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

Why is it important to show our gratitude to Nature?

 Mountains help man to build houses by using stone slabs quarried from them. Trees provide the timber for constructing houses and also firewood for domestic use. Among animate beings, every creature, from an ant to an elephant, is of assistance to man in one way or another. Cows provide nourishing milk to man. Bullocks are useful for ploughing the fields and helping to grow food crops. All other creatures like birds, fish, sheep and others are serving man in different ways. Seen in this light it will be clear that all things in creation are helpful to man in leading his life. ​​Thus man is deriving innumerable debt from Nature. But what is the gratitude he is showing to Nature? What gratitude is he offering to the Divine? He is forgetting the Divine who is the provider of everything. That is the reason for his becoming a prey to various difficulties and calamities. While he is receiving countless gifts from Providence, he is offering nothing in return to Nature or God. When we are enjoined to return good for evil, how unbecoming is it to fail even to return good for good?

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

What is our only permanent asset and how can we preserve it?

 Everything is subject to change and decay in this world. Whether it be physical objects or individuals, all are transient and impermanent. Nothing is lasting. Only your purity is permanent. Purity is the essential nature of man. But if man leads a polluted life, he is degrading himself. Man's purity is manifest when human relations are based on heart-to-heart and love-to-love. Love has the form of a triangle with three arms. Prema (divine love) does not seek any return. Where an individual offers love in expectation of a return, fear overtakes him. The one who loves with no expectation of any return is totally free from fear. Love knows only to give, not to receive. Such a love is free from fear. For true love, love is its own reward. Thus, love seeks no return, is free from fear and is its own reward. These are the basic features of true love. Love today is based on desire for a return benefit. It is filled with fear and anxiety. Thus love is motivated. When love is based on a desire for transient and perishable objects, life will be futile. Love must be its own reward.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

This Puja, this Yajna, and this Homa are arranged here every Dasara in order to help you learn that other, ever-lasting, abstract Yajna, which every one of you has to do to save yourselves from fear, grief and anxiety.

 You must perform another Yajna every day. Pour the egoistic desires and emotions, passions, impulses and acts into the flames of dedication and devotion. In fact, that is real Yajna, of which these are reflections and prompters, guides and prototypes. This yajna is only the concrete symbolic representation of the abstract underlying Truth. Just as a child is taught to pronounce the words - head, net, wave, garland, and so on by making it associate the sounds and the letterforms with pictures of the objects so named, through this kshara (temporary) symbol the Akshara tatwa (the Eternal Principle) is brought before the consciousness. This Puja, this Yajna, and this Homa are arranged here every Dasara in order to help you learn that other, ever-lasting, abstract Yajna, which every one of you has to do to save yourselves from fear, grief and anxiety.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Yajna should not be performed for attaining selfish ends. It should be performed for the welfare of the entire world.

 Do not think that the Yajna is only the ceremony performed in this enclosure, marked out as specially holy, attended by readings and recitals from sacred texts and the chanting of Vedic hymns, and nothing other than this. No. Yajna is a continuous process; everyone who lives in the constant presence of God, and does all acts as dedicated to God is engaged in Yajna. Three processes go together in spiritual discipline, as laid down by the sages: Yajna, Dana and Tapas (Sacrifice, Charity and Self-control). They cannot be partitioned and particularised thus. Charity and self-control are integral parts of Yajna. That is why Yajna is translated as sacrifice, for, the process of charity or Dana is essential in Yajna. So is Tapas, that is to say, strict regulation of emotions and thought processes, to ensure peace and faith.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Objective possessions and subjective desires, both are handicaps in the race for realisation.

 Resolve this day to cleanse the mind of impurities so that you can imbibe the inspiration! Aspirants for mental peace must reduce the luggage they have to care for; the more the luggage, the greater the bother. Objective possessions and subjective desires, both are handicaps in the race for realisation. A house cluttered with lumber will be dark and dusty, and without free movement of fresh air, it will be stuffy and suffocating. The human body too is a house; do not allow it to be cluttered with curios, trinkets, trash, and superfluous furnishings. Let the breeze of holiness blow as it wills through it; let not the darkness of blind ignorance desecrate it. Life is a bridge over the sea of change; pass over it, but do not build a house on it. Hoist the Prasanthi Flag, on the temple, that is your heart. Follow the prescription it teaches - subdue the six enemies that undermine natural bliss in man, ascend the Yoga stage when agitations are stilled and allow the splendour of the Divinity within to shine forth, embracing all, at all times!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Offer yourself to God; then God will grant you jewels of limitless bliss.

 The words ‘yajna’ and ‘yaga’ are both translated as sacrifice; that is their primary purpose! You sacrifice riches, comfort, and power (all that promotes ego) and merge in the Infinite. That is the attainment and the end. Yajnas are useful because they support the ideal of sacrifice, and condemn acquisition. They emphasise discipline, rather than distraction. They insist on the concentration of the mind, tongue and hands on Godhead. Cynics count the bags of grain, kilograms of ghee, and hundredweights of fuel, and ask for more bags and kilograms and hundredweights of contentment and happiness in return! The effects of yajna on the character and consciousness cannot be measured or weighed in metres or grams. It is something immeasurable, though actual and experienceable. Moreover, cynics do not calculate the ghee, grain, and fuel they themselves have consumed, with no compensating joy! The grain and ghee offered in the sacred fire to the accompaniment of Vedic formulae give returns, thousandfold; they will cleanse and strengthen the atmosphere all over the world! Otherwise, the Avatar will not encourage or revive these Yajnas!

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba