1008 PEARLS OF SAYINGS OF BHAGAWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA - Part - II [26 to 50]

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Om Sri Sai Ram

1008 PEARLS OF SAYINGS OF BHAGAWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA

Part - II [26 to 50]

[A compilation of THOUGHT FOR THE DAY displayed in Prashanthi Nilayam over years prior to1992]

 

26.   RAMANAMA Feast is cloying to some tastes, but it is something ever fresh

that gives undying sweetness to the heart that is filled with the love of God.

One single name will yield fresh sweetness and fresh joy every time it is

rolled on the tongue. I have to tell you the things I have told you often

before; for until digestion is well established, medicine has to be taken. The

face has to be washed day after day. One meal is not the end of the story; you

have to eat, again and again.

       

27.   RAMATATWA is known only to Rama. What can the rest know? At best, they can

have but a glimpse of Rama's grace; and even then, only if they are immersed in

intense inner prayer for God. Think of Him. Call out for Him; He melts.

Whatever form He may be shining in, that intensity will make you recognise Him.

He may be a cowherd boy, standing under a tree with a flute at His lips. You

will see Him and adore Him and place Him in your heart. You extol the Lord as

Love, Mercy and Grace.

       

  28.   EVERY step in the career of the Avatars is    fire-determined; Rama knew

that the coming of   Surpanaka was the prelude to the coming of Ravana He had

asked Sita to enter the fire and remain in it   as just an outer manifestation.

Even before the   human manifestation, the Lord had decided that the Shakti must

also accompany Him. Ravana's Tapas were so strong that only a major sin could

make the   blessings he had won from the Gods null and void.

    

29.   DO not ask God for anything. Let Him deal with you as He wills. Did Jatayu

ask that Rama should come to him and perform the last rights? Did Sabari plead

with Rama? Earn the qualifications - holiness, purity faith and universal love

- then He will approach you on foot, to console, comfort and save. If you have

purity of heart and mastery over the senses, His Grace is your right.

       

30.   EGO plays all kinds of tricks in order to get unholy pleasure. During the

construction of the bridge to Lanka to take the army across, Hanuman heaved a

boulder on the raging waves of the sea as part of the bridge! It floated. Rama

heaved another; it sank. Hanuman's ego was tickled, naturally. He laughed in

derision; at that very moment, his boulder sank! And the boulder that Rama had

thrown rose from the bottom of the sea and floated! Hanuman's ego was pricked

into nothing. That was the purpose for which Rama had willed that His boulder

should sink!

       

31.   RAMA Nama will save you, if you have at least the Pithru Bhakthi and

Mathru Bhakthi that Rama had. If not, Rama Nama is merely a movement of the

lips. Meditate on the Rama Swarupa, the Ramaswabhawa, when you recite or write

Rama Nama. That will give exercise to the mind; and it will be made healthy and

strong in the spiritual sense. Make the Dharmaswarupa your Atma Rama on the

Janmadina of Rama. That is My advice and My Blessing.

       

32.   MAKARA Sankranti is a holy day because the day takes you from darkness to

increasing light. From today, the sun enters upon the Uttarayana taking a

northward direction for six months. When your Drishti (Sight) is on BRAHMAN and

when you have Uttama guna it is Uttarayana, and when your Drishti is on Prakriti

it is Dakshinayana. When you have fever, the tongue will be bitter. The bitter

tongue is "Dakshinayana". When you are healthy, your sweet tongue tastes well,

it is Uttarayana. The real Uttarayana is when you crave for the thought of the

Lord and the company of the Godly. Bhishma spent days in bed with pain, as he

felt death, when the sun starts towards north is auspicious. Bhishma yearned

for the vision of Krishna in Uttarayana. Become fit for the vision of God,

cultivating Prema in

your heart, full of fragrance and uncontaminated by the pests of greed and egoism.

       

33.   WITHOUT the flowers, the plant yields no fruit. Without the emerging

fruit, ripeness cannot happen. Without intense Karma, Bhakti cannot emerge.

Without Bhakti, how can Jnana be found? Somaka the wicked, spurned and

suppressed the Veda. But did he reap any happiness? The ten-headed monster

coveted and kidnapped another's wife. But did he achieve any gain? The

close-fisted Kaurava refused a pinpoint of land to his closest Kin. But did he

keep his loot? The terror-bound Kamsa sought out and slaughtered each newborn

baby; but did he escape from death? Wicked men, even now, shall meet this fate.

Take this Sai word as the word of Truth.

     

34. HERE are the three vows that Krishna had taken; they are mentioned in the

Bhagavad Gita for all humanity to read, know and believe: "For the protection

of the good and the punishment of the bad, for the establishment of the Moral I

shall concretize Myself, age after age. Whoever is wholly immersed in My

contemplation, with no other thought, I shall be ever with Him; and I shall

bear the burden of his welfare. "Surrender unto Me, giving up all the other

duties and obligations. I shall liberate you from all sin; do not grieve". The

armlets are reminders of these tasks on which He is set.

       

35.   VYASA is the Loka guru, he is Divine Effulgence. Vyasa sought to bring

home, through the Puranas, the need for mastering the egoistic impulses, as the

Sloka says:

         

Ashtaa dasa puraneshu

Paropakara punyaya

Paapaaya para peedanam.

         

Two statements can summarize all the eighteen Puranas composed by Vyasa. "Do

good to others; avoid doing harm". Doing good is the drug; avoiding harm is the

regimen that must accompany the treatment. That is the cure for the disease of

suffering from joy and grief, honour and dishonour, prosperity and adversity

and the dual thong that bothers man and deprives him of equanimity.       

 

36.   THE Lord will be the Guide of whoever installs Him as his Sarathi. He will

not consider that position inferior. He is the Sanathana Sarathi, come to be the

Sarathi of all. He is the Lord for all who seek a Master, a support. The Atma is

the Master in every one; and Krishna is the "Universal Atma" personified.

       

37.   THE moment Krishna was born, the chains that bound his father fell off;

the doors that had been bolted flew open; and the prison guards were immersed

in the Ocean of Bliss, so that they could not recognise any event or thing in

the material world. The fire of hatred that was burning in them was cooled; and

darkness gave place to the dawn of wisdom. The sky showered raindrops to soften

the earth and lay down dust. How can the lament operate against the Divine

Will?

       

38.   KRISHNA has three separate meanings - (1) the word Karsh is one root from

which the name is derived. It means, that which attracts; Krishna attracts

hearts to Himself by His sportive pastimes, miraculous victories over the

forces of evil, His charming conversation, His Wisdom and His personal beauty.

(2) The word is also related to the root, Krish: to cultivate, a field, for

growing crops. The word means, He who removes the weeds from the heart of Man

and sows seeds of Faith, Courage and Joy. (3) It is related to the root Krish,

meaning something above and beyond the three attributers and the three eras;

and "na" means Sath-Chith-Ananda.

       

39.   KRISHNA had taken three Vows and the Kankans were symbolic of His

determination to fulfill them. They were, as mentioned by Him in the Gita: (1)

"Dharmasamsthapanaya Sambhavaami Yuge Yuge". (I shall incarnate myself, in

every age, to revive and resurrect Dharma) - (2)  "Yogakshemam Vaham Yaham" (I

shall bear the burden of ensuring peace of prosperity for all who rely on me) -

(3) "Mokshayishyami maa sucha" (I shall save all those who surrender

wholeheartedly to Me and I shall liberate them from the cycle of birth and

death).

       

40.  KRISHNA dealt with the World as with a Sitar, pulling its heartstrings to

arouse the melody of comradeship, heroism, love, affection, compassion and

conviction. But, of these, the two emotions of love and compassion were

characteristically His and His own. His breath was Love! His behaviour was

Compassion! Adore Him, placing a garland of tears around His neck; washing His

feet with tears, springing from joy at the contemplation of His Love! That very

worship will endow you with the wisdom that Sages seek and the Bliss that the

Books extol!

       

41.   THIS is the genuine Bharathiya Vision to transform life into a pilgrimage

towards the God resident in oneself; a steady march along the straight path to

Bliss. There is no such steadiness now. Fancy and Fantasy rule the mind of man.

