A Compendium of Sai Treats
of Wisdom |
GOD:
Brahman (God) is
the Self, hidden in everyone. He is only obvious to those who, minds focused one-pointedly
on the Lord of Love, nurture intuitive knowledge. Meditation leads them deeper into
consciousness, passing from the world to thoughts, and beyond thoughts to the wisdom of
the Self. ~ Katha Upanishad.
"I am in all
things, From Brahma to a blade of grass." When you know this, You have no
thought For success or failure Or the mind's inconstancy. You are pure.
You are still. ~ Ashtavakra Gita 11:7
He who knows Self as the enjoyer of The
honey from the flowers of the senses, Ever present within, ruler of time, Goes beyond
fear. For this Self is Supreme!
~ Upanishads (c. B.C. 800)
When the solution is simple, God is answering.
~ Albert Einstein
In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all
creatures as we regard our own self. - Jainism
Worship of God in temples and shrines has its place in sanctifying time
and sublimating the instincts and impulses. Inquiry into reality has its
use in clearing the fog of doubt. But activity in the shape of service
charged with love fulfills the aims of our path to God. All hands are HIS,
all feet, all eyes and all faces and mouths are HIS. He works through all
hands, HE works through all feet; HE sees through each eye; HE eats and
speaks through each mouth. Everything is HE. Every step is HIS, every
look, every speech, every act is HIS. That is the lesson that service
instills.~ Baba
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ACTOR & AUDIENCE:
When you wake up, feel that you are entering
the stage to play the role assigned to you by the Lord and pray that you
act well and earn His approbation. At night, when you retire, feel that
you are entering the 'green room', but with the dress of the role on, for
perhaps the role is not yet over and you have not been permitted to take
the dress off. Do not worry, leave it all to Him. Perhaps you have to act
again next morning. He knows, as He has written the play.
~ Baba
The fault lies in the belief that things happen as a result of human
effort and planning, human intelligence and care. No one can succeed in
any venture without Divine Grace. It is God's plan being worked out
through man, but man prides himself that it is he who is working for it.
Man will realize his mission on earth, when he knows himself as Divine.
The wealth you earn is not true wealth! True wealth is the grace of God.
~
Baba
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ANGER:
The toughest fibre of the fibrous armour of sensual
desires which encompasses your mind is anger. When you get angry, you forget everything -
whether the person is a mother, father or teacher; you descend to the lowest depths. When
you are agitated by anger or hatred or agony drink cold water; lie down quietly; sing a
few Bhajan songs. Or walk some long distance alone, fast, so that the pestering thoughts
are driven into silence.~ Baba
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AVATAR: In this Kali age, the wicked
have to be reformed and reconstructed, through love and compassion. That is why this
Avatar has come unarmed. It has come with the message of Love. The only weapon which can
transform the vile and the vicious is the Name of the Lord uttered with Love. The Name is
redolent with Divine Glory. So when it is turned over in the mind, it transmutes it into
an instrument for liberation from delusion.~ Baba
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BALANCE:
"What makes you think that 'doing' is so
important? Be equal-minded. Then you will not be concerned about
'doing' or 'not doing', success or failure; the balance will remain
unaffected by either.~ Baba
Let the wave of memory; the storm of
desire, the fire of emotion pass through without affecting your equanimity. Be a
witness of these. Commitment engenders holding, narrowing, limiting. Be
willing to be nothing. Let all dualities subside in your neutrality." -
Sathya Sai Baba
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BATTLEFIELD
OF LIFE:
Remember always that it is easy to do what is
pleasant; but it is difficult to be engaged in what is beneficial. Not all that is
pleasant is profitable. Success comes to those who give up the path strewn with roses, and
brave the hammer blows and the sword-thrusts of the path fraught with danger. As a matter
of fact, no road is strewn with rose-petals. Life is a battlefield where duties and
desires are always in conflict. Smother the fiery fumes of Desire, Hatred and Anger that
rise up in your hearts. It is sheer cowardice to yield to turn you into beasts.~ Baba
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BIRTH & DEATH:
Man is equipped with a return-ticket when he takes birth. Holding it
in his grasp, he earns and spends, rises and falls, sings and dances, weeps and wails,
forgetting the end of the journey. But, though he forgets, the wagon of life moves towards
the cemetery, which is its terminus. It brings no glory to man if he is tied helplessly to
the wheel of birth and death. His glory and greatness consist in disentangling himself
from that revolving wheel.~ Baba.
Every
human being has four birthdays. The first is when he emerges from his mother’s womb,
and being neither holy or unholy, craves only for food and shelter; the second is when he
begins his spiritual study to lead him from darkness to light; the third is when he has
gained wisdom, having mastered the disciplines propounded by the rishis for achieving
self-realization; the fourth and last is when he realizes his true identity and merges
with Brahman.~ Baba
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BLAME, KARMA & ACTION:
"On your
land, you can grow food as you like, or you can idle and let it lie fallow. You owe
yourself the cause of ruin or progress. The tools are in your hands; you can learn the
skills and break the shackles and escape. But if you decide to spend life in slavery and
bondage, who can save you? Do not blame fate. The status of the present life is decided on
your actions in the previous life. Bad deeds never yield good. Good deeds never breed bad,
Neem seeds never yield mangoes The Lord grants the fruits of every action, according to
each person's deserts, in any situation, through any agency. All results follow the
actions"
~ Baba
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CHILDREN:
Children are charming saplings, full of promise, who can be made, by wise
care and well-directed love, to blossom into ideal citizens, able to understand,
appreciate and practice the tough discipline laid down in the ancient wisdom for attaining
self-knowledge. The early years of life are the most crucial, and so the parents have to
share the responsibility for their proper upbringing. The skills, the attitude, the
prejudices and the emotions that make or mar the future are all built into the foundation
of character during those crucial years. ~ Baba
Teach your children this glorious and
heart-expanding Truth from the early days of life: the Atma is full and free. It is a
wonderful discovery, a thrilling thought. The Atma is by its very nature full; fullness
need not be attained or accomplished or added to it. That is why the sages declared that
Purity is our very nature and Fullness is our genuine reality.~ Baba
Parents should not allow their children to fall away from their control and wander about
without a compass or anchor. Many parents feed and fondle their children and then in the
name of freedom, leave them to find their own friends and pleasures. They take them to
films regardless of the impressions they create in their tender minds. They entertain the
friends of their children but do not enquire about their antecedents and habits.~ Baba
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COMPASSION:
When the heart is filled with compassion, the hands are dedicated to 'the
service, of others, the body is engaged in constant help to others, the
life of such a person is sacred, purposeful and noble. The entire Cosmos
is based on the bedrock of Truth. Wealth and Welfare and all comforts and
pleasures are dependent on Truth. Wherever you turn, Truth shines
effulgently.
~ Baba
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CONFIDENCE: ''You should
develop confidence about yourself. Where there is confidence, there is
love; where there is love, there is peace; where there is peace, there is
truth; and where there is truth, there is God.''
~ Baba
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CONSCIOUSNESS:
Through activity man
attains purity of consciousness. Why strive for a pure consciousness? If a well has muddy
water, then its bottom cannot be seen. Similarly, within man's heart, deep down in his
consciousness, we have the Atman (Soul). But it can be cognized only when the
consciousness is clarified. Your imagination, your inferences, your judgements
and prejudices, your passions and emotions plus egoistic desires muddy the
consciousness and make it opaque.~ Baba
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COURAGE:
When obstacles
come, meet them with courage. They harden you and make you tough. Suffering and misery are
inescapable acts of the Cosmic drama. God does not decree these calamities, but man
invites them by way of retribution for his evil deeds. This is the corrective punishment
by nature, which induces man to give up the wrong path. All this is part of the grand
synthesis in which the negatives serve to glorify the positives. Thus death glorifies
immortality; ignorance glorifies wisdom; misery glorifies bliss; night glorifies
dawn.~ Baba
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CRITICISM: CRITICIZING
others and finding fault with them are both results of egoism. Search your
own faults instead. The faults you see in others are your own faults
instead. The faults you see in others are but reflections of your own
personality traits. Pay no heed to little worries; attach your mind to the
Lord and then you will be led to the Company of good men and your talents
will be transmuted. ~ Baba
Do not judge others as inferior because
they do not participate in bhajans (devotional singing). You can be very wrong in your
estimate of a person's spiritual development by mere externals. Inner purity cannot
express itself through pompous show. ~ Baba
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DEATH & JUDGEMENT: People
do not understand the ways of God. How can they know why a particular event takes place,
in a particular manner? He alone can know. But people try to sit in judgement
and talk ill, when, for example, someone dies of illness at Prasanthi
Nilayam. How can anyone escape death? Even Avatars (incarnations) cast off
the physical form when the task for which they have come is over. It is
the height of foolishness to lose faith in God, when someone you cared for
dies. The sentence that he earned is over and he is released. No one is
born and allowed to live for the sake of another.~ Baba
Every man born must have the end always in view. Cultivate good
habits of thought and action in order to make that end genuinely auspicious. No tree will
yield fruits the moment you plant the seedling. It has to be fostered with care over a
long period of time. Similarly, whatever result you seek, you have to follow carefully,
without break, the preparatory disciplines. Seekers must always be aware of this. The
yearning must be directed away from 'How to be born' towards
'How to die'! For birth depends on how death takes place.
Death comes first, birth later. People believe that men are born to die and they die so
that they may be born. This is wrong. You are born so that you may not be born again; you
die so that you may not die again. That is to say, the man who dies must so die that he is
not born again.~ Baba
"A time will come when your duties will be over. It will not be like this
forever. Do you know why I tell you people to work (serve)? It is for the
reason that you should not have a body another time. Even though your mind
is purified, your body might not have done enough manual work. The result
is that you will have to be born again, at least, as an exalted person.
Make sure you do not get a body again. Believe Me, I will definitely grace
you."~ Baba
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DESIRE: Human desire is illimitable and without
end. It makes you pursue the mirage in the desert; it makes you build castles in the air;
it breeds discontent and despair, once you succumb to it. But develop the thirst for the
Divine; you discover the cool-spring of Bliss within you. The Divine name makes you
very strong and steady; it is sweet and sustaining.~ Baba
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DESTINY:
"To say that God is the
prime cause of every thing is true to a certain extent; but you are not thrust by Him into
an iron cage of destiny from which there is no escape. Lord has endowed you with
discrimination and detachment and with a sense of awe and wonder and you have to use these
for attaining him. Though bound, you are not entirely incapacitated. A cow that is
tethered to a post by means of a rope can walk around and graze on all the area which the
rope can traverse freely as far as the rope allows. But do not stray far from the post and
pull at the rope and inflict pain on your neck.~ Baba
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DETACHMENT: So long as man
lives a life devoted to objective pleasures and objective victories, he cannot escape
sorrow, fear and anxiety. There is no object without fault or failing; there is no
pleasure that is unmixed with pain; there is no act that is not tainted with egoism. So be
pure and develop detachment, which will save you from grief.~ Baba
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DISTRESSED:
The distressed, the poverty stricken and those who suffer have no one to
serve them. Go to such people and be their friend, their kith and kin and their closest
well wishers. Give them God in the form of food. Give them God in the form of clothes.
Give God in the form of peace to those who are afflicted by anxiety. Give God in the form
of medicine to those who are suffering from ill-health. Give God in whatever form that
assuages fear, pain and sorrow. It is only after this is done that spirituality can soak
into the heart. If you act contrariwise, instead of spiritual feelings, you will be
promoting atheism.~ Baba
You have no reason to feel proud when you are able to help another, for your skill or
wealth or strength or courage or official position that gave you the chance to serve was
the gift of God, whether you recognize it or not. You are only offering this God's gift to
another God's gift, namely the poor, the illiterate, the weak, the diseased, the grieving,
the broken-hearted, who seek your help.~ Baba
Through service rendered without any desire to placate one's ego, with only the well-being
of others in view, it is possible to cleanse the consciousness and have the atma (true
inner self that is divine) revealed.~ Baba
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DIVINE GRACE: Repetition of
Lord's Name and Meditation are means by which you can compel even the concretization of
the Divine Grace, in the Form and with the Name you yearn for. The Lord has to assume the
Form you choose, the Name you fancy; in fact, you shape him so. Therefore, do not change
these two, but stick to the ones that please you most, whatever the delay or the
difficulty.~ Baba
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DIVINITY, UNITY OF:
Contemplate on the principle of oneness at the
mental level. Allah, Jesus, Rama, Krishna - names are different, but God is one. Have
unflinching faith in the unity of divinity. Undertake such Sadhana (spiritual practice)
which will enable you to realize the changeless and eternal principle of Truth. ~ Baba- Divine
Discourse,03/2003
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EDUCATION: In the
educational system today, the spiritual element has no place. This is not true education.
Education must proceed primarily from Spirit to Nature. It must show that mankind
constitutes one Divine family. The Divinity that is present in society can be experienced
only through individuals. Education today, however ends with the acquisition of degrees.
Real education should enable one to utilize the knowledge one has acquired to meet the
challenges of life and to make all human beings happy as far as possible. Born in society,
one has the duty to work for the welfare and progress of society.~ Baba
The idea that a big bungalow with costly sofas etc.
or a big pay packet is the aim of education should be given up. This idea
breeds evil. The ideal should be, hands dedicated to hard work, heads
dedicated to service and hearts full of compassion. Every one is eager to
be happy; every one wants to work less and gain more, give little and get
amply, but no one experiments with the other method, that is, wanting less
and giving more. Every want is a shackle that hinders movement, a drag on
the foot.~ Baba
The cow yields milk only for feeding its calf. The calf after having
its full, jumps about in joy and feels strong and happy. But, we take away the milk
intended for the calf and sustain ourselves with the strength it gives. So also, education
which is intended for the fulfillment of life is misused by us for the 'fill-filment' of
comfortable living. What we should do, is to consider 'fill-filment' as secondary and
fulfilment as the primary purpose of education. We must, after being born as man, learn
about the Atman, for that alone can confer Bliss and Immortality.~ Baba
The end of education is character and the end of knowledge is Love. By concentrating on
bookish knowledge at the cost of its practical application, the spirit of education is
lost. Education should confer humility, which in turn bestows deservedness. Deservedness
leads to prosperity which enables one to undertake charitable acts. Charitable deeds
ensure happiness in this world and the next.~ Baba
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ENVY: The world is a
furnace and a factory where man has to shape his destiny by his honest, untiring efforts.
He who takes up this challenge and spends his allotted years and the skill and the
intelligence with which he endowed, in purposeful activity, is really entitled to the
status of a Karma Yogi. The greatest single cause for darkness in the world today is envy.
When one is happy and contented, others envy him and strive to ruin his peace of mind.
When any one is acclaimed as great, malice moves others to invent calumny, in order to
tarnish his reputations. This is the way of the world. There is in life the tragedy of
ignorance and selfishness. They force man to take the wrong road and suffer calamity.~ Baba
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EXCELLENCE:
The supreme excellence is
not to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles. The supreme excellence is to subdue
the armies of your enemies without even having to fight them. ~ Lao Tzu~ . This can
apply to any 'conflict' whether its internal or external. Perhaps this leads us towards
transcending, into non violence. It begins with how each of us handles what goes on within
our being. Something to ponder upon.
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FAITH, SELF-CONFIDENCE & CONVICTION:
Everyone has the right to earn grace, but those like Ramakrishna
who have faith in themselves, will earn it soon and plentifully. God loves those who have
the self-confidence and the courage of conviction and who seize every opportunity to
improve their spiritual status. Your self is God. You have faith in your judgement,
your intelligence, your ability, because God within tells you not to
falter and fear. That assurance from within, from your basic truth, which
is otherwise called God. It does not matter if you do not call it God, it
is enough if you believe in yourself. That is the real test of theism.~ Baba
Don't deny the validity of your own experience. Stand on your strength, be unmoved
either by adulation or denigration. Follow my lead. I am unaffected by either. I march on
alone undeterred and of my own accord. I am my own guide and witness, have full faith in
this. Self-confidence is the basis of faith in God also. People who do not know who they
are and who have no confidence in their own strength and power assert that there is no
God. But how can they declare that the God in whom you believe and who exists for you does
not exist?~ Baba
An individual
who has faith in God must put his faith into practice. By believe in God
and yet ignoring God's utterances and commands, you are contradicting
yourselves. Faith is not a cloak that is worn outside for deceiving
others. Do not waver or doubt once you are convinced. Seek to understand
and satisfy yourself. After that, do not be mislead. When the sun is over
your head, there will be no shadow; similarly when faith is steady in your
head, it should not cast any shadow of doubt. Faith in God is the secure
foundation on which hope has to be built. The faith has to be stable and
strong. The feeling that God will come to our rescue has to be vivid and
vital, motivating and activating all that we do or speak or think.~ Baba
Without self-confidence no achievement is possible. If you have confidence in your
strength and skill, you can draw upon the inner springs of courage and raise yourselves to
a higher level of joy and peace. For confidence in yourselves arises through the atma,
which is your inner reality. The atma is peace it is joy, it is strength, it is wisdom, so
it is from the atma (Soul) that you draw these equipments for spiritual progress. The
first thing you have to do is develop self-confidence in people who have no confidence in
their own self and who begin to wander about and to waver and to take to various different
paths.~ Baba
Cultivate faith and surrender; then grace will flow through you into
every act of yours. Only then the man of faith is completely free from fear. Love of God
promotes fear of sin and makes one lead a moral life. Wipe out the root causes of anxiety,
fear and ignorance. Anxiety is removed by faith in the Lord, the faith that tells you that
whatever happens is for the best. For what is the root of that faith in yourself? Who are
you that you should believe in yourself? You believe in yourself because your self is God
and you have an unshakable faith in God, deep down in you. Faith in yourself and faith in
God are identical; you tap the strength of the God within, when you face an enemy without.~ Baba
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FEELINGS: Employ yourself usefully, earn, but do not possess
the riches with fanatic zeal. Be like a headmaster who, when he is transferred, goes to
the new place unconcerned and carefree, leaving behind him all the furniture and equipment
of the school, for he knows that he has only held them on trust for some time. Your
yearning to do Service and your enthusiasm while doing Service are rescuing you from harm.
God is the witness. God has no desire to bless, no anger to induce Him to punish. You get
blessed and punished as a result of your own feelings.~ Baba
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FORGIVENESS:
The weak can never
forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
~ Mahatma Gandhi
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FRIENDSHIP:
Friendship should not be based consideration of fear and favor. The
only friend who will continue to be with you for all time is the Divine
Friend - God.~ Baba
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FRUITS OF ACTION:
"According to the purity of our actions, we will get the
fruits there of." "Man cannot escape from the consequences of sinful
deeds. Evil thoughts and bad intentions are ruining the life of man." "You
feel happy when someone gives you something. But you don't feel equally
happy in giving to others. Man desires fruits of good action; but will not
perform good actions. They wish to be saved from the consequences of evil
deeds but will not abstain from bad actions. As you sow, so shall you
reap, is a relentless law. "You cannot escape from the consequences of
your actions."~ Baba
Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt. - George
Sewell
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FULFILLMENT: All should be
members of the groups doing social service. Human life is meant for service to others. You
should not be satisfied with just undertaking service. You should also request friends and
relatives to join in. Whatever talent a person has should be dedicated to the service of
the rest of humanity, indeed of all living beings. Therein lies fulfillment. Social
service should not become 'show-cial' work carried out for publicity or with the camera in
view nor should it become 'slow-cial' work. Why go slow when you are doing good to the
deserving? Do as much as you can. If you cannot do any good, at least desist from doing
harm or from finding fault with those who serve you.~ Baba
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GOOD ACTION:
A good action is good whether accomplished by instinct or reason. Is not
the shelter provided by a tree good for both animal and man? When a cow denies milk to its
calf because the milk is taken by the herdsmen, the result is beneficial for the human
persons who consume the milk and the benefit enjoyed is no less because the cow did not
think. And the dog in the house, does it not guard and care for the master and love him
too? A human watchman has to be paid but the dog gives love and loyalty without any
remuneration. There are endless examples throughout Nature of good and virtuous action
being fully effective, even though by instinct, the animal or plant is only being true to
its nature.~ Baba
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GRIEF:
If it be truthfulness which is
supreme, then the path will be straight and narrow, that of rectitude where thought, word
and deed merge. If it be worldly which is predominant, the path will lead towards
ceaseless activity to amass riches, power and fame. If greed has the upper hand, the path
will lead downwards towards destruction, towards a life of shame and perversion.~ Baba
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HAPPINESS:
Just as a child cannot be without its mother,
a river must seek the ocean of its source. Just as a fish cannot survive outside water,
man who has come from God cannot have real happiness until he returns to God.~ Baba
Real and lasting happiness cannot be won
through physical pleasures. Lasting happiness can come only by the
discipline of the mind and faith in the Lord which cannot be diminished by
good or bad fortune. Man has to use the power of discrimination given to
him to fight the evil forces within him and to foster the Divine elements
in him by his own effort, by listening to the voice of his conscience. Man
has to use the freedom to discriminate between right and wrong, good and
evil.~ Baba
Can one be happy by merely eating four good meals daily or by riding
in prestigious cars or by living in many-roomed air-conditioned bungalows? No. Happiness
consists in helping others. It is brought about by giving up, not by hoarding. Catering to
the senses makes man bestial. They will drag him into dirt and disgrace.~ Baba
Man, in his ignorance, finds contentment in separating himself from the rest for the
search of his own happiness, forgetting that he cannot be happy unless all are happy. He
deludes himself through the cultivation of pride. He uses time for degrading himself to
the bestial level. Time is an invaluable gift that has to be reverentially treated. People
usually measure time as from sunrise to sunset, and sunset to sunrise. But that is only
similar to the illusion which makes us infer that the moon is moving, when we see passing
clouds.~ Baba
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HATE:
Hate is like acid. It can
damage the vessel in which it is stored.~ Ann Landers
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HUMAN LIFE & THE UNIVERSE:
Universe is without beginning and in it dwell an infinitude of living
beings. Among these beings, man is the most exalted being. In all the universe there is no
other planet that has human life or a similar life form....life elsewhere would be
intolerable for us but tolerable for those beings... Elsewhere in the universe life feels
it is Divinity, is one with Divinity and is quite happy and feeling all right.~ Baba
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INTEGRITY:
The thought
that arises in the mind, the word that is formed on the tongue and the act performed by
the hand - when these three are in harmony, they indicate humanness. Nowadays man appears
to be man, but his human-ness is absent, partly because he thinks one way, speaks another
way and acts a third way. Speak what you think, do what you speak; that is the sign of
true manhood. So, you must first act according to your own advice. Bring about consonance
between your thought, word and deed, and then guide your children. ~ Baba
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ILLUSIONS:
The mind spins a cocoon for
the soul (jivi) to be imprisoned in. Karma (actions) which is the activity of maya
(ignorance) grasps the individual in its grip; it is the husk that makes the paddy seed
grow. Remove the husk and there is no more sprouting. The husk, karma, makes the soul
sprout and undergo the penance of desires and worldly activities. You reward and punish
yourselves as the result of your activities. The guru can only help you to a limited
extent and you ought to be grateful to him for that. He is like an expert gardener who
tends the plants, watering them carefully, cutting the tree into a proper shape, applying
the correct manure to supplement the soil and keeping it free from drought and pests.~ Baba
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JOY & SORROW:
Life is a mosaic of pleasure and pain - grief is an
interval between two moments of joy. Peace is the interlude between two
wars. You have no rose without a thorn; the diligent picker will avoid the
pricks and gather the flowers. There is no bee without the sting;
cleverness consists in gathering the honey nevertheless. Troubles and
travails will haunt you. But you must not allow them to deflect you from
the path of duty and dedication. The world today is afflicted with
anxiety, fear, depression, hatred, greed and suspicion. The only way the
world can be set right is for man to realize his high destiny; for every
man yearns for two boons -attainment of joy and escape from sorrow. ~ Baba
Joy is but the interval between two moments of pain, and pain is the
interval between two moments of joy. Do not count your tears of pain; do not dwell on your
grief. Let them pass through your mind, as birds fly through the sky, leaving no trail
behind. You must not lose heart when you are disappointed. Perhaps your wish itself was
wrong or its realization may have landed you in a worse situation. Anyway it is the will
of the Lord and He knows best.~ Baba
It is the inner joy, the love that you radiate, that is important.
