Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

EMBODIMENTS of Divine Love! Though three ornaments of a permanent nature are available for man in the shape of charity for the hand, hearing God's glory for the ears and speaking the truth for the tongue, man is engaging himself in the pursuit of all transient and useless worldly things. He should strive to achieve that by getting which everything else is achieved. The first step is to understand the link that connects any two individuals. It is nothing but love. It is on the basis of love that the entire society is closely knit. What is a country? It is not the land but the society that makes a country or a nation. When the nation is prosperous and progresses with healthy growth, the needs of the individuals are also fulfilled. The individual is dependent on society . He is born, brought up and sustained by society. Therefore, it is the duty of every individual to render selfless service for promoting the common well are of society. All are the children of Mother Earth and should follow the selfless activity of the earth, which rotates on its own axis and goes round the sun at 66,000 miles per hour. By this constant morion we get day and night and variations in the seasons without which we cannot have food crops which sustain mankind.

As children of the earth, people should learn the lesson of thyaga (selfless activity) from Mother Earth. Without sacrifice it is difficult to sustain life itself. Some say knowledge is valuable. But, character is more valuable than knowledge. One may be a learned scholar, one may hold high positions of authority, one may be very wealthy or be an eminent scientist, but if one has no character all the other acquisitions are of no use at all. Sacrifice, love, compassion, and forbearance are the sterling human qualities that should be fostered, shedding jealousy, hatred, ego and anger, which are animal qualities. What is the use of being born as a man and leading a life of birds and beasts? Man should maintain equanimity in pleasure and pain, loss or gain. Without pain you cannot enjoy pleasure. Sorrow is verily the royal road to joy. Sufferings are the stepping stones that lead man towards virtuous conduct. One should neither be elated by pleasure not dejected by pain. You must understand the wonderful human life created by God. God created everything in the world and entrusted man with the responsibility to look after them. God allowed man to use things in the world as he wished, but on one condition. He has to suffer the consequences of his actions, good or bad.

So, you have to do good deeds if you want to experience good results. Doing bad deeds man wants to enjoy good and beneficial results. It is a folly to expect good results from bad deeds. Nature is like a mirror, which reflects only the object before it. In every human being, good and bad are co-existing. One should strive only to do good deeds which alone will lead one to liberation or Moksha. Moksha is not an object that can be acquired from outside. It is a way of life itself. When you follow your inherent nature and cultivate good feelings you can attain liberation from worldly bondage. This year is called 'Bhava.' You should foster good Bhava (attitudes and feelings) in this year. Your guna (character) depends on the food you consume. You should not be carried away by the vagaries of the mind. Such a great and powerful warrior as Arjuna told Krishna that the mind is wavering in nature and. difficult to control. "It can be controlled by practise and detachment," said Krishna. The leaves in a tree moves when the wind blows. lust as the wind causes the leaves to move, the company one keeps influences a man's mind. You should flee from evil company Though inherently the heart is good, by evil company it gets polluted with such bad qualities as anger, jealousy and hatred. You should use your body, mind and intellect for the benefit of society at large and not for selfish purposes. The mind is like a mad monkey, while the body is like a water bubble which may burst at any moment. Therefore, you must follow only the Conscience. You cannot realise your Divinity as long as your mind is filled with evil thoughts. Disregarding all bad qualities and bad thoughts, you should develop good thoughts based on unsullied love. Start the day with love, fill the day with love and end the day with love. This is the way to God. The primary requisite for cultivating love is to get rid of doubts and disbelief and develop confidence.

Where there is confidence there is love; where there is love, there is peace; where there is peace, there is bliss; where there is bliss, there is God. It is only because you are confident that she is your mother, you have her. If you doubt this, there is no scope for such love. Confidence is the basis for love and steadiness of mind. But, what we find everywhere today is mental restlessness. Most of you have come here from far off places, seeking mental peace. After coming here, you indulge in mixing with evil people, which makes you lose even the Ii.trio peace you had. You should question yourselves as to the purpose for which you have come here. If you want to lead a meaningful life, you must know wherefrom you have come and the destination or goal which you want to reach. Right from the time of birth you are asking the question, Koham (Who am I?). One's entire life is spent without getting an answer for this question. When you say "This is my mind, my body," you are different form your mind, body and senses. You are the master. The body, mind and senses are just instruments. The answer to the question Koham comes from within as you are breathing 21,600 times every day. As you inhale, you make the Sound So and when you exhale, you utter the sound Ham. Together, Soham means, "He is me." This is the great truth proclaimed by the Vedas: "Thath thvam asi" (You are that).

