Pearls collected from the “Sai Ocean of Love” [Shri Balasubramaian and his team have been doing yeoman services in spreading Swami’s messages and carrying out various service activities related to all the three wings of Sai Organisations, namely, spiritual, educational, service and human values. We send to our members the pearls collected by him in the ocean of Love of Swami. Members can have the pleasure of sharing these with other Sai fraternity in their circle. These messages of the Divine echoes in every heart; it provokes the reaction of awe, reverence, affection, love and sacrifice – all ingredients of Bhakti. It translates itself into acts of worship, of praise, of adoration and of rituals symbolizing the majesty of God. Thus, the mind gets saturated with Divine thoughts. It is recast in the Divine mould, until the flow of Ananda becomes unabated. ] THE airplane has to land at a certain place in order to take in those who have reserved the right to fly by the tickets that they have purchased. So too the Lord has to come down so that those who have won the right to be liberated may be saved. Incidentally, others too will know of the Lord, of His Grace and ways of winning it and of the joy of liberation. There are some who deny even today the possibility of air-travel; they curse the contrivance. They cavil at it. Similarly there are many who cavil at the Avatar that has come to save them. WHILE speaking of God, as guarding you, I am reminded of a note that some one has sent Me from this gathering. The note wants Me to explain why I have not mentioned SAI BABA in any of my Discourses so far, though I bear the name as the Avatar of SAI BABA. Evidently, the writer of the note had in mind the people who engage themselves in publicity-work of Rama or Krishna or SAI BABA. HOW far have you progressed using the chance of these Discourses and the Darshan and Sparshan? Bring something into your daily practice, as evidence of your having known the secret of higher life from Me. Show that you have greater brotherliness, speak less, with more sweetness and self-control, and that you can bear defeat as well as victory with calm resignation. MANAVA can become Madhava by engaging himself in Madhava Karma; he can then discover his ‘Narayana – Tattwam’. What is the use of doing only Manava karma; or even Danava karma and claiming that man is divine? Virtue is the life breath, and character is the backbone. Without these, no meritorious act will fructify. A characterless man is like a pot with many holes, useless for carrying water or for storing it. Renounce and win Peace. JEWELS give Joy, not Gold. You can experience the Name, you can imbibe the Form; you can take them to heart and dwell upon them and fill yourself with the joy that they evoke. That is why Jayadeva, Gomanka, Ramakrishna and others wished to remain ants, tasting Sugar rather than becoming sugar itself. The Name is like the seed, implanted in your heart; when the shower of His Grace falls upon it; it sprouts into a lovely tree. All trees that sprout from the Name are equally lovely and shady. YOU must cultivate non-attachment towards Prakriti and attachment to the Lord. I am reminded of the story of Sankara Bhatta. He was a great Sadhaka intent on Japa and Aagama to such an extent that he was reduced to skin and bone. He worshipped Saraswathi or Vidya, which is the key to open the doors of Mukti. Goddess Lakshmi saw his sad plight and was moved with great pity. She chided Saraswathi for denying Her votary even the common joys of life and Herself hid in his leaky hut to pour on him Her Grace. She offered him plenty and prosperity, fame and fortune. She derided Saraswathi for neglecting to award comfort and joy on Her hapless servant. But Sankara Bhatta turned a deaf ear to her allurements; he said politely, but firmly, ‘No, Saraswathi has blessed me with the most precious wealth, the gift that liberates me. I do not crave your Grace. Please remove yourself from my presence’. BECAUSE you have taken residence in this body, you cannot call the body “I”. When you sit here in this Hall, you do not call the Hall “I”. You know, you are separate and that you are here only temporarily. When you go about in a Tonga, you do not say that the Tonga is you, do you? You do not take the Tonga inside, when you step down from it on reaching home. So, also, you have to drop this body when you reach “home”. PARAMATMA reveals its Glory in man; Prema appears in various forms, attaching itself to riches or parents or children or one’s life mate or friends. All these are sparks of the same flame and the Love of the Universal is its highest expression. This Prema cannot be cultivated by reading essays, guidebooks and made-easies and learning the steps by note. It has to begin with great yearning for the Light and an unbearable agony to escape from the darkness as in the prayer: “Thamasomaa Jyothir Gamaya”. The yearning itself will draw the light. The Love will grow of itself, and by its own slow alchemy, turn you into God. YOU have a Kalpavruksha ready to give you all that you want; you have the Lord, who protects and promotes all. The virtues of the people are treasures of the State; the Smarana of the Name of the Lord is the root of all virtues. Narada, who was afflicted with conceit that there was no other who had dedicated his very breath to the recital of the Name, was once humbled to find that a farmer who managed to repeat the Name three times in the course of his overwhelming multitude of