Inquiry ‘We become what our thoughts are.’ These thoughts on the validity of the objective world and the value of the joys derivable therefrom, though they emanate from ignorance (a-jnana), do shape us from within. The reason we are caught in this mold lies in the absence of four requisites: (1) attention to spiritual progress, (2) steady faith, (3) devotion, and (4) the grace of God. Even if one of these four is absent, people cannot experience the highest bliss of the Absolute. Sri Sathya Sai Vahini Every aspirant must enter onto the path of inquiry. Only then can the conviction dawn and grow that nature and all learning connected with nature are unreal; only then will these be given a relative, not an absolute value. They are, of course, to be learned and experienced as necessary for existence, as a kind of daily routine. However, they should not be mistaken to be the highest knowledge, the unchanging eternal truth. That mistake, if committed, leads to an agitated mind (a-santhi). Agitation produces worry and anxiety, which in turn destroy peace. If you aspire to peace, equanimity, the basic thing is to have faith in the temporary nature of Nature and be engaged in the uninterrupted contemplation of the changeless Godhead. Prasanthi Vahini Our inquiry should not be directed to the obvious and the superficial. This line of inquiry will only mislead us into believing what is not the cosmos. It makes us forget that it is our mind that has generated this panorama of cosmic proportions and presented it to us as truth. It is indeed strange that this huge cosmos depends ultimately on whether ‘I cognize it as such or not! If you feel it is there, it is there; if you feel it is not there, it is not there!’ This means that we have to go deep into this process of the mind. Is there any occasion when our assertion leads to the existence of a thing and our negation results in its disappearance? Or, is this conclusion a figment of the imagination? Inquiry on these lines would undoubtedly reveal the truth. Sri Sathya Sai Vahini Well! If only everyone would ask the questions: ‘Who are we? Whence did we come? Where have we come to? How long will we be here?’, the truth could be easily grasped. That questioning is the sign of discrimination (viveka). When, by means of this discrimination, the idea that the world is impermanent gets deeply rooted in the mind, all attachments cease automatically. That is the stage of renunciation or detachment (vairagya). One asks, is it worthwhile to be caught up in this unreal world? This is false and misleading, one tells oneself. One then turns one’s efforts to the realm of the Lord, the realm of truth. That is the wise decision. It is through discrimination (viveka) and detachment or renunciation (vairagya) that one understands who one really is. Without them, it is impossible to know it. The Lord has blessed only humanity with these two. He has endowed people so that they might use them for that purpose. Hence, people are truly fortunate. But alas, people have forgotten the task for which they have come, ignored the question whence they came, closed their eyes to where they are, diverted their intelligence toward amusement and creature comfort, and wasted all their powers. What a tragedy! If in this most propitious human birth itself the Godhead is not sought, when else is a person to succeed? If today is squandered so, will tomorrow help you? If one’s real nature is first understood, the rest can all be easily grasped. One will thereafter know who one is, whence one came, where one has come to, and how long one exists. Prasanthi Vahini

Spiritual Wisdom Bhagavan has seven chief characteristics: prosperity, glory, wisdom, non-attachment, creation, preservation, and dissolution. Whoever has these seven you can consider as having Divinity in Him. These seven are the unfailing characteristics of Avatars, of the Supreme Power, which persists fully when it has apparently modified itself with deluding power. Wherever these are found, you can identify Godhead. You are also of the same nature as the atma with Supreme Power, but, like the prince who has fallen into a den of robbers and is growing up there, the atma has not recognized its true identity, that is all. Though he does not know, he is nevertheless a prince, whether he is in the palace or in a forest or in the robber’s cave. Very often, the prince will have got intimations of his real status, a craving for the bliss (ananda) that was his heritage, a call from his inner consciousness to escape and become himself. That is the hunger of the soul, the thirst for lasting joy. You are all like the man who has forgotten his name. The hunger of the mind can be appeased only by the acquisition of spiritual wisdom. But this spiritual wisdom everyone must achieve some day or the other. It can be got through devotion or karma (activity) or royal yoga. These three are only different names for the process of churning the milk to get the butter that is immanent in it. Once the butter is rolled into a ball, it can be kept separate and unimpaired in the liquid where it was all the time. Similarly, the liberated person can continue in the world free from attachment, once they have realized that they are of