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.
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