SATHYA SAI SPEAKS - Volume III [Ch. 29, 30, 31, 32]

[Guest guest]

Dear Sai brothers and sisters of the worldwide '' family,

In view of the ensuing glorious event of the 80th Birthday of the Divine Lord

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, we are posting the Divine Messages titled as

‘Sathya Sai Speaks’ for the benefit of our members and all the Sai devotees the

world over. We request members to pass on/forward/spread these Divine messages

to your Sai circle so that they also derive spiritual benefits and bliss from

them. These Divine Messages are not only for Sai devotees, they are for the

entire HUMANITY. Lord Krishna taught humanity the ways and means of salvation

for mankind in ‘Bhagavad Gita’ in Dwapara Yuga. ‘Sathya Sai speaks’ is the

Bhagavad Gita of Kali Yuga. - With Sai love, Sai brothers -

’’

***

Om Sri Sai Ram

SATHYA SAI SPEAKS - Volume III [Ch. 29, 30, 31, 32]

29. LOKA KALYAANAM

ONE meaning of Karma, which is popularly accepted, is that it is one's destiny,

or fate, the inescapable "writing" on the brow, which has to work itself out.

There is no escaping it. But people forget that some other hand does not write

it. It is all written by one's own hand. And the hand that wrote it can also

wipe it off. The husk, with which the paddy is born, can be removed by effort;

the Maya (worldly illusory power) which persuaded you to write all that destiny

can be conquered in an instant and then, the entire page can be wiped away.

Men are spinning cocoons for themselves; they suffer because they are unable to

come out of it into the world of light. They are like the monkeys caught by the

wandering beggar, dancing at the end of the rope and begging paisa from those

sitting round the ring. Shankara said that he would willingly offer the monkey

(mind) to Shiva so that He may teach it tricks which please Him and use it for

getting alms for Himself. That is to say, Shankara proposed to fill his mind

with thoughts of God, so that the monkey would be tamed and made to serve God's

purpose. You too must make the mind the servant of God, not the slave of the

senses.

Criterion to determine the Dharma of each person

You must have watched a bird sitting on a branch that wave in the wind. It is

unafraid, because it has more confidence in its wings than in the branch; it

knows that any moment, it can take to its wings and leave off the perch, the

uncertain perch. The branch is Prakrithi (objective world) and the wings are

the anugraha (grace) of the Lord. Develop strength of wing and sit on any tree.

You won't come to harm. But, if you trust Prakrithi and rely only upon the

protection it gives, you fall.

Mullapoodi Narayana Shastri and Vaajapeyam Venkateshwara Avadhaani both spoke

now of the difficulty of demarcating what exactly is dharma (duty) and what the

criterion is to determine the dharma of each person. Well, the dharma that you

have to follow is to be what you profess to be. This is an easy and

intelligible test. If you feel and believe that you are a Brahmin, then you

have to follow the dharma as laid clown for a Brahmin. If you feel and are

convinced that you are the Atman, then your dharma is the Atma dharma

(divine-oriented duty). If you feel and are certain that you are the body,

then, the Deha dharma (body-oriented duty) is the dharma for you.

But, every one must imbibe higher values and consider himself as Atma and follow

the Atma dharma. That is the mission for which I have come. That is the work of

the Vidhwan Mahasabha. Wherever the ants may be, sugar will be placed near the

entrance leading to their colonies. 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.

Devotees seldom know what is good for them

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, to open their eyes, before they get deeper into

the morass.

The Organisation that was inaugurated yesterday will approach the people, those

who are as yet ignorant of the great teachings of Veda and Vedanta, who have

not enough capacity to digest it and assimilate it into their system; so it

will be given in small easily assimilable doses, with love and sympathy. Each

one of those Pundits will contribute some share to the eradication of Ajnaana.

The watchword will be "Thamaso maa jyothir-gamaya,”.... "Lead me from darkness

to light"---the ancient Vedic prayer. It will be lighting the lamp in village

after village, lighting little lamps from these big lamps.

This work has to be done; but the rulers won't take it up, nor do the ruled ask

that it be done. Unless the child starts wailing, the mother will not feed it.

But, this Mother is different. She knows that the child must be fed and when it

is to be. The advent itself was according to My Sankalpa (Resolve); every step

in this Avatar is due to My own Sankalpa; not due to the prayer or petition of

devotees. The devotees seldom know what is good for them.

Foster the Vedas and ensure world prosperity

Since Brahmins are the custodians of the Vedas and the Sasthras, fostering the

Brahmin will foster the Vedas and the Sasthras and ensure Loka Kalyana (world

prosperity). There are some who say that the Brahmin has monopolized the Vedas

and Sasthras and that he is misusing that monopoly for his aggrandizement; it

is said that the Veda is a huge conspiracy by a clique of Brahmins for

promoting the wealth of that community. This is very far from truth. Look at

all the rules and regulations, the prohibitions and denials, which the Brahmin

has to observe; they were all laid down for the Brahmin by Brahmins themselves.

Eating, drinking, moving about, sleeping, conversing, working, giving,

receiving, earning, spending---all the various activities of living are

controlled by hundreds of restrictions. This does not convey the impression of

a clique bent upon

enjoying at the expense of the rest of the community.

Moreover, the regulated life of the Brahmin and the rites, vows, fasts, and

Japam, which he undertakes as part of his duty, are intended to benefit the

whole world, for securing Loka Kalyana. As a matter of fact, you must encourage

more and more Brahmins to keep up the traditional way of regulated He. That is

also one of the purposes of the Vidhwanmahaasabha. Goddess Bhawani gave a sword

to Shivaji and sent him on Her work of restoring Dharma (righteousness). This

Shiva-Shakthi is giving into the hands of these Pundits the sword dhairyam

(courage) and asking them to go forth in order to re-educate our people and

remove their ajnaana. Shivaji's sword was always used on behalf of.... Dharma

only. Once, when Shivaji with his army paid a visit to the Ashram of Samartha

Ramadas, his

soldiers invaded the field opposite and plucking the sugar cane, they ate off

the entire crop. Besides, when the owner protested, they beat him off with the

cane itself. Shivaji heard about this and he not only punished the soldiers for

the theft but, on the recommendation of his Guru, he made the land of the

peasant tax free for all time!

These Pundits know the medicine for the Bhavaroga (worldly disease); learn it

from them and begin taking it. Attend the meetings, which they will address in

the villages wherever your District Committee arranges. Accept whatever good

they give. Become the soldiers of Prashanthi, to drive away the Chinese from

your hearts, those who are undermining your awareness of the Atma. Honoring

them is honoring Me; neglecting them, is neglecting the Vedas and Sasthras and

it is as foolish as neglecting Me.

Prashanthi Nilayam, 21-10-1963

30. PURUSHA AND PURUSHOTTHAMA

MAN has known about everything else, except death. Why should a person die? Of

what benefit is it to die? Why does he die? The answer is in order that he may

not die again. He is born, so that he may not get born again. Having been born,

man earns and acquires land, riches, materials, grain, articles of comfort and

luxury, which he feels will give him happiness and which therefore become the

objects of his struggle. But, the object of realizing God is forgotten. You may

ask: "Why should any one seek company, do good deeds, direct his mind towards

good thoughts?" You are listening to Me and what do you get when you so listen?

You agree that I am giving you Ananda, is it not? Well, what do you give Me in

return? Give Me the Aacharana (following, observing) of what I am telling you;

practice what I

teach, that is enough. That is all I ask. Man should not die like a cat or a

dog. He should leave the world better and happier than when he came into it. He

must get away, full of gratitude for the chance given to him to see God in

everything that he saw, heard, touched, smelt and tasted. He must remember the

Lord, with his last breath.

Never allow your attention to stray away from God

To get that recollection, a lifetime of practice is needed. When you are at the

steering wheel of the car, you may be hearing the talk going on inside the car

and even join in it; you may be doing many other things, but, your attention

will always be on the road ahead. When the mother returns from the well with

three pots one over the other on her head, talking to her companions, her mind

is concentrated on the baby in the cradle, which she has left at home. So too,

when you are engaged in the various duties and obligations of the world, never

allow your attention to stray away from God, the Goal. Be always attentive to

the signs of His Glory and His Mercy and His Omnipresence. A soldier is the

result of many years of intense training; his courage and coolness on the front

line are the product of several years of calculated exercise and discipline. As

Raani Narsimha Shastri said, it is only after years of intense study that one

can appear for an examination and the results are not announced immediately;

you have to wait some more time for that. So, cultivate the habit of

remembering the Lord with every breath; then only can you remember Him with the

last breath.

There was an old man lying on his deathbed. I think he belonged to the Kannada

country. While in his last moments, he could only blabber some word, which his

children could not understand; they called in a doctor and asked him to give

oxygen or something so that the words might become clear; they surmised that he

was announcing to them where exactly he had kept the money he had earned. So,

they did everything to get the words correctly. They could distinguish only one

sound, ka! So they asked whether he meant kanaka (gold) karu (calf), kanaja

(granary) kasabarike (broom)! When the broom was shown, he nodded his head and

died. So, he had to take birth as a broom!

Death is a consummation which is inevitable

You should not die like that man; you must die like Bheeshma. He lay on the bed

of arrows while he taught the Shaanthiparva to the Pandavas, and he died with

Krishna before him and in his heart. Death is considered as something to be

afraid off as something that should not be spoken about in happy circumstances!

But, death is neither good nor bad. You have no choice in the matter. You can't

get it sooner if you welcome it; nor can you avoid it if you condemn it as bad.

It is a consummation, which is inevitable; from the moment of birth, the march

to the cremation ground has started. Some reach the place quicker than others;

some go by a round about route and arrive late. That is the only difference,

between man and man. But, yet, man walks about as if death is but a distant

calamity. When some neighbor loses his child, you console him saying that

it is alia dream, that children are born and die because they are creditors who

have come to realize old debts incurred in previous births, etc., etc. But,

when you lose a child of your own, you do not console yourselves by the same

arguments. They are only for the consumption of others.

What dies is the body, not its occupant

Arjuna addresses Krishna as Purushotthama, for He only is Supreme amongst the

Purushas. Purusha means He who is in this Pain (fortified town), namely, this

body. Each body has the Purusha in it and the entire Universe has the

Purushotthama immanent in it. So, after all, what dies is the body, not the

occupant of the body, the Purusha. The faith that you have the Purusha in you,

will cleanse the mind of all evil and the senses of all evil propensities. The

vessel too must be clean, not merely the drink. Without that, smarana or

dhyaana done for however long periods they may be, will not yield fruit. That

is why the Vedas were entrusted to the Brahmins, along with rigorous rules of

discipline. Without minds cleansed by that discipline, the study of the Vedas

is a barren

exercise.

When a man was about to die, the wife asked, "What is to happen to me?" The

parents asked the same question; the children asked, "What is to happen to us?"

Even the servants asked piteously, "What is to happen to us?" The dying man

looked around helplessly and asked all of them "What is to happen to me?" He

should have foreseen the event, if he was wise and prepared himself with an

answer to that question. Then he could have died in peace and seeing him die so

calmly, his children too could have benefited.

Now, a fashion is spreading in conversation; "Oh! It is all God's Grace," when

something you consider good happens to you. If it happens to somebody you don't

like, it is not God's Grace evidently, for God is specially yours and not the

other fellow's. When something you dislike happens to you, why don't you take

that also to be a sign of God's Grace? Resign yourself into God's hands; let

Him give success or failure, what does it matter? He may be bent upon

toughening you, or it may be for your good in the long run. How can you judge?

Who are you to judge? Why judge? Do your best and keep mum. Fix your mind on

this attitude.

Death will not give advance information

You don't know when the cameraman is going to click. Mathew, who takes

photographs at the Nilayam, at least jumps about in front of you with the

camera pointed at this place or that; but, Death will not give any advance

intimation, or say, 'Ready' and wait until you are ready. Therefore, be ready

always, so that you may produce a good impression with His Name on your lips

and His Form in your cleansed heart.

You do not now realize your good boon in getting Me as the Guide. I shall not

rest until I reform all of you. The basement for My work has ' been completed:

now, the structure will rise upon it. I go round the whole world alone, with no

paraphernalia and no publicity, because I am established in My own Glory, in My

own Truth. I have Atmic relationship with all, and so I am always succeeding.

To protect the crop, the weeds have to be removed and manure must be applied;

that is the work of these Pundits of the Vidhwanmahaasabha, instruments that

were long unused and neglected. Join this great work; it is the chance of a

lifetime for you.

Prashanthi Nilayam, 20- 10- 1963

The ills of the country are due to under-nourishment; not so much

under-nourishment of the body, but under-nourishment of the spirit, want of

spiritual exercise, neglect of spiritual regimen. Allowing the malady the

fullest scope, people are engaged in reciting the names of the drugs in the

pharmacopoeia! They do not make any attempt to take the drug in. The means of

conveying into every home and village the life-giving waters of the spirit have

all dried up or got choked up. That is the reason why under-nourishment, with

all its attendant symptoms of debility, nervous disorder and mania is so

rampant today. - Sathya Sai Baba

31. THE GEETHA BALANCE

MANY Pundits and scholars have explained the Geetha in many ways to you all

these days; if you ask Me, I will say that the Geetha is like a balance,

scales, needle and all. The scale on the left is shloka 7, of the second

chapter, speaking of "Kaarpanya dosha." The fulcrum is the 22nd sloka of the

Ninth Chapter, beginning with "Ananyaaschinthayantho maam;" and the scale on

the right is the shloka in the eighteenth chapter, speaking of "Sarva-dharmaan

parithyajya." See how apt the fulcrum shloka is; it speaks of single- minded

attention, steady, like the needle of a well-adjusted balance! Really, the

Geetha begins with two scales and a fulcrum, the two armies, of Righteousness

and Unrighteousness, with Krishna the Teacher in the middle! We have the two

scales of Loukika and

A-loukika (worldly and other worldly), clamouring for attention and respect,

jnaana (spiritual knowledge) alone can remove the ajnaana (ignorance)of Arjuna,

that is the Sankalpa (Will) of the Lord.

The Jnaana has to be put into practice. Otherwise, it is useless. Once the deer

of the forest gathered in a great assembly and discussed their own cowardice in

the face of the pursuing hounds. They argued, "Why should we, who are equipped

with fleeter feet and sharp antlers, be afraid of these insignificant dogs?" At

last, a resolution was moved and passed that no deer should henceforth flee

before hounds but, even while the cheering was going on, they heard the distant

baying of the hounds and, not one stayed there; all had fled as fast as their

legs could carry them! The resolution could not be put into practice!

Karma has to be done as it is one's nature

Now these Pundits are well versed in the art of teaching and explaining the

sacred scriptures to the people; what is lacking is training for the people in

the art of listening to them and following their suggestions for spiritual

advancement. The art of engaging in karma (action) without getting involved is

the thing that has to be learnt, Karma has to be done, because it is part of

one's nature, not out of any external compulsion. Surya (Sun) is a Sahaja

karmachaari (worker by nature), He draws the vapors of water high up to form

clouds which pours back as rain; no one taught Him to do this. When you do the

sahaja karma (action dictated by nature), it won't be a burden. It is when you

go contrary to it and do something out of the way that you feel the misery.

The police constable's life is not sahaja (natural); so, he feels happy when he

comes home, and doffing his uniform, gets into ordinary clothes. When the baby

wails, all rush towards the cradle because its sahajakarma is to smile and be

contentedly happy. So too, karma done for the profit arising therefrom

accumulates consequences which bind a man. It increases in size like a

snowball, but karma done without any thought of the fruit therefrom, keeps on

diminishing and leaves you free from all consequence.

One cannot escape from doing karma

The Dharma-karmas (virtuous actions) have to be done; there is no escape.

