1008 PEARLS OF SAYINGS OF BHAGAWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA - Part VII [151 to 175]

[Guest guest]

Om Sri Sai Ram

1008 PEARLS OF SAYINGS OF BHAGAWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA

Part VII [151 to 175]

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

 

151. YOUR car is not meant to be kept as showpiece in a glass garage. It is

meant for the roads, for taking you fast and safe to the place where you want

to go. So too, your body must serve the purpose of your journey. Journey to

where? Not, as it has been happening, to the cemetery. You have nobler things

to do than merely die! You must know your own Reality before you die and merge

in that Supreme Joy. Eat just enough to keep the body trim; use the body to

discover this Reality, namely, God. Sanctify every moment of your sojourn here

with pious deeds and sacred thoughts.

152. IT is to persuade you to engage in Naamasmarana that I am concluding My

discourses with singing a few Namavalis. An Officer of the Indian Civil Service

has to write on the slate, A, B, C and D and pronounce those letters, in order

to teach his children the alphabet. When you find him doing so, you do not

infer that he is himself learning the alphabet, do you? Therefore, do not be

surprised if I sing Bhajan songs; I am but initiating you into this most

efficacious Sadhana. Strengthen yourself, purify yourself, and educate yourself

by this "Namasankeertan". Do it loudly and in company. Let those who join you

listen and imbibe the nectar of the Name.

153.  WHEN you call out in all sincerity, the response will certainly come. Give

up all low desires and call from the anguished heart. Do not pray from the lips,

as you do now, from the Puja room, which is but a corner of the kitchen. You

worship the Lord with an eye on the dishes or cooking on the oven, with a nose

inhaling hungrily the smells of the hot curries. “Vishavasana”, attachment to

sensory objects, vitiates your thoughts of God. There is a vast gap between

what you say and what you do; and between what you are capable of and what you

accomplish.

154. FOOD received by foul means and clothing procured through ease and comfort

are the main things in life. Do not think that ease and comfort are the main

things in life. Disappointment, disease and distress are the lot of all, rich

and poor, educated and uneducated, young and old. They are the common lot of

all. Let not your pure, immaculate hearts be rendered dirty by false-hood and

wrong. Do not soil your tongue using it for uttering dirty words. Utter the

name of God; it acts like a spark, which can burn into ash a big hill of

cotton! All evil thoughts, wicked plans and plots will disappear like fog

before the Sun when the Name of God is remembered sincerely.

155. ONCE man is free from undue attachment to the body and its appurtenances,

he is liberated also from the pulls of joy, grief, good, bad, pleasure, pain,

etc. He is firmly established in equanimity, fortitude and undisturbed balance.

There man discovers that the World is one in God; that all is Joy, Love and

Bliss. He realizes that he himself is all this apparent World that all the

multifarious manifestations are the fantasies of the Divine will, which is his

own Reality. This expansion of one's individuality to cover the ends of the

Universe is the highest leap of man. It gives supreme "Ananda", an experience

for which sages and saints spent years of prayer and asceticism.

156. MAN has been enslaved by money. He lives a superficial, hollow, artificial

life. This is indeed a great pity. Man should seek to possess only as much

money as is most essential for his living. The quantity of riches one must earn

can be compared to the shoes one wears; if too small, they cause pain; if too

big, they are a hindrance to physical and mental comfort. When we have more, it

breeds pride, sloth and contempt for others. In pursuit of money, man descends

to the level of the beast. Money is of the nature of manure. Piled up in one

place, it pollutes the air. Spread it wide; scatter it over fields; it rewards

you with a bumper harvest. So too, when money is spent in all the four quarters

for promoting good works, it yields contentment and happiness in plenty.

157. MOVE forward towards the light and the shadow falls behind you. Move away

from it and you have to follow your own shadow. Go every moment one step nearer

to the Lord and then, Maya, the shadow will fall back and will not delude you at

all. Be steady; be resolved. Do not commit a fault or take a false step and then

repeat it! Have the "Thaapam" (the deliberation, the decision, the discipline)

first; that is better than "Paschaath Tapa" (regret for the mistake made).

158. GIVE something divine if you want the Divine. Prema, Shanti, Dharma and

Sathya are Divine. Do not try to get it for a flower that fades, a fruit that

rots, a leaf that dries and water that evaporate. There are some who write and

speak as if they have known Me, all that is to be known of Me. I can only say

this: they can never know Me and My nature, even if they are born and reborn a

thousand times. To know Me, one has to be like Me, rise to this height. Can

ants discover the depth of the Ocean?

159. IN this Kali age, the wicked have to be reformed and reconstructed through

love and Compassion. That is why this Avatar has come unarmed. HE has come with

the message of Love. The only weapon which can transform the vile and the

vicious is the Name of the Lord uttered with Love. The Name is redolent with

Divine Glory. So when it is turned over in the mind, it transmutes it into an

instrument for liberation from delusion.

160. THREE disciplines are essential to become aware of Divinity in all and in

the Avatar; no activity should be taken up with individual aggrandizement in

view; intellect and emotion must be directed to the revelation of the Resident

of the Heart, Atma; and every act should be done sincerely, with Love, with no

yearning for acquiring personal profit, fame or benefit. Above all, listen to

the voice of God within. As soon as one contemplates a wrong act, the voice

warns, protests and advises giving up. It pictures the shame that has to be

suffered, the punishment that has to be faced and the disgrace that it entails.

161. IF God is implanted in the heart, you will see God everywhere, even in the

objective World. "Sarvam Brahmamayam" is a fact. Resolve this day to engage

only in virtuous deeds, good thoughts, and good company. Let your mind dwell on

elevating thoughts. Do not waste a single moment of your time talking in idle

gossip, vain boasting or demeaning recreations.

162.  THE journey into the inner consciousness, to calm the storms that rage, is

more important than the journey to the Moon or Mars. The latter may be more

spectacular, but the former is the more beneficial. Life without goodness, good

thoughts, good actions and good words is like the sky in the night without the

moon or stars. It is like a wheel without a hub or spokes! No one can push a

boulder away while standing on it; you cannot be free from anxiety while all

the entrances through which it sneaks in are open. Stop catering to the senses

and feeding the desires that haunts you.

163. THE ceremony of Brahmopadesam is Upanayanam, because the word means,

"taking near", taking the young aspirant near Brahman, that is to say, and

introducing him to Brahmajnana, the path of Brahma. It is one of the Samskara,

that is rites, which reconstruct the personality, reform the mind, purify it

and rebuild it. It makes the person receiving it a "Dwija", twice born! The boy

is born first into the World; now he is born into the Sadhaka World. He becomes

a Brahmachari, a person who walks towards Brahma.

164.  SEE God in every being and then true "Sneha" will blossom. This type of

true "Sneha" can come only when you follow the advice of Krishna. "Adveshta

sarva bhoothanam maitrah karuna evacha Nirmano nirahamkaarah Sama dukher Sukha

Kshami": "He who has no trace of hatred towards any creature, who is friendly

and compassionate towards all, who is free from the bondage of  "I" and "mine",

who takes pain and pleasure as equally welcome and who is forbearing in spite of

provocation". Grow these qualities in you, for they are the signs of true

"Sneha". It is only when you are proceeding on the God ward journey along the

nine stages of Bhakti that you can attain this Divine ideal of true friendship.

165.  MOHAMMED, who sought to establish the primacy of the One Formless

Absolute, had a large share of persecution, defamation and privation. Jesus,

who attempted to rebuild mankind on the basis of Love, was crucified by little

men who feared that their tiny tower of hate and greed would be toppled by his

teaching. Harischandra, who had resolved never to waver from Truth, was

subjected to ordeal after ordeal, each more terrifying than the previous one.

Those who seek to know God must steel themselves to bear insult, injury and

torture with a smile.

166.  UGADHI: THE word "Ugadhi" means: the day of the Inauguration of the "Yuga

or Age". On this day dedicate your life anew to the spiritual discipline,

giving up all habits that interfere with the constant remembrance of God.

Nature puts on a neat garb of green, but man alone continues with his old

prejudices, out-worn habits and moth-eaten principles, which tarnish and demean

him. The spiritual discipline prescribed by the Scriptures for the Krita (Yuga)

Age is Dhyana; for the Thretha Yuga it is Dharma; for the Dwapara Yuga it is

Archana or Ritual worship; and for the Kali Yuga it is Naamasmarana and Seva.

With the constant remembrance of God, worship the

Lord, leaving the result to the All-powerful, All knowing and All Merciful. The

New Panchangam reveals the position of the Sun, Moon and Stars. Saint

Thyagaraja sang that Rama's Grace could counteract the evil effect of Stars.

Expand yourself. Take in all. Grow in Love. That is the new dress you have to

wear and shine on this day.

167.  I AM showing you by My example. You must fill every moment with useful

beneficial activity. You talk among yourselves, "Oh Swami is having his rest

hour; Swami is sleeping", but I have never craved, for a minute's rest or sleep

or relief. Shall I tell you at what time I feel restful, relieved and content?

When I know that you are all earning supreme Bliss through detachment and

spiritual discipline; not until then. I am ever engaged in some activity or

other for your benefit. Things that I could get done, I do not entrust to

others; I do them myself, so that they may learn self-reliance and get

experience thereby.

168.  YAMA or the God of death is described as dragging his victims to his abode

by means of the rope or "Paasa". Well, He has no rope-factory there, for

supplying him with the rope he needs. You manufacture the rope yourself and

have it ready around your neck; he has only to take hold of the rope and pull

you along! It is a three-stranded rope, the strands being "Ahamkara" (Egoism);

"Vishayavasana" (sense-attachment); and "Kama" (Desire).

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. THE 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.

With Sai love,

Sai brothers – ‘’

TO BE CONTINUED…