Inner cleanliness should be your first aim

Inner cleanliness should be your first aim. You may have fine vegetables, excellent spices, salt and the best of pulses; the cook may be a master of the art. The oven you use may be the best one can get. But if the copper vessel used for cooking is not tinned, the sambar (soup) will turn into something dangerous; that which cannot be consumed. The dish prepared becomes poisonous if the interior of the vessel is unfit for cooking. So too, you must cleanse your inner being. Sathkarma (virtuous deeds) and Sadachara (good habits) along with prayers act as lining for the vessel of your heart (hridaya pathra), where emotions, impulses and instincts are cooking. Prayer will tame all the instincts like a wild elephant is trained to perform tricks in a circus ring.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

Avatara Purushas (divine advents) have no merit or demerit accumulated in former births, unlike ordinary mortals. They do not have any balances to pay off in a birth. Theirs is a Leela (divine play), a birth taken on. The goodness of the good and the wickedness of the bad provide reasons for an Avatar of the Lord. As a result of the advent of the Lord, the good will be happy and the bad will suffer. The Avatar, however has no joy or grief, even when enveloped in the body assumed. The Avatar is not constituted of the five elements; it is chinmaya not mrinmaya - spiritual not material; it can never be disturbed by egoism or the sense of ‘mine’ and ‘thine’; it is untouched by the delusion born of ignorance. Though men may mistake an Avatar as just human, that does not affect the Avatar’s nature; an Avatar comes for a task and is always bound to accomplish it.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

1.Both the form (swarupa) and the nature (swabhava) of the Atma is such that it is unaffected and uninfluenced by anything that is ephemeral. The soul has no birth or death, hunger or thirst, grief or delusion! Birth and death are characteristics of the body; grief and delusion are afflictions of the mind. Do not assign any status to these; know yourself as the Atma, the Divine Self. Give up all delusion and become unattached. Do not be like the porous blotting paper that gets tainted with whatever it comes in contact with. Be the lotus leaf in the marshy lake of this samsara (worldly existence); do not get smeared with the mud around you. Be in the world, yet outside it.

2.Perform abhisheka (ceremonial bath given to the Deity) to the Atma-linga (the Divine within), with the waters of your own pure mental impulses (Chittha-vritthi). What is true yajna (ceremonial sacrifice)? Giving in charity accumulated wealth is Dravya yajnam. When all physical and mental activities are utilised for sadhana (spiritual discipline) it is Thapo yajna. Doing karma (action) but yet remaining unbound by it, is Yoga Yajna. When the chittha (mind) moves in one direction and the indriyas (sense organs) move in another, the person is doubly confused. So keep attachment afar. When you accomplish this, your every act becomes a sacrifice (Yajna). Whatever you speak becomes a holy mantra; and the place where you plant your foot is rendered holy.

3.All beings are Divine, and the Lord dwells in their hearts. Yet they feel bound, miserable, limited, weak and agitated. Why? They imagine thus, and so they are shaped by the mind which is the source of that imagination. They are ignorant of their reality. How then can one be freed from this delusion? If you desire to overtake a train, you must speed in a car or board a plane. A vehicle slower than the train will not help. So too if you intend to overcome the delusion of your mind, you must establish yourself in God. The delusion of Maanavasakthi (human-power) arising out of the mind can be overcome only by the attainment of Divine Power (Daivasakthi). One prayer that promotes the acquisition of Divine Power is the repetition of the Gayathri Mantra.

4.The word Jnana also means, the eagerness to realise the Atma thathwa (the Principle of the Atma) through inquiry from those with spiritual experience. If you are anxious to get this wisdom or experience, go to realised souls and win their grace. Study well their moods and manners, and await the chance to ask them for the help. When doubts arise, approach them calmly and courageously. No amount of sea water can slake one’s thirst. Similarly any hours of study of the scriptures will not help in solving our doubts. Jnana or the ultimate wisdom, can be won only from and through elders who have experienced the absolute. Serve them and win their love. Only then can this precious Jnana be won.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba