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2012/05 爱:康庄大道
 
1. 万物的根基
 
如果有一个理由可作为万物(创造)的目的,那单纯就是‘爱’了。主在时间形成前的空档期间创造宇宙,那一定有一个深具特别意义的动机。只是为了物质的显现和令人赞叹的技术肯定是不足够的;人与民族的创造是不足够的。一定有一个要素作为正当化和满足创造的理由。

爱是理由并继续成为正当化的理由。它是灵性的中心原则,在那儿,万物找到它们共同的源头和联系。爱是天地万物的能量,以正负电流显现。在相对的两极里,万物于是诞生而此后就一直寻求其结合。在与圣灵结合的回程中,物质形式被净化和被改造成神圣的爱和无私。
 

整个宇宙的根基是主的圣爱(Prema).即便一个人能熟读所有吠陀经(Vedas)的精华,并且能创作美丽的诗篇,但如果那人没有一颗纯净的心,他无异于行尸走肉。除此之外,我还有什么更崇高的真理可以传达给你们呢?

《蓝山的夏季玫瑰1976》99面
 
世界是爱成长与收成的耕耘之地。它是感官的战场,上演着正邪两面的戏剧。爱与自我的私心欲望斗争。统一的实在尽力克服造成分离的虚幻。无私之爱的体验揭露神是在个人与众生之内。
 

爱这个字指示我们努力去体认‘多’的虚假与‘一’的实在。爱认同;恨分离。爱调动一个自我与另一个自我,使两者的意,言,行和谐一致。当爱容纳更多更多于其怀抱,更多更多的实体就会成为‘一’。当你爱我时,你爱大家,因为你开始感觉到,了解到并体验到,我在众生之内。

《沙迪亚赛说》第7章473面
 
大爱(统一的爱)是人生的究竟。它以认同一切来表达它自己,因为当我们在灵性觉悟上有所成长时,我们就扩大我们恻隐之心的范围。我们以爱我们自己作为开始,然后扩延到我们的家庭,社区乃至于整个国家。然而,只有当我们看穿一切虚假的差异时,我们才获得真爱。当我们在众生之内看到神时,我们就不致于只爱某些人而不爱其他的人。这觉知实现生命的指望。
 

地球是一个大企业,一个忙碌的工厂,而其产品就是爱。利用灵修(sadhana)可以生产爱并输出到成千上万需要它的人。越是分享爱,爱就变得越深,其滋味就越甜美而喜悦也就越广大。因爱,人可以接近神并一直有神在身边,因为神是爱,而当人活在爱之中时,他就活在神之中。

《沙迪亚赛说》第7章395面
 
2. 如何培育爱?
 
如要栽种花卉,我们必须清理一块园地。如要培育爱,我们必须清理我们内心执着与贪婪的杂草。泥土必须被灌溉和施肥。学习对众生慈悲而使内心作好准备。当服务与虔诚的嫩芽发起来时,我们必须防止被自我的害虫侵袭。

我们以表达我们的爱给神作为开始,就如我们表达我们的爱给父母和兄弟姐妹一样。但假以时日,我们就看到,神的特质和彰显是没有止境的。世界乃神所创而也是神的资产。于是,我们开始在众生之内认识神并以服务与同情贫困者去表达爱。随着时间的过去,对他人的喜乐与哀伤,我们就会感同身受。借服务他人,我们尊敬在他人之内的神,并因此而更接近源头。
 

爱是神,神是爱。有爱,神肯定明显。爱更多更多的人,更热烈更热烈地爱他们。转爱为服务,转服务为膜拜。那即是最高的修行。

《沙迪亚赛说》第4章309面
 
服务是爱在行动上的自然表现。当我们内心为他人的痛苦而感到苦恼时,我们别无选择,只有减轻那痛苦。那就是爱的真正考验。应该使服务成为一个朋友而不是一个职务。要以表达爱与谦卑来执行服务并且心甘情愿地去做。

爱不是一种职责;它是内在灵性的一种表达。服务不应该以一方服务另一方接受服务的理念去执行。无私服务是一种爱的自然的表达,怡悦的,自然的流露。爱是我们的本质;它是灵性之泉,也是我们内在的源头,身份和潜能。
 

