GEMS FROM THE LORD


GEMS   FROM   THE   LORD

Goodness, compassion and tolerance: through these three paths, one can see the divinity in oneself and in others. Softness of heart is condemned by people today as weakness, cowardice and want of intelligence. The heart has to be hardened, they say, against pity and charity. But that way lies war, destruction and downfall. Love confers lasting happiness and peace. Sharing can reduce grief and multiply joy. Man is born to share, to serve, to give and not to grab. When you have faith in God as a precious truth in the altar of your heart, you will welcome, with equal alacrity, the blows and blossoms of fortune.

The Ramayana is a guide-book, a sacred text, an inspiring scripture, for every man in all lands, whatever his creed or condition might be. It imparts poise, balance, equanimity, inner strength and peace. Peace is the best treasure without which power, authority, fame and fortune are all dry and burdensome. Thyagaraja has sung that there can be no happiness without inner peace.

Why is it that the world reveres Rama and revolts at Ravana? Rama is not the uncle's son or Ravana the step-mother's child! It is the kinship of the spirit, innate goodness,responding lovingly, adoringly to the goodness in Rama; and reacting revoltingly to the wickedness of Ravana. It is not enough, nor is it essential that you should repeat the name of Rama loudly; respect it in the fullness of love and admiration. If you have no spring of love in you, dig into your heart with external instruments like Puja, Stotra, etc. and it will start to flow.

Vibhishana, Ravana's own brother, chastised him for his willfulness and lust and urged him to save himself, his kingdom and his kith and kin by restoring Sita unharmed to her Lord. When Vibhishana went over to Rama, Rama knew that he had a pure heart and that he could not survive the poisonous atmosphere of Lanka. So He took him and saved him. The Lord likes to be called Aartha-traana-paarayana - more than any other name, for He is most happy when He rescues those in agony.

You talk glibly of Rama Rajya, but how can it be established, if you do not emulate Rama? He was Vignahavaan Dharmah, the very embodiment of Dharma. He never deviated from it. Dasaratha means one who is master of the ten senses, the five Karmendriyas and the five Jnanedriyas; that is to say the successful Sadhaka. Such a person can have the holy progeny of the four Purusharthas- Dharma(Rama), Artha( Lakshmana), Kama(Bharatha) and Moksha(Satrughna). Become a Dasaratha and save that holy progeny as a gift from God.

Hanuman succeeded in coordinating his thought, word and act. Therefore he had the unique distinction of being great in physical strength, mental stability and virtuous character. He shines as an invaluable gem among the personalities of the Ramayana. He was also a great scholar, who had mastered, of all things, the six schools of grammar. He knew the four Vedas and the six Sastras. The Gita says that a scholar is one who sees the same Divine force motivating everyone. Pandithaha Samadarshinaha. Hanuman was a good example of this outlook.

The vanaras while building the bridge across the ocean, carried huge boulders on their heads, repeating Rama-nama all the while; and that made the rocks weigh less. It is said that they even wrote the Name on the stones and that made them float. Each time they handled or lifted a stone, they sang Rama nama in unison and so they were a happy lot, doing Puja not work, which is unpleasant. Take the Name and make your work light: That is my advice to you.

Insist on your seeking and remaining in good company, satsangha. Being in the midst of such spiritual heroes, you can fight against evil with a greater chance of success. Once when Garuda the sworn enemy of snakes went to Kailas, he saw the snakes that Siva wore around His neck, His arms, His waist, His Feet. The snakes were safe now and they hissed with their puffed hoods at the celestial bird which could do them no harm since they were in such Divine Company. Garuda said " Well! Glide down from the body and I shall kill every one of you.!" That is the value of the Sath one has reached. Sath Sangha is valuable, for it is like keeping a pot of water inside a tank of water. There will not be any loss through evaporation.

Pride is one of the worst sins in the spiritual field. If you feel that you are a bhakta of Hare, He will hare (destroy , in Telugu) you. Remember saranagathi should be like the attitude of Lakshmana. Rama said "Take Sita and leave her in the forest" Implicit obedience! There is no other way. That is Lakshmana. That is Saranagathi; the rest are deserving only of Sarangathi, the arrow of Rama.

Hanuman was ordered to discover the whereabouts of Sita and he implicitly without question obeyed and succeeded. He did not calculate the dangers of the journey and hesitate; and he did not feel proud that he was chosen for the high adventure. He listened; he understood; he obeyed; and he won. The name Ramadhuta, messenger and servant of Rama that he earned thereby, has made him immortal. You must earn that name, Sai Rama Dutha. Have fortitude and self control; use good and sweet words; and examine each act of yours on the touch-stone of My preference.

The toughest fiber is anger. It is the stickiest dirt. When you get angry, you forget mother, father and teacher; you descend to the lowest depths. You lose all discrimination in the excitement; even Hanuman set fire to the whole of Lanka when he was incensed by the Rakshasas who set fire to the tip of his tail; and he lost sight of the fact that Sita was in the Ashoka Vana. It was only after he had exulted in achievement for a little while that he remembered it and then he started condemning himself for his anger.

Do not ask God for anything. Let him deal with you as He wills. Did Jatayu ask that Rama should come to him and perform his last rites? Did Shabari plead with Rama? Earn the qualifications - holiness, purity, faith, and universal love; then He will approach you on foot, to console, comfort and save. If you have purity of heart and mastery over the senses, His Grace is your right.

Ego plays all sorts of tricks, in order to get unholy pleasure. During the construction of the bridge to Lanka to take the army across, Hanuman heaved a boulder across the raging waves of the sea, as part of the bridge! it floated. Rama heaved another; it sank. Hanuman's ego was tickled, naturally. He laughed in derision; at that very moment his boulder sank! And, the boulder, that Rama had thrown, rose from the bottom of the sea and floated! Hanuman's ego was pricked to nothing. That was the purpose for which Rama had willed that His boulder should sink.

The Lord will be the guide of whoever installs Him as his Sarathi. He will not consider that position inferior. He is the Sanathana Sarathi, come to be the Sarathi of all. He is the Lord for all who seek a Master, a support. The Atma is the Master in every one; and Krishna is the universal Atma personified.

The genuine Bharathiya vision is to life into a pilgrimage towards the God resident in oneself; a steady march along the straight path to Bliss. There is no such steadiness now. Fancy and Fantasy rule the mind of man. You desire one thing in the morning; at noon you change over to something else . That desire will not persist until evening. If your desire is fulfilled, you praise God and parade your devotion. But, if it does not prevail, you throw God overboard and parade your disbelief.

Detachment is a plant of slow growth. If you pluck the tender plant to look for the pods, you will be disappointed. So, too, long constant practice alone is rewarded by the peace that God offers. Grace is acquired by surrender, as Krishna has declared in the Gita.

When the Gita directs you to give up all Dharma (Set codes of morality) it does not ask you to give up 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 a call for dedication and surrender to the highest in man, namely God.

Perform all acts with as much love as you would offer God. In Truth, you eat for the satisfaction of the "I" in you and dress up to please the self-same "I". The husband loves the wife for the sake of the "I". And who is this "I," that is persistent in everyone? It is God himself. "Eswarah Sarva Bhoothanam" says the Gita: The Lord resides in the heart of every being. He is the Atman in every being. He is the Atman in everyone, the Paramatman.

Ponder over your sthithi (present condition), gathi (direction of movement), sakthi (capabilities) and mathi (inclination). Then, enter upon the path of sadhana step by step, so that you faster every day, every hour, every minute. Arjuna became entitled to the Gita Upadesh from the Lord Himself, because he evinced the Vishada, the Vairagya the Saranagathi and the Ekagratha essential to assimilate the great message. When the yearning for liberation has become intense, beyond expression, man can set aside all social conventions, worldly norms and codes of conduct that do not subserve that high purpose.

The Gita says that, if you give up all Dharma, and take refuge in Him, then he will save you from sin and wipe your tears. Giving up Dharma does not mean that you can bid farewell to virtue and righteous action.; it means, you have to give up egoism that you are the doer. Be confirmed in the faith that He is the doer of every deed, that is the genuine 'giving up'

Krishna was known to all as Almighty - All - Knowing, All - Encompassing and All - fulfilling. Yet the enthusiasm to do seva prompted Him to approach Dharmaraja, the eldest of the Pandava brothers, on the eve of the magnificent Rajasuya Yaga he had planned to perform and offered to take up seva of any kind. He suggested that He be given the task of cleaning the dining hall after the guests had partaken of the feast! Krishna insisted on outer cleanliness and inner cleansing. Clean clothes and clean minds are an ideal combination.

During the battle of Kurukshetra, which climaxed as the Mahabharata story, Krishna served as the driver of the chariot of Arjuna throughout the day on the field and till dusk caused the adjournment of the fight. He led the horses to the river, gave them a refreshing bath and applied healing balms to the wounds suffered by them during the fierce fray. He mended the reins and the harness and rendered the chariot battle-worthy for another day. The Lord sets the example for the devotees to follow. He teaches that service done to any living being is offered to Him and is accepted by Him most joyfully. Service rendered to cattle, to beasts and to men is laudable sadhana.

The world today is in deep distress because the common man and his leaders are all distracted by lower desires and motives, which require only the lower skills and meaner impulses of man. This is what I call 'devaluation.' Though man is inherently divine, he lives only at the animal level. Very few live even in the native human level.

Bhishma, for example, has to be revered and accepted as an inspiration even more potent than Rama so far as homage to the father is concerned. In order to cater to the carnal cravings which he would have ordinarily condemned, he denied himself gladly, spontaneously, without demur and for the entire period of his life, both wedded life and royal status. The Vedic injunction Pithr Devobhava was honored by him in the fullest manner.

This created Universe has two aspects, one is impermanence (Anithyam). The second is unhappiness(Asukham). In the Gita, Krishna has said, "Anithya, Asukha Lokam Imam Prapya Bhajaseva Maam". Nothing in the world can give happiness that is true and everlasting. Mistaking the world as 'All' and forgetting the Atman, which alone is eternal and the only refuge, is the greatest folly of man today; man is pinning all his hopes on the slippery work and is madly running after amassing and hoarding wealth. Of course material needs are to be taken care of but within limits and not at the cost of spiritual values. Money and mansions are not at the only wealth. Hoard the wealth of the spirit. Character is wealth; Good conduct is wealth; and spiritual wisdom is wealth.

Egoism is the most dangerous illusion that has to be exploded and destroyed. Bhima had it, but when he could not lift and lay aside the tail of a monkey, who was really Anjaneya himself, that the bubble was exploded. Arjuna had it, one day, after the battle; when Krishna brought the chariot back to camp, he wanted that, like all charioteers, Krishna should get down first; The Master must get down later, after the charioteer opens the door for him. Krishna refused and insisted that Arjuna should alight before He Himself should. At last Krishna won. Arjuna got down and then, as soon as Krishna left His seat and touched the ground, the chariot went up in flames. If only Krishna got down first, the fact was the various fire arrows that had the power of burning the chariot would hit the target, but, due to the presence of Krishna, their igniferous powers could not manifest themselves. After knowing this, Arjuna was humbled and his egoism had a powerful shock. He realized that every action of Krishna was full of significance.

