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[intro jingle] Dear listeners, Sairam, and welcome to a new episode of our radio series, Serving in the Name of Sai. In this series, we bring you accounts of Swami's love and our love for Swami translating into service to humanity. Today's episode is part two of a two-part conversation with Mr. VSR Murty, a longstanding devotee of Bhagawan Baba from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. In conversation with Mr. VSR Murty is Radio Sai's Bishu Prusty, and they discuss about the importance and essence of seva. This conversation was first featured in Service Love in Action segment as part of our Thursday live broadcast on 21st November 2013. There is one boy who I remember who, who finished his, uh, MBA and, uh, uh, he always wanted to serve, and he started off, uh, uh, with only two thousand rupees joining an NGO, and all he had to do was collect slum children in the city of Delhi and he te- and teach them, uh, basics of education and basic, basics of literacy, you know. He, he did that for two, three years, and he had no comps about it. I mean, when, when all his classmates, uh, landed in m-multinational banks, uh, they had done his post-graduation and Master's in Financial Management, but he, he just followed his heart's calling. So it's not as if you have to be a Baba Amte or you have to be a, a Mahatma Gandhi to do service. I mean, I think there are so many people every day. I know of one more classmate of mine, uh, his name is Guna Ranjan, who, who is again someone who has dedicated his life completely to elevating the suffering of the poor, of, uh, all the disadvantaged sections of society. And till this date, he doesn't have a monthly salary. He doesn't have a monthly salary. He, he, he believes in God completely. He said, "It's okay, money, uh, uh, food. What, what do I need money for? Just food and clothes Swami will provide." And, uh, he has this company called UC.com, which is, uh, it's fantastic. It does fantastic work. In fact, it, it'll take an hour to talk about his work. But I have seen such, uh, real-life, uh, uh, people, real-life examples and, you know, every time I interact with him because he has just two pairs of dress, and he doesn't have a house to call his own. It is not as if he's, you know, he, he was one of the brilliant students. He's re- he was really a very multifaceted personality. He did his BSc, he did his MSc in Physics, and then he did his Master's in Business Administration. And, uh, he, he's such a resourceful person. He was the one who would come out with amazing ideas for every sports meet, do really adventure stuff. Every time he'll come up with a very new idea. And same thing he did. In fact, the financial model that he has set up, uh, uh, won him an award. He went to Paris actually to receive that. One of the, uh, financial innovations- Wow. -uh, in the area of social entrepreneurship. He got that award. And, uh, it's a, it's a post-paid, uh, way of philanthropy. Uh, we can read about, all about it on his website. But, uh, but I know him, uh, as someone who believes so much in just giving out. Uh, and you ask him, "Why you're doing it?" He says, "Well, I come from an institution." This is how he replies to everyone. "I come from an institution where the founder of that institution gave me all my education right from the time I was in the primary school to my double post-graduation. He gave me everything unconditionally, free. Never for a moment he ever told that, you know, 'I am giving you this, so you do this for me. I'm giving you the entire education free, so you know what? You have to do this for me.' He didn't even say that, 'Okay, y-you have done your fifteen years of education free, so one year at least you have to go and do village service." Mm. "Or two years you have to serve in my hospital.' He never asked anything. He just gave it unconditionally." And he says, "If all I am trying to do is just give unconditionally what I have got unconditionally." And you know, we have such people all around us. Yes, yes. I remember, uh, one recent incident and one very old incident. These two are real-life experiences. The recent one being, uh, in Hyderabad there is a young couple. The man is thirty years old, and his wife is about twenty-seven, twenty-eight. They have no children. He had a sister. She was mentally handicapped for some time, and she passed away. He's highly qualified. Even his wife is a post-graduate. Then one day they both sat for a while. "So what should be the purpose of our life?" Then, uh, the