1.At the gates of liberation (moksha) and self-realisation (sakshathkara), three guards are posted to ask you for your credentials. They are: peace or mental equilibrium, Joy or contentment, and enquiry or discrimination (santhi, santhosha, and vichara). Even if one of the guards is made friends with, the others too will facilitate your entry. First in the series is peace. If you make peace yours, contentment (thrupthi) will automatically become yours! Contentment is the true source of joy and the most valuable of all possessions, in the absence of which desire and greed attain dangerous proportions, overwhelming the power of discrimination itself. Desire easily becomes greed which then degenerates into miserliness and lust. These will makes you flit from object to object in mad pursuit of the evanescent sensual joy. Hence advise your min d to flow in the direction of the Lord, instead of dragging you along the floods of objects and sensual desires. Giving up all other desires and being ever content, dwell on the Lord’s name and form alone.
2.Joy and grief are as day and night; they have to be put up with and gone through. They will neither appear nor disappear at your will! Both are related to the physical or the material - the body, and they do not affect the soul. You are liberated the moment you transcend joy and grief. What is there to grieve in life? Did you grieve when your body underwent changes? The child disappears in the boy, the boy in the youth, the youth is lost in the middle-aged man who in turn is lost in the old man. You never weep over these changes that affect the body, why then, when the body is lost in death. Whatever changes your body may suffer, the Atma remains immortal. Being established unshakably in this knowledge is the sign of the wise, the Jnani.
3.Remember that contentment will not make one an idler. It is an attribute of true pure (sathwic) character. It will make the mind turn always towards the Lord. It will save you from the tribulations that one goes through to satisfy unimportant wants and to cater to selfish needs. It will direct human talents towards efforts that elevate. The contented person will also be truthful and will therefore be in constant communion with the Atma. That is to say, such a person can be immersed in meditation for long periods without needing rest or feeling fatigued. Contentment is the royal road to meditation.
4.See the Lord in every being; be aware of Him every moment of existence and be immersed in the Ananda (bliss) of this awareness. Merged in the relationship born out of profound devotion to Him, surrender your wish and will to act; the attitude, the activity and the fruit of the action as well - offer to the Lord everything from beginning to the end. That is, perform all actions in a spirit of worshipful non-attachment. This is what the Lord seeks from each and every devotee. Of course, such complete surrender is not easy. But if you make the slightest effort towards it, the Lord Himself will confer the courage to pursue it to the end. He will walk with and help you as a friend and guide; He will guard you from evil and temptations; He will be your staff and support.
5.Just as fish can live only when it is immersed in water, so too man is an animal that can live well only when immersed in bliss (ananda). One must have ananda not only at home and society but more importantly, in the heart as well. In fact the ananda in the heart spreads joy all around. The heart is the spring of bliss which has to be charged by constant meditation, recitation and the intermittent dwelling on the glory, the grace and the manifestations of the Lord (smarana, chethana and manana). Without giving way to doubt or despair, hold fast to the goal and never turn back. The one devoted to God knows no failure. The name of the Lord, if taken sincerely will help you overcome all obstacles. When the Saviour is by your side, why doubt whether you will be saved?
Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba
2.Joy and grief are as day and night; they have to be put up with and gone through. They will neither appear nor disappear at your will! Both are related to the physical or the material - the body, and they do not affect the soul. You are liberated the moment you transcend joy and grief. What is there to grieve in life? Did you grieve when your body underwent changes? The child disappears in the boy, the boy in the youth, the youth is lost in the middle-aged man who in turn is lost in the old man. You never weep over these changes that affect the body, why then, when the body is lost in death. Whatever changes your body may suffer, the Atma remains immortal. Being established unshakably in this knowledge is the sign of the wise, the Jnani.
3.Remember that contentment will not make one an idler. It is an attribute of true pure (sathwic) character. It will make the mind turn always towards the Lord. It will save you from the tribulations that one goes through to satisfy unimportant wants and to cater to selfish needs. It will direct human talents towards efforts that elevate. The contented person will also be truthful and will therefore be in constant communion with the Atma. That is to say, such a person can be immersed in meditation for long periods without needing rest or feeling fatigued. Contentment is the royal road to meditation.
4.See the Lord in every being; be aware of Him every moment of existence and be immersed in the Ananda (bliss) of this awareness. Merged in the relationship born out of profound devotion to Him, surrender your wish and will to act; the attitude, the activity and the fruit of the action as well - offer to the Lord everything from beginning to the end. That is, perform all actions in a spirit of worshipful non-attachment. This is what the Lord seeks from each and every devotee. Of course, such complete surrender is not easy. But if you make the slightest effort towards it, the Lord Himself will confer the courage to pursue it to the end. He will walk with and help you as a friend and guide; He will guard you from evil and temptations; He will be your staff and support.
5.Just as fish can live only when it is immersed in water, so too man is an animal that can live well only when immersed in bliss (ananda). One must have ananda not only at home and society but more importantly, in the heart as well. In fact the ananda in the heart spreads joy all around. The heart is the spring of bliss which has to be charged by constant meditation, recitation and the intermittent dwelling on the glory, the grace and the manifestations of the Lord (smarana, chethana and manana). Without giving way to doubt or despair, hold fast to the goal and never turn back. The one devoted to God knows no failure. The name of the Lord, if taken sincerely will help you overcome all obstacles. When the Saviour is by your side, why doubt whether you will be saved?
Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba
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