Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Delusion (maya) binds and limits you; all spiritual exercise is to conquer delusion. A bit of iron will sink in water, but if beaten and made hollow, it will float. So beat the mind and make it hollow. Then, it will float on the sea of worldly life. Above all, have discrimination, and do not be led into taking any false step.
Monday, March 11, 2024
A little child sits with a book of the Upanishads on its lap and turns over the pages, intent on the printed lines and watching the curious types deliberately, slowly, and with great care. A monk does the same. Can you equate the two and say they are engaged in the same act? The child is unaware of the treasure it holds in its hand; the monk gets into immediate contact with the spiritual power the lines convey. Find out whether your spiritual practices have also been purposeful, sincere, wakeful, and worthwhile.
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Everyone should try to understand the highest human ideals the Avatars represent and consider how far we live up to those ideals. Real worship consists of practicing the ideals to the greatest extent possible.
Saturday, March 9, 2024
You have sung devotional songs (bhajans), extolling the names that summarize the glory throughout the night. This is only an appetizer. Bhajan must become an unbroken stream of bliss on your tongues and hearts.
Friday, March 8, 2024
This is a sacred Shivaratri, an auspicious night. From now onwards, there should not be any inauspicious feelings entering the heart. Contemplate on the auspiciousness of this sacred Shivaratri day and strive to merge in the embodiment of auspiciousness. On this day, I shall pardon all your knowingly or unknowingly made mistakes. With immense bliss, I confer grace on you so that you may sanctify your hearts.
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Recitation of the divine attributes enables us to dwell on elevating ideals and bring ourselves closer to divinity. We become what we contemplate on. Constant thinking imprints an ideal on our hearts.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
If you want to realize God, you must be immersed in bliss. To experience bliss, you have to follow the truth. To pursue truth, you have to instill peace in your heart. To achieve peace, you have to cultivate love. It is the confidence that begets love.
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
You can worship your parents and realize the Lord through that spiritual practice. They are your creators, guides, teachers, and protectors, and by idealizing them, you can grasp the truth of the Lord, the primeval parent.
Monday, March 4, 2024
The Upanishads declare God is beyond the reach of mind and speech (avang-manasa gocharaha). Devote yourselves to contemplating the glories of God on this sacred night and sanctify your lives by turning your thoughts away from mundane concerns.
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Faith is the foundation for the realization of God. I have often said: Where there is confidence, there is love; where there is love, there is peace; where there is peace, there is truth; where there is truth, there is bliss; where there is bliss, there is God.
Saturday, March 2, 2024
The manifestation of divinity transcends the bounds of time, space, and circumstance. Hence, the first requisite is the cultivation of faith. One who has no faith can accomplish nothing. With faith, one can achieve everything.
Friday, March 1, 2024
Faith is only one. There is nothing like blind faith. For faith, there can be no reason and no season. Faith and spirituality are beyond reason. It is foolish to search for the grounds of faith.
Thursday, February 29, 2024
You should always undertake service activities with a pure mind. Unity brings purity, and purity, in turn, leads to divinity. Therefore, always remember the inseparable relationship between unity, purity, and divinity and strive to achieve that. You may come together and work together in the spirit of sacrifice.
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Some persons gathered around Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and asked him: "Sir! Have you seen God?" Ramakrishna had a hearty laugh. He said: "Yes! I have seen God as I am seeing you. All are forms of God. However, your vision is different. You look at all people as human beings. But all that you see is divine. Why are you failing to see the divine? You cry about your wife, your children, your wealth, and your position. Have you ever cried for God in the same way? No. When you cry for God intensely, God will appear before you." Once you renounce your bad qualities, you will experience God.
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
God is the embodiment of love. He is completely selfless. Those who follow Him should be selfless, too. When your hearts are filled with divine love, you will be able to pursue oneness in the whole creation. When this unity pervades our hearts, there would be no scope for hatred toward others. This eternal love will get established in our hearts with the experience of unity of all existence. Therefore, those who follow the divine and inculcate divine love are truly fortunate.
Monday, February 26, 2024
Always be happy and cheerful, for your innate nature is bliss. You need not go in search of happiness. Bliss emerges out of divine Self (Atma). Whenever you wish for it, you will get it. Happiness is a union with God. Therefore, always be in the company of God. Once you are in the company of God, happiness will follow you like a shadow.
