Thought for the Day

Simply because a devotee appears like the Lord (sarupya-mukti), we cannot assume that the devotee has the powers of creation, preservation and destruction that the Lord has. Only when all traces of differences disappear and unity is attained, the highest stage is reached. This is called union (sayujya). This comes only by divine grace. The devotee aspires for this mergence (aikya). One wishes to serve the Lord as one pleases and to experience the joy of the form that one has attributed to the Lord. But the Lord, out of His grace, gives the devotee not only existence with the Lord, witnessing always the glory of the Lord, and being suffused with God-consciousness but also union (sayujya)! The path of devotion (bhakti marga) results also in attainment of knowledge of Brahman (Brahma-jnana). Even if the devotee does not crave it, the Lord Himself vouchsafes it to the devotee. Union-with-God liberation (sayujya-mukti) is also referred to as absolute liberation (ekanta-mukti).

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba