Sri Sathya Sai Baba's Teachings
At the age of 14, Sri Sathya Sai Baba declared to his parents that he had come to this world with a mission to re-establish the principle of Righteousness, to motivate love for God and service to fellow man. Since then, he has consistently called on all mankind to Love All, Serve All and has repeatedly asserted that the essence of all scriptures is Help Ever, Hurt Never!
Sri Sathya Sai Baba began his role as a universal spiritual teacher at a very young age before he turned 14, through folk songs, theater, exposition from scriptures and personal example the virtues of living a purposeful life. His family, classmates, teachers and others in the village were astounded by the extraordinary simplicity and clarity of His message. For more than five decades, Sri Sathya Sai Baba communicated His message of love, universality and spirituality to a diverse audience from different faiths, countries, culture and traditions.
Through his speeches and writings, Sathya Sai Baba has offered a veritable ocean of knowledge and guidance on all aspects of spiritual, religious, and value-oriented living. He has often repeated that it is not necessary to drink the whole ocean to know its taste, that it is not necessary to read all scriptures to live a life of joy, peace, and love. It is enough to put into practice one aspect of spiritual teaching.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba says that we are all embodiments of God —we are God— and that the chief goal of our lives as humans is to realize that we are God, to experience that we are Divinity, to achieve "enlightenment". Sri Sathya Sai Baba said in 1953 that, "there is no escaping it; all creatures have to reach God some day or other, by the long route or by the short route.” He mentioned this topic of realizing who we really are in almost every one of his approximately 1500 published discourses.
The uniqueness of His style was that He explained age old concepts with new insights and examples that addressed the needs of the modern society. He repeatedly emphasized that He had come to reconstruct the ancient highway to spirituality and not to found a new religion or cult. His writings and discourses have been carefully documented.
A few drops of the ocean of Sathya Sai Baba's teachings, an attempt to encapsulate its essence, follows. Sathya Sai Baba urges mankind to:
- Believe in God --for there is only ONE GOD for all mankind, though He may be called by many names.
- Follow sincerely their respective religions and live their daily lives in consonance with the teachings of good behavior and morality.
- Respect all other religions --for no religion advocates the negative and lower qualities of man.
- Perform selfless service to the poor, the sick, and the needy without thought of reward or fame.
- Cultivate in people’s lives the values of Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Love, and Nonviolence and promote these values among all.
- Be patriotic and respect the laws of the country in which they live.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba on Know Thyself
Divine Teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Landmark Discourses: Divine Nectar
Sri Sathya Sai Speaks
Summer Showers
Vahinis
Glorify the Name of the Lord