Mere sentiment and sympathy are of no use; they must be regulated by intelligence. Shower
cheer on the sad; soothe those who have lost the way; close your eyes to the faults of
others, but, keep them open to discover your own. All these are hard jobs. Practice alone
can make you perfect - practice, not only in items of service, but in meditation on the
Divine. Prayer, worship and meditation will render you more and more efficient in the
field of service.~ Baba
Joy and sorrow are like two pots carried by a man on a pole. They are inseparable. No one
can tell what the future has in store for any individual. Just as apparently opposing
conditions like heat and cold are of use to man in certain situations, similarly joy and
sorrow, loss and gain are also helpful to man. If there be no sorrow, how can man
appreciate happiness? To realize the greatness of light, darkness is required.~ Baba
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JUDGEMENT & DISCRIMINATION:
Man has the extra qualifications of moral, sense, education and the
capacity to judge and discriminate, but man is still caught in the coils of greed and
greed is the seed-bed of grief. It is easy to conquer anger through Love, attachment
through reasoning, falsehood through truth, bad thoughts through good and greed through
charity. A field may look barren and dead; but the first shower of rain will convert it
into a green carpet, the seeds of grass in the soil sprout, at the touch of dampness. So
too, at the first contact with temptation, the vishaya vasana (attachment of sensual
objects) sprouts and prevents growth of spiritual discipline.~ Baba
Man thinks he is enjoying pleasure, but really speaking it is the
pleasure that is enjoying man. For, they destroy insidiously his energy, weaken his
discrimination faculty, eat up his allotted years of life and enter his mind in a stealthy
manner, infesting it with egoism, envy, malice, hate, greed and lust. A person might be an
expert in many fields of knowledge or have mastery of many material skills, but without
inner cleanliness, his brain is like a desert waste or a massive rock with no trace
of love, mercy or expansive virtue.~ Baba
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KARMA:
Karma has to be
done; there is no turning away. Each has his allotted task, according to status, taste,
tendency and earned merit. Do it with Love for God and Fear of Sin. Be thankful to the
Lord that HE gave you time, as well as, karma to fill it with. HE gave you food, as well
as hunger, to relish it. But, that does not entitle you to engage yourself in karma
indiscriminately. What is the purpose of a door in the front of your house? It has a
double purpose. You do not keep it open for all and sundry to enter, when they like. So,
too, select the impulses, the motives that enter your mind; keep out the demeaning, the
debasing and the deleterious.~ Baba
*Papa (sin), Punya (merit) are consequences of the karma done by the body. As
per the inescapable law of karma, the results of good or bad actions are not like the milk
that you get immediately as you draw it from the udder of the milk cow, but they are like
fruits that you get from a tree long after the seed is planted. Therefore, do not feel
elated just because your bad actions have not given you the bad results immediately; you
are sure to experience them in due course.~ Baba
Do not act as per your fancies. First consider whether your action
is proper or improper. Do not act in haste. People complain when they experience
difficulties as to why God is subjecting them to such trials. The truth, however, is that
the Lord neither punishes nor rewards anyone. Man should do his duty and leave the result
to God. It is only when you recognize your own faults that you begin to understand the
ways of the Lord. Today the tendency is to ignore one?s own fault and blame God for one?s
suffering. Nothing can happen without a cause. Good actions will earn good returns and bad
actions will result in bad consequences. That is why the Lord is described as the
dispenser of the fruits of karma (actions). As you sow, so shall you reap, is a relentless
law. You cannot escape from the consequences of your actions.~ Baba
Each man carries his destiny in his own hands. You will not be
bound, because others are not freed. You should strive for your salvation,
at your own pace, from where you started when you were born. Earn
yourself, for yourself. Two people may have two acres each in the same
village; but they reap different quantities of grain, depending on the
skill and attention they bestow and the quality of soil, the seeds and the
manure they use.~ Baba
"The law of karma is not an iron
law. By dedication, by purification which invites benediction, its effects can be modified
and its vigour mitigated. Do not despair, do not lose heart. When vices hold sway over
your heart it becomes foul and sooty. The flames of desires, Krodha (anger), Lobha (greed)
clear the heart. Grace is proved by the quenching of those flames. Grace confers Anandam
(bliss) which Kaama (desires) Krodha (anger) and Lobha (greed) can never
confer."~ Baba
There are varieties of karma: bad, good and mixed. Some add fourth,
the karma of the the wise which is neither good nor bad. Bad karma is an act done without
the fear of God or of falling into sin. All acts done under the influence of six enemies,
lust, anger, greed, infatuation, ego and jealousy, all acts devoid of compassion,
righteousness, truth, peace and love. You do not see the foundations of a multi-storied
skyscraper, so will you argue that it simply sits on the ground? The foundations of this
life are laid deep in the past, in lives already lived by you. This structure has been
shaped by the ground plan of those lives. The unseen decides the bends and the ends: the
number of floors, the height and weight.~ Baba
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LOST VISION:
Man today being
caught in selfish pursuits has degraded himself to the level of animals.
At every step, he is violating dharma. Every desire is turning into greed.
Large-heartedness is on the wane. Man's vision has lost sight of love.
Truth is a casualty in man's speech. Spirituality has become a form of
ostentation. Qualities like lust and anger are having a free rein.
Consciousness has become dormant in man. Human relationships have become
mechanical and artificial. In fact, humanness has virtually disappeared.
~ Baba
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LOVE:
There
is no use in acquiring all kinds of knowledge and performing prayers and meditation if
there is no Love in the heart. Love alone can save the world.~ Baba - Sanathana Sarathi, Nov./Dec.
1985
Wherever there is a vacuum in any
heart, love flows into it and is glad that it can fill the emptiness. It is never held
back; it is offered in abundance without guile or deceit. It does not wear the cloak of
falsehood, flattery or fear. The tendrils of love aspire to cling only to the garments of
God. It senses that God resides in His splendour in every heart. To discover that seat of
God is real devotion.~ Baba
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MARRIAGE &
SEPARATION: Husband and wife are like two pieces of wood drifting down a
flooded river. They float near each other for sometime and when some current comes
between, they are parted. Each must move on to the sea at its own pace and in its own
time. There is no need to lament the parting of the two. It is in the very nature of
Nature that it should be so.~ Baba
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MATURITY:
As a
child, man seeks toys to have fun and joy. As a boy he demands a cycle for the same
purpose. When he becomes a young man, he demands a car to have fun and joy, a good
position with a pretty girl as his wife. Then in middle age, he learns to shoulder more
responsibility. The Actions of his previous birth have by now moulded his mind fully, his
ideas have become set, whether it be for good or evil. But, the desire for ananda (bliss)
is as strong as ever. Now his quest for happiness follows different paths depending upon
three Gunas (influences) on his mind.~ Baba
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MEDITATION:
"Can anyone train another in
meditation? Or claim to train? It may be possible to teach a person the posture, the pose,
the position of the legs, feet, or hands, neck, head or back, the style of breathing or
its speed. But meditation is a function of the inner man; it involves deep subjective
quiet, the emptying of the mind and filling oneself with the light that emerges from the
divine spark within. This is a discipline that no textbook can teach and no class can
communicate."~ Baba |
MIND:
Watch
your Words, Actions, Thoughts, Character and Heart. The mind is the mad monkey. You
should not surrender to it. You should watch it carefully as above and should have
control over it. -
A Compendium of
the Teachings of Sathya Sai Baba~ Baba
Mind does not have any powers. The only power is Atma-shakthi, the power of Atma (Soul).
Mind has no form. Mind can be said to be woven of desires, the Atma shines on the heart,
whether the heart be pure or impure. If the heart is purified and if the strongest desire
is for God, that is the best.~ Baba
Just as a picture is drawn by an artist, surroundings are created by
the activities of the mind. --Buddha (B.C. 568-488)
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MOTHERS: Mothers are highly noble and
virtuous. Their nobility cannot be described in words. From the worldly point of view, you
should respect your father, mother, preceptor and husband. It does not matter, if you do
not acquire worldly wealth, but you should win the wealth of your mother's grace.~ Baba
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PAIN TO OTHERS:
"Do not cause
pain to others by using harsh words. In fact, others are not others, but your own self
as the same principle of Atma is present in all. The one who causes pain and
the one who suffers from it are one and the
same. So, never speak in such a way as to hurt others. That is why I tell you
often, talk less, but you are not taking My
words seriously. You are unable to understand what hazards excessive talk will lead
you to in future."~ Baba |
PEACE:
The primary reason for
the lack of peace in the world today is that thoughts and conduct have gone astray. The
first step, therefore, is to make our thoughts pure. We need not bother about the past and
the future. Concentrate your attention on your duty in the present. Contentment is heaven;
grief is hell; anger is the foe; calmness is the armour; and compassion is
the comrade. You repeat Peace three times, don't you? It is to encourage
peace in the human, spiritual and natural milieu in which you have to
live; also to develop peace, to the body, mind and intellect. Peace cannot
be gotten through science. In fact, science and technology are leading man
away from peace. Wisdom cannot be had without a pure mind.
~ Baba
"Silence is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self."
~ Anthony de
Mello, S.J.