如果你以全在之阿特玛(atma)的意识去生活,你就活在爱之中,爱流通和浸满于你及其它的一切。

《沙迪亚赛说》第7章25面
 
要体验爱的涨满,你得执行灵性修习。这需要人格的净化。体验圣爱的必要条件是真诚,非暴力,内在平和及克尽厥职。当我们过一个正直而崇高的生活时,我们就能体验到无私的爱了。
 

如果我们真的要体验爱(prema),我们就必须了解什么是平和(shanti)。如果我们要追随平和之道,我们就必须接受正义(dharma)之道。如果我们要追随正义之道,我们就必须接受真理之道。

《夏季浸濡1977》60面
 
3.一睹大同
 
圣贤们跳出他们自己的小世界以握住共同的(共相的)价值观。他们向更高处,更远处去寻求利益众生的原则。他们对人道的看法或洞察力发芽于洋溢着爱的心。他们的理想受到真理之牛奶与义务之面包的滋养。

他们在内在平和的庇护下健壮地成长。他们的力量是内在的灵性,是透过纯净的心去认知和体现的。

灵性成就的顶点就是对阿特玛的认知。这神圣本质的特性是存有 -- 意识 -- 至福(being-consciousness-bliss),以圣爱为真理去体验之。在认知的顶峰,这些特性会合于一个不可描绘的共同点。所以要抵达爱的顶点,你就必须抵达智慧,责任感及平和的顶点。这些特性寓于我们每一个人之内,但却被自我的乌云给遮蔽了。沙迪亚赛峇峇说,这些神圣的特性有如太阳:它们常照耀于我们之内,却也常被自私自利的乌云给遮蔽起来。
 

奥义书说,人乃圣爱的一点火花,装在五大灵身之中。。。那爱一直在为表达,扩大和紧握而催促着,奔腾着。然而,恐惧、贪婪、自我和夸耀的纠结不允许火花成长并照耀五身及其周围世界。

《沙迪亚赛说》第7章324面
 
当我们培育内在的圣爱时,乌云就消散了。透过爱,自我证悟即可达致。当我们爱神时,我们就不会做任何把自己跟爱的源泉分割的事情。神用爱之工具以便改造和革新我们,使我们进入神的影像之中。
 

你不该畏惧神。你必须爱祂那么的深,以致抛弃一切祂不准许的行动。畏惧犯错,畏惧憎恨他人,畏惧丧失圣恩。

《沙迪亚赛说》第6章179面
 
4.以爱赢得神
 
在世界所有的宗教里,我们看不到有哪一个圣哲是靠学识去达至神的;我们也看不到有哪个圣哲仅靠善行去体认主的。爱是获致神显现的入场卷。如果我们充满爱,其它一切都不需要了。爱使个人与圣灵结合起来。透过爱,我们得以亲近神。仅凭智慧或苦行是不能使我们体现我们的目标的。
 

培育博爱:那就是亲近神的法门。我不用公尺或公里测量距离。爱的覆盖面决定你我的距离。

《沙迪亚赛说》第6章263面
 
爱揭露神而且是神的现身。爱是光,照亮神的脸。如果我们希望体认和体验神,我们就得学会爱神的一切众生。不爱祂所创造的万物,何以表现对神的虔诚。当体验内在的爱的源泉时,我们就透过爱的镜片去看世界了。
 

我必须告诉你,爱的重要性。爱是神;要活在爱之中。神乃完美之爱的化身。只有通过爱,你才能认知和觉察神,达至和赢得神。靠月光,你才能一睹月亮;靠爱的光辉,你才能看到神。

《沙迪亚赛说》第8章181-182面
 
沙迪亚赛峇峇教导我们一则简短的诀窍,使我们抵达目标。
 

以爱开始这一天
以爱度过这一天
以爱充实这一天
以爱结束这一天
那就是通往神的大道

《沙迪亚赛说》第8章73面
 
学习圈的问题:
 
  1. 爱是什么?
  2. 如何培育爱?
  3. 为何培育爱?
  4. 如何表达爱?
  5. 什么是爱的真正考验?
  6. 爱可是情绪的抑或不可理喻的?
  7. 爱能否在不表达下存在?
  8. 不培育爱能否认识神?
  9. 爱是那么特别的吗?
  10. 我们能爱神而同时又不爱其他人吗?
  11. 爱来自何处?
摘自《归向神之道》第19章
 
Love: The Royal Road
 
1. The Basis of Creation
 
If a reason could be given for the purpose of creation, it could be stated most simply as “love.” For the Lord to create the cosmos from the void of pre-time, there must have been a motive of special significance. Surely just the manifestation of material and technological marvels was not enough; the creation of men and nations was not enough. There must have been an element which would justify and fulfill the creation.

