Introduction
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From 169 - 210
169
LEARN a lesson from the tree. When it is heavy with fruits, it does not raise its head aloft in pride, it bends low, stoops, as if it does not take any credit for its accomplishment and as if it helps you to pluck the fruit. Learn a lesson from the birds. They feed those who cannot fly far. The bird relieves the itch of the buffalo by scratching it with its beak; they help and serve each other with no thought of reward. How much more alert must man be then with his superior skills and faculties? Service is the best cure for egoism.
170
I WOULD advise you to dwell always on one Name of God, one personification of one of His innumerable attributes of Glory. Then there is the expansion of your Love, the removal of hate and envy from your mental composition, seeing the God whom you adore in every other person intently as you see Him in yourself. Then you become the Embodiment of Love, Peace and Joy.
171
REMOVE the cataract and the vision becomes clear. So too, remove the feeling of inferiority that dwarfs you now; feel that you are "Atma Swarupa", "Nithya Swarupa", and "Anandaswarupa"; then every act of yours becomes a "Yajna", a sacrifice and a Puja. The ear, the eye, the tongue and the feet become tools for your uplift, not traps for your destruction. Transform "Tamo guna” into "Thapo guna" and save yourself.
172
REMOVE the weight from your head by transferring all burdens to the Lord, leave everything to His will and His Law. Feed your mind with sweet and wholesome food: "Satsang", "Satpravatana", and "Sarveswara Chintha"; then you are full of joy. I am "Anandaswarupa"; come and take "Ananda" from Me and, returning to your avocations, dwell on that "Ananda" and be full of "Shanti".
173
HE greatest single cause for darkness in the World today is envy. When one is happy and contented, others envy him and strive to ruin his peace of mind. When any one is acclaimed as great, malice moves others to invent calumny in order to tarnish his reputations. This is the way of the World. There is in life the tragedy of ignorance and selfishness. They force man to take the wrong road; and suffer calamity.
174
A STRONG will is the best tonic. The will becomes strong when you know that you are a child of Immortality or a person who has earned the Grace of the Lord. Medicine and hospitalization are for those who doubt and hesitate and argue about this doctor being more efficient than the other and this drug being more powerful than the rest. For those who rely on the Supreme Doctor, His Name is the drug that cures.
175
YOU can call me on the phone, but I will not be available for all those who do not have the sincere and steady yearning for the Lord. For those who say, "No, You are not my Lord", I say "No". For those who say, "Yes", I too echo, "Yes". If I am available in your heart, I will be available over the phone. But remember, I have My own special Postal and Telephone Systems. They operate from the heart straight to the heart. There are rules and regulations for the operations of the Systems, which the Sastras declare. You can find them there. I am glad that devotees have today acquired this new convenience at Prashanthi Nilayam.
176
TRUTH can reflect itself in your intelligence only when it is cleaned by "Thapas". "Thapas” means all acts undertaken with higher motives and all acts indicating yearning for the spirit; repenting for past blunders; staunch determination to adhere to virtue; self-control; and unyielding adherence to equanimity in the face of success or failure. "Thapam" means heat, burning intensity and earnestness of endeavor. It is "Thapas" that fosters Renunciation and discipline.
177
THE Rama and Krishna Avatars performed the mission of restoring Dharma and fostering virtuous living, besides punishing the wicked and teaching the World that vice will not succeed. Man is an amalgam of Humanity, Animality and Divinity. It is a tragedy if he cannot get rid of the Animality; and it is a greater tragedy if he cannot cultivate his Divinity. Contemplation of the Rama and Krishna Avatars and their Leelas and Mahimas is the surest method of cultivating the Divine in Man.
178
GOD has four qualities and it is only when you cultivate them that you can understand Him. They are: Prema (Love), Beauty (Soundarya), Sweetness (Madurya), and Shoba (Splendor). The development of Prema is enough to add into you the other three. When you are full of Prema for the Divine in all creation, that stage is Beauty; when you are immersed in the sea of Universal Love, you reach the acme of Sweetness; when your mind loses its identity and merges in the Universal Mind, then there is Splendour indescribable.
