Thought for the Day

Action must not be felt as a burden. No action which helps your progress will weigh heavily on you. It is only when you go counter to your innermost nature, that you feel it as a burden. If you focus only on the worldly gains, a time will come when you look back on your achievements and will yourself sigh at the futility of it. Entrust your mind the task of serving your Lord, before it is too late. Let Him shape it as He likes, and your mind will be tamed. You don’t have to hand over to the goldsmith an ornament that is quite beautiful. You give him broken and dented ones, or those that have gone out of fashion! So too willingly give the Lord your mind that certainly needs repair, if not complete reconstruction!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Education is the rot of the tree of line

The root of education fulfills itself in the fruit of virtue. Earning a fat salary is not the chief thing one should expect from education. The goal should be the cultivation of virtues. Education is the root of the tree of life. The affection which the individual develops towards kith and kin, the objects of the world, the ideals and the goals, the fancies and fashions - these form the branches and twigs. The blossoms which the tree produces are the intelligence and its manifestations. These flower blossoms yield the fruit of joy (anandam). The sweetness this fruit confers is character. The essence of character is virtue. It is in virtue that the tree of life justifies itself.

Bagavan SRi SRi Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

People are blinded by the objective world and they believe that world to be real, meaningful and worthy of pursuit. The cataract grows in the eye and robs it of its efficiency. Ignorance is the cataract of the inner eye. It hides the true vision and blinds the intellect such that one cannot see that Divinity is their real nature. Ignorance misleads you and makes you believe that you are an ordinary human (manava), when in reality you are God (Madhava). Of what use is the eye, when the vision is not correct? You have focussed too long on riches, status, children, relatives, fame and standard of living. All of these are of minor interest and momentary value. Fix your urge on the Truth, Eternal, the Real, the Pure and Immovable (Nithya, Sathya, Nirmala and Nischala) - the Divinity present within you and around you.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Believe in your experience; confidently accept whatever has given you peace and joy. This is the basis for faith. Also, gather wisdom from wherever you can acquire it. Listen to the good things that teachers of different denominations elaborate upon. Weigh in your own mind, against your own experience, the teachings you have heard. Listening (Shravanam) should be followed and confirmed by Reflection (Mananam). You must think through the background, implications, reservations, and limitations of what you have been told. Then comes Nididhyaasana - you should meditate on the truth that you have painstakingly garnered over the years and plant this wisdom deep down in your consciousness and let it become part of yourself.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Many often believe and state in the spirit of surrender: “I offer to You my body, my mind, my possessions, my all." This is incorrect and is a sign of ignorance. It concedes that you and God are distinct entities. God is not separate from you, for God is in all, everywhere, at all times. (Ishwarassarva-bhoothaanaam). How then can you or God be apart? To see God in everything, everywhere, at all times, is true surrender (Sharanaagathi). Repetition of mantras (holy formulae) and platform speeches on holy texts alone is not true devotion. The real devotee is one whose deeds are in accordance with the words of advice they utter. Devotion cannot tolerate in a devotee, the slightest trace of envy or jealousy. Make your daily life holy and pure. Render your life worth-while through service to man and service to society. That is the most important aspect of surrendering the self.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Your heart is the ceremonial altar; your body is the fire place; your hair is the holy grass, darbha; wishes are the fuel-sticks with which the fire is fed; desire is the ghee that is poured into the fire to make it burst into flame; anger is the sacrificial animal; the fire is the tapas you accomplish. People sometimes interpret tapas as ascetic practices like standing on one leg, and so on. No, tapas is not physical contortion. It is the complete and correct coordination of thought, word and deed. When all words emanating from you are sweet, your breath becomes Rig Veda. When you restrict what you listen to and prefer only sweet speech, all that you hear becomes Saama gaana. When you do only sweet deeds, all that you do is Yajur homa. Thus, you will be performing every day the Vedhapurusha Yajna, the yajna which propitiates the Supreme Vedic Being.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

The term Yajna means ‘any activity dedicated to the glory of God’. Such activity can be done in all climes, in all realms, and by all races. The key to success is ‘Dedication’. Without it, there will inevitably arise anxiety, fear and faction. Every activity in the world is directed unto God, whether you know it or not. If God is not the inspirer and motivator, how can the Universe be moving in harmony, wheeling so smoothly, without chaos and anarchy? Those who are aware of this fact and accept it, experience thrill and joy in witnessing it! Anyone who lives in the constant presence of God and does all acts dedicated to God is continuously engaged in Yajna. 

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

You must welcome tests because it gives you confidence and it ensures promotion.

Obstacles that come in the way are often treated with a certain amount of resentment by the pilgrims on the spiritual path. But these tests are to be treated as a means of ensuring safety. You drive a nail into the wall to place a picture thereon; but before hanging the photo, you try to see whether the nail has been well driven by shaking it; when you are certain it does not move a bit even when all your strength is used, you have the confidence to hang the picture on it. You must welcome tests because it gives you confidence and it ensures promotion.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai baba

Thought for the Day

All water is not potable. The stagnant pool is to be avoided, the flowing river is better. Select safe and pure water to drink. Use the mosquito net, but see that mosquitoes do not enter into the net, when you go to bed. Keep the mosquitoes away; do not imprison them inside the net. Sail in the boat that floats on water, but do not allow the water to enter the boat. So too, be in worldly life, but do not allow it to get into you. The lotus born in slime and mud rises up through water and lifts its head high above the water. It refuses to get wet though water is the element which gives it life. Be like the lotus.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Cleanse the heart with the water of love and the detergents of prayer and contrition, so that the stains of desire will be removed. Then God will pour His Grace into it. If you yearn for God, you should give up attachment to the external world and to the body (Loka bhranthi and Deha bhranthi). There is no use trying to put one foot in one boat and another in a different boat. You may have been a spiritual aspirant for 20 or 25 years, but if you worry more about physical needs and comforts than meditation and spiritual progress, then the years of practice is of no value, as there has been no progress. The waving of the camphor flame (aarti) at the end of the prayer or bhajan session is to remind you that your sensual cravings must be burnt away without leaving any trace behind. You must offer yourself completely to God, to be merged in His Glory.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

A merchant was once brought before a magistrate for selling adulterated ghee (clarified butter). Judgment was pronounced and as a punishment he was asked to either consume the entire quantity of the foul ghee or receive 20 whips or pay a fine of 100 gold coins. He preferred the ghee and started drinking the stuff a little bit, but finding the smell unbearable, he then chose the stripes. He received a few but could not stand any more. So finally he pleaded with the magistrate to let him go with the fine and paid his dues. If only he had opted for this initially, he could have avoided the foul drink and the excruciating pain. By swaying in his decision, he had to taste the wreck and the rod. So too, most people do not opt for God in the beginning when grief overpowers them. They do not recognize the inevitability but eventually come to God, sooner or later. Make your choices wisely.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Like the silkworm that spins from out of itself the cocoon that proves to be its tomb, man spins from out of his mind the cage in which he gets trapped eventually. But there is a way of escape, which the spiritual teacher (Guru) can teach you or which the God in you will reveal to you. Take to the spiritual practices that will bring you relief. Forget the past; do not worry about possible errors or disappointments. Decide and Do. Substitute good thoughts for the bad and cleanse the mind of all evil by dwelling on righteous deeds and holy thoughts. Forget the things you do not want to remember and bring to memory only those things that are worth remembering. Take on the role of the Hero from now on, not the Zero. This is a sure way to achieve spiritual progress.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Meditate upon the flute of Krishna and the melody it aroused in the veins of mankind, animals, birds, plants and even hills, rivers and rocks on sand dunes. Dwell also on the supreme love of the Gopis, their surrender of everything, gross and subtle, of ego and egoistic attachment at the feet of the Supreme Being. They spoke no word except prayer, they moved no step, except towards God, they saw and heard only Krishna in every being, they spoke every word of Him, to Him, no matter who was present with them. Lord Krishna filled their hearts and transmuted them into the most self-effacing group of devotees the world has ever seen. And know that the Lord’s assurance, "Yogakshemam Vahaamyaham" (I shall take care of the well being of My devotees) is no empty declaration; it is the vow of the Lord, and He is the very embodiment of Truth.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

If only the agony and toil now being experienced by you to accumulate the symbols of wealth and power for keeping yourself and your family in comfort, are directed towards God, you can be infinitely happier. The veil of maya (illusion), however, hides from you the face of God which is shining from every being and thing around you. Maya creates the universe and attracts the mind with the vast paraphernalia of the objective world. It is a narthaki, an enchantress who entices the intelligence and traps the senses. This na-rtha-ki can be subdued by ki-rtha-na (note the re-ordering of the syllables). Kirthana is the concentrated contemplation of the glory of God.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Do not give ear to what others say