Love was the reason and continues to be the justification. It is the attraction principle of divinity, wherein all creatures find their common origin and bond. Love is the energy of creation, which manifests as positive and negative currents. In the polarity of opposites, all creation came into being and forever afterward seeks its union. In the return journey to union with spirit, the material form is purified and transformed into divine love and selflessness.
 

The basis for the entire world is the prema (divine love) of the Lord. Even if one is able to get by heart the essence of all the Vedas (sacred teachings) and even if one is able to compose poetry in a very attractive manner, if that person does not have a purified heart, he is a useless person. What other greater truth can I communicate to you?

Summer Roses on the Blue Mountains 1976, p.99
 
The world is the field in which love grows and is harvested. It is a battlefield of the senses, where the play of good and evil is acted out. Love vies against the selfish desires of the ego. The reality of unity struggles to overcome the illusion of separateness. The experience of selfless love reveals God in the individual and within all creatures.
 

Love is the word which indicates the striving to realize the falsehood of the many and the reality of the One. Love identifies; hate separates. Love transposes the self on to another and the two think, speak, and act as one. When love takes in more and more within its fold, more and more entities are rendered as One. When you love me, you love all, for you begin to feel and know and experience that I am in all.

Sathya Sai Speaks 7, p.473
 
Unitive love is the fulfillment of life. It expresses itself as identification with all, for as we grow in spiritual awareness, we expand the bounds of our compassion. We start by loving ourselves, then our family, community, and nation. However, true love is gained only when we see through all false distinctions. When we see God in all creation, we cease to selectively love only some and not others. This awareness fulfills life’s promise.
 

The Earth is a great enterprise, a busy factory, where the product is love. By means of sadhana (spiritual practice), it is possible to produce love and export it to millions and millions of people in need of it. The more it is shared, the deeper it becomes, the sweeter its taste, and the vaster the joy. By means of love, one can approach God and stay in his presence, for God is love, and when one lives in love he is living in God.

Sathya Sai Speaks 7, p.395
 
2. How Do We Cultivate Love?
 
To grow flowers, we must first clear a plot of ground. To grow love, we must clear the weeds of attachment and greed from our hearts. Soil must be watered and fertilized. The heart must be prepared by learning compassion for all. When the tender shoots of service and devotion sprout, they must be kept free of the insects of egoism.

We start by expressing love toward God as we would to a mother or father, brother or sister. But with time we see that there is no limit to the attributes and manifestations of God. The world is created from and is the substance of God. And so we begin to recognize God in all and express love as service and sympathy for those in need. With time, we feel the joys and sorrows of others as our own. By serving others, we revere God within them and draw closer to the source.
 

Love is God, God is love. Where there is love, there God is certainly evident. Love more and more people, love them more and more intensely. Transform the love into service, transform the service into worship. That is the highest sadhana.

Sathya Sai Speaks 4, p.309
 
Service is the natural expression of love in action. When our hearts are distressed at the suffering of others, we have no choice but to alleviate that suffering. That is the true test of love. Service is rendered as to a friend, not as a duty. Service is performed as a token of love and humility, gladly given.

Love is not an obligation; it is an expression of our inner divinity. Service should not be performed with the idea of one serving and another being served. Selfless service is a natural expression of love, given joyfully and spontaneously. Love is our nature; it is the fountain of divinity, our inner source, identity, and potential.
 

When you live with the consciousness of the omnipresent atma (inner divinity), you live in love, love flowing and flooding in and through you and all else.

Sathya Sai Speaks 7, p.25
 
To experience the flood of love requires spiritual practice. It is acquired by purification of character. The prerequisites to experience divine love are truthfulness, nonviolence, inner peace, and adherence to duty. When we live a virtuous and moral life, we can experience selfless love.
 

If we really want to experience prema, we will have to understand what peace, or shanti, means. If we want to follow the path of peace, we will have to accept the path of dharma (spiritual duty). If we want to follow the path of dharma, we will have to accept the path of truth.

Summer Showers 1977, p.60
 
3. The Vision of Unity
 
Saintly men and women reach beyond their own small worlds to grasp universal values. They seek higher and further for the principles which benefit all. Their visions for humanity germinate in hearts full of love. Their ideals are nurtured on the milk of truth and the bread of duty.

They grow strong in the shelter of inner peace. Their strength is inner divinity realized through a pure heart.

The pinnacle of spiritual attainment is realization of the atma. The qualities of this divine nature are being-consciousness-bliss, experienced with divine love as truth. At the summit of realization, these qualities meet at a common point, which is beyond description. So to reach the height of love, one must also reach the apex of wisdom, sense of duty, and peace. These qualities are present within each of us, but are hidden by the dark clouds of egoism. Sathya Sai Baba says that these divine qualities are like the sun: they always shine within us, but are often hidden by clouds of selfishness.
 

The Upanishads say that man is a spark of divine love encased in five sheaths…That love is ever urging and surging for expression, enlargement, and enclasping. But the tangles of fear, greed, egoism, and aggrandizement do not allow the spark to grow and illumine the sheaths, as well as the world around.

Sathya Sai Speaks 7, p.324
 
When we foster divine love within, the dark clouds disperse. Through love, self-realization is achieved. When we love God, we will not do anything to remove ourselves from the source of love. God wields the instrument of love to transform and reform us into the image of the divine.
 

One should not fear God. One must love him so much that all acts he disapproves are discarded. Fear to do wrong; fear to hate another; fear losing grace.

Sathya Sai Speaks 6, p.179

 
4. God Is Won by Love
 
In all the world’s religions, we find no saints who attained God by means of their scholarship; we find no saints who realized the Lord by means of good deeds alone. Love is the price for admission to God’s presence. If we have love in abundance, no other requirement is needed. Love unites the individual with divinity. Through love, we gain nearness to God. Wisdom or austerities alone cannot enable us to achieve realization of our goal.
 

Cultivate love and prema towards all: that is the way to gain nearness. I do not measure distance in terms of meters or miles. The range of love decides distance for me.

Sathya Sai Speaks 6, p.263
 
Love reveals and is the presence of God. Love is the light by which his face is lit. If we wish to know and experience God, we must learn love for God’s creatures. We cannot express devotion to God without also loving his creation. When we experience the source of love within, we view the world through the glasses of love.
 

I must tell you of the paramount importance of love. Love is God; live in love. God is the embodiment of perfect love. He can be known and realized, reached and won, only through love. You can see the moon only with the help of moonlight; you can see God only through the rays of love.

Sathya Sai Speaks 8, pp.181-182
 
Sathya Sai Baba teaches us a short prescription that enables us to reach the goal.
 

Start the day with love
Spend the day with love
Fill the day with love
End the day with love
That is the way to God

Sathya Sai Speaks 8, p.73
 
Questions for Study Circle:
 
  1. What is the love?
  2. How is love cultivated?
  3. Why develop love?
  4. How is love expressed?
  5. What is the true test of love?
  6. Is love emotional or unreasonable?
  7. Can love exist without being expressed?
  8. Can God be known without cultivating love?
  9. What is so special about love?
  10. Can we love God without loving other people?
  11. Where does love come from?
 
References for Further Study:
 
  1. Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12.
  2. Sathya Sai Speaks 1, p.43 (The Lord is reflected in the heart with love).
  3. Sathya Sai Speaks 6, p.86 (Love is the distinguishing mark of Sai).
  4. Sathya Sai Speaks 6, p.225 (The atma expresses itself as love).
  5. Sathya Sai Speaks 9, p.107 (God is bound to you by love).
  6. Sathya Sai Speaks 11, p.99 (The glasses of love make everything appear as love).
  7. Sathya Sai Speaks 11, p.239 (To experience love you must throw away desire).
  8. Summer Showers 1974, p.107 (If one has on the glasses of love, all appears as love).
  9. Summer Showers 1976, pp.106-111.
  10. Summer Roses on the Blue Mountains, p.107 (Love is the only way to reach and understand God).
 
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