In Kali Yuga, there are any number of persons chanting Rama's name.But,chanting alone is not enough.Whatever name you recite,you must also be active in the service of the form associated with the name.What is implied by the term,Rama-Karya (service to Rama) ?Rama is immanent in the entire cosmos.Rama is present everywhere.Hence,you have to love all and serve all.By rendering service to one's fellow beings,by offering help to the helpless and by performing sacred acts of dedicated service,one becomes eligible for Rama's grace.
The whole universe is under control of God.God is governed by Truth.Noble souls are the guardians of Truth.Such noble souls are verily the embodiments of Divinity.
There are many people who can explain the teachings of Ramayana in a beautiful way,but how many of them obey the command of their fathers in their daily life?Not many! What is the use of reading various texts,if we do not put into practice the message contained in them?
The purpose of human life does not lie in merely eating,drinking,sleeping and indulging in materialistic comforts.Even animals indulge in such activities.But unlike man animals do not possess the evil qualities of amassing,robbing and stealing.Today man is human only in form,but not in behaviour.
Start the day with love
Spend the day with love
Fill the day with love
End the day with love
This is the way to God.
Today, man aspires for positions of authority though he does not deserve them.But, Rama relinquished the position even though He deserved it.Rama was courageous in the face of adversities.He never gave any scope for weakness.He led the life of a Dheera (courageous one), not a Deena (weak - minded).
See no evil, see what is good
Hear no evil,hear what is good
Talk no evil, talk what is good
Think no evil,think what is good
Do no evil, do what is good
This is the way to God.
Desire,anger and greed are the greatest impediments in the path of spirituality.Render help to others, if possible.Never hate anybody under any circumstances.The essence of 18 Puranas is contained in these two maxims:Help ever,Hurt never.
Do not engage in spiritual activities aspiring for your own liberation as it would amount to selfishness.Work for the redemption of one and all.Let everybody attin divinity and experience divine bliss.You should have such broad feelings.Your welfare lies in the welfare of the society.
Truth is your mother and Wisdom the true father,Dharma is the true brother and Compassion the true friend;The true wife is Peace and the true son Forgiveness,These six are in fact the true relations of man.
Without the world,where is the family?Man and his family are dependant on the society and the world at large.So, man and his family can be happy only when the world is safe and secure.
A true father is one who imparts the knowledge of non-dualism to the son.But the present-day parents are not concerned about truth;whatever their son utters to cover up his mistakes,they take that as truth! It is only because of such parents that the children are going in the wrong direction.
The good and bad that you see and experience are the results of your own thoughts.First recognise the defects in yourself and get rid of them.It is a great sin to criticise others.God is in everyone.So,criticising others amounts to criticising God Himself.
If your feelings are good,you will see only good in everyone.Mind is the root cause for everything.Man cannot exist without the mind.A torch cannot function without cells.Body is like a torch,eyes are like bulbs and intellect is like a switch.But, without the mind, which can be compared to a cell, the body cannot function.So, the mind has to be kept in good condition.
Man cannot exist without the mind.A torch cannot function without cells.Body is like a torch,eyes are like bulbs and intellect is like a switch.But,without the mind,which can be compared to a cell,the body cannot function.
Some people say that they have not got any benefit in spite of chanting the divine name for twenty to thirty years.No benefit accrues from chanting the divine name if the mind is filled with impurities.First purify your mind and fill it with positive feelings.Only then you can experience the benefit of chanting the divine name.
Follow the master
Face the devil
Fight to the end
Finish the game
You must resolve to work for the welfare of the society even if your parents at first oppose you.Never mind if they do not give you a share in their property.Only God is your true property.Do not aspire for the temporary and ephemeral wealth.Enter the path of truth and lead a sacred life.That will make your parents also happy.
Run away from bad company;join good company.Perform meritorious deeds day and night.
Bad company does not mean the company of bad people alone.Even the bad thoughts constitute bad company.You should not only discard bad company,but give up bad thoughts also.One, however, does not become a noble soul by just giving up bad company and bad thoughts;one has to join good company and also cultivate good thoughts.
A true devotee always keeps singing the name of the Lord.Radha and Mira were always deeply immersed in Namasankirtan.They had broad feelings and broad mind.Broad mind is life,narrow mind is death.Mind can be broadened only through divine contemplation.Peace is a precious jewel;without peace man is just pieces.So,attin peace and bliss by contemplating on the Divine.
In this modern age of material comfort, the emphasis is on parents doing everything for the child.Do you ever see anything on television , in commercials,films or silicom's that addresses the issue of children helping and respecting their parents?How are they to learn?How do we stop this avalanche of self concern instead of selflessness?
Just think about yourself.Don't we all want to earn our own way?We seek independence, not dependence.Isn't it more difficult to receive from others than to give?But we are not teaching our children to give,thus we have a "me" generation, with very low self-esteem.
We have become so proficient in making products that enhance our physical life that we focus on these instead of realising that we are losing our moral fibre.The moral strength of struggling to overcome difficulties that sustained the pioneering spirit of the older generation has been lost.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba and His ashram - Sai Baba Quotes
My life is my message.
MAN strives to provide himself with food clothing and housing for the sake of the body. He must also provide himself with something to keep the mind healthy and happy. It is the mind that conditions even the body. The mind is the instrument, the flywheel, and the thickest comrade of man. Through it, one can ruin oneself or save oneself. Regulated and controlled, channeled properly it can liberate; wayward and let loose, it can entangle and bind fast.
Love All, serve All.
TRAIN the mind to dwell on the inner equipment rather than the outer attractions. Use the mind to cleanse the feelings, impulses, attitudes, tendencies and levels of consciousness. Let it not accumulate dirt from the outer world and deposit them within itself. If it is attached to work (Pravriti Marga), the consequences of work get attached to it. Unattached work is the purest; it does not encumber the mind with elation or disappointment. "I did it", this is mine", these are the two fangs that make the individual poisonous. Pull out the fangs, the snake can be handled and played with as a pet.
Help ever, Hurt never.
THE Lord is closest to you. He is the Mother, Father, Teacher, Friend, Guide and Guardian. Call on Him and He responds immediately. From dawn to dusk, spend every minute in His company. That is the reason why I have directed that every Sathya Sai Organisation must arrange for Nagar Sankirtan in the pre-dawn Bhahmamuhurtham. It is a mission of Love and all will welcome it. It is a great act of social service to wake up people with the Name of God. It is a purifying pilgrimage, casting off anger and hate that infest the atmosphere.
Why fear when I am here.
YEARN to fill your heart with Him, not with you. Your yearning must be warm, so warm that it can be called "Thapas" (Heat). Become hot (earnest). Now it is only a lukewarm longing, a surface activity. Examine yourselves how far you have filled your heart within. Measure the heights you have reached with the yardstick of virtue, serenity, fortitude and equanimity. You now become easy victims of lust, anger, malice, envy and the rest of that evil brood; the atmosphere of the heart is polluted by the ego-fumes.
Love is my form, Truth is my breath
MAN has all the resources he needs himself. He can tap them by identifying them and manifesting them and by sharing them with others. He is Sath-Chith-Ananda; he is Siva-Sakthi Swarup, Matter-Energy. When man extols himself, he is extolling God. Do not cultivate the conviction that you are mere men; be assured that you are destined for Divinity. When Divinity takes on the human form, as described in the Ramayana, the Mahabaratha and the Bhagavatha, one has to interpret the actions as providing examples and lessons and not as human stories enacted for entertainment.
Love lives by giving and forgiving - Self lives by getting and forgetting.
THE five Pandava brothers are five qualities in human character, all observing the norms set by the eldest, which is the noblest and the most righteous. Rama is the example of uncompromising adherence to the principle of Righteousness, regardless of the temptation to bypass it. Rama was charged with a Love that transcended all considerations of advantage, Caste or Creed and extended it to animals and birds, human and subhuman beings. Love is the key to open the doors locked by egoism and greed.
Life is a game, play it.
WE have at present persons who pride themselves on their encyclopedic scholarship and technical skills; they claim to know the innermost secrets of Nature; they fly into outer space and even land on the moon. But ask them if they have "Ananda" and can stay in "Ananda". They will reply that they have not yet experienced it. If they know everything worth knowing, why have they missed this? It is clear that they are suffering from some delusion.
There is life throughout the Universe. To God the Universe is one.
Earth is the symbol of the Lord and is an image of the Lord.
BE eager to confer consolation and courage; be anxious to be of help. Watch for the chance. Snatch each opportunity to expand yourself by sympathy, to enlarge the horizon of Love by understanding and prayer. Do not keep another at arm's length, saying "My God is different from yours or my God is opposite to yours". It can never be so. Paramatma, the Name for God, does not mean a strange God but the Supreme God. Who can vouchsafe for the correctness of the picture which you now worship as the picture of Rama or Krishna? The poet described and the painter delineated, but both rely on their imagination rather than on actual authentic vision.
There is only one language, the language of the Heart.
