A Message from Sri Amma and Sri Bhagavan
Dear Friends,
In a world where mankind feels threatened by social upheavals, over population,
wars, terrifying violence, callousness, each human being is more than ever concerned with
his own survival.
Survival has implied living sanely, happily without great pressure or strain. Each
one of us translates survival according to his own particular concept. The idealist projects
a way of life which is not the actual; the theoreticians, whether Marxist, religious, or of any
other particular persuasion have laid down patterns for survival; the nationalists consider
survival possible only in a particular group or community. These ideological differences,
ideals and faiths are the roots of a division that is preventing human survival.
Men want to survive in a particular way, according to their narrow responses,
according to their immediate pleasures, according to some faith. All these can in no way
bring security, for in themselves they are divisive, exclusive, limited. To live in the hope of
survival according to tradition, however ancient or modern, has no meaning. Partial
solutions of any kind – scientific, religious, political, economic– can no longer assure
mankind, its survival. Man has been concerned with his own individual survival, with his
family, with his group, his nation and because all this is divisive it threatens his actual
survival.
The modern divisions of nationalities, of color, of culture, of religion are the causes
of man’s uncertainty of survival. In the turmoil of today’s world, uncertainty has made man
turn to authority – to the political, religious or economic expert. The specialist is inevitably
a danger because his response must always be partial, limited. Man is no longer
individual, separate. What affects the few, affects all mankind. There is no escape or
avoidance of the problem. You can no longer withdraw from the totality of the human
predicament.
We cannot possibly survive if we are concerned with our own survival. All human
beings the world over, are interrelated today. What happens in one country affects the
others. Man considers himself an individual, separate from others but psychologically a
human being is inseparable from the whole of mankind.
There is no such thing as psychological survival. When there is this desire to
survive or to fulfill you are psychologically creating a situation which not only separates but
which is totally unreal. Psychologically you cannot be separate from another and this
desire to be separate psychologically is the very source of danger and destruction. Each
person asserting himself threatens his own existence.
This assertion of separateness destroys our capacity to work together; to work
together with nature, the living things of the earth and also with other human beings. As
social beings we exist for ourselves. Our laws, our governments, our religions all
emphasize the separateness of man – which during the centuries has developed into man
against man. It is becoming more and more important, if we are to survive, that there be a
spirit of cooperation with the universe, with all the things of the sea and earth.
One can see in all social structures the destructive effect of fragmentation taking
place – nation against nation, one group against another group, one family against another
family, one individual against another, religiously, socially, and economically. Each one is
striving for himself, for his class or his particular interest in the community. This division of
beliefs, ideals, conclusions and prejudices is preventing the spirit of cooperation from
flowering. We are human beings, not tribal identities, exclusive, separate. We are human
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beings caught in conclusions, theories and faiths. We are living creatures, not labels. It is
our human circumstance that makes us search for food, clothes and shelter at the
expense of others. Our very thinking is separative, and all actions springing from this
limited self, must prevent cooperation. The economic and social structure, as it is now,
including organized religions, intensifies exclusiveness, and separateness. This lack of
cooperation ultimately brings about wars and the destruction of man. It is only during
crises or disasters, that we seem to come together and when they are over we are back to
our old condition. We seem to be incapable of living and working together harmoniously.
Is it because our brain, which is the centre of our thought, our feeling, has from
ancient days become through necessity so conditioned to seek its own personal survival,
that this isolating, aggressive process has come about? Is it because this isolating
process identifies itself with the family, with the tribe, and becomes glorified nationalism?
Is not all isolation linked to a need for identification and fulfillment? Has not the importance
of the self been cultivated through evolution by the opposition of the ‘me’ and ‘you’, the
‘we’ and ‘they’? Have not all religions emphasized personal salvation, personal
enlightenment, personal achievement, both religiously and in the world? Has cooperation
become impossible because we have given such importance to this sense of
separateness? Is it because human cooperation has centered on some kind of authority of
Government or religion around some ideology or conclusion, which then inevitably brings
about its own destructive opposite?
What does it mean to cooperate – not the word but the spirit of it? You cannot
possibly cooperate with another, with the earth and its waters, unless you in yourself are
harmonious, not broken up, non contradictory; you cannot cooperate if you yourself are
under strain, pressure, conflict. How can you cooperate with the universe if you are
concerned with yourself, your problems and your ambitions? There can be no cooperation
if all your activities are self centered and you are occupied with your own selfishness, with
your own secret desires and pleasures. As long as the intellect with its thoughts dominates
all your actions, obviously there can be no cooperation, for self-centered thought is partial,
narrow and everlastingly divisive. Cooperation demands great honesty. Honesty has no
motive. Honesty is not some ideal, some faith. Honesty is clarity – the clear perception of
things as they are. Perception is attention. That very attention throws light with all its
energy on that which is being observed. This light of perception brings about a
transformation of the thing observed. There is no system through which you learn to
cooperate. It is not to be structured and classified. Its very nature demands that there be
love and that love is not measurable, for when you compare – which is the essence of
measurement – self has entered. Where self is, love is not.
When the truth of all this is seen and understood man’s responsibility undergoes a
radical change not only towards his immediate environment but also towards all living
things. This total responsibility is love. This love acts through intelligence. This intelligence
is not partial, individual separate. Love is never partial. Love is the sacredness of all living
things.
We have stated the problem, the cause, and now we must find the solution.
Through no effort of his, could man possibly make it. All this is possible only when your
heart is filled with the Presence. The Presence flows into you through deeksha.
Deeksha would thus help create a new generation of human beings, with a new
outlook, with a new sense of being citizens of the world, concerned with all the living things
of the earth. It is your grave responsibility to help bring about this Oneness.
Thank you.
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