How did the One Supreme become all this diversity that we perceive?

 By their penance, meditation and intuition, ancient sages recognised two things: One is Akshara (the alphabet) and the other is Sankhya (numbers). In the alphabet, the primal letter is ‘Om’. All other letters have emerged from the Pranava (Om). ‘Om’ is the first letter among all letters. It comprehends within itself all other letters of the alphabet. During bhajans, when the harmonium is played, the bellows are pressed and the reeds are manipulated, we have the musical notes, ‘Sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, da, ni’. What is the source of these seven notes? It is the same air that produces the notes. That air is filled with Omkara. And it is that ‘Om’ which produces the separate notes. Likewise, among numbers, we start with one and go to nine, ten, etc.. In all the numbers, ‘one’ is the primary number. All the other numbers are multiple variations of one. If you take away one from nine you have eight. If you add one to eight, it becomes nine. What comes and goes is one alone. What remains is also one. From this, the sages inferred that the beginning and the end are One, which is the Divine. They declared that this One is the beejam (seed) of the cosmos.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

What is more beautiful than physical beauty and more valuable than any worldly possession?

 A person may have outstanding physical beauty, may have the sparkle of robust youth, may boast of a high noble lineage, and maybe a famed scholar. But if the person lacks the virtues that spiritual discipline can ensure, the person is to be reckoned only as a beautiful flower with no fragrance. When quite young, Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi witnessed along with his mother a drama on Sravana and his devotion to his parents, and he resolved that he must also become Sravana. He witnessed a play on Harischandra, and it impressed him so deeply that he resolved to become as heroically devoted to virtue as Harischandra himself. These transformed him so much that he became a great soul (mahatma). Gandhi had a teacher who taught him the wrong paths. But Gandhi did not adopt his advice. As a consequence, he was able to bring freedom to the country. In this land of Bharat, there are thousands and thousands of prospective great souls. The examples we have to hold before them are the men and women who have learned and practised spiritual education (Atma-vidya).

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

What is the real significance behind the Dasara festival?

 The celebration of the Dasara festival is meant to purify actions performed by the dasendriyas (5 senses of action and 5 senses of perception). Every human being in this world must perform some kind of karma (action). The presiding deity or the driving force behind these actions is Devi (also called Durga), who is the personification of energy. She is the bestower of all kinds of energy to perform various karma by the human beings. Goddess Lakshmi bestows various kinds of wealth like money, food grains, gold, different kinds of objects, vehicles for movement, etc., to human beings so that they lead a happy life in this world. The third facet of the divine female principle is Saraswati, the goddess of learning and intellect. Thus, the Trinity of Durga (goddess of energy), Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) and Saraswati (goddess of learning and intellect) are worshipped during this festival of Dasara. This is the principle of worshipping the Trinity of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswathi during this 9-day (Navaratri) festival. It is essential that people worship all these three facets of the divine Principle.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba