Thought for the Day - June 2005

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Thought for the Day - June 2005As written at Prasanthi Nilayam

http://www.saibabalinks.org/tftd/2005/june.htm

Thought for the Day Archive since January 2003

Source: Radio Sai Global Harmony

June 2005

June 1, 2004Vice breeds disease. Evil thoughts and habits, bad company and

unsuitable food are the main causes of ill-health. Arogya (good health) and

Ananda (happiness) go hand in hand. When the mind is happy, the body too is

free of disease. Evil habits, which men indulge in, are the chief causes of

diseases, physical as well as mental. Greed affects the mind; disappointment

makes man depressed. Man can justify his existence only by the cultivation of

virtues. Only then does he become a worthy candidate for Godhood.

June 2, 2004It is essential to cleanse the mind through regular sadhana

(spiritual discipline), to tune the individual to the infinite will of God, to

merge in His Glory. Scholarship or skill, however deep and varied, have no

purifying power. They only add the alloys of pride and competition. Learned men

are not necessarily good, nor are men with spiritual powers necessarily above

pride, envy and greed. Sathya (Truth), Dharma (Righteousness), Shanti (Peace)

and Prema (Love) are the true qualities of a person with a pure heart, a heart

where God is enshrined and is manifest.

June 3, 2004One need not search for spiritual power, going around the world and

spending a lot of money. You can stay in your own house and develop it within

yourself. You do not have to run for it hither and thither. You are not a mere

man, but God Himself. Do not be under the delusion that God is residing

somewhere and that you have to search for Him; God is within you.

June 4, 2004It is best that you stay away from companions who drag you to such

distractions that weaken and worry you; spend a few minutes every morning and

evening in the silence of your own home, in His elevating and inspiring

company; worship Him mentally, offer unto Him all the work you do; and you will

come out of the silence, nobler and more heroic than when you went in.

June 5, 2004You have to busy yourselves with activity in order to use time and

skill to the best advantage. That is your duty, and duty is God. The dull and

the inert (Tamasic) will hesitate to be active for fear of exhaustion or

failure. The emotional and passionate individuals (Rajasic) will plunge

headlong, craving for quick results and be disappointed when results do not

come in as expected. The persons with balance of mind (Sathwic) will be active,

considering it their duty; success or failure will not disturb their equanimity.

The godly will take up activity as a means of worshipping God. They leave the

fruits of their efforts to God, as they know they are but instruments in His

hands.

June 6, 2004The human body is like a chariot; the Atma (Self) is installed

therein and it is dragged by emotions, impulses, passions and urges along the

streets of desire. Success and failure, joy and grief, gain and loss are the

dancers who accompany the procession of Life. Many pay attention to the

chariot, its height, its decoration and its progress. Many others are concerned

with the dance of dualities and the pain-pleasure duet that is part of the

procession. Few pay attention to the Inner Soul, which is the very basis of

existence.

June 7, 2004Live without hating others, condemning others and seeking faults in

others. Sage Vyasa, who composed eighteen voluminous Puraanas, summarised them

all in a small couplet: "Doing good to others is the only meritorious act;

doing evil is the most heinous sin." When you feel that you cannot do good, at

least desist from doing evil. Do not try to discover differences, but instead

discover unity.

June 8, 2004Sages and saints have known that the most noteworthy achievement of

the senses is the glorification of the divinity within. One saint said, "These

are not eyes but globules of glass if they cannot earn the vision of God. Yet

another said, "These are not ears but muscular protrusions if they do not

relish the name of God". The world and its attractions may appeal to your

instincts and impulses, but God draws out your Love as no worldly being can.

Develop the inner vision and the habit of listening to the inner voice; and you

are assured of unshakeable peace and infinite joy.

June 9, 2004When a tree first shoots forth from the seed, it comes up as a stem

with two incipient leaves. But, later, when it grows, the trunk is one and the

branches many. Each branch may be thick enough to be called a trunk; but, one

should not forget that it is through that trunk that the roots feed life-giving

sap to the branches. Similarly, it is the one God who feeds the spiritual hunger

of all nations and all faiths through the sustenance of truth, virtue, humility

and sacrifice.

June 10, 2004Service is God. Why has God endowed man with a body, a mind and an

intellect? Feel and empathise with suffering through your mind, plan using your

intelligence and use the body to serve those are in need. Offer that act of

service to God; worship Him with that flower. Put into daily practice the

ideals that Sai has been propagating and make them known all over the world by

standing forth as living examples of their greatness.

