PEACE AND HAPPINESS

1. Evil thoughts are rooted out by the effect of good company. Eradication of evil thoughts forms the basis of man's liberation. Man can attain concentration only when annihilates his evil thoughts. He should make all efforts to foster only good thoughts. And good thoughts are possible only by good company. Therefore, good company should be the main aim of man's life.

2. Virtues are the most effective means for purifying the inner consciousness of man at all levels. They prompt him to discover what to do and how to do. ONly those who have earned good destiny can claim their excellence in discrimination. And, adherence to this determination is the raft which can take man across the ocean of flux and fear. Whatever the residual activity a person has perforce to engage himself in, the impact of that activity will not impinge on him, provided he is a man of virtues. The man of virtues has a place in the region of the liberated; he can merge in the embodiment of Supreme Blisss.

God, Meditation and Morality

1. Those who have love for God are endowed with morality. Morality is the very life-breath of man. Without morality, he is lifeless. The whole human race will be doomed without morality.
2. First you have concentration, then contemplation and thereafter meditation. Therefore, you must have practice of concentration before you do meditation. Meditation comes only after contemplation. Do not think that you will go into meditation the moment you sit with closed eyes. People do this type of artificial meditation but this is not meditation in the real sense of the term. Meditation is that in which you completely transcend your senses and body attachment and forget yourself.
3. The principle of love is present in all. When people develop love, then there will not conflicts in the world. Therefore, you should develop love. Never resort to untruth under any circumstances. If you follow untruth, you will never be able to develop love. Therefore, always adhere to truth. Develop love at all times. You can develop love only by following truth and righteousness. These two qualities are enssential for man.
4. Destroy all your evil qualities such as pride, ego and wickedness. When you drive away all these evil qualities, you will become a pure human being. Wherefrom does humanness come? It comes from the heart; which is not physical heart but the spiritual heart which is free from all blemishes. Like fragrant air, your purity should spread everywhere. You should share with others the pure thoughts and pure feelings that emanate from you. Whatever you do, it should be helpful to other.
5. When you fill a thousand pots with water, the reflection of the sun is seen in all of them. Does it mean that there are different suns in all the pots? No. The sun is only one. All bodies are like pots. It is the same God that is reflected in all of them. Everything is reaction, reflection and resound. You hear the echo of your voice. You see your own reflection in a mirror. You should therefore, see your own reflection in all human beings. If you love someone, it means that you are loving yourself. If you have someone, it means you hate yourself.
HELP EVER, HURT NEVER.

GOD IS LOVE

1. When you have hatred, jealousy and anger, it is a clear indication that you do not have love. In fact, love will not come anywhere near you if you harbour these evil qualities. When you really have love, then none of these evil qualities will touch you. Therefore, constantly practise, "LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL". Firmly adhere to this principle in your life.

2. Only those who have filled their mind with worldly thoughts talk too much. Therefore, avoid excessive talking. Maintain silence and be quiet. Talk only as much as it is necessary, If you talk more than what is necessary, it amounts to unwanted talk.

3. Do meditation with love. Without love, there can be no mediation. Unify love with truth and righteousness to attain the state of permanent meditation. Then only your love will become permanent. Otherwise, you will have only temporary love, which you will forget sooner or later. Begin your sadhana with the practice of truth and righteousness. Truth is changeless; it is intimately related with Righteousness. When truth and righteousness come together, peace will emerge from them. Love follows peace. When you have love, you will have no hatred.

4. God is eternal and omnipresent, the moment you call Him, that very moment He will manifest before you. This eternal form of divinity is the only truth. There will be no change in divinity at any point of time. You should install this form in your heart which is true, eternal and everlasting. Meditation on any form of God is good. Do not observe any differences between this form and that form be Rama, Krishna, Jesus or Sai Baba. Whatever form you meditate upon, you should permanently install in your heart. It should remain forever and should not change.

5. Sacrifiice is sweeter than enjoyment. Sacrifice should become the aim of our life. Only through sacrifice can one attain peace. Sorrows do not flee from us as long as the mind is not at peace with itself; agonies dwell forever within us. Without the tranquility of the mind, any amount of wealth can not be of any use. Surrendering the fruits of actions with a dispassionate mind is eligible to be termed sacrifice.

6. There are three main enemies of man, namely, lust, anger and greed. Lust destroys devotion; anger destroys knowledge; and greed destroys the good actions of man. They also affect his work, worship and wisdom. When we are overpowered by anger, we lose our sense of discrimination. Anger creates many types of enemities. One who is in the grip of anger will lose his sense of discrimination as to what to speak, when to speak and where to speak. Hence, do not allow anger to come near you. Do not give room to greed at all. There may be cure even for cancer, but not for these.

GOSPEL OF DIVINITY

"Lord, you have told us that by cultivating devotion, that is Love for God, from childhood, we can reach Him, who is the treasure of all Ananda. You have also told us that how much we think we are, and not more, are we and so help us to learn more and more and then become better and better."
"We also know that Sathya, Dharma, Santhi, Prema and Ahimsa are the chief noble qualities that we have to cultivate from our childhood and continue it throughout our lives. Because, Swami has said, Life is a search, explore it; Life is a challenge, meet it; Life is a game, play it; Life is a dream, realise it; and Life is Love, enjoy it."
"So, for this we have to start early, drive slowly and reach safely. But we have to remember, `less luggage more comfort', and we should always remember Love is God and God is Love and so we have to live in Love. If we do so, we will enjoy our lives."
"In order to enjoy life, we must put a ceiling or limit on our desires. We must put a limit on our expenditure of our money. We must not talk too much thus wasting our time and energy. We must not waste food, because food is God, and when time is wasted, it is equal to life being wasted."
"So, we have to remember that one of the best ways to spend time is, by doing good service to others, because doing seva to humanity is doing seva to divinity, that means serving God and helping God's creation is the same thing. When we please man, we please God."
"We have also to do our duty in life with discipline and devotion. For that, we must start the day with love, spend the day with love, fill the day with love, live the day with love and end the day with love and remember love lives by giving and forgiving and self lives by getting and forgetting."
"And when we talk, we must remember to talk soft, talk sweet and talk the truth. We must watch our words, watch our actions, watch our thoughts, watch our character and watch our heart and we must also avoid backbiting, falsehood and harsh words."
"Also we must remember that one must not only do the work one likes, but like the work one has to do. We cannot always oblige but can always speak obligingly. Swami has said, we are all caskets of divine love and so we must share it, spread it and express that love in thoughts of compassion, words of sympathy and acts of service."
"Not only that, we must practice Ahimsa and Brahmacharya. We must cultivate humility, fearlessness and develop a sense of sacrifice and renunciation. Also we should eradicate ego, lust, anger, breed, envy and jealousy and practice selflessness, generosity and tolerance and thus make ourselves better persons."
"For this, what we have to do is to "See Good, Be Good and Do Good, because that is the way to God." The past is beyond recovery. The future is uncertain. The given moment is now and here. So sanctify it with holy thoughts, words and deeds and thus make life a rose that speaks silently in the language of fragrance. Remove desire, attachment, and cultivate patience, fearlessness, control tossing of mind and temper; Love God, Trust God and Surrender to God."
"So, for making us better persons, we must take a dose of Japam and Dhyanam for breakfast; have Satchintanam, Sat sang and Satparana for lunch; do pooja and archana for Tea; consider an hour of bhajan as Dinner; and do Manana, as a cup of milk at bedtime. This diet is enough to make our being happy and healthy."
"And so we pray to our Lord to accept this little garland of pearls. We also pray to our Lord to help us to "Follow the master, Face the devil, Fight to the end, and Finish the game" and when we become big, to be considered by YOU as Your fit instruments to carry out YOUR Message to Your complete satisfaction. Lord! Bless us all for that."

Human Qualities and Divinity

1. You can be called a human being only when you have human qualities in you. You may read any number of books, but is you lack human qualities, you cannot be called a human being. Those who imbibe and practice good human values are true human beings. One may be a great emperor possessing enormous wealth and power; but wealth and power cannot protect any one. Even if man acquires all worldly possessions, they cannot give him true happiness. True happiness can be derived from inner qualities and not from outer acquisitions.

2. There should be unity of thought, word and deed. We should speak what we think and do what we say. When we observe the unity of thought, word and deed, we will become embodiments of Divinity. This is true humanness. People today have the mistaken notion that amassing a lot of wealth and filling their banks is a great human quality. They think that their education is meant only for this; this is not the goal of education. The five human values of Truth, Duty, Peace, Love and Non-violence are man's real wealth.

3. All human qualities are within us; they are not outside. what is the meaning of educare ? It is to bring out the qualities that are within us. Therefore, we should manifest our innate human qualities. That is true educare. Mere reading of books connotes education but not educare. Through educare, all will become one irrespective of caste, creed or religion.

4. Every human being should have love and compassion for poor people. Only those who develop the quality of sacrifice experience divine bliss. Selfish people who harbour feelings of "I" and 'MINE" can never experience happiness. The feeling of "I" is the cause of ego in man. Similarly, the feeling of "MINE" and "MY PEOPLE" cause attachment. Such feelings make a man proud and egoistic. Do not develop narrow feeling; this will result in sufferings. What is the cause of such feelings in man? The cause of such feelings is their worldly and materialistic education. Materialistic education make a man self-centred; it does not broaden his outlook to think about the welfare of others.

5. People today try to expoit others for their own selfish ends. Nobody is making efforts with sacred feelings to help others. In fact, a true human being is supposed to help others. Only those who are endowed with the five values of Truth, Duty, Peace, Love and Non-violence are human being in the real sense of the term. We should also develop compassion which is not to be seen anywhere now-a-days; what we see today is only "come-fashion". These will lead to divinity in man.

GOD AND MAN

1. God is without any attributes; He has no birth or death, although He incarnates on earth in human form. Therefore, man is nothing but divine.

2. Every one should have faith in God. But people sometimes worship God and then start hating Him because they lack firm faith. Such people cannot be called human beings in the true sense of the term. Man can attain peace of mind only when he has firm faith and sense of total surrender.