man came out with some ideas. The wife corrected him. Finally, they came to a consensus that they should serve the mentally challenged people. Mentally challenged people of what age? There are so many NGOs. But some NGOs prefer, th-they cater to some groups. But there is some neglected section of the societyThese people are beyond 60, 60 plus, but they are mentally challenged, disowned by their own men, uh, families. Then these people went in search of such mentally disabled people, and they could get about twenty people. Twenty. They are well built. Sixty years mean well built. And, uh, they have their own life pattern, their likes and dislikes, their conditioned minds. So they have to not only deal with, uh, these people at physical level, they have to control their minds. They insult these, these couple. They don't, uh, accept what they give. They, they have their own demands, and they are aggressive in nature for so many reasons. Psychologically, they are upset, number one. Mentally, they are not sound, two. Third, their libido. When it-- Whenever it opens, the unfulfilled desires and strong vasanas or wants, whatever you call, they surface on seeing this young couple. And they have no respect for the young couple which indulge in day and night activity of serving them only. They say... They-- Every day they come out with some new demands, saying, "We want to see this, we want to have this, we don't want this." Like this. It's not definitely for money. Both are not employed. It is a twenty-four hours job. So I asked them one question: "From where you get money even to handle these people?" "Sir, my father gave me a small house. House is small, but I have a vacant land in the f-front yard. So with my friends' help, only very few friends helped me. I put a shed. I keep all of them there. I never chain them. I allow them to behave, uh, as they wish. I go to them. I bear all the pain. I receive beatings, too. Even my wife will be beaten by some woman patient or a, a gentle-gentleman. But we bear all this." One day I asked him, "Are you not, uh, tired of doing this? In the name of service, are you deceiving yourself? Or do you entertaining an idea that, uh, 'I'm doing so much of great service to the world by doing this'? What are your feelings?" "No, sir. Honestly, I would like to tell you, whenever they beat me or my wife, we always feel one thing. Who else will beat other than those who are not mentally challenged? Who else will abuse us other than these two, uh, people who have no knowledge of expression? They have no samskaras, they have no culture. Nothing is in their, in their control. So we receive it as a natural thing. If they stop beating us, if they stop abusing us, it means they are mentally getting better and better. So we look forward to have such a day when we, we can send them off into some old age homes like that." So when, when I look at this, uh, I, I drew two lessons. One, don't design a service activity. It becomes monotonous. You continue to do that, only numbers will increase for, uh, uh... They, they'll be figurative. That's all. Nothing else. And secondly, when you accept any service activity, accept with responsibility. You see, for instance, Swami, when he inaugurated the super specialty, only operations were done in the beginning. But later, Swami suddenly asked, "What about the postoperative care? Who will take care of them? We are doing operations for free and sending them, but who, who will give them medicines? Have you thought of?" And Swami started this. So it is always value addition to whatever we do. Let there be a base of service activity. These people, for instance, this young couple, no? Uh, on seeing, say, suppose I meet him. Uh, one day I asked him, "Can I be of any service to you?" I said, "Sir, this service you cannot do. You are not tuned to indulgent service activity. Uh, I don't need any big infrastructure here. Whatever is required is done by both of us. Uh, I don't need money also because somebody is sending me rice, somebody is sending me this and that. So they are fed, and they eat very less. They don't indiscriminately. Uh, to that extent, it's very, very great. Um, if at all any service is required, maybe some psychologist you can, uh, request, a psychiatrist and a psychologist both, to come to my shed and help them out. For me, no problem. For them, some, uh, counseling is required. Counseling I am unable to do." Then suddenly I have one friend, uh, Dr. Praveen, who returned from London. I requested him. So everybody thought a, a person who has returned from