Swami's Words of Wisdom
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Human desire is illimitable and
without end. It makes you pursue the mirage in the desert; it
makes you build castles in the air; it breeds discontent and
despair, once you succumb to it. But develop the thirst for
Krishna; you discover the cool spring of Ananda within you.
Krishna Nama makes you very strong and steady; it is sweet and
sustaining.
Mine, not thine, this sense of greed is the root of all evil. This
distinction is applied even to God!- my God, not yours! Your
God, not mine!
Your life is really like a tapestry. You look at one side and see
all the disconnected and loose ends, and say, 'What a mess my life
is!' God sees the finished product on the other side and sighs,
'How beautiful you have become!'
The individual born in the lake of Society must swim and float in
the calm waters, and joining the River of Progress, merge into the
Ocean of Grace; Man has to move from the stance of 'I' to the
position of 'We'. To this day, we see only the wild dance of
go-stricken individuals, who hate society and behave most
unsociably.
All men have two constables ever with them; They are the symbols
of his sentence of imprisonment. They are 'Abhiman' (Sense of I)
over 'Mamakar' (sense of mine), the egoistic feeling and the pride
of possession. Man is a prisoner of his senses as long as these
two keep him under guard. Man strays away into misery and pain,
because he loses the sense of value and runs after the temporary
and the trivial. He ignores the voice of God which warns and
guides him from within; and he pays the penalty for the
transgression.
Man is equipped with a return-ticket when he takes birth. Holding
it in his grasp, he earns and spends, rises and falls, sings and
dances, weeps and wails, forgetting the end of the journey. But
though he forgets, the wagon of life moves toward the cemetery,
which is its terminus. It brings no glory to man if he is tied
helplessly to the wheel of birth and death. His glory and
greatness consist in disentangling himself from that revolving
wheel.
Do not consider any act of service as demeaning. Sweeping the
streets, for example, is not below your dignity. Do you not sweep
the floor of your homes? Do you not scrub and wash off dirt? When
you undertake such tasks, the villagers will also gladly share in
them. Why feel ashamed to be good? The ridicule that may be cast
on you has been the reward of many saints. It will soon fade away.
Muhammad was driven out of Mecca by those who could not appreciate
his teachings. Jesus was crucified. But their names resound in the
heart of millions.
Remember, God is your guardian, when you sleep; when you are
helpless; even when you have forgotten or neglected or discarded
Him. He has no need you offer or promise to offer. He is ever
content, ever blissful, ever full and ever free. Do your duty to
yourself - that is enough offering for Him.
You may have a vast scholarship, fame or fortune. But, the bee can
give you a lesson on how to be free from torment. The tree can
teach you forbearance and tolerance. It offers shade to all,
irrespective of age, sex or religion, nationality or status. It
helps with fruit and shade even to the foe who lays his axe on its
trunk! The dog can teach you a lesson in Faith, Self-less service
and the process of Dedication.
There is only one God and He is Omnipresent". True. But to
concentrate on the Omnipresent, some fixed point or preliminary
form is needed. And to conceive of the Divine as present
everywhere and at all times, the mind of man is to be clarified
and purified by means of a certain psychological process called
Sadhana.
My activities are not for publicity or propaganda or even to
confer joy on others! They are for conferring joy primarily on Me!
I have no need to please others and to earn approval or
appreciation. For, I and you are not different entities; you are
I; and I am you. I am the current that flows into every bulb and
illuminates it. Those who see me as separate are seeing falsehood.
I am in your hearts; you are in Mine. Don't be misled into doubt
and distress. Dogs may bark and jackals howl; but Truth moves
Majestically forward.
A person being transferred from one Goal to another will have two
constables who will escort him; the 'Punya' and the 'Papa' ( good
consequences and the bad consequences of actions) are the
consequences who lead man from one birth to another. If you must
escape from their attention and avoid migration from one Goal to
another, act - but do not calculate the consequences. That is to
say, do not worry about the consequence; leave it to God who
prompted the act and made it possible. Dedicate the act, the will
and the wish, all to God.
Happiness and peace do not follow when man is fed well, clothed
well, housed well, and educated up to a good standard and employed
under comfortable conditions, with no injury to health or
security. There are many who have all these in plenty but who are
yet worried or in pain or discontented. They depend on the inner
equipment of man, not his outer skill or riches.
The ultimate step of
Self-realisation depends upon the base of Self-confidence. You
must therefore develop as a first step Confidence in your own
self. Without having and developing Confidence in your own self,
if all the time you are talking of some power being with someone
else, if in this way you travel all the time and depend on power
which is with someone else, when are YOU going to acquire any
power and confidence in ownself?
If you live on the level of the Body and the Individual, you will
get entangled in food, fun and frolic, ease, envy and pride.
Forget it, ignore it, overcome it -- You will have peace, joy and
calm. In the Divine Path, there is no chance of failure; it is the
Path of Love.
It is easy to criticise or belittle the "leelas" or infinite
potencies of God. But it is very difficult to comprehend the truth
about the Divine. The Omnipresent Divine is present both in Truth
and untruth. He is present both in righteousness (Dharma) and
unrighteousness (Adharma). He is present in good and evil. With
regard to such an all-pervading Divine, how can anyone determine
what is good and what is bad?
