UPPULUURI Ganapathi Shaasthry has a title that very
few scholars have. He is calledAamnaayaartha Vaachaspathi ---the Master
Expounder of the Meaning of the Vedhas. I had
permitted him to speak for as long as he liked;
indeed, I had encouraged him to make a long speech for just after this he is
opening the Vedhashaasthra Paathashaala---an institution that is dear to
his heart when established anywhere, but dearer to him because it is
established here, in the Prashaanthi Nilayam. In fact, he sees in it an
important step in My Plan of Vedhic revival.
But he was so over-powered by Aanandha that he
could not proceed with his speech even for a few minutes. As he said, he spoke
even those few words just to express his debt to the Vedhas. It is not
only his debt but the debt of all humanity. The Vedhas have shaped India
and India shaped, is shaping, and will shape, the rest of the world.
The Vedhas are without beginning or end; they
are eternal messages caught by developed consciousnesses in the silence of
meditation. Loyalty to the Vedhas has faded often in the past also and
so the present 'decline' which Ganapathi Shaasthry deplored is just a passing
phase.
Dhuurvaasa was a reputed Vedhic scholar; he had
the music of the Saama Vedha on his tongue and the cinders of anger in
his eye; a strange combination, indeed. Seeing this absurdity, Saraswathi, the
Goddess of Learning and Liberation, laughed in derision. The sage was stung to
the quick; he threw a curse on Her and she was born on
earth as the daughter of Aathreya. There was a brother too, a feeble
minded chap incapable, in spite of the efforts of the skilled teachers, of even
pronouncing the Vedha aright. He was beaten with a rod, but that only
made him weep helplessly. Saraswathi was moved with great pity. She intervened
and saved him from physical torture. She taught him the four Vedhas and
the six Shaasthras and he became a great Master.
Vedhas are in need of revival again
Meanwhile, the Vedha had faded from human
memory and, as a result, famine stalked the land. Rishis were reduced to
skeletons. They yearned for the Vedha, for that was the sustenance on which
they lived. Saaraswatha, the brother of Saraswathi, prayed to Chandhra (the
Moon). She made the each sprout forth edible plants (Saakha), on which
the Rishis decided to live.
Saaraswatha taught them the sixty different sections
of the Vedhas but so thick was the fog that had descended on the Vedhas
that the sages who learnt the Vedhas from him were confounded by cynical
critics. Naaradha had to assure them that what they had learnt was the genuine Vedha
itself, but even he could not remove the main of doubt. They jointly
approached Brahma. He said, "You were all able to get this Vision of Me as
a result of your Vedhic study; you can have yourself become Brahma when
you practise what you have studied." That was how Saaraswatha Maharshi
revived the Vedhas once in the past.
Reasons for the present sorrow and
suffering
Now again the Vedhas are in need of revival, of
promotion. Someone has to prevent the axe from reaching its mots, the goats
eating the sprouts. Do not be too conceited, feeling that the Avathaarhas
come for you particularly. I have come for the sake of Dharma. And, how
is the avathaar to guard Dharma? Well, Vedhokhilo Dharma
Moolam---"The Vedhas are the root of Dharma."
When the Vedhas remain unharmed, that is to
say, when the Vedhic scholars are unharmed, the Vedha will remain
ever-green in the heart of man. That is the real Dharma-sthaapana.
You may ask, "Well. The Lord has incarnated. Then
why should the world be torn by strife and stricken with sorrow?" Why,
even when Lord Krishna was here, there was war and wickedness, strife and
sorrow. The husk will have to be pulled out, the pure saved always from the
impure.
The present suffering is mainly due to the lapses in
discipline among the professed followers of the Vedhic path, their
disregard for the morality laid down in the Shaasthras and their absence
of faith in the ancient scriptures. What use can a blind man make of a lamp,
however bright it may be?
You may ask why Pandiths and Vedhic scholars
are passing through hard times now? They are mostly hungry, ill-clad and
homeless; that being the reason why no one comes forward to join Vedhic schools?
Paatasaalaas are becoming defunct. But I want to tell you that the Pandiths
and Shaasthris have come to this pass because they have themselves
lost faith in the Vedhas. They are like the proverbial cat which is
loyal to two homes and is denied food and comfort in either. The Pandiths have
one eye on secular matters and secular studies and another on the spiritual.
Let them be fixed in that faith, faith in the Vedhas. Then the Vedha will
keep them happy. Because if
the Vedha cannot make a man happy, what else
can? Like the hotel-keeper who goes to a druggist for a pill when he gets a
headache, while that same druggist goes to the same hotel for a cup of coffee
when he gets a headache, the West comes to the East for mental peace and the
East
is enamoured of the West for what it considers
necessary for mental peace!
Story of unshakable faith of a
devotee
Let me tell you an incident which happened while in
the previous body at Shirdhi. There was a lady from Pahalgaon, a simple
illiterate devotee. She stored water in her kitchen in three clean, brightly
polished brass pots from three separate wells and she had named the pots---Ganga,
Yamuna and Saraswathi. She always referred to them by
those names. Whenever any thirsty wayfarer called at her door, she mixed water
from all three and offered it to the person as Thriveni Theertha (water
from three rivers). Neighbours used to laugh at her faith, but her belief that
the three wells were connected underground with the three rivers that joined at
Prayag, was unshakable.
Her husband started on a pilgrimage to Kaashi. His
mother, while blessing him on his departure, put on his finger her own gold
ring and directed him to take good care of it, for it would be a talisman for
him. When he was taking the ceremonial bath at the Manikarnika Ghat, the ring slipped
into the waters and could not be retrieved. When he returned and related this story,
he said, "Ganga waned it; she took it," just to console his mother.
When the wife heard this, she said, "No, no! Mother Ganga will not hanker
after the property of a poor old lady. She will
accept only what is offered out of love. She will give
us back the ring, I am sure. I shall ask Ganga; she is in our kitchen." So
saying, she went in and with folded hands, she prayed before the particular pot
named by her as Ganga. Putting her hand in she searched the bottom and sure
enough, she got the ring back! She had come to
Dwaarakamaayi with her husband and motherin- law. It is faith that matters; the
form and the name on which it is fixed do not matter. For all names are His;
all forms are His.
The four-fold Mission of Sai
Faith can grow only on the soil of Dharma, with
the fertile sub-soil of Vedha. That is why the Paatasaala (Vedhic School)
is started here today. I announced this in October and it is being started in
November. With Me, the resolution and the realisation coincide in time; there
is no
time-lag. You may say that only twenty boys have
joined now. When a huge country is administered by a cabinet of twelve, this
band of students is enough for the work I have in view.
My task is to open your eyes to the Glory of the Vedhas
and to convince you that the Vedhic injunctions, when put into
practice, will yield the results promised. My task is to make you aware of your
errors and the loss you are incurring; not only you who are here just now, but
all the
people of India and even the world.
This Paathashaala will grow into a University,
establishing branches wherever there are other types of Universities now. It
will afford cool green shade for all. My prema towards the Vedha is
equalled only by My prema towards Humanity. My Mission, remember, is just
fourfold: Vedha
poshana, Vidwath poshana, (fostering the Vedhas and Vedhic
Scholars), Dharma rakshana and Bhaktha rakshana (Protection
of virtue and devotees). Spreading My Grace and My Power along these four
directions, I establish Myself in the Centre.
These boys will grow into strong straight Pillars of
the Sanaathana Dharma---the Ancient Wisdom, the Eternal Path; they will
be the leaders and guides of this land in the days to come.
Parents who have sent them to this Paathashaala have
every reason to be happy, for these boys will be Gems spreading Vedhic splendour
everywhere, disseminating Shaasthraic learning everywhere. I shall care
for them as the apple of My eye, more than any mother. They will
always have My Blessings.
- Bhagavan Sri Sathya
Sai Baba