London will definitely deny this and say, "No, I'm very busy. I can't handle this." He said, "Uncle, uh, when such a thing comes from you, I always feel it is from Bhagwan Baba. Let us go. I will drive the car. I will take you. Just give me the address. We'll go together. Not tomorrow. Uh, from today, I will start treat, uh, treating them." Every alternate day I go there.So what explains? Wha-what is that we have to draw an inference? Take one step, not with sympathy is again a shade of ego. Concern and compassion. This should be the, uh, basic strata for any service activity. Conserve all your energies and resources, not only to pass on to your kin or siblings. Try to pass it on to the needy. That needy will come. If you are in pursuit of this, uh, activity, things will fall in place, doors will be opened, and you can go on, and you can stretch your hands. Definitely, service activity gives you a lot of, uh, satisfaction. This is... Uh, this, this young couple, they are comfortable in life. That's what I mean to say. They are very, very happy. We have so many questions how these people are handling, why they should handle. I think they have taken up this responsibility without, uh, doing a lot of, uh, uh, detail, working out details and all. But finally, if we all do that, as I repeatedly say, if you try to do it constructively and consciously, it is not service activity. Do it with sensitivity and sensibility. These two are very, very important. I remember, it's very, uh, long time back, we used to... We, we had one station master, Gopal Naik, in Dharmavaram. He must be around, definitely. Around, uh, Anantapur, I don't know. Uh, I have no details about his stay and all, but he's, he was station master. In those days, we people who used to come from Hyderabad by Venkatadri Express, it used to reach Dharmavaram sharp 2:00 a.m. The first bus to Puttaparthi was at five fifteen. So between 2:00 a.m. and five fifteen, there won't be anybody other than devotees reaching out to Puttaparthi. Hardly ten, ten, twelve people used to get down from different, uh, compartments. So this is in the seventies, eighties? Yeah. It is about, uh, uh, seventy-five, seventy-six. Mm. Between seventy-six and up to eighty. Mm. Even up to eighty, it was that. Mm. And he was there. Uh, so a station master, when train comes, he will come, no? He has to flag off. Mm. He has to, uh, note down the arrival and departure timings, uh, complete his recording, and he can go back, uh, to his quarters. He used to live closer to Dharmavaram station in the railway quarters on the right side. Two o'clock, we were not looking for Dharmavaram station. Dharmavaram station will wake us up, saying, "Dharmavaram has come. Get down." Mm-hmm. The word is from the same, uh, I would like to repeatedly say his name, Gopal Naik. Mm. All the twelve people, he used to say, "Please go and have your teeth brushed. Get ready. Coffee is ready. Please have that coffee. Relax. Five o'clock, that jatka, huh, uh, will come." Cart. Mm-hmm. Horse cart will come. You can, uh... We have to, uh, just, uh, go beyond this railway phatak, railway crossing, then first bus will be ready. The driver is known to the twelve people, must be definitely around, and we used to get our seats all blocked for us, and there won't be any scramble and all. So like that- He used to prepare this, uh- Coffee ...coffee and keep ready on his own? On his own. Yeah, on his own. And he used to wait for the Swami devotees to alight onto the platform. Mm-hmm. So the moment he know that these are all devotees are going to Puttaparthi, he would tr-try and do whatever he can to make them comfortable. Yes. Yes. Yes. Coffee, that sugar is separate. Mm. He used to just keep the sugar open. Mm. Those who want to have, they can mix and, uh, have it. Uh, he knows in those days the measure is ten to twelve people. Mm. Ma-maximum. Mm. Every day? Every day. Every day. Mm. Every day. And he, he had a very big flask, uh, stainless steel glasses. Mm. And he's the station master? He's the station master. Mm. And he never allowed his attendant or a peon to carry that flask. He should do it. He should do it. You can imagine, I remember not only Gopal Naik, his missus. Mm-hmm. His wife. Mm. It is she who prepared at home. Mm. It is he who brought to the platform. Mm. And serve the patients with a tremendous amount of love- Mm ...and with grace. Then, um, Gopal Naik, uh, there will be some time in any government service, no? One has to undergo transfers. No railway officer had any intention of, uh, shifting him anywhere for several