Secret of a Happy Life

Dear child Veerabhadram!

You are ‘bhadram’, aren’t you? You might answer, “what kind of ‘bhadram’ is this?” Of course, that question is natural.

When life flows clear and smooth with no hurdles to cross, to feel that it is all because of one’s own choice and to forget God, and when that flow encounters obstacles and obstructions at every turn, to lament and lose heart—are these not signs of the intellectual frailty inherent in man? You too are human, dear One. Therefore, it is no wonder that you are overcome by depression and despair when troubles bother you at every step.

Bangaroo, man only is the target of troubles; trees are not. Even when they are, they have no capacity to express how deeply they are hurt. Though the life to man is basically a manifestation of Immortality and an unbroken stream of Ananda, he strays away from the awareness of the Atman, the spring of that Ananda, slavishly yielding to the ravishing tactics of the mind, the reason, and the vagaries of the ego. Sinking and floating, rising and falling on the turbulent waves of the sea of delusion, he is tossed between anxiety and calm, grief and joy, pain and pleasure. He is afflicted with the evanescence of the world and the unreality of his passions.

Why are you confounded and confused by this false panorama? Remember that you are thereby despising and denying your own atmic identity. You have stored in your brain the Vedas, the Sastras, the Puranas, the Itihasas and the Upanishads, but you behave like a dull boar; you bewail your lot and weep at your plight, as if you have no resources to fall back upon! This attitude is not worthy of the learning you have accumulated. You have to draw strength and courage therefrom and further the blossoming of holy, heartening thoughts.

Should this one single trouble—want of money—make you stoop to weakness and fear? You have the Lord with you and you know His efficacy; the name of which is the Dhanvanthari for the ills and anxieties of man. Instead of letting the name dance merrily on the tongue, why are you paying attention to what you call ‘loss’, ‘grief’ and ‘worry’?

You are the repository of so many branches of scriptural scholarship; but you have neither realized their value nor attempted to experience the joy they can give you. This must be your goal. On the other hand, you are spending your days contentedly and with vast self-satisfaction, as if the biggest purpose to which you can devote your learning is in exhibiting it in speech and demonstrating it in outer behaviour! The result is that you are being led into the baseless belief that you are ‘attacked’ by anxieties and adversities. Have courage—I am guarding you as the eyelids guard the eyes. Why fear when I am standing beside you as Kalpa Vriksha, the wish-fulfilling tree?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

(Pundit Veerabhadra Sarma is a renowned Vedic scholar. He can expound the sacred scriptures and hold vast gatherings spellbound for hours by the clarity, simplicity and sincerity of his Telugu oratory. He is also a leading minstrel of the popular Burrakatha musical recitals, and has composed a Sanskrit 'Sai Geetha' and 'Puja Vidhana' on classical lines. He was chosen to be a member of the party that undertook the pilgrimage to Badrinath with Swami.

In spite of these unique distinctions, his material poverty was so acute that one day he blamed Baba for 'neglecting him and heaping upon him misery after misery.' His wife, who could not bear this sacrilege, offered to write to Baba about the situation. She was certain that His blessings would clear the sky. But Sarma was adamant. 'No prayer should proceed from either of us to Baba, who has mercilessly betrayed our trust," he insisted. This was on  January 20, 1962, at Kakinada, eight hundred miles from Prasanthi Nilayam. Bhagawan, of course, sensed his pique and was aware of his obstinacy. So he wrote Sarma this letter Himself, which reached him on January 23, 1962. - Sathyam Shivam Sundaram, IV)