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Cultivate pure love, for purity is unity, and that unity is divinity. Let your individual love be transformed into pure love for God. Sometimes, people have a doubt whether God's love toward them has undergone a change. Never. God's love will never undergo a change. For example, you have a log of wood. You can make any kind of furniture with it, like a chair or a bench. But the basic material, that is, wood, remains the same. Similarly, God's love always remains unchanged.
Saturday, February 24, 2024
Select any name of His, any name that appeals to you, select any form of His. Every day, when you awaken to the call of the brightening east, recite the name and meditate on the form. Have the name and the form as your companion, guide, and guardian throughout the toils of the waking hours. When you retire for the night, offer grateful homage to God in that form and with that name for being with you, by you, beside you, before you, and behind you all day long. If you stick to this discipline, you cannot falter or fail.
Friday, February 23, 2024
What should be the characteristics of people in the Sai Organization? Their hearts should be cool, like the moon. Their minds should be pure like butter. Their speech should be sweet, like honey. It is only when you have a heart cool as the moon, a mind pure as butter, and speech sweet as honey, that you will be a worthy member of the Organization. When these three qualities are present, there will be divinity.
Thursday, February 22, 2024
So long as there is anger, one cannot be free from sorrow. One will be respected by all only when the anger is given up. One with greed can never attain happiness. One can be happy and make others happy only when greed is given up.
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
We have friends and foes, likes and dislikes, whereas Vedanta teaches us to develop equal mindedness. Just as we do not punish our teeth for accidentally biting our tongue because we consider both organs as parts of our body, so also, we have to bear in mind that the eternal and universal Atma (divine Self) resides in everyone and everywhere. We should not accentuate differences but concentrate on unity.
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
The highest love (prema) is the attachment to God that does not allow anything to interfere with or diminish its quality or depth. God is loved by the devotee (bhaktha) for His sake, not for any incidental benefit or blessing. It is spontaneous, sustaining, and sublime, like a child before the mirror enjoying the reflections of its own pranks and gestures.
Monday, February 19, 2024
Faith in the almighty God is the impregnable armor that the spiritual aspirant (sadhaka) can wear. People of all lands are spiritual aspirants whether they know it or not. Be steady, do not waver, keep straight on, and hold fast to the ideal without despair. Pray until God relents; do not turn away sadly if God does not shower grace when you expect it.
Sunday, February 18, 2024
You may call Him by any name and worship Him in any form, but God is one. Never forget this principle of unity. Unfortunately, people fragment unity into diversity. Try to visualize unity in diversity. This is the true service that people are supposed to undertake.
Saturday, February 17, 2024
Whatever other things they may possess, people suffer from a lack of peace and bliss. These two can be obtained only from God. It is for these two that one should pray to God and not for anything else because God alone can give them. When these are secured, all other things will come of their own accord by the grace of God. People should yearn for God. All other desires are worthless.
Friday, February 16, 2024
Believe that all hearts are motivated by the one and only God, that all faiths glorify the one and only God, and that all names in all languages and all forms people can conceive denote the one and only God. He is adored best by love. Cultivate an attitude of oneness (Ekabhava) between people of all creeds, all countries, and all continents.
Thursday, February 15, 2024
The divine principle that is in everyone is like the electric current that illuminates the bulbs before Me here, which are of different colors and different candle powers. The same God shines in and through everyone, regardless of creed, color, tribe, or territory. The current animates and activates all bulbs; the divine animates and activates all. Those who see the difference are deluded as they are befogged by prejudice, egoism, hatred, or malice. Love sees all as one divine family.
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
It is by constant control of thoughts and desires that one can purify oneself and raise the level of consciousness. To the extent one reduces desires, willpower will grow.
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Be a witness, do not crave the fruit of action, and leave the consequences of all acts to God’s will. He is the doer; you are but the instrument. Pursue nobler ends and have grander ideals. Sensory pleasures are trinkets and trivialities.
Monday, February 12, 2024
There are many who take part in service activities, but how many can enjoy the benefits derived therefrom? First, you should understand the term “service.” True service is that which is done with divine feelings, forgetting oneself. Service should be done as an offering to God. Service has value only when it is done with love for God (daivabhimana) and not attachment to the body (dehabhimana). Even a small act of service done with the sole intention of pleasing God will acquire great significance.