Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

True thoughts constitute the proper wealth for all. But, alas, modern people make no efforts to cultivate good thoughts. The absence of good thoughts weakens willpower. With a weak will one cannot accomplish even simple things. To achieve anything worthwhile in life one has to strengthen one’s willpower.

On December 25th, when Jesus was born, three kings came to His birthplace. These three gave expression to three different views about the newborn babe. One of them, looking at the infant, said: "This child will be a lover of God." A second king said: "God will love this child." The third king declared: "Verily, this child is God Himself." The first one viewed the child from the physical point of view. The second saw the child from a mental perspective. The third saw from the spiritual (Atmic) point of view. The three declarations reveal how one can progress from the human to the divine level.

The fishermen wanted Jesus to fulfill their worldly desires. Peter wanted more fish. But ultimately, he realized the futility of worldly desires. He wanted to go beyond the level of body and the mind as per Jesus’ teachings. Jesus told them to give up hatred and to love all and serve all. He exhorted them to develop faith in the principle of unity.

Jesus said that one's life was useless if one did not realize one's duties toward society. Where there is unity, there is purity; where there is purity, there is divinity; where there is divinity, there is bliss. People should recognize the intimate and inseparable relationship that exists between unity, purity, and divinity.

It is not possible to attain divinity without getting rid of animality. Today, individuals may behave like animals due to their selfish love. Such a person can never enjoy happiness and will always be immersed in misery. The more one loves others, the greater the joy they will experience.

Jesus was born for a purpose (karana-janma), a master born with a purpose, with the mission of restoring love, charity, and compassion in the hearts of people. He had no attachment to the self, nor did he pay any heed to joy or sorrow, loss, or gain. He had a heart that responded to the call of anguish, and He went about the land preaching the lesson of love. His life was a libation for the upliftment of humanity.

The body is bound to perish one day or the other. You will have to face misery if you are attached to the body. To attain immortality and experience bliss, you have to transcend name and form. So long as you have a body, you have to take care of it. But you should not be unduly attached to it or worried about it.

If each one does their duty, in the spirit of dedication, the light can illumine all, but if the doors of the heart are shut against the light, how can darkness disappear? You cannot sit back and expect the incarnation to bring peace and joy to you. The incarnation comes to warn, to guide, to awaken, to lay down the path, and shed the light of love on it. But one has to listen, learn, and obey with hope and faith.

Carols and candles, readings from the Bible, and acting out the incidents that surrounded His birth are not enough to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Jesus said that the bread taken in the 'last supper' was His flesh, and the wine, His blood. He meant that all beings alive with flesh and blood are to be treated as He Himself and that no distinction should be made between friend or foe, we or they. Everybody is His body, sustained by the bread; every drop of blood flowing in the veins of every living being is His, animated by the activity that the wine imparted to it. That is to say, every person is divine and has to be revered as such.

Human beings are a combination of these three: bhutakasa (body), chitthakasa (mind), and Chidakasa (Atma). The first refers to the one you think you are; the second, the one others think you are; and the third, the one you really are.

To think that God would forget anybody is only your imagination - the reflection, reaction, and resound of your feelings. God never forgets anybody. It is only the devotees who remember or forget God. God loves all equally. So, develop love. Eschew all evil tendencies.

The followers of every religion, in their own way and style, call upon the one God who is omnipresent. It is the same God who confers upon all mankind, health, prosperity, peace, and happiness. No religion has a separate God showering grace upon those who profess to abide by that faith alone!

If you want to realize God, if you wish to experience the divinity within you, if you want to know your true Self, you must develop pure, unsullied love. It is this that binds all people. It is described as the tether of love (Prema-pasham).

You should develop friendship with God. If God is your friend, the whole world will be under your control. But today, the unfortunate ones are losing their friendship with God. It is not easy to make friendship with God. But you must make every effort in this direction. Once you develop friendship with God, you must take full advantage of it through spiritual practices.