Thought for the Day

The years of life allotted to a human is very short; the world in which you live is very wide; time extends far behind and far beyond. Whatever little you must do, do it quickly, at the place and time assigned to you. You must carry out the duties of your role in a worshipful attitude. A garland does not arise of a single flower; many flowers of different hues and fragrances are strung around the string to achieve the common goal of decorating the Lord. Similarly, physical strength, monetary resources and the intelligence of all must be blended and pooled to make a project succeed. Life has been bestowed not for just eating and digesting, roaming and reclining; but for a far greater purpose - the realisation of the Divinity in us, and in all that exist around us as well as in all things that are beyond our senses. To waste such a life in vain pursuits, and in mere sense-pleasures is not the sign of an intelligent person. Deserve the Grace of God by helping the weak and poor, diseased and the disabled, the distressed and downtrodden.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Dear students, teachers and lovers of education, for the accomplishment of any aims in life you need an unflinching mind, tireless endeavour and unshakable determination. Young boys and girls must cultivate these qualities to ensure for themselves a bright future and an honourable and worthy career. To face different situations in life, students must learn to practice equanimity and amiability. Equal-mindedness and a sense of oneness with all is the mark of a true human being. All of you have social responsibility. The world indeed is one human family and you should experience this oneness. Sports and games enable students to develop this feeling of oneness. Sports, games and physical exercise contribute directly to physical fitness and good health. But you are not merely the gross body alone. You have the subtle element, the mind in you. It is only when you achieve purity of mind and develop unselfishness that you can acquire peace of mind and experience genuine happiness.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

‘Gita Govindam’, a book of songs on Govinda by the great poet Jayadeva of Odisha, is an immortal portrayal of Radha Bhakti (the love the devotee Radha had for Lord Krishna) in its manifold manifestations. Jayadeva expressed it with such charm and clarity that even the man behind the plough sang those songs and filled his heart with divine delight. King Lakshmana Sena, was stricken with envy at this and prepared a parallel book of songs and ordered that they be sung, instead of Jayadeva's outpourings, in all the temples in Odisha, including the Jagannath Temple at Puri. When his order was receded with universal protest, the king laid both the books at Lord’s Feet, locked the shrine and kept it under strict vigilance. When the doors were opened in the morning, the king saw the Lord having Jayadeva's Gita Govindam in His hand, while his rival book written out of envy and pride was thrown away. The Lord had announced that He showers Grace on inner purity, not outer pomp.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathaya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Devotion helps you attain the bliss of merging with God most easily by channelising towards Him the mental agitations, the sensory and emotional urges. The various modes of worshipping the Lord in temples depict this concept. You will find various ceremonies, from ‘awakening of God’ in the early dawn to ‘putting the Lord in bed’ late at night. These ceremonies are intended to heighten and promote the devotional trends of the wavering mind. Each incident helps sublimation of the appropriate emotion, in a peculiarly charming manner. In the sublimity of that experience, the agitation of lower emotions decline and disappear. The mundane and vulgar feelings of ordinary life become elevated to the status of worship and dedication to the Almighty Presence. The Lord evokes in you the emotion you associate with Him. When the Lord is conceived as the Most Loved One, as Jayadeva, Thukaram, Surdas, Radha, and Meera conceived Him, He manifests Himself as the nearest and the dearest and showers bliss!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

You are referring to the gift of food as Anna-dana. But no one has the authority to give in charity what has been given by God or be proud of it or even to feel that they have given something in charity. God gave rains, fostered the sapling and ripened the grain; what right have you to call it yours and give it in charity? It is not dana (charity) that you do; you are only offering gratitude to God! You are sanctifying the grain you have harvested by offering the food prepared out of it to Gods in human form (Narayanas)! So call it Narayana Seva! That will be more correct. Each one of you is a limb in the body called the Universe. Do your work without a murmur; work in full cooperation with all. The Universe will be healthy and happy only then. Love and love alone can bind you to others and to God, who is the very embodiment of love.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Think deeply over the functions of a place of worship, say, the temple. Temples are centres of discipline, where the aspirant is guided step by step to attain a vision of the Truth. They are schools for the training of the spirit, academies for the promotion of scriptural studies, institutes of super-science, and laboratories for the testing of the values of life. They are hospitals for the treatment and cure not only of the ‘birth-death disease’, which has persisted in the individual for ages, but even the much more potent mental disorders that trouble those who do not know the secret of acquiring peace. Temples are gymnasia where people are reconditioned and their hesitant faith, waning conviction, and upsurging egotism are all cured. Temples are mirrors that reflect aesthetic standards and achievements. The purpose of the temple is to awaken the divinity in humanity, and to induce people to believe that the physical frames in which they live are themselves houses of God.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Every bird, animal, tree, mountain and star, each tiny worm, has a lesson for you, if you have but the will and the thirst to learn. These make the world a veritable University for you; it is a Gurukul where you are a pupil from birth to death. For example, the tree can teach you forbearance and tolerance. It offers shade to all, irrespective of age, gender, religion, nationality or economic status. It helps with fruit and shade to even the foe who lays his axe on its trunk! The sea rolls and surges in great joy on a full moon; it only knows the fullness of happy contentment. The Sun may lift clouds of vapour from it; the Sea does not whimper. Rain may fill its coffers with the rich riverine tribute; it does not exult. It teaches you equanimity. Watch the waves rolling one behind the other towards the shore bringing bits of flotsam and jetsam, bottles and twigs, to be deposited on land. There is a constant struggle, a laudable Sadhana, to maintain itself clean - which you can well adopt.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

The Lord who is Prema Swarupa (Divine Love personified) will grant you all that you need despite your not asking for anything. He knows; He is the Mother who does not wait to hear the moan of the child to feed it. His love is so vast and deep; He anticipates every need and rushes to help you. You are always praying anxiously and placing before Me the long lists of wishes you have. These wishes go on multiplying endlessly. The fulfilment of one leads to a new series. Strive to arrive at the stage when His wish alone will count and you are an instrument in His Hands. Gopis desired to listen only to Krishna's glory, Krishna's charm, Krishna's words, Krishna's pranks, plays, pastimes, and Krishna's achievements and attainments. When you fill yourselves with love for Krishna, you achieve sarupyaand sayujya (likeness of form and absorption into Krishna). Strive for that consummation, not for lesser victories. 

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

The culture of Bharat has laid great stress on the teaching, Matrudevo bhava (revere the mother as God) and Pitrudevo bhava (revere the father as God). Aren’t there many great people in the state of West Bengal? Aren’t there many who are rich and educated? But they could not succeed in life due to lack of faith in God. It was only Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who could lead an ideal life by loving his mother and obeying her commands, due to his implicit faith and devotion to his mother. He taught people that there is nothing greater and nobler in this world than mother’s love. You take the history of any great person in this world; they owe their greatness to their mother. The mother is God, verily. It is, therefore, not proper to hurt the feelings of a mother who is the embodiment of love. It is only when we develop love towards our mother that our life will become happy and prosperous.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Your body is mortal, but life principle (Atma) is imperishable. To attain immortality, have unconditional love for God. Imagine you going to a goldsmith and asking him to make a jewelry of your choice. Your job is only to entrust gold with him with the condition that the weight and design should be to your specification. You must not interfere in how he converts your gold into the jewellery you want. If you stipulate conditions that he should not burn it in fire, or beat it with a hammer, how can you get the ornament that you ordered? Similarly, if you surrender your heart to God with conditions and reservations, how can you attain bliss? What He does with you is His business. Pray to God with unconditional surrender. When all that you possess — your body, mind and intellect are His gifts, where is the need for you to lay conditions? Surrender completely, God will grant you the bliss you deserve!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

People desire fruits of good actions, without doing good actions! You wish to be saved from the consequences of evil deeds, but, ask yourself, do you refrain from bad actions? You feel happy when someone gives you something. But do you feel equally happy in giving to others? As you sow, so shall you reap, is a relentless law! No one can escape from the consequences of their actions, whether good or bad. To enjoy enduring happiness, you must fill your mind with pure thoughts and entertain fine feelings in your heart. Through good thoughts and good kindly actions, the heart gets pure and holy. In the journey of life, body is like a cart and heart is like a horse. Unless you feed the heart well, the journey cannot proceed properly. The heart must be fed with good fodder in the form of Satsang(good company), Sat Pravartana (good conduct) and good thoughts. Submit everything as an offering to God!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

