Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Today is indeed a day of good fortune for you; for, the years of intense yearning which you spent in order to witness this day have at last borne fruit. Even today you waited here long, in order to earn the good fortune of the Dharshan (sight) of your heart's ideal. You have put yourselves to great hardship to reach here and to get this dharshan. And so, I desire you should listen to the advice I give and try to derive the maximum anandha through putting it into daily practice. You must treasure the gems of counsel and guidance in the vaults of your hearts, realising their innate value. Having joined this uplifting gathering of thousands of aspiring seekers, this assembly of men and women, young and old, all eager to cleanse themselves and become worthy of the divine destiny of man, you must determine to discover the divine within yourself and fill your moments with its contemplation. 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; you should not plan to return to it again and again.

The means of this permanent release are' sadhana (spiritual effort), sathkarma (good deeds), bhakthi (devotion), upasana (worship). All these help you by reducing your wants, by curtailing your wishes, by teaching you detachment from sensory pleasures. These are the shackles which bind you to the body and the senses, to the limiting emotions of greed and hate, to the blinding passions of anger and lust. Escape from them and you will have lasting peace.

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 analyse others' motives, count others' faults, map out others' skills and capacities but he is powerless to analyse himself his feelings and emotions; he is unwilling to discover his own faults; he cannot assess his innate skill and realise his inner reality! But the power can be acquired if you keep company with sadhakas (aspirants for spiritual progress), not otherwise. By anga (limbs), you cultivate sanga (company). By means of the proper use of the body with its limbs and senses, you are enabled to be in the midst of devoted and dedicated persons. Through sanga, you become jangam (detached). This association removes attachment to worldly things and you become a wandering mendicant type of person, a jangam not rooted to any spot or status or standard of life or any family or group of kinsmen. Through jangam you discover the lingam (the subtle form of God). This life of true renunciation promotes spiritual progress to such an extent that you realise the formless, attributeless, absolute, symbolised by the linga. You seek God in temples and light lamps there, to see Him more clearly; learn to see Him in your own heart, in the hearts of all beings. He is now not visible, due to the thick dust-cloud of ignorance and egoism. The cow ignores the health-giving milk it has in its own udder; it craves for the water in which rice is washed!

The boulder on the hill from which a portion has been blasted away, to carve an idol for the temple, tells the idol, Thath thwam asi (You and I are the same); that and this are one substance. Yes; of one substance - but, what a difference? The hammer and chisel have made one a thing of beauty and a joy for ever, an inspiration to make life beautiful and holy. You too must subject yourself to the hammer of discipline and the chisel of pain-pleasure, so that you become Divine. The greatest single cause for darkness in the world today is envy. When one is happy and contented, others envy him and strive to ruin his peace of mind. When any one is acclaimed as great, malice moves others to invent calumny, in order to tarnish his reputation. This is the way of the world. This is the tragedy of ignorance and selfishness - they force man to take the wrong road and suffer calamity. Take the right road; be happy and make others happy. Then, your name will last even after the body disintegrates. Even when the bulb is taken off, the holder will give you a shock, if you contact the connection. So too, even when the body is gone, if the good reputation is there, it will remain in history and provide inspiration. Students must study well and earn good marks, by their own sincere efforts; there is no use threatening the teachers and forcing them to give you grace marks and promote you. You should not stretch your hands, a-begging, before any one. It is a shame to do so.

One more point I wish to emphasise here. I have been touting through Karnataka for the past five or six days. Thousands of people are attending the meetings, and standing on the wayside roads. In the heart of every one of these, bhakthi (devotion) and sincere adoration of God are welling up. But, bhakthi to be effective must be regulated through self-discipline; it should not be allowed to grow wild and untended. You rush forward to touch My feet or to prostrate before Me, ignoring the children, the aged and the sick, upon whom you fall when you press forward towards me. Do not forget the Sai in those people when you rush forward towards this Sai! The merit of all the hardship you underwent to see and hear this Sai is as good as cancelled when you inflict pain on the Sai who resides in them. That plus and this minus add up to zero! In your frenzy to offer homage, you should not forget others who have been waiting long for the chance. You must provide facilities for their dharshan, instead of leaping forward to be at vantage positions from which you can fall at the feet. The urge to revere and adore is natural; what should be checked is this disregard for the yearning of others. Cultivate love, tolerance, respect for the rights of others. I am alone on this dais; you are thousands in front of Me. What has brought you all, in this vast number, from your homes and villages to this place? It is the love you have for Me, and the love I have for you. The reason for your presence is not any force or authority or temptation to earn material profit or gain. Ponder over the things I have told you out of My Love and try to cleanse your minds through repentance for wrongs done Or contemplated and through a firm resolve to shape your lives anew, according to the Divine Plan, by which each can stand revealed as fully Divine.