Man is the Crown of Creation

Embodiments of the Divine Spirit,

We had a symposium last year in the Western Hemisphere and devotees from many European countries came together and experienced the thrill of Unity and purity during the days of the symposium. The far Easter horizon lifts now and the devotees from several countries are assembling in Kuala Lumpur on the morning of 29th July, 1984. This will be for them a day to remember like the day of the symposium in Rome. The Easter and Western Hemispheres are one in spirit. They will undoubtedly evolve as one world family in the not too distant future.

Man is the crown of creation. The kingdom of God is within him. Divinity is his nature. The awareness of the Atma, the Divine Self, as the very core of one’s existence is the source of Light, Love and Wisdom but man is dominated by delusive desires. He struggles to conquer Nature but does not conquer his own desires. He mistakes the momentary for the momentous, the fleeting for the fundamental. He has used the unique gift of intelligence to scan the depths of space but he has neglected the depths of his inner being where he can listen to the voice of God. He has polluted the land he lives on, the air he breathes in and the water which is the source of life. He has brought the globe to the very brink of total disaster. The weeds of greed, hatred and envy grow in his diseased mind and heart. They are not bared to the sunlight of love which eliminates them.

The world today is in the grip of a fearful moral and spiritual crisis. People everywhere are feeling frustrated and helpless and anxiously wondering what is in store for humanity. The hopes raised by the advances of science and technology have proved illusory. While science has overcome the barriers of time, distance and nationality, it has done little to promote better understanding between man and man and nation and nation. Never has there been so much distrust, hatred and violence as is witnessed today in almost every country. But a new dawn is breaking and a new age – the age of spirit is fast coming on us. Drive to utter disillusion and disenchantment, a sizeable portion of elite humanity is steadily turning toward the light of spirit. Man has now realized that animality and sensuality lead him to a world of increasing misery. If man is to achieve Peace and Bliss which are his inward glory and a wide sense of harmony – which extends from the individual to the universe, what is essential for him is to conquer his passions and open himself to the transforming splendours of spirit. That is why there is a hunger for spirit today in almost every country of the world.

This symposium is not concerned with any one religion, nation, race, caste, or individual. It is intended to reveal the essential Truth that underlies all religions and to strive for the peace and welfare of all people, for the establishment of Truth and Righteousness. All religions proclaim the Unity of Divinity and preach the cultivation of Universal Love. Those who are ignorant of this basic Truth develop pride and ego and become responsible for chaos and confusion by fragmenting Divinity. The spirit for the Atman is lasting foundation for a God-based society.

Life in society should conform to this spiritual basis. Both the individual and society are manifestations of the Divine will and the Divine permeates the Universe. Society should not become a cockpit of selfish individuals but a Divinely guided community. Society has to be looked upon primarily, not as the aggregation of human beings but as an organization for realizing the Divine. Society has its own consciousness just as the individual has his. Society influences the minds of individuals in the interest as a whole. The Divinity that pervades society is revealed through individuals.

Christ’s message of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man finds its parallels in the pronouncements of the Prophets of many other religions. These messages will spiritualise the human race if only the messages are practiced earnestly.

May all of you realize that Love is God. Love is God and God can be approached, adored and attained only through Love. Love unites and establishes harmony, concord and peace. Hatred divides, distorts and destroys. What the world needs today to save itself is Unity based on the most spiritual of all Virtues – Love.

Conflicts arise when this Unity is ignored. Competition, domination and exploitation will disappear when Unity is discovered and experienced. Love and Law are the basic human values. Love as thought is Truth. Love as Action is Right Conduct. Love as Understanding is Peace. Love as Feeling is Non-Violence. All men must share in this precious heritage of Selflessness, Universal Love and develop it by practice in daily life.

This is Sai’s message to you all. Be the harbingers of the new age! Be free from selflessness, greed, hatred and violence, be a light unto yourselves and thereby be a light unto others!

In a large perspective of this kind, one easily perceives that there should be no difference among devotees in Sai Organisations. There should be no scramble for power or position. What matters is the purity, intensity of devotion and the spirit of self-sacrifice.

One may regard the material world as real and it may be possible to bring about the prosperity of a scientific, technological and materialistic society for a time. But, selfishness, greed and hatred develop in the process and make society destroy itself. When individuals change, society will change and when the society changes, the whole world will change. Desires have to be controlled by diverting the mind from material objects to the Divine seated in each one’s heart. The awareness that the world is one family dawns when one recognizes the Truth of the indwelling Spirit.

There should be no kind of coercion, compulsion in the sphere of religion. Never entertain the feeling that one’s religion is superior and another’s inferior.

May you become worthy instruments for the revival of the Religion of Love and the Resurgence of Human Values. Know that I am ever with you, within you and around you. In fact, I am in you as much as you are in me.

With Love and Blessings,

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s Message to the ‘Symposium on Human Values for the Far East’ held on 29th July, 1984 in Kuala Lumpur.

(Read by bro. J. Jagadeesan at the inauguration of the Symposium)