Peace comes
from within; Contentment is a mental condition. Do not feed the roots of
attachment to worldly comforts more than is absolutely necessary. They
lead only to anxiety and fear, they can never satisfy the innermost
craving of man. Earning and spending, man fills his time with work. He has
no peace. However, he is busy trying to earn happiness, but the success is
not much. Man does not realize the panacea for all his ills, the effort
that will result in total victory lies in the control of Mind.~ Baba
Peace and happiness cannot prevail in the individual and
society until man develops faith in the unity of mankind, inspite of the apparent
differences. Man has to renounce all thoughts of difference and learn to derive delight
from the Vision of the One in the smallest and the most colossal of God's Creation. Be
happy and make others happy. Happiness in the nature of the Atma (Soul).~ Baba
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POVERTY/ DISTRESS:
The distressed, the poverty stricken and those who suffer have no
one to serve them. Go to such people and be their friend, their kith and kin and their
closest well wishers. Give them God in the form of food. Give them God in the form of
clothes. Give God in the form of peace to those who are afflicted by anxiety. Give God in
the form of medicine to those who are suffering from ill-health. Give God in whatever form
that assuages fear, pain and sorrow. It is only after this is done that spirituality can
soak into the heart. If you act contrariwise, instead of spiritual feelings, you will be
promoting atheism.~ Baba
You have no reason to feel proud when you
are able to help another, for your skill or wealth or strength or courage
or official position that gave you the chance to serve was the gift of
God, whether you recognize it or not. You are only offering this God's
gift to another God's gift, namely the poor, the illiterate, the weak, the
diseased, the grieving, the broken-hearted, who seek your help.~ Baba
Through service rendered without any desire to placate one's ego, with only the well-being
of others in view, it is possible to cleanse the consciousness and have the atma (true
inner self that is divine) revealed.~ Baba
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PRIDE:
You
have no reason to feel proud when you are able to help another, for your skill or wealth
or strength or courage or official position that gave you the chance to serve was the gift
of God, whether you recognize it or not. You are only offering this God's gift to another
God's gift, namely the poor, the illiterate, the weak, the diseased, the grieving, the
broken-hearted, who seek your help.
~ Baba
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PURITY:
Man thinks he is enjoying
pleasure, but really speaking it is the pleasure that is enjoying man. For, they destroy
insidiously his energy, weaken his discrimination faculty, eat up his allotted years of
life and enter his mind in a stealthy manner, infesting it with egoism, envy, malice,
hate, greed and lust. A person might be an expert in many fields of knowledge or have
mastery of many material skills, but without inner cleanliness, his brain is like a desert
waste or a massive rock with no trace of love, mercy or expansive virtue.
~ Baba
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RECONSTRUCT YOURSELF:
The fulfillment of human life consists in the service that man
renders without any thought of return, in an attitude of selflessness. First, Self; then
help; improve yourself, teach yourself, reconstruct yourself and then proceed to solve the
problems of others. That reconstruction is quite easy, provided you inquire calmly into
your own personality, i.e. the body, or the senses or the MIND or the Buddhi, etc.
~ Baba
In this Kali age, the wicked have to be reformed and reconstructed,
through love and compassion. That is why this Avatar has come unarmed. It has come with
the message of Love. The only weapon which can transform the vile and the vicious is the
Name of the Lord uttered with Love. The Name is redolent with Divine Glory. So when it is
turned over in the mind, it transmutes it into an instrument for liberation from delusion.~ Baba
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REINCARNATION: Man is equipped with a
return-ticket when he takes birth. Holding it in his grasp, he earns and spends, rises and
falls, sings and dances, weeps and wails, forgetting the end of the journey. But, though
he forgets, the wagon of life moves towards the cemetery, which is its terminus. It brings
no glory to man if he is tied helplessly to the wheel of birth and death. His glory and
greatness consist in disentangling himself from that revolving wheel. ~ Baba
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SENSE - CONTROL OF THE SENSES:
"First of all,
man should exercise control over his senses. Spiritual practices will
yield greater rewards if senses are kept under control. Never listen to anything that is
evil. If any such situation arises,
leave the place immediately. Hear no evil, see no evil and talk no evil. Make every effort
to be away from evil. Only then
will spiritual power grow in you more and more. Why did our ancient sages and seers go to
forests to spend their lives in solitude? It is only to control their
senses. True spiritual practice lies in controlling one's senses."~ Baba
Sense control will guard you against a host of evils. Do not believe
that, because you are equipped with the senses, nothing harmful can happen, through their
free exercises. You may have your car registered in your name and be driving it yourself,
but, if you do not apply the brakes timely, accidents are bound to be your lot. Your body
can be compared to a car. Your eyes are like the lights. Your stomach, the petrol tank;
your mouth, the horn; your mind the steering wheel; right conduct, wealth, desire,
liberation, the wheels; the air within the tyres is faith; and intelligence or Buddhi, the
switch.~ Baba |
SEEING THE DIVINE:
Love helps you to see God in
everyone, everyone as Divine. The universe is not false; it is not a trap.
It is the splendor of God, His reflection.
~ Baba - Sathya Sai Speaks, VIII; 66.
No man desires anything so eagerly as God desires to bring men to
the knowledge of Himself. God is always ready, but we are very unready. God is near us,
but we are far from Him. God is within, and we are without. God is friendly -- we are
estranged. ~ Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?)
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SERVICE TO OTHERS:
"When I am
hungry, give me someone that I can feed. And when I am thirsty, give me someone who needs
a drink. When I'm cold, give me someone to keep warm. And when I grieve, give me someone
to console." - Mother Teresa
I recommend some items of service, like nursing the sick. Visit
patients in the hospitals, read nice storybooks sitting beside the patients, write letters
for them, and generally be kind and friendly to them in their loneliness and pain. Go to
the slum areas, move like lighted lamps full of love and sympathy, and help the people
there get things done which will improve their health, add to their income and advance
their education.~ Baba
Men may have superabundance of food, clothing and housing; but their
hearts may be dry and their spirits glooming. Sense-control, self-confidence, contentment,
absence of hatred and greed are far more precious possessions than land, money or houses.
No effort is made today to give lessons of this discipline in the educational
institutions. It is wrong to lay the blame on want of time. You are the obstructor, not
the time. The monkey that cannot pull out its clenched fist from the narrow neck of the
pot blames the pot or the maker of the pot. But if only it releases the hold on the
peanuts it has caught in that fist, it can easily take its hand out. The fault lies in
itself. So too, man's greed is the reason for this want of time. That is why I often refer
to it as the monkey mind. ~ Baba
Before performing any action, you must investigate whether it is
right or wrong. At that stage, sometimes an evil force enters. It is Jealousy. It clouds
your vision and its companion is Ego. This ego is perpetually seeking to dominate the body
and the mind. These two evil elements are always trying to establish themselves,
particularly in the minds of the youth. Jealousy has no reason or season.~ Baba
Let no one be like another, yet everyone like the highest. How is
this done? Be each one perfect in himself. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
When I do not know who I am, I serve you. When I
know who I am, I am you.