the same substance as the Immanent Brahman. When that Brahman is seen through delusion (maya), it appears as endowed with qualities and is referred to as Lord or Bhagavan. Seven chief characteristics of Bhagavan–Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 1 Spend your time in company of good people. Brush up your brains by the brush of discrimination. I will not ask you to give up your critical faculty. Evaluate, discriminate, experience, and analyze your experience; then, if convinced, accept. Devotion, yoga, spiritual wisdom—these are three doors to the same Hall; some come this way, some that way, but all enter the same Hall. The spiritually wise person sees everything as the divine substance, the devotee sees everything as the play of God, the karma yogi sees everything as the service of the Lord. It is all a question of aptitude and taste and the stage of development of reason and emotion. As a result of spiritual wisdom, Thirumalacharya said, delusion (maya) goes, but delusion does not “come” and delusion does not “go”. When a light is brought into this hall, you say that light has come and darkness has gone, but where has it gone? Put out the light, it is dark! The darkness does not come from where it had gone, suddenly, through the doors and fill the hall. It is there all the time. It did not go. Only the hall was lit and light prevailed. So also, when the grace of the Lord is won, spiritual wisdom will prevail, and the delusion of separateness is powerless. How can that spiritual wisdom be earned? By a slow, systematic process, eliminating all limiting factors–greed, lust, pride, envy, hate, and all the snaky brood of possessive instincts and impulses; by the educative influence of dharma, the body of rules laid down by the experience of generations for the regulation of living; by study, rumination and practice; by analysis of the experiences of the waking, dreaming, and sleeping stages; by learning to be a witness of all this passing show without getting involved in its tangles; by overcoming all trends that divide and differentiate.

Prosperity and Welfare of Nations depend on Good Leaders This is the age of science and technology. On one side astonishing progress has been made in the fields of plastics, electronics and computers. Scientists have also made wonderful discoveries in the spheres of atomic energy and space exploration. Moreover, man is sending out into space artificial satellites. Enormous energy and expenses are being devoted for investigating the mysteries of the atom. But there is no comparable concern for developing human behavior in the competition for over-reaching each other; men are immersed in selfishness and are pursuing wrong courses. Politics and economics are bedeviled by crises. Men are riven by caste and religious conflicts. The appetite for power and position has become insatiable…. Indiscipline is rampant in the student world. Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 24 (1991) The arrogant claim that they have achieved scientific progress is utterly unwarranted because this is not true science at all. Does knowledge of how to cause mass destruction merit the name of science? Cannot their scientific investigations be devoted to causes that promote human welfare and betterment? All the scientific discoveries of today were excelled by the achievements of Hiranyakasipu. The powers obtained from them are prone to be misused. Deluded by their scientific and technological progress, the nations are losing their wisdom. What is the purpose served by these discoveries? While they promote temporary pleasures, they virtually destroy the sources of inner strength. The education that we must aim at is one that will direct the children toward the right path and promote the well-being of the nation. Only when mankind realizes this need will world peace be a reality. Man needs today a mind free from attachment and hatred, speech that is untainted by falsehood, and a body that is totally free from violence. Of these, truthful speech is most essential. Unfortunately, man is not free from these taints. Hence, students should receive an education that produces purity of mind, speech and body. Of what use is man’s conquest of the external world if he cannot realize his own true nature? Scientists are only helping to satisfy man’s selfish desires. They are keen on securing accolades for themselves, but are not concerned about the welfare of society or the goals of life. How glorious will be their achievements if their discoveries are useful to the people and promote the prosperity and welfare of nations? Today every step of man is marked by unrighteousness. Every word is tainted by untruth. His thoughts are not free from evil. All his desires are rooted in selfishness. Caste and religious conflicts are rampant. Parochialism is growing. In short, humanness has reached its nadir. How then can man be called a human being when there is no harmony in thought, word, and deed? Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 26 (1993) Alexander wanted to conquer the entire world. Today, also, we find one country trying to overpower the other. People are becoming power crazy. People who have greed for power can never be good leaders. In fact, they are the persons who destroy the nation. Many ministers, prime ministers, kings, and emperors have come and gone. But everybody was concerned only about their position and power. Fie upon such leaders, who had no concern for the welfare of the nation! Such leaders are not human beings; they are demons. Leaders should have a sense of sacrifice. Only sacrifice will lead to immortality. Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 32 (1999) In a world where dharma is being insulted and denied at every turn, peace and tolerance are the roads through which one can save oneself. This is the sum and substance of what I have to tell you and what you have to cultivate. In every act have tolerance, patience, mutual help. In the family, cultivate patience and mutual respect; in the community, have dharma and justice; in the community of peoples have the ideal of peace. The body is said to be the tabernacle of God; the world is the body of God. A pinprick on the toe is immediately recognized as an injury to the self because the toe is part of the self-same body. So, too, suffering in one corner of the world is as much the concern of the Lord as suffering in any other.

Prema/Divine Love It is the power of love that is responsible for the earth to rotate without a pivot.It is the power of love that makes the stars stand across the sky without falling on the ground.It is the power of love that keeps the oceans within their limits.It is the power of love that makes the wind blow incessantly in all the worlds.That power of love is mysterious, infinite, most wonderful and one without a second;It permeates the entire cosmos.The entire creation is saturated with love. (Telugu Poem)Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 33 (2000) God is everywhere, though He may not be directly visible to the eye. God is present even in air, but you cannot see Him there. Syrup is sweet; why? Because it contains sugar. Can you see the sugar in the syrup? No. Just because you cannot see it, can you deny the fact that there is sugar in syrup? To do so would be stupid. How then do you know there is sugar in the syrup? Through experience. Just as sugar is the basis for sweetness of syrup, God is the basis for Love, which is omnipresent. God is all-pervasive, and His presence is nectarine. If your heart is full of Love, then you will unfailingly experience His nectarine presence and sweetness everywhere. Life will be ever sweet for you, and you will always be able to share that sweetness with others. The child drinks mother’s milk and finds it to be sweet. Did the mother add sugar to the milk? No, mother’s milk is sweet by nature. That is the way God made it. In the same way, God’s Love is sweet and is present everywhere. It is up to you to extract that sweetness and enjoy it just as a baby sucks milk from its mother and even as bees suck honey from flowers. Do the flowers invite the bees? No, the bees go to the flowers spontaneously. In the same manner, you, too, should seek noble souls and absorb good things from them. Summer Showers, (15 May 2000) Fill the heart with love; then the words coming out of the heart will be full of vitality and power. There is no shakthi (power) more effective than prema (love). The grammar of love makes the words enter the hearts of the listeners and moves them into acceptance, appreciation, and action. A child’s prattle has no grammar, but it wins the love of the mother. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa did not know the word ‘pension’; he said ‘pence’ once, instead of pension. Swami Vivekananda interposed with the correct word, but the Paramahamsa said that the word did not matter, it was enough if what was meant to be communicated was understood. The bhava (the idea intended to be communicated) is the real thing; the bhasha (language in which it is clothed) is of superficial interest only. I want you to imbibe the bhava; I want the poets to inculcate pure bhava, not pretty bhasha. If you understand the bhava which I am transmitting, then you can become genuine devotees and sadhakas (spiritual aspirants) and progress on the path of self-realization. Now there are bhaktas (devotees) by the million! They are increasing daily in number. And you might have noticed, Sai Babas, too, have become very large in number! Also, people claiming association with Me, claiming that I have blessed them more plentifully than others, and authorized them to go about among the bhaktasand gain importance by collecting funds or donations! Real devotees will never announce such absurd claims or listen to such claims made by others. A true devotee will be steadfast in faith, whatever the ups and downs of worldly fortune. He prays to the Lord not for padhartham (material objects or the fulfilment of worldly desires), but for Para-ar-tham (the happiness that is supra-worldly). The Pandavas were such devotees, and so Krishna declared that He dwells in the heart of every one of those five brothers as well as of their queen, Draupadi. They are five examples for mankind in this Kali yuga (Iron Age). I exhort everyone to cultivate Prema, for I am Prema, and when you manifest Prema, you are only expressing Me, the Indweller of your heart.

Develop One-Pointedness From the tree of the mind comes the seed of impulses (vasanas). These impulses in turn make the mind. To free the mind from the influence of the impulses one has to get rid of ignorance (ajnana). But ignorance does not exist alone; it has a fiendish offspring—the ego (ahamkara). And the ego in turn has two children—attachment and craving; both of these are closely interrelated. Attachment gives rise to feelings of ‘my’ and ‘mine’ that cause desires (or cravings), this leads to worries. Therefore, to remove ego, attachment, and desires have to be annihilated. And the way to achieve this is through meditation and other spiritual practices. When this is done liberation can be attained. In this era of technology, it is becoming increasingly difficult to lead a peaceful life; people are falling victim to various physical and mental ailments. Many people in the cities which are on the front line of civilization, have lost the delight of natural sleep. They experience only artificial sleep induced by tablets. Due to such excessive use of medication, heart and blood pressure problems are on the rise. People are becoming unhealthy wrecks who are lost in fear and anxiety. Drugs and pills are produced in millions, but the general health has not improved. In fact, new varieties of illnesses have emerged and are developing fast. Only a few intelligent people have realized the efficacy of yoga and other spiritual practices. This they have confirmed through their own experience. Attachment makes the mind dwell on the things of the world. When the mind is free of attachment, it remains unaffected by the objective world. The mind is like a cloth and there are three different impulses which color it: satwic, pure impulses that make it white; rajasic, restless tendencies that turn it red, while tamasic, slothful impulses that give it a black color. Some people find these impulses extremely difficult to control even after many years of practice. If you are disturbed by such inclinations, you must fortify yourself with faith and act to conquer them by will power. Meditation and concentration can help you overcome these impulses. The body is the most wonderful workshop in the entire world, because it is the temple of the Lord. In this ‘spiritual factory’, impulses ought to be sublimated, impurities have to be weeded out and good tendencies nurtured. The uprooting of impulses is the goal here, though this is a very difficult task. While intoxicants enslave you only temporarily, impulses can overpower you for a whole lifetime! But they can be overcome with will-power, faith and determination. Do not give up, whatever the hardship you might face in this struggle. The very purpose of meditation is to attain freedom from these mighty and manifold impulses The mind plans and executes innumerable deeds and roams over vast expanses, all in the twinkling of an eye! It operates with unimaginable speed. However, while meditating, the mind should not be allowed to wander away from the object of meditation. Whenever it flies off at a tangent, it must be led back to the form meditated upon. Only one form has to be meditated upon in the beginning; do not change the object of focus every day. To concentrate effectively, you must be careful not to have as your focus something your mind does not like, or that which causes pain or shakes your faith; for however hard you may try, your mind will not stay fixed on these. With time, even if unpleasant thoughts come, learn gradually to welcome them as beneficial, and seek to grasp the good in them.

Everything is God’s Creation Right from an ant to Brahma, everything is God’s creation. When we look at God’s most beautiful, wonderful and sublime creation, we are filled with bliss. Humanity has been given every right to enjoy God’s creation. One does not need God’s permission for this. However, God has prescribed one rule. You may do whatever you want, but you must face the consequences of your actions, whether they are good or bad, sacred or unsacred. This is the law of creation. Keeping this law in view, one should decide what path is to be followed and what type of actions are to be performed. As you sow, so shall you reap. Similarly, as is the action, so is the result. God’s creation is very sacred. Do not pollute it. How sacred are the five elements given by God! But, today, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, the sound we hear—everything is polluted. All these sacred elements have been made unsacred by humanity. That is why the world today is afflicted with so many diseases. That one is a true human being who makes sacred use of the five elements. Never waste natural resources. Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 29 (1996) Man is not making efforts to understand the relationship between Prakriti (phenomenal world) and Jeevatma (man) and Paramatma (Supreme Spirit). These are very intimately interrelated to one another. They are not disparate. The relationship between Paramatma and Prakriti, God and Nature, is the same as that between mother and child. The relationship between man and society is the same as that between the honeybee and the flower. Just as the child is fed by mother’s milk, as the honeybee is fed by the honey in a flower, man must enjoy the gifts of nature. From time immemorial man has been plagued by negative ideas. There is a legendary tale in which one greedy man killed the goose that laid, golden eggs thinking that he can extract all the eggs from it in one lump. Such acts of folly are committed freely by scientists today by exploiting Nature’s gifts beyond all limits, creating disastrous imbalance resulting in natural calamities such as earthquakes, spelling danger to humanity. We cannot blame science for this. Those who apply the scientific discoveries without discrimination are to be blamed for this. They fail to consider with deep deliberation the effects of excessive depletion of the natural resources. Man must consider himself as a limb of the society and help in the welfare of society, just as the organs of one’s body are used for one’s well-being. Again, society is a limb of Prakriti (Nature) and Prakriti is a limb of Paramatma (Supreme Lord). Thus, there is close relationship between man and God. Nature is more progressive than man, and to protect Nature, man must exploit it within limits. When man tampers with Nature recklessly, it reacts adversely, and trouble arises. In order to protect Nature, man must practice ceiling on desires. He should not trigger the negative aspect of Nature. In this respect, scientists have no concern for the harmful effects that may accrue to society by their inventions. They don’t care for the welfare of the mankind and go on making use of intelligence to produce their weapons of destruction. Care should be exercised in providing comforts as excessive comforts may spoil man’s mind and cause misery instead of happiness. “Na Shreyo Niyamam Vina” (Nothing good can be achieved without certain restraints). Because of the advancement of technology and provision of excessive comforts, life has become mechanical, and spirituality has declined. Science fragments everything to pieces while spirituality builds up unity in diversity. Today man is not making efforts to cultivate the feeling of oneness among humanity. 

Duty of Resistance to Adharma Only in the nation in which the goddesses of dharma (righteousness) and shanti (peace) are adored will genuine prosperity and happiness exist. Today many are indulging in actions opposed to dharma and truth, and on the basis oftheir caste or community are promoting strife and conflict in the country. Elders in the nation are remaining mere spectators of all the unrighteous and violent actions that are being done by the evil elements. Even the scholars and intellectuals are remaining silent. Persons holding high office are merely watching what goes on. No one, however, is making any effort to stop this menace. They are not resisting the evil elements. It appears as if all their knowledge, position, and influence have been reduced to nothing. Such persons, though they may not be indulging in unrighteous acts, are giving encouragement to them. Here is an example from the Mahabharata: Considering that war would be a great universal calamity, Dharmaja (the eldest of the Pandavas) appealed to Krishna to go as an ambassador of peace to the Kauravas. Entering the audience hall of Duryodhana, Krishna described at length the disastrous consequences of war. The great Acharyas—Bhishma, Drona, Kripa and Ashwathama—who were present in the court were intently listening to Krishna’s words. But Krishna’s appeal was of no use to them. Because of their long association with the wicked Kauravas, they became abettors in the crimes of Duryodhana