years. Mm. But one day, I tell you, in service, what happens. He had his divisional engineer, uh, divisional manager. He was to visit Dharmavaram. There was no guest house for officers also. Only they have to sit in the waiting room, uh, till the dawn. Then, uh, anyway, he has to attend on the officers. One day, that gentleman came. Divisional manager. Divisional manager came. He was to be taken to Prasanthi Nilayam. But this man was coming with, uh, a big flask of twelve cup and another small with, uh, two or three cups. Two flasks. First, uh, the moment a train came, it was at 2:00 a.m., no? Yes. By the time, this gentleman also came in the same train from Hyderabad side. Mm-hmm.So somebody took him to the place and he was asked to wait in the waiting room. And remember, Gopal Naik waited for the passengers. Mm-hmm. There were about 10. I was also one among them. That's why I can authentically say this. Mm-hmm. So we were all called, "Oh, Murthy Garu, come Sairam. Again, you are going to have the darshan of, great darshan of Swami. Any number of times we can see Swami. Every day we can see Swami. But I'm very happy on seeing all of you. It is Swami coming in 12 forms." That, that what he used to say. He used to say? Uh, he used to say. And he never sacrificed his, uh, official time to have Swami's darshan. He said, "Swami is sending every day 10 to 12 devotees onto the platform. Let me serve them. This is what I can do to them. Two o'clock, I can't give them breakfast. I can't give them, offer any lunch. This is the minimum I can do." Then the divisional manager was sitting and Gopal Naik was serving, uh, coffee. Uh, the attendant came and told the divisional manager, "He's, uh, waiting, sir. He's already there. Something is given, to be given." He said, "No, I'll come. He will be there, no? He will be there. These people have to catch the bus. Jatta will come two, three trips. Then, uh, I will see them off and, um, attend on him. But the whole day I have to be with him like that." Then, um, we all went off. That, uh, divisional manager, uh, observed all this. He kept to himself. Maybe internally he was very happy. He came to Prasanthi Nilayam. Swami didn't give him any interview. He sat, had darshan, and went back. Later, one day he was, uh, he received transfer orders, Gopal Naik. Oh, okay. Yes. One day he received. After how many years of serving? Oh, several, several years. I, I can't exactly remember. It is the longest, uh, tenure he had in Dharmavaram station. Then he was transferred. By that time, Gopal Naik became very popular among Swami devotees because we keep exchanging. Yes. "The first cup of coffee was given by him. He's always like that. He's kind to us. He receives with, uh, all of us with warmth and love. And he's a good, very good devotee of Swami." Like that. Mm-hmm. But he never had any interaction with Bhagawan. Mm-hmm. Then transfer orders came. So he said, "I, I think this is, uh, what I can do. Now wherever I'm transferred, I have to go. On the day of joining, uh, my services, I gave an undertaking that wherever I am transferred, I must go and work, and no influence is to be used to stall the transfer." Then that was the time this divisional manager also came to Prasanthi Nilayam. Mm-hmm. That was his second trip. Okay. Then Gopal Naik, although he knows that he already received the transfer orders, his, uh, habit of serving, uh, Swami devotees and attending on his superior is going on. And, uh, suddenly this gentleman asked, "Gopal Naik, why don't you come to me? Come, come with me to Baba. Last time I went there, uh, I just had a darshan. I also don't want to put pressure on anybody, uh, for any interview. I have not much to interact with Bhagawan. But I'll be glad if you can also come today this time." Mm-hmm. So Gopal Naik, because he received that, uh, transfer orders, he also felt he can go along with the officer- Yes ... and have some darshan of Swami and, uh- Before he moves out of Dharmavaram ... moves out of Dharmavaram. Maybe this is the last chance. In addition to the conversation, the m- divisional manager added one. "See, you are indulging in a so much of sacred activity, Baba may, Baba may call me to this time." Because you are with him. "Because you are serving others, He may call me. Uh, if you are with me, He may call me." Like that, simplified. Mm-hmm. Then both of them came and, uh, as wished, Swami called the divisional manager. The first sentence when the DM entered Swami's room, "Why do you transfer a person who is very noble?" Mm-hmm. "Who is of service to many