June 11, 2004There is no discipline equal to service to smother the ego and to

fill the heart with genuine joy. To condemn service as demeaning and inferior

is to forego these benefits. If a wave of service sweeps over the land,

catching everyone in its enthusiasm, it will be able to wipe off the mounds of

hatred, malice and greed that infest the world. Attune your hearts so that they

vibrate in sympathy with the woes and joys of your fellowmen and fill the world

with your love.

June 12, 2004Man has to give up the pursuit of sensory objects if he seeks to

gain lasting peace and joy. Material wealth brings with it not only joy but

also grief. Accumulation of riches, multiplication of wants - these lead only

to alternation between joy and grief. Attachment is the root of both joy and

grief; detachment is the saviour. Feel that your family, your house and your

possessions are all the Lord's property and you are only the trustee.

June 13, 2004Man today is behaving with even less gratitude than what animals

and birds display. He is ungrateful to his parents, teachers, society and even

God. He makes a parade of his adherence to truth, righteousness, peace, love

and non-violence but does not practise any of them. All this is because of

intense selfishness and pre-occupation with his own concerns and interests.

Only when man sheds his selfishness can he turn his mind towards God.

June 14, 2004As a drop of water on a lotus leaf disappears in no time, even so,

we should know that our life is transient and will disappear in no time. The

world is full of sorrow, the human body is full of disease and our life is full

of turbulent thoughts. Under these circumstances, it is possible to live in a

peaceful manner only by following the Divine path and getting over all our

worldly attachments.

June 15, 2004When you scatter seeds on the surface of the soil they do not

germinate. You have to plant them inside the soil. So too, My words, if

scattered on the surface, will not germinate and grow into a tree of knowledge

and yield the fruit of wisdom. Plant it in the heart, water the plant with

Love, and nourish it with faith and courage. Keep off pests with Bhajan

(devotional singing) and Satsang (spiritual congregation), so that you may

finally reap its benefit.

June 16, 2004The Lord is a Mountain of Prema (Love); any amount can be drawn

from it without exhausting His Plenty. He is an Ocean of Mercy without a

limiting shore. Bhakthi (devotion) is the easiest way to win His Grace and also

to realise that He pervades everything; in fact, is everything! Sharanaagathi

(total surrender), leaving everything to His Will, is the highest form of

Bhakthi.

June 17, 2004In this world, which is impermanent and ever changing, the Immanent

Power of the Lord is the only permanent and fixed entity. In order to realise

the Eternal and the True, one has perforce to attach oneself to that Source and

Sustenance. There is no escape from this path. It is the destiny of one and all,

irrespective of age or scholarship, clime or caste, gender or status.

June 18, 2004There are four types of people: the 'dead', who deny the Lord and

declare that they alone exist, independent, free, self-regulating and

self-directed; the 'sick', who call upon the Lord whenever some calamity

befalls them or whenever they feel temporarily deserted by the usual sources of

succour; the 'dull', who know that God is the eternal companion, but who

remember it only off and on, when the idea presents itself powerfully; and

lastly, the 'healthy', who have steady faith in the Lord and who live in His

comforting presence always.

June 19, 2004The greatest obstacles on the path of surrender are Ahamkaara

(feeling of 'I') and Mamakaara (feeling of 'mine'). These feelings have been

inhering to your personality since ages, embedding themselves deeper and deeper

with the experience of every succeeding life. They can be removed only with the

detergents of discrimination and renunciation. Bhakthi is the water to wash

away this dirt of ages, and the soap of Japa, Dhyaana and Yoga (repetition of

God's name, meditation and communion) will help to remove it quicker and more

effectively.

June 20, 2004Wipe out the root causes of anxiety, fear and ignorance. Then only

can the true personality of man shine forth. Anxiety is removed by faith in the

Lord; the faith that tells you that whatever happens is for the best and that

the Lord's Will be done. Quiet acceptance is the best armour against anxiety.

Sorrow springs from egoism, the feeling that one does not deserve to be treated

so badly. When egoism goes, sorrow disappears. Ignorance is just the mistaken

identity of the body as the Self.

June 21, 2004The greatest short-coming of man today is the absence of Atma

Vichaara (the inquiry into the Self). That is the root cause of all this

Ashanti (restlessness). This Atma Vichaara is described in the Upanishads

through an analogy. Just as a river's flow is regulated by bunds and directed

to the sea, so too the Upanishads regulate and restrain the senses, the mind

and the intellect, and help one to merge one's individuality in the Absolute.

Study the Upanishads with a view to put this advice into practice.

June 22, 2004Many pray to God all over the world. They pray for the realisation

of worldly desires of one kind or the other. This is not the right kind of

prayer. You should pray to God for His grace and love. That love is

everlasting. God is Sath-Chith-Ananda (Being-Awareness-Bliss). So, pray to Him

to confer that bliss on you. God's bliss is everlasting, whereas worldly

pleasures are transient. Only he is a true devotee who prays for God's love and

bliss.

June 23, 2004When you meditate, the mind often runs after something else and

tends to get diverted along other channels. You then have to plug that

diversion by means of the Name and the Form and ensure that the steady flow of

your thoughts towards the Lord is not interrupted; if it happens again, use the

Name and the Form again, quickly. Do not allow the mind to go beyond the twin

bunds, the Name on one side and the Form on the other! When your mind wanders

away from the recital of the Name, take it to the picture of the Form. When it

wanders away from the picture, lead it to the Name. Let it dwell either on the

sweetness of the Name or the beauty of the Form. Treated thus, the mind can be

easily tamed.

June 24, 2004There is no use arguing and quarrelling among yourselves about the

nature of divinity. Examine and experience, then you will know the Truth. Do

not proclaim before you are convinced; be silent while you are still undecided

or engaged in evaluating. Discard all evil in you before you can attempt to

understand the mystery. And, when faith sprouts, fence it with discipline and

self-control, so that the tender shoot might be guarded against cattle, the

motley crowd of cynics and unbelievers. When your faith grows into a big tree,

those very cattle can lie down in the shade that it will spread.

June 25, 2004It is the mind which makes or mars a man. If it is immersed in

things of the world, it leads to bondage; if it treats the world as but

temporary, then by that Vairaagya (detachment) it becomes free and light. Train

the mind not to get attached to transient things of the world. Do not hold

before it the tinsels of worldly fame and riches; lead it towards the lasting

joys derived from the divine spring inside you. The mind itself will then

become the Guru, for it will lead you to the goal, having tasted the sweetness

of Shravana, Manana and Nidhidhyaasana (listening, recapitulating and

internalizing).

June 26, 2004Do not think that only those who worship a picture or image with

pompous paraphernalia are devotees. Whoever walks straight along the moral

path, whoever acts as he speaks and speaks as he has seen, whoever melts at

another's woe and exults at another's joy is a devotee, perhaps a greater

devotee. It is Bhakthi (devotion) that makes the prayer reach God, not the

festoons, the fanfare, the heap of flowers or the feast offerings.

June 27, 2004Truth can reflect itself in the intellect only when it is clarified

by 'tapas' (penance). Tapas means all acts undertaken with noble motives and all

acts indicating yearning for the spirit, repenting for past mistakes, staunch

determination to adhere to virtue, self-control and unyielding adherence to

equanimity in the face of success or failure. 'Taapam' means heat, burning

intensity and earnestness of endeavour. It is tapas that fosters renunciation

and discipline.

June 28, 2004You do not see the foundations of a skyscraper. Can you, therefore,

argue that it simply sits on the ground? The foundations of this life are laid

deep in the past, in lives already lived by you. This structure has been shaped

by the ground plan of those lives. It is the unseen foundation that decides the

structure and design of the entire edifice.

June 29, 2004What is realization? The moment you see your inner beauty and are

so filled with it that you forget all else, you are free from all bonds; you

know that you are all Beauty, all Glory, all Power; the reflection of Shivam

(God) in the mirror of Prakruthi (nature) is Jiva (the individual).

June 30, 2004Love is a ceaseless flow of Divine effulgence. Sages call this

Love, Atma. This Atma, which is full of Love, is shining in all hearts. Love,

Atma and heart are synonyms for God. For such pure Love, there cannot be any

differences based on mine and thine. This Love is selfless. Where there is

confidence, there is Love. Where there is Love, there is Peace. Where there is

Peace, there is Truth. Where there is Truth, there is Bliss. Where there is

Bliss, there is God.