No matter where you go, always do your duty as you see it and know
that I will be there inside you guiding you every step of the
way...There is no need to worry about anything. Whatever is
experienced, whatever happens, know that this Avatar willed it so.
There is no force on earth which can delay for an instant the
mission for which this Avatar has come. You are all sacred souls
and you will have your parts to play in the unfolding drama of the
new Golden Age, which is coming.
You cannot be fresh and feeling fine, wearing a washed vest under
an unwashed shirt; or, an unwashed vest over a washed shirt. Both
have to be clean, to provide a sense of tingling joy. So too outer
and inner cleanliness is but the reflection of the inner
achievement. There is a strange glow on the face of a guileless
person. Inner cleanliness has its own soap and water - the soap of
strong faith and the water of constant practice.
Reason can prevail only when arguments are advanced without the
whipping of the Sound. Silence is the speech of the Spiritual
Seeker. Soft sweet speech is the expression of genuine Love. Hate
screeches; fear squeals; Conceit trumpets. But, Love sings
lullabies; it soothes; it applies balm. Practice the Vocabulary of
Love; unlearn the language of hate and contempt.
I had to tell you so much about my Truth, for, I desire that you
should contemplate on this and derive joy from the reform, so that
you may be inspired to observe the disciplines laid down by Me and
progress toward the Goal of Self Realisation, The realisation of
the Sai that shines in your hearts.
To achieve release, man kneels before a million Gods, in frantic
pain. If he but blasts the ego within the Goal is reached, he is
freed indeed! It is difficult indeed to understand the ego in its
depth and devious ways. It is an inert entity: that is to say, it
cannot know itself not can it know others; It has no fear; it will
not bend before others; it degrades man from the golden glory,
which is his due, to the level of lowly dust.
The World today is in a very bad state. The situation can improve
only through Asthikas, who are believers in Divinity. They should
become Prema Swaroopas or Embodiments of Love and by their
Sadhana, backed by patience, forbearance and compassion, play
their role in serving Society and contributing to the betterment
of the World. God is present in you and is visualising through
thousands of eyes what you do. Even when no one is seeing, God is
watching your actions always. Do everything with this awareness.
Life is a bridge. Cross over it, but don't build a house on it.
All religions exhort man to cleanse the heart of malice, greed,
hate and anger. All religions hold out the gift of Grace as the
prize for success in this cleaning process. Ideas of superiority
and inferiority arise only in a heart corrupted by egoism. If
someone argues that he is higher or his religion is holier, it
proves that he has missed the significance of his faith.
Man is basically, essentially and fully immortal. He is
'Amrithaswarupam' yet he is afraid he would die! He is
'Anandaswarupa'; yet, he is it that weeps that he is miserable. He
is 'Shanthiswarupam'; yet, everywhere he is overlaid by anxiety.
This absurd self-deception is the root of the tragedy from which
the World suffers today.
For each person, there is a Code of Conduct laid down in the
Shastras, according to age and status, the profession adopted, the
stage of spiritual attainment reached and the goal of life
accepted. Do not carp at the behaviour of others or at the efforts
they make, to get consolation and courage amidst the turmoils of
life. For each, there is the path that he has chosen and the Name
and Form of God he prefers. Also do not give up your code of
duties and take up that recommended for someone else.
Man seeks joy in far off places and peace in quiet spots; but the
spring of joy is in his heart. the haven of peace is in himself.
Even when he walks on the moon, man has to take with him, his
fears, his anxieties, his prejudices and his pet aversions. Have
faith in God and in the correctness of moral living. Then, you can
have peace and joy, whatever may be the fare that fortune offers
you.
The parents gave you this body and fostered the intelligence and
love that are embedded in it; so, gratitude is their due. If you
do not honour the parents who are the creators in human form, how
can you learn to honour the Creator in Divine Form? Moreover, the
parents reveal to you the glory of God and the means of
worshipping Him; they are the first representatives of the
authority which you meet with, authority modified by love and
care. Learn to bend before that authority and you will learn how
to submit before the Lord.
You have it in your power to make your days on Earth a path of
flowers, instead of a path of thorns. Recognise the Sai resident
in every heart and all will be smoothness, softness and sweetness
for you. Sai will be the fountain of Love in your heart and in the
hearts of all with whom you come in contact. Know that Sai is
Omnipresent and that, He is present in every living thing and you.
Adore everyone as you adore Sai.
Rise up to the Divine, don't bring Godhead to your human and even
animal levels. Do not worship God as the picture before you, but
worship the picture before you as God, because God is in
everything and can be grasped through every single symbol. There
is nothing wherein He is not,; there is no might or right, apart
from Him.
Snakes hiss; pigs grunt; and bills moo! They are asserting their
ego, intent on keeping others away. Of the traits of ego, pride is
the most poisonous. But, the pride of the scholar and the vanity
of Pundits are so thick, that it is impossible for them to get rid
of these.
In organizations like Government there are different Departments;
namely, the Departments of Health, Education or Finance.