You may study the process of water from the ocean going up as vapour through the sun's energy, forming clouds which come down as rain. The rain water is conveyed by rivers back to the ocean after undergoing several changes in the process. The intellect is the Sun. Truth is the cloud, drops of love are the rains. These flow in the river of Bliss which merges in the ocean of God. Just as water from the ocean comes back to the ocean after going through different stages of transformation, man has to go back to his source, that is God.

If a piece of charcoal is kept apart from fire, it cannot burn. Both must be brought close together and you must use a fan to make the charcoal catch fire. Love is the fan which will make you glow with divine effulgence. This is the truth proclaimed by the Upanishaths, which say: "You are God." You think you are only the body: The body is inert without the soul which is the Life Force.

You need not go anywhere searching for God. Divinity is within you. Just as there are many limbs in the body which are activated by one heart inside, the same God is the Life-force for all beings. The entire Universe is a reflection of the Supreme Being. Your Bhava (attitude) is the cause of your suffering or happiness. With whatever feeling you see an object, the same is reflected back. Dhrishti (vision) determines your view of Shrishti (Creation). When you see the world through coloured glasses, you will see everything in the colour of the glasses you are wearing. Whatever happens, you should take it as a gift of God. Love is God. Live in Love. This is the proper way of worshipping God. All forms of worship and penance are only for control of mind. They will not give you the realisation of God. God is within you, around you, beside you. He is the only true friend. You develop friendship with worldly people, who may desert you when you are bereft of your wealth, power or status. God alone will be with you always.

As the Geetha declares, "Adhveshta Sarva bhuuthanam" (the devotee dear to the Lord is one who does not hate any being). You should not harbour hatred towards any one but keep away from bad company. You should not cultivate relationship with evil persons as this will spoil the. purity of your mind. The mind is the cause of bondage or liberation. You turn it toward God and cultivate detachment. If you turn towards the world you develop attachment. Desire is an unnecessary burden in your life's journey. You must reduce your desires to a minimum, as it may not be possible to give up desire totally. If you analyse the difference between God and man you will find that life plus desire is man and life minus desire is God. Confine your desires to primary necessities for sustaining life such as food, clothing and shelter. When you have excessive desire you become restless. Whatever the nature of your work, if you dedicate it as an offering to God, you will have no worry at all. This is real sadhana.

Even when you are engaged in your daily chores, you can convert them into worship of God. While you are sweeping the floor, you can deem it as clearing your heart of all impurities. All work should be done with a pure heart filled with devotion, just as cooking must be done in a clean vessel. Whatever good you may do without a genuine feeling of love is of no use. It is love in a pure heart that transforms work into worship.

I would advise all, and especially the overseas devotees who have come here from far off countries, to subject themselves to a process of self-enquiry. Is it right to call yourself a man? It is only a half-truth. You should be able to assert: "I am a man. I am not an animal." You will have to get rid of the animal qualities of ego, jealousy and hatred and develop human qualifies of love, truth, sacrifice and happiness. Consider pain and' pleasure as passing clouds. Happiness can be attained only by union with God. Worldly pleasure is transient. By nourishing good feelings in the heart you can transform yourself from bad to good. This is called Samskara. It is akin to converting paddy into rice to make the grain fit for preparing food.

There may be many paths for the same goal. You get confused because many preachers say many different things. You must choose one path, one road. God is one and he can be realised by love. Fill your hearts with love and distribute the love to others considering that all are sparks of the Divine.

You must feel the Divine within you and develop divine qualities. Then only you can shine as a true human being. You should cultivate harmony in thought, word and deed which is the hallmark of a human being. Prema (Love) is the only weapon by which you can attain Godliness and make your life purposeful. God is like gold, the possession of which will enable you to make any jewel you want. Through unblemished love alone you can achieve the grace of God and enjoy blissful peace.

People coming to Me frequently tell Me: "I want bliss," "I want peace," "I want liberation." When you want a jewel to be made out of the gold that you hand over to a goldsmith, he will have to melt it in a crucible, hammer it, cut it and weld the pieces to make the required ornament. By these processes only it can be made into a beautiful chain. Similarly, you must hand over your mind to God and allow God to do what is necessary. But, now-a-days, the devotees are laying down conditions to God while seeking His Grace! You must surrender to God and submit to His Will. God knows how to shape you. If you want to send a book by parcel, you have to pack k properly. In order to make use of the book you have to remove the packing. God has given you peace with a packing. When you remove the packing of 'I' and 'want', you get peace. You have to shed your ego and desire in order to enjoy peace which is inherent in you. When a sculptor wants to make a wooden statue of Krishna, he chisels the wood to get the shape of the statue. So also you have to shed your evil thoughts and feelings and surrender to God unconditionally without any reservation whatsoever. To overcome the bad influences of the thanu, mana and dhana (body, mind and wealth) the scriptures prescribe cultivation of sathsanga. What is sathsanga? It is generally believed that it refers to the company of good people. But this is not correct. Sath means Truth, which is Atma or God. So sathsanga means the company of God and not of people. Divinity will manifest within you if you follow any one of the nine types of devotion. In a nutshell, the precepts to be followed are; See no evil: see only good. Hear no evil: hear only good. Speak no evil: speak only good. Think no evil: think only good. Do no evil: do only good. This is the way to God.

If any one starts talking ill of others, go away from that place without lending your cars to such evil talk. In the Ramayana, Kaikeyi was influenced by the words of her servant Manthara who instigated her to stop the crowning of Rama and arrange for his banishment as she had some grouse against Rama. Because Kaikeyi lent her cars to the evil counsel of Manthara, she manoeuvred to send Rama to the forest. Thus both these women earned a bad name for themselves for all time. Among men, you have the example of Dhuryodhana in the Mahabharatha who always bore ill-will towards the Pandavas and nourished always bad thoughts leading to evil designs. Similarly, Keechaka looked at Dhraupadhi with evil eyes and was killed by Bheema. Ravana did evil deeds. Manthara committed the sin of speaking ill of Rama, Kaikeyi lent her ears to evil talk, Keechaka committed the sin of casting evil looks on Dhraupadhi, Dhuryodhana nurtured bad feelings and Ravana indulged in bad deeds. These are examples to prove how the acts of speaking evil, listening to evil words, thinking evil and doing evil deeds cause one's downfall. Spiritual sadhana consists in speaking good, thinking good, seeing good, hearing good and doing good. Excessive talking must also be avoided as it is waste of energy. When one gets weak due to wastage of energy, he is prone to get angry and develop hatred. You must, therefore, use the God-given energy for good purposes. Energy is a divine gift. By curtailing unnecessary, talk and keeping silent, you can conserve energy. "Talk less and work more" is the golden role to be adopted.

Many foreigners come here and involve themselves in unnecessary relationships with people. Some person says "I have come alone," when he first meets Me. After some time he brings a lady with him and says, "She is my wife." Why should you cultivate such attachments and relationships when you have come here for spiritual pursuits? All these relationships are temporal. You must cut off these connections and establish connection only with the permanent and eternal entity; the Supreme Lord. God is omnipresent. He was there before your birth and He will continue to be there after your death too. Therefore you should make efforts to keep close connection with God alone. Do your duty with a feeling of dedication, leaving the results in the hands of the Divine. Then you can always be happy. Your behaviour and character are very important and these should be reflected in your adherence to discipline and good manners. To-day, the nation is in turmoil due to lack of discipline. You should follow the maxim: "Help ever-Hurt never." People don't understand My ideal of perfection, which consists of purity, patience and perseverance. Patience means being in a state of Shanthi (Peace). I am always happy and peaceful. Even when some people wish me "Happy birthday" I tell them that I am always happy and the wishes should be addressed to those who are not happy. Another feature of patience is not being elated by praise or depressed by calumny. I am not affected by pleasure or pain. It is the perfect state of Samadhi (Sama + dhi), which means equanimity in pleasure and pain.

Perseverance is most essential for the accomplishment of objective. By perseverance Nara can become Narayana, that is man can become Divine. People lacking this quality cannot achieve anything. Their efforts are like trying to retain water in a pot with several holes. If you direct all your actions towards God, you will become one with God. This should be done on the basis of Prema (love).

A man living without love is as good as dead. You are having love towards your father, mother, wife, children and others. There is nothing wrong in this. But you must see God in every one of them. This is the essence of the well-known prayer to God: Thvameva mathacha Pitha thvameva Thvameva bandhuscha Sakha thvameva Thvameva Vidhya dhravinam thvameva Thvameva Sarvam mama dheva dheva. This prayer addressed to the Supreme Being means- "You are the father, mother, friend, and relative. You are knowledge and wealth. You are everything. Oh my Lord!" We should see God in every being. The whole Universe is a manifestation 'of Brahman. As a human being, you have come from Narayana. You are divine but you are not realising it. When you do namaskaram with folded hands in obeisance, it means that you are offering your five Karmendhriyas (organs of action) and five Jnanendhriyas (organs or perception) to the Divine.

Offering namaskaram itself emphasises unity. If you have unity and purity, divinity will blossom there. But you have only enmity and community now. You have to practise speaking sweetly and softly and avoid unnecessary connections .and relationships with all and sundry. The easiest Sadhana is to reflect on God with love that is expanding and embracing one and all. It is the only way to realise the Divine.