Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

Being a human, make others happy. This is love. Your heart is full of love. On this New Year’s day, resolve that you will start every day with love, spend the day with love, fill the day with love, and end the day with love. You must share your love with at least five persons each day.

Sanctify the new year by engaging yourselves in pure, selfless and ennobling activities. As far as possible, avoid causing harm or pain to others.

As you sow, so you reap. Whenever you feel disturbed by a sense of anger, envy, pride, jealousy and the like, be alert and resort to the contemplation of the Lord.

Let us grow together, move and learn together, develop intelligence and attain noble goals together, without any conflict and let us live in friendship. This is the true meaning of equality. This equality gives peace.

Samam means Brahman, the Absolute Reality; Samadhrishti means, seeing only Brahman, the One, in all things at all times. This Oneness (Ekathwam) is the basic truth. All other experiences are partial, distorted, false. Dwell on that, in your meditation.

There was a sage who addressed dogs, crows and men equally as God; he had realised the unity of all in the Divine Essence. That is the result of Divine knowledge, or intense Bhakthi, where you do not see anything other than your Chosen Deity, wherever you turn. Be ever in that Divine Bliss, the bliss that comes from God- consciousness, always and everywhere. That is the Eternal Bliss which the wise enjoy.

There should be unity in thought, word and deed. To achieve this triple Unity, one has to understand the truth about the Atma (Spirit). This Atma is Time and Time is God. Therefore, you should not waste time. Fill your time with good actions. There is no greater spritual practice than this.

Sanctify the time given to you by good thoughts and good actions. For this, you need to cultivate the company of the good, which will in due course lead you to liberation. Fill your mind with thoughts of God. Engage yourself in godly actions. This is true spritual practice.

Keeping God as your guide and saviour, whatever work you do, will yield sure success. God is your only true friend. Your friends may be with you only until you have wealth, but the moment you lose everything, they will desert you.

God is the only friend who will always be with you, in you, beside you and will never leave you. Therefore, the only way to prosper is to develop friendship with the Lord.

If your character is good, you will always be protected. You should always keep your senses under control. You should always have a check on your vision, listening and speech.

Every day is holy for those who utilise it for holy purposes; but there are some days set apart as specially significant and Makara Sankranti is one such. Sankranthi is so called because the day takes you from darkness to increasing light; the path of light is open from today. The Sun enters upon the journey towards North (Uttharaayanam) this day.

What you should also do today is to resolve to tread the path of Gods. Have the resolve to begin remembrance of the Supreme Lord's Name, Ritual Worship, and Divine Service. The day on which you begin these, and thus inaugurate the Superior Path for your intellect, that day is northward turn for you. Do not wait for the almanac to tell you the date.

Every day you say, shanti (peace) three times! Say it with a pure heart and say it softly. When there is enmity in the heart, chanting Shanti Mantra will be of no use! Chanting it harshly also nullifies the effect of the chant! Words are not important, the feelings within your heart are important. Hence, perform all spiritual practices with purity of heart.

The path of love is the noblest. It may not be possible for you to do japa (chanting of God’s Name). You may not be able to make the mind steady in meditation. You may not know the path of yoga. But you can develop love in your heart. The path of love is easy and it is a shortcut.

What is Jnana, the Supreme Knowledge or Wisdom? It is to know your own true self. That is true knowledge. Self-knowledge is Self-realisation. Constant contemplation on the Self is the means of experiencing the direct vision of God.

What is the Self?. That is the Atma. When you refer to the ""I"", that is the Self. Who is this ""I""? Is it the body? Or is it the mind? Or the intellect (Buddhi)? Or the Indwelling spirit (Atma)? When you enquire into this question, you realise that the Atma alone is ""I"".

Cultivate noble qualities. I shall give you everything. Nay, I shall give Myself to those who cultivate noble qualities and also to those who teach them.

You yearn to escape the consequences of birth and the aftermath of death. You desire peace and joy; for this, you have to cleanse the mind so effectively that it is eliminated.

Every bad habit has to be replaced by a good one, no trace of vice must be allowed to persist, the heart must be drained of all egoism. This is the fruit of this pilgrimage that you must acquire. Let this be your resolution.

Love is Divine. Love all, impart your love even to those who lack love. Love is like a mariner’s compass. Wherever you may keep it, it points the way to God. In every action in daily life manifest your love. Divinity will emerge from that love. This is the easiest path to God-realisation.

What profit do I get spending my time in discovering the faults and weakness of others?’ Thus the first spiritual practice (Sadhana) is to search for the faults and weaknesses within yourself, and to strive to correct them and become perfect.

So long as you say, 'I am,' there is bound to be fear, but, once you say and feel, 'I am Brahman' (Aham Brahmasmi), you get unconquerable strength.

Learn to have single-pointedness (Ekagrata). Through that concentration, it is possible to open the inner eye also, clear and complete, so that man may visualise God.

By taking to repeating the Name of God and picturing in the mind the glory of God who has that Name, as well as a thousand others, slowly the cataract of the inner eye will disappear and, man can see the God who is in his innermost heart, installed in the altar therein. Resolve now to enter upon this spiritual practise from this moment onwards.

God in human form is the only way in which divinity can be grasped by man. Here and now, it is only as He, that God can be felt and experienced.

God is not to be spoken of as Coming down or going up, since He is everywhere, available for your becoming aware of Him, through beauty, truth, goodness, strength, love or any one of the divine attributes.

Discrimination and detachment are the two assistants of man. Keep them strong and give them full facility, for they help man to live unharmed and joyful.

Become attached to God. Feel His Presence, revel in His Glory. Do not cause Him 'disappointment' or 'distress' by any act or word which He does not approve. Do not give Him the slightest 'bother' or 'worry.'

God will serve you; He will save you and be by your side ever. Only you have to cultivate your character and polish your interior so that He might be reflected therein. Let His Will be done---this should be your guideline.

This is My message to you this day: Do not exhibit anger or grief or pain. Be happy, spread happiness around you. Sweetness alone is the offering that God likes.