Truth is God THERE is God everywhere and there is no second entity anywhere. God is the truth, the only truth. In every article or thing, God is, as the basis, as understanding and understandability, as the source of Divine light, as’ Atma. Know that All exists, has awareness and bliss because of the Atma which All is. Truth is a word that is frequently used on platforms but the concept is still very hazy and often mistakenly interpreted. In reality, man is afraid of probing into his own truth, lest his pet opinions and attitudes be proved hollow and dangerous. As a result, his actions and thoughts pursue disturbing and discordant paths. What exactly is truth? Is it the description of a ‘thing seen’ as one has seen it, without exaggeration or under-statement? No. Or, the narration of an incident in the same word as one has heard it narrated? No. Truth elevates; it holds forth ideals; it inspires the individual and society. It is the Light that illumines Man’s path to God. A life inspired by Truth will enable man to live as man – not degrade himself to the status of a lower species. From dawn to dusk, from the moment of wakefulness to the moment of sleep, if he devotes himself to his own deeds, is that a life inspired by the Truth? No. By his good thoughts translated into good words and manifested as good deeds, man must promote Truth in society and prove its usefulness. He is the image of God. He must be aware of the image of God that shines in society also. People are fascinated by the false The thought that arises in the mind, the word that sprouts from the tongue and the deed that engages the hand must all three be fully co-ordinated. Each one must be in conformity with the other two. They must be in unison with each other. If you have one plan in your mind and talk of a different one and execute something else, it is a false life, not a true one. The ancient texts condemn such a person as a Dhuratma (evil person) and extol the person whose thought,Word and deed are all in line as a Mahatma (greatest soul). Nowadays, people are fascinated by the false and keep away from the true. They ignore the true and pursue the false. They are not eager to know the Truth, the eternal and the Absolute. Truth is the One Awareness, the One Divine Energy that activates every living being, nay, every particle of matter. The tiny seed of a banyan tree does not reveal to the human eye or to the microscope, the gigantic tree which it contains. The Divine Energy within it prompts it to expand and become the banyan. Every cell, every spot, every atom is Divine, full of vast destiny. The recognition of this Omnipresence of God is the mark of the theist. The atheist may proclaim that God is not, but, deep inside him one can find the awareness of the Omnipresence. That is his truth. Now, about my Truth. It is impossible for anyone to discover and declare the truth that is Sathya Sai. To ensure peace and prosperity is the task on which Sathya Sai has come amidst you. “Lokah samasthah sukhino bhavanthu” (Let all the worlds be happy). All mankind have to be happy; all must rest; in peace; all must be gladly engaged in fulfilling their duties. I long to shower anandha on all. It is not an easy achievement to recognise and identify Divinity. Yet, when the time is ripe and the fortune is imminent, that is to say, pretty soon, even that can be won by you. Protect your mother-tongue and Motherland with all your energy. Make yourselves fit for this, by making the best use of the opportunities in the school. Progress as much as you can, without hesitation. Develop character as well as intelligence and health. The most reliable source of strength is in you, not in money, or kinsmen, or physical acumen, but, in yourself, the Atman (divinity). Know it; delve into it; draw sustenance from it; see it in all; serve it in all. – Sri Sathya Sai Baba

THE DIVINE DESTINATION  The Purpose of Life According to Indian philosophy, it is only through the human birth that the supreme Experience can be attained and the individual soul can finally merge into the Supreme Soul. And that is the purpose and the goal of human birth. Swami Sivananda lays repeatedly great emphasis on this aspect, and assures that you can attain That in this very birth. His teachings on this subject are worth reading, reflecting and contemplating daily. Here are some of his teachings on this subject… The purpose of life is to realise the oneness of all creation and one’s identity with the Divinity. True life is life in God. The goal of life is God-realisation. Never forget this. It is your birthright. To become divine is the aim of life. The purpose of human birth is to achieve Divine Consciousness. You have come here to attain supreme and unalloyed Bliss. The purpose of your existence is to serve with divine bhava (attitude), to purify and steady