Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

Never give up the Gayatri; you may give up or ignore any other mantra but you should recite the Gayatri at least a few times a day. It will protect you from harm wherever you are--travelling, working or at home. Westerners have investigated the vibrations produced by this mantra and have found that when it is recited with the correct accent as laid down in the Vedas, the atmosphere around becomes visibly illumined. So the effulgence of divine will descend on you and illumine your intellect and light your path when this mantra is chanted.

To experience the Divine within you all you have to do is to dedicate all your actions to the Divine. No other spiritual exercise is necessary. This does not mean you should give up other forms of worship like recitation (Japa). The basic equipment is that whatever spiritual exercise is done it should be performed wholeheartedly, with full concentration.

That is exactly what I want—that people like you should rid themselves of doubts, should grasp the real significance of life, and, welcoming the instruction with faith and steadfastness, should dwell in constant remembrance of the name of the Lord. Whenever you come, whatever comes, learn from Me the method and means of ridding yourself of grief, doubt, and worry.

I am always in you, with you, around you, above you, and below you. I am not confined to Prasanthi Nilayam and India alone. I am there wherever you are.

Whatever happens in your life, think that it is good for you. Even if someone criticises you, you should think that it is good for you. If you consider everything good, then everything will become good for you. God is not outside, He is within you.

Truth, Right conduct, Peace, Love, Nonviolence (Sathya, Dharma, Shanthi, Prema, Ahimsa) are not outside. They are within you. When you get angry, you lose your peace. Therefore, you should always remain peaceful and blissful. Being a human being, you should have human qualities. A true human being is one who is suffused with sathya, dharma, shanthi, and prema. When you develop these human qualities, you will enjoy peace at all times. Then you will always have a smile on your face.

As soon as thoughts come to your mind, you must make an attempt to spend time and decide whether those thoughts are good or bad. If they are bad thoughts, you must immediately put them aside; and if they are good thoughts, you must make an attempt to promote them.

Install the Lord in your heart and offer Him the fruits of your actions and the flowers of your inner thoughts and feelings. That is the worship I like most, the devotion I appreciate most.

Whatever the nature of your work, if you dedicate it as an offering to God, you will have no worry at all. This is real sadhana. Even when you are engaged in your daily chores, you can convert them into worship of God. While you are sweeping the floor, you can deem it as clearing your heart of all impurities.

All work should be done with a pure heart filled with devotion, just as cooking must be done in a clean vessel. Whatever good you may do without a genuine feeling of love is of no use. It is love in a pure heart that transforms work into worship.

Learn from the watch a great lesson. When you watch the watch, remember the five letters of the word, WATCH; each is giving you a fine lesson for life: W tells you, ‘Watch your Words’; A warns you, ‘Watch your Actions’; T indicates, ‘Watch your Thoughts’; C advises, ‘Watch your Character’; and H declares, ‘Watch your Heart.’

Let there be unity in your thoughts, words and deeds. That is triple purity (Trikarana shuddhi). What you think, you should speak; what you speak, you must put into practice. That is real humanness. … What is needed is perfect harmony in thoughts, words and deeds.

Whoever worships the Supreme Lord should also worship the Divine in the form of Nature (Prakriti). He should love Nature and adore Nature. Nature is not different from the Supreme Self (Paramatma). Nature is the effect and God is the cause.

The values a man must cherish as his life-breath are: truth (Sathya), right action (Dharma), peace (Shanti), love (Prema) and nonviolence. Of these five vital principles, love is the foremost. It is love that flows as the undercurrent for the other four values. How does it flow this way? When love is associated with our thoughts, it manifests itself as truth. When love is associated with feelings, it produces peace. When love animates actions, it results in right action. When love is combined with understanding it becomes nonviolence.

Think of God, and the gratitude you owe to Him for the human life He has gifted you and the various material, moral and intellectual talents He has endowed you with; do this before you commence any task or piece of work. You will certainly experience great benefit, and you will have peace, joy and success in your endeavours through Divine Grace.

All spiritual aspirants should cherish in their hearts with gratitude, the good done to them by others and always remember whatever form in which help was rendered to them. Only those who lead such grateful lives will be able to find peace and happiness in their lives.

First and foremost, one should worship nature (Prakruti) and then receive the blessings of the Lord (Paramatma). The former is Man’s effort (Purusha Prayatnam) and the latter is God’s grace (Daiva anugraham). Prakruti and Paramatma are like negative and positive. God (Paramatma) who is all powerful may be positive, but if there is no involvement of negative - Nature i.e., (Prakruti), there would be no creation. The basis for the whole creation is - Nature (Prakruti).

A family is the most important functional unit in the world. If the family is running on sound lines, the world will also run smoothly. If the unity among family members suffers even to a small extent, the world will face the repercussions. Unity gives strength to the lives of the family members. Therefore, every family should strive for achieving unity and harmonious relationship among its members.

