The Four Fs
Your Duty Is to Follow the Four Fs - Then You Will Win My Love in Full Measure
Your Conscience Is Your Master - Follow Your Conscience
There Can Be Nothing More Sacred Than Following the Four Injunctions
The Four Fs Are Essential to Achieving the Goals of Human Life
Following the Four Fs Allows You to Boldly Face the Difficulties in Life
Your conscience is your guide, and it should dictate your behaviour. Either for the good or for the bad, it is your conscience that is responsible. The guilt in you causes the bad; the strength and confidence in you should, therefore, do such things that will promote your confidence in your own self. That is why I have told you, on some occasions, that you should follow the four Fs. Follow the master, and that is your conscience. The second is face the devil. The third is fight to the end. Then you should finish the game. If you remember these four injunctions and keep remembering them, so that they are resounding every moment in you, there can be nothing more sacred than this in your life.
Summer Roses on the Blue Mountains 1976,
Chapter 15: Your Conscience Is Your Master and Guide.
Do Not Stop Until the Goal Is Reached
There are four Fs that you will have to fix before your attention: (1) follow the master, (2) face the devil, (3) fight to the end, and (4) finish at the goal. Follow the master means observe righteousness. Face the devil means overcome the temptations that beset you when you try to earn wealth or the wherewithal to live in comfort. Fight to the end means struggle ceaselessly; wage war against the six enemies that are led by lust. And, finally, finish at the goal means do not stop until the goal of moksha (liberation from ignorance and delusion) is reached. The Fs are fundamental for the pursuit of the four Purusharthas (goals of human life): dharma, artha, kama, and moksha (righteousness, wealth, desire, and liberation). I shall be ever with you, wherever you are, guarding you and guiding you. March on; have no fear.
Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 13,
Chapter 14: Four Fs.
Always Contemplate on God
There is no need to fear if you are following the truth. Human life is governed by the four Fs: follow the master, face the devil, fight to the end, finish the game. Your conscience is your master, so follow your conscience. Life is a game, play it. Life is a dream, realise it. Life is love, enjoy it. If you understand this and put at least one teaching into practice, your life will be redeemed. Always contemplate on God. The secret of happiness lies in chanting God’s name. You can chant any name of God and redeem your life.
Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 32, Part 1,
Chapter 5: Glory of Bharatiya Culture.
Follow Your Conscience
Man today is proceeding on the wrong path. You need not follow anybody. You should follow your conscience, which is your master. Follow the master, face the devil, fight to the end, and finish the game. Your duty is to follow the four Fs. Since you respect and follow the words of those who have disharmony in their thought, word, and deed, you tend to forget your Swami, your true Self. This situation is of your own making. Follow your conscience.
I never force anybody to do anything. What is the reason? The reason is that one has to follow the dictates of one’s source, conscience. Force connotes external imposition. Source relates to the Atma, which is verily love. So, cultivate love.
Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 31,
Chapter 45: Love God Wholeheartedly.
Love Is My Highest Miracle
Carry on your highest duty to yourselves– following the four Fs: follow the master, face the devil, fight to the end, and finish the game. Then you will win My love in full measure. Love is my highest miracle. Love can make you gather the affection of all mankind. Love will not tolerate any selfish aim or approach. Love is God; live in love. Then all is right, all can be well. Expand your heart so that it can encompass all. Do not narrow it down into an instrument of restricted love.
Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 13,
Chapter 21: Expand the Heart.
Think Good, See Good, Do Good
When you think you are good and have good thoughts, you will not do bad deeds. You will think good, see good, and do good deeds. If you think you are separate from God, you can never merge. God is Atma within you. He is the conscience.
I often tell the students about the four Fs: follow the master (conscience), face the devil (that is, desire for money), fight to the end, and finish the game. Finishing the game is liberation. You have taken human birth, and you have entered the sacred human life. You have to attain Divinity in your lifetime. There is nothing more valuable than this. By making appropriate efforts, you can accomplish anything, and by contemplating on God you obtain divine strength. Because of the monkey mind, you entertain doubts.
Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 31,
Chapter 20: Install Divinity in the Heart.
Face Boldly the Difficulties in Life
Develop self-confidence, which will lead you to bliss. Never harbour worries and anxieties. Gain sufficient strength of the body and mind to face boldly the difficulties, losses, and sorrows that may confront you in life. This will be facilitated if you practise the four Fs taught in our educational system, that is, follow the master (your conscience), face the devil, fight till the end, and finish the game. What is the inner meaning of the first three letters of the alphabet, A, B, C, in the English language? They mean “Always Be Careful.” The same dictum is given by the Upanishad(part of Vedas) by exhorting man to “arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.”
Know the Truth about Yourself
However long you may live, whatever scientific knowledge you may acquire, whatever position you may occupy, some time or other you have to know the truth about yourself. Start knowing it now. You should be on the alert all the time, because you can never know when the Lord’s grace, His love and benediction will be showered on you, at what time and at what place and in what circumstances. Unlike in the case of worldly matters, you cannot understand what is happening in the spiritual domain or what the Divine plans are. Therefore, if you go on discharging your duties and obligations in the proper manner with enthusiasm and joy, that itself will confer bliss on you. Don’t worry about the future. Don’t brood over the past. All are passing clouds only.
In this world, there is nothing permanent, whether persons, objects, or other things. The very name jagat (universe) means “coming and going.” Knowing this truth, why should you worry at all? So give no scope whatsoever to any kind of worry. Only then can man be entitled to become divine.
Summer Showers in Brindavan 1990,
Chapter 3: The Moving Temple.
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