You desire one thing in the morning; at noon you change over to something else.

That desire will not persist until evening. If your desire is fulfilled, you

praise God and parade your devotion. But if it does not prevail, you throw God

overboard and parade your disbelief!

       

42.   NARADA, who moves always by and with the Lord, feels that God is beyond

his understanding; Balarama who came as His own brother could not fathom His

personality. How then can you grasp My Mystery? How can those who strut about

in well-ironed bush-coats fathom the Truth? I know some that are here, who sold

their Faith to hollow men and started talking about My dress and My Hair! If you

dare, seek My Truth. Come, surrender unto Me. Do not teach treason to your

friends and to other seekers. Dress and manners have become polished now; but

the inner man has deteriorated in virtue and faith!

       

43.   DETACHMENT is a plant of slow growth; if you pluck the tender plant to

look for the pods, you will be disappointed. So too, long and constant practice

alone is rewarded by the Peace that God offers. Grace is acquired by Surrender

as Krishna has declared in the Gita.

       

44.   WHEN the Gita directs you to give up all Dharma (Set Codes of morality),

it does not ask you to also give up all Karma, and when you do it for God,

through God and by God, the Dharma of it does not matter; it has to be

acceptable; and it is bound to benefit you. The statement is not an invitation

to licentiousness or complete inactivity; it is a call for dedication and

surrender to the highest in Man, namely GOD.

       

45.   OF all the Slokas in the Bhagavad Gita, Ramakrishna was especially

impressed by the one that emphasized the attitude of Atmanivedana or

Sharanaagathi:

          

Manmana Bhava Madbakto

Madyaji Maam Namaskuru

Mamevaishyasi Yuktvaitvam

Atmanam Matparayanah.

         

"Become one with Me; be devoted to Me; sacrifice to Me and bow down to Me. Unify

yourself, thus you will surely come to Me".

       

46.  THE Mahabharatha declares: "What is not in Bharath does not deserve

reverential consideration"; and in Bharath, the message has always been:

tolerance, respect for all faiths and the practice of the essential teachings

of love and service with giving up of hatred, envy and pride.

       

47.   PERFORM all acts with as much love as you would offer God. In Truth, you

eat for the satisfaction of the "I" in you and dress up to please the self-same

"I". The husband loves his wife for the sake of the "I". And who is this "I"

that is persistently inherent in everyone? It is God Himself. "Iswara Sarva

Bhootaanaam" says the Gita: the Lord resides in the heart of every being. He is

the Atman in every being. He is the Atman in everyone, the Paramatma.

       

48.   PONDER over your "sthithi" (present condition), "gathi" (direction of

movement), "shakti" (capabilities), and "mathi" (inclination). Then enter upon

the path of Sadhana step by step, so that you approach the goal faster every

day, every hour, every minute. Arjuna became entitled to the Gita Upadesh from

the Lord Himself, because he evinced the "Vishada", the "Vairagya", the

"Sharanaagathi", and the “Ekagratha”, essential to assimilate The Great

Message. When the yearning for liberation has become intense, beyond

expression, man can set aside all social conventions, worldly norms and codes

of conduct that do not subserve that high purpose.

       

49.   KRISHNA does not speak of whoever among men who pronounce the "Pranava" at

the moment of death, etc. The word He uses "whoever" is without any

qualification of sex. He does not say "Whoever that is authorized" or "Whoever

among the deserving". The clear intention of the Lord is to encourage women, as

well as men, to take up Pranava-Upasana. You would have seen that I do not

discourage anyone from the Upasana. It is the royal road to spiritual victory

which all are entitled to use.

       

50.   THE Gita says that, if you give up all Dharma and take refuge in Him, then

He will save you from Sin and wipe your tears. Giving up Dharma does not mean

that you can bid farewell to virtue and righteous action; it means, you have to

give up egoism that you are the doer. Be confirmed in the faith that He is the

"doer" of every deed. That is the genuine "giving up".With Sai loveSai brothers

-''

 

TO BE CONTINUED