Similarly, even in the spiritual field, there are different
"departments". They are creation, sustenance and dissolution. Each
department has a [leader]. Each leader of a department has to look
after and run the department smoothly and efficiently. There would
be a Master (Head) in charge of all three departments. He may be
called either Chief Minister or Prime Minister. He controls all
the three departments. He is also called Allah and [other] names
by different people. In the English language, He is called GOD.
"G" stands for Generation; "O" for Organization; and "D" for
Dissolution.
To know the Divine, we should develop Divine thoughts.
The essence of all religions is One. Surrender is the main duty of
everyone. Surrender means the feeling of oneness: I and God are
One. Why? The reason is that the One who is present in you is
present in me.
Only one God is present in everyone. Never follow the differences
basing on the differences of the body. There is no chance or scope
for conflict. It is the body attachment, which is responsible for
fights. Never believe that body is permanent. Body is like a water
bubble. Mind is like a mad monkey. Don't follow the mind. Don't
follow the body. Follow the Conscience. That is the main principle
of this text. So we should follow our Conscience.
In order to acquire Divinity, in order to find out the Divinity
within us, if you want to know yourself, you should develop PURE
LOVE. It is this bond of Love that binds everybody. This is the
bond of Love.
Practice is very important. You can propagate, that will never be
permanent. You can propagate by practising what you say, through
practice. That is the fundamental thing. When you practice and
enjoy, others will follow you.
This attachment is not God's gift. Bliss is God's gift. God's gift
is Peace. God's gift is Truth. That is the God's gift. All the
rest are passing clouds.
So today we have to develop compassion. That is the principle of
Jesus. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. LOVE IS GOD. LIVE IN LOVE. START THE DAY
WITH LOVE. FILL THE DAY WITH LOVE. SPEND THE DAY WITH LOVE. END
THE DAY WITH LOVE. THIS IS THE WAY TO GOD. Therefore, we should
live in LOVE continuously.
GOD IS ALWAYS WITH YOU, IN YOU,
AROUND YOU. We should have such a friend. So actually speaking,
real friend is GOD. God is our permanent friend. All worldly
pleasures and comforts are like passing clouds
GOD IS IMPORTANT. If you have God
with you, you will have the rest. Real wealth is God. Real health
is God. We should make every effort to pray for God. Because we
are from God, we should be back to God.
Embodiments of Love! There is
Love in everyone of you. Develop that Love. Share it with the
people. You also experience with your fellow people. This love -
this love is not one-way traffic. It is just two-way: GIVE and
TAKE. We don't need to go anywhere, if you have Love.
All are One. Be alike to
everyone. Share, propagate this truth all over the world. God is
in everyone. God is in you and you are God. Strengthen this
fundamental truth. When you propagate this truth, that is the real
service. It is the service that will take you to closer proximity,
a boat. In this ocean of life, take the help of this boat and gain
the proximity.
The Lord rushes toward the Bhakta
faster than the Bhakta rushes towards HIM. If you take one step
towards Him, He takes a hundred steps towards you ! He will be
more than a mother or father. He will foster you from within you,
as He has saved and fostered so many Saints who have placed faith
in HIM.
You must not be a bit of blotting
paper, absorbing all the passions and emotions, all the joys and
grief that the actress of Nature demonstrates of the stages of
life. You must be a Lotus, unfolding its petals when the Sun rises
in the sky, unaffected by the slush where it is born or even the
water which sustains it!
Faith in God is the secure
foundation on which hope has to be built. The faith has to be
stable and strong. The feeling that God will come to our rescue
has to be vivid and vital, motivating and activating all that we
do or speak or think. Service rendered to others in this spirit
will be a great source of joy to you as well as to the recipient.
Women are proverbially too
individualistic! There is a popular belief, born out of
folk-experience, that three women cannot live in unison! There is
a Telugu limerick, which says, "The world shivers before one
woman. The ocean will dry up, if there are two! And if there are
three, O, the stars will drop down at noon!" Why is woman so
characterized? Woman is extremely deficient in Sahana, I mean
ability to bear defeat, fortitude, forbearance, patience and
quiet, suffering with no thought of retaliation. That is why woman
is said to be the weaker sex.
SILENCE, Cleanliness and
Forbearance. In Silence can be heard the Voice of God, not in the
revelry of noise. Through Cleanliness, you earn purity. By
Forbearance, you cultivate Love. You have come today to your own
home. This is your home not Mine. My home is your heart. So, do
not try to have your lunch elsewhere but in your home, where you
get this day food consecrated by Me, the Prasad.
If there is righteousness in the
heart, there will be beauty in character. If there is beauty in
character, there will be harmony in the home. When there is
harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. When there
is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world".
I have come to light the lamp of
Love in your hearts, to see that it shines day by day with added
lustre. I have not come on behalf of any exclusive religion. I
have not come on any mission of publicity for any sect or creed or
cause; nor have I come to collect followers for any doctrine. I
have no plan to attract disciples or devotees into my fold or any
fold. I have come to tell you of this unitary faith, this
spiritual principle, this path of Love, this virtue of Love, this
duty of Love, this obligation to Love.
It is the duty of everyone to
live in the awareness of Truth. He who lives on Earth must become
Man at first. Then, he has to learn the way to God, and discover
the delight of the Spirit. This is the 'Raja Yoga' path that the
Vedas teach. The Atma illumines all objects; It needs no other
source of illumination to shine; It is the seer of the Universe.
