Sathya Sai on vairagya (detachment)
Given below are my recent comments (slightly edited) on a Facebook post:
My view is that Swami's message was suited to the persons who were the target of the message. [So Swami would send sweets to students, and would not be very appreciative of students giving up on sweets as a penance!] Too much vairagya in students would not have been appropriate, I think, as Swami wanted them to be in the world and also follow Sathya, Dharma, Shanti & Prema values. .... But to grown ups, I think Swami did talk about vairagya. In my considered view, Prema (selfless love) and Vairagya (detachment) are the hallmarks of an evolved spiritual person.
...
My experience of physical form Sathya Sai during my regular (almost every day when Bhagavan was in Parthi) darshans and discourse-sambhashans (discourses would NOT be every day, of course) of him from Oct. 2002 to March 2011 is that Swami would interact with students, many times, as a loving parent. We would be told of Swami inquiring of students what they ate in hostel and how it was etc. ...
But when Swami would give a public discourse in Sai Kulwanth Hall, especially on festival days when there would be a crowd, he would speak like a Jagadguru, a spiritual teacher for the world. I don't think I have heard Swami even once during the public discourses I have heard from him, live sitting in Sai Kulwant Hall, ask people to freak out on Gulab Jamun, for example. .. No. At such times, he would be in a really different mode. And people like me would be paying deep attention to Swami's words trying to catch the full meaning of his words, as most of the time Swami would be talking about spirituality rising above mundane life. Let me dig up some vairagya statements of Swami from sssbpt.info.
From Google search results for: vairagya site:sssbpt.info
1) From http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume20/sss20-14.pdf: "Even as a lamp needs a container, oil, wick and a match stick to light it, for lighting the inner flame, one needs a container in the form of Vairagya (renunciation), Bhakti (the oil of devotion), the wick of mental concentration and Tathvajnana (the match stick of true awareness). Even if any of these four is lacking, the light of Self cannot be lit."
2) From http://www.sssbpt.info/vahinis/Prasanthi/Prasanthi17.pdf :
Only Humanity has the capacity, the credentials for realizing the power of the Lord, for earning that power (sakthi). It is indeed tragic that, even after achieving human birth, people do not realize that eternal reality or even make an attempt to understand It. If this chance is missed, when can they attempt it?
Why, they do not concern themselves with the very purpose for which they have come! Did they come only for living like all other animals, birds, or insects, eating, wandering about, sleeping, and seeking pleasure? If the answer is “no”, then for what else? Can we say that a person is just another animal, like the rest? People have three things that animals don’t have: the power to reason, the power to renounce, and the power to decide on right and wrong. These are special powers; but of what use are they unless they are applied in actual practice? If they are used, the name “human” is apt, otherwise, the name “animal” has to be used.
The three powers mentioned above should be applied by people not only in worldly matters but even in the investigation of the ultimate truth. Really speaking, if inquiry, discrimination, and renunciation are carried out while passing through the joys and sorrows of life, the conviction is bound to dawn in a moment that all this is unreal, that all this has no basis in truth. When such knowledge dawns, one is certain to tread the path of religion and spiritual discipline and take up the inquiry that will lead to the truth. This is the task in which people must be engaged.
Well! If only everyone would ask the questions “Who are we? Whence did we come? Where have we come to? How long will we be here?”, the truth could be easily grasped. That questioning is the sign of discrimination (viveka). When, by means of this discrimination, the idea that the world is impermanent gets deeply rooted in the mind, all attachments cease automatically. That is the stage of renunciation or detachment (vairagya).
One asks, is it worthwhile to be caught up in this unreal world? This is false and misleading, one tells oneself. One then turns one’s efforts to the realm of the Lord, the realm of truth. That is the wise decision.
--- end extract from Prasanthi17.pdf ----
The above 2 are from the first two results for the Google Search. I think they reflect what I said about public-discourse and public writings Swami. He truly would rise to world spiritual teacher level during these discourses and writings. And I would love that immensely. It has been my great privilege to listen to such public discourses of his live, sitting in Sai Kulwant Hall.
But I should also say that Swami was aware that most of his devotees including me, could not easily rise up to the levels that he urged us to aspire to. So he would tolerate our inadequacies as spiritual aspirants, joke with us about our failings (even in discourses, at times, which would lead to great laughter among the public)...
However, through his public discourses, as well as his writings, Swami has been very clear about what the spiritual path needs, for earnest spiritual aspirants who want to experience their divine truth. Whether we are able to match up to it or not is a different matter. Swami did not dilute those teachings to suit our failings, in his public discourses. He was one tough master in his public discourses. At least, that's my view of this aspect of him.
