Divine Pastime… When God Supreme is credited with the creation of the very visible and all invisible realms of existence, He and He alone can authentically speak of His mysterious creation. Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai has often made profound revelations about His projected creation and His role as the Master Creator. God initiates man into innocent, tender, loveable and loving childhood, and what does he do in turn… Read on Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai… Creation has emerged from God, Who Is free from desire. It is a spontaneous unfolding, beyond human understanding. No one can unravel the Divine Mystery. Human activity, however spontaneous it may seem, can be explained to originate from some patent or latent wish or other. But, God’s activity can never yield an answer to human enquiry about its why or whence or wherefore. God is omniscient. He Is the source of supreme delight, of extreme ecstasy. The joy flashes as sport, as prank and purposeless play, leela. God needs neither helper nor material for the process of Creation. His serene, stable, sovereign Fullness can become movement, rotation and vibration, when He Wills. And, all the living and non-living entities God projects are led towards acquisition of the very Ecstasy Whose overflow they are. God is the paramount principle of Bliss that is not affected by time or materiality, for He Is the basis for the material world of time and matter. His Bliss pervades all Creation. That is the way His leela works. But, created beings are diverse and entangled in duality. If they emerge from the Bliss of the One, how could some be so fearful and anxious and some calm and peaceful? An inference such as this is very wrong; it is unwarranted and unjustified. The Rain God showers His gift on all things on earth, edible crops as well as thorny weeds. The seeds of both sprout and grow in accordance with their different natures. Likewise, the Divine Bliss, Love and Light are the sustenance for all nature. The qualities of head and heart, either virtuous or vicious, decide whether life is happy or miserable, praiseworthy or blameworthy. Good deeds mould men into saints; bad deeds shape them as sinners. God initiates men into innocent, tender, loveable and loving childhood. But men relish envy, greed and hatred and cast off the gift of softness and sweetness. They cultivate instead the thorny weeds. Men seek joy in this Cause Consequence duo. God has no gain to achieve, no need to project the Cosmos. He has everything; He Is everything. He plays motiveless and unattached out of sheer elan. II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II

The Unity Of God’s Way Planet Earth had the rarest of the privileges, having had the Sampoorna Avatar, Who can be easily termed as ‘Sarva Karana Karanam’, walking the earth, showering the most gracious Divine blessings upon humanity and the creation at large.  Bhagawan has delivered messages on the True Truth in multifarious ways for the man to listen and amend. How many of us has listened to Him with rapt attention, and how many have made the amends to follow His messages. A rare message from Bhagawan through Lucas Ralli, as recorded in the first of the series of 5 books, Sai Messages For You And Me. (edited version). Sai Messages For You & Me was originally published by the Sri Sathya Sai Books & Publications Trust, as guided and directed by Bhagawan through Prof N. Kasturi.  Co-operation results from an expanding heart. Where there is none, it is due to a failure to open the heart, and it means that the animal instincts remain in the ascendant. Thus, the ego remains strong, and with it desire. Against such a background, the will to co-operate does not come easily. No one seems to have reached a full understanding of My message and a few people reflect the love which I have showered upon them. They are separated, isolated, and they try to continue their own lives along the same old lines, but this will lead them nowhere. Even those who visit Me are little better. They come, they go, but what happens? They simply return to their old habits and their old way of life and make no real effort to put My teachings into practice. “The day of awakening is not far away and when it comes there will be a true revelation of the true power of God, a manifestation of the omnipresence of The Lord. This will be the signal for a great move forward and the weeding out of those who are not ready to accept the challenge of the moment… It will be just so. Mark My words. But few will listen, very few. After the storm there will be completely different beginning and the atmosphere will be completely different. It will be like a new age, the age of love, harmony and cooperation replacing the age of war, fighting, hatred, jealous, greed and all the negative aspects of life. Everyone should prepare NOW for this change, for I promise you that it will come, and only those who are ready will survive. I have given the warning. I have given My message a thousand times and no one who hears My words can proclaim ignorance. Don’t delay action to put right your own lifestyle and to change it to the way of God. There is no other way.” II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II

Rely On The Self, The OverSelf Bhagawan has spoken lavishly on the supreme truth of the Self that is the ultimate reality human sojourn is after. How man can know his truth, The True Truth by focusing on the Self, explains Bhagawan narrating a famed Shankaracharya episode. If one concentrates on the Self, which has no change or characteristics, no subtraction or senility, no decline or damage, man can conquer death. Therefore, the most effective prescription is the injection of the Knowledge of the Self, the Soul as One’s Real Self. Now I shall describe to you a beautiful incident from the life of Sankaracharya. One day, when he was in Benares, he was returning from the river through a narrow lane and a person who was considered to be untouchable was coming opposite to him. Then Sankara asked him to move out and keep away at a distance so that himself, the Brahmin could move unpolluted. Then that untouchable asked Sankara, “Are you asking the body to keep at a distance? If that is so, one body which is inert is asking another inert body and it has no authority to do so. If you are asking the Soul to keep away and at a distance, the Soul that is in me is the same as the Soul or the Self that is in you. Therefore the same Self cannot ask itself to move away from itself and be aloof.” Then Sankara thought, “This so-called untouchable is the one who knows what is ‘Real Self’ and what is ‘real non-self’, what is the body and what is He Who knows the body and I must respect him.” So saying, he prostrated before the ‘untouchable’. The untouchable was none other than Lord Vishwanatha HimSelf. He then appeared in His true form to Sankara. Let him be a Brahmin or let him belong to any caste, if he knows the Principle Of Oneness, then he has the true spiritual enlightenment. Several persons put the question: “Swami, please tell us where the Self goes after the death of the body?” The sky is reflected in the water in a vessel. When the vessel breaks, the image of the sky merges with the limitless sky. So also, with the disintegration of the physical body, the Self merges with the OverSelf. Realise that the Self is the OverSelf that is the Higher Knowledge. Krishna exhorted Arjuna to meditate on the Unchanging in order to experience the OmniPresent Reality Of The OverSelf. II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II

The Divine Name Is The Panacea How in times of adversity can man win the oddities of nature and time by relying on The Divine Name, explains Bhagawan, citing the cholera epidemic that had hit Puttparthi when Bhagawan’s physical frame was just seven years old. A holy read during this testing time of coronavirus pandemic looming large over the globe. Once the village of Puttaparthi was affected by infectious diseases like cholera and plague. Several people died due to these diseases. Then, I warned the children of the village that these diseases would spread through drinking polluted water and eating impure food. I, therefore, advised them to take proper care in this regard. I advised them to drink clean and pure water. I told them, “Do not eat too much. Avoid unclean food. Eat only clean food in small quantities. Not only that, keep your mouth always fresh and clean. Several diseases affect you due to unclean mouth. It is not good to eat anything and everything when you feel hungry. Eat only wholesome food. God’s grace is important both for good health and happiness in life. Hence, always pray to God.” Happiness can be attained only through constant contemplation on God, nothing else. It is not something that can be attained from outside. It springs forth from one’s own heart. In order to attain health and happiness, we should constantly contemplate on God and thereby sanctify our time. Each one should enquire for whose sake he or she is living. When any one poses this question to oneself, the answer is: “I am living for myself and not for others.” He justifies his answer by saying: “I am eating to appease my own hunger. I am taking medicine to cure my illness. It cannot be cured by anyone else taking the medicine.” When two persons are sleeping in the same cot, they do not get the same dreams but have different dreams. Basing on these facts man feels that he is living for himself. Later on, when he grows up he seeks a job on the ground that he has a family to look after and support. The same person, who once said he was living for himself, later on pleads that he is living for his family. When invited by a friend to accompany him to Bangalore for an interesting sports event, he says that he has to attend his office and cannot take leave and hence he is unable to accompany him. He thus cites his duty as a reason for his inability to enjoy the sports. But when his wife or child is sick and in a hospital he takes leave even on loss of pay and goes to attend on them. The same person, when he is hungry and just sits for taking his dinner, leaves the meal served on the table and rushes out when he hears that his son or daughter is involved in an accident. Even hunger is forgotten. The person, who was proclaiming that he was living for himself only, now starts caring for his wife and children. When the village is in the grip of an epidemic like cholera or plague, the same person comes forward to do his best to combat the spread of the disease, because this may affect his own family too as they are part and parcel of the village. Thus man is born in society and grows in society. It is the bounden duty of everyone to feel that his own welfare is bound up with the welfare of all others in society. When this body was seven years old, this tiny hamlet of Puttaparthi was afflicted by dreadful and infectious diseases like cholera and plague. Fear-stricken parents would not allow their children to go out of their house. But the children, out of their love for Me, would come to Me without even telling their parents. All those children were of the age group of six to eight. One day, nearly 12 boys gathered around Me and said in an anxious tone, “Raju, we have come to know that cholera and plague have spread in our village. It seems they are dangerous and fatal. What would be our fate?” I told them, “The body has to perish one day or the other, whatever may be the precautions you take. So, do not be afraid of death. Contemplate on God and take care that the diseases do not afflict you.” The boys asked Me as to which form of God they should contemplate on. They were all very innocent. In those days, this was a very small village with a population of 106. They had no idea as to which form of God they should worship. I told them to light a lamp, place it at a thoroughfare at 6 o’clock in the evening and do bhajans. They did not know what bhajans to sing. Then I composed a few bhajans for them. I told them, “We need not search for God outside. He Is within us. Let us go round the village chanting the name of Ranga, wearing ochre robes and anklets and playing cymbals. Let us also get rid of the evil qualities of anger and desire.”

Man should aim at being Siva, not Yama …A priceless piece of advice from Bhagawan on adhering to the righteous path to become a Truthful, Rightful human being, putting the very best effort to know what is ‘Unknown’, The True Truth. Time is fleeting like a fast moving wind. The body is melting away from moment to moment like a block of ice. And, Man is discarding his mortal body without performing his duty. If human life does no more than, being born, brought up and die, then what is its achievement? What is the fruit of all the effort? Is this the use to which the education and training that man acquires are put? Why should one make a special effort to acquire such qualities if it is only to know what is already known. One should use one’s intelligence to know what we do not know. The beasts and the birds too eat and sleep; they express fear and love in the same manner as men do. The differences are only in appearance and in name; the desire and the passion are the same for man and beast. How can we then establish the uniqueness of man? In spite of the fact that wisdom and judgement are special gifts to man by God, if man does not draw upon such gifts of what use is it to proclaim the sanctity of the human species? What is the use of claiming supremacy? There is no sense in such pride. To relate one’s actions with one’s utterances and to relate one’s utterances with one’s thoughts is to be human. If on the other hand, there is no correspondence between one’s utterances, one’s actions and one’s thoughts, the individual can be only a min in outer shade; truly, he is devoid of all title to life. Your hearts should be filled with compassion towards all living beings. You should fill suffering hearts with Prema. You should radiate thoughts that can generate Ananda. The heart is like the overhead tank. Actions are like taps. Whatever quality of water is used to fill the tanks, only such will flow out of the taps. Fill the heart with Prema; then, Ananda flows from the taps. It will reach the world around us. The utterance of Tukaram, “Dil ka Ram; Hath ka Kam” should be regarded as the motto of life. Prema is the main pillar of the Sai teaching. Life should be filled with Prema. The world should be looked at with Prema. Society should be contacted with Prema. Fulfilment of one’s life should trough Prema. Prema alone is God. Prema alone is Life. There is no living without Prema. Life devoid of Prema is equivalent to death. Life filled with Prema is Ananda. Life without Prema is sorrow, Prema is festivity. Absence of Prema is mourning. Prema is fearlessness. Absence of Prema is fear. Prema is the messenger of good. Absence of Prema is the harbinger of death. Man should aim at being Siva and not behave like Yama. Man should become himself fearless; he should not frighten all around him. To strike terror is the nature of the hunter beast! To be afraid is the nature of the hunted animal. Man is neither a hunter beast nor a hunted animal. He should neither cause terror nor lie afraid. He should saturate Life with Prema. II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II

A Gift Must Be Made Without Pride Or Publicity Remove the extra ‘O’ that is mere zero, from ‘good’ and you are GOD says Bhagawan discoursing on the most enchanting ‘spirituo-egotistic’ dual between Lord Vamana and Emperor MahaBali. (Onam Divine discourse on 15th August 1970) You cannot achieve the goal through good works alone. In Good, there is an extra O, something that is mere zero. That is to say, the desire which prompts you, the fruit which entices you, the reputation that tantalises you – these are all sheer zero, a big O. Leave it off; then, we have ‘Good’ with a zero less, with no self-intruding, that is to say, we have GOD. Desire plus Life is Man!  Life minus desire is God.  Bali got blessed through Thyaga (Renunciation, Detachment)! He became monarch of the nether regions and God agreed to be his gate-keeper, guardian and guide! What a blessing! He had the ambition to become Indra, the God of gods, the Ruler of Heaven.  It is said that anyone who performs a hundred Yagas in a row, with ceremonial rectitude, will automatically become Indra. The Indra who is installed thus once is ever reluctant to yield his chair to another 100-yaga person! So he tries his “worst” to disturb and desecrate the last few of the hundred, so that no one can complete a century! Bali too was within 36 minutes of completing the hundredth; the crisis of enthroning a Rakshasa (demonic being) as God of gods had to be averted. And, Vamana arrived on the scene, asking for alms – just three feet of ground! O, what a Foot He grew, in a trice! Indra was saved from becoming an ex-Indra! The 100th Yaga was abandoned, due to the calamity that happened to the Monarch, his displacement and his transmutation into a humble servant of God. Dhana (the act of gifting) is a meritorious act, if it is rendered to the needy, at the time of need, in a manner that fulfills the need; it must be made without pride or publicity; without the superior air of the giver, without rubbing into the mind of the receiver that he is being helped to stand on his own legs, with no contempt contaminating the mind of the giver. Give, as an act of worship to the Divine that you wish to adore in the person to whom you are offering what God has given you for this very purpose! One person in heaven asked an angel how it was that he could get into Heaven, and sit on the very throne of Indra! When told that his gifts on earth had entitled him to it, he gifted Heaven itself to that angel; so, he rose up to even higher status, it is said! II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II