Bhagawan’s Discourse on the 31st of December to Alumni

First and foremost, one must pose oneself the question – “Who am I?” You must introspect, asking yourself – “Am I a human being, animal or a beast?” Once you have convinced yourself through self enquiry, that you are indeed a human being, you must strive to act accordingly. Having come to this conclusion it is inappropriate to act otherwise.

To begin with, one must note that the basic necessities of life are essential but should not be the sole dictate of your lives. It is when in a societal framework that you are a human being. You must be concerned with welfare of the society and seek to dedicate your efforts for the same. An animal lacks the faculty of discrimination and hence leads an aimless life as dictated by its momentary whims and fancies. You on the other hand, as human being have to exercise your discrimination in choosing the good over the bad even though animal instincts may compel you otherwise. You must consciously remind yourselves that you are not an animal but rather a human being.

Are you the body? When you say “Naa Deham” (in Telugu, meaning My Body), what do you mean by “Naa”? “Naa” mean “No”; negation. So when we say “Naa Deham”, it means “I am not the body”. Similarly, “Naa Maanas” means I am not the mind and “Naa Buddhi” implies I am not the intellect. This way you declare that you are not the body, mind or the intellect. Then who are you? Know that you are the changeless Atman, the very personification of the divinity which is beyond change. All the actions that you may engage in and the consequences there of, are but temporary and subject to change. All that you undergo or face in your life are but the reflections of your own actions. The wrong actions are the outcome of wrong thoughts. So cultivate good thoughts.

God the ultimate truth is the creator of all universe. And all creation will have to merge back into this truth. There is no place which this truth does not fill. Everything is an embodiment of Truth. Everything is an embodiment of God. Be it an ant, a cat, or even a mosquito, they are all embodiments of God. Even your vision is the power of divinity. You often crib and blame others for the troubles you find yourselves in. It is the projection of your own negative thoughts, that makes that external object appear bad to you. On the other hand, your good thoughts will help project positively and see everything as good. Therefore we need to mend our vision. As is the vision, so does the creation appear to us. Thus the truth is that the creation is from our own vision; arising from how we see and perceive things. So every human being must strive to have good thoughts.

What does self mean? Self means “I”. This “I” is the most important. Some students have strong faith in Swami, while some others have doubts. But understand, your doubt or faith is but from you. There is no need to blame anybody as all are personifications of God. The Atma in all is one and the same. The personifications of this Atma are temporary, while the Atma itself is eternal.

Due to the effects of Kaliyuga, relationships between people today are temporary. We should rather strive for deeper relations and values. Endeavour rather to acquire and develop the five human values. You often say that you’re seeking peace. But there is no peace outside you, there are only pieces. Peace is within you and not outside. Your peace must arise from within. Love is God. Truth is God. Truth is one in any place and any time. Adhere fast to these five human values rather than the six animalistic negative vices. Remind yourself that you are human and nurture the human values.

You study all kind of subjects. But studies like IAS are not only a high qualification but also directly benefit the society. There are so many issues in the society. For instance, there are many people who are shelter less. By doing IAS, you can help people in need even if it is for such small matters. Being a human, you should nurture love. Sadly these days, we take very easily to anger. You must think carefully why we lack this forbearance. We must recognise that the negativity we perceive in the world outside is but sourced from within us. So we have to correct ourselves.

All that we study today is secular knowledge. The next step of knowledge is general knowledge followed by discriminative and ethical knowledge. Andbeyond this is spiritual knowledge. Strive to go beyond the secular and bookish knowledge. Gain general knowledge. Once you have attained that, you will need to acquire practical or discriminative knowledge. And in due course, you will acquire the qualities like honesty and earnestness which will then lead you to ethical knowledge.

You must discriminate what you speak. You must ensure that your words don’t hurt anyone. Many even get angry with their parents. You must take it in the right spirit even if your parents admonish you. If your parents are happy, then your life will also be happy. Else causing pain to them will only come back to haunt you in ways manifold. Work towards making all in your society happy. For this, self confidence is the foundation. Self satisfaction is the wall. Self sacrifice is the roof and self realisation is life! Note that for all these, the self is the most important. Everything else is temporary. Your trust in God should be permanent. This will help you overcome all your obstacles.