Past Sai Messages for the Day
Monday, October 30, 2023
Wherever you are, whatever work you do, do it as an act of worship, dedication, an act for the glorification of God, who is the inspirer, the witness, the master. Do not divide your activities as "These are for my sake" and "These are for the sake of God." Even if you divide zero by zero, you get one. When you work, there should be no remainder; nothing should remain over. See all work as one.
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Purity of thought, word, and deed is true wisdom. You don't need to undertake any other spiritual practice. People undertake various spiritual practices. But they confer only temporary satisfaction. On the other hand, when you have purity of thought, word, and deed, you will experience eternal happiness.
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Love is divine. Love all and impart your love even to those who lack love. Love is like a mariner’s compass. Wherever you may keep it, it points the way to God. In every action in daily life, manifest your love. Divinity will emerge from that love. This is the easiest path to God-realization.
Friday, October 27, 2023
Though it is hard to restrain the mind, it can be diverted. When the mind steeped in the secular world is diverted toward divinity, it gains moral strength. The mind steeped in worldly matters makes you a prisoner of the world, whereas a mind steeped in God secures liberation for you. Your heart is the lock, and your mind is the key. When you turn the key to the world, it locks. But if you turn the key to God, it unlocks. It is the turning of the key that makes the difference. Hence, the mind is the cause of your liberation as well as bondage.
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Good and bad, wealth and poverty, praise and blame go together. You cannot derive happiness out of happiness (Na sukha labhate sukham). Happiness comes only out of sorrow. A wealthy person today may become a pauper tomorrow. Similarly, a pauper may become rich someday or other. Today you are being praised, but tomorrow you may be criticized. To consider praise and blame, happiness and sorrow, prosperity and adversity with equal-mindedness is the hallmark of a true human being.
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
My plan is to transmute you into seekers of truth. I am present everywhere, at all times; My will must prevail over every obstacle; I am aware of the past, present and future, of your innermost thoughts and carefully guarded secrets. I am omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. Nevertheless, I do not manifest these powers whimsically or merely for display. For I am an example and an inspiration for whatever I do or omit to do. My life is My message.
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Dasara is a festival that celebrates the victory of the forces of good over the forces of evil. 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 spiritual practice (sadhana) as a reminder of each person's journey to the feet of the Lord alone. The forces of good are combating the forces of evil in every living being, and if they only rely on the great divine force (Maha Shakti) that fosters and fends the universe, they can easily win and reach their goal (enlightenment).
Monday, October 23, 2023
The divine is omnipresent and is in everyone and every object. This truth must be realized from the message conveyed by inhaling and exhaling that goes on in everyone 21,600 times daily. Each act of breathing proclaims the message: Sohum (I am He). With every breath, the message is revealed: ’I am God.’ Realizing this oneness, all actions should be done as an act of dedication to the divine. Unending bliss can be experienced in such a state of mind!
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Discrimination and detachment are the first and the second steps one must take to reach the eternal Atmic (spiritual) truth. The mind can be steadied only by the mastery of desire through the quality of unwavering detachment. Once the mind is still, peace reigns, and bliss prevails.
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Learn to speak good words. Never hurt anybody with harsh words. Speak softly and sweetly to make all people happy. Good words bring good actions. You cannot always oblige, but you can always speak obligingly. When you thus speak obligingly, how much your status grows! Society will then respect you.
Friday, October 20, 2023
Manasa bhajare guru charanam Dustara bhava sagara taranam. (Contemplate on the feet of the divine master who alone can help you to cross over the ocean of life and death.)
Thursday, October 19, 2023
People pray to God to relieve them from pain, grief, and loss and to confer health, strength, and wealth. If you develop an intimate attachment to God and make God yours, then God will give you all that you need. Do not demean the relationship into bargaining.
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
You are advised to spend time in meditation (dhyana) or the quiet pursuit of the repetition of God's name (namasmarana); for peace and joy are not to be found in external nature; they are treasures lying hidden in the inner realms of human. Once they are located, one can never again be sad or agitated. So, use this holy atmosphere, this splendid chance, these precious days to the fullest. With every inhalation, utter the name of God; with every exhalation, utter the name of God. Live in God, for God, with God.
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Cleanse your minds of evil thoughts. I find some of you spread your handkerchiefs on the carpets and then sit upon them. You feel that the carpet, which has the dust of the feet of countless devotees, is unclean! Now, when you take so much care to see that the place you sit in ought to be free from dirt, how much more attention should you pay to cleaning the heart where you expect the Lord to be seated?
Monday, October 16, 2023
Turn your mind toward God; dedicate yourselves to God; then you will find life one continuous stream of bliss (ananda). Have a fan in your hand and swing it toward you; then, you feel comforted. So also, use the mind as the instrument and turn it vigorously toward God; then, it will give you the bliss of liberation.