The world itself is a great
teacher, a constant guide and inspiration. That is the reason why
man is surrounded and sustained by the world. Every bird, every
animal, every tree, mountain and star and each tiny worm has a
lesson for man, if he has but the will and the thirst to learn.
These make the World a veritable University for man; it is a
Gurukul (place where teacher and student both learn and grow
together) where he is a pupil from birth to death.
If you do not feel the call at
the sight of human distress, disease or deviation from the right,
how can you muster the determination and dedication necessary to
serve the unseen, inscrutable, mysterious God? When you do not
love man, your heart will not love God. Despising brother-man, you
cannot, at the same time, worship God; if you do, God will not
accept that hypocrisy. God is resident in every heart; so, if you
serve any one, that service reaches God within him: it brings to
you the Grace of God.
Life has been bestowed not for
just eating and digesting and roaming and reclining, but for a far
greater purpose - the realization of Divinity in us, in all that
exists around us and even beyond all things that strike our
senses. To waste such a life in vain pursuits and in mere senses
of pleasures is not the sign of an intelligent person. Deserve the
Grace of God by helping the weak and poor, the diseased and the
disabled, the distressed and the downtrodden.
Faith has to be cultivated, first
and foremost. It has to be nurtured in Love. Love is fostered by
Shanti (equanimity). Shanti can be got only when there is full
reliance on God and complete surrender to the Divine Will. If one
loses wealth, he may regain it by some means or other. If he loses
health, some doctor might prescribe a tonic to win it back. If one
loses status and authority he may, by sheer luck, gain them back.
If Virtue is lost, it is lost forever; nothing can restore the
pristine purity. So one has to be ever vigilant and should never
slacken.
The spiritual laws that the sages
of India have discovered and laid down will never be overruled;
they stand valid for ever. Further research can only strengthen
and confirm their authenticity, as further facts only render the
diamond more brilliant. Bharath has contributed to the World the
priceless gem of Truth; 'Iswarah Darvabhutaanaam Hrddese, Arjuna,
Thishtati'. God is the resident motivator of all beings. Until
this fact is realized by the individual, he will be tainted by
traces of anger, pride and hate, for he sees others as distinct
and different.
All religions teach one basic
discipline - the removal from the mind of the blemish of egoism,
of running after little joys. Every Religion teaches man to fill
his being with the Glory of God, and evict the pettiness of
conceit. It trains him in methods of detachment and
discrimination, so that he may aim high and attain liberation.
Believe that all hearts are motivated by the one and Only God -
that all faiths glorify the One and the Only God; that all names
in all languages and all Forms men can conceive, denote the One
and Only God.
It was ascribed to one's past
deeds and one's own mental tendencies. It is wrong to cast the
blame on others. But, someone pointed out that God was the
originator of both joy and grief and that, without His Will, no
blade of grass can waver in the wind; Yes; if that Truth be firmly
established in the heart, one gets the unique bliss of liberation.
God gives everything; whatever we get is His grace. You have no
right to judge whether what you get is good or bad."
You are only actors on the stage
before the footlights. The Director, who knows the Play, who
assigns the roles, who gives the cues, who calls you in and puts
you on is behind the curtain. You are a puppet; He holds the
strings. If He must be seen, you have to be His 'Sakhaa' (friend)
or 'Bandhu'(kinsman). Merely being an onlooker will not entitle
you to approach Him and be in His Holy Company. Cultivate His
Friendship or Kinship by the attitude of Love and Dedicated
Service.
Do not hope to gain Grace by
looking down upon mankind and looking up at Sai. Remember, that
your dress, behaviour and appearance will reveal your character
and attitude towards others. Always have sweet, soft words on your
tongue; cast your eyes only on holy sights. Wear clean, simple
clothes and do not imitate those who are fascinated by latest
fashions in dress and style. How can you do Seva when you move so
far away from the common man ? I advise you to "Follow the
Master". By 'Master' I mean the Conscience within you, the Voice
of God.
Service is God. Why has God
endowed man with a body, a mind and an intellect ? Feel with the
mind, plan with the intelligence and use the body to serve those
who are in need of service. Offer that act of service to God;
worship home with that Flower. Put into daily practice the ideals
that Sathya Sai has been propagating and make them known all over
the World, by standing forth as living examples of their
greatness.
God is the inner Motivator of all
beings; All this is enveloped in God; This is the inner mystery of
the Incarnation. God incarnating in all ! All are one; The One is
All. There is only one God; He is Omnipresent ! There is only one
religion - the Religion of Love. There is only one Caste - the
caste of Humanity. There is only one Language - the Language of
the Hart.
To presume that either from
wealth or from kith and kin you can derive mental peace is a great
error. Such peace only comes from God. In fact there is no
strength superior to Love; where Love is there everything is. So
you must live in God; and live in Love; then everything shall be
right. You must make others also live in Love.
People crowd into film shows,
rush towards social clubs - spend days together in playing cards -
but when they are asked to sing the Glory of God and purify
themselves and the atmosphere, they clamor for concession ! When
the heads hit against each other in anger, can the feet be steady
and unaffected ? They too will kick and trample as maliciously as
they can.
