Thought for the Day

1.How can those who are aware only of mere sensual pleasure know the Supreme Truth? The craving for sensual pleasure veils the truth from the inner eye. That craving manifests in multiple ways, creating increasingly more desires and laying down more and more urges to action. These hide the truth from our eye like a thick veil. The recognition of this veil is a big step in spiritual progress. This is the Maya Principle (delusion) of Vedanta. From immemorial times, though the Truth was self-evident, this curtain has hidden it from people. Fortunate are those who have achieved great strength in spirit, holding God as their father, mother, Guru, friend, and the beloved. They adored God as dearer to them than anything or anyone, here or hereafter.

2.Repetition of God’s Name and meditation should never be measured by mere external standards; they are to be judged by their inner effects. If one sways between impatience and sloth, and always worries, “Why has it not come yet? Why is it still far away?” then it all bolis down to repeating the Name simply and doing meditation with an eye always on the fruit thereof. The single fruit of repetition of Divine Names and doing meditation is the conversion of our focus from outward to inward, that is, seeing the reality of Atmic bliss. For this transformation, one has to be always active and hopeful, regardless of the time taken and the difficulties encountered. One should not count the cost, the time, or the trouble, and await the descent of the Lord’s grace. This patient wait is itself part of tapas (the austerity of meditation). Sticking unfalteringly to the vow is the austerity.

3.When you achieve sense-control, mind-cleansing, concentration and inner silence, what initially appeared as a logical necessity later dawns upon the purified consciousness as a Positive Permanent Impersonal Will (Prajnaanam Brahma). Through the unremitting practice of Truth, Righteousness, and Fortitude, the Divinity quiescent in the individual will be induced to manifest itself in daily living, transforming every day into the joy of true love. Know the Supreme Reality, breathe It, bathe in It. Live in It. Then It becomes all of you and you become fully Divine.

4.In the pure, serene (sathwic) path of meditation, you will consider repetition of the Holy Name and meditation as a duty and suffer any amount of trouble for its sake; you will be fully convinced that this world is just an illusion, so you will only do good under all conditions and at all times. You will desire only the good of all and will always love all; you will spend time uninterruptedly in the remembrance and meditation of the Lord. You will not crave even the fruit of repeating the Name and doing meditation; you will leave it all to the Lord.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

1.The key objective of education is the culture of the mind and the spirit. This is very much like agriculture, which provides food and clothing for man. We require dhaanya (grains) to sustain the body; we require dhyaana(meditation) to sustain the spirit. In agriculture, you prepare the soil, plant seeds, feed the plants with fertilisers, and reap the harvest. In ‘heart-culture’, we have to plough thehrudaya-kshetra (the field of the heart), remove the weeds and wild growth, and plant the seeds. The weeds are pernicious tendencies, attitudes and habits; the fertilisers are devotion and dedication. Water to help the plant grow is the quality of love. The seeds are the names of God, which are deposited within the purified heart. The harvest which is the reward of all this spiritual discipline is wisdom.

2.Spiritual aspirants (sadhakas) all over the world will naturally be engaged in repetition of the name (japa) and meditation (dhyana), but first, one has to be clear about the purpose of repeating the name and doing meditation. Without this knowledge, people believe them to be related to the objective world, capable of satisfying worldly desires, and hope to demonstrate their value by means of sensory gains! This is a grave error. Repetition of God’s name and meditation are for acquiring one-pointed attention on the Lord.

3.So long as attachment persists to the material body and possessions, worship of a material symbol is necessary. It is but a means. But many decry idol worship as a superstition. This is not correct. We will find it impossible to love God or adore Him unless we meditate on some Form. That is a necessary stage in the process of living. One has to accept it as such. A tree’s value is estimated with reference to its fruits. To experience the Divine Principle, idol worship is and has been a great help to many.

4.The main things to be considered are not at what expense one has prayed to the Lord, or the number of years one has been engaged in it, or the rules and regulations one has followed, or even the number of times one has prayed. The principal considerations are: with what mind one has prayed, with what degree of patience one has been awaiting the result, and with what single-mindedness one has craved for Godly bliss regardless of worldly happiness and delay, with no lassitude and with constant attention to oneself, one’s meditation, and one’s tasks on hand. As far as possible, you must direct the mind to all holy things which yield sweetness and the joy associated with the Lord.

5.The mind should not be wandering in all directions indiscriminately like the fly. The fly dwells in the sweetmeat shop and runs after the rubbish carts; the fly (mind) has to be taught to understand the sweetness of the first place and the impurity of the second place, so that it may not desert the sweetmeat shop and pursue the rubbish cart. When such teaching is imparted to the mind, it is called meditation. On the other hand, look at the bee! It has contact only with sweetness; it approaches only flowers that possess nectar; it is not attracted to other places; it does not proceed there at all. Similarly, you must give up all inclinations towards sensory attraction.

