Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

A farmer has to concentrate his efforts during certain favorable seasons, when ploughing and sowing have to be done. He cannot afford to count the cost or calculate the trouble. Rain or shine, night or day, he has to do the task, so that he can reap the harvest. So too, for you students, this is the period of life when you have to be active and alert. Your future is shaped by what you do now. Now is the very foundational stage of your life, when you prepare your mind, to meet its challenges and your intelligence, to solve its riddles.

Spiritual practices such as meditation, Japa, mantra and bhajan are like soap. Without water, soap is not of use. The water is likened to love. It is the water that is important. Without love you live in death. Love is life. All are one; be alike to everyone.

Jesus knew that God wills everything. So, even on the cross, when he suffered agony, he bore no ill-will toward anyone and he exhorted those with him to treat all as instruments of His will. "All are one; be alike to everyone." Practice this attitude in your daily lives.

Prayers for worldly ends do not reach God. They will reach only those deities who deal with such restricted spheres. But, all prayers arising from pure love, unselfish eagerness to render service and hearts that are all-inclusive will reach God. For, God is the very embodiment of love. We know that we have to see the moon only through moonlight. So too, God who is love can be seen and realized only through love. Love is God, Live in Love.

God alone is the guru. The Guru out of His infinite compassion and wisdom counsels the disciples on the most beneficent path. The shishya (pupil) out of his infinite devotion, follows it and attains the goal. Arjuna said, after listening to the Lord's counsel, "Karishye vachanam thava," "I shall act according to your words." You have to be pupils like him.

The breath is always saying 'Sohum'. The practice is to say 'So' with inhalation, and 'Hum' with exhalation. Say it in thought. It is intended to keep the mind fixed and quiet. After a while it becomes automatic. During the day say 'Sohum'. At night, during sleep, the sound naturally changes to OM.

No use resisting or fighting thoughts. If suppressed, they are always ready to spring forth at weak moments - like snakes in a basket; if the cover gets loose or is removed the snakes spring forth. The way to overcome bad thoughts and impulses is by having thoughts of serving the Lord, good conversation with wise people, good actions and words. The weight of good acts and thoughts will bury the seeds of bad actions and thoughts.

There are many who claim to be Sai devotees. How many of them are following the message of Sai? Anyone who claims to be a Sai devotee should dedicate his life to Sai ideals. That is true devotion and real penance. That is the hallmark of humanness. It will be reflected in love, which will find expression in compassion that generates real ananda. The greatest quality in every man is love.

Regardless of the sins of the past, if there is deep repentance and love of God, the sins are washed out and the nature purified. To fear otherwise is weakness. God has infinite compassion. Seek His love, and forgiveness follows.

Satsang (good company) helps you to attain sense control. Sath is that which is permanent and eternal. In this world, everything is transitory. Only Divinity is permanent. Your feelings will become noble and pure only when you associate yourself with Divinity. First and foremost, recognize the fact that bad company is the root cause for man’s downfall. Man wants to accomplish many things in life but is inhibited by the sense of fear lurking in his mind. It is only association with God that will make man fearless.

Developing selfless love is a question of practice. Intellectually you understand. Say, you have a temperature, a 105-degree (40.6°C) fever. If you keep on chanting 100 times, 'I want penicillin injection', it won't cure you. You have to take the injection. You don't have to chant that you want penicillin; you just have to have one shot, and you are all right. Instead of thinking of ten different things to do, if you do one thing correctly, that is enough.

Of all the gifts of God, time and love are the most precious. Man should make proper use of time to experience Divine love. But today, man is wasting three-fourths of his time in mundane pursuits, whether he is a student (brahmachari), householder (grihastha), recluse (vanaprastha), or renunciant (sanyasi). Then how can he expect to have noble thoughts? He is unable to undertake any sacred activity because his mind is clouded with ego.

God is omnipresent. The sky is God and the earth is God. All human beings are embodiments of Divinity. God is immanent in every human being in the form of breath (Soham). People have to realize this truth. Only when you realize the true nature of God can you be considered to have acquired spiritual wisdom (jnana).

Do not regard anything as bad. If a person has done evil to you and you take it as evil and retaliate, then you also have become bad. But, by remaining good and not regarding others as evil, you gain the right to reform them. If there is a bad smell in the room, and if incense is lit, the fragrance changes the smell of the room. Bad actions should be met with good deeds and a good viewpoint, and evil will be changed.