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Date29:2/2008 The cosmos does not exist. It is an illusion. It never is, has
been or will be. The creation of the cosmos, the dissolution of the cosmos,
these billions of individuals emerging and merging back, all this is but a
dream. There is no separate individualised soul (Jivatma), how can there be
billions of Jivatmas? There is only one Indivisible Complete Absolute. Like the
one sun reflected as a billion suns in a billion lakes and other water bodies,
the Jivatmas are but reflections of the One in the minds that it shines upon.
- BABA |
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Date28:2/2008 Virtues are more important than physical beauty. Observing the
good and bad in the world, one should develop discrimination to choose the
former. One should strive hard to cultivate virtues. Right from an early age,
one should inculcate good qualities and develop good character. Wherever one may
go, it is character that is of utmost importance. It is virtues that lend
greatness to any person. If everyone develops good character, the whole country
will become good.
- BABA |
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Date27:2/2008 The five elements each have a characteristic that affects and
attracts one of the five senses. The ether as sound fascinates the mind through
the ear; air as touch draws the mind to itself through the skin; fire as form
manipulates the mind in its favour through the eye; water as taste enslaves the
mind through the tongue; and earth as smell intoxicates the mind through the
nose. The senses interact with the external world and produce experiences which
yield joy or grief. Falsely identifying himself with the senses, man suffers in
the coils of attachment. He does not realize that he is neither the body nor the
senses, that he is Brahman (Godhead) Himself.
- BABA |
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Date26:2/2008 Through activity, man attains purity of consciousness. In fact,
man has to welcome activity with this end in view. And why strive for a pure
consciousness? If a bucket is filled with polluted and muddy water, can you see
its bottom? Similarly, within man's heart, deep down in his consciousness, we
have the Atma. But it can be cognized only when the consciousness is clarified.
Your imaginations, your inferences, your judgements and prejudices, your
passions, emotions and egoistic desires, muddy the consciousness and make it
opaque. How, then, can you become aware of the Atman, that is at the very base?
Through Seva (selfless service) rendered without any desire to placate one's ego
and with only the well-being of others in view, it is possible to cleanse the
consciousness and have the Atman revealed.
- BABA |
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Date25:2/2008 The first step to direct knowledge of God is spiritual practice;
the first step in spiritual practice is service to the Guru performed in total
faith and surrender. At the same time, the responsibility of the Guru is to
instruct the disciple on the nature of God, to instruct continuously and in
simple ways. When the disciple grasps this instruction, it becomes indirect
knowledge. This indirect knowledge can be transformed into direct knowledge by
constant recapitulation and by constantly turning it over in the mind.
- BABA |
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Date24:2/2008 Be always in the company of devotees of God. Through this Sathsang
(good company), Viveka (discrimination) and Vairagya (detachment) will be
inculcated in you. These qualities will strengthen the spirit and endow you with
inner peace. If the mind is subdued, that alone is enough; it is not then
necessary to conquer the external senses. If the mind has no attachment to the
sense objects, the senses have nothing to cling on to and they become powerless;
likes and dislikes are both starved out of existence. The bonds with the
objective world are cut, though the senses may still be affected by it. For him
who has been blessed by the awareness of the Atma, how can anything worldly
bring grief or joy?
- BABA |
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Date23:2/2008 The sacred scriptures of Bharat loudly proclaim that the
individual is the architect of his own fate. Whatever form the person craves for
now while alive in this birth, that form he attains after death. Therefore, it
is clear that Karma (consequences of one's actions) decides birth and wealth,
the character and attitude, the level of intelligence. The joys and sorrows of
this life are the earnings gathered during the previous life. The inference,
therefore, is inevitable that the next life of the individual will be in
consonance with the activities prompted by the level of Karma in this life.
- BABA |
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Date22:2/2008 Life has to be an incessant process of repair and reconstruction,
of discarding evil and developing goodness. Paddy grains have to be de-husked in
order to become edible as rice. Cotton has to be converted as yarn to become
wearable cloth. Gold nuggets have to be heated in the crucible to remove the
impurities. Man too, must purify his impulses, emotions and desires and
cultivate good thoughts, words and deeds so that he can progress spiritually.
- BABA |
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Date21:2/2008 God is not involved in either reward or punishment. He only
reflects, resounds and reacts. He is the eternal unaffected Witness. You decide
your own fate. Do good, be good, you get good in return; be bad, do bad deeds,
you receive bad results. Do not thank or blame God. He does not even will that
creation, protection and destruction shall take place. They follow the same law,
it is the innate law of the Maya-ridden (illusory) universe. Electric current,
for example, can be used by us to power fans to get cool breeze, light bulbs for
light, to magnify human speech, to make many copies of a printed sheet, etc. In
all these cases, it creates, but if you grasp the bare wire which carries the
current, you are killed. The current creates, it protects, it destroys; it all
depends on how we utilize it.