‘Sa’ means Divine; ‘ai’ or ‘ayi’ means Mother and ‘Baba’ means Father. The Name, Sai Baba means Divine Mother and Father. Sai’s descent is to achieve the supreme task of uniting the entire mankind as one family through the bond of brotherhood and to affirm and illumine the Divine (Aathmic) Reality within each and every being. The Divine takes the form as Avatar to reveal Himself as the basis for the entire Cosmos, and to instruct all to recognise the common divine heritage that binds everyone;

You recognise only the momentary results of the advent. But you should note that the Divine comes as Avatar only to teach mankind the truth about love….. Love alone is the fruit of love.  Love is its own witness.  There is no trace of self-interest in it. Because love exists for its own sake, it has no fear. It is to teach humanity the way of love that Avatars come in the world.  The world displays the diversity that has emanated from the One. The Divine demonstrates the unity that subsumes the diversity.  Recognition of this unity in diversity can be learnt only from the Divine.

The celebration of Dasara is meant to purify the actions performed by the five senses of action and the five senses of perception (Dasendriyas). Devi, who is the personification of energy, is the driving force behind all actions. Hence everyone must worship the Trinity of Durga (goddess of energy), Lakshmi (goddess of all kinds of wealth), and Saraswathi (goddess of education and intellect) during this festival of Dasara.

Recognizing one's mother as the very embodiment of all divine forces, one must show reverence to her and treat her with love. This is the true message that this nine-night festival (the Navaratri) gives us. The supreme Shakti manifests herself in the form of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Durga grants us energy - physical, mental, and spiritual. Lakshmi bestows on us all forms of wealth - not just money but intellectual wealth, the wealth of character, and others... One's own mother is the combination of all these divine beings. She provides us with energy, wealth, and intelligence. She constantly desires our advancement in life. So she represents all the three goddesses that we worship during the Navaratri festival.

Navaratri means nine nights. Darkness is associated with night. What is this darkness? It is the darkness of ignorance. The purpose of the Navarathri celebration is to enable man to get rid of nine types of darkness which have taken hold of him.

Offering obeisance (Namaskar) also signifies, doing good deeds. What is the inner significance behind the worship of nature consisting of the three gunas - Satwa, Rajo and Tamo? Heart should be pure, words should be pure and actions should be pure. These are the three forms of the three Gunas. These three are also called the three instruments (Trikarnamulu). Purity of thought, word and deed would enable one to receive the grace of God.

Dashara is the festival that celebrates the victory of the forces of the good over the foes that resist the progress of man towards light. The sages who have decided on these festivals have a high purpose. They want us to imbibe the inner meaning and use each day as a step in Sadhana, as a reminder of the journey, which each person has to undertake alone to the Feet of the Lord. The forces of good (Devas) are combating with the forces of evil (Asuras) in every living being and if they only rely on Mahashakti, the great Divine Force that fosters and fends the universe, they can easily win and reach goal." Sai Baba, SSS. Vol. V., p. 249, Discourse on 15 October 1966

The first ceiling on desires is: ‘Don’t waste Food. Food is God.’ Your body is made of food and you are the result of the food eaten by the parents. Food is God (Annam Brahma). Eat as much as it is necessary to eat. But do not throw away food by taking too much in your plate. By wasting food you will be wasting the energy Divine.

The second ceiling on desires is: ‘Don’t waste money. God is wealth.’ Since God is wealth, misuse of money is evil. Practise charity by gifting away money, food, clothes, houses, etc., instead of misusing it in extravagance. Misuse of money is not only evil but a sin as well.

The third ceiling on desires is: ‘Don’t waste time. Time waste is Life waste.’ God is exalted as ‘I bow to the One who is Time, I bow to the One who is the destroyer of time, I bow to the One who transcends time, I bow to the One who is the embodiment of time' (Kalaya namah, Kalakalaya namah, Kalatitaya namah, Kala swarupaya namah). Spend the time by using sanctifying words. Do not waste time. Wasting time is wasting God.

The fourth ceiling on desires is: ‘Don’t waste Energy.’ People waste their energy by indulging in bad thoughts,bad looks, bad hearing and bad action. The right royal road is: See no evil, see what is good. Hear no evil, hear what is good. Talk no evil, talk what is good. Think no evil, think what is good. Do no evil, do what is good. It is by translating the above instructions into practice that you will be sanctifying your time. This is the Sadhana and the service that you have to practise. A time will come when the mind will be extinguished and the merger with the Divine achieved.

Practise silence for at least ten minutes in a day. Meditate on Swami’s teachings at that time. Realise that in this transient world the eternal is immanent. Hold fast onto God. Experience the bliss of union with the Divine. Make love your life-breath.

Only the human being, who gives up self-interest and regards the happiness of others as his or her own and devotes himself or herself to their well-being, is a truly selfless person. The Lord will love only those who love others. If you seek to win the Lord’s love, you must love others.