Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

Men aspire for liberation. True liberation means freedom from desires. Today men cannot go to forests for penance or engage themselves in meditation and other spiritual exercises. The easiest spiritual path for all people is to dedicate all their actions to God.

Men are developing their intellectual abilities but are using their intelligence for wrong purposes. Knowledge without right action is useless. Mere action without knowledge is foolishness. Hence it is necessary to combine knowledge with the cultivation of character.

There is nothing greater than Divine Will. Everything is God’s will. The foremost duty of a human being is to realize the will of God and submit himself to that Divine will. Those who developed faith in the will of God were protected, while others were not. Hence, faith is the basis for everything.

Some people develop faith when their desires are fulfilled. If their desires are not fulfilled, they lose faith. This type of attitude is not good. Keep your faith firm, irrespective of whether your desires are fulfilled. Preserve your faith carefully. Faith can work wonders. It can make a blind person see, a dumb speak. Do not at all doubt the power of faith.

In every human being, love is present as an effulgence that shines in his feelings. Love is life and life is love. Even as the power to burn is natural for fire, and the power to cool is natural for water, love is a natural trait for man. Without it, he ceases to be human.

When the obstacles in the path of truth are laid low, deliverance is achieved. That is why liberation is something that can be won, here and now. One need not wait for the dissolution of the physical body for that. Action must not be felt as a burden, for that feeling is a sure sign, indicating that it is against the grain. No action which helps your progress will weigh heavily on you. It is only when you go counter to your innermost nature that you feel it a burden. A time comes when you look back on your achievement and sigh at the futility of it all.

It is by constant control of thoughts and desires that man can purify himself and raise the level of his consciousness. To the extent man reduces his desires, his will power (Ichcha sakti) will grow.

There is only One God and He is Omnipresent! There is only One Religion, the religion of Love. There is only One Language, the language of the Heart. This God has to be visualized by means of constant spiritual discipline.

The entire creation has its origin in God. There can be no air, sun, rain or plants without God. Knowing this truth, we still tend to forget God. On the other hand, we remember everything else. This is not correct. You should never forget God. If you forget God, it amounts to forgetting everything. For, God is the source and cause for everything.

Bring devotion and lay it here and take from here spiritual strength! The more such business is done, the more pleased am I. Bring what you have, namely, your sorrows and griefs, worries, and anxieties, and take from Me joy and peace, courage and confidence.

One who is having constant remembrance of God, with love and devotion, will ever be happy whether he is in a village or a city, flying in the sky or in a forest, because God dances in his heart and confers delight.

There are three types of devotion. The bird method where, like a bird swooping down upon the ripe fruit on the tree, the devotee is too impatient and, by that very impatience, loses the fruit, which falls from his hold. The monkey method where, like a monkey that pulls toward it one fruit after another and by sheer unsteadiness is not able to decide which fruit it wants, the devotee hesitates and changes his aim much too often and thus loses all chances of success. The ant method, where like the ant that slowly but steadily proceeds toward the sweetness, the devotee moves direct, with undivided attention, toward the Lord and wins His Grace!

Devotion is the easiest way to win His Grace and also to realize that He pervades everything, in fact, is everything! Total surrender, leaving everything to His Will, is the highest form of devotion.

This is the Day (Shivaratri Day) when Siva consumed the deadly poison that threatened to destroy the world and saved mankind from perdition. The aspirant for Divine grace has to remember this day with gratitude. He must not exult when his happiness is promoted, nor be disheartened when misery becomes his lot. "Thy will, not mine" shall be his constant assertion to himself.