- BABA |
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Date20:2/2008 You have it in your power to make your days on earth a bed of
roses instead of a bed of thorns. Recognise the Sai resident in every heart and
everything will be smooth and easy. Sai will be the fountain of love in your
heart and in the hearts of all you come in contact with. Know that Sai is
Omnipresent and that He is present in every living being. Adore everyone as you
adore Sai.
- BABA |
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Date19:2/2008 There is no living being without the spark of love; even a mad man
loves something or somebody intensely. But, you must recognise this love as but
a reflection of the Premaswarupa (embodiment of Love) that is your reality, of
the God who is residing in your heart. Without that spring of Love that gushes
forth from your heart, you will not be prompted to love at all. Recognise that
spring, rely on it more and more, envelop the whole world with it, discarding
all traces of selfishness. Do not seek anything in return for it from those to
whom you extend it.
- BABA |
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Date18:2/2008 Love alone can reveal the Divinity latent in all. Love is God.
Live in Love. Love lives by giving and forgiving; self lives by getting and
forgetting. Love is selflessness. Do not waste your life pursuing the narrow
interests of the self. Love! Love! Become what you truly are - the embodiments
of Love. No matter how others treat you or what they think of you, do not worry.
Your own heart shining with Love is God's Love. You should constantly remind
yourself, "I am God." The day you see yourself as God, you become God.
- BABA |
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Date17:2/2008 Today, man aspires to attain Mukthi (liberation). What is Mukthi?
It is not the attainment of a heavenly abode. Mukthi means freedom from
suffering. One needs to have Mukthi at three levels - body, mind and soul. For
example, when one is hungry, one eats food and the hunger is satiated. This is a
kind of Mukthi. Suppose, one is suffering from a disease, one gets cured by
taking medicine. This is also a kind of Mukthi. All this is related to the body.
At the mental level, Mukthi means controlling the vagaries of the mind. But,
true liberation lies in understanding the principle of the Atma which neither
comes nor goes. This is termed as 'Nirvana'.
- BABA |
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Date16:2/2008 Today people study the Vedas and other scriptures as a ritual;
they do not put into practice any of their injunctions. Of what avail is it to
merely know how the Vedas and Upanishads have described the Divine, when this
knowledge is not reflected in one's life? Such a person is like a blind man who
hears about the existence of the world but cannot see it. The scriptures are
meant to provide guidance for practical living and not merely to be learnt by
rote.
- BABA |
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Date15:2/2008 The Vedas and Shastras, since they were won by penance and travail
by sages and seers, who were interested in the welfare of humanity and the
liberation of man, are the greatest repositories of Hitha (beneficence). They
advise that man must regulate his 'outer-look' and develop the 'inner-look'; the
inner reality is the foundation on which the outer reality is built. It is like
the steering wheel inside the car which directs the outer wheels. Know that the
basic reality is God. Become aware of it and stay in that awareness always.
Whatever be the stress and the storm, do not waver from that faith.
- BABA |
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Date14:2/2008 Life is a campaign against one's inner foes; it is a battle with
obstacles, temptations, hardships and hesitations. These foes are within man and
so, the battle has to be incessant and perpetual. Like the virus that thrives in
the bloodstream, the vices of lust, greed, hate, malice, pride and envy sap the
energy and faith of man and ruin him.
- BABA |
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Date13:2/2008 Atma is the embodiment of bliss, peace and love, but, without
knowing that all these exist in oneself, man seeks them from outside and
exhausts himself in that disappointing pursuit. Birds that fly far from the mast
of a ship on high seas have to return to that very mast, for they have no other
place to fold their tired wings and rest. Devoid of this Jnana (spiritual
wisdom), all efforts to seek spiritual bliss and peace will be futile.
- BABA |
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Date12:2/2008 When you try to prepare a meal, you may have with you all the
materials and ingredients you need but unless you have the fire in the hearth,
you cannot cook and make an edible meal out of it. So too with life, Jnana
(spiritual wisdom) is the fire which makes the material world and the external
activities, edible and tasty, healthy and joyful. That joy is called Ananda; it
is uplifting, it is illuminating, it is constructive. Iha-nivaasam (life in the
world) is for Para-praapthi (attaining salvation). That is to say, life 'here'
is for the sake of reaching 'there'.
- BABA |
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Date11:2/2008 The Lord’s grace is conferred on each devotee according to the
level of that person’s spiritual consciousness. The ocean is vast and boundless,
but the amount of water you can carry from it is determined by the size of the
vessel you take. If the vessel you carry is small, you cannot fill it beyond its
capacity. Likewise, if your heart is constricted, Divine grace will be equally
limited. Broaden your heart and receive the plenitude of God’s grace.