~ Indian proverb
It is best that you impress upon yourself the need for the basic
step on this Mahasivarathri, for this Rathri (night) is the night that has to usher in the
dawn of realization. On this Mahasivarathri, you have to impress on your consciousness
that Nature is alive, since God is life. Nature is but a reflection of God. He lends the
colour of order, purpose and activity to inert Nature. Without the motivator, Nature is
helpless and powerless. Appearance is but a reflection of Reality; Iswara is but a
reflection of Brahmam, the Intelligence behind the Awareness of all. Sivarathri inspires
us to learn this basic Truth and shape our lives in the light of that
illumination.~ Baba
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the
strong. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
There is a thief that lurks in the inner consciousness of man,
always planning to rob him of the Gems of Wisdom, that is desire(kama). When man is able
to fulfil his desire, the accomplice of desire, greed (lobha) steps out and encourages us
to desire some more objects. When what man wants is not gained, another accomplice anger
(krodha) steps out and prods us to hate and blame those whom we suspect
were the cause of our failure. One attack of anger exhausts after three
months of health. Man should conquer anger by means of fortitude and
conquer hatred by means of love.
Do not feed anger with retaliation and do not feed hatred with fury.~ Baba
Carry on your legitimate duties, discharge your obligation, but do
not allow attachment to grow. Discriminate before you develop attachment. If you have
attachment towards wife and children, land and buildings, bank accounts and balances, when
these decline you will come to grief. Develop attachment towards the Universal, and you
too, will grow in love and splendour. Cultivate love, not delusion. Love your wife and
children and do your duty towards them as a husband and a father. But always hold on to
true values. Do not lose your sense of proportion.~ Baba
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SOUL:
The Atma (Soul) is unaffected by any
subject or object. Even if the senses, mind, intelligence are inactive,
that will not affect the Atma. They have nothing to do with the Atma,
which you really are. To know the Atma as such an entity, unaffected and
unattached is the secret of Jnana (Wisdom). Man is fundamentally happy and
healthy. His nature is joy. So when he is happy and healthy, no one is
surprised or worried. But, grief and sorrow are strange to his make-up.
They are the result of a delusion that has overwhelmed his nature. So
people get worried and set about finding out how he got so deluded. ~ Baba
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SPIRITUALITY:
The distressed, the poverty stricken and those who suffer have no one to
serve them. Go to such people and be their friend, their kith and kin and
their closest well wishers. Give them God in the form of food. Give them
God in the form of clothes. Give God in the form of peace to those who are
afflicted by anxiety. Give God in the form of medicine to those who are
suffering from ill-health. Give God in whatever form that assuages fear,
pain and sorrow. It is only after this is done that spirituality can soak
into the heart. If you act contrariwise, instead of spiritual feelings,
you will be promoting atheism.
~ Baba
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STUDENTS OF LIFE: The end of
wisdom is freedom. The end of culture is perfection. The end of knowledge is love. The end
of education is character. There is a desire on the part of all of us to acquire these
four qualities, namely wisdom, culture, education and reach their ends, namely freedom,
perfection, love and character. But students should realize that if these qualities are
not properly utilized, then they cannot call themselves students. As students and future
citizens of this country, you have the responsibility for shaping the future of this
country. Put your hearts in the right path by listening attentively to the more
experienced men.~ Baba
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SUCCESS:
Rely on the Lord
within and discover inexhaustible reinforcements of courage within each heart. The final
victory is for those who have faith in the invincible atma (one's inner divinity, soul),
their reality. Whoever has the enthusiasm, the steadfastness and the determination to
reach the goal will certainly succeed. Cultivate that faith in ultimate success. Never
despair or fault or doubt. That is my advice to one and all.~ Baba
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THE TONGUE:
"The reason a dog has so many friends is
that he wags his tail instead of his tongue." -Anonymous
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UNITY:
Though the world has become a
very small globe as a result of fast means of communication and transport, man has not yet
learnt the art of living together in close proximity as brothers and as children of the
One God. The closer men are brought, the larger the differences that appear. Thus, the
little World is now riddled with problems of conflicting cultures, competing creeds and
contesting ambitions. The sorrows of one State spread fast into all its neighbours and
inflict on the whole world. The world has become one vast battlefield.~ Baba
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VANITY - ENVY - EGOISM:
The worst
enemy of man is his ego. Many have been able to overcome the six
weaknesses: anger, pride, lust, greed, hatred and attachment, but rare
indeed is the hero who has demolished his ego, which has jealousy as the
companion trying to dominate the mind continuously. More than ordinary
men, the scholars, sages, teachers and even devout spiritual aspirants are
victims of ego. It is their ego that makes them declare that they are
nearest to God and the most enlightened. The ego brings wave after wave of
wants and wishes. When egoism enters man, envy follows fast. Sorrow is the
shadow that haunts the ego.~ Baba
You have no reason to feel proud when you are able to help another, for your skill,
wealth, strength, courage or official position that gave you the chance to serve was the
gift of God, whether you recognize it or not. You are only offering this God's gift to
another God's gift, namely the poor, the illiterate, the weak, the diseased, the grieving,
the broken-hearted, who seek your help.~ Baba
The truth can flash only in a
mind clear of all blemishes. The first blemish that I would like to warn you against is
the inability to bear the success of others. Envy is the greatest sin. Vanity, envy and
egoism, these three are akin. They cut at the root of man's real nature. To feel proud
that you are a bhaktha (path of devotion) is also a blot. Though you may be a mountain,
you must feel you are a mound; though a mound you should not pretend to be a mountain.
~ Baba
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