CYNICS question the validity of the type of adoration and say that it will only confirm faith in a superstition. "Can God be a stone, or a piece of paper?", they ask. This attitude is not correct. By adhering to the traditionally laid down ritual worship many aspirants have attained the vision of the Omnipresent and stayed in that Incommunicable Bliss.
Life is a dream, realise it.
THOSE who deny God are denying themselves and their glory. All have Love in their hearts, in some form or other; either towards the children of the poor or their work for the good of others. That Love is God, the spark of the Godly in them. They have Ananda however small or temporary, and that is a spark of God and the Godly. They have Shanti, Detachment and Sympathy. All these are the reflections of the Divine on the mirror of their minds. These are all mental excellences, revealed through an appreciation of the advantages of virtue.
Life is a song, sing it.
THE principle of Love has no trace of ego or blemish. It is fully free from selfish attachment. Whatever Sai does, whatever Sai thinks, whatever Sai says and whatever Sai observes is all for your sake, not for Sai's sake. My only desire is your Ananda. Your Ananda is My Ananda. I have no Ananda apart from yours.
WHATEVER thoughts arise in Me are only for the Peace and Welfare of the World, for the progress of Youth and for transforming ideal boys and girls who will lead others along the path. You must dedicate yourselves for rendering enthusiastic service to the people of the World, recognising thatthe Sai Principle has no egoistic urge.
WHEN do we need Light? Not during the day, but when night prevails. Then we need a lamp, a flame, the Moon; so too, until wisdom enlightens us, we need Sadhana; until we experience the one Unified Divine, we have to accept and practice discipline, regulations and Sadhana. Ignorance is the Night. Knowledge is the Light. There arenine lamps that can illumine the mind and free it from darkness: Sravanam (listening); Keerthanam (Adulation); Smaranam; Padasevanam; Archanam (ceremonial worship); Vandanam; Dasyam; Sakhyam; and Atmanivedanam.
PRAYER must emerge from the effect to the causes. The individual Self has to yearn for the Supreme Self. It must emerge from a pure heart. Prayer drinking cup must be clean, both on the out side and the inside. Prayer should not arise out of the tongue, as music rises out of the gramophone record. When the song does not arise from your depth, when you are not involved in it, how can it draw God unto you? You must achieve confidence, then the self-confidence will lead to self-sacrifice and self-realisation.
WHOLESOME happiness arises only from fullness of Love, Truth, Peace, Charity and Fortitude. These can fructify only in the atmosphere of Love - Sathya Sai. Men yearn for good times, high status, power and good life. But seldom do they yearn for good thoughts, wisdom and virtue. What better advice can Sai give?
GOD is the entity close to man, dearest to man. Your mother and father might be far away, but God is right with you. Even if you do not Love Him, He will not depart from you or move afar. "Anoraniyam" say the Vedas (Smaller than the Atom). He becomes "Mahathmaheeyaam", expanding beyond the Cosmos and fitting all with Grace. In every call, He will be in you. You can earn this Awareness through intense Love.
BLESSEDNESS can be conferred only by the Divine Source; it cannot be acquired from worldly achievements and triumphs. It is dependent on the Immutable Triad, of Sathyam, Shivam and Sundaram.It assumes all forms, this Santham!It assumes all names, this Shivam!It is Sath-Chith-Anand, this only one!It is Sathyam-Shivam-Sundaram!
LET the children, even grown-up boys and girls, touch the feet of the Father and Mother every morning before the daily tasks are started; it will generate a reverential atmosphere in the home. Five minutes in the shrine room and the Namaskaram for Parents - let this be the daily routine. The Upanishads recommend this as the basic requirement of our Culture: "Mathru Devo Bhava; Pithru Devo Bhava; Acharya Devo Bhava".
THE home is the temple where the family, each member of it is a moving temple, is nurtured and nourished. The Mother is the high priest of this House of God. Humility is the incense with which the house is filled. Reverence is the lamp that is lit with Love as the oil and Faith as the wick. Spend the years of your lives, dedicating them for such worship in the homes that you will find.
PEOPLE crowd into film shows, rush towards social clubs, spend days together in playing cards, but when they are asked to sing the Glory of God and purify themselves and the atmosphere, they clamour for concession! When the heads hit against each other in anger, can the feet be steady and unaffected? They too will kick and trample as maliciously as they can.
REMEMBER three things always: continue Seva, wherever you are; seek chances of helping others; never lose an opportunity of using your skills and enthusiasm for the alleviation of sorrow, pain or distress. Again, do not omit or neglect or postpone your own particular spiritual Sadhana. Study Japam, Dhyanam, Bhajan, Namasankirtanand other such disciplines. Above all, have the faith that Swami is with you at all times and all places