As the Vedas announce, there is
no Dharma higher than Truth. Truth gets hidden, appears distorted
and is declared to be failing; so, the Avatar asserts its validity
and value once again. God wears Truth, the good seek Truth and the
bad are rescued by Truth; Truth liberates; Truth is power; Truth
is freedom. It is the lamp that illuminates the heart and dispels
doubt and darkness. The effulgence of God is Truth. Welcome God in
your heart. Install Him there as a result of yearning. Be always
concerned with Brahman; then you are entitled to be known as a
Brahmin.
Injury inflicted on any being is
sacrilege, self-injury. Love is transformed into poison, if hate
contaminates it. Love some but do not hate the rest, for that hate
will foul the Love and make it mortal. Love comes automatically to
the realised soul; but, the Sadhaka has to cultivate it by means
of Seva and inquiry into the unity of the Atman. Love must flow
not from the tongue or from the head only, but chiefly from the
heart.
Prasadam means Grace, which flows
from God when He is propitiated. My Grace is ever with you; it is
not something that is given or taken; it is given always and
accepted by the Consciousness that is aware of its significance,
Win the Grace of your own sub-conscious, so that it may receive
the Grace of God which is ever available. God does not deny
anyone; it is only you, who deny God. When the gift is proffered,
you have to do only one little act, so that you may earn it. You
have to extend your hand to receive it.
Ambition to earn fame in the
world, to gain some position of authoritz over fellow-men, to lead
luxurious life - this can never ensure Shanti, Mental Peace.
Mental Peace is the result of quite different attainments. Wealth
cannot command it, nor authority commander it ! It must be won the
hard way through Meditation, Namasmaran and the nine steps to the
presence of the Almighty. It must be won on the Earth, to which
man rightfully belongs; and, not on any other heavenly body
towards which he may dare navigate.
The basic lesson that each
Religion teaches is to surrender to the sovereign-will of God and
leave the consequences of deeds, well done, to the Lord Himself.
It is His will and your only duty is to shape yourself into a fit
instrument. To suppress the assertive ego, disciplines have been
laid down in every Religion, by every compiler of moral codes, by
every educator and reformer of human morals. But the oldest,
most-effective and the most successfully practised system is the
body of directives laid down in the Vedas and Shastras of India.
Time ticks on relentlessly and
man is born, lives and dies, rotating on the wheel of Karma and
consequently unaware of the means of escaping from the oncoming
destiny. Agony and anxiety have not softened his heart; adventure
and achievement have not made him humble. He is proud of his
advance in the path of hatred and haughtiness. He revels in
cruelty and sin. He displays an unholy satisfaction in immorality
and untruth. He has reduced himself to a level lower than that of
beasts.
The receptacle may be different
but the Divine content is the same. The taste of sea-water will be
saline whether you test a truckload, a bowlful, a potfull or a sip
or a drop on the tongue: the taste of the Divine can be
experienced in the atom or the Cosmos, the friend as well as the
foe, the virus and the Universe. This is Realisation, the
Liberation, the Illumination and the Revelation: "Sarvam
Vishnumayam Jagat". This sphere of change is surcharged with the
Omnipresent Divine.
From the narrow vision of
'individual need', man must voyage out into the broad vision of
the 'Universal'. When a drop of water falls into the Ocean, it
loses its narrow individuality, its name and form, and assumes the
form, name and taste of the Ocean itself. If it seeks to live
separately as a 'drop', it will soon evaporate and be reduced to
non-existence. Each one must become aware that he is part of the
one Truth that encompasses everything in the Universe. It is
reprehensible to stick, for one's whole life-time, to the narrow
path of selfishness, envy and greed. Make the heart big and the
mind pure.
There is no discipline equal to
service to smother the ego and to fill the heart with genuine joy.
To condemn service as demeaning and inferior is to forego these
benefits. If a wave of service sweeps over the land, catching
everyone in its enthusiasm, it will be able to wipe off the mounds
of hatred, malice and greed that infest the World. Attune your
hearts so that it will vibrate in sympathy with the woes and joys
of your fellow-men. Fill the World with Love. Love will warn you
against advising another to do something which you yourself are
unwilling to do; your conscience will tell you that you are living
in a lie!
There are Four *F's* that you
will have to fix before your attention:
(1) Follow the Master;
(2) Face the Devil;
(3) Fight to the End; and
(4) Finish at the Goal.
Follow the Master means: observe
Dharma. Face the Devil means: overcome the temptations that beset
you when you try to earn Artha or wealth or the wherewithal to
live in comfort. Fight to the End means: struggle ceaselessly;
wage war against the six enemies that are led by Kama or lust. And
finally, Finish at the Goal means: do not stop until the goal,
Moksha or Liberation from ignorance and delusion, is reached. The
*F's* are fundamental for the pursuit of the four Purusharthas -
Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
No bird casts the seed on land to
grow food for itself, nor do beasts plough and enclose fields
claiming - this is mine, this is for my children and children's
children -. 'Nishkama-Karma' is the natural face of activity for
the children of God, the progeny of Immortality. They sing and
swim, they dance and drive, they talk and walk and they pray and
pine, because they must; it is the nature too. They do not know
what will happen, as a consequence, they do not care; they do not
anticipate any result. They are just themselves when they do these
things. It is Sahaja-Lakshana, their innate nature and their
inborn characteristic.