The Gita advises Karmasanyasa, that is to say, karma without attachment to the fruit thereof. There are Karmas which have to be done as duties, related to the status in samsara, and, if these are done in the proper spirit, they will not bind at all. Do all karma as actors in a play, keeping your identity separate and not attaching yourself too much to your role. Remember that the whole thing is just a play and the Lord has assigned you a part; act well your part; there all duty ends. He has designed the play and He enjoys it.

It is when are in a desperate situation that you call upon the Lord, forgetting your pride and your egoism. The Pandavas were so full of misery in a worldly sense that they always had an attitude of prayer. If I had given you all the comforts and opportunities, you would not have come to Puttaparthi. Trouble is the bait with which the fish is handled out of the water. Kunti asked that Krishna should continue giving her and her sons all kinds of misery so that He may grant them His Grace continuously

The Mahabharata for example, is basically the story of the five vital airs of man (the Pancha Pranas) overcoming the hundred obstacles in the path of upward progress. The eldest of the five Pandava brothers is Dharmaraja (Morality, Righteousness); he is ably supported by Bhima (Physical strength devoted to Divine Service and charged with devotion), Arjuna (steady pure faith in God) and Nakula and Sahadeva, who represent steadfastness and equanimity. When these five are exiled, the Hastinapura (body) is inundated with Adharma (unrighteousness)

In the Manasa - Sarovar (the deep, placid mind lake) of every man, there lurks a poisonous cobra, with six hoods: lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and hate, infesting the air and destroying all who are near it. The name of the Lord, when it dives into the depths, forces it to come up to the surface so that it may be destroyed. So, allow the Divine in you, the Krishna, Lord of the mind, let him trample on the hissing hoods and take out the vicious viper; let it vomit the venom and become sathvic and sweet.

Like all Avatars, Krishna announced His Advent to the world, bit by bit, step by step, testing how far the Reality will be accepted by the masses. The signs and miracles were intended then as now, to proclaim the Avatar.

The mystery and splendor of God can be only grasped by a pure mind and a clear vision. That is why the Lord granted a new eye to Arjuna in order that he might not be confounded by His Glory. A resolution adopted by the mind is like a stone thrown into a Sarovar or lake. It produces ripples that affect the entire face and unsettles equanimity. A good resolution or Sankalpa sets up a series of such thoughts, each contributing its quota to the process of purification and strengthening.

The One is comprehensive of all this. So, it has no wants, no desires and no activity to realize anything. Sri Krishna tells Arjuna: "Name Partha asthi Karthavyam, Thrishu Lokeshu Kinchava Partha" (There is nothing I have to do in any of the three worlds). He has willed the world as his sport, He has laid down that every deed must have its consequence. He is the dispenser of the consequences but is not involved in the deeds.

One can also be rid of Maya if one can discard the three Gunas from one's makeup. The Sathyaguna too has to be transcended, why? the Gita directs that even the eagerness to be liberated is a bond. One is fundamentally free. Bondage is only an illusion. So the desire to make close the bond is the result of ignorance. Krishna says," Arjuna, become free from the three Gunas." In truth, the word Guna means the rope, for all the three Gunas bind the Jiva with the rope of desire. Liberation means liberation from elusive attachment or Moha, "Mohakshaya - decline in the desire caused by attachment to sensory pleasure."

Consider for a moment how long worldly triumphs last. They are but the play of the scintillating name and form of the Divine, which is the core of every being. Earn the vision that sees the Divine inherent in all. We are not troubled when something is good; only when something is bad. This is because the goodness in us is natural. In our evil aberration, we are worried and alarmed when we slide into wrong or pain or sorrow. This is because nature plans us to be right, to be happy and ever in a state of joy. It is a pity that man has lost his understanding of this basic Truth.

Dhyana is not mere sitting erect and being silent. Nor is it the absence of any movement. It is the merging of all your thoughts and feelings to God. Without the mind becoming dissolved in God, Dhyana cannot succeed. The Gita declares genuine Dhyana as Ananyaschinthayanthomaam Ye Janah Paryapasthi (Those persons who adore me without any other thought or feeling). Krishna has assured such persons that He would Himself carry their burden and be by their side, guiding and guarding them. Persons adept in this Dhyana, are very rare; most people go through the external exercises only. So they are unable to win Grace.

Life is a song, sing it. That is what Krishna taught through his life. Arjuna heard that song in the battlefield where tensions were at their highest and the fate of millions was to be decided by the sword. Krishna sang the Gita for Arjuna to listen. Gita means 'Song' and He sang because He was Ananda, wherever He might be - in Gokulam, on the banks of the Yamuna or at Kurukshetra between the warring armies.

Why does He attract all to His Presence? To plough the heart, prepare it for receiving the shower of Grace, to grow the seeds of Love, weed it of all evil thoughts which smother the crops of joy and to enable it to gather the harvest of wisdom. That wisdom finds its fulfillment in Krishna Himself, for Krishna also means pure essence, the Supreme Principle, the Sat-Chit-Ananda

When Dharmaraja, the eldest of the five Pandavas, came to know after the death of Karna, which they effected successfully, that Karna was his brother, his agony knew no bounds; he was struck disconsolate and was torn by despair. If only he had known the truth, all that grief would have been avoided. So, too, until you know that all are altars where the Name of God is installed, all are moved and motivated by the Grace of the self same God, you are afflicted by hate and pride; Once you know it and experience it, you are full of Love and reverence to all.

The question on the battle-field was not who was the kin of whom, but who was right and who was wrong; fight for justice, fight for truth, fight for these as a kshatriya is duty bound, and leave the result to the dispenser of all. Krishna told Arjuna "I am surprised that you should weep so, for you are Gudakesha, the conqueror of sleep, of ignorance. You do not kill; don't be conceited at all that, nor do 'they' die; 'They' have many more things to do; and in the real, they are deathless" "The sentence of Death has already been pronounced on their bodies by Me and you have but to carry out My orders" Krishna said.

When the righteous Pandavas were harassed by wicked Kauravas, the beauteous Krishna appeared and saved them. The Lord can never deign violence and bloodshed. Love is His Instrument, Non-violence His Message. He achieves the correction of evil-minded through education and example. But, it may be asked, why did Kurukshetra happen? It was a surgical operation and therefore cannot be described as an act of violence. The Surgeon saves life through the beneficial use of His Knife.

Consider the name Krishna that the Avathar bore; What a significant Name? Krishna is derived from the root krish which means

To Attract
To plough and cultivate
The Divine Principle beyond time, space and Causation.

Krishna like all Avathars attracts not only seekers, saints and sages, but the simple, the innocent and the good. He draws also the curious, the critics the skeptics and those who suffer from atheism. He draws them towards Himself by the irresistible charm of His person, by his invincible Look, His Voice, His Flute, His counsel and His undaunted heroism! He is ever in a state of Bliss, spreading harmony, melody and beauty around Him; He sings everywhere in the peaceful pasture lands of Brindavan and in the blood soaked battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Bhishma was a bhakta and by winning the Lord's Grace he was clothed with more Majesty and splendor than any early emperor. What majesty have these scepter holders? They cannot claim to have inner peace, inner joy, they know not the joy of sharing love with all. Bhishma surrendered, to the Lord when He challenged Him with the sudarshana that is to say, when He offers su (good) darshana (vision) one must be wise enough to surrender, give up all, that is what Bhishma did.

Arjuna exclaimed Krishna as the Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient God, when the foe was defeated day after day. But when his son Abhimanyu was killed in the conflict, he raved in the grief that Krishna had not guided him properly and guarded him efficiently. His mind wavered with every wind as fortune. To many the mind is the master of the intellect also. One must be vigilant and preserve the impartiality of instrument called Reason of Intellect. Clarify reason, then it will reveal God everywhere, even in you. Once you accept God as the core of the Universe and yourself have that faith strong and steady.

Fill every moment with energy, enthusiasm and effort. The epics teach you how to succeed in this. The Mahabharata describes how when every other of the hundred Kauravas died, the eldest Duryodhana was challenged by Bhima to meet him in a duel. When he at last fell to the ground, Bhima struck his head with his foot in order to add insult to injury. Duryodhana's pride was hurt. A Kshatriya such as he could not pass that insult by. He retorted even when he was dying "Do not exult that you have done some heroic act by trampling on my head! In a few seconds dogs and vultures will be doing that act. It does not require a hero to plant his foot on a dying man. You dared not do this when I was capable of hitting back, you coward!" That kind of awareness of one's potentialities and quick response to all happenings must be present in you too. Heroism gushed out even when he was passing away!

The Krishna whose advent you should celebrate is not the cowherd boy who charmed with His flute, but the Krishna the indefinable Divine principle that is born in the navel of the body (Mathura) as the product of Divine Energy (Devaki) that is then transported to the Mouth (Gokula) and fostered by the Tongue (Yasoda) as its source of sweetness. Krishna is the visualization of the Atma that the repetition of the Name grants, the vision was gained by Yasoda, you must foster that Krishna on your tongue. When He dances on it, the poison of the tongue will be ejected completely, without harming anyone as happened when as a child He danced on the hoods of the serpent Kaliya.

Purity of motive is the best guarantee that you will have Peace. An uneasy conscience is a tormenting compassion. Righteous action will have no bad effects, to disturb your sleep or health.


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 house, 
 there will be order in the nation;
When there is order in the nation,
 there will be peace in the World.

So, be righteous; avoid all prejudices against others on the basis of caste, creed, color, mode of worship, status, or degree of affluence. Do not look down or up on any one; look upon all as Divine as you really are.

All faiths are inter related and mutually indebted to each other for the principles they teach and the disciplines they recommend. The Vedic religion was the first in time. Buddhism which appeared about 2500 years ago, was its son; Christianity, which was influenced much by the Orient was its grand-son. And Islam, which has the prophets of Christianity as its base, was the great grandson. All have love as the fundamental discipline of the mind, in order to chasten it and merge man with the Divine.

Vinayaka is called the child of two mothers Gowri and Ganga. You are the pet children of four mothers, each of you; Sathya, Dharma Shanthi and Prema. Do not ridicule them by your act. Honor them and be grateful to them. Do not claim 'Anyaya' (Injustice), 'Akrama' (Indiscipline), 'Asathya' (Falsehood), and 'Anachara' (Evil Behavior) as your mothers. Instead expand your heart, taking in all humanity into the circle of your kin, even the birds, beasts, worms, and insects, trees, and plants. The Vedic Prayer asks that the aspirants heart may be expanded 'Brhathe Koromi'-I make myself vast! The vastest is 'Brahmam'; from which comes the same root, 'brh': to enlarge.

Love must be manifested as service or seva. Seva must take the form of food for the hungry, solace for the forlorn, consolation of the sick and the suffering. Jesus was himself out in such seva. The heart full of compassion is the temple of God. Jesus pleaded at the sight of the poor. Jesus is worshipped but His teachings are neglected. Sai is being worshipped, but His teachings are neglected. Everywhere, pomp, pageantry, hollow exhibitionism and lectures, lectures, lectures! No activity, no Love, no seva. Heroes while lecturing are zeros while putting into practice. Develop compassion. Live in Love. Be Good, Do Good, and See Good. This is the way to God.

The Divine is a wine that would intoxicate you. It is produced by the nectar that the name of the Lord is saturated in. Taste it and you forget everything else; you are transformed. Man is they say, a monkey that has lost its tail; Well, he must lose many more attributes of the monkey before he is entitled to call himself man. He must dedicate his thought, word and deed to God, and surrender to His Will. Then only is this animal entitled to become a man in whom the Divine is enshrined.

The body is the ball filled with the air of Divinity; it is kicked in play by the six players on the side (the six foes: lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and hate) and six on the other (the six friends: truth, right, peace, love, compassion and fortitude); the goal posts are on each side, and if the ball is hit so that it passes through them, they achieve Dharmavidya (Moral Attainment) and victory. Or else, their kick results in an "out"! Learn to speak what you feel, act what you speak, do not allow them to be at cross-purposes. Man, with the feelings of a demon fuming with hate, engages in fighting, holds Peace Conferences and, prides himself on his plans for peace! Transform the heart into a tabernacle of peace; then conferences to deceive oneself and others become unnecessary. What can mere talk achieve?

There are some ignorant persons who laugh at Bhajans and other acts of worship and consider them a waste of valuable time. Those persons might laugh at your pouring bags of paddy seeds on a slushy field and condemn that act too as a act of valuable food material. But you know that, for every bag of paddy seed, Mother Earth will give back, in a few weeks, grain tenfold or even twentyfold. Time spent in contemplation of God or adoration of the Divine is indeed well spent, for it rewards you with a rich harvest of mental peace and courage.

The mind plays many tricks with you, the chief of which is to foster the ego and hide the Prompter and the Power within. You must have heard of an accountant in the Court of the King of Death, Chitragupta, by name. He maintains a register of the good and the bad deeds done by each living being, and, on death, he brings the book to the Court and strikes the balance between debit and credit. Yama, the king, then meets out the punishment that can expiate and educate. This Chitragupta has his office in the mind of man, all the time awake and alert. The word means secret picture; what he does is to picture all the secrets from promptings that blossom into activity; He notes the warning-signals as well as the occasions when those signals are ignored or wantonly disregarded. You must see that the warning of the Divine against the merely human or the bestial inclination, is heeded.

The grace of God cannot be won through the gymnastics of reason, the contortions of Yoga or the denials of asceticism. Love alone can win it; Love that needs no requital; Love that knows no bargaining. Love that is paid gladly as a tribute to the all Loving; and Love that is unwavering. Love alone can overcome obstacles, however many and mighty. There is no strength more effective than purity, no bliss more satisfying than Love, no joy more restoring than Bhakti and no triumph more praiseworthy than surrender.

Him means Himsa (violence) and du means dura (distant), so that HINDU means a person who is devoid of violence, who loves and sympathizes, who helps and serves - not one who hides and hits, harms and draws blood. The same sky is over everyone's head; the same earth supports everyone's feet; the same air enters everyone's lungs! The same God brought all forth, brings up all and brings about the end of this earthly career. Why then this inhuman role of foe and fanatic; of fight and feud?

I am the embodiment of Love; Love is My instrument. There is no creature without Love; The lowest loves itself, at least. And its "self is God". So, There are no atheists, although some might dislike Him or refuse Him, as malarial patients dislike sweets or diabetic patients refuse to have anything to do with sweet! Those who preen themselves as atheists will one day, when their illness is gone, relish God and revere Him.

Struggle to realize the Atma, to visualize God; even failure in this struggle is nobler than success in other worldly attempts. The buffalo has horns; the elephant has tusks, but what a difference? To live in the body, with the body, for the body is the life of a worm; to live in the body, with God, for God is good for the life of man. The dull, activity hating Thamasic persons have ego and their Love is limited to their kith and kin. The Rajasic, active, passionate persons seek to earn power and prestige, and love those who will contribute to these. But the Sathwic, the pure, the good and the equanimity-filled love all as embodiments of God and engage themselves in humble service.

There are three types of approaches to the Lord; the eagle type, which swoops down on the target with a greedy swiftness and suddenness which by its very impact, fails to secure the object coveted; The monkey type, which flits hither and thither, from one another, unable to decide which is tasty; and the ant type which moves steadily, though slowly towards the object which it has decided is desirable. The ant does not hit the fruit hard and make it fall away; It does not pluck all the fruits it seeks; It appropriates just as much as it can assimilate and no more. Do not fritter away the time allotted to you for sojourning on earth in foolish foppery and fanciful foibles which always keep you outdoors. When are you able to walk indoors into the warmth and quiet of your own interior? Retire into solitude and silence now and then; experience the joy derivable only from them.

Rama, Krishna, Sai Baba appear different because of the dress that each has donned, but it is the self same Entity, believe Me. Do not be misled into error and loss. The time will soon come when this huge building and even vaster ones will be too small for the gatherings of those who are called to the place. The sky itself will have to be the roof of the auditorium of the future. I will have to forego the car and even the aeroplane when I move from place to place, for the crowds pressing around them will be too huge; I will have to move across the sky; yes that too will happen, believe Me

See all as Narayana swarupa and worship all with Prema. Even my Nature can be understood by you only when you wear the glass of Holiness. Holy things can only be cognised only by the Holy seeker. You get what you search for; You see what your eyes crave for. The doctor is found where patients gather; the surgeon stays in the operation ward; so too, the Lord is ever with the suffering and struggling. Whenever people cry out in agony " Oh God," there God will be.

You very often condemn the mind mind as a monkey; but, take it from Me, it is far worse. The monkey leaps from one branch to another; but the mind leaps from the heights of the Himalayas to the depths of the sea, from today to tens of years ago. Tame it by the process of Namasmarana. Make it, as Ramdas did, into a Bhadrachala, a stable and steady mountain. That is the task I assign to you. Make your heart an Ayodhya by means of Rama Nama. Ayodhya means a city that can never lie captured by force. That is your real nature: Ayodhya; Forget this; and you are lost. Install Rama in your heart; and then no outer force can harm you.

Things are not so important; the transcendental truth of the things is of value. You must visualize the spiritual in the material, the gold in the jewels, the Divine in the diversity of character and conduct and seek to know the Atma. All are equal in birth and death. Differences arise only during the interval. The Emperor and the beggar are both born naked; they sleep equally silently; they bow out without even leaving their new address. Then how can their reality be different? There is no doubt on this score. All are basically the same.

Listen to Me. When you wake up, feel that you are entering the stage to play the role assigned to you by the Lord; pray that you may act it well and earn His approbation. At night, when you retire to sleep, feel that you are entering the green room after the scene, but with the dress of your role on; for perhaps the role is not yet over and you have not yet been permitted to take the dress off. Perhaps you have to make another entrance the next morning. Do not worry about that. Place yourself fully at His disposal; He Knows; He has written the play and He knows how it will end and how it will go on. Yours is but to act and retire.

When the mind is unattached to the ups and downs of life, but is able to maintain equanimity under all circumstances, then even physical health can be assured. The mental firmament must be like the sky, which bears no mark of the passage through it of birds or planes or clouds. Illness is caused more by malnutrition of the mind than of the body. Doctors speak of vitamin deficiency; I will call it deficiency of vitamin G, and I will recommend the repetition of the Name of God, with accompanying contemplation of the Glory and Grace of God. That is Vitamin G. That is the medicine; regulated life and habits are two thirds of the treatment, while medicine is just one third only.

Carry on your highest duty to yourselves - follow the four F's: Follow the Master; Face the Devil; Fight to the End and Finish the Game. Then you win my Love in full measure. Love is my highest miracle. Love can make you gather the affection of all mankind. Love will not tolerate any selfish aim or approach, Love is God. Live in Love. Then all is right; all can be well. Expand your heart so that in can encompass all. Do not narrow it down into an instrument of restricted Love.

When you seek to learn swimming, you will have to enter the water and struggle with the strokes. When Bhasma (vibhuti) is given, doubt haunts some people whether Swami is wishing that the recipient should be a Saivite! It is a symbol of the indestructible basic substance which every being is. All things become ash; but ash remains ash, however much you may burn it. It is also a sign of renunciation, of sacrifice and of Jnana, which burns all Karma - consequently into ineffective ash. It is a sign of Ishwara and I apply it on your brow, to remind you that you too are Divine. It is a valuable 'Upadesa' about your identity. It also reminds you that the body is liable any moment to be reduced into a handful of ash. Ash is an lesson in detachment and renunciation.

The tongue is the armor of the heart; it guards one's life. Loud talk, long talk, wild talk, and talk full of anger and hate: all these affect the health of man. They breed anger and hate in others; they wound; they excite; they enrage; they, estrange. why is silence said to be golden? The silent man has no enemies, although he may not have friends. He has the leisure and the chance to delve within himself and examine his own faults and failings. He has no more inclination to seek them (fault) in others. if your foot slips, you sustain a fracture; If your tongue slips, you fracture some one's faith or joy. That fracture can never be set right; That wound will fester for ever. Therefore, use your tongue with great care. The softer you talk, the less you talk and the sweeter you talk, the better for you and the World.

Birth is the consequence of Kama (desire; lust); Death is the consequence of Kaala ( Time, the lapse of Time). The God of Desire (Kama) was reduced to ashes by Shiva; The God of Time is Kaala or Yama. He was subdued by sin. So, one has to surrender to Siva (God) if one has to escape the consequences of these two frightfully fatal forces. If between Kama and Kaala, you take refuge in Rama, then you can escape the rigor. For Rama is the Atma who has no Kama and is unaffected by kaala.

The river of human life meanders along, through many a valley, leaps over many a cliff, loses itself in many a marsh and seeks to empty itself in the ocean of Divine Grace; though, what happens is that it falls into the undrinkable expanse of salt. The flood flows from the heights to the depths; only the flames of fire do ever rise from the depths to the heights. That is why we speak of Jnanagni, the fire of Wisdom of Realization. Man suffers because he has developed hunger as vast as the sky, with a throat as narrow as a needle. his throat must become as vast as the earth; His heart must blossom wide through Shanthi and Sahana; That is through equanimity and fortitude. Then the desire of man for full lasting undiluted Ananda can be attained.

It is to persuade you to engage yourself in Namasmarana that I am Myself concluding My discourses with a few Namavalis which I sing. An officer of the Indian Civil Service has to write on the slate, A, B, C,D and pronounce those letters in order to teach his children the alphabet. When you find him doing so, you do not infer that he is himself learning the alphabet, do you? Therefore, do not be surprised if I sing Bhajan songs; I am but initiating you into this most efficacious Sadhana. Strengthen yourself, purify yourself and educate yourself by this Namasankeertan. Do it loudly and in company. Let those who join you listen and imbibe the nectar of the Name.

When you call out in sincerity, the response will certainly come. Give up all low desires and call from the anguished heart. Do not pray from the lips, as you do now, from the puja room which is but a corner of the kitchen. You worship the Lord with an eye on the dishes or cooking on the oven, with a nose inhaling hungrily the smells of hot curries. Your thoughts of God are vitiated by Vishavasana - attachment to sensory objects. There is a vast gap between what you say and what you do; and between what you are capable of and what you accomplish.

Once man is free from undue attachment to the body and its appurtenances, he is liberated from the pulls of joy, grief, good, bad, pleasure, pain etc. He is firmly established in equanimity, fortitude and undisturbed balance. There man discovers that the world is one in God; that all is Joy, Love and Bliss. He realizes that he himself is all this apparent World, that all the multifarious manifestations are fantasies of the Divine Will, which is his own Reality. This expansion of one's individuality to cover the ends of the Universe is the highest leap of man. It gives supreme Ananda, an experience for which saints and sages spent years of prayer and asceticism.

Man is enslaved by money. He lives a superficial, hollow, artificial life. This is indeed a great pity. Man should seek only as much money as is most essential for his living. The quantity of riches one must earn can be compared to the shoes one wears; if too small, they cause pain; if too big, they are a hindrance to physical and mental comfort. When we have more, it breeds pride, sloth, and contempt for others. In pursuit of money, man descends to the level of the beast. Money is the nature of manure. Piled up in one place, it pollutes the air. Spread it wide; scatter it over fields; it rewards you with bumper harvest. So too, when money is spent in all four quarters for promoting good works, it yields contentment and happiness in plenty.

Move forward towards the light and the shadow falls behind you. Move away from it and you follow your own shadow. Go every moment one step nearer to the Lord and then, maya, the shadow with fall back and not delude you at all. Be steady; be resolved. Do not commit a fault or take a false step and then repeat! Have the Thaapam ( the deliberation, the decision, the discipline) first; That is better than Paschaat Thaapam ( regret for the mistake made).

Give something Divine if you want the Divine. Prema, Shanthi, Dharma and Sathya are Divine. Do not try to get it for a flower that fades, a fruit that rots, a leaf that dries and water that evaporates. There are some who write and speak as if they have known Me, all that is to be known of Me. I can only say this: they can never know Me and My nature, even if they are born and reborn a thousand times. To know Me one has to be like Me, rise to this height. Can ants discover the depth of the Ocean?

In this Kali Age, The wicked have to be reformed and reconstructed, through Love and Compassion. That is why this Avatar has come unarmed. It has come with the message of Love. The only weapon which can transform the vile and the vicious is the Name of the Lord uttered with Love. The Name is redolent with Divine Glory. So when it is turned over in the mind, it transmutes into an instrument for liberation from delusion.

Three disciplines are essential, to become aware of the Divinity in all and in the Avathar; no activity should be taken up with individual aggrandizement in view; intellect and emotion must be directed to the revelation of the resident of the Heart, Atma; and every act should be done sincerely, with Love, with no yearning for acquiring personal profit, fame or benefit. Above all, listen to the voice of God within. As soon as one contemplates a wrong act, the voice warns, protests, and advises giving up. It pictures the shame that has to be suffered, the punishment that has to be faced and the disgrace it entails.

If God is implanted in the heart, you will see God everywhere, even in the objective world. Sarvam Brahmamayam, is a fact. Resolve this day to engage only in virtuous deeds, good thoughts, and good company. Let your mind dwell on elevating thoughts. Do not waste a single moment of your talking time in idle gossip or vain boasting or idle recreations.

The journey into the inner consciousness to calm the storms that rage is more important than the journey to moon or Mars. The latter may be more spectacular, but the former is more beneficial. Life without goodness, good thoughts, good actions, and good words is like a sky in the night without the moon or stars. It is like a wheel without hub or spokes! No one can push a boulder away while standing on it; you cannot be free from anxiety, while all the entrances through which it sneaks in are open. Stop catering to the senses and feeding the desires that haunt you.

When Jesus was emerging as the supreme principle of Divinity, he communicated some news to his followers. The statement of Christ is simple. " He Who sent me among you will come again". And he pointed to a lamb. The lamb is merely a symbol -- a sign. It stands for the voice - BA BA. The announcement was "The advent of BABA". "He will wear a robe of red, a blooded robe. He will be short, with a crown (of hair)." The lamb is a sign and symbol of Love. Christ did not declare that he will come again, He said," He who made me will come again." That BABA is the Baba; and the Sai, the short curly - hair - crowned, red robed Baba has come.

Human lives are now passing on and on, filth over filth, bent, broken, diseased,distressed, and disheartened. To enrich their lives and make human heritage worthwhile, I have come, I am evincing all this enthusiasm to teach you the prayer attitude to seva, for Love expresses itself as seva, Love grows through seva, and Love is begun in the womb of seva. And God is Love. The Avathar is a child to the children, a boy to the boys, a man among men, a woman among women, so that the Avathar's message might reach each heart and receive enthusiastic response as Ananda. It is the compassion of the Avathar that prompts His every action.

The nature we have around us and with us is the vesture of God. we have evidence of His beauty, goodness, wisdom, power, all around us, where ever we turn our eyes. But the art of recognizing Him is strange to us and so we deny Him and live on in the darkness. We have all around us, in the atmosphere, the music emanating from all the broadcasting stations of the world, but they do not assail your ear at any time. You are not aware of any station; but, if you have a receiver and if you tune it to the correct wave-length, you can hear the matter broadcast from any station; if you fail tune it correctly, you will get instead of news, only nuisance! So too, the Divine is everywhere above, around, below and beside; near as well as far. For cognizing it, you require not a Yantra (machine) but a Mantra (mystical formula potent with a psychological undertone). Concentration of Dhyana is the fixing of the exact location in the band. Love is the correct tuning in. Realizing the reality and the Bliss it confers is the happy clear listening.

See God in every being and then true sneha will blossom. This type of true sneha will come only when you follow the advice of Krishna. "Adveshta sarva bhoothanam maitrah karuna evacha nirmamo nirahamkaraah Sama Duhka Sukha Kshami". "He who has no trace of hatred towards any creature, who is friendly, and compassionate towards all, who is free from the bondage of 'I' and "mine", who takes pain and pleasure as equally welcome and who is forbearing in spite of provocation". Grow these qualities in you, for they are the signs of true sneha, it is only when you are proceeding along the Godward journey along the nine stages of Bhakti that you can attain this Divine ideal of true friendship.

Mohammed, who sought to establish the primacy of the One Formless Absolute had a large share of persecution, defamation and privation. Jesus, who attempted to rebuild mankind on the basis of Love, was crucified by little men who feared that their tiny tower of hate and greed will be toppled by his teaching. Harishchandra, who had resolved never to waver from Truth, was subjected to ordeal after ordeal, each more terrifying than the previous one. Those who seek to know God must steel themselves to bear insult, injury and Torture, with a smile.

I am showing you by My example. You must fill every moment with useful beneficial activity. You talk among yourselves, "O Swami is having his rest hour; Swami is sleeping", but I have never craved for a minute's rest or sleep or relief. Shall I tell you what time I feel restful, relieved and content? When I know that you are all earning Supreme Bliss through detachment and spiritual discipline; not until then. I am ever engaged in some activity or the other for your benefit. Things I could get done, I do not entrust to others; I do them myself, so that they may learn self-reliance and get experience thereby.

Yama or the God of death is described as dragging his victims to his abode by means of the rope or Paasa. Well, he has no rope factory there, for supplying him with the rope he needs. You manufacture the rope yourself and have it ready around your neck; he only has to take hold of the rope and pull you along! It is a three stranded rope, the strands being Ahamkaaram (Egoism); Vishayavasana (sense-attachment); and Kama (desire).

You must speak soft and sweet words to everyone. Do you like the voice of a crow? No, you drive the crow away, when it starts to crow; its speech is harsh, it is too loud for your ears. You must have heard the Koel, the cuckoo, haven't you? That bird looks very much like the crow; it grows in the nest of the crow, with the baby crows, it is fed by the mother crow, along with her own kids. But, no one will throw a stone at a 'Koel'; everyone likes to hear its sweet voice. Speak soft and sweet; then everyone will like you.

The title Sathyam Sivam Sundaram is full of meaning. It speaks of He, imminent in every one of you. Sathyam is the basic reality of you all. That is why you resent being called a liar. The real 'you' is innocent, you will not accept an imputation that is false. The real 'you' is joy, happiness, and auspiciousness. It is not Savam, but Sivam, it is Subham, Nithyam, and Anandam. How can you bear being called ugly? The Atma has got entangled in the body which it does not like; it is weighed down by shame, when you identify it with the body and attribute to it the weaknesses and deficiencies of that physical vehicle.

Have no thorn of hate in your mind, develop Prema towards all. Desire is a storm; greed is a whirlpool; pride is a precipice. Attachment is an avalanche, egoism is a volcano. Keep these things away, so that you can do Japa or Dhyana; they do not disturb the equanimity. Let Love be enthroned in your heart. Then there will be sunshine and cool breeze and the gurgling waters of contentment feeding the roots of faith.

Learn a lesson from the tree. When it is heavy with fruits, it does not raise its head aloft with pride. It bends low, stoops, as if it does not take any credit for its accomplishment and as if it helps you pluck to pluck the fruit. Learn a lesson from the birds. They feed those who cannot fly far. The bird relieves the itch of the buffalo by scratching it with its beak; they help and serve each other, with no thought of reward. How much more alert must man be, then, with his superior skills and faculties? Service is the best cure for egoism.

I would advise you to dwell always on one Name of God, One personification of one of His innumerable attributes of Glory. Then there is the expansion of your Love, the removal of hate and envy from your mental composition, seeing the God whom you adore in every other person intently as you see Him in yourself. Then you become the Embodiment of Love, Peace and Joy.

Remove the weight from your head by transferring all burdens to the Lord, leave everything to His will and His Law. Feed your mind with sweet and wholesome food: Sathsanga, Satpravatana and Sarveswara Chinta - then you are full of joy. I am Anandaswarupa; come and take Ananda from Me and, returning to your avocations, dwell on that Ananda and be full of Shanthi

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 reputations. This is the way of the world. There is in life the tragedy of ignorance and selfishness. They force man to take the wrong path and suffer calamity.

A strong will is the best tonic. The will becomes strong when you know that you are a child of immortality or a person who has earned the Grace of the Lord. Medicine and hospitalization are for these who hesitate and argue about this doctor being more efficient than the other and this drug being more powerful than the rest. For these who rely on the Supreme Doctor, His Name is the drug that cures.

You can call me on the phone, but I will not be available for all those who do not have the sincere and steady yearning of the Lord. For those who say "No! You're not my Lord", I say "No." For those who say, " Yes", I too echo "Yes". If I am available in your heart, I will be available over the phone. But, remember, I have my own special Postal and Telephone Systems. They operate from the heart straight to the heart. There are rules and regulations for the operations of the systems, which the Sastras declare. You can find them there. I am glad that the devotees have acquired this new convenience at Prashanthi Nilayam.

Truth can reflect itself in your intelligence only when it is cleaned by Thapas. Thapas means all acts undertaken with higher motives and all acts indicating yearning for the spirit; repenting for past blunders; staunch determination to adhere to virtue; self control; and unyielding adherence to equanimity in the face of success or failure. Thaapam means heat, burning intensity and earnestness of endeavor. It is Thapas that fosters renunciation and discipline.

The Rama and Krishna Avatars performed the mission of restoring Dharma and fostering virtuous living, besides punishing the wicked and teaching the world that vice will not succeed. Man is an amalgamation of humanity, animality and Divinity. It is a tragedy if he cannot get rid of the animality; and it is a greater tragedy if he cannot cultivate his Divinity. Contemplation of the Rama and Krishna Avathars and their leelas and mahimas is the surest method of cultivating the Divine in man.

God has four qualities and it is only when you cultivate them that you can understand Him. They are: Prema (Love), Soundarya (Beauty), Madhurya (Sweetness) and Shoba (Splendor). The development of Prema is enough to add into you the other three. When you are full of Prema for the Divine in all creation, that stage is beauty; when you are immersed in the sea of universal Love, you reach the acme of sweetness; when your mind loses its identity and merges with the universal Mind, then there is splendor indescribable.

My task is not merely to cure and console and remove individual misery. It is something far more important. The important task of the mango tree is to produce mango fruit. The leaves, the branches, and the trunk of the tree are useful in their own way, no doubt, but the main aim is the fruit. So also from the plantain tree, the fruit is the main gain. The leaves and the edible core of the stem are all incidental. So too, the removal of misery and distress is incidental to My Mission. My main task is the re-establishment of Veda and Shastra in the heart of Bharatavarsha and the revival of knowledge about them in the people. This task will succeed.

Narada once asked Krishna the secret of the attraction His flute play had on the cowherds of Brindavan. " Do they run to You or do You run to them?", he queried. "Among us, there is neither I nor they; how can a picture be separated from the cloth on which it is painted? I am imprinted on their hearts so inseparably and so inextricably" Krishna replied. Have God imprinted in your hearts; be ever so inextricably established in Him. That is my message to you.

This Sai has come in order to achieve the supreme task of uniting the entire mankind, as one family through the band of brotherhood, of affirming and illumining the Atmic reality of each being in order to reveal the Divine which is the basis upon which the entire cosmos rests and of instructing all to recognize the common Divine heritage which binds man to man, so man can rid himself of the animal and rise to the Divine which is the goal.

Do not get elated at the riches, status, authority, and intelligence, which have been given to you on trust, so that you may benefit others. They are all signs of His Grace, opportunities for service and symbols of responsibility. Never seek to exult over other's faults; deal sympathetically with errors and mistakes of others; hear only good things about them; and do not give an ear to scandals.

The snake moves in curves, not in a straight line; man, too, when he is following the senses has to move in a crooked path. He has greater poison in him than the snake; his venom is to be found in his eye, his tongue, his hands, his mind, his heart, and his thoughts - whereas the cobra has it only in its fangs. The cobra raises its hoods and sways in joy when it hears music; so too man, when he realizes the stage of Nirvikalpa, steady, unchanging establishment in the ultimate Reality, dances in heavenly Bliss.

Does thou know why you have been given eyes? To see whatever can be seen? No! No! To fill the eyes with the vision of God who resides on Mount Kailas. We have to cast our looks at sacred sights. We must visualize in everyone only the good and the Godly. That is the purpose for which God has equipped us with eyes. He has not gifted them to us to observe and judge others, to follow people into the bazaar or to see unsightly films.

God is the source of all Love; Love the world as the vesture of God, no more and no less. Through Love, you can merge in the ocean of Love. Love cures pettiness, hate and grief. Love loosens bonds; it saves man from the torments of birth and death. Love binds all hearts in a soft silken symphony. Seen through the eyes of Love, all beings are beautiful; all deeds are dedicated; and all thoughts are innocent. The world is one vast kin.

God is all powerful; God is everywhere; God is all-knowing. To adore such a formidable limitless principle, man spends a few minutes out of 24 hours and uses a minute idol or picture! It is indeed ridiculous; it is practically futile. Adore Him so long as you have breath and so long as you are conscious. Have no other though than God, have no other aim than knowing His command; no other activity than translating that command into action. That is what is meant by surrender. Surrender yourself unto Him.

There are three types of persons: those, who confess their own faults and mention the excellence of others, are the highest type; those, who highlight their own excellence and decry the faults of others are worse; those, who parade their own faults as excellence and deride the excellence found in others as faults, are the worst. The last type is nowadays most rampant.

God has no will or want; He does not confer or withhold; He is the eternal witness. To put it in the language that you can understand: He is like the postman, who is not concerned with the contents of the letters that he hands over to the addressees; one letter might communicate victory; another defeat; and you receive what you have worked for. Do good and have good done in return; be bad and accept the bad that comes back to you. That is the law; and there is really no help (or) hindrance.

The relief and the joy you give to the sick and the sad reach me, for I am in their hearts and I am the One they call out for. God has no need for your service; does He suffer from pain in the legs, or ache in the stomach? Try to serve the Godly; be dasanudasas, the servants of the servants of the Lord. The service of man is the only means by which you can serve God.

All who come embodied are Avathars, that is to say, advents of the Divine, manifestations of God. What, then, is the special feature of Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Christ? Why do you celebrate their birthdays with such reverential enthusiasm? The specialty is this: they are aware; you are unaware of the Atma which is the Truth. Awareness confers Grace, Glory, Majesty, Might and Splendor. Awareness confers liberation from bonds and from time, space, causation and sleep, dream and wakefulness. Avathars are ever alert and alight.

For Namasmarana, no expense is involved; no materials are needed; There is no special place or time to be provided. No qualification of scholarship or caste or sex has to be proved. When a bit of iron is rubbed to and fro on a slab of stone, heat is generated, only, the rubbing has to be vigorous and continuous. When you do so at intervals and with poor pressure, the iron will not get hot. So, too, in order to get sufficient heat to melt the soft heart of the Lord, rub the name 'Ram', 'Ram', 'Ram' vigorously and unremittingly. Then, the Lord will shower His Grace.

This is the best time to tell you something about the authenticity of this Advent. I only wish to communicate the Truth. There are many who cannot bear or tolerate the splendor that I am manifesting, the Divinity that is expressed in every act, the wonders and amazing happenings that are the result of Grace; these people label these as acts of mesmerism or miracles or feats of magic! They hope to bring these down in the estimation of the people. Let me tell you this ; mine is no mesmerism or miracle or magic. Mine is genuine DIVINE POWER.

Life sustained by food is short; life sustained by the Atma is eternal. Do not lay claim to long life; but to Divine life. Do not pine for more years on earth, but for more virtues in the heart. The Buddha knew and made known to the world the Truth. Everything is grief. Everything is empty. Everything is brief. Everything is polluted. So the wise man has to do the duties cast upon him with discrimination, diligence and detachment. Play the role but keep your identity unaffected.

In order to escape being tossed about on the waves of joy and grief, one should cultivate unconcern (upeksha), an attitude of welcoming either, as a sign of Grace. Sri Ramakrishna said that if you must avoid the sticky fluid in the jack-fruit from contacting your fingers when you peel it, you have to apply a few drops of oil to them. So too, said he, "If you do not want the world and its reactions to stick to you, have a few drops of unconcern applied on your mind."

The foundation for real peace is, according to the Vedas, the quality of Maithree. Maithree means amicability, friendship, compassion, and kindness. It can also be taken to mean, "My Three" that is to say, my word, deed and thought shall be in accordance with words, thought and deed; that is to say; we shall speak, think and act together, without friction or faction, in an atmosphere of love and understanding. That is what is wanted in the world today: My three.

All men are Mine; so the whole World has to be saved from the consequences of ignorance or limited knowledge. I will get all My people near Me, for they are Mine, and I am theirs. Then, I will start teaching and training them, until they become entirely ego-free. For the last 25 years, it has all been sweetness, kindness, soft persuasion; hereafter, it will be different. I will drag them, on the table and operate. That is to say, I have no anger of hate. I have only Love. It is Love that prompts Me to save them and to open their eyes, before they get deeper into the morass.

Man alone can rise through effort to higher stages of spiritual evolution. No other animal can do so. Animal trainers of the Circus can train a tiger to perform various tricks, but they cannot change his nature. They cannot make it live on grass and completely deprive it of meat. But man is different. His nature can be changed by means of his own disciplined effort. He can control, by his will, the evil thoughts and ideas that arise in his mind. This is why birth as a human being is considered a rare gift.

Faith in God will instill faith in themselves and in others and the World will be happier thereby. The Americans might walk on the moon, or the Russians picnic on the planet Mars, but they have both to return to Earth, which is their common home. One can claim genuine victory only when one has reached not the dead satellite, but the living star, not the Chandra, but Ramachandra, the Lord who rules over the inner satellites, the inner planets, the inner motives and aspirations.

Life is a jungle, where there is a great deal of dry wood which harbors worms and insects. No one cleans the floor of the forest or cuts away the undergrowth of bush and bramble. To wade through the thorns and the leech-ridden floor of the jungle, one has to wear boots. So too, one has to pass through the jungle of life, without harming oneself.

Today the student world is tossed in confusion; not only in confusion but in downright insanity. They wear white clothing; but the hearts are still dark.

  Heads are full of evil thoughts;
Ears are open for scandal-tales;
Eyes delight in peeping unseen;
Minds crave for wicked plots;
Reason pursues plan to cheat.
When Vidya perceives these in man,
It will not stay a moment there.

When this is the condition, how can one earn vidya? Of course, man's present situation and status are determined by his acts and thoughts in the past.

Samskriti the word for culture and civilization is derived from the word samskara, which means the dual process of removing the dust and dirt of vice, and planting the virtues of Sathya, Dharma, Shanthi and Prema. Samskara is also the name for certain obligatory rites of initiation and purification prescribed by the Vedas for the spiritual upliftment of man. Their number is forty-eight in all, but they could be reduced to ten and if needed, even to one; the final fulfilling one, of recognizing one's identity with Madhava or Siva, or Brahman. Nara is but Narayana seen through the limitations of primal ignorance.

An iron box is essential to keep safe precious stones; so to, the body is essential to keep safe the precious gift of virtue, faith, love and discrimination. The parents gave it and so they have to be respected by speech, action and behavior. How can you expect the Heavenly Father to respond to your prayers if you do not respond to the demands of the earthly Father? The first step in Dharma is gratitude; the first duty of the child is reverence to the parents. When the first step is absent, ascent is impossible.

If a school has poor discipline and if its students are led away by self-seekers into the wilderness, the fault lies on the parents, elders and the Committee of Management. The Committee often is only a 'Come-for-Tea' affair.

However superfine the paper, however artistic the envelope and however poetic the composition of the letter, it will not reach the addressee by post, when it lacks the 50 paise stamp! So too the trappings, vestures, shawls, moles and rosaries are ineffective; they cannot reach the addressee - God. what will take their prayers to the addressee is the 50 paise stamp: dedication or Bhakti.

I want each one of you to grow into a strong, steady and straight person. Your eyes should not seek evil sights; your ears should not seek evil tales; your tongue should not seek evil speech; your hands should not seek evil acts; your minds should not seek evil thoughts. Be pure and be full of Love. Help those who are in a worse condition and serve those who need your help.

God appears in human form; He promotes pasture of cattle and agriculture, in order that the food must sustain the Head and render it intelligent and clear enough to realize God. The body has to be nourished for the sake of the Head, so that 'Jnana' can be attained and Liberation gained. Food-Head-God: this is the chain of events.

