Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

One should have single-minded devotion towards God. Your faith should be total and unconditional. If your faith is unsteady, with "bumps and jumps", you will be confused and will become restless. Keep your desires under control. Limitless desires will take you away from divinity. Annihilation of desires will lead you to the principle of unity. You should develop virtues and lead a good life.

Today is called Sankranthi, the day when the Sun starts on its northward journey by entering the Makara sign of the Zodiac. Samyak Kranthi ithi Sankranthi ("change for the good is Sankranthi"). We must transform ourselves completely. Sankranthi reveals not only the beauty of Nature but the resplendent beauty of the divine. The Divine will not consider your status or position, your pomp and your show. It is beyond the reach of knowledge and intelligence. It can be secured only by pure love (prema).

The God-centered person has three qualities: Purity, Perseverance and Patience. Without these qualities, a man is a weakling. But with them, he has all the strength and courage he needs to face any challenge.

To ensure perfect health, it is essential to get rid of internal impurities and take in only wholesome food. Similarly for preserving mental health, the same approach is necessary. The ills that afflict the mind have to be got rid of by eliminating bad thoughts and purifying the mind.

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

God is not calling you as His devotee. It is not enough if you style yourself a devotee of God. God should hail you as His devotee. It is only when your devotion is acknowledged by the Lord that you can call yourself a devotee. If you have not received the acknowledgement, it may mean that you have given the wrong address in your devotion. The correct address of the Lord is the Indweller in the Heart (hridayavasi). This means that you must continue with your devotion to God until your own conscience is satisfied.

Time moves fast like a whirlwind. Each one's life span is getting reduced every moment, like a melting block of ice. Time passes even before man realizes his duties in life. The human body is not easily acquired. Man should not waste his precious human birth without realizing its primary purpose. It is the duty of every man to realize the purpose of life and utilize his time in the performance of his duties to sanctify his existence.

The year is just a name to indicate a number of months, the month a number of days, the day a number of hours, the hour a number of minutes, and the minute for sixty seconds. Each second is new. It is a gift, a chance, an opportunity, a thing to be celebrated, to be used for your uplift.

There is a creator for this marvelous and beautiful cosmos, consisting of moving and unmoving objects. He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. God has been worshipped by many names and forms by various people.

God alone knows what is good for the creation. Everything needed is provided by Him when the time is ripe. Without any overt effort from you, He gives you what you deserve. True devotees do not feel disappointed and will not blame God if their desires are not fulfilled. It is the duty of devotees to find ways and means to earn divine grace and make efforts to attain Him.

Sow the seeds of goodness, and you can get the harvest of happiness; sow the seeds of evil, and you reap the harvest of grief. You are the cause of either of these. Do not blame others or attribute partiality to God. 

Jesus taught, "All are children of God." When you have such a firm conviction, you can accomplish any task. You need not go through voluminous books. Fill your heart with love and leave everything to His Will.

You can understand and experience divinity only through love. Some people complain, "Swami, God is not coming to our rescue in spite of our incessant prayers." I tell them, "The mistake lies in your prayer and not in God." If your prayers are sincere, they will certainly be answered. There is nothing that God cannot accomplish.

Divine love makes us aware of the Lord in everyone. The Lord is equally present in all. Life is Love; Love is Life. Without God, deprived of God, nothing and nobody can exist. It is His will that operates as Love, in each one of us. It is He who prompts the prayer, "Let all the worlds be happy."