Agriculture is for living; mind
culture is for life. Skills are for shaping material things so
that they cater more for the comfort of man; studies are for
shaping attitudes, feelings, desires, emotions and impulses of
man, so that they may confer more peace, more joy and more
fortitude on man.
Egoism will be destroyed, if you
constantly tell yourself, 'It is He, not I', 'He is the force, I
am but the instrument'. Keep His name always on the tongue, and
contemplate His glory whenever you see or hear anything beautiful
or grand. See in everyone the Lord Himself moving in that form. Do
not talk evil of others; see only good in them. Welcome every
chance to help others, to console others and to encourage others
along the spiritual path.
Man is suffering because he
cannot rid himself of the greed for sense-objects, and sense
pleasures, or Vishaya-Vasana. He knows that he has to give up
whatever he earns and collects, sooner or later; but yet his
attachment waxes instead of waning, as the years go by. If every
man on Earth could take with him on death even a handful of mud
from the Earth, there would have been nothing much left and mud
would have been rationed at so many ounces per head!
You have read that the Lord,
melted and moved when one performs acute Thapas, comes and asks
softly and sweetly: "My dear child, What is it you need ?" He
wants you to express in words what you have yearned for and ask
the Lord whom you have brought before you through the exercise of
silence. That is the little game He plays. And sometimes He wills
that the questioner answers in the way His plan demands.
To cross safely the flood of
"Birth-Death-Continuum", the bridge, called Nishta or discipline
of an unflinching kind, is essential. It must be a sturdy, safe
bridge: or else you will fall into the raging waters and be drawn
into the sea, infested with the sharks: Lust and Anger. See how
great heroes like Prahlada did not lose their hold on the Lord, in
spite of heavy odds. Prahlada never gave up the repetition of the
Name of the Lord, though he was tortured, twisted and burnt. One,
must have that determination and faith.
Sorrows and disasters are like
the clouds that flit across the sky; they cannot injure the blue
depths of space. Your duty is just to strive on from this very
moment. Do not vacillate or postpone. Who knows when death knocks
? May be, he may knock this very night, this very moment;
therefore, do not delay. Do you postpone for tomorrow the dinner
of this day ! Feed the spirit as scrupulously as you now feed the
body.
You will find that you have
craved only for paltry things and for momentary distinctions for
fleeting fame; you should cry only for God, for your own cleansing
and consummation. You should weep, wailing for the six cobras that
have sheltered themselves in your mind, poisoning it with their
venom: Lust, Anger, Greed, Attachment, Pride and Malice. Quieten
them as the snake-charmer does with his swaying flute. The music,
that can take them, is the singing aloud of the Name of God. And
when they are too intoxicated to move and harm, catch them by the
neck and pull out their fangs as the charmer does. Thereafter they
can be your playthings; you can handle them as you please.
If you seek to fulfill low
desires, why come here ? Come here only if you seek to earn Grace.
Go to a hospital only when you are resolved to take the drug the
physician prescribes and go through the regimen he lays down. So,
obey the directions that I give, whatever others may say or
however difficult they may appear to be. You have not come to
Prasanthi Nilayam to please those others. You have to please Me.
Turn the key in the lock to the
right, it opens; turn the same key to the left; it is locked. Turn
your mind towards the objective World, it is locked, caught,
entangled. Turn it to the right away from the objects of the
senses; the lock is loosened, you are free and deliverance is at
hand. How to turn right? Well, begin with Namasmarana, as the
first step. That will itself take you through the second and the
third...... to the very goal.
If Liberation means the stoppage
of grief and the acquisition of joy, then it is easy. What you
have to do is to place all your burdens on God; that makes you
grief-free and care-free. Then, when you take everything as the
Leela of Lord you love, you clap your hands in Ananda whatever may
happen, for it is His Leela and you are as happy as He is, when
His plans are going through!
The mind must become the servant
of the intellect, not the slave of the senses. It must
discriminate and detach itself from the body. Like the ripe
tamarind fruit, which, becomes loose inside the shell, it must be
unattached to this shell, this casement called body.
Liberation is just the awareness
of Truth, the falling off of the scales of delusion from the eye.
It is not a suburb of select souls - it is not a closed monopoly
of expert Sadhakas. Like the Godavari losing its form, its name
and its taste in the sea, Liberation dissolves the name and form,
aptitudes and attitudes. You are no more a separate, particular
individual.
You are happy, that you have come
on a pilgrimage here, but let Me tell you one thing: unless you
control the stream of desire that springs in the mind, this is
just a wasted opportunity. If your wish is fulfilled, you revere
Me; if it is not, you revile Me. That is how Desire debases you.
When one wish is fulfilled, ten rise in its place. For there is no
dearth of want; the same person has come to Me seeking success at
the examination, then a job, then a father-in-law, then a child,
then a rise in the salary, a transfer in a cheaper place and a
seat in the Medical College for his son - a never ending series of
wants, until at last he comes seeking My Grace for an end to
worldly pursuits and for initiation into the path of spirituality.