People desire fruits of good actions, without doing good actions! You wish to be saved from the consequences of evil deeds, but, ask yourself, do you refrain from bad actions? You feel happy when someone gives you something. But do you feel equally happy in giving to others? As you sow, so shall you reap, is a relentless law! No one can escape from the consequences of their actions, whether good or bad. To enjoy enduring happiness, you must fill your mind with pure thoughts and entertain fine feelings in your heart. Through good thoughts and good kindly actions, the heart gets pure and holy. In the journey of life, body is like a cart and heart is like a horse. Unless you feed the heart well, the journey cannot proceed properly. The heart must be fed with good fodder in the form of Satsang(good company), Sat Pravartana (good conduct) and good thoughts. Submit everything as an offering to God!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Your destiny is determined by your own actions. Through righteous actions, the mind is purified and a pure mind results in an awakening of jnana (spiritual wisdom). When you offer worship to God in the morning, you must offer your obeisance to whatever work you propose to do. You must pray to the presiding deity of Karma (action): "Let me do today only pure, purposeful and helpful actions." The circumstances of your birth are a result of past actions. Action (Karma), Birth (Janma), Righteousness (Dharma) and the secret of life (Marma) are all connected with Divinity (Brahman). They are like the four walls of a building. The first wall is Karma (action). One should not act as his fancies dictate. Before doing anything, you should consider whether it is proper or improper. Nothing should be done in haste on the impulse of the moment. Only then your actions will be sathwik and free from rajasic and tamasic stains.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

To the extent possible, serve society. Of course, you need to take up jobs and earn your livelihood. But do not be avaricious. Be satisfied with what you get. Everyone has to leave this world empty-handed. Alexander conquered many kingdoms and seized a lot of wealth. When his end approached, he realised that he could not take even a single penny with him. He requested his minister to keep his two hands raised above the head during the final journey so that the people would understand that even the mighty emperor Alexander had to leave the world taking nothing with him. Likewise, even a millionaire has to partake of only food; he cannot eat gold. So, be satisfied with the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter. Do your jobs properly and undertake service activities in your leisure time. The best way to love God is to love all and serve all.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

In all worldly activities, be careful not to offend propriety or the canons of good nature; do not play false to the promptings of the inner voice; be prepared at all times to respect the appropriate dictates of conscience; watch your steps to see whether you are in someone else’s way; and be ever vigilant to discover the truth behind all this scintillating variety. This is your duty, your dharma.The blazing fire of wisdom (jnana), which convinces you that everything is Divine (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma), will consume into ashes all traces of your egotism and worldly attachment. Whoever subdues egotism, conquers selfish desires, destroys bestial feelings and impulses, and gives up the natural tendency to regard the body as the self that person is surely on the path of dharma; they know that the goal of dharma is the merging of the wave in the sea, the merging of the Self in the Supreme Divine!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Turn your vision inward

Once Vivekananda asked Ramakrishna Paramahamsa whether he had seen God. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa emphatically replied, “Yes, I have seen God. I have seen Him just as I am seeing you.” “Then why I don’t see Him?” asked Vivekananda. Ramakrishna replied, “You weep for your family, you suffer for your business and wealth, but do you ever weep or yearn for a vision of God? Do that and you will certainly see God! All the time I am pining only for the vision of God. Therefore, God is visible to me at all times in every human being.” In this world, there is nothing easier than attaining God. You face hardships and feel dejected because you do not understand this truth. Instead of shedding tears for mundane things, why don’t you pine for the vision of God? Don’t go anywhere in search of God. Turn your vision inward. You can see God instantly. Have full faith that God is residing in your heart and experience Him within you.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Righteousness (Dharma) has no prejudice or partiality; it is imbued with truth and justice. People must adhere to right-conduct (dharma); they must see that they never go against it. It is wrong to deviate from it. The path of dharma requires people to give up hatred against others and cultivate mutual concord and amity. Through concord and amity, the world will grow day by day into a place of happiness. If these are well established, the world will be free from disquiet, indiscipline, disorder, and injustice. Whatever good value you desire to follow, first grasp its real meaning. Then, you must cultivate it daily and benefit from it. By this means, wisdom grows and lasting joy is earned. The wise, who are impartial and unprejudiced, who are committed to living in dharma,walk on the path of truth (Sathya), as instructed in the Vedas. That is the path for all people today.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

In the present times, anxiety and fear are spreading amongst people and righteousness (dharma) is receiving a setback. The world can win back peace and harmony only when people are persuaded to practice the ideals laid down in the scriptures (Vedas) which serve as beacon-lights to guide mankind aright. All activities in your daily living (karma) are really speaking the practice of dharma. The Upanishads give us guidance on what must be done and what must be avoided in the journey of life. For involving oneself in good activities, spiritual wisdom is an essential prerequisite. They direct us to revere the mother as God, father as God, preceptor as God, and also the guest as God. They also warn us that truth and righteousness should not be neglected. So there are both positive and negative instructions — follow these counsels, not others. Accept whatever conduces to your progress in goodness; avoid the others.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

In this journey of life, first and foremost, you need to have self-confidence. Today people suffer because of lack of self-confidence. There may be a few difficulties in your way, but do not be unduly perturbed. You should face all hardships with courage and conviction. Only then you will attain true happiness. If you have total faith in God, you will be able to overcome all difficulties. Never blame God for your difficulties. You are bound to face the consequences of your actions, whether good or bad! But if you earn God’s grace, even difficult circumstances will yield good. So develop faith in God more and more. You trust your friend whom you met only a few years ago, but not God who is with you, in you, and around you, throughout your life. You trust the washerman and part with your valuable clothes. Why then is it hard for you to have firm faith and trust in the omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient all-powerful Divinity?

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

The eyes, the ears, the nose and the hand are the different limbs of the body. Body is a limb of the society. Society is a limb of mankind. Mankind is a limb of nature. Nature is a limb of God. It is because of the impact of modern education that man is misusing his limbs. The Vedas teach that all the education that one acquires should be utilised for the welfare of society. The Vedas say, Sarvaloka hite ratah (one should involve in the service of society). Sarvajnanopa sampannah (one should be a treasure of wisdom), and Sarva samudita gunaihi (one should cultivate all good qualities). After education, one should work for the welfare of society and the world at large. One should not have the narrow feeling that one’s family alone should be happy. Without the world, where is the family? Man and his family are dependent on society and the world at large. So, the individual and the family can be happy only when the world is safe and secure.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

The flag is the symbol of victory, celebrating the joy of Independence. Each nation has its own flag. Pay attention to another flag to symbolise another laudable victory over one's lower instincts, impulses, passions, emotions and desires - the flag that has to be unfurled in every human heart. When you achieve that victory, you will become the true inheritors of Bharatiya culture. Everyone must love their motherland. But that should not lead to hating the other’s motherland. Hence you must pray, "May all the world be happy and peaceful.” Always remember that your peace and happiness are linked with the world's peace and happiness. Any act of hatred or violence committed by you will pollute the atmosphere of the world. When you adore any living being, the adoration reaches God, for He is in every being. Insult any living being and the insult too reaches God. So, expand love towards all, everywhere.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Some people when faced with difficulties think that God is punishing them. It is a mistake to think so. God never punishes anybody. It is only the king who gives punishment, not God. God is love; He always gives only love. The punishment you suffer is the result of your own actions. God neither punishes you nor protects you. You are punished by your own sins and protected by your own good deeds. You may utilise light for writing inappropriate accounts or for reading the holy Ramayana. But light is not affected by what you do. Similarly God is the eternal witness. He is like the light, unaffected by your actions, good or bad. Be it pleasant or unpleasant, you have to face the consequences of your actions. So, do not indulge in bad actions. Always do good, be good, and see good. This is the way to God. Do not say, “I will try”; you must do it.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Man always craves for bliss. The first requisite for achieving Supreme Bliss is a pure heart. One’s heart, which should be white and pure like milk, is today filled with bad thoughts and feelings. Spiritual exercises begin with the purification of the heart and then transforming it into an ocean of milk. When the heart is filled with satwic (pure) qualities, it becomes like a milky ocean. Only then does it become a worthy dwelling for the Lord (Vishnu) whose abode is described as Ksheera Sagara (the Ocean of Milk). But by yielding to tamasic and rajasic (dull and aggressive) impulses, people today have turned their heart into ksharasagaram, a salty ocean. In the salty ocean, we have sharks and whales. Likewise, in the heart of the evil-minded, bad qualities like lust, anger, greed and envy flourish. It is a folly to give room to such evil forces. They must be removed totally so that the Lord may find His rightful place in a heart that is pure and holy. 

