Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

The supreme primal energy (Shakti) manifests as Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Durga grants us energy - physical, mental, and spiritual. Lakshmi bestows on us all forms of wealth - not just money but intellectual wealth, the wealth of character, and others. Even health is a kind of wealth. She grants untold riches to us. And Saraswati bestows intelligence, the capacity for intellectual inquiry, and the power of discrimination on us. The festival of nine sacred nights (Navaratri) is celebrated to proclaim the power of the goddesses to the world. One's mother is the combination of all these divine beings. She provides us with energy, wealth, and intelligence. She constantly desires our advancement in life. So, she represents all the three goddesses we worship during the Navaratri festival.

Love should be free from feelings of expectation of any return or reward. Love which arises out of a desire for something in return is not true love. Utterly selfless and motiveless love should be developed. This is the duty of mankind. You should not pray to God seeking favors. No one can know what immensely precious and magnificent treasures lie in the treasure-house of divine grace.

Today, the food we eat, the water we drink, and even the air we breathe are all polluted. Hence, this widespread pollution has to be controlled, at least to a certain extent, by undertaking sacred activities. That is why the nine forms of devotion have been prescribed as sadhana (spiritual exercises): Sravanam (listening), Kirtanam (singing), Vishnusmaranam (contemplating on Vishnu), Padasevanam (serving His Lotus Feet), vandanam (salutation), Archanam (worship), Dasyam (servitude), Sneham (friendship), and Atmanivedanam (self-surrender). One must adopt any one of these sadhanas for pollution control.

You are now sitting in this hall. You do not know what will happen to you when you get up and take two steps. Once you depart from this world, who is related to whom? Who are your friends and relatives? No relationships at all! Hence, the physical body should not be given too much importance. Purify the body by undertaking good deeds. Since people develop many kinds of relationships with the external world, they are afflicted with several impurities. Only when such impurities are cleared to a certain extent will one keep good health.

All attachment arises at one stage - between mother and son, husband and wife, and so on - and drops away at another stage. Divine love (prema) is something completely different. God is eternal - existing before one's birth and continuing after one’s death. The divine is without a beginning or an end. True love means the love of God.

People today should seek the sovereignty of the Kingdom of the Spirit (Atmasamrajyam) within them. This calls for control over the senses and avoiding evil qualities like anger, greed, and jealousy. This spiritual practice (sadhana) must begin from now itself when you are young. Do not put it off for your old age.

What is the source of ignorance (Ajnana)? It is identification with the body, the delusion that you are the body. This can be removed only by the acquisition of the right knowledge. To remove darkness, light is needed. You cannot drive darkness away by prayer, petition, or protest. Unless the light is on, darkness will not disappear; however much you try. So, ignorance will not disappear by merely wishing for its disappearance.

The Upanishads proclaim that release from death can be achieved neither through entanglement in works, nor through one’s progeny, nor through the accumulation of riches. It can be gained only through acts of renunciation, detachment, or sacrifice (thyaga).

More than the knowledge you can get from reading scriptures, you should value the wisdom you can get from experience. By taking the knowledge from the scriptures, you can convert it into wisdom of experience by practicing it in your daily life.

Supreme peace has no ups and downs; it cannot be partial in adversity and complete in prosperity. It cannot be one thing today and another tomorrow. It always maintains state of bliss (ananda).

Detach yourselves from the craving for fame and comfort – that is to say, develop non-attachment (upeksha), and you are free! Detachment alone can save you from entanglement and reveal the ultimate truth.

In the sixth chapter of the Gita, we are told how one can attain purity. Good qualities like kindness, compassion, love, and sacrifice qualify one to be called a devotee or a Jnani, or one who has attained detachment from the external world (Vairagya).

Everyone must be interested in four things: "Who am I? Where did I come from? Whither am I going? How long shall I be here?" All spiritual inquiry begins with these questions and attempts to find the answers. The four Vedas answer these four questions.

Do not make the mistake of considering some worthy of reverence and others unworthy. Sai is in everyone, so all deserve your reverence and service. Propagate this truth; that is the function I assign to this Organization (Seva Samithis).