No one can liberate you, for no
one has bound you; you hold on to the nettle of worldly pleasures
and you weep for pain. The kite is pursued by the crows so long as
it carries the fish in its beak, it twists and turns in the sky
trying to last and it drops the fish. That moment it is free. So
give up the attachment to the senses; then grief and worry can
harass you no more.
When you know that thieves have
broken into your neighbour's house, you become extra cautious and,
every night, before you retire, you examine every lock and bolt in
the house. When you know that death has carried away a victim from
the house next door, why do you not examine yourselves, whether
you are equipped to meet it when it comes for you ? Why do you
immerse yourselves in distractions like building houses, piling
bank-balances, celebrating picnics and contesting elections.
Engage yourselves rather in things that will make you immortal and
serve your best interests by service to the World ! Seek your own
Reality, That is what a wise man should do.
Remove the vices of lust and
hatred, and put out the raging flames of anger and greed, then the
innate Santham and Soukhyam and the Swarupam and Sevabhavam of
Man, will manifest themselves unhindered. Santham is the Swarupam;
and Soukhyam; and is the Swabhavam of man.
The body can be clean if washed
with water; speech can be clean if it is saturated in Truth; life
can be purified if it is sanctified by Tapas; and the intellect
can be cleared of blemish through Jnana. Above all, the conviction
that you are not the body only a resident of the body has to grow
in you. If you identify yourselves with the body that you carry
about with you, you are inviting sorrow and suffering to overwhelm
you instead of the joy and peace which are awaiting to bless you.
When the Gita directs you to give
up all Dharmas (Set codes of morality), it does not ask you also
to give up all Karma (activity): that is to say, you have to do
Karma, and, when you do it for God, through God and by God, the
Dharma of it does not matter; it has to be acceptable and it is
bound to benefit you. The statement is not an invitation to
licentiousness or complete inactivity; it is all for dedication
and surrender to the highest in Man, viz. God.
Do not admit into your mind the
demon of A-santhi. Direct all your cleverness and all your
intelligence to the successful execution of the great Drama, in
which all of you are taking part at present. It is His Drama. He
is the Director, you play a role, an actor carrying out His Will,
speaking the words that He put in your mouth and making movements
as directed by Him.
The experience of this one life
must be enough to show you that there is no joy unmixed with
grief, that both grief and joy are short-lived and they both
depend on the mind and its control. You do not require the
experience of a series of lives to grasp this patent fact. This
World is keeping you in bondage; it is a prison from which you
must get released; and you should not plan to return to it again
and again.
The eye which is scarce two
inches long can see millions of miles into space, but is incapable
of seeing itself ! Man too is as shrewd and as weak as the eye. He
can analyze others' motives, count others' faults and map out
others' skills and capacities, but he is powerless to analyze
himself, his feelings and his emotions. Unwilling to discover his
own faults, he cannot assess his innate skill and realize his
inner reality ! But the power can be acquired if you keep company
with Sadhakas (aspirants for spiritual progress), not otherwise.
Man thinks himself that he knows
everything but, when asked about himself, he hangs down his head
in shame. Man knows the news of every land, but he is ignorant of
the nuisance that he himself is to himself and others. He is
moving in darkness but yearning for Ananda. He does not know the
means of securing Ananda: Prayer, Seva, Study of Spiritual Texts,
Meditation and Silence. He has no face that he is Ananda and that
Ananda is his own nature. He is blown off by calamity, for he has
no strength to withstand the blow. Faith in the God within is the
toughest shield against the thrusts of Fate.
When you do not accept the insult
some one casts on you, it goes back to the person who indulged in
it first; a registered letter that is not accepted returns to the
sender. Do not damage your mental peace by receiving the letter
and reading the contents. Refuse to receive it. You have a chance
of correcting the wrong-doers too; accept it and join the gang of
mischief-makers. So be warned!
WHEN you pray for a thing from
God, you run the risk of condemning Him, if for some reasons the
Prayer is not answered the way you want it to be or as quickly as
you want it. This contingency arises because you feel that God is
an outsider, staying in some Heaven or holy spot, far away from
you. God is in you, God is in every word of yours, every deed and
every thought. Speak, do and think as befits Him. Do the duty that
He has allotted to you to the best of your ability and to the
satisfaction of your conscience. That is the most rewarding Puja.
WHEN you stand before another,
his image is in your eye and your image is in his; have you not
observed this? You are in Him, I am in you: that is the Truth this
phenomenon proclaims. When you believe in this, and when you
cultivate Love, Humility, Reverence for Life and Tolerance, you
are on the Right Path. When you are not on this Path, that is to
say, when you are traveling left, you are certainly left out when
it is a question of sharing Divine Grace.
I KNOW many parents who dote on
their children and admire them when they learn the bad habits of
gambling or drinking! They do not curb them when they swagger
about in the bazaars, teasing and bullying those who pass by. They
do not instill into the young minds the attitude of reverence
towards property belonging to others. As a consequence, their
children land themselves in trouble and, then, the parents repent
and curse themselves for their unpardonable foolishness.
IF the parent is a drunkard, a
gambler and a cheat, no amount of textbook ethics can cure the
sons. I like children and the young innocence. I will not allow
them to be blamed. The fault lies wholly on the shoulders of the
elders, the parents, and the leaders who shape the norms which
they imbibe.