and others. Vidura, who was a witness to the evil that was being committed, resolved to oppose it. He pleaded with the Kauravas in many ways to listen to the wise words of Krishna. His appeal fell on deaf ears. Rather than stay amongst such evil-minded persons, Vidura felt that it was better to go on a pilgrimage and left the country immediately. Bhishma, Drona and others, having been beneficiaries of the sustenance provided by the wicked Kauravas, chose to be loyal to them and stayed on. All of them were great preceptors. They knew well the distinction between righteousness and evil. They had enquired into the nature of the eternal and the permanent. Of what avail was all that knowledge? When it came to practicing what they knew, all their knowledge was of no use. In the final outcome, all of them met with the same end in the great war as the evil-minded Kauravas. Krishna looked upon those who, even if they were good in themselves, did not oppose unrighteousness and injustice committed in their presence when they had the capacity to do so, as actual participants in the crimes. When evil and injustice and violence are being perpetrated, if individuals look on unconcerned, they must be regarded as accomplices in the crimes. In the end they also suffer as much as the criminals. By their passive association, they provide encouragement to the evildoers. When the good are associated with the wicked and do not oppose them, they share the responsibility for the deeds of the evil doers. The Divine destroys even those who either do not oppose or remain passive while injustice and wrongdoing are perpetrated. The Divine will not consider whether they are learned or ignorant, wise or unwise. If they are learned or wise, why did they not stand up for truth and justice? Why did they remain silent? It means they are tainted by the same guilt. The failure to resist evil is their offence. It is only when we resist acts of unrighteousness and injustice and try to put down malpractices in society that we can claim to be assisting in the task of restoring Dharma.

“I am always with you, beside you, before your very eyes” When a person is shown round a house, there is no need to tell him specifically, ‘This is the kitchen’ for, the blackened walls and the flavor of condiments, will reveal that to him. There should be no need to tell him, “This is the Puja Room”, for, the spotless cleanliness of the walls, the calmness in the air, and the perfume of pure thoughts charged with devotion should reveal that to him. Therefore, have a fixed room or place in the house to do your regular puja and meditation. Take a hurricane lantern; the flame within has three things to pass through: the soot inside the chimney, is tamoguna; the dust outside is rajoguna; and the transparent glass is satwaguna. All these three, surround the illumination of the flame in the center. So too, the jivatma must transcend the three gunas, in order to shine in its pristine Effulgence. Source: Sanathana Sarathi, July 1959 Life is a flight of steps towards Godhead; each day is a step that must be climbed; so, be steady and earnest and watchful. Do not slide down or climb and slide. Every step climbed is a victory to be cherished; every day wasted or ruined is a defeat to be ashamed of. A pot of water, if kept in the open will soon evaporate; but if it is kept neck deep in water, the contents will be intact. So, fill your hearts with prema and, then do not move about in the company of the wicked and the cruel. Immerse yourselves in satsang, the company of the good and the true; then, the prema will not evaporate and disappear. Source: Sanathana Sarathi, March 1960 What is sin? Weakness, the feeling that you are a sinner, that you are therefore lost beyond redemption, the despair that overwhelms, these are the things called sin avoid these. What is punya? Courage, buoyancy, hope, the feeling that you are an Amritaputra, Immortal, blessed by the Lord, strong enough with the Lord’s grace to overcome everything that overwhelms, these are the things called punya. Accumulate these. The rat falls into the trap, because it is enamored more of the strong-smelling cheap eatable, that is, the bait inside the trap than of the finer, costlier, healthier ghee and sugar, that lies in plenty outside the trap, in the same room! Do not, like the stupid rat, lose all sense of values and run into the deadly trap, seeking the cheap fascination of petty tinsels. Develop viveka and vairagya. For the cultivation of your farms in summer, do you not store the water of rains, in reservoirs and tanks? So too, for the attainment of Lord’s Feet when the body falls off, store the thought of the Lord by the contemplation of the Name and Form of the Lord, when you are young and strong. Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Aug 1959 There are certain drugs which come in bottles or capsules, whereon is written “Effective until the end of Dec. 1961” etc. After that date, the drug will be in the container, but its efficacy would have disappeared. So too once you win the Grace of Lord, the prarabdha or the consequence of previous karma might be there but, it would have shed its efficacy in your life. Suppose you are the guest at a house where there is a Gurkha watchman. The Gurkha will obey you too, if you are connected with the Master, through kinship or friendship. So too know that the mind is the Gurkha appointed by the Lord; therefore, if you somehow connect yourself with the Lord, it will obey you and never trouble you anymore. ~ Sathya Sai Baba

How to Ensure Rest for the Mind The clock, to all appearances, keeps on ticking away continuously. But this is really not the case. It is not continuous, for there is, one can notice, a short pause between one tick and the next. That is the interval of rest. But the mind does not have even this short interval between one thought and the next. And in the continuous succession of thoughts, there is no order or relationship. This adds to the confusion and concern. This is the main source of ill-health in man. We are at present planning and preparing for physical rest and recreation and we know that even machines need hours of rest! But we have neglected the duty of ensuring rest for the mind. Dhyana (meditation) is the name for the period of rest we provide for the busy and wayward mind. The heart is engaged, like the ticking of the clock, in beats, but a new pulse of energy is generated between one beat and another. It makes for the flow, regardless of the past or the future moments. It is a constant flux toward a goal. The swimmer in the river must push aside the waters in front to the sides and to kick the waters to the back so that he can move forward straight and fast. Forcing the water back is the act that takes him forward. That is to say, do not attach importance to it, throw it back, give it up, renounce; that alone can help you to progress even an inch. Instead, man collects and stores, accumulates and takes pride in what he holds firm, regardless of the preciousness of the human trait of renunciation. So we sink into material possessions, victories, and vagaries. We do not float or swim across the temptations. We must try to discover and learn the means of progress… When the tiny squirrel decided to share in building the passage across the sea, did it not receive the blessings of Lord Rama? The squirrel knew that its help could only be infinitesimal, but the feeling of dedication that prompted it won the grace of God. Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 16 (1983) A restless mind is another important source of ill health. Man is constantly afflicted with some source of worry or other. He is never free from anxiety. Why? Because he is identifying himself with the body. How did he acquire this body? Through his past activities and deeds. What were they caused by? By the twin pulls of love and hate. How did they originate? They were born out of the entanglement in duality, in the opposites. And why does he get snared by them? Ignorance of the Truth, the ONE. You must know that each one is a pilgrim, and each life is but a stage in the journey toward the city of liberation. This body is a resthouse in which we stay for a short time during the pilgrimage. The mind is the caretaker, the watchman in the choultry where we rest. We are not to treat him as if he is master or owner. But we ought to take care that the house we are privileged to occupy is not damaged or polluted. We must take good care of it and its furnishings and treat the watchman politely. The pilgrim is either helped or handicapped by the antics of the mind. The mind has as its warp and woof desire or thirst for something or other, getting some gain or avoiding some loss. Desire arises from attachment, often the consequence of delusion. Desire distorts and denigrates the mind. It keeps the mind incessantly agitated. No sheet of water can be calm when stones are dropping on it, and if there is a perpetual shower of desires, the mind, too, will be pitifully restless. The ananda (bliss) that emanates from the atma in man has, in fact, to be stored with the help of the buddhi as channel, in the reservoir, the mind. That is its genuine function. But if the reservoir has many cracks and crevices, namely the senses, the ananda will be frittered away, and the reservoir will be rendered dry. When the hunger of the senses is sought to be appeased, the mind becomes vacillating and wayward. The mind is the master of the senses. That is its legitimate role. The senses are the servants. When the master serves the servants, he loses his self-respect and falls in the esteem of all. Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 15 (1981-82) Flying hither and thither, higher and higher, the bird has at last to perch on a tree for rest. So, too, even the richest and the most powerful man seeks rest, peace (shanti). Peace can be got only in one shop, in inner reality. The senses will drag you along into a mire, which submerges you deeper and deeper in alternate joy and grief, prolonged discontent. Only contemplation of unity can remove fear, rivalry, envy, greed, desire—all feelings that prompt discontent. Every other avenue can give only pseudo-contentment, and a day will come when you will throw away all these playthings and toys and cry, “Lord! Grant me unruffled peace.” The bandit Valmiki prayed so; the confirmed atheist, too, has one day to pray for peace and rest.

Society Is the Reflection of the God You Adore Wherever men gather with a purpose into a society, there you perceive the Divine, the sat, chit, and ananda (being, awareness, and bliss)! A personality has arisen; a clearer flash of reason is evident; a deeper joy fills the hearts. Immerse yourselves in them. This is real spiritual endeavor; not pining in solitude or reveling in the breaking of bonds with others of your kind, priding on your independence! Be with others, in others, for others. Be with all, for all, and in all. But, nevertheless, be unattached, be the unfailing source of Love. Therein lies success in spiritual endeavor, the triumph of spiritual discipline. Thus is the Sai in you manifested; thus is the world fostered; Sai within; thus is the heart purified enough to install. There are questions raised: Of what relation is society and social ties with spirit and its glory? Of what relation is the spirit and its glory with society and its tangles and trickeries? Such questions arise from erring minds. Spiritual endeavor must aim at individual illumination, social betterment and the divinization of the human community. This is extremely urgent and essential. While in society, the divinity inherent in man can blossom more quickly, more widely, more fragrantly. You recognize the world, but not God who is immanent in it! So, too, you see the individual but not the corpus that is immanent in society. All beings form the Universal Body of One God. Of course, society is not another concrete composite collective body! It is the expansion and expression of the Divine in each of its components, denotable, and enjoyable as One. Society is the awareness of this cognizable Divinity. So, the one should not flee from the many; the individual is not harmed by society. The one should rather see the many in a new light—the light that reveals that society is but God, who activates and prompts the composite whole. The one is rendered fuller by association with the many: he gains by losing himself in the many! All men are kith and kin, one family, one aspiration, one attempt at one acquisition. They are all equally Divine, all form the Universal Body of the One God. All are heirs to the ananda that this awareness can give. Of course, society does not happen when people gather by chance or get together with no common goal of good. The many-faceted skills and intelligence that are contributed by the many must flow pure and clear, untarnished by egoistic desires, along the channel of the spirit; then they will feed the roots of truth and goodness; they will ensure peace, for, all ideas of high and low will disappear. This is the criterion for a stable, strong, sweet society, not mere numbers. Be conscious of the God in each and in all; then inner equality will impress each so indelibly that the awareness will stay undisturbed. Shanti (Peace) will reign in each and all. Understand the atma or God that is your core; that will establish shanti in you, and you can share that shanti with others. What can you give others if your hearts are empty? Feel that you are a true limb of society. Do you intend to be in society? Do you crave to serve it and be served by it? Then seek the God in all; see the same in all. Yearn to worship that God by selfless service. That alone makes you a true limb of society. If you feel separate, distinct, outside and beyond society, you will run after name and fame, you will be enslaved by hate and partiality and ruined in the end. So, ease out those evil attitudes; feel that you are giving society what is its due, offering God His own gift of skill and intelligence. Vow to serve, to dedicate. Cultivate Love; society is the reflection of the God you adore, the God whose nature is ananda. Transform yourself into Love and become ananda. Adore society as the Divine Body; that is the truth, the eternal vision. ~ Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 11 (1971-72) Those who wish to serve society in the true spirit and experience the joy therefrom should go into society with dedication. They must undertake service activities according to their capacity and competence and should not overstretch themselves. They should not get involved in fundraising. Money is the cause of many differences and conflicts. Concentrate on service. There will be no lack of funds for any good cause. There are enough people in the Sai organization with resources. There is none poorer than the person who will not use his money for good purposes. Such men are a pitiable lot.