Personality characteristics

Sow an action and reap a tendency; sow a tendency reap a habit; sow a habit and
reap your character;

Sow your character and reap your destiny. Therefore, destiny is your own making. If
you change your habits(of thought, word and deed), you can master your
destiny.The key for the change is in your own hand-the mind. Turn the key to the left
and you get locked to the outer world(stay slaves of your masters).Turn the key to
the right and inner vistas(for improvement ) open up.

When our character improves, our character starts matching with the
description below of a person of character, who practices the human values shown
in brackets).

A person of character is

An honest person (Truth, Sathya and Dharma).

A person with a sense of duties and obligation of the position, whatever it may
be( Dharma).

A person who tells the Truth(Sathya).

A person who gives others their due(love, prema).

A person considerate to the weak(non-violence)(Ahimsa and Compassion).

A person who has principles and stands by them(Dharma).

A person not too elated by good fortune and not too depressed by bad(Peace,
Shanthi).

A person who is loyal( surrender, Saranagathi).

A person who can be trusted( Unity of thought, word and deed)(Trikarana shuddhi).

1. Regulative Vedic stages( Ashramas).

Brarma charya( student celibate), Ghrihasta (house
holder),Vanaprastha( recluse in the forest), sanyasa(ascetic)- these stages of
life with the restrictions and regulations prescribed for each are such bunds to
guard the individual and society from the upsurge of the beast in man.
2.Significace of the age of a Grihastha(house holder)- a chart.
Years At around that age, what you should do.
Of Age.
50 The five senses have to be mastered by the time five decades of
your life are over.
 60 The conclusion of six decades means that you have conquered six
foes of man-lust,
Anger, greed, attachment, pride and hate.
70 When you are seventy, you must have become ready to merge with
the seven seas and the seven colors of the solar bray;7 worlds and 7 swarasof
music; that is to say, you must be far, far above mundane desires and ideals,
and as near the point of mergence, through Sadhana.
80 Eighty must see you in line with the deities that preside over the
cardinalpoints, more or less divine, in attributes and
characteristics. One must master Ashtanga yoga and eight steps of Raja yoga
viz.Yama(Ahimsa,sathya,Astheya,bhramacharya and Aparigraha);
Niyama(Saucha, santhsha, Tapas, Swadhyaya and Eeshwara
paridhana);Asana,Pranayama,Prathyahara,Dharana, Dyana and Samadhi.
90 Ninety should take you to the realm of the Nine Planets, into the
realm of the super. One should master Nava-Vidha Bhakthi viz. Sravanam,
Kirthanam,Vishnu smaranam, Pada sevanam, Archanam,Vandanam, Dsyam,
Sakhyam and Atmanivedanam.
100 When man reaches the hundred mark, living out ten decades, he must
have mastered the ten senses, the five senses of action and five senses of
knowledge and become wisdom incarnate, with no trace of action or the
consequences there of or the desire for it. He and the Absolute are one and
indivisible.

2. Beyond the Ashramas.

Of all the time one spends on children, friends and worldly pleasures, acquiring
wealth, power, name and fame, if only a fraction of it spent for for
contemplating on the lotus feet of the Lord. One can escape the mighty doors
of hell, the abode of Yama (god of death).
Birth is the consequence of Kaama(desire,lust).
Death is the consequence of Kaala(Time,lapse of time).
The god of desire9kaama was reduced to ashes by Shiva.
The god of time(kaala and Yama) was subdued by Shiva .
So one has to surrender to Shiva(God),if one has to escape the consequences
of these two frightfully fatal forces.if between kaama and kaala, you take refuge
in Raama, then you escape the rigor. For Raama is Aathma(Self, infinite) has no
Kaama and is unaffected by Kaala.
Modern civization is based on technological advance; but there is a higher
technology, the understanding of consciousness and the transformation of that
consciousness into a source of power through that understanding.This is
Sujnana(experiential spiritual knowledge) as different from Vijnana, which
science is.There is again Prajnana, which transcends eventhe consciousness,
and takes man into the realm of One all Pervasive, All Embracing Principle, that
is God. This is the Adwaita Jnana (UnitiveIntegral Knowledge),the culmination
of the journey of the spirit.
 Aathma Ramayana

Shri Raama is not to be considered as a separate individual. He is the Aathma

Raama, yhe indweller of every individual heart, which is Ayodhya.