Fleeing to the forest is no solution, for it only gives the situation a new

turn. Your body may be in the jungle, but your mind will wander in the market

place! There was a Sadhaka (spiritual seeker) once who was initiated by a Yogi

into some mantra (holy words); he wanted to meditate on it undisturbed and he

found his home too full of distraction. He fled to the forest and discovered a

convenient tree, under which he could meditate. Before long, the birds roosting

on its branches started to clamor aloud and they showered on his head their

droppings. He was greatly incensed. "Have I no place where I can commune with

God", he cried. "Children at home; birds and bats in the jungle! I shall

immolate myself, get born under better auspices and then, start

Sadhana afresh," he decided.

So, he collected a pile of fuel and making a pyre out of it, lit it and was

about to ascend it, when an old man who accosted him interrupted him. He said,

"By all means, carry out your decision; but, just as now the wind blows from

here towards those huts where we live; so, please wait until the wind turns its

direction, for, the smell of burning human flesh does not agree with us. Or, if

you are in hot haste, you can shift to some other place and avoid being a

nuisance to us, poor folk." The Sadhaka felt he had no freedom even to die. So,

he returned home, and decided to brave it all there itself. He understood that

karma has to be carried through in the objective world itself and there is no

use trying to shake it off in a huff. From the A-Shanthi---the confusion and

travail of the world---one has to snatch harmony and

peace.

Be in the world, but not of it

Vishnu is described as "Bhujaga shyanam" (lying on the snake) and also as

Shaanthaakaaram! The bhujaga (snake) which has visha (poison) represents the

vishaya (worldly desires) and when you rest upon it, instead of allowing it to

envelop you, you can afford to have shantham (peace). Let your boat be on the

waters, but do not allow the waters to enter the boat. Be in the world, but,

not of it. That is the secret of a successful life.

Desire leads to ultimate ruin. It can never be destroyed by fulfillment. It

grows upon each satisfaction and becomes a monster that devours the victim him

self: so, try to reduce your desires, go on reducing them. There was once a

pilgrim who accidentally sat under the Kalpatharu (a wish granting tree)! He

was terribly thirsty and said to himself, "How I wish some one gave me a cup of

sweet cool water!" And, immediately, there was placed before him a cup of

deliciously cool water.

He was surprised, but, drank it nevertheless. Then, he wished for a meal of

tasty dishes, and he got it in a trice. This led to a wish for a cot and a bed

and when he wished his wife was there to see all this wonder, she appeared in

an instant. The poor pilgrim mistook her for an apparition and when he

exclaimed, ,"O she is an ogress!" she became one, and the husband shook in

terror, crying, "She will now eat me up," which she promptly did!

The chain of desire binds one to the point of suffocation. Control, curb your

tendency to wish for this and that. Tell the Lord, "You are enough for me. I do

not wish for anything else." Why pine after golden jewels? Pine for gold. The

Geetha teaches the lesson of Sharanaagathi (unconditional surrender to the

Lord); wish for His Will to prevail, not your wish to succeed. This is what

Krishna meant when He said, "Be a Sarvaarambha parithyaagi (one who renounces

all self-centered actions)."

Sharanaagathi is the main gate to attain Mukthi

Death is but a passage from this life to the next; it is the change from old

clothes to new, as the Geetha says. But, some cynics laugh at the comparison

and ask, what about the death of newborn infants, children, youths and

middle-aged persons? Their bodies cannot by any stretch of meaning be

classified as jeerna, (worn-out)! Well, the clothes might not be old, but the

cloth out of which they were made must have been from very old stock, so that

though new clothes were prepared out of it, they had to be discarded soon.

Again, there are some crooked men who refuse to believe in a previous life,

because they cannot recollect the events! These people cannot recollect the

events of one particular Magha Shuddha Dhashami, say, 5 or 10 years ago, though

they are certain they were alive on that Dhashami! Forgetting the events of that

day

does not mean that they were not alive at all; it only means that they did not

pay any special heed to them, they had no lakshyam (objective) or special

reason to keep it in memory.

