Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

You must cleanse the senses, the instruments of action and knowledge, and remove all the blemishes of bad habits, bad tendencies, feelings, and thoughts. Render yourselves pure, steady, and unselfish. Then only you will deserve the chance of worshipping the God within.

Meditation means offering the flower of love to the divine. In the rose plant of our body, there is the rose of pure and sacred love emitting the fragrance of good qualities. Below the rose, however, there are thorns in the form of sensual desires. The purpose of meditation is to separate the rose of selfless love from the senses and offer it to the Lord.

Be always in the good company (satsang) of His devotees. Through this good company, discrimination and renunciation (viveka and vairagya) will be implanted and increased. These will strengthen the spirit and endow you with inner peace. Your mind will then merge in God.

Strive to acquire love; try to achieve love. Love is your real property. Realize this truth. There is no other quality greater and valuable than love. Even if some such quality exists, it is of no real use for the goal of life. Therefore, try to recognize the love manifest in every human being.

Divine love will never decline. It is steady and changeless. You should make efforts to attain such true and eternal love. You are not able to experience this love due to your limitless desires. Life is like a long journey and desires are the luggage. Following the principle of less luggage, more comfort makes travel a pleasure. You will be free from worries and problems once you reduce your desires.

The whole world is permeated with love. You are all the embodiments of love. You may or may not have any other quality, but every one of you has love. In this world, there is nobody without love.

Purity of the heart is more important than all rituals and penances. Develop a vision that will broaden your heart and enable you to help others and not hurt them. Dedicate all actions to God.

In the family in which you live, there should be mutual understanding and cooperation, and a sense of harmony. There should be no discord in the family. A harmonious atmosphere will give you true peace of mind.

Perform all your actions with purity of heart. Actions performed without a pure heart are futile. Even if a little work is done with a pure heart, it becomes fruitful.

There should be no ostentation or showing off in any undertaking by a devotee. Unless ostentation is given up, egoism will not leave. The ego must be eliminated to purify the heart. No good deed can be done without purity of the heart. It is through sacred deeds that the heart is purified.

When the heart is filled with good thoughts and feelings, all that comes out of the senses–your speech, your vision, and your actions will be pure.

The Gayatri has three parts: 1. Praise, 2. Meditation, and 3. Prayer. First, the divine is praised, then it is meditated upon in reverence and lastly, an appeal is made to the divine to dispel the darkness of ignorance and to awaken and strengthen the intellect. Dhīmahi is related to the meditative aspect. Dhīyo yonah prachodayāt relates to the aspect of prayer. Chanting the Gayatri Mantra purifies the mind and confers devotion, detachment and wisdom.

Bear in mind the three P's - Purity, Patience and Perseverance. With these three you are bound to acquire good health and bliss.

Pure thoughts and feelings will always keep us cheerful. I am always cheerful. People wonder how Sai Baba could always be smiling. I cannot help but smile. I have no negative feelings, no bad traits, no bad thoughts nor any bad habits. I am always pure. You too should follow this example.