the mind, to attain freedom and perfection, which is Self-realisation. In one sentence I can tell you what I myself wish to convey to you. It is: “Know thy Self and be free.” This is the very essence of spiritual discourses. Have definite, chief aim – God-realisation. Practise self-control, have a fully ripe and pure mind. Cultivate strong discrimination, burning yearning for liberation. Meditate ceaselessly on your inner Self which is the only Reality, which is pure Consciousness, have perfect faith in guru and God. Do not miss the golden opportunity this life gives you for God-realisation. Let each day dawn for you as a fresh opportunity and occasion, opening up before you to move one step further towards the great attainment of God-realisation. Identify yourself with the pure, immortal Atma, the non-dual Brahman. Man! Wake up. Precious is human birth. It is given to you to do rigorous yoga-abhyasa (practice of Yoga) and to attain the supreme goal of God-realisation. Awaken the soul-force in you. You can work wonders. There is a para-vastu (transcendental Principle) in the innermost recess of your heart – the daharakasha. It is self-luminous, sva-prakasha. Recognise, O Prem, that you are the living Truth. Realise that you are always inseparable from the one Essence that is the substratum of all these names and forms, these false shadowy appearances. Get yourself firmly established in that Brahman, the Light of lights. Nothing can disturb you now. You have become invulnerable. Stand up, O Prem! Follow me. Enjoy the Bliss of Atman. The river of Atmic joy is flowing all around. There is deluge of the Bliss of Self. Drink the nectar to your heart’s content. KARMA YOGA Swami Sivananda maintained that unless the mind becomes free from the impurities of man’s lower nature and man purifies himself by selfless service, he cannot take up the advanced spiritual practices. Karma Yoga or selfless service is the starting block. He used to allot selfless service to new aspirants. Even after attaining the highest State selfless service continues, because the yogi has become totally selfless and it becomes his very nature to help others. In this way, Swamiji’s entire life was a saga of selfless service, and had he helped others without ever thinking about his own self. Swami Venkatesananda has observed: “The world has never seen another person who has rejoiced to give – to give his all, to give himself, to give unasked. Posterity might well call him ‘Give-ananda’ (one who rejoices in giving) instead of Siv-ananda. There is not a thing, which he would not give without the least thought. Giving spontaneously is his second nature, basic urge.” Gurudev Swami Sivananda himself has said: “I take immense delight in service. Service has elevated me. Service has purified me. This body is meant for service. I live to serve everyone and make the whole world happy.” And also, “To give people and to share what I have is my inborn nature. I spent all my energy and time in relieving human suffering by serving the poor and the sick day and night with a sympathetic heart. This kind of selfless service gave me purification of heart and mind and led me to spiritual path.” Karma Yoga is the Yoga of selfless service. It purifies the heart and leads to the descent of Divine Grace, and dawn of wisdom of the Self. God’s plan for man’s evolution is work. Love of God and service of man is the secret of true life. Service of man is service of God. Do service of others with the feeling that God dwells in all and receives your service as worship. Service is worship of God. Do not lose a single opportunity in helping and serving others. Do not expect anything when you serve a man or when you give a gift. Thank him for giving you a good opportunity to serve him. By doing service you purify your heart. Egoism, hatred, jealousy, idea of superiority vanish. Humility, pure love, sympathy, tolerance and mercy are developed. Selfishness is eradicated. You develop a broad heart with broad, generous views. You realise One-in-all and all-in-One. Sense of separateness is annihilated. You feel unbound joy. Do not expect the fruits of your actions. Give up agency or doership. Feel that you are an instrument in the hands of the Lord and that God does everything. Be balanced in success and failure. Be not attached to the actions themselves. Actions should be performed without attachment, without the feeling of doing. Perform works merely for God’s sake, abandoning even such attachment as ‘May God be pleased’. The spirit of service must be innate or inherent in you. Make others truly happy as you strive to make yourself happy. Speak a helpful word. Give a cheering smile. Do a kind act. Wipe the tears of one who is in distress. Render smooth a rough place in another’s path. You will feel great joy. Work is worship. Work is meditation.

Start Early It is very necessary that you control your mind. Man should give up comparing himself with others. The hands of the clock keep on moving and we hear their ticking noise. This sound of the clock goes on continuously. Between one tick and another, there is an interval. Man’s life is also like this interval. Through man’s heart and through his blood vessels, his life stream is beating. This beat will come to an end at sometime. Truly birth is followed by death, and death again by birth, and so on. We should try and understand the secret of this life. As a man who is swimming and moving forward in a river, we should also forget the experiences through which we have gone in the past and swim forward. Only if the swimmer throws back the water which is ahead of him will he move forward. If he does not throw back the water that is ahead of him, he will stay where he is. As in this analogy, only if man attempts to throw back the experience which he has gone through, will he be able to move forward. If one follows such a path, one will find that in man’s life there is no place for anger, no place for jealousy and his life will move on pleasantly. Because man wants to go through the same experience which he has already experienced in the past, he enters the region of hatred, because he accumulates around him many attachments. If man really makes an attempt to understand his own nature and the comparison between the clock and his heart, it will be possible for him to experience truth. Even after experiencing so many things, if man does not understand his true nature, he will feel very unhappy. He wants always to be happy, but he does not ask the question whether one can get happiness in this world? Man has great faith in collecting, acquiring and amassing wealth; but he has not got the same faith in giving up and sacrificing. But he can make an attempt to develop faith in the act of giving and sacrificing. When man can develop faith and recognises the joy of giving away and of sharing things, he will enjoy his life. If man really wants peace and happiness, he must be prepared to sacrifice. The Vedas have told us that what cannot be acquired through hard work, through learning, through any other means, can only be acquired through sacrifice. We should also understand the inner meaning of sacrifice. If the food that we eat is not excreted out and is not sacrificed, our health will be spoiled. If we do not exhale the air that we take in and send it out, our lungs will get spoiled. If the blood does not keep on moving but stays at one place, then there will be a boil at that place. It is very necessary for us to recognise the happiness that is contained in the spirit of sacrifice. But man always wants to have the same experience again and again everyday before he learns a lesson; and because of such bad desires, man has become so unfortunate that he cannot even have a peaceful death, not to talk of a peaceful life. If man wants to lead a peaceful life, he must realise the importance of sacrifice. The truth that is contained in the statement, that immortality can be obtained through sacrifice alone, should be understood well. In our daily life, we exhibit several bad qualities like anger, jealousy, and comparing ourselves with others. These bad qualities should be given up and sacrificed. Because Ravana had these qualities which go contrary to the purusharthas, he became a rakshasa. Ravana may have been a devotee, may have been a very learned person, but in spite of this, because he had these four bad qualities which are contrary to the purusharthas: dharma, artha, kama and moksha, he became a sinner. To such people, whatever dharma you may preach, it will appear as if it is wrong. Ravana was the son of Brahma, had many great qualities, was a great devotee, earned God’s grace by his penance; and in spite of all that, he had no peace and he did not secure a good end for himself. He could invade the city of Kubera, defeat him and take away the Pushpaka Vimana. This shows that, in him, there was the quality of jealousy. He could not bear Kubera being greater than him. Not only this, he invaded the city of Mayura, his father-in-law, defeated him, took away all his attendants and annexed his city which was the principal city of Lanka. Here one should recognise that if there is room for such bad qualities to grow, even though they begin in a small way, in the end, like white ants, they will destroy the entire life. Sometimes, because of weakness, or in a state of excitement, one does things which one should not do and, in the end, he will have to repent. Ravana, in the story of the Ramayana, is teaching a lesson to the world that no one should have such bad qualities as he had. Ravana was a wicked person and he adopted several trickeries. He spoke un-truth and told Rama that he brought the head of Sita while he actually brought only an artificially created head of Sita, a deceit. He told that he killed Sita and brought the head. Since Rama was all-knowing, he realised that this was a trick and told Ravana that it could not be the truth. Similarly, he did the trick of getting the head of Rama and showing it to Sita and telling her that he had killed Rama. Ravana could not bear the happiness of other people. The normal human nature should be to become happy by looking at the happiness of others. There are many people in the world who,