Sharanaagathi is the main gate to enter the mansion of Mukthi (liberation from

birth-death cycle). It has four floors- Dhyaana, Karma, Bhakti and Jnaana

(meditation, activism, devotion and spiritual knowledge). Each floor rests upon

the one beneath and the topmost one cannot be reached without ascending the

first three. Remember this when you hear people arguing about the relative

superiority of the yogas or labeling themselves as 'this' or 'that' in the

Aadhyaathmik (spiritual) field.

Human life is superior even to the life of gods

The Geetha does not refer to any problem of family or social life. It teaches

the spiritual aspirant the Path that leads to perfect communion with the

Divinity inherent in himself. The reason why Bulusu Appanna Shastri extolled

this human life as superior to the life not only of beasts but even to the life

of the Gods, is that man alone can strive to squeeze out of his experience of

this objective world, answers to questions on his own origin, significance and

goal. Ramachandra Shastri indicated the measures for clearing the mind of

enmeshing obstacles so that the answers might be reflected therein. And the

third Pundit who spoke today, Maddulapalli Sathyanarayana Shastri made it clear

from the Sasthras that the world has Shaantham, Aanandham and Jnaanam (Peace,

Bliss and Spiritual Knowledge) as its fundamental base, real

Reality. What is needed is to remove the shade that is hiding the effulgence,

the screen that covers the truth from view. The Prashanthi Vidhwanmahaasabha

has been designed by Me for this very purpose.

Prashanthi Nilayam, 24-10-1963

Try to break the coconut, as it comes from the tree; the shell is covered

compactly by a coat of fiber. You cannot break the nut by hitting with a

crow-bar even; take off the fibrous Armour; breaking it is very easy. When you

take a coconut to be offered in the temple, you take it, after removing the

fiber; then, you offer it to God, breaking it into two halves. This is the

symbol for destroying the ego and surrendering to the Lord. So you have to

remove the fiber of desire for sense-objects and then, go before the Lord

devoid of Kama and Krodha (desire and anger); there you declare that you are

ego-less by breaking the coconut into two. You will be accepted then, not

before - Sathya Sai Baba

32. THATH-THWAM

PERI Venkateshwara Shastri and others by their speeches relieved you from

hunger; now, it is My turn to sharpen your yearning, which is the hunger of the

mind for the higher joy. When Dharma declines or rather, when those who have a

duty to regulate their lives according to dharma lose faith in it, then, its

restoration cannot be taken up by all and sundry. A broken bridge on a highway

cannot be set right by amateur skill and the momentary enthusiasm of the

villagers around. The very authority, which laid down the road and planned the

bridge, has to initiate repair. The Lord has come again on this Mission; He has

collected the engineers and contractors and the labour for the purpose. He is

now set on the task.

When Krishna knew that Brahma had taken away and hidden the cows and calves and

the cowherds and boys, the whole lot of them that had gone out of their homes

into the pastures, He created anew, the same number, the same types, the same

persons, cattle and all, and nobody suspected for one full year that the

genuine was hidden and that it was the duplicate that was in the village

everywhere. All that was thus created was Krishna thathwa (true nature of

Krishna), just as all that was hidden by Brahma Was also Krishna thathwa. You

too are Krishna thathwa; what other thathwa is there, really?

Everyone must be conscious of Krishna thathwa

Even now with Me, My Maayaasrishti (creation out of the void) is for some

definite purpose; just as it was then. Then it was to purify and sanctify the

Gopis; now, too, the aim is to purify and sanctify. Nara is limited and

deluded; when that limit is crossed and when that delusion is gone, he is

Narayana and he shines in his thathwa.

Every one must be conscious of this thathwa, which is his reality. To make each

one conscious of it is the aim of those who come for Dharmasthaapana (revival

of righteousness). In the Mahabaratha, the most noteworthy theme is this

Dharmasthapana. When the Pandavas were exiled into the forest, it is as if the

five Praanas (life breath) of Dharma, the sustaining forces of Dharma, were

exiled. Dharmaraaja is the Praana of the Right Conduct, Bheema, of the

Protective Might of Dharma, Arjuna of the Faith and Devotion needed as its

foundation, Nakula and Sahadeva, of the steadfast faith essential for the

practice of Dharma. When the Pandavas went to the forest, Hasthinaapura was

reduced to Asthinaapura---a city of bones, without flesh and blood.

You call Me Dharmamuurthi (personification of Virtue). No, each of you is a

Dharmamuurthi. But, you have strayed away; to bring you back to the status that

you have lost, that is My aim. This Prashanthi Vidhwanmahaasabha, which has been

established here this Navarathri, will be doing just that job. Today, its aims

and objects as well as the methods of working were discussed and settled, it is

your Sabha; you can make use of it, in proportion to your Bhakti (devotion) and

your Shakthi (capacity). The deposits which these Pundits have made in jnaanam

and thapas (penance) are yours; draw Cheques on them and they will give you the

riches, without question.

The sowing part of the work has begun

Pundits and scholars of Vedas and Sasthras have been suffering a lot, due to

neglect by society. But, that is not the result of their having studied the

Vedas; it is because they have not put what they have learnt into action. Every

one must wait till the fruit is ripe. It will take time for the growth of the

tree, for its blossoming, for the fruits to appear, to ripen and to be filled

with sweet juice. Pluck it before time and you have to throw it away. Why? To

become a graduate and take a degree, one has to struggle with the alphabet at

first, then read words formed by the letters, then study sentences and finally

complete texts.

The fruition of their studies has come now, after all these years, when the

Pundit’s have secured this medium for sharing their joy and their wisdom with

their brothers and sisters. The Pundits have been allotted districts and a

selected few will be supervising the programmes in each district. The District

Committees will arrange meetings and invite the Pundits for the three-day

sessions of the Sabha.

The light is in you, you are the light

This is the sowing part of the work, sowing the seeds of the Karma kaanda, the

Upaasana kaanda and the Jnaana kaanda, of Vedanta, of Dharma Sasthras, of the

Glory of God as described in the Ramayana, the Mahabaratha, and the Bhagavatha.

You have to look after the fields, tend the young crop, feed it with manure of

manana, and rid it of pests, and harvest the happiness that comes from eating

the nourishing grain. That is the real agriculture for you. Chance to share in

this agriculture will come only to a few, the few who are endowed with the

merit of many lives.

First, the Sabha will be concerned with Andhra Pradesh and later, it will reach

out into the Karnataka and Kerala States, and then into all the States of

India, and within a short time, even outside India. Already, there are quite a

few Sathya Sai Sanghas outside India and they are pressing for the extension of

Swami’s Grace in this form too to their places.

The first profit from such a Sabha is that you will be able to tend and develop

something that is specially India. I am saying this, because you understand

only the language of profit. Whatever you are asked to do, the first question

is, "How much will be the profit?" This greed for laabha (profit) has made you

sink in lobha (greed)! The highest profit is the arrival through this road back

at the place from where you came, your Swasthaana.

Brahma who was born in the lotus that arose out of the navel of Vishnu wondered

how he came to be there and it seems he searched and searched for the place

from where he came. He could not trace it at all. But, by some little thought,

you can know, from where you came, or, rather, what your real nature is. Then

what remains is the attempt to attain it. That is what Liberation, or Moksha

means.

Simple faith in the words of the wise is more profitable than years of study and

discussion. Meditate on such a Mahaavaakya as "Thath-thwam-asi" (That thou art)

and as you go on revolving it in your mind, meanings will dawn upon you,

without the help of any commentary. Commentaries only tend to confuse you.

Think of the 'Thath' (Divinity); analyse the 'thwam’ (yourself); and then, you

will be convinced that 'asi' (equality) is the only solution. You are in the

Light; the Light is in you; you are the Light---these are the steps.

Prashanthi Nilayam, 25-10- 1963

You can be free from fear only when you are confident of the strength of the

foundation. You do not see your breath or weigh it; but breath is the very

sustenance of life. The unseen is the basis of the seen. If you are caught up

in the meshes of the seen, you cannot know the importance of the unseen. -

Sathya Sai Baba

TO BE CONTINUED…

With Sai love from Sai brothers – ‘’

Source and Courtesy: http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume03/sss03

Start your day with - make it your home page