A Message
from Sri Amma and Sri Bhagavan
Dear Friends,
In a world where mankind feels
threatened by social upheavals, over
population, wars, terrifying violence,
callousness, each human being is more
than ever concerned with his own
survival.
Survival has implied living sanely,
happily without great pressure or
strain. Each one of us translates
survival according to his own particular
concept. The idealist projects a way of
life which is not the actual; the
theoreticians, whether Marxist,
religious, or of any other particular
persuasion have laid down patterns for
survival; the nationalists consider
survival possible only in a particular
group or community. These ideologic
differences, ideals and faiths are the
roots of a division that is preventing
human survival.
Men want to survive in a particular
way, according to their narrow
responses, according to their immediate
pleasures, according to some faith. All
these can in no way bring security, for
in themselves they are divisive,
exclusive, limited. To live in the hope
of survival according to tradition,
however ancient or modern, has no
meaning. Partial solutions of any kind –
scientific, religious, political,
economic– can no longer assure mankind,
its survival. Man has been concerned
with his own individual survival, with
his family, with his group, his nation
and because all this is divisive it
threatens his actual survival.
The modern divisions of
nationalities, of color, of culture, of
religion are the causes of man’s
uncertainty of survival. In the turmoil
of today’s world, uncertainty has made
man turn to authority – to the
political, religious or economic expert.
The specialist is inevitably a danger
because his response must always be
partial, limited. Man is no longer
individual, separate. What affects the
few, affects all mankind. There is no
escape or avoidance of the problem. You
can no longer withdraw from the totality
of the human predicament.
We cannot possibly survive if we are
concerned with our own survival. All
human beings the world over are
interrelated today. What happens in one
country affects the others. Man
considers himself an individual,
separate from others but psychologically
a human being is inseparable from the
whole of mankind.
There is no such thing as
psychological survival. When there is
this desire to survive or to fulfill you
are psychologically creating a situation
which not only separates but which is
totally unreal. Psychologically you
cannot be separate from another and this
desire to be separate psychologically is
the very source of danger and
destruction. Each person asserting
himself threatens his own existence.
This assertion of separateness
destroys our capacity to work together;
to work together with nature, the living
things of the earth and also with other
human beings. As social beings we exist
for ourselves. Our laws, our
governments, our religions all emphasize
the separateness of man – which during
the centuries has developed into man
against man. It is becoming more and
more important, if we are to survive,
that there be a spirit of cooperation
with the universe, with all the things
of the sea and earth.
One can see in all social structures
the destructive effect of fragmentation
taking place – nation against nation,
one group against another group, one
family against another family, one
individual against another, religiously,
socially, and economically. Each one is
striving for himself, for his class or
his particular interest in the
community. This division of beliefs,
ideals, conclusions and prejudices is
preventing the spirit of cooperation
from flowering. We are human beings, not
tribal identities, exclusive, separate.
We are human beings caught in
conclusions, theories, faiths. We are
living creatures, not labels. It is our
human circumstance that makes us search
for food, clothes and shelter at the
expense of others. Our very thinking is
seperative, and all actions springing
from this limited self, must prevent
cooperation. The economic and social
structure, as it is now, including
organized religions, intensifies
exclusiveness, and separateness. This
lack of cooperation ultimately brings
about wars and the destruction of man.
It is only during crises or disasters,
that we seem to come together and when
they are over we are back to our old
condition. We seem to be incapable of
living and working together
harmoniously.
Is it because our brain, which is the
centre of our thought, our feeling, has
from ancient days become through
necessity so conditioned to seek its own
personal survival, that this isolating,
agressive process has come about? Is it
because this isolating process
identifies itself with the family, with
the tribe, and becomes glorified
nationalism? Is not all isolation linked
to a need for identification and
fulfillment? Has not the importance of
the self been cultivated through
evolution by the opposition of the ‘me’
and ‘you’, the ‘we’ and ‘they’? Have not
all religions emphasized personal
salvation, personal enlightenment,
personal achievement, both religiously
and in the world? Has cooperation become
impossible because we have given such
importance to this sense of
separateness? Is it because human
cooperation has centered on some kind of
authority of Government or religion
around some ideology or conclusion,
which then inevitably brings about its
own destructive opposite?
What does it mean to cooperate – not
the word but the spirit of it? You
cannot possibly cooperate with another,
with the earth and its waters, unless
you in yourself are harmonious, not
broken up, non contradictory; you cannot
cooperate if you yourself are under
strain, pressure, conflict. How can you
cooperate with the universe if you are
concerned with yourself, your problems
and your ambitions? There can be no
cooperation if all your activities are
self centered and you are occupied with
your own selfishness, with your own
secret desires and pleasures. As long as
the intellect with its thoughts
dominates all your actions, obviously
there can be no cooperation, for
self-centered thought is partial, narrow
and everlastingly divisive. Cooperation
demands great honesty. Honesty has no
motive. Honesty is not some ideal, some
faith. Honesty is clarity – the clear
perception of things as they are.
Perception is attention. That very
attention throws light with all its
energy on that which is being observed.
This light of perception brings about a
transformation of the thing observed.
There is no system through which you
learn to cooperate. It is not to be
structured and classified. Its very
nature demands that there be love and
that love is not measurable, for when
you compare – which is the essence of
measurement – self has entered. Where
self is, love is not.
When the truth of all this is seen
and understood man’s responsibility
undergoes a radical change not only
towards his immediate environment but
also towards all living things. This
total responsibility is love. This love
acts through intelligence. This
intelligence is not partial, individual
separate. Love is never partial. Love is
the sacredness of all living things.
We have stated the problem, the cause
and now we must find the solution.
Through no effort of his, could man
possibly make it. All this is possible
only when your heart is filled with the
Presence. The Presence flows into you
through deeksha.
Deeksha would thus help create a new
generation of human beings, with a new
outlook, with a new sense of being
citizens of the world, concerned with
all the living things of the earth. It
is your grave responsibility to help
bring about this Oneness.
Thank you.
|