Sathya Sai Baba The World-Avatar Teaching and Revelations

the answer. Now, you must first understand what is meant by the bright
fortnight. It is the half-month when the light of the moon increases day
by day. But what is the relationship of the light of the moon to man and
his death? The moon is the symbol of the mind of man. Out of the
moon was the mind born. The bright half of the moon, therefore signifies
the progress of the mind spiritually, in Divine discipline; the fullmoon
signifies the fullness of that achievement. The bright half is the
period when spiritual progress is attended. For the body, the visible
moon; for the mind, the symbolic moon-deity presiding over the mind!
The increasing splendour of the mind due to the increasing realization
of one's own Divinity is what is meant. (2-162/165)
Life is like a long garland. This garland has two ends, one is birth and
the other is death. In between these two ends, the garland consists of
many flowers. Your dreams, thoughts, ideas, sorrows, joys and pleasures
are the various flowers that make up this garland. You have to decide
whether you regard life itself as the garland or whether you regard
the connections of your body with life as the garland. When you look
at the two ends of this garland, it is quite clear that birth and death, are
relevant only to the body and not to living being inside the body. In that
context, whether it be pain or pleasure, sorrow or happiness, dream or
imagination, all of them are concerned with the body and not with the
being. It is the body which is undergoing many changes and transformations.
The higher self, the Atman does not undergo any change but
remains permanent, steady, pure, selfless and firm. (...)
During his youth and boyhood, man mixes with many people and
spends his time playing with them. As he advances in age, he involves
himself in satisfying his desires, running after women and seeking love
and affection. When he grows older, he wants to earn money and
amass wealth so that he can use it for his pleasure. When he becomes
quite old, he does not think of the Divine but spends his time in many
different ways and finds himself unable to give up the attachments
which he has developed in his life. In this manner, man simply wastes
his life, turns it into mud and makes it utterly useless in the end. (35-
34+36)
You try to inquire into the significance of the phenomenal world when
you witness birth following death and death following birth. Is this cycle
of birth and death the only significant feature of this world? On inquiry,
446