Thursday, 5 December 2013

The message of Jesus Christ





A Divine Discourses by Bhagawan Shri Sathya Sai Baba during Christmas day, December 25,1992

On December 25th, when Jesus was born, three kings. came to his birthplace. These three gave
expression to three different views about the new-born babe. One of them, looking at the infant,
said: "This child looks like one who will be a lover of God." A second king said: "God will love
this child." The third king declared: "Verily, this child is God Himself." The first one viewed the
child from the physical point of view. The second saw the child from the mental viewpoint. The
third saw from the Aatmic (spiritual) point of view.
The three declarations indicate how one can progress from the human to the divine level. What is
needed is the destruction of the animal and demonic qualities in man. Man today worships
inanimate idols and images, but makes no attempt to love his fellow human beings in flesh and
blood. This was the first message of Jesus. Though one sees his neighbours day after day, he
does not choose to love them. How can one believe that such a person can love an invisible God?
If a man cannot love a fellow human being who is visible before his eyes, how can he love what
is not visible to him? This is not possible. Only a man who loves living beings around him can
love the invisible Divine. Love must start with love for beings that have form. It must be
extended to all beings. This is the primary stage in spirituality.
Spirituality does not mean preoccupation with meditation, worship, etc. It involves total
extinction of the animal and demonic qualifies in man and the manifestation of his inherent divinity.
When the attachments and hatreds in which man is enveloped are removed, the inherent
divinity in man, the Sath-chith-ananda in him will manifest Itself.
There is no need to search for the omnipresent Divine in any specific place. When you are
yourself divine, why search for the Divine elsewhere? It is a mark of ignorance.

How Jesus Christ's message was accepted

Jesus performed many miraculous deeds, relieved the sufferings of many in distress, preached sublime truths to the people, and ultimately sacrificed his life. For over a hundred years after his martyrdom, Christ's message did not have any impact. Four centuries later, Christianity was
accepted by Roman emperors. Even after many centuries humanity is yet to realise the inherent
divinity of man.

Man is searching for a reason for every belief or action. Should you seek a reason for sanctifying
the time spent by you on any action? When you are engaged in unselfish activity for the common
good of society and discharging your duties with dedication, you are sanctifying your life.
There are four basic elements in every action. They are Kaarana, Karma, Kaala and
Karthavyam. Kaarana is the reason, Karma is the action, Kaala is the time and Karthavyam is
the duty that has been discharged. We can cite an example for this. Supposing you want to go to
Madras to see your relatives; you go to the bus-stand in the morning, sit in the bus, travel for
eight hours and reach Madras in the evening. Now,-seeing your relatives is Kaarana (cause).
Sitting in the bus and travelling is karma (action). Spending eight hours is Kaala (time factor)
and seeing your relatives in Madras and getting satisfaction therefrom is Karthavyam (goal).
If you do the same things in your dream, there is no time factor. The cause and action factors are
also absent. As soon as you wake up, you find that you are only in the bed and discover that your
seeing your relatives in Madras was unreal. All the four factors are absent in the dream state.
Only where all the four are present will it be real.
The purpose in view is termed Lakshyam. You are born as a human being for doing your Karma
(duty). Life is given to you only to recognise Divinity and the body is the instrument for
achieving this Kaarana (purpose). When you have spent your life, you have done the karma
(action) in the duration of your life--kaala. You should have the satisfaction of having achieved
the karthavyam (goal).
Christ preached only this truth and taught the people that the body should be used for service to
society. This is the teaching of Vedanta. Vedanta declares that the body is intended only to do
actions in the world in a selfless way.

The genesis of the Christmas tree
Jesus was crucified on a Friday and He rose from the tomb on a Sunday. That is why Sunday is
taken as the day of worship and service in churches. Catholics gave importance to Virgin Mary,
the mother of Christ, while Protestants gave importance to the birth of Christ. Catholics celebrate
Christmas by worshipping Mary on the evening of 24th and Protestants celebrate the birth of
Christ on the 25th. There is a custom of putting up a Christmas tree on this day and worshipping
it. The genesis of this custom can be traced to Germany. A preacher by name Jensen from
England once visited Germany. When he was travelling in Germany on his mission, he noticed
some Germans attempting to offer a child's life as sacrifice to propitiate God who, they believed,
lived in an oak tree. The priest was worried and questioned them why they were offering an
innocent child as sacrifice to a tree. As they asserted that God lived in the tree, he took an axe
and cut the tree. To his surprise, he was shaken by an inexplicable vibration from head to foot.
He noticed the form of a child between the two portions of the tree that was cut by him.

This incident teaches the truth that God lives not only in human beings but also in plants and
trees. From that time onwards people started putting up a Christmas tree and worshipping it on
this Christmas day. The system of worshipping Divinity in many forms including plants and
stones, which originated in Bharath, has been prevalent for a long time in other countries also.

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