Sai Ram

Last week, when Ronne Marantz gave a talk at the Manhattan Sai Center, she read a very powerful quotation of Swam's. So, when someone later asked if I could have Ronne send the quote to us, when I did, I also requested that Ronne put the quote within the same context which she had at the Center, for the benefit of those who were not present, as well as for those who were.

Dr. Marantz has graciously obliged with the following:

God Is…I am I

Dr. Ronne Marantz

“Your duty is to abandon. Abandon all your plans, even the best ones. Abandon all the theories you cherish, the doctrines you hold dear, the systems of knowledge that have cluttered your brain, the preferences you have accumulated, the pursuit of fame, fortune, scholarship, superiority. These are all material, objective. Enter into the objective world after becoming aware of the Atma. Then you will realize that all is the play of the Atma.” Sri Sathya Sai Baba

This quotation, which I recently came across in the dedication to Phyllis Krystal’s book, Taming the Monkey Mind, is, I believe, the key to the door of the room in which we find the gift He has come to give: “I will give you what you want, until you want what I have come to give.” Sri Sathya Sai Baba

I love ‘jnanayoga’ – the path of wisdom! Whether in this life or the next, Self-realization is the inherent capacity of a human being. And it is through the development of character, the drawing out of the intrinsic human values within, that Self-realization unfolds; this is the philosophy of Sathya Sai Education --- Educare, in which lies the gift He has come to give.

Naturally, we spiritual aspirants on the path for many years in this life, as well as the many lives we have had, can say with some ease that we are not attached to our worldly possessions, fame or fortune, or even family. But how many of us can say with sincerity that we are not attached to our “preferences” --- our thoughts and opinions? Are we prepared to “abandon” them?

When I first came across the notion that the strongest and final attachment is to our opinions (thoughts) some years ago, I immediately put myself on an ‘opinion diet’! Not that I have no opinions. In fact, much of my professional work as an educator, and my involvement in Sathya Sai Education, requires that I offer opinions. What I am learning is how not to be attached to them!

In the Kali Yuga, it is said that repetition of the name and selfless service are the most important for achieving Self-realization. Why? Swami has also declared that devotional and service activities (bhaktiyoga and karmayoga), without discrimination (viveka) and self-inquiry (vicara), the essential tools of jnanayoga, are useless. Not that they are not ‘useful’ or important! Devotion and selfless service create the space for conscious (living), conscience and consciousness to arise. It is in these states of detachment, equanimity, and mindfulness that we ‘notice’ --- that we become ‘the witness’, and manifest our capacities for discrimination and self-inquiry.

As a lover of ‘wisdom’ (which includes my love for devotion and selfless service), and through the practice of discrimination and self-inquiry, I have come to see the nature of vasanas (alternately called samskaaras) and how they play their part in ego-identity, manifesting as ‘preferences’ (attractions and aversions). Through discrimination and self-inquiry I am finding that I can ‘face’, ‘erase’ and ‘replace’ them, by drawing out the human values within. In this manner, I believe, we can live in that state of constant-integrated-awareness (CIA) or sat-chit-ananda that is the ‘gift He has come to give’.

Om Sai Ram!