Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

Divinity is manifest in every living being. The same atmic principle is present not only in human beings but in every living being in the universe. But one has to have a pure and selfless heart to realize this truth. To realize this truth, you must constantly contemplate on God.

The first requisite for achieving supreme bliss is a pure heart. The human heart, which should be white like milk in its purity, is today filled with bad thoughts and feelings. Spiritual practice begins with the purification of the heart and transforming it into an ocean of milk. When the heart is filled with pure (satvic) qualities, it becomes like a milky ocean.

You are God. God is not separate from you. It is a mistake to consider yourself separate from God. This difference is the result of your deluded vision. When you rectify this defect in your vision, you will realize "I am I".

What is spirituality? It is the resolute pursuit of cosmic consciousness. Spirituality aims at enabling people to manifest in all its fullness the divine consciousness (chaitanya) that is present within and outside them. It means getting rid of the animal nature in humans and developing divine tendencies.

People consider religion a bundle of doctrines and rigorous do’s and don’ts prescribed for people. This is totally wrong. The sacred aim of religion is to remind humankind of their divine origin and help to lead them back to God.

Maha Shivaratri is a day when one tries to establish friendship between the mind and God. It makes one aware of the fact that the same divinity is all-pervasive, that it is to be found everywhere.

Every day during the dark half of the month, the moon, and symbolically its counterpart in the individual, the mind, wanes; and a fraction is diminished, its power declines. Finally, on the fourteenth night, there is just a tiny bit left, that is all. If a little extra effort is made that day by the spiritual aspirant, even that bit can be removed and mastery of the mind completed. The fourteenth night of the dark half is called Shivaratri.

Try to understand My doctrine of Love. I often address you as "embodiments of the Divine Self". You will be true embodiments of the Divine only when you develop divine love. The only being worthy of love in this world is God. All others are only objects of transient attachment.

Surrender to God means the absence of duality and being of the same nature as God. But such a state is beyond man's will. Surrender is when doer, deed, and object are all God. It cannot be forced. It comes naturally to a heart filled with love for God. 

It is only when attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief. If you look upon nature and all created objects with the insight derived from the inner vision, then attachment will slide away.

The present system of education aims at making you bread winners and citizens, but it does not give you the secret of a happy life - namely, discrimination between the unreal and the real, which is the genuine training you need.

How can God appreciate the meditation you do, when adjacent to you, you have someone in agony, whom you do not treat kindly, for whom you do not make all efforts to help? Do not keep yourself apart, intent on your own salvation. Move among your sisters and brothers, looking for opportunities to help; but, have the name of God on the tongue and the form of God before the eye of the mind. That is the highest spiritual practice.

Your lives will be redeemed only when you contemplate on the divine name incessantly. All your wealth and comforts will be of little consequence if you do not have love for God. In India (Bharat), there are millions of people who serve their fellowmen with God’s name on their lips.

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, whatever be the creed, color, tribe or territory. The same electric current animates and activates all bulbs; the Divine animates and activates all. Those who see difference are deluded as they are befogged by prejudice, egoism, hatred or malice. Love sees all as one divine family.