179
MY task is not merely to cure and console and remove individual misery. It is something far more important. The important task of the mango tree is to produce mango-fruit. The leaves, the branches and the trunk of the tree are useful in their own way, no doubt, but the main aim is the fruit. So, also from the plantain-tree, the fruit is the main gain. The leaves and the edible core of the stem are all incidental. So too, the removal of misery and distress is incidental to My Mission. My main task is the re-establishment of Veda and Shastra in the heart of Bharthavarsha and the revival of Knowledge about them in the people. This task will succeed.
180
NARADA once asked Krishna the secret of the attraction His flute play had on the cowherds of Brindavan. "Do they run to You or do You run to them?” he queried. "Among us there is neither I nor they; how can a picture be separated from the cloth on which it is painted? I am imprinted on their hearts so inseparably and so inextricably", Krishna replied. Have God imprinted on your hearts; be ever so inextricably established in Him - that is My message to you.
181
THIS Sai has came in order to achieve the Supreme task of uniting the entire mankind as one family through the band of brotherhood, of affirming and illumining the Atmic Reality of each being in order to reveal the Divine, the basis on which the entire Cosmos rests, and of instructing all to recognise the common Divine Heritage that binds man to man, so that man can rid himself of the animal and rise into the Divine which is his goal.
182
DO not get elated at the riches, status, authority, and intelligence, which have been given to you on trust, so that you may benefit others. They are all signs of His Grace, opportunities for service and symbols of responsibility. Never seek to exult over others' faults; deal sympathetically with the errors and mistakes of others; hear only good things about them; and do not give an ear to scandals.
183
NOW, there is a wave of anxiety spreading over the World as a result of rising prices; and attempts are frantically being made to bring down the level. The fundamental cause for the rise in prices is the decline in the price of man. Man must realise his pricelessness; he should not regard himself as a cheap nut or bolt that has no higher purpose in life. He should know that he is the imperishable, unconquerable Atma; and the body is only a vehicle for the Atma.
184
DOES thou know why you are given eyes? To see whatever can be seen? No! No! To fill the eyes with the vision of God who resides on Mount Kailas. We have to cast our looks at sacred sights. We must visualise in everyone only the good and the Godly. That is the purpose for which God has equipped us with eyes. He has not gifted them to us to observe and judge others, to follow people into the bazaar or to see unsightly films.
185
THE snakes move in curves, not in a straight line; man too, when he is following the senses, has to move in a crooked path. He has greater poison in him than the snake; his venom is to be found in his eye, his tongue, his hands, his mind, his heart and his thoughts - whereas the cobra has it only in its fangs. The cobra raises its hood and sways in joy when it hears music - so, man too, when he realises the stage of "Nirvikalpa", (steady unchanging establishment in the ultimate Reality), dances in heavenly Bliss.
186
GOD is the source of all Love; Love God, Love the World as the vesture of God, no more and no less. Through Love, you can merge in the Ocean of Love. Love cures pettiness, hate and grief. Love loosens bonds; it saves man from the torments of birth and death. Love binds all hearts in a soft silken symphony. Seen through the eyes of Love, all beings are beautiful; all deeds are dedicated; and all thoughts are innocent. The World is one vast kin.
187
GOD is all-powerful; God is everywhere; God is all knowing. To adore such a formidable limitless principle, man spends a few minutes out of the 24 hours and uses a minute idol, image or picture! It is indeed ridiculous; it is practically futile. Adore Him so long as you have breath and so long as you are conscious. Have no other thought than God, have no other aim than knowing His command; no other activity than translating that command into action. That is what is meant by Surrender. Surrender yourself unto Him.
188
GOD is the guardian, the corrector, the admonisher and the savior; so, people must get into the habit of calling on Him as a living presence. The temple helps to soften the hearts! It instills the virtue of compassion and charity. Greed and cruelty will spread in an atmosphere that has no devotion and adoration to God. Make yourselves into moving temples. Become aware of the God that resides in you. It is He who protects you, provides for you and prevents you from falling prey to pernicious propensities.
189
THERE are three types of persons: those, who confess their own faults and mention the excellence of others, are the highest type; those, who highlight their own excellence and decry the faults of others, are worse; those, who parade their own faults as excellence and deride the excellence in others as faults, are the worst. The last type is nowadays most rampant.
190
GOD has no will or want; He does not confer or withhold; He is the eternal witness. To put it in the language that you can understand: He is like the postman, who is not concerned with the contents of the letters that he hands over to the addressees; one letter might communicate victory; another defeat; and you receive what you have worked for. Do good and have good done in return; be bad and accept the bad that comes back to you. That is the law; and there is really no help (or) hindrance.
191
THE relief and joy that you give to the sick and the sad reach me, for I am in their hearts and I am the One they call out for. God has no need of your service; does He suffer from pain in the legs, or ache in the stomach? Try to serve the Godly; be "Dasanudasas", the servants of the servants of the Lord. The service of man is the only means by which you can serve God.
192
THYAGARAJA said that, if he is armed with the Grace of Rama, the planetary missiles could never injure him. Purandaradasa, another great saint, asked, "What are eyes for?" and answered the question himself, "To visualise the Lord". "Eyes that do not yearn to see you, are black balls; ears that do not hear your praise, are narrow mountain caves where jackals live; and the tongue that does not relish the repetition of your Name, can only croak like a frog", says Purandaradasa.
193
ALL who come embodied are Avatars, that is to say, advents of the Divine, Manifestations of God. What then is the special feature of Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Christ? Why do you celebrate their Birthdays with such reverential enthusiasm? The specialty is this: they are Aware; you are unaware of the Atma, which is the Truth. Awareness confers Grace, Glory, Majesty, Might and Splendour. Awareness confers Liberation from bonds, time, space and causation, and sleep, dream and wakefulness. Avatars are ever alert, aware and alight.
194
THE name of God, if recited with love and faith, has that power. Once the mother of Agastya boasted that her son drank all the waters of the ocean; but the mother of Hanuman, who was there, said; "Why go to that extent? My son leaped over it in a trice". But there was the mother of Rama with them. She said, "Your son leaped over the ocean, uttering my son's name. Without it, he was helpless". The name has that overmastering power. It can bring unheard of and unimagined strength and courage.
195
FOR Naamasmarana, no expense is involved; no materials are needed; there is no special place or time to be provided. No qualification of scholarship or caste or sex has to be proved. When a bit of iron is rubbed to and fro on a slab of stone, heat is generated; only the rubbing has to be vigorous and continuous. When you do so at intervals and with poor pressure, the iron will not get hot. So too, in order to get sufficient heat to melt the soft heart of the Lord, rub the name "Ram", "Ram", "Ram", "Ram” vigorously and unremittingly; then, the Lord will shower His Grace.
196
THIS is the best time to tell you something about the authenticity of this Advent. I only wish to communicate the Truth. There are many who can not bear or tolerate the Splendour that I am manifesting, the Divinity that is expressed in every act, the wonders and amazing happenings that are the result of Grace; these people label these as acts of mesmerism or miracles or feats of magic! They hope to bring these down in the estimation of people. Let me tell you this; mine is no mesmerism, miracle or magic. Mine is genuine DIVINE POWER.
197
LIFE sustained by food is short; life sustained by the Atma is eternal. Do not lay claim to long life; but to Divine life. Do not pine for more years on earth, but for more virtues in the heart. Buddha knew and made known to the World the Truth. Everything is grief. Everything is empty. Everything is brief. Everything is polluted. So the wise man has to do the duties cast upon him with discrimination, diligence and detachment. Play the role but keep your identity unaffected.
198
IN order to escape being tossed about on the waves of joy and grief, one should cultivate unconcern (upeksha), an attitude of welcoming either as a sign of Grace. Sri Ramakrishna said that if you must avoid the sticky fluid in the jackfruit from contacting your fingers when you peel it, you have to apply a few drops of oil on them. So, too, said he, "If you do not want the World and its reactions to stick to you, have a few drops of unconcern applied on your mind".
199
THE foundation for real peace is, according to the Vedas, the quality of Maithree. Maithree means amicability, friendship, compassion and, kindness. It can also be taken to mean "My three", that is to say, my word, deed and thought shall be in accordance with words, thought and deed; that is to say, we shall speak, think and act together without friction or faction, in an atmosphere of love and understanding. That is what is wanted in the world today: My three.
200
ALL men are Mine; so the whole
World has to be saved from the consequences of ignorance or limited
knowledge. I will get all My people near Me, for they are Mine, and I am
theirs. Then, I will start teaching and training them, until they become
entirely ego-free. For the last 25 years, it has all been sweetness,
kindness, soft persuasion; hereafter, it will be different. I will drag them,
place them on the table and operate. That is to say, I have no anger or hate.
I have only Love. It is Love that prompts Me to save them and to open their
eyes, before they get deeper into the morass.
201
MAN alone can rise through effort to higher stages of spiritual evolution. No other animal can do so. Animal trainers of the Circus can train a tiger to perform various tricks, but they cannot change his nature. They cannot make it live on grass and completely deprive it of meat. But man is different. His nature can be changed by means of his own disciplined effort. He can control, by his will, the evil thoughts and ideas that arise in his mind. This is why birth as a human being is considered a rare gift.
202
FAITH in God will instill faith in themselves and in others and the World will be happier thereby. The Americans might walk on the moon, or the Russians picnic on the planet Mars, but they have both to return to Earth, which is their common home. One can claim genuine victory only when one has reached not the dead satellite, but the living star, not the Chandra, but Ramachandra, the Lord who rules over the inner satellites, the inner planets, the inner motives and aspirations.
203
LIFE is a jungle, where there is a great deal of dry wood, which harbors worms and insects. No one cleans the floor of the forest or cuts away the undergrowth of bush and bramble. To wade through the thorns and the leech-ridden floor of the jungle, one has to wear boots. So too, one has to wear the boots of sense-regulation, if one has to pass through the jungle of life without harming oneself.
204
THERE are three desires which every "I" cannot escape from. "I must live" is the first. The will to live is overpowering and paramount. This is the urge for immortality. "The desire to know" is the second. This too is unquenchable thirst and is an indication of the position of which the "I" is the inheritor. "The desire for joy" is the third, prompting man behind the senses into the outer World for pleasures. This evidence shows that deep in the core of the "I" there is a spring of "Ananda" which seeks its mate and its fulfillment.
205
THERE is no Vidya, which our students are not proficient in. They develop all the virtues and they saturate every act of theirs, including their skills and studies, with those high and pure qualities. To demonstrate that this process will yield joy, peace and prosperity, I have these students as My instruments. They would themselves act as ideals. They are the source of My delight and they sustain My hopes. (They are My "Aasaya", My "Ananda" and my "Ahaara") These students, and those of the same stamp are the pioneers in My task of mending the present World and ushering in a new World.
206
PARENTS set bad examples uttering falsehood, scandalizing others, gambling, drinking, behaving violently, inflicting injury, becoming addicted to nightclubs, pictures and drinking parties and quarreling after arriving home past midnight. How can children, used to such low sights and sounds, learn to become bright fresh fragrant flowers of the Sanathana Garden of India?
207
THE student of today is not able to realise what he should primarily be concerned with. It is only in name that he is a "Vidyarthi", the seeker of knowledge. In practice he is only a "Vishayarthi", a seeker of worldly pleasures. It is the duty of every human being to understand and respect his parents. Similarly, in a nation, it is the duty of every national to assimilate and appreciate the historical and cultural background of his nation and consider these two factors as his father and mother. In fact, one who is ignorant of the historical and cultural heritage of his country is like a stupid person who has no knowledge of his parents.
208
TODAY the student-world is tossed in confusion; not only in confusion but in downright insanity. They wear white clothing; but the hearts are still dark.
Heads are full of
evil thoughts
Ears are open for
scandal-tales,
Eyes delight in peeping unseen;
Minds crave for wicked plots;
Reason pursues plan to cheat.
When Vidya perceives these in man,
It will not stay a moment there.
When this is the condition, how can one earn Vidya? Of course, man's present situation and status are determined by his acts and thoughts in the past.
209
SAMSKRITI the word for culture and civilization is derived from the word Samskara, which means the dual process of removing the dust and dirt of vice, and planting the virtues of Sathya, Dharma, Shanti and Prema. Samskara is also the name for certain obligatory rites of initiation and purification prescribed by the Vedas for the spiritual upliftment of man. Their number is forty-eight in all, but they could be reduced to ten and if needed, even to one; the final fulfilling one, of recognising one's identity with Madhava, Siva, or Brahman. Nara is but Narayana seen through the limitations of primal ignorance.
210
AN Iron box is essential to keep
safe precious stones; so too, the body is essential to keep safe the
precious gift of virtue, faith, love and discrimination. The parents gave it
and so they have to be respected by speech, action and behaviour. How can
you expect the Heavenly Father to respond to your prayers if you do not
respond to the demands of the earthly Father? The first step in Dharma is
gratitude; the first duty of the child is reverence to the parents. When the
first step is absent, ascent is impossible.
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