Realise the Oneness of the Atmic Principle

28 April 1997, Kodaikanal

Published English.

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Give up ego and anger When you look at the map of the world, your own country (India) appears to be small, and within , the State of is very small, and in the State of , is a tiny place. Your house in is quite small; and you are only one among all in the house. It is ignorance to have ego. One dwells in all beings ( ).

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Truth is one, but the wise refer to it by various names ( ). When you realise that all are one and you are just one of the vast number of beings, where is the scope for developing ego? Is your ego due to your position, education, wealth, or property? Any number of people are better off than you in many respects.

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What kind of desire one should have? Have desire for mental peace, good health, and knowledge about the infinite principle. Householders should have such desires that are suitable to their stage of life. Goddess of wealth will then enter their house.

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A great devotee sang: Do not ask, oh mind, do not ask. The more you ask, the more you will be neglected. God will certainly grant you what you deserve without your asking.

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Did He not grant the wish of , who never asked?

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Did He not redeem , who never asked but sacrificed his life for His cause? (Telugu poem) God gives without your asking. Neither nor asked for anything, but He granted them supreme state of salvation. A greedy person has no happiness. People can experience all kinds of happiness when they conquer their greed. A miser may have everything in life but cannot derive any happiness from all those possessions. Here is a small story. Once two brothers lived together. One was a great miser, and the other was a greater miser. They were so miserly that they didn’t enjoy anything they had. One day, they received the news that one of their close relatives in a nearby village had died. The elder brother decided to go there out of compulsion. He preferred to walk rather than spend money on a bus ticket. He got up early, lit the oil lamp to get ready, and proceeded on his journey.

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Recognise the importance of practice Sacrifice is very important in life. There is no higher quality than sacrifice. Immortality is not attained through action, progeny, or wealth; it is attained only by sacrifice ( ). You can live without many things, but not without breath. But if you inhale, you must also exhale. After eating food, if you do not excrete, you will fall sick. Blood must circulate continuously or it will lead to clots. Blood and money must remain in circulation. Stagnant water becomes infested with worms.

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Money should be utilised properly. If you go on accumulating and don’t spend it, it is like burying it under earth. Give up ego, conquer anger, limit desires, and get rid of greed. These four checks are very important, especially for spiritual aspirants. Mere chanting of God’s name ( ) and penance ( ) do not constitute spiritual discipline ( ). These are useless without mental transformation. The mind is the cause of bondage and liberation ( ).

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If you think you are a doctor, a businessman, or a professor; this is not the truth about you. This is your profession, not your reality. You say, I am an Indian. That is your nationality, not your reality. All these epithets refer to external, worldly things. If someone asks, “Who are you?”, you should reply, “I am the .” People read various types of sacred texts to know themselves. They interact with noble persons, but what is the use? There is no spiritual progress. If you recite all the 700 verses of the , what you get is throat pain, nothing else. You may read the and the , but without practice, nothing is gained. Put into practice at least a bit of what you read and hear. Will the darkness in the world be dispelled by the message of light?

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Open the heart and shut the mouth You say, my body, my mind, my intellect ( ), my mind-stuff ( ), then who are you? These are your instruments and you are the master. If you fail to recognise that you are the master and choose to be their slave, you will never reach the goal. Become the master and you achieve everything. Realising these as your instruments is all that is spiritual discipline ( ). Keep the body and all these instruments in good condition with proper food and clothing. Open the heart and shut the mouth. Today we open our mouth and close our heart. We waste our time in too much talking. All this is of no use. The heart is very valuable. So, open the gates of the heart. It requires no spiritual exercises ( ). The body is a temple and the indweller is God ( ). Recognise that the body is a temple of God and that God resides in your heart. Develop this awareness.

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Many people in the pretext of devotion neglect the upkeep of body. It is not correct. When the body becomes weak, the mind also becomes weak. Keep body, mind, intellect and mind-stuff in good condition to attain success in spiritual discipline ( ).

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What is the use of having the mind, intellect and mind-stuff if you are not able to attain peace? Why has God given them to you? God has given them to you to attain peace. When you realise that you are the , you will know who you are. People think that the mind and intellect are the controlling factors; but the heart is the real controller. When one looks outward, one has no peace; outside there are only pieces. Physically and materially, humanity has made a lot of progress, but morally and spiritually, humanity is on the downward path. What is the reason? Selfishness is the root cause of all this. There is selfishness in everything we talk about and in everything we do. People today have become slaves of selfishness. Leave selfishness and connect with God.

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Perception ( ), proximity ( ), identity ( ), and merger ( ) are the four stages of spiritual discipline ( ). Equality, love, unity, and brotherhood are essential to attain these. With the attitude of seeing differences everywhere, how can one acquire this spirit of unity? You attain bliss by realising the oneness of the Atmic principle.

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Whomever you salute, it reaches God ( ), and whomever you criticise, it reaches God ( ). According to , every action has its fruit or consequence ( or ). There can be no action without a good or bad result. It may come immediately or after many days, many months or, even many births. For example, if you slice a fruit and cut your finger, bleeding starts instantly. So, you get the result immediately. When you sow a seed, it takes four or five days to sprout, five or six years to grow into a tree, three more years to bear fruit, and a few more days for the fruit to ripen. You eat in the morning, but it takes a few hours to digest. Every action has a consequence though we do not know when and where it will happen. Consequence of action is inevitable. What type of action should we do? We should do actions with divine feelings. Then we will attain divine bliss. Mundane actions performed with worldly feelings will yield mundane results, which are impermanent. said that man should not forget God and should discard temporal things. Temporal things give only temporary satisfaction, but divine feelings, thoughts, and deeds lead to eternal bliss. A young man may exult at his own beauty and muscle power, but how long will they last? Lightning gives a flash of brilliant light, but immediately darkness follows. therefore cautioned: Do not be proud of your wealth, progeny, and youth; The tide of time may destroy them in a moment. , . Everything has reaction, reflection, and resound. If you say standing in front of a hall, you get the resound at once. The air compressed in a harmonium produces various sounds sa , re , ga , ma , pa , da , ni . But their root is one sound, that is (the form of , or ). Every sound originated from .

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There is divine principle in one and all. In the , Lord says, “Know Me as the seed of all living beings ( ).” If you plant a mango seed, you will get a mango tree. Every tree has many branches, each branch has many fruits, and the same type of seeds exist in all fruits. Where did the seeds come from? The eternal in all beings is a part of My Being ( ). God is the one seed, universe is the tree, nations are the branches and sub-branches. All beings are the fruits; in every being, God is present as the in the form of seed.

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There are many powers within us, such as magnetic power, electric power, fire power, and laser power. The body is like a generator, the eyes are the bulbs, the ears are the loud speakers, the heart is the main switch, and the mind is the wire. When you put off the main switch, everything goes off. So, always keep the main switch on. Similarly, consider God as the life-breath, who is the indweller. There is no need to search for truth, righteousness, and peace ( , , and ) anywhere.

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You see so many light bulbs glowing here. What makes the bulbs glow? Is it the electric current or the wire? When you enquire, you come to know that all are important. Consider truth as the electric current, peace as the bulb, righteousness as the wire, and love as the light that emanates. If you want to have the light of love, you should have the bulb of peace, the wire of righteousness, and the current of truth. Then all become one. One dwells in all beings ( ). teaches many easy paths for salvation, yet people do not have interest in because they don’t understand it. If you develop interest in it, you will make spiritual progress. If you have interest, a spark can be developed into a fire. But on the contrary, if you have no interest, the spark will be put off in the first instance only.

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The , the , the , the Bible , the are only guideposts; they show the divine goal. Making use of them, but you have to walk the path yourself. There is no use if you keep on chanting “, ”. You have to travel to reach there. It is no use saying, potato-chapathi, potato-chapathi ten times unless you take it in your hand and eat it. Do contemplation and practice to derive bliss. It is not mere talking that is important, action is important. Today, people only teach, they don’t put what they teach into practice. We read the . But how many people follow the command of their father? Very few. Lord says in the , “Those who think of Me under all circumstances will surely attain Me.” But you think of God only when you are in trouble. This is part-time devotion. With part-time devotion, you will get only part-time fulfillment. You must think of God at all times and in all situations. Everywhere, at all times, under all circumstances contemplate on God ( ). Consider your house work as God’s work, your business as God’s work. All work is God’s work. It is a very easy path. God is not asking you to do any penance.

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People today are living in darkness, making their lives miserable. Engage yourself in sacred actions to make human life fulfilling. Devotion is not just singing devotional songs (bajans ). are necessary, but only up to a certain stage. You should merge in love with God. I and you should become one. There is no second entity at all. God is one without a second ( ).

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There are many pots filled with water. There is only one moon, but it is reflected in all of them. Bodies are like vessels, the mind is like water. There is the reflection of Atmic principle in it. There is one sun, which causes activity in the entire world. There is no separate sun for America or for India. Similarly, there is one , which is present in all. Understand this secret. Understand this divine principle properly. B(hagavan concluded His discourse with the , “…”. )