When you live in the world of desire, you must be prepared for both joy and grief. Invite the minister, bhoga, and you must be prepared for the visit along with him of his private secretary, roga! Invite on the other hand, the minister thyaga, or his colleague Yoga; and you will be happy to receive their private secretary - boga, who plays a minor role in the presence of his Master.

Bhakti is not to be calculated on the basis of the institutions one has started or helped, the temples that one has built or renovated, the donations one has given away; nor does it depend on the number of times one has written the Name of the Lord or on the time and energy one has spent in the worship of the Lord. These are not vital at all; no, not even secondary. Bhakti is Prema, unsullied by any tinge of desire for the benefit that flows from it or the fruit of consequence of that Love.

God is as eager to save you as your are eager to be saved; He is Prema, He is Karuna, for all who flounder on the road. He is called Bhakta - Abhista - Prada (He who grants the desires of the devotees). You say that I laugh within Myself, that I roll my hair on My fingers and draw them right over My face, but let me say why? It is a sign of My Ananda at the success of Bhaktas in capturing My heart.

The human body has been secured as a reward for many lives of meritorious activity. Being valued as a boat which can help us cross the ocean of change Samsara it has to be tended with grateful reverence. The Bhagavad Gita calls the body Kshetra, which means 'a field': one can sow holiness or sin and gather a harvest commensurate with the particular quality. Choose the crop that you need before you sow the seeds.

The Vedavids marked three stages in the life of man and assigned one aspect of God to preside over each stage. The first, where man is deep in activity of some sort or other in karma, is presided over by Vasu. The second, under the protection of Rudra, is filled with reverential worship of the God in all, discovered through the impact of Love. The third is the stage of Gnana, the supreme Wisdom, presided over by the source of illumination, Aditya or the Sun.

The bird, in the physical cage wherein man is imprisoned, is always, from the moment of birth to the moment of death, chirping SOHAM declaring Jiva and Deva are ONE. It is this affirmation that is the justification for the gift of life. When that chirp does not emanate from the breath, the body is a corpse: SAVAM! When it manifests, illumines and fills the cage with the 'Divine Fragrance', it is a tabernacle: SIVAM! Identify yourselves with the Manthra the bird chirps and the breath repeats.

The world is a furnace and a factory where man has to shape his destiny by his honest, untiring efforts. He who takes up this challenge and spends his allotted years and the skill and the intelligence with which he is endowed, in purposeful activity, is really entitled to the status of a Karma Yogi.

Duty is God; Work is Worship; and there is a dictum: "Heads in the Forest; Hands in Society". Do deeds that are holy and beneficial, untarnished by ego and the greed to benefit. Start on the sacred pilgrimage to the Divine Goal and make every minute of your life holy and purposeful. Then, surely, this earth, your field of work, will be transformed into a Karmakshetra and a Dharmakshetra.

A devotee once lamented, saying, "Oh God! you have forgotten me!" This is never possible. It is the devotee who forgets that he is the child of God, that God is his never-failing friend and guide. God is all knowledge, all power, and all mercy. Faith in God has to be constant and firm in the face of every challenge by fate or fortune.

A person might appear poor, distressed, and depressed, to ordinary mortals; he might not have the exterior demonstration of devotion. But, God would be ever installed in his heart, guiding and guarding him. He might be doing all acts as acts of worship to the God residing in his heart.

We, who are crossing the ocean of samsara (the chain of birth and death), need to cultivate the art of swimming through Bhagavath Chinthana (Meditation of God). However learned we may be, if we do not have this training and cultivation, we are bound to sink. Life is a boat which enables us to cross the ocean of samsara with the aid of meditation on God.

When you spend your hours in thoughts about God, you are also free from evil ways. You will not be tempted to abuse others or harm them in any way. You live in Love, accepting all the events as His gifts. Homes such as yours are, really speaking, Heavens on earth; the Joy that bubbles in your hearts is the symbol of Vaikuntha; the earnestness and care that you evince in your work is the sign of Kailas the abode of Siva. Hearts dedicated to these ideals are indeed 'golden'.

We cannot describe God in the vocabulary learnt upon the Earth. We have to experience the Bliss of realizing Him as the core of our being. Man is endowed with a sense of wonder and awe, the sense which make him, either a participant (Karma Yoga), an inquirer into the mystery (Gnana Yoga) or a devout adorer (Bhakthi Yoga).

One does not have to search for spiritual power, going around the world and spending a lot of money. Be in your own house, develop it in yourself, such spiritual power in you! You do not have to run for it here and there. God is not external; God is not outside you; God is inside you. You are not a man, your are God yourself. You are not one person, but three; the one you think you are (physical); the one others think your are (mental); and the one you really are. Do not be under the delusion that God is somewhere and you have to search for Him; God is in you.

Parents and teachers can earn My Grace only by becoming good and worthy examples to their sons and daughters, or their wards and students. You claim to have devotion to Me, but you must examine and discover whether I am pleased with you. You must examine yourselves every moment, whether you are observing the discipline I have laid down and the program of service I have marked out. That is the way to earn My Love. Love others and serve them; then, you can win My Love.

You will see the day when the Chitravathi sands alone can accommodate the gatherings that assemble here from all parts of the world; when the sky alone can provide them a roof for them all. Many hesitate to believe that things will improve, that life for all will be happy and full of joy, that the Golden Age will ever recur. Let me assure you that this Dharmaswarupa has not come in vain; It will succeed in averting the crisis that has come upon Humanity.

When the Dharma of the Age is laid aside
To establish it anew, though loving means;
When the world is polluted by conflict and confusion,
To restore the path of virtue and peace;
When good men caught in cruel coils wail,
To save them from pain and shame;
When sacred texts are not grasped alright,
To proclaim the message they teach mankind;
To relieve the earth of the burden of vice,
To fulfill the promise made in the Tretha Age;
Achuta has incarnated on this earth;
Vasudeva, Srihari has come into the world.

God alone is eternal; man is a momentary flash, a tiny wavelet that rises and falls, So, fill yourselves with vast thoughts, magnificent ideas, indefinable splendor, by reciting the names of God, names that describe Him to your receptive consciousness. That is the main discipline for this Age.

Remembering the Lord by His Name is enough to save man. The Lord is Anandamaya; He is also Ananda. That Ananda is to be tasted through the Name. It is Sat-Chit-Ananda you may doubt whether such a small raft such as Rama, or Sai or Krishna can take you across the boundless sea of samsara. People cross vast oceans on a tiny raft; they are able to walk through dark jungles with a tiny lamp in their hands. The name, even the Pranava which is smaller, has vast potentialities. The raft need not be as big as the sea.

Do not fret against the rules and regulations which the organization imposes on you; they are laid down for your own good. Regulation is the very essence of creation. The oceans observe their limits. Wind and fire respect their limits and bounds. The human body has to maintain its warmth at 98.4F in order to be healthy; the heart has to beat at definite number of times per minute. How, then can the organization escape the prescription of certain rules and regulations?

The same Divine compassion that blessed Dharma; saved Gajendra; restored Kuchela; and stood by Prahlada, has come to earth as the refuge of the refugeless; as the Lord of peace, harmony and righteousness; as the Lord of all the worlds; as the Sath-Chit-Anandamurthi; and as the Puttaparthi Sathya Sai Sath-Chakravarthi - The King of Kings.

The Avathar is Atmashakthi that has put on the raiment of Kriyasakthi and Yogasakthi. Generally Avathar or the process of incarnation is described as a 'coming down' from a higher status to a lower one. But, no! When the baby in the cradle weeps, wails and clamors for help, the mother stoops and takes it up in her arms; her stoop is not to be described 'coming down'. If you earn the necessary credentials, the Incarnation will come and save you. If, on the other hand, you multiply your demerits and descend lower and lower, how can you be saved?

Sai only reflects your mind. He has no prejudices or preference. He is a mirror wherein you can see yourselves as you really are. In order to correct mistakes and remove your faults, I have sometimes to use harsh words, but you may be rest assured that My sole aim is to turn you to better ways. I have no anger in Me. It is the inner compassion which takes the other form of anger.

You think Sai Baba is comfortably sleeping in the mandir. Do you know where I find happiness? I am happy when I am with you. That is the reason why I declare "My Life is My Message". I am consistently engaged in some work or other at all hours. I do not get attached to anything nor do I need to detach myself from anything. I am ever in full Ananda.

Egoism is a thorny bush which, when planted and fostered in one's heart, makes one pay the penalty. Egoism makes enemies of fast friends and rains many good causes and projects, for it does not allow two good men to work together. Grief follows it like a shadow. Where there is no ego - joy, peace, courage, cooperation and love flourish. When man is aware that the same Divine consciousness that motivates him is equally motivating all others, then Love ousts the ego and takes charge of man's activities words and thoughts.

Overcome by inner foes, how can man succeed in overwhelming the outer foes?
Burdened with sloth and dullness, how can he achieve wisdom?
Prompted by passion, how can he cultivate devotion?
Balance and equanimity alone can confer peace and harmony.

Nara and Narayana are like iron and magnet. God, by his very nature, attracts man near, for in man there is the Divine. When the magnet fails to attract the iron piece, we sometimes conclude that the magnet has lost its power. The real fact is, however, that the piece of iron is too thickly covered by rust and dust. Thus man (the iron) does not realize his own defect, but rushes to blame God (the magnet) and even to deny Him.

Revere Jnana as you revere your father; adore love as you adore your mother; move fondly with Dharma, as if it is your own brother; confide in daya, as if it is your dearest friend; have shaantham as your better half; treat sahana, fortitude as if it were your own beloved son. These are your genuine kith and kin. Move with them; do not forsake them.

Hold all your property and wealth in trust for the Lord who gave them to you; even your family, you must treat as a sacred trust, as persons given to you by the Lord to love, foster and guide. Thus, you must elevate your attachment into worship and make it an instrument for spiritual progress.

You come to Puttaparthi, secure a picture, and taking it home, worshipping it every day or every Thursday; but that is simply sathkarma - good activity. They will not take you far. You must also develop sathguna, virtues, good habits, good attitudes, good characteristics and a good character. Otherwise our life is a chain of pluses and minuses, one canceling the other out, totaling up to a mere zero.

Devotion towards God goes ill with hatred towards fellow men. Fellow-men and the world must be seen ever in the mirror of Sath-Chit-Ananda. Kinship based on this recognition will alone last. That is the Sai kinship. When you deepen that kinship, the true presence, the constant presence of Sathya Sai will always be yours. Do not be led away by your fancies into the jungle of words and feelings. Be firm, true to your inner-most nature.

There are many trusts operating in this country and in others beyond the seas. I wish to emphasize that the Sathya Sai Trusts have to shine forth among them all by their special characteristics. They must be based on mutual trust and cooperation built on actual experience of the Oneness of all. There is no room here for egoistic poses, compulsory tactics, greed for power, recrimination and jealousy.

