Divine
Discourses on Dasara
by
Bhagavan
Sathya Sai Baba
Divine
Discourse: 14 October 1988
In
the human body, the Divine flows through all the
limbs as the divine essence (rasa) and sustains
them. This divine principle is called the
Embodiment of Divine Sweetness (Rasaswaroopini,
or Angirasa). These divine principles that
permeate and sustain the physical body should
also be worshipped as mother goddesses. Then
there are the great sages (maharishis), who
investigated matters relating to good and evil,
right and wrong, what elevates man or degrades
him, and, as a result of their labors and
penance, gave to mankind the great scriptures,
indicating the spiritual and mundane paths and
how humanity could redeem its existence. These
sages have also to be revered as divine
mothers.
The
cow, the earth, the presiding deities for the
body, the sages, and the guru are all worthy of
worship as the embodiments of the divine
Motherhood. Although these five appear in
different forms and names, they have one thing
in common with the mother. They play a
protective and sustaining maternal role for
mankind and hence should be revered and
worshipped as divine mothers.
Conversely,
the mother of every child displays in relation
to the child the attributes of these five
entities. The mother nourishes the child,
provides the necessaries for its growth, teaches
the child what it should know and what it should
avoid, and leads it on the path of
righteousness.
The
life of a man who cannot respect and love such a
venerable mother is utterly useless. Recognizing
one's mother as the very embodiment of all
divine forces, one must show reverence to her
and treat her with love. This is the true
message that this nine-night festival (the
Navaratri) gives us. The supreme Shakti
manifests herself in the form of Durga, Lakshmi,
and Saraswati. Durga grants to us energy
--physical, mental, and spiritual. Lakshmi
bestows on us wealth of many kinds --not just
money but intellectual wealth, the wealth of
character, and others. Even health is a kind of
wealth. She grants untold riches to us. And
Saraswati bestows intelligence, the capacity for
intellectual inquiry, and the power of
discrimination on us. The Navaratri festival is
celebrated in order to proclaim the power of the
goddesses to the world. One's own mother is the
combination of all these divine beings. She
provides us with energy, wealth, and
intelligence. She constantly desires our
advancement in life. So she represents all the
three goddesses that we worship during the
Navaratri festival.
Divine
Discourse: 18 October 1991
The
term Devi represents the divine power that has
taken the passionate (raajasic) form to suppress
the forces of evil and protect the serene
(satvic) qualities. When the forces of
injustice, immorality, and untruth have grown to
monstrous proportions and are indulging in a
death-dance, when selfishness and self-interest
are rampant, when men have lost all sense of
kindness and compassion, the Aathmic principle
assumes the form of Sakthi, takes on the
passionate (raajasic) quality, and seeks
to destroy the evil elements. This is the inner
meaning of the Dasara festival.
When
the divine Goddess is in dreadful rage to
destroy the wicked elements, she assumes a
fearful form. To pacify the dreaded Goddess, her
feminine children offer worship to Her with
sacred red powder (kumkum). Seeing the blood-red
kumkum at her feet, the Goddess feels
assured that the wicked have been vanquished and
assumes her benign form. The inner meaning of
the worship of Devi with red kumkum is that
thereby the Goddess is appeased.
During
the ten days of the Dasara, the demons
(rakshasas), in the form of wicked qualities,
have been routed. Rakshasas do not mean demonic
beings. The bad qualities in men are the demons.
Arrogance is a demon. Bad thoughts are demons.
Ravana is depicted as the king of Rakshasas. He
is said to have ten heads, but he was not born
with ten heads. Who is this Ravana, and what are
his ten heads? Lust (kama), anger
(krodha), delusion (moha), greed (lobha), pride
(mada), envy (maatsarya), the mind (manas),
intellect (buddhi), will (chitta),and ego
(ahamkara) --these constitute the ten heads.
Ravana is one who has these ten
qualities.
Each
one can decide for himself whether he is a
Ravana or a Rama, according to his qualities.
Rama is the destroyer of bad qualities. When
engaged in this act of destruction of bad
qualities, He manifests His passionate quality
(raajo-guna). But His passionate quality is
associated with His serene (saatvic) quality.
Even in cutting off Ravana's ten heads, Rama
showed His love. This was the only way Ravana
could be redeemed.
When
the Lord metes out a punishment, it may appear
harsh. But what appears externally as passionate
(raajasic) is in reality serene (saatvic). In a
hailstorm, along with rain there will be
hailstones. But both the rain and hailstones
contain water. Likewise, there is serene quality
even in the Lord's passionate actions. Similarly
there may be passionate quality even in slothful
(thaamasic) actions. These depend on the time,
place, and circumstances in which the Lord acts.