- BABA |
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Date10:2/2008 There is a technique by which the immortal Spirit can be
discovered. Though it may appear difficult, each step forward makes the next one
easier, and a mind that is made ready by discipline is able to discover the
Divine basis of man and creation in a flash. There is no short-cut to this
consummation. One has to give up all the tendencies that one has accumulated so
far and become light for the journey. Lust, greed, anger, malice, conceit, envy,
hate – all these tendencies have to be shed. It is not enough to listen to My
discourses and count the number you have listened to. The only thing that counts
is practising at least one of My teachings.
- BABA |
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Date9:2/2008 The company of the good and the godly will slowly and surely
reform and cleanse persons prone to stray away from the straight path towards
self-realisation. Care must be taken to see that you select and stick to proper
company. The Sathsang (holy company) that you join must be purer, more venerable
and wedded to higher ideals than yourself. It must be qualitatively higher and
greater than that in which you are now.
- BABA |
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Date8:2/2008 Each one must proceed from the place where he is, at his own pace,
according to his own light. But, if each has caught a glimpse of the Atmic
Reality, of the source from which he has emerged and the goal into which he is
to merge, then all will reach the goal of the journey, sooner or later. Once
that glimpse is received through Divine grace, the fascination for the body and
the senses which dominate it, and the world which feeds the senses will all
become meaningless and fade away; man will then have instead of the Deha-bhranti
(attachment for body) which now torments him, the yearning to know and be
established in the Dehi, the Divine Indweller.
- BABA |
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Date7:2/2008 God alone is the source and basis of bliss. Truth is the basis of
God. Righteousness is the basis of truth. Love is the basis of righteousness.
Faith is the basis of love. But man today has no faith. A person without
Vishwasa (faith) is verily without Shwasa (breath). A faithless man is virtually
a living corpse. Our ancient sages and seers therefore emphasised the need for
faith in God. But man today has become virtually blind having lost his faith. - BABA |
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Date6:2/2008 It is pure love that bestows liberation. You should endeavour to
attain this holistic love. To attain liberation, people undertake all sorts of
spiritual practices, but love is the undercurrent of all spiritual endeavours.
Bhakti (devotion) is a spiritual practice based on love. Devotion is not merely
singing Bhajans or performing sacred rituals. True devotion is a direct flow of
selfless and unconditional love from your heart to God. In the spiritual
practices that people undertake, there is some amount of selfishness. Offer your
love to God devoid of the least trace of selfishness or desire. The annihilation
of desire is verily liberation.
- BABA |
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Date5:2/2008 Service to man is service of the Lord. That is the path of real
Bhakti (devotion). For, what greater means can there be to please God than
pleasing His children? The Purusha Sukta (a Vedic hymn) speaks of the Purusha or
God as having a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet. That is to
say, all are God. Though there are a thousand heads, there is no mention of a
thousand hearts, there is only one heart. The same blood circulates through all
the heads, eyes, feet and limbs. When you tend the limb, you tend the whole
individual; when you serve man, you serve God.
- BABA |
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Date4:2/2008 There is no discipline equal to service for smothering the ego and
filling the heart with genuine joy. To condemn service as demeaning or inferior
is to forgo these benefits. A wave of service, if it were to sweep over all
lands, catching everyone in its enthusiasm, it would be able to wipe out the
mounds of hatred, malice and greed that infest the world. Attune your hearts so
that they will vibrate in sympathy with the woes of your fellowmen. Fill the
world with love.
- BABA |
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Date3:2/2008 The recognition of one's innate Divinity and the regulation of
one's daily life in accordance with that Truth are the guiding stars for those
who are caught in the currents and cross currents of strife and struggle.
Without that Atma Jnana (spiritual awareness), life becomes a meaningless farce,
a mockery. It is the acquisition of that awareness that makes life earnest,
sweet and fruitful.
- BABA |
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Date2:2/2008 Do all work as an offering to God; do not classify some as ‘my
work’ and some as ‘His work’. All work is His; He alone exists, for all this
manifold universe is but God seen through the mirror of Nature. Everything is
for the attainment of the Supreme, and to be utilised for that purpose. Nothing
is to be used as itself, for itself. For the followers of Sai, this is the
proper way of life.
- BABA |
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Date1:2/2008 Do not allow faith to falter when failure comes to your door. Meet
it as a new challenge and triumph over it. Your faith must not be like your
breath; for the breath comes in and goes out every moment. Let your faith be
firm, with no alternations of entrances and exits. If faith is in one continuous
stream, then Grace will be showered on you in one full continuous stream. God is
with you at all stages and in all situations. Love Him from the depths of your
heart. Take refuge in Him, He will definitely protect you. It is said 'Yad
Bhaavam Tad Bhavathi.' meaning, "as is the feeling, so is the result". God will
come to your rescue if you have total faith in Him.
- BABA |
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