Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

Man seeks to cross the ocean of samsara by penance, pilgrimages to sacred shrines, scriptural studies and meditation. But all these are of no avail without selfless service to other people.

You may celebrate any number of festivals and undertake various types of spiritual exercises, but all this will go to waste if there are no divine feelings in your heart. Do not look at things that are unsacred. Let your vision be suffused with divine feelings.

Mankind aspires for bliss, but how can one attain it? Where there is faith, there is love. Where there is love, there is peace. Where there is peace, there is truth. Where there is truth, there is God. Where there is God, there is bliss. The path of spirituality starts with faith and ends with bliss.

Do you know the purpose for which the mind is given to you? Is it to wander in the back streets? No, no, the mind is given to you to experience bliss by contemplating on the beautiful form and name of God.

Your heart is like a big tank, and your senses are like the taps. If you fill your heart with the water of love, the same sweet water will come out of the taps of your senses. As is your heart, so will be your actions. Therefore, when you fill your heart with love, all your actions will be suffused with love.

If you throw a stone in a well, it will give rise to waves. How far will the waves go? They will spread in the entire well and go up to its edges. Similarly, when you drop a stone of a good or a bad thought in the lake of your mind, its effect will spread to your entire body. If it is a bad thought, your eyes, ears, and tongue will see, hear, and speak all that is evil. Your hands will also perform evil actions, and your feet will take you to undesirable places. The effect of your thoughts will spread to your entire being right from head to toe. Therefore, the heart is very important.

The God who is the origin and the goal can be cognized only by the pure consciousness, after the mind is cleansed. And, to cleanse the mind, one must start early. The race is won by those who start early and drive slowly; then, they reach safely, not otherwise. Walk on the path of God; the joy of the first steps will lead them forward.

Young age is very important and sacred. In fact, it is the golden age. It should be free from the rust and dust of evil qualities. Students should have good qualities. All that they see, speak, hear, and do should be sacred. It is, therefore, necessary that first they fill their heart with love for God.

Purity is of two kinds, external and internal. As regards internal purity, it should be noted that the mind is polluted by bad thoughts and bad desires, by attachments and aversions. You must strive to fill the mind with good and sacred thoughts. Qualities like love, kindness, compassion, forbearance and sympathy have to be developed to get rid of negative and bad thoughts.

Of course, it is hard to surrender fully. But if you make the slightest effort, the Lord Himself will confer the courage to pursue it to the end. God will walk with you and help you as a friend; He will lead you as a guide; God will guard you from evil and temptation; God will be your staff and support.

God is known by various names and of these, the greatest and the most fitting is Sat-chit-anada. Sat means that which remains unchanged in all three periods of time – the past, the present, and the future. Strict adherence to truth would enable one to experience sat. Chit means total awareness or complete knowledge. It is that which enables one to experience divinity in all its aspects. Once sat and chit are experienced, ananda or bliss would follow automatically.

Receive my pure love with a pure heart. Make yourself holy. Live in love. Love is God. Bear in mind what Swami has said and regard Swami’s words as a beacon light for your lives. With the light of Swami’s advice in your hearts, you can proceed on life’s journey for any length of time.

People have strange ideas about liberation, imagining that it involves going to heaven and having eternal existence there. That is not the meaning of liberation. It means achieving selfless love that is constant, unabating, and total. This is the state that one must seek to attain; it is only when this state is reached that one is truly liberated.

The real watch is when you keep a WATCH on your Words, Actions, Thoughts, Character and Heart; not the one you tie to your wrist. The wristwatch may go for repair, but the word ‘watch’ will never get spoiled. It will always bring purity of thought, word and deed.