A small lump of steel can become a beautiful and efficient watch through the application of intelligence and skill. Can not a human being be transformed into one who has realised the Ultimate through the application of the tools of discrimination and detachment? Have faith in yourself, your own capacity to adhere to a strict time-table of sadhana, your own ability to reach the goal of realisation. When you have no faith in the wave, how can you get faith in the ocean? Do not give ear to what others say. Believe your experience; what gives you peace and joy, the bliss of Aatma anandham - the joy of the Inner Self. Believe in that. That is the real basis for faith.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Install a door in your mind

Be thankful to the Lord, for He gave you Time, as well as action 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 action indiscriminately. When you build a house, you install a door in it, don’t you? What is the purpose of the door? It has dual objectives - to welcome all you would like to offer hospitality to, and to keep out all and sundry, so that they cannot walk in whenever they like. So too, install a door in your mind. Select the impulses, the motives, and the incentives that appear in your mind and welcome them in. Keep out the demeaning, the debasing and the deleterious. Then, gradually you will be able to admit and experience the highest wisdom of the scriptures, the wisdom culled out of the crucible of experience (anubhava jnananam).

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Make your efforts towards your goal

The best among men is one who has compassion; the most blessed time is the 'present', this very second, and the best act is to relieve the pain and grief of others. You decide to start Naamasmarana (remembrance of the Divine Name) ‘next Thursday’, as if death has assured you in writing that he will not call on you till that date. Do not postpone what you can do today or do now, this very moment. Make your efforts towards your goal. The goal will near you faster than the pace with which you near the goal. God is as eager to save you as you are eager to be saved. He is Love, He is Compassion for all who flounder on the path. God grants the desires of each one of His devotees, and hence has won the name, Bhaktha Abheeshta Pradha.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

When you feed the cow with fermented gruel so that it may yield more milk, the milk emits an unpleasant smell. When you engross yourself too much with the trifles of the world, your character and conduct will also become unpleasant. It would indeed be tragic to witness the downfall of a ‘child of immortality’, struggling in despair and distress. If only you were to ask yourself: “What are my qualifications? What is my position? What are the opportunities I am bestowed with?” Then you will soon realize your own downfall and make efforts to recover. Will a tiger, however hungry eat popcorn or peanuts? Stay focussed on the goal worthy of your lineage. Never slacken the effort, whatever be the obstacle, however long the journey. Keep your efforts on, in line with the dignity of your noble goals.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

You have to become Divine, the Divinity from which you have arrived. So lessen your attachment to the world, not by cutting yourself off from the world, but by being in it, as an instrument in His hands. To realize the omnipotent Divine within you, recognize your kinship with the Universe. Keep your body fit, light and bright. Don’t add to it the burden of attachment to this and that. Subdue the heads of all the tendencies within you that lead you to egoism. Have single-minded attention to the dictates of God and practice right-conduct. Edison, the great scientist concentrated so much on the solution of the problems that worried him that at times, he left food untouched for days on end, when they were pushed through the doors of his lab. You must have that same concentration and earnestness, when engaged in spiritual practices.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

God incarnates to foster spiritual aspirants (sadhus), it is said. The term sadhus does not refer to just those renunciants who dwell in forests. Sadhu is the virtuous person who forms the inner reality in each one of you. Every being is a sadhu, for all mankind is an embodiment of love, peace and bliss. By allowing the crust of ego to grow thick and fast, your real nature is tarnished. By the action of sathsang (the company of the noble and pious), and systematic attention to self-control and self-improvement, you can overcome the delusion that makes you identify with the body, its needs and cravings.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

If your thoughts are centred around the body, you will have worries of pains and illnesses, real or imaginary. If they are centred on riches, you will be worried about profit and loss, tax and exemptions. If they roam round fame, then, you are bound to suffer from the ups and downs of scandal, calumny and jealousy. So let them centre round the seat of power and love which deserve willing submission - the Name of the Lord. Let your whole being surrender to it. Then you will be happy forever. For the sages of the Vedic culture, the Name of the Lord was the very breath; they lived on the sustenance, which contemplation of the Lord’s glory provided. God is the very embodiment of Love. He can be won only through Love.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

