Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

The lesson of Shivaratri is that devotees should foster good and sacred thoughts. They should be filled with godly thoughts. They should try to become one with the divine by reflecting on their inherent divinity. If you constantly chant the name of God, God-realization will come in due course.

Immerse your mind in good thoughts, and the world will be good; soak it in bad thoughts, and the world will be bad for you. So, recollect only good thoughts, think, plan, and do only good deeds, and speak and act only good. Then you will emulate God, the source of all good. This is the message of Shivaratri.

A person will be caught up in "negative" behavior as long as they identify themselves with the body. The moment they consider themselves master of the senses, their actions will be "positive". Mastery of the senses leads to liberation. Liberation is not something to be achieved in the afterlife. The striving for liberation must begin early in life and continue throughout life.

Once God is installed in your heart, only divine feelings will emanate. When sweet pudding is poured into a vessel with holes, what flows out of the holes will also be sweet pudding. Likewise, when you fill your heart with divinity, all your actions will become divine.

To attain happiness, people must do their best to make others happy. Each has their duty, task, and role as an individual and as a member of the society to which they belong. Do that duty, carry on that task, and play that role as best as you can; that is how one can fulfil oneself.

If you have a strong desire to see God, contemplate on Him with unwavering faith. Then you can certainly see Him. Never doubt His existence. He exists for those who believe in His existence and does not exist for those who deny His existence. He acts according to your feelings. So, develop faith in Him.

Life is a long journey, and your desires are the luggage. Less luggage makes travel a pleasure. The journey of life will become enjoyable only when you reduce the luggage of desires. The fewer the desires, the happier you will be.

The eyes, the ears and other sense organs should be used only to perceive sacred things. They should not be used indiscriminately to enjoy whatever pleases them. This is the reason why Swami advises people not to see evil, speak evil, or hear evil, but to see what is good, hear what is sacred, and speak what is good.

What is spiritual wisdom (jnana)? It is to know your own true Self. That is true knowledge. Self-knowledge is Self-realization. Constant contemplation on the Self is the means of experiencing the direct vision of God.

All the accomplishments and acquisitions in this world are transient and impermanent. Lured by them, people get inflated and ultimately ruined. Hence, giving up the notion of one's own doership, man must regard God alone as the doer. He is the giver, He is the recipient, and He is also the object that is given.

There should be unity in thought, word and deed. To achieve this triple unity, one has to understand the truth about the Atma (Self). This Atma is time and time is God. Therefore, you should not waste time. Fill your time with good actions. There is no greater spiritual practice than this.

Sanctify the time given to you by good thoughts and good actions. For this, you need to cultivate the company of the good, which, in due course, will lead you to liberation.

Purity follows unity and from purity, divinity is attained. To attain divinity, you have to cultivate purity and for purity you should live in harmony with all.

Renounce the feeling of attachment and feel the presence of the Lord everywhere. Welcome the spiritual bliss (ananda) that the Lord, as the embodiment of spiritual bliss, confers on you and experience it with thankfulness and without being bound by desire. This is the message of the sages and seers (rishis).