6.For you to liberate yourselves from the succession of deaths, the only means is "Knowing Him". Do not imagine that you are sinners, for you are heirs to eternal Ananda. You are ‘images’ of God. You are by nature holy, complete. Is there a sin greater than calling such as you, sinners? You are dishonouring and defaming yourselves when you acknowledge the appellation ‘sinners'. Arise! Cast off the feeling that you are the body. Do not be deluded into that idea. You are Atma. You are drops of Amrith (nectar) of Immortality that know neither beginning nor end. All things material are your bonded slaves - you you are not their bonded slaves!
Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thought for the Day

1.The true seeker's approach is not to waste time in discussions and assertions of faith in dogmas. They will not delight in the sight of empty oyster shells thrown upon the beach. They will seek to gain the pearls that lie in the depths of the sea. They would gladly dive into those depths and courageously seek for pearls. The Vedas show the road to follow which leads to Realisation. Your goal should not be mere empty faith; it is the Sthithi (the stage reached) and the Siddhi (the wisdom won) that matters. The aim of every seeker is to reach fulfilment through constant sadhana (spiritual exercise). Mergence with the Divine is the attainment of fullness. This is the supreme victory for the true seeker.

2.Those who are immersed in selfishness, egotism, greed, vice, violence and unrighteousness will suffer from evil urges in their last days and destroy themselves. The virtuous attain Kaivalya or Self-Realisation; the unrighteous achieve only Naraka, hell. The eye of the onlooker sees the same consummation: death. But the goal reached by either is distinct; it is invisible to those around them. The goal is determined by the thoughts that arise in the mind during one’s last moments. Cessation of life is common. Darshan of God is something to be won, and earned. That is unique. Hence the proverb, ‘Vinaasa Kaale, vipareetha buddhi’: When disaster is immanent, the intellect turns perverted! Only those who are about to be destroyed will get and welcome evil intentions. Those who are to be bles sed with the vision of God will hold fast to the pure and the elevating in their last thoughts.

3.When you attain fulfilment, your life will be saturated with unexcelled ananda (Divine bliss), and you will experience oneness of thought, emotion and knowledge with all. You will be in ecstasy, immersed in the one and only, the Eternal Divine Principle, for that alone can confer joy. This is the genuine joy; there is no other. God is the embodiment of eternal, undiminished joy. Those loyal to God, accept this axiom that “God is the highest source of joy.”

4.Fools who cannot grasp the Truth; those who cannot recognise Divinity and the power of God and who have no faith in God live in the delusion that their plans will save them and that they can triumph through their own efforts! The fact is, not even the smallest success can be won without God’s grace. Though this is true, we should not sit with folded hands believing that a thing will accomplish itself if and when God wills. Human effort is essential, and everyone must put in sincere work. You must use the strength and skill that you are endowed with, and resolve to proceed with the task, laying the responsibility for success on God; for without the grace of God, all effort will be rendered fruitless.

5.The mind flies at a tangent all the time. Meditation (Dhyana) is the process by which it is trained to acquire concentration. When its basic truth is known, the mind will not be deluded by the evanescent, the untrue, and the unblissful. Instead, it will welcome the blossoming of joy, happiness, and truth, and it will not be affected by sorrow and grief. Your life also assumes a new splendour when you visualise and realise bliss in the awareness of the Supreme Reality. The taste of the fruit is evident when you see the whole of it is eaten with no portion left behind. So too, when the taste of meditation is once discovered, you will discard all doubt and discussion thereon and engage yourself fully in it. Therefore, begin meditation, each one of you, from today - even from this moment!

6.You feel happy when you know that this physical body is yours, do you not? Then when you know that two bodies are yours, should you not be twice happy? In the same way, with the knowledge that you have an increasing number of bodies, the experience of happiness goes on increasing. When the whole universe is known to be one body, and universal consciousness becomes part of the awareness, then the Ananda (bliss) will be complete. To get this universal consciousness, the limited egocentric prison walls must be destroyed. When the ego-self identifies itself with the Jeevi (individual soul) or Atma, death will cease. When the ego-self identifies itself and merges with the bliss of God, sorrow will cease. When it merges with Jnana or the Higher Wisdom, error will cease.

7.God is like fire and you are like coal. When coal comes in contact with fire, it becomes one with fire. Similarly, when you come in contact with God you become one with Him. Embodiments of Love! All of you are messengers of God. God alone is important. Zero gains value only when the numeral one precedes it. Moon is zero, sun is zero, world is zero too; only God is the Hero. Everything comes to nought in the absence of this Hero. A hero becomes zero if he forgets God. Have total faith in God; never give scope for any doubt. Then you are bound to be successful.

7.Everyone needs one-pointed concentration. To develop powers of concentration, sports and games are very essential. They serve to promote physical fitness and mental health. Games and sports are to be practised mainly for keeping the body in good trim. Along with keeping the body fit, it is equally essential to promote purity of the mind and develop large-heartedness. True humanness blossoms only when the body, the mind and the spirit are developed harmoniously. The enthusiasm and effort which people display in sports should also be manifested in the spheres of morality and spirituality. You must endeavour to experience the divinity that permeates Bharath's sacred culture. Samastha Lokaah Sukhino Bhavanthu! (May all the people be happy) is the benedictory motto of Bhaarath.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba