Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

The present is very important. Don’t take it as ordinary present. It is omnipresent. The present contains the results of the past and the future. So, take care of the present and make it sacred.

I often tell the students about four F’s: follow the master (conscience), face the devil (that is, desire for money), fight to the end, and finish the game. Finishing the game is liberation (mukti). You have taken human birth and you have entered the sacred human life. You must attain divinity in your lifetime. There is nothing more valuable than this.

True love is the sweet fruit that grows out of the fragrant flower of good deeds. Love rules without recourse to the sword. It binds without laws. Only one who has such true love can be described as human.

Love is blissful and nectarine. The sweetness of nectar may have limits, but the sweetness of divine love has none. It is beyond all measure. It is beyond description too; it can only be experienced. Buddha discovered this love, experienced it, and became one with it. God and love are not different.

Today we are celebrating Easwaramma Day to propagate the glory of motherhood. The world is sustained by the prayers of mothers. A woman’s prayer is more powerful than a thousand prayers of men because women are pure and tender-hearted. Never cause displeasure to your mother. Never hurt her feelings. Then God will help you in all your endeavors.

For Buddha, everything had to be pure and sacred. If you throw a pebble into a well, ripples are created and travel up to the edge of the well. In the same way, if you throw a pebble called good thought into the well called the heart, the ripples generated travel throughout the body. When the ripple reaches the eye, it stimulates pure vision. When the ripple reaches the ear, it tunes the latter to sacred sounds. When the ripple reaches the hands, it swings them into good action. In this manner, when the ripples spread across the entire body, there is a symphony of sacred activity all round. Thus, good, and noble thoughts are fundamental to sacred activity. Such are the great teachings of Buddha.

Develop love toward everybody. Love gives but never takes. Love is a triangle. In this triangle, love gives and never receives. That is one angle. What is the second angle? Love is fearless. What is the third angle? Love is changeless.

Cultivate pure love; for, purity is unity, and that unity is divinity. Let your individual love be transformed into pure love for God. Sometimes, people have a doubt whether God’s love toward them had undergone a change. Never. God’s love will never undergo a change. For example, you have a log of wood. You can make any kind of furniture with it, like a chair or a bench. But the basic material, that is, wood remains the same. Similarly, God’s love always remains unchanged.

Truth (sathya) and righteousness (dharma) together will confer peace. One who adheres to truth and righteousness will always remain peaceful. One need not search for peace outside. Where there is truth, there is peace. Where there is peace, there is non-violence.

People today are beset with many difficulties and troubles. What is the reason? The reason is that they brood over the past, worry about the future, and neglect the present. So, make the present sacred. When the present is sacred, the future is bound to be sacred. When we develop this outlook, we can reach great heights on the path of spirituality.

God is everywhere at all times; God accomplishes everything. God accomplishes the small feat of assuming human form, growing up with men and women, and being in their midst to win them over to the path of truth. God gives humanity a chance to savor the divine sweetness and have a glimpse of God’s glory. God acts despite the absence of any compulsion so that human beings may choose to act likewise!

The service activities that we undertake are meant to experience unity in society. It is a great mistake if you think that you are serving others. In fact, you should not consider anybody as ‘other,’ for all are the embodiments of divinity.

The welfare of the world depends on people’s conduct and behavior. One’s conduct depends on one’s mind. The nature of the mind depends on thoughts. Only when one’s thoughts are based on truth will the world flourish. One who aspires for the welfare of the world should see to it that the thoughts and actions are in accordance with one’s aspirations.

Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “Those who think of Me under all circumstances will surely attain Me.” But you think of God only when you are in trouble. This is part-time devotion. With part-time devotion, you will get only part-time fulfillment. You must think of God at all times and in all situations. Everywhere, at all times, under all circumstances, contemplate on God.