Aim of Life

31 August 1978, Anniversary Celebrations, Girls Hostel, Anantapur, AP

Published English.

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While in boyhood man mingles with several folks And gets immersed in play and frolicking With advent of youth, like the glamorous cupid he burns in sensual desires At the middle age he is immersed in mundane Matters like earning money in With the onslaught of old age, one forgets And keeps worrying on lacks.

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Unable to discard his vices Finding no taste in devotion He keeps crawling in the mud of Man is thus throwing his life into dust (Telugu poem)

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What is meant by life? What is its goal? What is its secret? What is its aim? We must ruminate on these aspects. “What for did we come to this world? What is liberation? Really what is freedom?” Liberation is “to reach.” One joining the other. One mingling with the other. This is known as liberation. Take the case of a river. It flows incessantly finding its way unmindful of any obstructions on the path. When obstructed by a rock it breaks itself into two streams around it, and merges subsequently into the sea. The river never forgets its goal. Our life is like the flow of a river. What is the goal of the river called life? Definitely, the goal is not wasting life and forgetting our duties. Therefore, our life should flow towards its goal of grace of God with perseverance of practice. This is what all religions teach. The aim of all religions is the same. All religions are sacred indeed. They talk of idealistic life. It is human nature to consider one religion as good and others as bad. The Bible, the , and the are all teaching the same thing. You will find in the Bible the words, ‘I am the messenger of God.’ What is its inner meaning? God is separate from the messenger. The messenger brings down the message of the master. The master need not come directly to teach. These two are considered as separate. In the Vedantic parlance, the same thing is called ‘.’ In the Zoroastrian and Muslim texts, it is referred to as ‘I am in the Light.’ This implies you are not the light.

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You are under the command of the light. This also comes under ‘’ (Dualism). Through this message, one understands gradually the divinity (Light) as present within himself. This stage is spoken in the Bible in concealed words. ‘I am the son of God.’ Here one finds the relationship between son and his father. Qualities of the father are reflected in the son. The son has the right to his father’s property. The son tries to attain his father’s position. Subsequently, the son reaches a state when he says, “I and my father are one.” This means the son and the father are one and the same. But this cannot be termed as ‘Merged’, because the phrase is ‘I and my father’ implying slight difference. The philosophy says, ‘.’ This statement is known as . But it is not a perfect as these are two different entities (Aham, Brahma) in it. When you look at your image in the mirror, you say, “this is my face.” It is only the image of your face. The one that is looking is (form). The one that is looked at is (reflection). Also, in the mirror, your left eye appears as the right eye and the right eye appears as the left eye. Therefore, this cannot be pure ‘.’

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‘’ Of The , who were dear to , did not know any (trick). The body is a (machine), breath is (incantation) and the (mind) is (technique). What is the ? ‘So-Aham’. Their calls and thoughts of ! ! became ‘So-Aham’. They were all along uttering ’s name () even while they were engaged in any work. For them, the whole world was filled with . As we think of ; , , and , these three places come to our memory. Such is the bond between these places and . is the heart. , who resides in , comes to the mouth () as we utter His name. From there playfully enters of good thoughts and joyful feelings. Ever since heralded at , several demons started creating illusions trying to kill Him. Notorious among them were and her brothers and . But was not an ordinary person. He squeezed out ’s life when she offered her breast milk to Him under the pretext of love. He killed other demons when they mingled with the cowherds and tried to kill. Then, became angry and came in the form of a stork to kill the animals. came in time and killed the demon. was a great astrologer. Having seen such incidents taking place at , he advised to shift His abode to . Then the entire group of and reached . It was not, as we imagine, a beautiful place filled with flowers and bowers. It was, in fact, a forest land filled with thick trees and wild animals. The made it habitable. This was three and a half miles away from . Even while these three places were being scorched, had hearty play with them.

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Meanwhile, had come with a wish to teach some lessons in knowledge. Then, the said, “Do not try to teach us big matters contained in large texts. We have got only one mind and it is filled with . We do not have any interest whatsoever other than .”

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“Even while mother-in-laws were fussy And husbands were sharpening knives They do not open their mouths, do not move And were not afraid, was imprinted in their hearts Like a picture in a book” (Telugu poem)

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They told , “Let anybody say anything. Nothing else goes into our minds other than thoughts of . We do not have several minds as you have. And we cannot engage one mind on each chore. Hence, we do not need your teaching.”

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We must likewise develop concentration of mind on a useful thing. That will turn into , , or (charity). These days, an artificial atmosphere prevails in all colleges, excepting our college where discipline is its life breath. We should not convert our ‘heart’ into artificial life and dissipate our valuable time.

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The Case Of Doctorates We must cultivate certain disciplined habits like talking gently. When you talk aloud, your energy dissipates and old age sets in faster. The minds of youth are like monkeys as they are fickle. ‘’ (a young man is equal to a hundred monkeys) you must lead a good, pure, and true life.

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Your parents had brought you here with immense devotion. You might be having all modern comforts at home. You will have to adjust in this hostel along with many other students. You were used to special doleful treatment at home; yet you are applying patience here. I am happy about it. This is great (spiritual practice). Sages had been to forests not to enjoy comforts. They went with a resolve to face difficulties for the sake of (penance).

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How far you are observing discipline? Just as you are adjusting yourselves in the hostel, you must adjust yourselves to life. does not, in fact, involve rigorous practices. For example, there is no rule that you must have a big ship in order to cross the ocean. Even a single tyre is enough for this purpose. A small lamp will suffice to cross a forest at night. And a short name of God is enough to cross the ocean of life. Live humbly, live honorably. You get immense joy when you greet elders respectfully.

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This kind of Doctorates only leads to wastage of life. You cannot obtain degrees without the help of . Therefore, is greater than your degrees. The concept of is important. means big or greatness. Students emulate teachers only when they display greatness with regard to an idealistic way of living. Boys are naturally independent. But you are supposed to be under somebody’s care and protection. Restricted talk and sweet talk will endear you to all those concerned. Take this as a command from Swami and make your lives happy!

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