[I thank sssbpt.info and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
My view is that Swami's message was suited to the persons who were the target of the message. [So Swami would send sweets to students, and would not be very appreciative of students giving up on sweets as a penance!] Too much vairagya in students would not have been appropriate, I think, as Swami wanted them to be in the world and also follow Sathya, Dharma, Shanti & Prema values. .... But to grown ups, I think Swami did talk about vairagya. In my considered view, Prema (selfless love) and Vairagya (detachment) are the hallmarks of an evolved spiritual person.
...
My experience of physical form Sathya Sai during my regular (almost every day when Bhagavan was in Parthi) darshans and discourse-sambhashans (discourses would NOT be every day, of course) of him from Oct. 2002 to March 2011 is that Swami would interact with students, many times, as a loving parent. We would be told of Swami inquiring of students what they ate in hostel and how it was etc. ...
But when Swami would give a public discourse in Sai Kulwanth Hall, especially on festival days when there would be a crowd, he would speak like a Jagadguru, a spiritual teacher for the world. I don't think I have heard Swami even once during the public discourses I have heard from him, live sitting in Sai Kulwant Hall, ask people to freak out on Gulab Jamun, for example. .. No. At such times, he would be in a really different mode. And people like me would be paying deep attention to Swami's words trying to catch the full meaning of his words, as most of the time Swami would be talking about spirituality rising above mundane life. Let me dig up some vairagya statements of Swami from sssbpt.info.
From Google search results for: vairagya site:sssbpt.info
1) From http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume20/sss20-14.pdf: "Even as a lamp needs a container, oil, wick and a match stick to light it, for lighting the inner flame, one needs a container in the form of Vairagya (renunciation), Bhakti (the oil of devotion), the wick of mental concentration and Tathvajnana (the match stick of true awareness). Even if any of these four is lacking, the light of Self cannot be lit."
2) From http://www.sssbpt.info/vahinis/Prasanthi/Prasanthi17.pdf :
Only Humanity has the capacity, the credentials for realizing the power of the Lord, for earning that power (sakthi). It is indeed tragic that, even after achieving human birth, people do not realize that eternal reality or even make an attempt to understand It. If this chance is missed, when can they attempt it?
Why, they do not concern themselves with the very purpose for which they have come! Did they come only for living like all other animals, birds, or insects, eating, wandering about, sleeping, and seeking pleasure? If the answer is “no”, then for what else? Can we say that a person is just another animal, like the rest? People have three things that animals don’t have: the power to reason, the power to renounce, and the power to decide on right and wrong. These are special powers; but of what use are they unless they are applied in actual practice? If they are used, the name “human” is apt, otherwise, the name “animal” has to be used.
The three powers mentioned above should be applied by people not only in worldly matters but even in the investigation of the ultimate truth. Really speaking, if inquiry, discrimination, and renunciation are carried out while passing through the joys and sorrows of life, the conviction is bound to dawn in a moment that all this is unreal, that all this has no basis in truth. When such knowledge dawns, one is certain to tread the path of religion and spiritual discipline and take up the inquiry that will lead to the truth. This is the task in which people must be engaged.
Well! If only everyone would ask the questions “Who are we? Whence did we come? Where have we come to? How long will we be here?”, the truth could be easily grasped. That questioning is the sign of discrimination (viveka). When, by means of this discrimination, the idea that the world is impermanent gets deeply rooted in the mind, all attachments cease automatically. That is the stage of renunciation or detachment (vairagya).
One asks, is it worthwhile to be caught up in this unreal world? This is false and misleading, one tells oneself. One then turns one’s efforts to the realm of the Lord, the realm of truth. That is the wise decision.
--- end extract from Prasanthi17.pdf ----
The above 2 are from the first two results for the Google Search. I think they reflect what I said about public-discourse and public writings Swami. He truly would rise to world spiritual teacher level during these discourses and writings. And I would love that immensely. It has been my great privilege to listen to such public discourses of his live, sitting in Sai Kulwant Hall.
But I should also say that Swami was aware that most of his devotees including me, could not easily rise up to the levels that he urged us to aspire to. So he would tolerate our inadequacies as spiritual aspirants, joke with us about our failings (even in discourses, at times, which would lead to great laughter among the public)...
However, through his public discourses, as well as his writings, Swami has been very clear about what the spiritual path needs, for earnest spiritual aspirants who want to experience their divine truth. Whether we are able to match up to it or not is a different matter. Swami did not dilute those teachings to suit our failings, in his public discourses. He was one tough master in his public discourses. At least, that's my view of this aspect of him.
[I thank sssbpt.info and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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