people? He gains nothing out of that. He gets nothing out of it. But he does it with ananda." So the divisional manager is aghast. When I came with some problems, Swami is talking about Gopal Naik. He, He doesn't know that he's already under transfer. Mm-hmm. You see, this is the beauty. Mm-hmm. Then, "No, no, Swami. Nobody can touch. Nobody can, uh... He's a wonderful personality. In fact, he's in the-" The divisional manager was not aware that he's transferred? No, no, no. He doesn't know. He didn't know? No, he didn't know. The transfer orders were received by Gopal Naik just one day in advance. Oh. It was there with him. Though he traveled from Dharmavaram to Parthi, Gopal Naik also didn't ask DM, "Sir, I'm, uh, going to be relieved. Please stall my transfer." Okay. "Or please, um, because of you I'm going to have some darshan." He didn't say anything. He-- Officer asked, he followed. Mm-hmm. And Swami, all-knowing Swami, He broached the subject on His own with the divisional manager saying, "Why do you shift an otherwise a sacred person?" "Baba, of whom, a-about whom you are talking?" "No, I'm talking about your station master in Dharmavaram. He's a very good person. He's serving, uh, Baba's devotees like anything. Um, the, that way at odd hour, wee hours, at 2:00 AM." NoSwami will not say, "Don't disturb him." He will not do that because everybody has to... He will not influence that way. So I, I think it's not correct that, that what Swami meant. He said, "Sir, no force on this earth can move Gopal Naik." "I promise, Swami. Hmm? Maybe I'm called today only to stop his, uh, transfer. Otherwise, what punya I have done? In fact, uh, he's there outside." "No, no, I know. He's sitting there." "Swami, do you know Gopal Naik?" "No, he knows me. That is enough. I know everybody. He knows me." Beautiful way Swami has put. Said, "Swami, I will see that his transfer is can-canceled, and he will remain here." Then, uh, Swami said, "Let it happen." He didn't say, "You do this," or, "You do that." Then, uh, he came out. Swami gave him vibhuti prasadam, pada namaskaram, in those days. [clears throat] Came out. After, uh, Gopal Naik and this gentleman sat in the car, DM pressed his hands and said, "You know how much love you have received from Baba?" "I don't know, sir. Uh, I will have this darshan. In these several years of my stay, means this is-- this must be my third or fourth darshan, uh, I received my transfer orders. I'm posted to Hindupur. Uh, I think in a week's time, I have to move out of Dharmavaram. But I will tell my next incumbent, huh, to serve Swami's devotees because they take all the pains and reach out at 2:00 a.m. Uh, Swami has given me this sacred service. Um, maybe I will continue in the new station, but I will not leave this." Then that divisional manager told him, "The railways will not l-- miss you. It will not leave you. Your transfer stands canceled. You will be there." So this is one example. I mentioned his name, uh, for two reasons. He's a central government employee. He's not a deep-rooted devotee of Bhagawan. Not at all. He knew only one thing. Ten to 12 persons every day, they alight on the platform, not for Dharmavaram, but for Bhagawan. What minimum one can do to a devotee when he's aspiring to have the darshan of the Lord is to take the minimum need into consideration and indulge in activity expecting nothing. Because he never maintained any list of the passengers. He never maintained any personal contact. Only very few like me, maybe another, uh, seven, eight people maybe in his mind, uh, used to say, "Murthy Garu, please come. How are you?" Like that. But all others are new to him. They keep changing, no? But it is indeed, according to me, is indeed selfless service. And, uh, believe me, during his entire tenure, otherwise it was a single track in those days. There used to be many accidents on that particular, uh, Venkatadri. Derailment was quite often. But as long as he was there, nothing happened during those years, not even once. And secondly, people used to, uh, sing the glory of Swami for Swami's grace flowing or falling on them at a wee hour by keeping a person like Gopal Naik. You see, Swami is kind to us. We are served with a cup of coffee. But Gopal Naik never claimed anything. And he did-- he never misused his position. Out of his own salary, out of his own earnings, he served people with a lot of love. This is the highest degree of love, uh, love with service, uh, I en- I enjoyed and witnessed, uh, during my, uh, times. Fantastic story. It's a wonderful- Yeah, it's, it's a really amazing episode. In fact, one thought came to my mind as you narrated this. Yeah. Two, actually. One is, of course, that Gopal Naik could do whatever he was doing because he never viewed those 10 or 12 people who came as individuals. But for him, they were forms of Swami. And I think that is what, uh, propelled him, and that is what was his inspiration, and that is how you saw Bhagawan responding. Because he always felt he was serving Bhagawan. So, you know, it was just reaching Swami directly. When you do it with that feeling, uh, that act actually just, uh, um, reaches the lotus feet. And I think, and, and you, and you had the reward, uh, come from the Lord. The other thing that came to my mind is, yes, we called it selfless service, nishkama seva. But when you think about it, in fact, if you are selfish, I will say you should engage in selfless acts. Why I say this? Because selfless acts have so many dimensions and one very powerful, two very powerful dimensions rather. One is the joy that it can give you nothing else in the world can give you. I think the joy that Gopal Naik got, he wouldn't have got with anything else in the world. No joy is comparable with the joy of doing something for someone whom, who is never going to repay back to you. Exactly. Exactly. That, that is something which I think everyone who has done has experienced it, and that is what also propels whoever is on this path to sort of become addicted to it. Because this joy is something that you cannot get from anything that is material. True. True. True. That is one. SecondlyThe blessings that you accrue, the grace of the divine that you draw to yourself and, you know, which is ultimately for your own good. True. I would say that if you're, if you're really a selfish man [chuckles] who wants to grow in life, you have to learn how to let go that ego- True ... and serve. You will definitely grow in life. That selflessness will actually contribute to our own, the growth of our own self, and that self is not that small s, but that big S. Big S. Yeah. And ultimately, that is what will take us on the path to God. That is what is the whole thing about spirituality. We have to move from that small s to that big S. And I think from, journey from this small s to that big S is through this S of service. Exactly. Service ultimately, even in the spiritual parlance we always discuss and, um, uh, desiccate the whole, uh, uh, content fi- finally, only to draw two lessons: to erase the ego, number one. Yes. Era... When you are egoistic, whatever actions you indulge in are selfish. When you indulge in selfless activities, it will be erased automatically, but not instantaneously. It goes- Yes ... slowly, steadily, but finally it will go, move away. Number one. When you are not egoistic, your thoughts are pure. As we discussed in the beginning, they emanate from the heart. Yes. So your perception of life, your perception of persons and their needs, they gain a deeper dimension. When they touch your heart, naturally the action, reaction, sound, resound, uh, principle, naturally you indulge in very great activities. The ahamkara will go. That is, ego will go. And mamakara will not go, but it will be lessened because mamakara is indeed a disease. Mamatva is not a disease. Mamatva is a natural trait. Mamakaram is like ahamkaram. Like ego, pride and all, they're all negative. Mamakaram is also negative. But mamatva, I belong to them, they belong to me. That is oneness. Oneness. That oneness. That mamatva is the highest hallmark of any spiritual sadhaka that you can achieve only through the act of service, the service with love. Fantastic. In fact, as you mentioned, uh, this aspect about how service will help one to annihilate the ego, I remember this very, uh, insightful, uh, conversation with Swami. It was Dr. Fani Banda- Mm ... who asked once, "Bhagwan, Swami, what is the purpose of Sathya Sai Organization?" And, uh, uh, Swami said, "Nothing." [laughs] Swami, nothing? I mean, why have you created the Sathya Sai Organization? And Swami says, "Nothing." He expected some answer, you know. Is it to serve people? To help people on their spiritual, whatever, whatever. Swami said, "Nothing." Swami said, "Nothing?" He said, "Yes." Swami, why is Sathya Sai Organization there? Swami said, "It is only for your own growth. It is for your own chittashuddhi. It is not to elevate the suffering of the poor. It is not to help, uh, not to spread the mission of Sai. It is not to spread the word of Sai. It is not to further the Sai mission, nor is, not to glorify Swami." True. The