Love All Serve All; Help Ever Hurt Never
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
When the world is gearing up to celebrate the 86th Year of Beloved Bhagawan’s Advent, what could be the best Birthday gift to offer Him, to bring a smile on His beautiful face, that enchanted millions upon millions all over the globe? Let’s look within and introspect…
So profound a teaching in such simple terms. So clear cut, uncomplicated and easy to understand. But have we understood? This is not just what our Beloved Lord teaches, but this truth is vividly apparent in every moment of His Divine Sojourn on Earth. Whether it was in the Shirdi Era…in the Dwarkamai or at Parthi…in Prasanthi Nilayam, Beloved Bhagawan enveloped all beings with His selfless, ceaseless love. His doors were ever open wide for ‘all’ to be refreshed by the steady stream of His mercy and compassion.
Just what does He mean by Love All, Serve All?
If you only skim the surface of the Ocean, will you ever know its depth? Yes, the focus most definitely is on ‘Love’ and ‘Serve’ but have we given the ‘All’ part its rightful due?
Come now, let us put the spotlight on ‘All’.
“All are one…Be alike to everyone.”
Yet again a stress on ‘All’, for all in the Universe belong to Him – Mineral, Plant, Animal, Human as well as any other form in the vast expanse of the Cosmos unknown to us.
Eashwara Sarva Bhutanam Hridayeshe Arjuna Tishtati.
These are Bhagawan’s words to Arjuna, when as Sri Krishna, He revealed to him the lesson supreme, through the sacro sanct wisdom of the Bhagawat Gita.
When we serve a category and have reservations or misgivings about other life forms failing to see Bhagawan in them, we choose to neglect and limit Him.
So also, when we harm or hurt ‘any’ being, we cause our Beloved Lord pain, for as the Omnipresent Hrudayawasa He resides in all hearts.
If we cannot help, let us not hurt and definitely desist from stopping anyone else from helping others, especially other life forms.
Let us serve Him in the ones that serve us, beyond caste, creed or religion, because all those that serve us offer a way out for us…and though they ‘serve us’, they are never our servants.
The need of the hour, right now, is to establish that one religion – that of Selfess Love.
It is only when we begin to see and serve Him in all that lives and breathes around us, experiencing an ever expansive love, as well as expansion in consciousness, that we evolve from being mere earth beings into human beings, thereby earning the title ‘human’.
Love All, Serve All – is an extension of love and compassionate service, which is the hallmark of any aspirant who professes love for the Divine. It is an awareness of His presence in every atom around us.
When we give food and water to other life forms, extending Narayan Seva, following the divine dictum of Love All, Serve All, we satiate the hunger and thirst of the Lord that chooses to live through those forms.
As we unite to celebrate the 86th year of Bhagawan’s Advent, let us consciously choose to – Care For All Life Forms, Have Concern For Nature, And Respect For All Of Creation…knowing deeply that when we extend reverence to all beings, we are revering Bhagawan, the Lord that dwells in them.
“Divinity is embodied in all creatures and this fundamental truth should be exemplified in practice by man. He must extend the field of his Love until it encompasses the entire creation. It is only then that he will deserve to be a worthy recipient of God’s Love.”
There is a beautiful story, an incident, that illustrates Bhagawan unceasing love for His own creation, that knows no discretion.
This incident took place in far off Gauhati in 1972 which speaks not only of His compassion towards animals but also His omnipresence and unlimited love for His creation. The story came to be known to others only when a group of sixty devotees arrived at Prashanthi Nilayam after a tiresome journey of seven days in a special railway bogie to pay homage to the Lord on His birthday on 23rd November. The merciful Lord granted them a special audience in the Bhajan hall besides addressing them briefly. This was followed by a gift of ‘Vibhuti Prasadam’ by Himself to all with two additional packets to a girl among the group with the words ‘This is for your cat’. The group was pleasantly surprised at this compassionate gesture of Bhagawan but it brought tears of gratitude and devotion in the eyes of the recipient of that Grace Lakhi, as it was for her pet Minkie.
Minkie the kitten was saved from drowning in a city drain on a rainy day by Lakhi and was brought home much to the disgust of her elder sister, a staff nurse in the local hospital and a cat hater. Minkie grew in strength and size under the special care of Lakhi and so did the hatred of the elder sister for this unwanted unwelcome guest. One day unfortunately the elder sister’s stand was justified when Minkie took away a good bite of fish from the kitchen meant for some guests. The sister was furious at this and showered a rain of unpleasant words on Lakhi who, in turn, to give vent to her hurt feelings, resorted to caning of Minki with a big stick till the poor creature yelled in pain bitterly. Suddenly there was a big noise as some sixteen garlanded pictures of Bhagawan fell on the floor with a thud. Thinking that an earthquake only had caused this noise all the guests ran outside the house for safety. What surprised the elder sister more was that, only Baba’s pictures fell on the ground. She immediately realised her fault and appealed to Lakhi to stop beating the cat. Both the sisters were in tears and the cat, now on the table, shook her coat in relief only to sprinkle fragrant vibhuti all over there.
Six months had elapsed since this incident. But the all knowing Lord chose this pleasant occasion to not only confirm their experience but also to teach them a lesson that He loved the entire creation alike.
“Your devotion has to be expressed as worship of every one, as a living embodiment of Divinity. See God in every one. Practice that broad, inclusive type of Love.”
“What is true Love? Pure, unselfish Love towards all living beings, considered as embodiments of the Divine, with no expectation of reward, is true Love.”
Ah! Let us ruminate on these divine words… soft, sweet and sage utterances from Beloved Bhagawan.
Let His message be the breath that gives us life.
The flight has landed.
Lessons learnt in the ether, in the Cosmic Classroom, need to be practised on ground or we remain in the same grade.
Let us unfasten the seat belts and set the mind free on the tarmac of life.
Are we ready to Love All, Serve All; Help Ever, Hurt Never?
Are we ready and willing to love and serve Beloved Bhagawan?
Together there is so much we can do…a Cosmic Brotherhood…reach out, restore, reinstate, recall, realign the limitless view…for this is the age of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai…so Supremely True…emanating love… giving ‘all’ their due…Samastha Lokaah Sukhino Bhavantu…
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