5. Sri N.V. Raghava Rao

Babuji Maharaj said, “The end of Religion is the beginning of Spritiuality; the end of Spirituality is the beginning of Reality and the end of Realty is the Real Bliss. When that too is gone, we have reached the destination” All of us in our Institute have (or should have) crossed the boundaries of Religion and are marching on the path of Spirituality. Our journey continues from the present state of individuality to the final goal of identity. This needs an iron will, determination, courage and so many other such characteristics. At every step of our journey, we are tested. Who tests us? It is the Satan that tests us at every step.

Who or what is Satan?

When we want to do something, there is an opposition to it. Where there is a flow, there is also resistance to the flow. When there is motion, there is friction too. This principle of resistance to any activity is called as Satan. This principle has been in vogue since creation and will continue till the end. So, Satan came into existence when the creation started and will live on till the end.

Satan co-exists with everything. In us, there is Divinity and Satan. We always have a choice between the Divine and the Satan. In the morning, the Divine gives us a call to get up and get ready for Meditation and immediately the Satan tells us “you have been doing meditation for so long, it doesn’t matter if you miss it for today”. It also gives compelling justifications like “you went to bed very late last night or you are too tired and your body needs to rest now”. So there is the call of the Divine and the test of the Satan. It is our choice. The will and determination that we have should help us get through the test. The Satan reminds us everyday, how difficult and time consuming the Meditational practices are, how many other important and interesting things/activities we can do instead of spending all the precious time sitting in a corner. On one side the Master talks of Constant Remembrance and on the other side the Satan is ever ready to come up with more interesting and compelling alternatives. It is our decision to take either side. If we take the Master’s side, we go towards Divinity; otherwise we go away from Divinity. As we progress in Spirituality, the path becomes more and more slippery. Once the grosser impurities are removed, we get to finer impurities of ego. The Satan plays its game and makes our movement tougher and tougher. The Satan is with us till we reach the Destination. Perhaps even there, if one is inattentive even for a moment, the Satan wins over. While the Master is our true friend, the Satan always wants to befriend us.

The Satan can influence us to go away from the Divine but we can never become Satan. The individual who gets fully influenced by the Satan will become grosser and grosser till he becomes a living stone, wherein the thought of God is almost nil (it is never nil) and he becomes extremely lazy or inactive in this aspect. At this stage, even the Satanic influence is minimal because there is almost no activity from the individual and the Satan has nothing to oppose. This is the worst situation to be in and the Master has given a very strong caution when he said “When we are out of Reality, we become Satan”. It is only a strong caution for us and we should not be taking this statement verbatim. It is similar to the Master’s statement “Mend or End”. For all of us, the choice is clear and I pray that we get through all the tests of the Satan and reach our Destination as soon as possible and stay there forever.