Butter can be split with a finger. But a
powerful hammer is needed to break a piece of
iron. The Lord deals with serene persons in a
serene way. He applies the passionate weapon
against passionate persons.
People
worship the Lord as Roudraakaara, attributing
dreaded forms and qualities to the Divine. This
is not proper. The Divine has only one
attribute: the embodiment of love. It has been
said, "Love is God. Love pervades the Cosmos."
Hence, one should not view the world from a
worldly point of view. It should be viewed
through the eyes of love.
Embodiments
of Divine Love! All the festivals of Indians
(Bharatiyas) have been designed to promote
divine love among the people. It is to confer
such love on the people that the Lord incarnates
on earth. He Himself demonstrates how love
should be expressed. He showers His love and
teaches everyone how to love. Hence, experience
this love and joy in your life and live in
peace.
Divine
Discourse: 9 October 1994
Indians
(Bharatiyas) have been celebrating the Navarathi
festival from ancient times as a mode of worship
of Devi, the Divine as mother. They worship
Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati during those nine
days. Who are these three? These three forms
have fascinated man. Their esoteric significance
is represented by three potencies (shakthis):
karma, devotion (upaasana) and spiritual wisdom
(jnaana).
The
significance of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati
has to be rightly understood. The three
represent three kinds of potencies in man: will
power (ichchaa shakthi), the power of purposeful
action (kriya shakthi), and the power of
discernment (jnaana shakthi).
Saraswati
is manifest in man as the power of speech
(vaak). Durga is present in the form of
dynamism. Lakshmi is manifest in the form of
will power. The body indicates purposeful action
(kriya shakthi). The mind is the repository of
will power (ichchaa shakthi). The Aathma is the
power of discernment (jnaana shakthi).
Purposeful action comes from the body, which is
material. The power that activates the inert
body and makes it vibrant is will power. The
power that induces the vibrations of will power
is the power of discernment (jnaana shakthi),
which causes radiation of energy. These three
potencies are represented by the mantra, Om Bhur
Bhuvah Suvaha. Bhur represents the earth
(bhuloka). Bhuvah represents the life force,
conscience in man. Suvaha represents the power
of radiation. All three are present in man.
Thus, Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati dwell in the
human heart.
Men
are prone to exhibit passionate (raajasic)
qualities like anger and hatred. They are the
menacing manifestations of Durga. The extolling
of the Divine in song and poetry and the
pleasing vibrations produced by them indicate
the power of Saraswathi. The pure qualities that
arise in man, such as compassion, love,
forbearance, and sympathy, are derived from
Lakshmi.
When
people worship Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswathi
externally in pictures or icons, they are giving
physical forms to the subtle potencies that are
within them. The unfortunate predicament of man
today is that he is not recognizing the powers
within him and developing respect for them. He
goes after the external, attracted by the
physical forms. The relationship between the
material and the subtle has to be understood.
The remedy for man's life is contained within
himself. But man seeks remedies from
outside.
What
should do during these ten days of the
Navarathri festival? Convert your will power
(ichchaa shakthi) into a yearning for God.
Convert purposeful action (kriya shakthi) into a
force for doing Divine actions. Convert your
power of discernment (jnaana shakthi) into the
Divine Itself.
Divine
Discourse: 14 October 1994
Navarathri
means "nine nights". What does the nine signify?
There are nine planets (grahas), according to
astrology. The human body has nine openings. If
a deep inquiry is made, it will be found that
mankind is dependent on the planets. Although
astrologers speak about nine planets, in
reality, only two "planets" matter: attachment
(raaga) and hatred (dwesha).
In
the worship of the deities during Navarathri,
one of them should be worshipped each day, not
externally but with one's heart and soul. Bodily
actions are ephemeral. The body derives its
value from the spirit within. Hence it should be
regarded as a sacred temple. During the
Navarathri festival, for the purpose of
eradicating one's demonic tendencies, the
deities were worshipped with sacred powder
(kumkum). The red powder is a symbol of blood.
The meaning of this worship is that one offers
one's blood to the Lord and receives in return
the gift of peace from the Lord.
Therefore,
the Navarathri festival is observed by
contemplating on God for ten days, cleansing
one's self of all impurities, in order to
experience the divinity within. The penultimate
day of the festival is dedicated to what is
termed "worship of weapons (aayudha puja). The
weapons to be worshipped are the divine powers
in man. When the divine is worshipped in this
way, one is bound to progress
spiritually.
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