have ego and attachment in your heart this attraction of Love can not take place. People go to many temples and churches but there is no attraction because of their ego and attachment. To say that God does not exist is a big mistake. Both outside and inside Narayana is installed. God is there in EVERY atom. If there is no attraction for you there is no mistake in God, the mistake is in you, because you are filled with "I" and "Mine". You revel in ego and attachment and say that God has no attraction power. Where does rust and dust come from? Having rust and dust occurs because of bad company. When water gets into the company with the air on the iron there is rust. Because of the rust there is no attraction. For people in good company this attraction happens automatically. The Gopikas with their tender hearts were attracted to Krishna whereas the emperor Kamsa with his hard heart was not attracted to Krishna. Krishna is one and the same. But if they see lots of perversions that is because ego and attachment. One who attracts is Krishna. Only when you get rid of your ego and attachment then you can understand the inner significance of the inner truth of Krishna and experience Him.
One who gives Joy and Bliss is Krishna. And if Radha chanted the name of Krishna only once every cell of her body was filled with delight and joy. Those days, as all of you know, there were no light bulbs or fans. They would light the flames in their lamps and that is how they had light in their homes. Because they had no match boxes, to light the flames, every housholder went to the house of Nanda where there was a light lit eternally. The peoples lamps were lit from Nandas lamp. Their belief was that if they light the lamps of their homes from the house of Krishna then they would also light the lamps in their hearts. Therefore they would go to Krishnas fathers house, Nanda, and take the light. One day a Gopika also went to the house of Nanda. She had the flame in her hand. There was a wick in the lamp. Only when the wick was placed in the flame would the wick light up. That Gopika saw Krishna coming. She was filled with so much Bliss that she lost her physical consciousness. Instead of putting the wick in the flame she put her finger in the flame. The finger was completely burned but she did not feel any pain. Yahoda saw all of this and came running and remarked "What is that you are doing here? Instead of putting the wick in the flame you are putting your finger! Are you aware of that ?" The Bliss of Krishna is such that she got rid of her body consciousness and developed Divine consciouness. In the same way as a man who has fever anything sweet will taste bitter for him. In the same way man filled with worldliness will not enjoy Divine Joy. But the hearts of Gopikas were sacred and pure and because of this they could easily attain Divine Bliss. Krishna was everything for them. Only people who develop that kind of love and devotion will get Bliss not otherwise.
In order to understand the inner significance of the Divine Krishna principle, or the Divine Bliss and Divine Love, you first have to get rid of ego and attachment. We are confining our lives to the limits of "I" and "Mine". The Krishna principle is to grow from "I" and "Mine" to "We" and "Ours". If you really want to celebrate Krishna's Bday it is not good enough that you just do Bhajans and listen to lectures. You can definitely do all of that. It is only all a kind of theory and not practical knowledge. If you really want to understand the Krishna Principle you have to practice the real teachings of Krishna in your lives. Practice Krishna's teachings "Love All Serve All". You have to Love All Serve All. Krishna is there in everyone. Krishna is not only outside you He is inside you. We have to worship that Krishna that is present in everyone. If we have to believe that Krishna is in everybody then we have to Love Every Body and Serve Every Body and only then can we celebrate Krishnas birthday with fullfillment.
I also want to give you good news on this occassion. For Krishna the cows were very dear to Him. Even in our Gokulum here we have cows. These cows very selflessly give us nutritious milk. But today the building that is there is collapsing. This building was built a long long time ago and one boy had prayed to me, "Swami you are doing so much for everybody, even for these animals you have to do something." He also wrote, "We have to build a very good building for these cows and provide a delightful ambience for them." In the letter he also enclosed 20 rupees which he had saved. Is it possible to build a cow shed with 20 rupees? For me money is not required. Because of this Love now I have willed that we are going to buid a very beautiful cow shed and name it Brindavan. A devotee from Dubai will come and plan the drawings in a hexagon shape and in the centre of this building there will be an idol of Krishna with a cow.
I dont want anything from my students. If they feel that others sufferings are theirs and they want to remove them that is all I want from them. If they just pray I will do everything for them. Today human hearts have become deserts, they are bereft of love. They dont even think that they have to pray for others. But our students are not like that, they are Gold ! Looking at the hardships of the cows this student felt for them, their suffering, and prayed for them for Swami to build them a new building. You can understand how pure and sacred his heart is. I am telling Narasimlamurthy to prepare plans immediately for this new cow shed.
Cow is our Mother. Cow is not just an animal it is a mother because it gives us milk so selflessly with love. The cow needs all kinds of things like grass but finally gives this pure, white milk. It does not give us its hardships and difficulties. It is not only for its own children but also gives the human children all the milk they require. It is for helping others the cows yield milk. This body is given to us to help others. Therefore all of us must not just pray selflessly but match these prays with our actions.
Tomorrow all my old students, not "Old" students but "Gold" students, are coming here tomorrow morning from 8 campuses. I am telling you all this with great joy because I have such good children. When the father is aged and retired he depends on His children. If he has just 2 children whatever he has built up he will hand it over to his children and he will be happy. I have any number of 1000's children how courageous I should be. I am going to tell them, tomorrow, that because this courage, together, I want you to build new educational institutions for more and more number of children. Building of the infrastructure is my responsibility. But the maintaining of it is your responsibility. The senior students and alumai of 5 campuses - Prashanthi Nilayam, Anantapur, Brindavan, Muddenahalli and Alike are the 5 fingers of 1 hand. When the 5 fingers of this hand get together they can do so much work. Because many of you will not be able to participate in this alumai meet, tomorrow, I am telling you this today. All my children are not just my students studying in my institutions, anybody who practices Swami's teachings are my children. Therefore, today you should resolve to work selflessly like what Krishna did and find fullfillment in your lives.
|