God too is a reality, ever present in us and in every being; but we miss Him, as we miss the movement of the earth. We have to infer God through proofs and inferences of His Providence, His Grace, His Majesty and His Glory, just as we infer the movements of the earth, the moon and the stars by watching the sky, the seasons and the precise procession of day and night. We cannot describe God in the vocabulary learnt on Earth.

Sivoham, Sivoham - was the exclamation that rose from the souls that knew the Truth in a flash of illumination, after long years of cleansing the mind through the process of Tapas. 'I am Siva-Siva am I' - Though called by many names and recognized in many forms, the Divine Principle is one, without a second. It is 'Sivam' and is latent in each being, including Man.

The serpent can be tamed and its poison fangs removed, when music from the Nagaswaram pipe is played and when it is fascinated by that sweet melody. The poison that vishaya exerts on the human mind can also be eliminated and countermanded, when man is fascinated by the sweet melodies of Namasmarana or Sankeerthan - that is to say, by the repetitive chanting of the meaningful names of the Lord. The poison, in both, can thus be transmuted into pure nectar.

Scriptures are endless; Sadhanas are countless; opportunities are few; time is already overstocked. But you can easily win the battle of life, in spite of these handicaps, provided you arm yourself with Love, which is the essential teaching of all Scriptures, the goal of all varieties of Sadhana, the best use to which all opportunities can be put and the most profitable way of utilizing the precious capital time.

The day when deep devotees sing songs in
praise of the Lord and please the ear;
The day when sorrows of the poor recur and 
men move closer as brothers born;
The day when servants of God are fed with Love and Care,
in thankfulness;
The day when a Great One comes to us and
relates thrilling tales of God.
These indeed are worthwhile days.
The rest are like days dedicated
to obsequies for the dead.

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.

I have no sense of distinction between Bhaktas who worship this form or that. All can come near, all who crave for heat or light. The heat of this splendor will destroy the chill of sensual pleasure. The light will scatter the darkness of the ages. Cultivate Love and Prema towards all; that is the way to gain nearness. I do not measure distance in terms of meters or miles. The range of Love decides the distance for me.

The real aim of education must be to help the student discover the Divine in every being. Saint Vemana Says: Scholars, study! study! study! But the fools do not know what they are! Studying, studying. - The scholar is not free from vice; nor has he become wise. Then why study these mean, mortal things? Study only that which is deathless. The most desirable subject for study is the Secret of the Soul which is Immortal.

Seva is the adoration of the Lord, as Vishwa-Virataswarupa, as having the multifaced form and immanence in the entire Universe. The Vedas describe Him as thousand-headed, thousand-eyed and thousand-footed. The thousands of hands and eyes that have come here for the festivals are all His, the Lord's. Worship Him; that is the purpose of your Seva. And He is none else than your own self.

You must discover your identity; then only can you have peace. You are like a man who has forgotten his name; his address and his mission in life. Realize it and try to delve deep into yourself; so that you may know who you are. Then you get security and peace. Sharpen your intellect for this purpose; and cleanse your consciousness for this purpose through Sathsang, Japa, Dhyana, Namasmarana etc.

Valmiki was a highway-robber who waylaid and killed hundreds without hesitation; he was the slave of passion and emotion; but, when the seven sages whom he waylaid one night, counseled patience, forbearance and self-enquiry, he turned heroically into the path of Ram (giving up the lure of Kama or lust) and achieved immortality and immortal fame, as the narrator of Rama's story.

 Scatter the seeds of Love in dreary desert hearts; 
Then the sprouts of love will make the wastes green with joy;
The blossom of Love will make the air fragrant;
The river of Love will murmur along the valleys;
And every bird, beast and child will sing the song of Love.

Prayer is the very breath of religion; for it brings man and God together and, with every sigh, nearer and nearer. Dhyana is the process of listening to the Song Celestial, the Flute of Krishna, with the mental ears alert on the melody. Yoga is the merging of the Mind in the Bliss of self-forgetfulness, when the music fills the Consciousness.

The primal formless Absolute wedded Desire and the Mind was born. The Mind wedded two wives, Inner contemplation and Outer activity. The first gave birth to five sons; Sathya, Dharma, Shanthi, Prema and Ahimsa, the Five Pandava Brothers. Mind was infatuated more with the second wife, and so, gave birth to a 100, each one with a name indicative of badness and wickedness, the Kauravas. God was on the side of the Pandavas and they won.

The universe is seen; it can be learnt about; it can be experienced and enjoyed. But, God is unseen. He has to be inferred through His handiwork. So, too, society to which social service can be rendered, cannot be seen as such. We can contact only individuals. But, through the individual, you infer the immanence of the Divine. All are actors on the world stage, in His play. Every atom is surcharged with His Power, His Might and His Glory, every being is surcharged with His Bliss, His Beauty and His Goodness.

Be devoted to the Universal; be eager to become that; when you pray to God for a job, a son, or a prize, you are devoted not to God, but to the job, son and to the prize. Pray to God for God. Love, because it is your nature to Love, because you know nothing else and because you cannot act otherwise than Love. Expand yourself, take in all! Grow in Love.

Having an open heart, do not relish the narrow path of restricted love; love all, do not develop prejudices against men in power or position. They too are our kith and kin. We all sail together. Be convinced of one Truth about Me; Swami will never lay a hand on a task without proper reason and without having some profound effect that will flow there from.

When the Giver of Grace is here, you run after persons who claim that they got this or other article from Me, or were blessed with this gift from Me; When you have Kamadhenu here, why seek to know and secure a cow? Kamadhenu can give you all that you need. When you have Kalpatharu here, why bother about the fruits on a tree? Kalpatharu can give you all that you ask. When you have here the mountain of Gold and Silver, Meru, why cringe for silver and gold from persons who are themselves beggars? When you have God come among you, to support and sustain you, why grovel before crude vulgar entities?
[NOTE: Kamadhenu is a wish fulfilling Cow in Indian mythology which could satisfy any wish. Kalpatharu is a wish fulfilling tree also in mythology which could satisfy any wish.]

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.

Intellect alone can direct man in the path of discrimination, between the true path and the false; the proper and the improper. This is the reason why man has been praying since Ages, through the Gayatri 'hymn' "Illuminate me, prompt my intelligence, so that I may walk aright".

Shankara wrote a verse summarizing the advice he gave the poor struggling Brahmin householder at Varanasi (Benares City).

Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam,
Bhaja Govindam, Moodha Mathe,
Samprapthe Sannihite Kaale,
Nahi Nahi Rakshathi 'Dukrun Karane'

"Praise the Lord, praise God, praise God, you fool, when death knocks at your door, rules of grammar cannot save you"

Of what avail is a car, A bank deposit, a bungalow in a posh extension of the city? If you have all these but no love in your heart, the heart becomes a dark deserted temple, where the bats of lust and anger breed in the ever-lasting night. Such hearts are foul, diseased with terror and error.

Birds, beasts and trees have not deviated, from their nature; they are still holding it valid. Man alone has disfigured it, in his crude attempt to improve upon it. So, the Avathar has to come as Man among men, move as a friend, well-wisher, kinsman, guide,teacher, healer and participant among men. He has come to restore Dharma and when man follows Dharma, he is pleased and content.

Get up, place the rosary in the bag and engage yourselves in relieving distress; that is the true spiritual path. Do not waste all your years with stone images, pictures or idols, learn to see in every living vital active person, the embodiment of all energy, all beauty, all beneficence, namely God. God is subtler than ether filling the smallest crevice with His Majesty. Know this and serve His manifestations, wherever you meet them.

Contentment is heaven; grief is hell; anger is the foe; calmness is the armor; and compassion is the comrade. You repeat shanthi three times, don't you? It is to encourage peace in the human, Godly and natural milieu in which you have to live; also to develop peace, in the body, mind and intellect.

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.

An act dedicated as an offering to God, resident in all, becomes as sacred as the highest seva, that is why Avathars happen; hence, when you offer seva to mankind, the Avathar will naturally be pleased and you can win Grace.

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 ego-stricken individuals, who hate society and behave most unsocially.

The call of the Divine echoes in every heart; it provokes the reaction of awe, reverence, affection, love and sacrifice - all ingredients of Bhakti. It translates itself into acts of worship, of praise, of adoration and of rituals symbolizing the majesty of God. Thus, the mind gets saturated with Divine thoughts. It is recast in the Divine mould, until the flow of Ananda becomes unabated.

God, First; the World next, myself last! That is the legitimate sequence for the Sadhaka; and, who is not a Sadhaka? You have to be one, now or later, so that you can be liberated from this cycle of birth-death! Now, Man, in his callousness towards his own welfare, has turned it topsy-turvy! It is myself first, the world next, and God is last. So, God is lost too! Hold fast to God; then, you will be safe.

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.

"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.

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 for your 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.

Man must first decide, after vigorous self examination and continuous discrimination, the path he wishes to traverse. Moksha or liberation, means the removal of bonds of ignorance that could hide the truth and create a mirage of the truth. In fact, living is only another name of the process of achieving alternate misery and happiness, hunger and contentment, illness and health, desires and fulfillment.

The Sai Religion is the harmonious blending, through Love, of all religions, though some followers of other faiths feel that Sai Religion is contrary to theirs. We should not entertain similar feelings. Ours is the totality, the sum; we should not limit or restrict our Vision.

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 ax on its trunk! The dog can teach you a lesson in faith, self-less service and the process of dedication.

Remember, you cannot have the Anubhava and the Ananda first. And you cannot postpone faith until you get them. You cannot bargain: Give me Ananda and then I shall have faith; See the Purushottama in all Purushas. Purusha means: he who lives in the rural or port-city or town. Each one of us is the resident and the sole resident of a distinct house of God. But, the Purushottama, the supreme resident in all the cities is God. You can recognize the Purushottama, if you educate yourselves properly.

Form small Satsanghas and meet regularly for Bhajans and mutual consultation about spiritual matters. Read some fine spiritual classics like Bhagavatha. Fill your eyes with the beauty of His form, your ears with the story of His Leelas, and your hearts with the sweetness of His Glory; inspire yourselves by seeing Him everywhere. Think of His immanence in every hill and dale, every man and beast, every tree and insect. You will be really thrilled by the joy of that vision.

Man is growing more and more greedy to know more about the lives of others, more extrovert in fact. He wants to escape from himself, by interesting himself in others. He does not want to worry about the details of his own life or the problems of his own rehabilitation. Of what benefit is all this burden of information that you seek to carry in your head, this knowledge of various regions of the world, without a knowledge of the region of your own self, the center of all the interest that you evince?

Everyday, when you take food, you are offering eatables to the fire that God has put in you to digest food. You have to eat in a prayerful mode, in profound gratitude. The Gita says that the fire which cooked the meal is God; the meal is God; the eater is God; the purpose of eating is to carry on the work entrusted by God, or pleasing to God; and the fruit of that work is, progress towards God.

Prema must grow with every moment of Sadhana. It must sweeten every word, deed and thought of yours. Emerge from Dhyana as a person more charged with Love! Return from Bhajan with a greater measure of Love! Return from Nagarsankirtan with a firmer conviction that everything is surcharged with the same Divinity that is behind all your activity.

