Open Your Eyes
Uppuluuri Ganapathi Shaasthry has a title that very few scholars have. He is called Aamnaayaartha 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 overpowered 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 earth 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 stain 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 roots, the goats eating the sprouts. Do not be too conceited, feeling that the Avathaar has 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 evergreen 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 unshakeable 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 a laugh at her faith, but her belief that the three wells were connected underground with the three rivers that joined at Prayag, was unshakeable.
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 water and could not be retrieved. When he returned and related this story, he said, "Ganga wanted 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 mother-in-law. It is faith that matters; the form and the name o which it is fixed do not matter. For all names are His; all forms are His.
The fourfold Mission of Sai
Faith can grow only on the soil of Dharma, with the fertile subsoil of Vedha, That is why the Paatasaala (Vedhic school) is started here today. I announced this is 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 in 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.
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