whole purpose of Sathya Sai Organization, Swami said, is f- to help you on your, in your chittashuddhi, which is basically help you to purify your heart. Exactly. Which is basically to get rid of your ego. True, true. And, uh- That is it ... that is, uh, uh, such a profound, I think every member of the Sathya Sai Organization if, has this at, at the back of their minds if, if, as they engage in their any activity, be it spiritual, service, educational, I think, uh, our perspective will always be right. Yeah. Bishu Ji, you asked me one question, uh, before, uh, the conversation began on a very big beautiful note. Is meditation a service? Mm. I say meditation is not a service. It is through meditation we conserve all our energies. Yes. The concerted energy, when it is translated into a selfless act, uh, to that extent, uh, definitely this meditation will help. Mm. It is only a tool. Yes. It is only a guide. Everything, every- It is a signpost. Exactly. Every spiritual practice is only to bolster us to do something for others. Something for others. That's all. That is why Swami always said no, help ever. What is that? Help is again a service. Yes. Help ever. And, uh, not hurting others is a much greater activity. Yes. That's why He ca- coined these two. And finally, He said love all. Yes. It is, uh, in fact, a, a pre-final. And serve all. Yes. Serve them with love. Yes. Uh, never hurt anybody, and continue to help others. Uh, these four sentences or four words, uh, they are all, uh, direct, uh, preachings of Swami, mahopadesha according to me, for the mankind to continuously follow as, uh, cardinal principles, uh, for spiritual sadhana. Uh, that is one. And visiting hospital, does it? Yeah. You see, these are all, um, inputThese inputs will finally give you an opportunity, a chance to serve. Yes. Uh, you must always thank God that you are provided with an opportunity to serve others. You do it. Yes. Every time you pray, f-what for I have come, I have to redeem myself, not only myself, I have to redeem others. And by doing this, I'm elevating myself. Correct. I'm unfolding myself. I am, um, the divinity which is already manifest within, I'm experiencing it. Unless you experience the divinity, you can't indulge in service activities. It is in fact purification of mind, purification of chitta, the experience of the heart, the expression of the inner culture, and several service activities finally will make you a complete man or woman or a human, a complete human. Absolutely. For that, service is the best tool and the best gateway and a royal path. In fact, uh, I remember how Swami Vivekananda used to say that, "I don't mind going a thousand times to hell if I, if I can come back to serve the needy." Need. Correct. He said, "I don't want mukti." Mm-hmm. "There is no point of liberation. A, a, a life which can render service to the poor is worth thousands of years in heaven." That's what, uh, um, in, in essence of what he said. Yeah. This is what Swami als- always said, no? All the time. "Don't ask me for mukti. Don't ask me for salvation. Don't ask me for liberation. Ask for transformation." And in fact, if you see, the reason why Bhagawan lived such a life is because, as you mentioned, you mentioned that word, mamatva. Mamatva. Where that un-- that oneness, where Swami saw always that oneness in His- Oneness ... in creation. Yes. Uh, and that came naturally to Him. But I think that is what each one of us have to cultivate. Even that station master, he could do it because he always saw Bhagawan in the other person. And I think, uh, that feeling, that oneness with creation, oneness with everything around, that, that is the ultimate goal, uh, of, uh, spirituality. That is the ultimate goal that we'll reach, uh, to the path of, uh, service. In fact, uh, there's a very, very beautiful, um, uh, sort of a poem which once Vivekananda mentioned. He says, "Thy God is here before thee now, revealed in all these myriad forms. Rejecting them, where seek thou His presence? He who freely shares His love with every living thing proffers true service unto God." This sums up Swami. Absolutely. This sums up. Swami. Secondly, Vivekananda and all advents before Swami, they envisioned a world free from hunger, a, a society full of knowledge, a human race with ultimate compassion and love. They envisioned, whereas Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba has realized them throughout, through His sojourn on this earth. Out of 86 years, He preached, not only preached for 72 years, He made the whole mankind to indulge in service