Sunday, October 15, 2023
You need not rely on another for success in meditation (dhyana) and repetition of the name of the Lord (japa) and await contact with some sage to get a recitation mantra. Pray to the God within you; you will receive the needed guidance.
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Regular prayers twice a day will give strength and courage, which can withstand illness. The grace of God will confer mental peace and so, good sleep and rest for the mind. Feel that you are a hundred percent dependent on God. He will look after you and save you from harm and injury. When you go to bed, thank God for guiding and guarding you throughout the day.
Friday, October 13, 2023
The most important quality is purity. Today everything is polluted. Water, air, and all five elements are polluted. As a result, one’s mind is also polluted. How is purity to be achieved? Fill your mind with thoughts of God, dedicate all your actions to God, and consider God the inner motivator.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Service is the easiest path to attain divine grace. Offer service and receive the love of God. Love and service are like two wings by which one can soar to higher levels of consciousness. If you have the spirit of love and service, divine grace will follow you like a shadow wherever you may be, whether in the forest or the sky, village or city, river, or mountain cliff.
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Whatever you hear, try to recapitulate, then put it into practice. Listening (shravanam), contemplating (mananam), and practicing (nidhidhyasanam) – these three are essential. Listening can be compared to cooking in the kitchen. Contemplating can be compared to bringing the food to the dining hall and serving it. Practicing can be compared to the eating process. When all these three are unified, you will have health and happiness.
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Above all, the spiritual aspirant should be joyful, smiling, and enthusiastic under all circumstances. Even more than devotion and spiritual wisdom, this pure attitude is desirable. Those who have acquired it deserve to reach the goal first. This quality of joy at all times is the fruit of the good done in past births.
Monday, October 9, 2023
Spiritual exercise is most required to control the mind and the desires after which it runs. If you find that you are not able to succeed, do not give up the spiritual exercise but do it more vigorously, for it is the subject in which you did not get passing marks that requires special study, is it not? Spiritual exercise means inner cleanliness as well as external cleanliness.
Sunday, October 8, 2023
God draws the individual toward itself; it is the nature of both, to have this affinity, for they are the same. They are like iron and magnet. But if the iron is rusty or covered with layers of dirt, the magnet is unable to attract. Remove the impediment; that is all you have to do. Shine forth in your real nature, and the Lord will draw you inside. Trials and tribulations are the means by which this cleansing is done.
Saturday, October 7, 2023
When you are depressed by what appears to be loss or calamity, engaging in the recitation and recollection of the names of the Lord (namasmarana) will give you consolation, courage, and true perspective. Remember the distress and calamity the saints underwent with an enthusiastic welcome and be calm during every storm. People laughed at them and called them mad, but they knew they were in the hospital of God's grace, not human's mental hospital. They had complete faith in their destiny, and so they had complete faith in God.
Friday, October 6, 2023
The mind is the background for the world. If thoughts and activities of the mind are sound, healthy, non-violent, filled with love, and morally harmonious, then peace is near, and supreme reality (Brahman) can be attained. That is why spiritual practice (sadhana) is to be strictly pursued to train the mind inward toward God, its source.
Thursday, October 5, 2023
The eye must be trained to discover the footprints of God. In this process, the mind has to be mastered. The mind is the pivot of thoughts and feelings. The mind is the thinking aspect of the absolute consciousness (Brahman). The intellect cannot grasp the secret of worldly delusion (maya), for it, too, is bound by it. One must transcend the intellect to understand it.
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Surrender can be realized only after the perfection of detachment from sensual pleasures, accompanied by discrimination between the real and the unreal. The taints of "I" and "mine" must be removed by rigorous spiritual practice (sadhana), chief among the disciplines being the recitation and recollection of the names of the Lord (namasmarana), because when you dwell on the names of the Lord, God's majesty, grace, potency, and pervasiveness will get fixed in the consciousness.
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Love all; revere all; help all to the best of your ability. Endeavor to be as beneficial, sweet, and soft as possible. Then, the spot you stand on becomes as sacred as Kashi (holy pilgrimage place); the words you utter will be as holy as scripture. This spiritual practice (sadhana) will lead you to Self-realization.
Monday, October 2, 2023
Hold all your property and wealth in trust for the Lord who gave them to you; even your family, you must treat as a sacred trust, as persons given to you by the Lord to love, foster, and guide. Thus, you must elevate your attachment to worship and make it an instrument for spiritual progress.
Sunday, October 1, 2023
God's grace is like the shower of rain and is like the sunlight. You must do some spiritual practice (sadhana) to acquire it, such as keeping a pot upright to receive the rain and opening the door of your heart so that the sun may illumine it. Like the music broadcast over the radio, it is all around you; but you must switch on your receiver and tune the identical wavelength to hear and enjoy it. Pray for grace but do at least this little sadhana.