Dsharatha is the one who rides in ten chariots(ten senses)..The ten senses are
the five Jnanendriyas and the Five Karmendriyas. This human being marries or
wedded to three wives symbolizing three Gunas: Kausalya Sathwa,(serene,
balance), Kaikeyi Rajas (passionate) and sumithra Thmas(silent and
inactive).Dasharatha has four sons- Raama(Sathya),Bharatha(Dharma),
Lakshmana(Prema) and Shatrughna(Peace). The Aathma is wedded to Seetha,
Brahma Jnana. Raama loses Seetha the Knowledge as he enters the traclless
jungle of Ajnana or illusion. He is in Search of Seetha-Brahma Jnana. Lakshmana
symbolizing the mind, the means of bondage and liberation is ever by his
side.Raama overcomes despair-Vali, allaying himself with Viveka- Sugreeva.He
secures thehelp of courage based on faith-Hanumaan to win back Seetha. He
crosses the sea of delusion and duality. He challenges the Rajoguna-Rvana, and
Thamoguna-Khumbhakarna and allaying himself with the Sathwaguna-Vibheeshana,
he wins back Seetha-Anubhavajnana knowledge steadier and more intense based
on experience.Finally Aathma Raama is crowned on the throne of Ayodhya-yhe
spiritual heart.Aathma has fulfilled Ramayana.

Aathma Mahabharatha

Dritharaashtra was one ,who had grasped the kingdom and was
attached to it too much.He was blind and had no conviction.Hehad a brood of
hundred sons all with ominous names of evil and vices that man is heir to.His
brother Pandu , which means white, had five sons blessed with auspicious names:
Dharma Raja(righteousness), Bheema the supreme, Arjuna the pure,Nakula with all
unsurpassed splendor and Sahadeva with divine strength. The cousins grew in
Hastinapur(body endowed with bones and hands).

The evil hundred arrayed against the pure five, millions of impulses and
impressions to soldiers helping the cavalry, elephantry and infantry, on the plains of
Kurukshetra(body).
 The five secured the grace from God, whom they installed, as charioteer,
the guide and guardian.so they could destroy the foes and gain mastery, making
Kurukshetra into Dharmakhetra. The eldest of the virtuous five Sathya is enthroned.

Aathma Bhagavatha

Bhagavatha has no qualities and no Form. It deals with the Aathma, which is beyond
and behind the qualities or indriyas, the manas and the chitham. It deals with the
powers andprowess of the Aathma; and its apparent activities and leelas.The
Bhagavatham contains the stories of the incarnations of that which is the witness of
everything.

He is all Forms,Sarvaswaroopa. Still,if something must be said in conformity

with what has happened, Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara, Matsya, Kurma, Varaha,
Vamana, Narasimha, Raama and Krishna, these are its incarnations.In order to
transact the Creation, the Preservation and Destruction of the World and to punish
the wicked and protect the good, he assumes Himself the form He designs as best
at the time and for the purpose He has set before Himself. When that purpose is
realized, he is as before the Witness,the Aathmarupa.

GGunas have a beginning and an end:the Aathma has neighther. Rama and
Krishna too have no qualities, essentially.They have demonstrated how, being above
Gunas, it is possible to keep all Gunas under control. Ramayana and Maha Bharatha
stories have an end, isnt it? In that sense Bhagawatham has no end.It speaks of the
Lord who has no beginning and end.It is in both forms.It is subtler than the subtlest;
grosser than the grossest.It has no limit or measure. The Ramayana and Maha
Bharatha are Itihasas, historical epics. Yhey teach the correct policies to be followed
in this false,evanescent world and urge men to follow
Sathya,Dharma,Shanthi,Prema and Ahimsa.The Bhagawatham is different; it is the
description of Aathma. It instructs in the path of Bhakthi.It can never end, nor has it
ever a Finish. This is the significance of Bhagawatham.

Sathyam Shivam Sundarm

These are the Swarupa Lakhana of Para Brahman mentioned in Veda, Upanishads
and Brahma Sutra.
 Para Brahman is smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest; and eternal
witness of everything. Para Brahman is Akhanda(indivisible),Adwaita(non-dual) and
Anantha(infinite).Creation, Preservation and Dissolution are super imposed on basic
substratum of Para Brahman by illusion, just likemistaken notion of snake on rope in
twilight.

Sathyam refers to absolute Truth; which remains the same in past,

present and future; beyond the illusion of the three Gunas Viz. Satwa(Illumination),
Rajas(acivity, passionate) and Thamas(stagnation, dullness). It is beyond name and
form, time and space, change and chance, cause and effect ; and human
vocabulary and mathematics.it is beyond definition, proof and arguments, reason
and calculation; and immeasurable by time and space.

Shivam means auspiciousness, absolute goodness.it is beyond

relative good and bad. Sky may be reflected in a pot of toddy.But it remains
undefiled and unaffected.there is defect invision,action and mind; but not in
creation.

Sundaram means beauty, harmony and symmetry.

Sathyam, Shivam, Sundaram is also the essence of experiential learning.

Sathyam means thescience behind the phenomena.

Shivam means application of science in real life situations.

Sundaram means a fulfilling pattern, a world view.

Science and spirituality

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba has a very balanced view on the respective roles to
be played by science and spirituality in human affairs .Practical life has to be led,
and science has a great contribution in making our daily lives comfortable.

But science suffers from the following lacunae:

1. Scientist feel that what they know about the world represents the total
reality.This is not true. Science deals with only those aspects of life which are
palpable to the senses. Science is limited to what the human mind can think;
it is incapable of going beyond the mind. It deals only with creation and not
with the creator.
2. Scientist feel that the conclusions arrived at by them are final and irrefutable.
They forget that their grasp of reality is partial and as such they cannot have
a complete view.
3. Scientific theories keep on changing and cannot be held true for all times
and places.
For centuries, we accepted the views of Ptolemy and Aristotle. Then came the
Age of Matter represented by Copernicus, Newton and Descartes.Matter was
 dethroned by Einstein, Heisenberg and Schrodinger, who installed Energy in
its place. Now we have David Bohm, Fritjof Capra, Peter Russel and
ManiBhaumic and an attempt is being made to portray Consciousness as the
basic building block of the Universe.
4. Scientist do not appreciate that they are limited to the creation of objects.
They have no contribution to make about how those objects would be
used.They do not discuss important facets of life like values, attitudes,
meaning, purpose, the nature of the soul and the final goal of the
evolutionary process.
Swami tries to warn us about the limitations and dangers of science. Some of
these are:
1.Science tells us the what and how of human affairs. It does not explain
the why.
2.It creates weapons of mass destruction that can lead to extinction of all life.
3.it encourages us to exploit nature and this leads to calamities like global
warming, pollution, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.
4.It has made us selfish and gives a fillip to over consumption of resources.
5.It makes man arrogant, and makes him behave as the Lord of all creation.
6.It gives us the false feeling that all other beings and the whole of nature
have been placed at our disposal for as reckless consumption as we desire.
7.It makes us over-dependent on computers and other gadgets.
On the other hand spirituality gives us complete knowledge. It explains the
nature of Creator and His Creation, the processes of involution and evolution,
why God created the Universe and all the beings in it, the nature of the
individual soul, what happens after death, the journey of the individual soul
towards the Cosmic soul, the purpose of repeated births, the doctrine of
karma, how and why God incarnates, the meaning and purpose of life, and all
other unexplained mysteries of the Universe.
Sai Baba exhorts us to consider both science and spirituality to be
important for our happiness, treat them to be mutually complimentary and
strive for both a spiritual and scientific approach to life. Only then can we
move towards a state of harmony and perfection.
Spirituality permeates every thing.
But are the devotees practicing what they profess? Without
practice,can the fruit of devotion be realized? Spirituality is not separate from
other aspects of life. You must understand that spirituality permeates
everything. Science is spirituality. Mathematics is spirituality.Spirituality can
be found in everything if you look for it. What for instance is the connection
between Mathematics and spirituality? Spiritual mathematics is different
from academic mathematics.
Peace only with spirituality.
Todays modern science has reached the bank of a river, which is impossible
to pass with the treasures of science alone. Today scientists are learning
manage secrets of nanotechnology and human cells, to receive and use the
torsion energy(what may lead to great success or to great chaos: all depends
on the spiritual education of man and his scale of human values), etc.
 The sage Narada, who was proficient in 64 branches of knowledge, suffered
from lack of peace, so he went to Sanat Kumara. He said, all this knowledge
is concerned with phenomenal world, which is transient in its character. You
cannot secure peace till you gain knowledge of the Eternal.
Body only an instruement.
Science is concerned with all the phenomena in nature. It furnishes what is
required for the physical body. It is doubtless essential to take care of the
body. But the body should not be deemed as the sole truth. However, one
should devote all efforts to its maintenance and comfort. All achievements
are dependent on the body. Even the Divine can be realized through the body.
But the body is not yourself.It is only an instruement for realizing God.
Moreover the Supreme Atmic Principle (Paramatma) is immanent in it.
Divine immanent in the atom.
Scientist are seeking to explain the mystery of creation in various ways. The
science of spirituality has also been explaining creation in various ways.
Whatever any one may say, what is perceived by us is the atom. Without the
atom there can be no universe. Rocky mountains, wooded forests, the waters
of the ocean, the mud of the earth and the flesh and bones of the body are
all composed of atoms. No object will be perceivable without the presence of
atoms. The food you eat, the water you drink, the objects you see and the
earth you tread upon are all made of atoms.when you enquire into the nature
of atoms, you realize that the whole world consists of atoms.The Vedha
described the Divine as Anoraneeyaan mahatho maheeyaan (subtler than
the subtlest atom and vaster than the vastest object). Many regard the atom
as something which is not visible to the eye. This is wrong. The atom consists
of particles which are not visible. The ancient sages considered that the
Divine was immanent in the atom. Oh! Lord! You are extremely subtler than
the atom and vaster than the vastest object. You are said to be manifest in
the 84 lakhs of species in the universe and declared to be omnipresent
through out the cosmos. How can we hope to recognize you?(Thelugu
song).
Role of unity in diversity.
Mans primary aim should be to recognize the unity that underlies the
diversity in the phenomenal world. To break up what is one into many pieces
is easy. But it is difficult to bring them together into a meaningful unit. It is in
the unifying process that the unity of things can be understood.
One contains all numbers.
Unity is the primal number. One contains all other numbers and all
numbers can be derived from the One. We have to recognize the inner
significance of this fact. All other numbers are not different from One. They
are only forms of one. For example , four contains four ones or
1+1+1+1=4.If you add 1 to 4, you get 5.In such arithmetical processes,
numbers eighther increase or decrease in their value. But the number
1remains an integral number without any change or modification.
Single Energy
It is the same single energy(Sakthi) that activates all hands, sees through all
eyes, and hears through all ears. In fact all mankind is made of one divine
substance. The human body , eighther in America or China, Africa or India,
has the same components of flesh, blood and bone. The instinctive urges and
awareness are common to all living beings. When investigation is done
through scientific means, the truth there are signs of awareness of life in
stone and tree and metals can be demonstrated.
Aum is the primordial number.
The universe can be regarded as an integral number.Just as the primal
number 1 is an integral part of all other conceivable numbers, divinity is
substaintial to the world. Similarly , Aum is the primordial akshara from
which all other sounds and letters have emanated. We must ultimately
recognize and experience the one monistic and non dualistic reality behind
the phenomenal multiplicity of forms and names. We must try and merge
with the akshara or the underlying reality of Brahman. We must go from
darkness to light and from death to immortality. It is only when science is
linked to spirituality that the results of science can be fully harnessed for the
good and elevation of mankind.The seers of god proclaim what they have
visualized, and when people put their faith in it, it is condemned as blind
faith as if belief of people in the number of star cluster in the Milky Way as
proclaimed by those who have seen them is not blind!Have faith in the Divine
and one can experience the Divine. Have faith in oneself and one can have
faith in the Divine. The sciences related to nature have bounds which they
cannot cross. They can study only the created; the Creator is the special field
of study of religion. One is a scientist; the other is a saint. The saint probes
the root; the scientist peers into the tree above the ground.
Life after death
Man must die triumphant over death.
Man is equipped with a return ticket, when he takes birth. Holding it in his
grasp he earns and spends, rises and falls, sings and dances, weeps and
wails, forgetting the end of the journey. But, though he forgets, the wagon of
life moves towards the cemetery, which is its terminus. It brings no glory to
man if he is tied helplessly to the wheel of birth and death. His glory and
greatness consists in disentangling himself from that revolving wheel.
Before death nips life, and thursts him on another birth, he must by means
of Saadhana learn the mystery of the Aathma. You will no more have the thrill
of joy or the despondency of pain. You will not have any longer fear or
anxiety, fear of death or anxiety about the future.
The mind is the architect of your progress or decline. For the fool, the
mind is a formidable dinosaur; for the intelligent, the mind is an angel. The
untrained mind is torn by fear; the pure elevated mind is placid and
unruffled, like that of the homeless sage. The vedhas teach how to purify the
mind and render it a useful tool.
Atma merges with the paramatma.
The sky is reflected in the water in the vessel. When the vessel breaks, the
image of the sky merges with the limitless sky. So, also , with the
disintegration of the physical body, the Atma merges with the Paramatma.
Krishna exhorted Arjuna to meditate on the Immutable Akshara in order to
experience the Omnipresent Reality of the Paramatma. Reminding Arjuna of
his role in the divine drama of the universe, Krishna told him that he was only
an instruement of the Divine Will. He poured the nectar of the Gita into
Arjunas being and granted him immortality.
Life after death
Mind has a very high position in the spiritual plane. Science views the
mind differently.It is a chemical and biological composition.truly speaking this
is not correct. The combination of chemical and biological composition is the
body and not the mind.What are the chemicals in the body? There is:Iron
equal to 2 inches ,lead equal 6 pencils,5 Lux soaps, 1 bucket of lime water,
phosphorous equal to 900 match sticks and sulphur.The sum of all this is the
body.So let us see how biological combination is present in our body.A bone
contains calcium. This is not merely a chemical. There is marrow also in it. If
there was no liquid, why would dogs fight for it? Not only this.If there was
only chemical, how would they grow? Biological elements are also present in
it, which causes it to grow. It is wrong to take this combination for the mind.
Actions follow the Prana.
No one can easily explain the secret of creation. There is a shadow which
closely follows every object. Likewise the reactions of each action of man
closely follows the Prana. when the Prana(life-breath) leaves one body and
enters another, the results of ones action follow the Prana to the other body.
The Prana enters another appropriate body in accordance with the results of
actions in the previous body. Hence one can reach a worthy state in life by
doing good deeds and cherishing good feelings.As you sow, so you reap.
You cannot get a mango fruit by planting a lemon seed.