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

In all worldly activities, be careful not to offend propriety or the canons of good nature; do not play false to the promptings of the inner voice; be prepared at all times to respect the appropriate dictates of conscience; watch your steps to see whether you are in someone else’s way; and be ever vigilant to discover the truth behind all this scintillating variety. This is your duty, your dharma.The blazing fire of  Wisdom
(jnana),  which convinces you that everything is Divine (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma), 
will consume into ashes all traces of your egotism and worldly attachment. Whoever subdues egotism, conquers selfish desires, destroys bestial feelings and impulses, and gives up the natural tendency to regard the body as the self that person is surely on the path of dharma; they know that the goal of dharma is the merging of the wave in the sea, the merging of the Self in the Supreme Divine!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Since you can’t swim across a flooded stream, you board a raft. So also, since you can’t master the Formless, you resort to the Form with attributes and struggle to swim across to the Formless through worship and contemplation. But can you remain forever on the raft, amidst the currents and whirlpools? You must discard this conventional worship some day and reach the shore. Worship is just a means of educating the emotions. Human impulses and emotions have to be guided and controlled. Just as the raging waters of the Godavari river have to be curbed by dikes, halted by dams, tamed by canals, and led quietly to the ocean which can swallow all floods without a trace, so too the age-long instincts in you have to be trained and transmuted by contact with higher ideals and powers. When the fruit is ripe, it will fall off the branch of its own accord. Similarly, when renunciation saturates your heart, you lose contact with the world and slip into the lap of the Lord.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

When a person dies, his property and assets remain at home; they do not go with him. Their relatives cannot also go; only the good or the bad name they have earned lasts here. So you must live in such a way that posterity will remember you with gratitude and joy. To lead the good life, constant prompting from the God within is a great help. That inspiration can be got only by constantly reciting the Lord's Name and calling on the inner springs of Divinity. The Name is so valuable an instrument to win His Grace, to realise His Presence, to picture His Form, and to remember His Glory. Even if it is repeated from the heart once in the morning, and once in the evening, that will make the griham(home) a griham, instead of a guha (cave). Remember how happy, contented and carefree were the great saints who revelled in that Name - Jayadeva, Tukaram, Kabir, Surdas, Tulsidas, or Ramakrishna.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

In order to ward off evil, some people, who have so far never spent on charity tend to spend lavishly for holy rituals, worship rites, and the propitiation of planetary powers. So far, so good; let some money flow from one pocket to another that needs it more. Let money circulate. Let the spirit of charity grow, even out of panic. But calamity, danger, and death cannot be avoided for all time; they are inevitable factors of life, and you have to learn to live bravely with them. This can be accomplished only by uninterrupted prayer, and not by spurts of worship actuated by sudden fear. Purify your hearts and your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and speech; strengthen your nobler impulses. Then, no panic can unnerve you and nothing can shake your stability and inner peace (Prasanthi). Your prayers will be heard and answered; the Lord has no distinction of big or small, high or low.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

There are three types of people who approach the Lord: a) the eagle type, which swoops down on the target with a greedy swiftness and suddenness that, by its very impact, fails to secure the object coveted; b) The monkey type, which flits hither and thither, from one fruit to another, unable to decide which is tasty; c) and the ant type, which moves steadily but slowly toward the desirable object. The ant does not hit the fruit hard and make it fall away, nor does it pluck all the fruits it sees; it appropriates just as much as it can assimilate, and no more. Do not fritter away the time allotted to you for sojourning on Earth in foolish foppery and fault finding, which always keep you outdoors. When are you going to walk indoors into the warmth and quiet of your own interior? Now and then, retire into solitude and silence; experience the joy derivable only from within.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

