Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

God is the embodiment of truth. Truth is the foundation of the universe. This truth transcends the mind and speech and is beyond the categories of time and space. Vedanta has described it as transcendental truth (ritam).

True humanness consists in the unity of good conduct, good thoughts, and good speech. Never depart from the truth. Let love flow freely from your heart.

People should understand the distinction between worldly love and spiritual love. Worldly love is based on the desire to receive. Divine love yearns to give. God's love goes on giving. This is the true mark of divinity. It is a sign of purity.

A human has many sacred qualities, like love and sacrifice, but one does not put them into practice wholeheartedly. There is divinity in everyone. Without recognizing this divinity, one is wasting life on mundane pleasures. A human is the most valuable creation in the world. All things, however precious, derive their value from humans.

The lover of God sees God everywhere. Hence man's heart must be filled with the love of God. Love will not enter the heart of one who is filled with selfishness and self-conceit. Therefore, one should forget the petty self and concentrate one’s thoughts on God.

Love is God; the cosmos is permeated with love. Assuming the love form, to save His beloved ones, showering the nectarine stream of love, Lord Krishna came as the embodiment of love for those yearning for Him.

Love is associated with immortality. It is nectar itself. There is nothing in the world comparable to it. It is to teach human beings the truth about this divine love that love itself incarnates on earth in human form.

People pray to Swami to rid them of all difficulties and losses. This is a totally wrong kind of prayer. Difficulties must be welcomed and must be overcome. By overcoming trouble, the divine must be experienced. You cannot get the juice of sugarcane without crushing it. You cannot enhance the brilliance of a diamond without cutting it and making many facets. The body is like a sugarcane stalk. It is only when it goes through various difficulties that you can experience the sweet bliss of Self-realization. That sweetness is divinity itself.

When you understand the nature of the body-mind complex, you will realize your true essence. It is enough if you develop the conviction that you and the divine are one - "Aham Brahmasmi." Cultivate steadfast faith in this divine oneness through love. That love will lead you to Self-realization.

Do not allow your mind to vacillate between good and bad, between unity and multiplicity. Focus it on all that is good and realize the principle of unity. That is the royal road that will lead you to the experience of truth.

When one is strongly established in love, that person qualifies for mergence with the divine, to become one with the divine.

There are two "I's" in everyone - the "I" that is associated with the mind and the "I" associated with the Atma. The consciousness of the Atma is the real "I." When this "I" is wrongly associated with the mind, it becomes the ego (ahamkara). When the "I" associated with the Atma experiences Atmic bliss, it realizes that the universal consciousness is one, though it may be called by different names.

Develop the unshakable conviction that the divine is present in everyone. Then there will be no room for developing differences of any kind. Conflict and disorder will have no place. Likes and dislikes will go.

The body, the mind, and the senses are merely like the husk which encases the grain. When the husk is removed, the rice alone remains. As long as one is enveloped in this husk, one cannot escape birth and death. When the husk (in the form of the five sheaths) is cast off, one is freed from rebirth, just as rice without the husk cannot sprout.