activity. That is why if you want to see God, see through the hands that serve. See through the lips that pray. See through the eyes that see beyond horizons. And in, as Vivekananda poem says, "It's a myriad form in a mellifluous tone." That what I feel. And Swami embodies the action. He didn't stop. He's not contented with just saying, "In this Upanishad says this, that Upanishad says this." Upanishad already said. Vedas already said. Puranas already explained. But now it is for you to act now. This is the best f- opportunity for you. Through this birth, you redeem yourself. Not only that, you redeem others, help others. That is help ever. Absolutely. Yeah. In fact, uh, that's, um, sort of sums up, uh, our discussion- Yeah ... to some extent. To some extent. Because you can go on talking about service. But I think as you mentioned, uh, very powerfully, and this is, this is what also has occurred to me all the time, you know. You have, you had all the spiritual masters in the past, uh, uh, including Swami Vivekananda and Aurobindo and everyone who, who had always dreamt of bringing about a generation of character rich individuals who, who, who in fact even set up schools. But today, when I look at it, Bhagawan, uh, here is the only person, as you mentioned, you know, who, whose, who took that leap and make, made and showed to the world how it is possible. Possible. They only had dreams of it. Here, you saw the realization of these dreams. I don't think there is any other, uh, a person in history who dared to teach character education at the university level. Exactly. At the school level, everyone tries to do. You know, with little ones, you always try to tell them something. And you had many good institutions who are trying to do that. But I think only here you saw that people who are, were doing post-graduation, people who are doing PhDs, Bhagawan is able to tame their minds. And you know, they are mad for God, like how people outside would be mad for anything material. Here you will find people who are mad for God. And it's, it's not as if they're incompetent or inefficient or mentally deranged people. They are as competent, uh, and as qualified as anyone else outside.But at the same time, they are mad for something good, something noble, something, uh, uh, which would ultimately benefit society. And I think that is something, uh, which is so phenomenal. And having been blessed, uh, to be contemporaries of, uh, such a, a amazing personality, I think, uh, mm, i- it's our duty to somehow inculcate at least something that what he has said and see how our lives, uh, become his message. Yeah. Living with Bhagawan is like this. Just now I, I, I just felt during the course of, uh, this deliberation for a short time, it is a mechanism plus humanism plus divinity or divinism, we can call it. These three put together constitute the principle, uh, of service propounded, practiced, uh, all over the world by Sai devotees. And whenever we indulge in a- any activity, I always, uh, feel that it is Swami making us to. Because He ne- He, He was very keen that a mechanism, a system is to be established to tread the path of righteousness so that man can redeem himself and realize the divinity within. That is the Sanatana Dharma. That is the ancient, uh, uh, perspective of whole, whole human birth. It's indeed a, a nice opportunity sitting in the, at the lotus feet of Bhagawan in the precincts of Prasanthi Nilayam, uh, talking to the world through, uh, this program. Uh, I'm indeed, uh, ennobled and glorified. I'm indeed benefited, and I wish all our listeners to have many more such opportunities, uh, for such good programs. Uh, Sai Ram. Sai Ram. Thank you very much. Sai Ram. [on-hold music] Sai Ram. You just heard an episode of our radio series, Serving in the Name of Sai, in which we brought to you part two of a two-part conversation with Mr. VSR Murty, a longstanding devotee of Bhagawan Baba from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. In conversation with him was Radio Sai's Bishu Prashti, and they discussed about the importance and essence of seva. This was first featured in Service: Love in Action segment as part of our Thursday live broadcast on 21st November 2013. Please do send in your feedback and comments, and we look forward to your emails. As always, you can write to listener@radiosai.org. Thank you, and Sai Ram. [on-hold music]
SSSMC · audio
Episode 062 - On Essence Of Seva - Part 2
Episode 062 - On Essence Of Seva - Part 2
Source: Sri Sathya Sai Media Centre
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