You clamour for further experience of My divine nature and ask that your faith might be strengthened therefrom. To know the taste of sea water, isn’t a drop on the tongue enough? Do you need to drink it all? It is your waywardness, egoism, and pride that makes you doubt and deny what you once tasted! Isn’t one experience enough? Well, let Me ask, how can the limited know the depth of the Unlimited? How can the ant delve into the mountain? It is beyond you to gauge Me. You have no patience even to deal with the problems of a single family, though it is your responsibility. Imagine My patience that allows Me to listen to and solve problems of million families with infinite love! You can never grasp the strength of this super-worldly bond that ties you to Me. The experience of that bond will come to you unaware. Your duty is to await the moment. Believe and be blessed!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Take the Lord to be your father or mother, but only as a first step leading to a lasting relationship that ends in merging with the absolute. Do not pause on the steps; enter the mansion to which they lead. The connection with the soul (Atmasambandha) is an everlasting and unchanging association. As a first step, you offer flowers, lamp, incense to worship the attributeful form. Soon, your devotion should move on to newer offerings that are purer and more valuable and worthier of your Lord. No one sticks to the slate for long; you too should feel that you must place before the Lord something more lasting than flowers and incense. You must feel like purifying yourself and making your entire life one fragrant flame. That is real worship, real devotion. Do not come to Me with hands full of trash, for how can I then fill them with Grace? Come with empty hands and carry away My treasure, My love.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

To ascribe the material relationships of the human family to Godhead is sheer nonsense. The Lord who is beyond time and space, and prior to the Beginning and subsequent to the End, can never be described in terms of the mushroom memories of humanity, the temporary phenomena of human family and human society. Such descriptions cannot make any sense to those who have experienced the glory that is God. Do not make God modern to suit your fancy. He is neither ancient nor modern; His countenance never changes, nor His glory. Present Him, if you must, in a modern manner, in a modern style, so that He might be understood today. If a child is reluctant to swallow a pill, insert it in a plantain and offer him the fruit; he will swallow both fruit and pill. But do not change the pill itself to suit the whims and fancies of the child’s taste, because then the illness cannot be cured!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Krodha (anger) is a deadly poison. It affects others by its fumes, manifested through the eye, the tongue and the hands. The seed of a poison tree sprouts into a poisonous plant and when it becomes a big tree, its leaves, flowers and fruits will also certainly be poisonous. So too, the person addicted to anger can only emanate poison, through thought, word and deed. An angry thought is like a pebble thrown into the calm waters of the Manasa-sarovar (Lake of the Mind) present inside man. It creates a circular effect which spreads through the entire lake. Anger is very injurious to the progress of youth. Strive by all means to prevent the poison entering your mental make-up. Cultivate love, kindliness, the spirit of service, and encourage all thoughts of cooperation with others. See the Divinity in each one, as you must see it in your own selves.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

By your words, will you be judged. A king, out on hunting, happened to ride so far that his retinue could not catch up with him. He saw a blind man by the jungle road and so he accosted him, "Hello, dear man. Did you notice any one passing along?" The blind man said, "No." Then after a few minutes, the minister came along and asked the same man, "Hey brother! Did you notice any one passing along?" and got the same answer. The commander when he saw him asked, "Here, you fool! Did you notice someone passing along?" and a soldier who came last shouted, "You blind rotter, open your foul mouth and tell me whether any one passed this way." At last when the priest of the court came along and said, "Dear brother, please tell me whether any one passed this way," he could reply that a king, a minister, a commander and a soldier had passed and had asked him the same question. Each one’s style of speech had revealed their status and character.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Each and every one of you must work hard to overcome the habit of sliding into worry (chinta) and despondency every now and then. Once this weed takes root in your mind, it assumes many forms to assert its hold. Every stage of life is fraught with anxiety; every step in your progress is a cause for worry. In fact, birth, death, old age and illness - every one of these multiply worries of their own. How to get sleep is a cause for worry; how to get up from bed is another worry! Today admission to colleges causes worry; admission to hostels is another worry; then examination causes new worry! But these are matters that are not essential. They should not cause so much heartburn as the problem of removing the fundamental error in your thought process - ignoring the Divine who inspires and guides you always and forever. Do not worry. Develop selfless love with faith and share that love with all.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

One of the handicaps that have to be overcome is weak faith in oneself 
 (Avishwasam). Today you gladly and willingly place all faith in the body and its accessories but not in your inner motivator, the charioteer. In particular, youth today have faith in unreal, transient, momentary pleasures and pastimes. They have no knowledge of the eternal, the changeless, and the ever-blissful. Precious years of life are thus wasted in worthless pursuits. That is why your faith falters when even a minor calamity happens! Contemplate deeply on the impermanence of wealth, fame, worldly friendship, and so on. Cultivate faith in the value of service; believe that love can overcome hatred. Have faith in righteousness and the moral life. This is called righteous living (dharma). Never stray into wrong paths, enticed by sensual desires and plans for self-aggrandisement.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba