Human Values Truth, righteousness, peace and love — these are the four pillars on which the mansion of happiness is built. — From the discourses of Sri Sathya Sai Baba Sathya is what I teachDharma is the way I liveShanti is the mark of my personalityPrema is my very nature. — From the discourses of Sri Sathya Sai Baba When lust envelopes the heart of man, Truth, Justice, compassion and peace flee from it. —From the discourses of Sathya Sai Baba The cultivation of Human Values alone is Education. Cultivate the heart to raise a harvest of Truth, Righteousness, Peace and Love. This crop has to be raised in your heart and should be shared with others. Everyone has Love towards some thing or other, and that Love is a spark of the Divine; everyone has ultimately to base his life on some one Truth; that Truth is God. Our life is like a block of ice which is melting away every moment. Before it spends itself, devote it to the service of others. Education in Human Values is designed to prepare everyone for this life of dedicated service. So long as man is capable of Prema, Dharma will exist, do not doubt it. When that Prema is fixed on the Lord, your mental make-up will slowly and steadily undergo a revolutionary change; then, man will share in the sorrows and joys of his fellow-beings; thereafter he contacts the very source of the Bliss that is beyond the temporary gains and losses of this world. The cultivation of Human Values alone is Education. Wherever Sathya [Truth], Dharma [Righteousness], Santhi [Peace] and Prema [Love] are emphasised, in whatever religion or language, there we have Sanathana Dharma [the Eternal Gospel]. Whoever tries to understand the Human Values of Truth, Righteous conduct, Peace, Love and Non-violence properly, who practises these values and propagates them with zeal and sincerity can alone be described as a truly educated person. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 24 March 1958 You may have the best vegetables, you may be the most capable cook, but, if the copper vessel in which you prepare the vegetable soup is not tinned, the concretion you cook will be highly poisonous! So ‘tin’ your heart with truth, right conduct, peace and divine love; it will then become a vesssel fit for repeating holy name or symbols, meditation, religious vows, pilgrimage, ritualistic worship and the other dishes that you prepare in it. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 13 January 1965 Whatever happens, the path of virtue should not be given up. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 31 March 1965 Some consider themselves great because they have vast territory, some because they have finance, some because they have arms, some because they have vast populations, but, the real wealth, real greatnesss is virtue which earns the Grace of God. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 4 April 1965 An empty iron box gets valued when it contains jewels; the body is honoured when it contains the jewel of consciousness and the valuables called virtues. Life has to be lived through, for the sake of the chance to unfold the virtues. Otherwise, man is a burden upon the earth, a consumer of food. When fire rages, you try to put it out by throwing sand or water, and you keep a stock of these in readiness. But, you have six fires raging inside you – lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and hatred. What have you in store to put them out? Keep ready Sathya, shaanthi, dharma and prema. They will help you scotch the flames; they are effective extinguishers. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 6 April 1965 Man’s sense of values is so degraded that he does not revere the Geetha, as much as he values and scans the pages of the daily newspaper. This is to be attributed to sheer ignorance and perversity, or pitiable fate. The fear and anxiety that infect humanity today are the results of this degradation of values, this ignorance of what is of significance and what is not, this want of faith in what the elders and sages have handed down as the wisdom of ages. People prefer what is pleasing to what is beneficial. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 30 September 1965 Virtue is the fragrance of the flowers which the tree of life puts forth. Educated people must be identified in society by their strict adherence to virtue, not by more skilled methods of escaping the consequences of vice. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 14 November 1965 Sacrifice, so that you may be saved. You have to sacrifice, not a bleating sheep or a horse or a cow, but your animality, the bestial lust and greed, hate and malice. Sacrifice these and you earn the heaven of unflinching peace. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 23 November 1965 Sathya, Dharma, Shanghai and prema are the hall-marks of a purified heart, a heart where God is enshrined and is manifest. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 23 November 1966 If there is righteousness in the heartThere will be beauty in character;If there is beauty in characterThere will be harmony in the home.When there is harmony in the homeThere 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, colour, mode of worship, ststus or degree of affluence. Do not look down on any one; look upon all as Divine as you really are. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 13 January 1970 Truth is man’s nature; to be untrue is to be false to one’s nature. dharma (Right Action) is the practical application in real life of the ideal of truth. Shanthi (Peace) is the result of Dharma and Preme (Love) is the sffulgence of Shanthi. — Sri Sathya Sai Baba, 16 March 1973 Every child is born not only with a stomach that has to be catered to, it is also endowed with two hands which