The beauty of nature is but a reflection of the beauty that is God. But like all images, it is not substantial. Flowers fade, clouds scatter into new patterns, physical charm is but a flash that disappears in a moment. But Divine beauty is eternal, full and free. That Sundaram is Sathyam, unaffected by any passage of time, unchanging with the location; that Sundaram is the real Shivam, the only good that is. Pursuing petty physical beauty leads man astray; it is as calamitous as the pursuit of trivial joy.

You must all study the Gita daily. Read a few slokas and meditate on the meaning yourself; it will dawn on you in the silence of your heart. You need not read elaborate commentaries. Each word in the Gita is a gem. No more do you need gemstones for the ear, the nose and the neck; have the gem of the Gita slokas in your heart; let them activate your intellect and your hands.

We shall act ever as if we are in the presence of God, as if God is watching and weighing every thought, word and deed. See yourselves in all; see all in yourselves; that is the road to lasting peace and joy. Let us not seek the outer empire; let us become the rulers of the inner empire. Let us not try to defy the outer enemy, leaving the inner foe to grow in striking power. We have Krishna with us, and so, who can defeat us? We shall win through his Grace.

The Gayathri Mantram is a universal prayer that can be used by men of all climes and creeds, for, it calls upon the glorious power that pervades the sun and the three worlds to arouse, awaken and strengthen the intelligence, so that it may lead to intense Sadhana; and Sadhana may lead to success.

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.

Punarvasu, the star under which Rama was born, has a mysterious influence on the authority which accepts all who submit to the Saranagatha-Thrana aspect of Rama's Glory.

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.

One of the first principles of straight living is - Practice silence, for the voice of God can be heard in the region of your heart only when the tongue is stilled and the storm is stilled and the waves are calm. There will be no temptation for the others to shout, when you talk to them in whispers. Set the level of the tone yourself; as low as possible, as high as necessary to reach the boundary of the circle you are addressing. Conserve sound, since it is the treasure of the element Akaasa, an emanation from God Himself.

Spend the allotted span of years in the contemplation and the adoration of the Almighty, not in servile praise of the feeble, the futile and the weak. Life is an opportunity afforded to each, not to eat and drink, but to achieve something nobler and grander; to master oneself and merge in the Reality.

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.

It takes time for a fruit to mature and acquire sweetness and become eatable; time is a prime factor for most good fortunes. Make full use of Me, that is all I ask of you. I have at any time no feeling of separateness. I invite all to come and know and derive benefit from Me. Dive and know the depth; watch an discriminate; eat and know the taste- I long for people to do that.

Sarvam Vishnu Mayam Jagath: The universe is saturated with Divinity; there is nothing here which is not HE; Isaa Vasyam Idam Sarvam. He is the base and the superstructure, the material and the manner, the inner motive and the outer movement. The body is the temple of the Lord; the atmosphere of this temple is by its very nature, filled with Love for all beings. But man, overpowered by egoism, fouls it with envy and greed and so it festers with disease and distress.

There are some who always condemn themselves and their lives and aspire for the Grace of God to save them. Jiva and Deva are two separate entities and never can they merge or unite, they declare. The obvious is very often untrue. Sin is not the real nature of man; It is acquired and can be shed. Man is pure good, loving and wise. That is why in the Nilayam, I have stopped people from reciting slokas which proclaim man as sinful, born in sin, reveling in sin, etc., Let the purity, which you are, get manifested; endeavor to express it in your activities; that is what pleases me and wins my Grace.

I am telling you this because it is a forecast of what you can expect in the coming days. I have been declaring since six or seven years that the day when millions will gather to benefit from the Avathar is fast coming; I am advising you to garner and treasure all the Grace and all the Bliss you can, while you may, so that you can sustain yourselves ruminating on the sweetness of the memories and the experience.

We have to pay attention to the plans that intelligence dictates, not the external signs of orthodoxy. A person may appear strictly orthodox, but his heart may be filled with the poison of hate and envy. Has he realized that God is the God of all, that He is present in every being - Sahasraseersha -Sahasraaksha - Sahasrapaad (thousand headed, thousand eyed, thousand legged) as He is?

When Avathars come, they choose the time and the place, clan and the family, and they decide and bring the comrades and co-workers. When Rama came, Sesha, Sankha, Chakra and other inseparable adjuncts of the Lord also incarnated; the Devas also came down, in order to taste the sweetness of the Lord's company and service. Rohini, under which Krishna was born, is related to the attainment of Yogic success and the powers that flow from it.

How can darkness conquer or stand up to light? Krishna is Premaswarupa and He can be won over only by Prema. Audacity cannot approach Him. Actors in films, however, correct their accouterments (equipment) and intonation; they can never be the Real. Not even the biggest scientist can understand Me by means of the categories to which he is accustomed. I always smile at those who deride Me and even those who praise Me. I am always full of Santhosha, Whatever may happen. Nothing can come in the way of My smile. Derision and calumny only tend to make it grow better and happier.

Three disciplines are essential, to become aware of the Divinity in all and in the Avathar. No activity should be taken with individual aggrandizement in view; intellectual emotion must be directed to the revelation of the resident in the Heart. Atma; every act should be done sincerely, with love, with no yearning for acquiring personal profit, fame or benefit. Above all, listen to the voice of God within. As soon as one contemplates a wrong act, that voice warns, protests, advises giving up.

Many people think that Concentration is the same thing as meditation, but there is no such connection between concentration and meditation. Concentration is something which is below your senses, whereas meditation is something which is above your senses. But many are under the false impression that concentration is identical to meditation, and they take to a wrong path. Concentration is something which we use involuntarily in our daily, normal routine life.

To many, it may appear strange that, in this Anandalaya (Abode of Bliss), There exists an Arogya Nilaya (Abode of Health) or Hospital. They may wonder why prominence is given to bodily health, in a place that is dedicated to the health of the spirit. But, for attaining the four aims of human life, Dharma (Righteousness), Artha (Prosperity), Kama (fulfillment of desires) and Moksha (freedom from bondage), the basic requirement is health of the body and the mind.

It is enough if Prema is cultivated, the Prema that knows no distinction between oneself and another, because all are but limbs of one corpus of God Almighty. Through Love alone can the embodiment of Love be gained. Here, no scholarship is needed; in fact, scholarship will be an impediment, for it caters to egoism and it breeds doubts and the desire for disputation and laurel of victory over others preening themselves as learned.

The Himalayas, which form the bastion of Bharat, are the symbols of might and majesty; they remind us of the purity that we should develop in ourselves; they teach us that we should be as firm, as unshaken as the snow-clad peaks, as unaffected by the noise and turmoils of the bazaars of mankind.

Between concentration and meditation, there is a border area which covers both and that is the area of contemplation. To be in that area of contemplation is to free yourself of worldly attachments. If you break away all the worldly attachments - all the routine attachments in the world - then you enter the region of contemplation. When you have completely broken away all your attachments, you break through this area of contemplation and you get into the area of meditation.

The ultimate step of Self-realization 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 oneself?

Even when the Divinity comes down as an Avathar, man is unable to pierce the veil and revere the Divine. Lord Krishna says that people are unable to recognize the Divinity that is He, because they deem Him to be merely human. Only those who are aware of the current within, the Atma, can identify the Source of power before them.

What is a school for? To make man human. Man has in him specific attributes which have to be developed and fostered, so that he can rise up to his full stature. If these are ignored or allowed to lie fallow, he exists at the animal level only. Discipline alone can make him grow into his heritage. The animal can be transformed by training, to behave like man.

The true aspirant will have a reverent attitude to the duty he is bound with. He will carry out every task assigned to him as if it is an act of worship, by which the Lord can be pleased and through which he can approach the pedestal of God. Duty is God; Work is worship --- That is the motto.

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.

Man is flying toward the moon, and diving into the sea; but, he does not know how to live on earth with his fellow-men, in love and peace, he moves toward the moon for fear others may reach there before him; and dives through the sea to strike terror, himself terrified of others! The way to live without fear or causing fear is laid down in the Gita, the very first sloka of which is about Dharmakshetra!

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 like simplicity, I like a dress that will not discourage people from approaching you for a kind word, a bit of service, a helping hand. It must be clean and decent; not outlandish and queer. It should not be worn to attract attention. Just as you desire to wear clean comfortable clothes for the body, desire also clean, consoling exercises for the mind, like Japam and Dhyanam.

I shall tell you why I give these things, talismans, rosaries etc. It is to signalize the bond between Me and those to whom they are given. When calamity befalls them, the article comes to me in a flash and returns in a flash taking from Me the remedial Grace of protection. The Grace is available to all who call on Me in any Name or Form, not merely to those who wear these gifts. Love is the bond that wins Grace.

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 Realization, the realization of the Sai that shines in your hearts.

Do not attempt to know Me through the external eyes. When you go to a temple and stand before the image of God, you pray with closed eyes, don't you? Because you feel the inner eye of wisdom alone can reveal Him to you. Therefore do not crave for the trivial material objects; but crave for Me, and you would be rewarded.

Worship is not an uniform to be put on and off at stated hours each day. Render every thought into a flower worthy to be held in His Fingers; render every deed into a fruit, full of the sweet juice of Love, fit to be placed in His Hand; render every tear holy and pure, fit to wash His Lotus Feet.

If each one does his duty, in the spirit of dedication, the light can illumine all. But, if the doors of the heart are shut against the light, how can darkness disappear? You cannot sit back and expect the incarnation to bring peace and joy into you. The incarnation comes to warn, to guide, to awaken, to lay down the path and shed the light of love on it. But, man has to listen, learn and obey with hope and faith.

The best way to resolve the confusion and conflicts that hamper moral, ethical, material, technological and spiritual progress is for man to live as fully as man ought to, and to rise to the height of the Divine, that is his Reality. That is the one eternal, universal teaching. The thoughts that the intellect frames must be reflected in the mind, and translated into action by the hands. Thought, word and deed >must be coordinated. They must fulfill one another, The sign of a holy person of Mahatma is "Manasyekam, Vachayekam, Karmanaekam","One mind, one word, one act".

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 nor 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 deer, the elephant, the cow, the horse - these live on sathwic food and behave in a sathwic manner. So they are adored and even worshipped by man. Tigers, bears, hyenas and other wild animals are feared by man and are driven by him into the dark recesses of the forests. The wonder is that the wildness, the cruelty, and the terror-inflicting attributes of these beasts are developed and exhibited by man himself! Man prides himself as the crown of creation, he declares that he has in him the spark of the Divine. But, he ignores it or suppresses it and revels in displaying the qualities of the ferocious beasts of the jungle.

We have a feeling that Ananya Bhakti consists in surrendering to God by saying, "I have no Savior other than You". We think that by simply declaring "You are mother, You are father, You are friend, You are my savior Oh God of Gods" means we have surrendered and are practicing Ananya Bhakti. Real Ananya Bhakti comes from deep inquiry into the Reality of the Inner Self.

Words can confer strength; they can drain it off. Words can gain friends; they can turn them into enemies; words can elevate or lower the individual. One must learn the habit of making one's words sweet, soft and pleasant.

A person is judged by his words; words inflict damage in other ways too. Whenever we talk disparagingly or defamingly or sarcastically or hatefully of others, they get recorded on the tape which is our own mind.

Sathya and