Sathya Sai Speaks 1978 · God Comes In Human Form To Help Men Change Themselves For The Better

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God Comes In Human Form To Help Men Change Themselves For The Better
June 1978, Summer Course 1978, Brindavan
Published English.
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A great deal of information and knowledge are contained in the books. Our heads are, however, filled with dust. Education is being used only for eking out a livelihood. Oh children of , listen to this truth.
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In our sacred traditions, we have many important and significant stories which are full of meaning. It is our misfortune that the students in this country are not able to see this significance. means that it is the song of God. Devotees of God have also been called . has divided the story of Bhagavatha into twelve parts. Each part is called a . This is a sacred story which has been given to men in order to liberate them from bondage. This story of Bhagavatha has been taught by to who in turn gave it to the people. was the son of . learnt the thoroughly from his father . The and have been divided into four parts called . While describing the sacred stories of the contemporaries of , was also writing the story of Bhagavatha. The and were living at the same time and the battle between the and and the moral contained therein were written by him as the . was also described as the fifth Veda. He realised that it is difficult for ordinary and unlearned people to understand God. To facilitate realisation of God, by such ordinary people, he also wrote another text called . He has also established the truth that bliss can come only in the thought of God and not by any other process. He established that bliss and happiness are simply embodiments of God and that they cannot be found elsewhere. Bliss and happiness can be given only by God, and he who thus secures them is called a devotee. The close relationship that exists between a devotee and God has been described in Bhagavatha. It is not an easy matter to understand this. In the context of the difficulty in understanding the , he also produced the eighteen explaining the nature of divinity. He was feeling sorry that in spite of his best efforts in promoting divinity, there was no easy manner in which the sorrow of the people could be removed. He spent a lot of time in trying to find out ways and means of making ordinary and illiterate people happy. While was contemplating on such issues, approached and said that the only method by which man can attain happiness is by describing and singing the glory of God. From that day, started describing the of the Lord.
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Year after year, we experience some kind of heat, cold and rain. Because of these seasonal changes, certain changes occur in our ideas and even in our health. It is also known to us that with changing seasons, we listen to cuckoos singing, we see the mangoes ripening and so on. Every year, the seasons come back at about the same time and give us the same kind of experience. Taking this cycle into consideration, the tried to explain to us about the . The season that has gone by returns to us twelve months later; the day that has gone by returns to us eight days later and so on These are common experiences. If today is a Friday, after another week we again get a Friday. If this is the month of May, again after twelve months we get the month of May.
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Taking this into account, the divided time into four called , , , and the . These will keep coming back again and again. In these, the word indicates four times, and the word indicates three times. The signifies two times, and gives us an authoritative unit of measurement. According to them, 4,32,000 years is the basic unit and represents the number of years in a . Two times this or 8,64,000 years represents the . Three times this basic number of 12,96,000 years is the measure of . Four times this measure, namely, 17,28,000 years refers to . By adding all these, we get 43,20,000 years and this refers to a . After a , the will start again. In this manner and by assigning such measures, they interpreted time.
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From time to time, in these , God was appearing as an for the purpose of showing divinity that is contained in human beings, and for setting an exemplary life as an example. It has been said that God takes a human form so that he is accessible to human beings and gives them happiness. The birds and animals are experiencing the limitations which have been laid out for them. A human birth is the most sacred one among the 84 of different in this creation. To attain such a sacred birth is a great fortune indeed. Man has a special distinctiveness. We have to see and understand the difference between birds and animals, on the one hand, and man on the other hand. Animals are born with cruelty as a nature and they also spend their lives with cruelty. We may give a lot of training to the animal, but it is impossible to bring about a lasting change in its habits. It may conduct itself according to the training during the period of the training, but it will not give up its cruelty. Man is not like that. Even though he may be born with cruelty, he can get rid of it by an attempt or . It becomes clear that what does not and cannot take refinement is an animal and what can take refinement is man. To facilitate such refinement and transformation in human beings, God takes birth in human form from time to time. This refinement can be brought about by different methods at different periods of time. In , the method was . In the , the method was , in , it was and in the , prominence is given to . These are the royal paths available to human beings for changing themselves. In the , the , through , used to attain or vision of the Lord. The who enjoyed such divine experience used to mix with the people so that their divine experience can be conveyed to the people who lived at that time.
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In the , God appeared as a human being in the form of ; and by using his own family as an example, he tried to set up an ideal dharmic conduct characteristic of that age. At that time, it was also established that was the embodiment of Love and was the embodiment of compassion and that it was the confluence of and compassion that makes a good human being. This is true . We are believing that rituals constitute . It is not our daily practices or rituals that constitute true . It is the compassion that is generated in a pure heart that constitutes the base of true . This is also the most important basic quality of a human being. One must make an attempt to follow the dictates of one’s own conscience. By such conduct and example, corrected the entire humanity. By the time came, God in the human form of set an ideal example of love for the people. This aspect of attracted all people. These were such that people lost themselves in the happiness and bliss generated by the of . was looking after, with tender affection, the needs of the people at that time. The great truth that is contained in the of has been communicated to us in the Bhagavatha. This of showed that we should never forget God whether we are in sorrow or pleasure, pain or joy, poverty or affluence. , who lost all her sons and who was in great difficulties, showed great forbearance and affection when speaking with . The Bhagavatha teaches us that it is not right for a devotee to think of God only at times of difficulties and completely forget him at times of happiness. In fact, all convey a very significant lesson, and you must make an attempt to understand the inner meaning that is conveyed to us in such lessons.