CLEANSE your emotions, passions,
impulses, attitudes, and reactions. That is the essence of
spiritual discipline as laid down in all Faiths. Examine your
mind, your thoughts; do not seek the fault ridden person. Seek
only purity; speak ill of none. Do not humiliate anyone; respect
him for the good in him. Their grief at your behaviour will haunt
you during your last moments.
LIFE is a mosaic of pleasure and
pain - grief is an interval between two moments of joy. Peace is
the interlude between two wars. You have no rose without a thorn;
the diligent picker will avoid the pricks and gather the flower.
There is no bee without the sting; cleverness consists in
gathering the honey nevertheless. Troubles and travails will haunt
you but you must not allow them to deflect you from the path of
duty and dedication.
IF you feel you must have
something to be happy, pray to God: "God, you have the
responsibility to keep me healthy, happy, good and intelligent;
give me this thing which I believe is necessary for my happiness;
but, if you think I am wrong, give me whatever you think best".
God will never desert His obligation. He will feed you and foster
you.
WOMEN preserve the culture of
this country with greater tenacity and faith. They keep men on the
moral path and inspire them to follow spiritual discipline. Their
hearts are tender and full of compassion for the hungry and the
distressed. That is why in this land, women are adored and
revered.
THOSE who deny God, the Supreme
Will or the First Cause, can give no real satisfactory
justification for their stand; nor can those who assert that there
is God. Both have to rely on their own experience. After all, how
can sweetness be denied by one who refuses to taste sugar? How can
one be convinced that sugar is sweet until one tastes it? We have
to feel the great marvel of energy, manipulating both, the
minutest atom and cell and the vastest, most distant star. How
else can we understand the Omnipresence and Omnipotence, except by
accepting God as the Architect of the Cosmos?
Follow the call of the Divine
arising from the hearts of all living beings. Serve them in an
attitude of worship, not expecting something in return. Do not
accept even gratitude, having dedicated all your acts to the
indwelling God. This will purify you so that you shall be able to
listen to the "Soham" that your breath repeats every moment.
"Soham" transmutes itself into OM when the distinction between He
and I has dissolved itself in the process of 'Samadhi'.
The very first lesson of the
Primer of the spiritual text is "Control of Speech". Speech is the
armament of man; other animals have fleetness of foot, sharpness
of claw, fang, horn, tusk, beak and talon. But man has sweetness
of Speech which can disarm all opposition and defeat all the
designs of hatred. Sweetness makes you "Pasupathi" - Divine;
harshness makes you "Pasu" - bestial. Mere outward politeness or
sweetness is hipocrisy ! Sincere speech must flow from real
sweetness of heart, a heart full of love. Remove all evil from the
Manasarovar, the pellucid lake of your Mind, and make it a fit
abode of Godhead.
Every man desires to acquire
Ananda. From where can Ananda be acquired ? Faith alone can win
Ananda. Peace can be got only through Faith; Faith is the spring
of Joy. But now we see Sorrow, wherever we cast our eyes. Why does
this happen ? Because, man has lost Faith. He has no Faith in
himself. How then can he acquire Ananda ? How can a person, how
has not got Faith enough to live happily for a few days, win the
Grace of God ?
At present, everyone is after
Sukha. The hunt for comfortable jobs and positions of influence,
the founding of banks and business-houses, the growth of bungalows
- all this is evidence of the eagerness to live in happiness. But
there is no eagerness to live in Santhi. Sukha is confused with
Santhi. Sukha is taken to be the same as Santhi. No one of the
rich or well placed or prosperous or powerful has Santhi. You can
investigate and find out for yourselves the truth of this. Santhi
is not found in the Pass-Book or many-roomed bungalows or godowns
or iron safes. Your whole attitude is topsy-turvy.
Go straight along the path of
Karma and Dharma towards Brahma; this is your destiny. Karma has
to be done; there is no turning away. Each has his allotted task,
according to the status, taste, tendency and earned merit. Do it,
with the fear of God and of sin, deep in your heart. Welcome pain
and grief; so that you take both success and failure as
hammer-strokes to shape you into a sturdy Sadhaka. Inner
contentment is more important than outer prosperity.
FRIENDSHIP must serve as lids for
the eye, as sandals for the feet. The friend must be "another Me".
He must experience, in equal depth, the joy and the grief of the
other. Friends must be like milk and water. Let Me elaborate this
example. When milk, into which some quantity of water is poured,
is placed on a burning stove, the water goes off as steam. The
milk laments the separation and boils over. Then, the only way to
keep it calm, is to sprinkle a spoon or two of water; its friend
is back and it is happy. Milk cannot tolerate separation from its
friend.
YOUR friends today attach
themselves not to you but to your purse or to some advantage they
can gain through your father's kindness. When your purse is empty
or when your father is no longer in power, they bid you good-bye.
Friends who drag one away into evil habits and vicious deeds, are
prowling around in search of victims.
Be in the world like a maid
servant in a rich man's house. The maid servant deals with all the
objects and things always knowing that nothing belongs to her and
that this is not her true home.
Those who seek to know God must
steel themselves to bear insult, injury and torture, with a smile.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba
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