It is a rare privilege to be born as a human. Time is precious. The heart is gentle. The mind is sweet. Such is the nature of humanness, but it is unfortunate that man is unable to recognise his true nature. Humanness does not exist in the mere form of the human body. Humanness is actually the very form of the Virat Swarupa (The Cosmic Person). All the powers pervasive in the cosmos reside also inside the human. Man is unable to recognise his own capabilities and does not use even a small fraction of them. Man is devoid of peace and happiness. Why is it so? How is it that man endowed with a precious and rare life, a soft heart and a sweet mind is unable to reap the benefits of these valuable possessions and enjoy peace? Unaware of his innate potential and forgetting his nature, man becomes narrow-minded, selfish and suffers from lack of mental peace.

Ancient men led a very peaceful life. Restlessness of the mind and misery were alien to them. By adhering to Sathya and Dharma, they were able to live in peace and happiness. Why does man today lack peace of mind? As is the fire, so is the smoke; as is the smoke so is the cloud; as is the cloud, so is the rain; as is the rain, so is the crop; as is the crop, so is the food and as is the food, so is the mind. Even the habits of eating and drinking of men today are not proper.

What is the true ornament for man? Lotuses are the ornaments for lakes. The houses and buildings are the ornaments of villages and towns. The waves of the ocean are its ornaments. The moon beautifies the sky. For man, character is the ornament. The loss of this ornament is the source of all misery and tribulation of man. Man does not realise the purpose for which he has been created by God. In creation, there are several truths, mysteries and ideals endowed by God. Man is missing those ideals. He is totally unable to appreciate the significance of his endowments. Of all the powers in the world, the power of humanity is the greatest. In fact, all materials in the earth are evaluated only by man. Who gives value to a diamond or for that matter, to gold? Who attaches value to land? Is it not man? Man evaluates everything in this world, but he is unable to recognise his own value. Then how can he ever understand the value of Divinity! First of all, man has to recognise his own strength and value. Then he will be in a position to attempt to understand Divinity. God is not present in any specific location like Paradise or Kailaasa or any other heavenly abode. These are mere temporary camps. The true residence of God is the heart of man. You don't need to go in search of God. Similarly, sin does not exist in some foreign land; it is lurking in your actions. Not being able to recognise that which is you and prompting you, is ignorance (Agnyana). You have to inquire into the reason for the ignorance. This is mainly because of the outwardly directed perceptions of your sense organs (Pravritthi Maarga). You are not making any effort to make the journey inwards (Nivritthi Maarga). All that you see, hear or think are outward acts. In fact, everything that you do is outward. Thus you are fully engrossed in the outward activities and are completely neglecting the inward journey.

You need to make an effort to understand humanness. In fact, there is no Divinity other than that present in humanity. Thus, first it is necessary to recognise humanness before you can even attempt to understand Divinity. There is only a difference of perception. You see the universe as universe and do not recognise the Divinity therein. You have to make an effort to turn your thought from the outward world into the inner world to perceive this Divinity. Here is a rose. From the worldly view it is just a rose flower. But, from a Divine point of view it is the flower of the heart. Wherefrom do you have this capacity to perceive the shape and smell of a rose? It is from the Divine. The inability of yours to perceive the omnipresent Divinity is the main cause for all the pains and miseries you suffer in this physical world. Madalasa, for instance, was teaching her children from childhood about this basic truth. She said, "My child, you are not this physical body. Do not mistake physical things with spiritual realities. Don't become a victim of delusion. This kind of delusion is like a dream, which vanishes on awakening. This delusion gives you the mistaken impression of the physical reality. Just as the dream state disappears when you wake up from sleep, the state of Moha (delusion) disappears when you awaken into the state of Gnyana (wisdom). When do you get dreams? You attribute dreams to the food you have eaten or some other thoughts you had while you were awake. None of this is true. Abandon this delusion of Samsara and wake up from the sleep of Moha. Moha makes you forget your true form. If there is no sleep at all there is no dream possible. Therefore, sleep is the main cause of dreams. For the dream of ignorance (Agnyana), Avidya (delusion) is the cause. Therefore, do not fall into the sleep of Avidya. Teaching this way, she transformed all her children into great Yogis.

Being born as a human is not to merely experience all the material things of this world. None of the things of the world that you experience is capable of conferring satisfaction. All experiences of the physical world only increase your desires. Therefore, each person should give up desires and recognise the principle of divinity.

From the physical and worldly point of view, you are looking upon today as the commencement of the year 2000. Such a description is not universal. It is restricted to some people using a particular calendar. It does not apply to the entire cosmos (Samashti). Cosmos in fact is divinity itself. An individual (Vyashti) is restricted in time and space and is not in the same scale as the cosmos. Thus, the individual is Jeeva, while the cosmos is Deva (Divinity). From the point of view of Divinity, 2000 years is a mere speck. Several millions of years have gone by in the past. Hence to say today marks the beginning of the year 2000, is devoid of any significance. 2000 years have passed from the era of Jesus Christ. What about the hundreds of thousands of years that have preceded the advent of Christ? Even the names of months such as January, February, etc. are related to various Greek kings and personalities of the past. Although periods of time have been named after humans, the very nature of humanness has been ignored.

Man is the very embodiment of Divinity. `Man' (Manava), the three letters stand for: `Ma' - Agnyana (ignorance), `Na' - without, `Va' - to act, so, man is one who acts without ignorance. There is another way in which this word can be interpreted. `Ma' - not, `Nava' - new, i.e. man is not new. He is ancient (Purathana) and eternal (Sanathana). Man has been existence for countless number of years.

Dispute on dates is meaningless. Every second is the birth of a new year. Seconds add up to minutes, minutes to hours, and so on to years. Every second of your life is new. Thus, there is no particular sanctity about the beginning or ending of a year. This day there are people who attribute special significance and speculate on some extraordinary or awesome events to take place. The time or date is not the cause for your happiness or misery. Your own actions (Karma) in the past, are the cause of both your happiness and misery. As you sow, so you reap. Don't waste your mental energy in speculations of this or that happening. "When you are a newborn babe, there are no ornaments round your neck. There are no necklaces of pearls or diamonds nor are any chains of gold, but there is for certain a heavily laden chain round your neck. All your actions good and bad, counted one by one have been strung together by Brahma, and this is the ornament round your neck."

When actions performed by you are proper and pure, you will get good consequences only.

On the whole, the coming year would be a good one for all of you. Actually, today is the beginning of the year 2000 and the ending of the year 1999(A.D.) In fact, you can say that the year 2000 is completed only by the December 31^st of 2000. The consequences of the past years will be unfolding in this year. In this period, for people of this country as well for the rest of the world, the effects are going to be generally beneficial. The first three months, Jan. to Mar. may be a little uneven. Why? Time is a phenomenon relating to the activities of the sun. In the year 2000 there is likely to be a small change in these. These changes are going to take place within a matter of three months. Such a physical change may carry with it other consequences of a non-material nature, resulting in some good and bad effects for the people. After this change (i.e. March 2000 onwards), there will definitely be a better and stable period. But because of this statement of Bhagwan, don't react as if everything can be left to the flow of time; effort from your side is not to be left under any circumstances.

Today humanness is on the decline. One hardly sees, hears love, truth and righteousness anywhere. In these conditions how can peace manifest? If you give some gold to a goldsmith, you can get made any ornament as per your desire. Hiranyagarbha is another term for the Creator. The Creator is therefore referred to as gold (Bangaru). If you place this divine gold into your heart, you can make any ornament of your choice like peace (Santhi), truth (Sathya) and righteousness (Dharma). Just as no ornaments can be made without gold, without Divinity, you cannot obtain Santhi, Sathya or Dharma. Hiranyagarbha is immaanent in everyone. This is why Swamy calls everyone `Bangaru'. Only when you recognise this truth and get the firm conviction in yourself that God is within you, will you obtain all kinds of welfare in your life. Disregarding this indwelling God, any amount of effort for external things is bound to result in failure. Therefore, first of all, develop faith in God. From ancient times, Bharat has been transmitting the truth regarding Divinity for the rest of the world. The culture of Bharat is truly great. But, unfortunately very few are recognising this fact. Our culture is divine, pure and ever new. Such a culture is being neglected today. Take for example the consequences of the Mahabharatha war. The priority of the Pandavas was God first, world next and themselves last. On the other hand, the Kauravas had the priority of themselves first, world next and God last. As a direct consequence, not only did they loose God, they lost their life also. God should be your first priority. With such an attitude no danger will touch you. With God in your mind and heart, serve your country.

Your country and your body are not two different entities. The country and the body are both constructed by the same five elements. It is as if the body and the country are mirror images of each other. They are inseparably interrelated and are totally interdependent. Try to recognise this truth. The youth of today are the leaders of the future. If the future is to be prosperous, the youth of the present should have firm faith in God and perform their daily activities in this faith. Patriotism is a scarce virtue in the youth of today. "One who does not say with pride, this is my motherland, this is my mother tongue, this is my religion can be compared to a living corpse." Every person of whichever country he/she may belong to, should have patriotism firmly ingrained in his/her heart. Abandoning one's duties to ones motherland, people go to other countries and become completely alienated. How can such people ever understand Divinity!

God is the basis of all, is omnipotent, omniscient and pervades all creation. "Who can say only this is Brahman and that is not. The only eternal existent entity is God. The rest is all evanescent." (Poem in Telugu). Just as without cotton, there can be no cloth, without silver, there can be no tumbler, the world itself cannot exist without God. Do not mistake this transient body (Deha) as real. It is the indwelling divinity (Dehi) that is the true reality. This Divinity is beyond birth and death; the one without an origin. This birth-less, deathless eternal God is the eternal witness for the entire Cosmos. Recognise this truth.

You are celebrating today as the beginning of the New Year 2000. Let us not decry this as an imposition of the British. We should not allow any such narrow distinctions. The humanity the whole world is the same.. All men of all countries form one caste. Keep this truth firmly in your heart. You must recognise that the birth as a human being is a rare occurrence. Consider time as valuable. Heart must be soft and the mind must be sweet. Do not poison you nectarine mind by directing it on the external objects. By doing so, you are making the soft heart into a hard stone. Do not waste time. Time is the very form of God. Hence it is said in the Vedas, Kaalaaya Namaha Kaala Kaalaaya Namaha, Kaala Darpa Dhamanaya Namaha, Kaala Theethaaya Namaha…..etc.

Therefore,firmly believe that Time is Divine. Do not put firm faith on your body. The body is impermanent. It grows with time and declines with time.

You are considering today as a very sacred day. Yat Bhavam Tat Bhavati. Depending of the state of your mind the consequences vary. In any event, the year 2000 is not bad in any sense. It is bound to promote very high ideals and is going to propagate high divine principles/ It is going to promote unity. In a very short time all people of the world are going to be united as one. There are a large number of countries like America, Russia, Japan, China, Pakistan, India…etc, existing as separate entities. Soon consensus is going to arise amongst all these countries. Even those whom we consider irreconcilable enemies are going to become our closest allies. None will be there who hate us. We are all brothers. In a short time, you are all going to witness the truth of the expression, "Brotherhood of Man, Fatherhood of God", the slogan of unity of mankind. With a pure heart, all of you pray for this to happen at the earliest. There are many people in the world in great distress. The people who have been recently hijacked were under a severe strain. Prayer is the only remedy for alleviation of such misery. There is nothing in the world that cannot be achieved by prayer. Prayer melts the hardest of hearts. Pray wholeheartedly, "Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavanthu." Do not pray just for the welfare of your family, friends and relatives alone. Such narrow-minded prayers are futile. Your prayer should be for the welfare of all people in all countries of the world.

The one principle that you have to hold and develop is that of love. When love dominates, there is no room for hatred.

The Gopikas prayed to Krishna:

You must sow the seed of love in loveless hearts. Water it with love. Let Love flow in a flood and reach all. You have to cultivate this pure, firm, unselfish love. This is the practice that you have to cultivate in this new year. Modern man directs his love towards worldly objects and gets entangled in several complications. Love lives by giving and forgetting. Selfish love can be compared to the foul smell of a fish. Cultivate selfless love. Love all. No need to fear anyone. Keep your love pure. A lot of people are worrying and speculating as to how the year 2000 will unfold. There will be no formidable difficulties. All things come and go. World devoid of happiness and misery cannot exist. Nothing is bad for the world. Pleasure is an interval between two pains. How can you feel pleasure if you have never felt the pain? These come and go like passing clouds. One should neither dread the one nor crave for the other. Meet all contingencies with love. Transform everything into love and suffuse your lives with love. Then there shall be peace and stability in the world. Why do you repeat the syllable "Santhi" (peace) thrice? The first refers to the body, the second to the mind and third to the soul, for you are not one individual, but three. The one you think you are (physical body). The one others think you are (mental body). The one you really are (Atma). All three aspects must be in a state of peace. The means for all this is only love. With love alone all these can be achieved. Swami is the visible proof of this. The only wealth with Swami is Love. Who sent out invitations to this large congregation? Your love towards Swami and Swami's love towards all of you have attracted all of you here. Hence convince yourselves that everything can be achieved with love. Cultivate love in yourself. The evil traits of hatred, jealousy and pride should be cast aside. These are not human traits, they are appropriate for animals only. Truth is the basis of humanity, righteousness the innate propensity and love is the most important attitude. If you possess all these, peace is your property by right. Abandoning selfishness, adopting an attitude of unity and desiring the welfare of all, address your prayers to God. You are not born for merely eating, wandering and sleeping. You have to become ideal examples to the nation. What is the ideal that you have to show? You must help all to your utmost capacity. The best way to love God is to LOVE ALL SERVE ALL . Adopting service and love as your ideals, you must commence your new life from this moment - this is My blessing and benediction to you.

Bhagavan concluded His Discourse with the Bhajan "Prema Muditha Manase Kaho…."

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