The body is but a boat, an instrument for crossing the sea of births and deaths, that you have earned through the merits of many generations. Crossing the sea is to realise the Dweller, in the Dwelling. The purpose of the body (deha) is to realize the Indweller (Dehi). So even when the body is strong and skilled, the intellect is sharp and the mind alert, every effort must be made to seek the Indweller. So keep your body fit, strong and free from trouble. Just as the boat should be seaworthy, your body too should be fit for its purpose. You must take good care of it.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

When worship is rendered with a view to fulfill desires and realize wishes, the precious prize will be lost. Worship must cleanse the heart, so that God, the Indweller, may shine in all His glory. Know that desires tarnish the heart, instead of cleansing it. Invite a prince, who is yet a child to sit on the throne – he will start weeping, for he cannot play on the throne with his toys and pets. The adults would sneer at the boy’s fondness for toys, they would call it childishness. So too, all those, who keep away from the throne of ‘Sovereignty over themselves’ and prefer to play with the toys and pets of material things are equally childish, no matter what their age or status is!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Virtues alone can endow love and sympathy, peace and joy for one and all

The tree of life can yield the fruit of bliss only when it is watered with virtue and fed on faith. Provision of food, clothing, and shelter will not ensure peace and joy; they can come only through virtue and faith. Virtue alone can endow love and sympathy. We are now putting the cart (the body) before the horse (mind) and providing for the safety and strength of the cart alone. The horse (mind) is allowed to grow wild or is starved. Harmony at home and in society can be brought about only through the recognition of the Oneness of All. Virtues alone can endow love and sympathy, peace and joy for one and all.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Repeating the Name of God saved Prahladha from the agony of torture. He learnt the Sacred Name and understood its sweetness. He chanted it constantly and internalized its nectarine taste. When the enraged elephant rushed towards him, he did not call out for his physical parents to rescue him; he instantaneously cried out "Narayana". The Lord is the source of strength for the weak and the strong; He is the Supreme Power. When Prahladha took the Name of the Lord, enraged elephants backed out, no fire could touch him and no poison could affect him. The Lord’s Name was his armour, his shield, his breath, infact his very life. For chanting the Divine Name, no expense is involved, no materials are needed, no special place or time is required. Scholarship, caste or creed does not matter. When a piece of iron is rubbed on a slab of stone, heat is generated. So too, in order to generate sufficient heat to melt the soft heart of the Lord, repeat the Divine Name vigorously and constantly. Then, the Lord will shower His Grace.

BAGVAN SRI SRI SRI SATHYA SAI BABA

Thought for the Day

In the firmament of the heart, the intellect (sun) and the mind (moon) revolve on their regular courses. If envy, greed, hate or malice dim the glory, they are to be dismissed as passing clouds that cannot affect the sources of light. The more you reason out things, the clearer will become the reality. Reasoning power will never hinder the discovery of the Truth; only you have to go as far as reason can take you; then you can see the vast vistas beyond. Man has been endowed with enormous, immeasurable talents, skills and power; but is using all that to journey towards the moon, instead of journeying towards the wonderland of one’s own inner realms, where one can come face to face with God who is the inner Reality of this entire phenomenal world.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

A glowing electric lamp can be compared to Prema (Love). For the lamp of love to burn, there should be a bulb, which is Shanthi (peace). The electric wire connected to the bulb is Dharma (Right Conduct). The current flowing into the wire is Sathya (Truth). Thus, the lamp of love glows and sheds its light, using all other human values. Sathya, Dharma, Shanthi and Prema constitute a single whole and not separate values. All the four values have to be adhered to equally. Prema must express itself in professional life too. Develop the feeling that all in your place of work - managers, workers and others are members of one family. Develop fraternal feelings towards all. With mutual love and regard, harmony can be achieved even in one’s profession.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

You see and hear certain things during the day. But when you go to bed and dream during sleep, you are not aware of all this; you see and experience a new set of events, which seem as real, as impressive, and as significant as those you witnessed when awake. And when in deep sleep, nothing ‘is’, except probably the inner consciousness that you are. When you dream, the dream is real; when awake, the waking experience is as real as the dream was. The fact is, it is all a dream, a creation of the mind when the Atma (the true self) is reflected on it. Remove that mind, then there will be nothing on which the Atma reflects. The Atma shall then shine in its own splendour. Jnana (Wisdom) is passing from the dream stage to the waking stage, and realising the dream to be unreal. Seek the springs of bliss within you and happiness will be your lot, here and for ever. Believe that the bliss within you is derived from God who is your Reality.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba