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Date30:9/2008 Faith is essential for human progress in every field. Knowledge,
and hence, wisdom can be earned only by means of faith and effort. Equipped with
these, man can scale great heights and emerge victorious. However, one has to be
warned against cultivating too much faith in things that are merely material.
One has to root it deep in the eternal Truth, God. Faith is power. Without
faith, living is impossible. We have faith in tomorrow following today. That is
what makes us take up activities that extend beyond this day. People with no
faith cannot plan; they court misery by their want of faith.
- BABA |
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Date29:9/2008 You 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.
- BABA |
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Date28:9/2008 The ego brings wave after wave of wants and wishes before your
attention, and tempts you to attempt to satisfy them. This is a never-ending
circle. So try to reduce your wants and expand the range of your love in order
to be free from the coils of your ego. Living involves many confrontations,
companionships, separations, conflicts and neglects. We have to give up both the
types of contacts - the repugnant and the pleasant. Attach yourself to God and
the delusion of the world will automatically fall off.
- BABA |
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Date27:9/2008 There is no need to go in quest of God. In fact, it is God who is
in search of a genuine and steadfast devotee. Today's Sadhaka (spiritual
aspirant) is approaching God for the fulfilment of his petty desires. He does
not seek to understand the nature of true love or the Divinity that underlies
everything. Just as the sun can be seen only by its own light, the love of the
Divine can be acquired only by Divine Grace and not by pursuing some trivial
practices. The Sadhanas (spiritual practices) that the Sadhaka undertakes are
invariably motivated by selfish objectives. Only when the Sadhaka's heart is
filled with the Divine, will he be able to entertain pure and sacred love.
- BABA |
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Date26:9/2008 What 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).
- BABA |
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Date25:9/2008 You 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.
- BABA |
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Date24:9/2008 During our lives we accept the help rendered to us by many
thousands. We have to pay back this debt by helping as many people as we can.
With genuine keenness or readiness to serve others, you can be happy in any
group or community. Derive bliss through Seva (service) that is done without any
desire to get something in return. When you get a chance to help someone,
rejoice at your good fortune. The very eagerness to serve others will endow you
with the power and skill necessary for the required service.
- BABA |
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Date23:9/2008 People complain of grief, sorrow and distress. These are but
reactions to the loss of something that one already possesses, or the failure to
gain something that is desired. Therefore, the only way to escape sorrow is to
conquer the desire for the illusory. See the world as God. That vision will
scotch desire. When one's desire is focused on God, success is assured and every
step contributes to the achievement of Divine Bliss.
- BABA |
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Date22:9/2008 Without self-knowledge, man is led into the belief that the
objective world is true and everlasting, and into the neglect of the true and
the eternal. He ignores the Atma, the Divine Principle that he is. Denying the
Atma, disregarding its mandate, ignoring its existence - these are the roots of
grief. Through Karma (activity) one becomes a moral individual and one starts
seeking the basis of morality (Brahman). One discovers that virtue and morality
add to one's Ananda (Bliss) and that all Ananda everywhere flows from Brahman
Itself. One realises that activity devoid of this awareness is barren and
binding.
- BABA |
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Date21:9/2008 all the efforts that you make, if you place your trust in a Higher Power, the
work becomes easy. This reliance on the Lord, the source of all power, results
out of one's intense devotion. When you travel by train, you only have to
purchase the ticket, enter the right train and take a seat, leaving the rest to
the engine. So too, put your trust in the Lord and carry on to the best of your
ability. Have faith in the Lord and His Grace. Try to earn it using the
intelligence and the discrimination He has endowed you with.
- BABA |
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Date20:9/2008 The world is one vast community. Every individual in it is a part
of this community, bound to it by the bonds of love. This love is there, deep in
the heart of every man. It is the Vishwa-Prema (all encompassing love) that
flows from one spark of the Divine to all other sparks. When the eyes shine
illumined by the highest wisdom of Jnana, they see all as the One. Man realises
that Sarvam Brahmamayam Jagath (the entire universe is pervaded by Brahman). To
have this One revealed as in All, one has to develop faith and discipline the
mind. The mind has to shed its fancies and foibles; the Truth has to be known
and experienced.
- BABA |
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Date19:9/2008 One 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.
- BABA |
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Date18:9/2008 When an individual seeks fulfilment outside himself, he fails; if
he seeks it within himself, he is successful in obtaining it. The divine
principle within us is always accessible and always responsive. Pain is felt
only as long as attachment or aversion to outer forms remains. Ultimate relief
from pain can come only by the effacement of the ego, by the elimination of that
which reacts to one thing as pain and to another as pleasure, and whose memory
and conditioning sustains the recognition of the dualities of joy and grief.
- BABA |
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Date17:9/2008 No object in the world can be without a creator. Everything we use
in our daily life has been made by someone. But, there are also objects which
are beyond the capacity of humans to create. The stars which twinkle in the sky,
the sun and moon that illumine the whole world, all these demonstrate the
existence of a superior power. These are not human creations. Have they come
into existence by themselves or have they been created by some invisible force?
The supreme power which has the capacity to create such marvels has been
described by the Vedas as Aprameya, one who is beyond all proofs and all
limitations. He cannot be described in words. The primary object of man must be
to seek to understand this Infinite Power.
- BABA |
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Date16:9/2008 The joy you seek and the Self-realization you aim at are both
within you. They cannot be found in the external world. This condition is
similar to that of a person who begs for food on the street even though there
are sweets and delicacies in his own home. You imagine that the world and its
objects confer happiness on you. This is an illusion created by your mind. It is
only when you follow the discriminating intellect that you will be able to enjoy
true peace and joy.
- BABA |
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Date15:9/2008 Those who wish to establish themselves in Divinity must seek
solitude, practise Dhyana (meditation) and Japa (repetition of God's name) at
specified times, acquire one-pointedness through these practices, and be always
engaged in deeds for the welfare of all beings. They should always be engaged in
performing work without any concern for the fruits thereof.
- BABA |
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Date14:9/2008 When boring is done to draw water from the bowels of the earth,
the pipe has to be kept free of air so that the water will rise up. If the air
enters, the water cannot rise up in the pipe. So too, be sure that attachment to
worldly things does not mar your spiritual effort. Love will not rise up if
sensual pleasure or personal pride invade the mind.
- BABA |
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Date13:9/2008 Life is a long garland of blossoms, fair and faded, fragrant and
futile. They are, so to say, the good and bad of life. Man recognizes only the
blossoms, happy over some, unhappy over most; he does not see the string on
which they are bound together, the Brahmasutra, the everlasting and ever-fresh
principle of divinity that holds all the short-lived flowers together. Just as
sparrows during a storm fly towards a warm shelter, man too, must take shelter
in the Divine principle to escape from the storms of life.
- BABA |
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Date12:9/2008 This day is the sacred day when the Lord as Vamana Avatar
conferred liberation on Emperor Bali. Bali was a great emperor. He loved his
subjects and looked after their welfare. Poverty was unknown in his realm. He
felt proud about his kingdom and his people, and thus suffered from a slight
sense of ego. Lord Vamana incarnated to eradicate the undesirable quality of ego
in Emperor Bali by effacing even this pride and thereby redeem him. Before
leaving for the nether world, Bali gave a promise to his people, whom he loved
dearly. He said that he would visit them every year on the day of Onam and bless
them.
- BABA |
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Date11:9/2008 Love God with steadfast devotion and faith, have fear of sin and
practise morality in society. If you want morality in society, you should
develop love for God. If you love God, you will have fear of sin. Today people
without fear of sin commit heinous acts. This contradicts the very nature of
humans. The body is a house given to you on rent. The owner is God. Live there
as long as He wills, thanking Him and paying Him the rent of faith and devotion.
- BABA |
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Date10:9/2008 Tat Twam Asi: Thou are that. This is the highest and holiest
teaching. You are the indestructible Atma. It is for the sake of the Atma that
you have the physical body and so in the attempt to realise God here and now,
you must be prepared to sacrifice the body at any moment. The body is only an
instrument, an implement given by God. Let it serve its rightful purpose.
- BABA |
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Date9:9/2008 Man must always proceed towards 'Balam' (strength); he should not
take to untruth, wickedness and crookedness, all of which denote the fundamental
trait of cowardice. This cowardice is born out of accepting an inferior and
false image of oneself. You believe that you are the husk, the outer covering.
But, truly you are the kernel, the core. This false identification is the
fundamental mistake. All Sadhana (spiritual effort) must be directed towards the
removal of the husk and the revelation of the kernel. So long as you say "I am
so and so", there is bound to be fear, but once you say and feel "I am God", you
get unconquerable strength.
- BABA |
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Date8:9/2008 For establishing oneself in the contemplation of the omnipresent
Lord, there are no limitations of time and place. There is nothing like a holy
place or auspicious time for this. Wherever the mind revels in the contemplation
of the Divine, that is the holy place. Whenever it does so, that is the
auspicious moment.
- BABA |
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Date7:9/2008 People say that the service to man is the service to God, that Manava Seva is
Madhava Seva. This is true. However, even though the service of humanity is
holy, unless it is merged in the higher ideal, men will not benefit, however
much the service undertaken. Whatever is done with the Lord in mind, along the
path of truth and righteousness, alone can be considered to be service of the
Lord. Whatever service is done for gaining name and fame, and for enjoying the
fruits thereof, cannot be referred to as service of God
- BABA |
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Date6:9/2008 Each one should ask himself the question: spiritually realized persons were also
persons like me; they were also embodied beings. When they could attain
perfection, can I also not succeed if I follow their method? What profits me if
I spend time in discovering the faults and weakness of others? Therefore the
first Sadhana (spiritual endeavour) is to search for the faults and weaknesses
within yourself and strive to correct them and become perfect - BABA |
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Date5:9/2008 Like the wind that covers everything with dust, desires and
attachments cloud the mind. They have to be kept away so that the splendour of
the self might merge in the splendour of the Higher self, the Paramatman (God).
The process of purifying the consciousness of man in the crucible of
single-pointed thought, speech, feeling and activity directed towards God, will
rid him of all blemishes and defects. When the inner consciousness has been
rendered pure and unsullied, God will reside therein. Then man will experience
the vision of God within him.
- BABA |
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Date4:9/2008 All are God. You too are God, above and beyond the past, present
and future. You are not the body which is tied up with time and which is caught
in the coils of was, is and will be. Be ever fixed in the attitude that you are
of the nature of Parabrahman (God); dwell constantly in this thought. Thus you
can become a Jnani (person of wisdom).
- BABA |
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Date3:9/2008 The mouse is the vehicle of Lord Vinayaka. What is the inner
significance of the mouse? The mouse is attracted by smell and is considered as
the embodiment of the sense of smell. The mouse is a symbol of attachment to
'Vasana', which means both smell and worldly tendencies. It is well known that
if you want to catch a mouse, you place a strong-smelling bait inside the
mouse-trap. The mouse also symbolises the darkness of night. The mouse can see
well in the dark and moves about freely in the night. As Vinayaka's vehicle, the
mouse signifies an object that leads man from darkness to light. Thus, the
Vinayaka-principle signifies that which removes bad thoughts, bad habits and
inculcates good thoughts and good conduct in people.
- BABA |
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Date2:9/2008 The person who is free from all desires, who has not even the
slightest inclination to possess or enjoy the sensory world, who has no trace of
egoism and who is ever immersed in the bliss of God consciousness, is always
untouched by any tinge of sorrow. He is firmly established in supreme joy and
peace.
- BABA |
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Date1:9/2008 Dharma (righteousness) is the foundation for the welfare of
humanity, it is the eternal truth. When the effulgence of Dharma fails to
illumine human relationships, mankind will become enveloped in the darkness of
sorrow. Man must dedicate himself to Dharma so that he may live in peace and the
world may also enjoy peace. He cannot acquire lasting peace nor can he win the
grace of God through any means other than by leading a Dharmic life.
- BABA |
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