3. Creation emerges from truth and merges into truth. Is there a place in the cosmos where truth does not exist? Visualize this pure and unsullied truth.

4. Seek chances of helping others. Never lose an opportunity of using your skills and enthusiasm for the alleviation of sorrow, pain or distress. Again do not omit or neglect or postpone your own particular duty. Above all have faith that God is with you all times and at all places.

5. The same God is present in all things. You may worship different names and forms of God, but you should develop the faith that God is only one. Offer your salutations to everyone you meet. Even when you come across a beggar, offer your salutations to him. His physical body may appear to be that of a beggar but in respect of the soul, he is bigger. Therefore, offer your obeisance to all because the same soul is present in al. Never consider any body your enemy; never hate anyone.

6. Jewels are many, but gold is one.
Faiths are many, but goal is one.
Cows are many, but milk is one.

7. There is no discipline equal to service to smother the ego and to fill the heart with genuine joy. To condemn service as demeaning and inferior is to forego these benefits. If a wave of service sweeps over the land, catching everyone in its enthusiasm, it will be able to wipe off the mounds of hatred, malice and greed that infest the world.

8. When rivers go and merge in the ocean, they acquire the depth and glory of the unfathomable ocean. In a similar manner, when all other forms of education merge with spiritual education, they acquire the form and grandeur of the spiritual education. It is only when your education is combined with penance that there is a possibility of the blossoming of your heart and the enabling of your ideas. Penance does not mean that you should give up everything and go the forest and stand there with your head on the ground. Penance is that with the help of which you can make your thought, word and deed harmonize with each other.

HUMAN VALUES

1. Lead your life, chanting within you constantly the name of God who is the embodiment of peace and love. When all individuals develop peace in them, then the entire country will become good and peaceful. Those who aspire for the welfare of the country should live always in love.

2. There is love in every one of us. But we do not make proper use of it. Rather, we put our love to mis-use. How far can a person go if he walks on his head instead of his feet? God has given us feet for walking. Similarly, God has given us tongue to speak the truth. Speaking untruth is like walking on our head. God has given us head to make proper use of it and think: “What is good and what is bad? What is truth and what is untruth?” While saying or doing anything, first we should think what is we are saying is true or untrue and what we are doing is right or wrong. After due consideration, we should only take the path of truth.

3. Truth is eternal. It does not undergo any change in the three periods of time – past, present and future. There is not Dharma greater than adherence to truth. Dharma originates from truth only. Where there is no truth, Dharma does not abide there. When we have Truth and Dharma, peace will descend upon us and we will attain supreme peace.

4. The highest step in various modes of worship of God is self-surrender. Surrender does not mean offering our body to God. Real surrender is the chanting of the Divine Name and making it the basis of our life. God has given us hands to serve mankind. Similarly, God has given us tongue to chant the Name of God and He has given us feet to serve mankind. God can not be attained by money. It is God who has given us all our money. Hence, we should utilise money on our worldly and spiritual pursuits. Also use it to help poor people.

5. We can attain God by chanting His Divine Name. Make any Name of God as the basis of our life and then we can achieve everything. Name is eternal but form is ephemeral; the form has old age and death. Therefore, it is the Name that is important. Therefore, chant the name of God constantly. Other spiritual practices such as charity, yajna, worship are of little use if we do not chant the Divine Name.

6. Everything happens according to the feelings of your heart. Good and bad feelings are the main cause of our good fortune or misfortune. To become fortunate, we should cultivate good qualities which build our character. When we cultivate good qualities, we develop good tendencies. Only such a virtuous person can undertake good deeds. By associating with bad company, a person becomes bad and by keeping company with good people, he acquires virtues. Therefore, we should have good company and good things around us.

7. Let us think for a while:

(a) Who provides food to sustain the tadpole in the crevices of a rock?

(b) Who waters the growing plant on the top of a cliff? Who provides water and manure to trees that grow on stones in mountainous regions?

(c) Who has painted the several colours on the plumes of a peacock and who has made the parrot look so attractive with its multi-hued feathers?

8. God is our sole refuge wherever we may be, in a forest, in the sky, in a city or in a village or on the top of a mountain or in the middle of deep sea. Every thing happens by the Will of God. We should develop such firm faith. All are embodiments of God; we should know this and make efforts to attain God.

9. When we sow a Karma, we reap a tendency. When we sow a tendency, we reap character. When we sow character, we reap destiny. Therefore, destiny depends upon character, character depends upon tendency, tendency depends upon action and action depends upon thoughts. Hence, good thoughts are the fundamental basis of our good fortune.

10. Once Sai Baba told a devotee “Oh devotee! I am always with you and I am always present at your back.” After walking some distance, the devotee turned back and saw but did not find Sai Baba there. Then he thought that Baba had told him a lie. “He told me that He will be behind my back, but He is not to be seen”. He went back to Baba and said “You promised that you would be at my back, but when I looked behind me, I did not find you”. Baba replied, “Oh devotee! When you looked behind your back, you turned your back also. Hence, I also turned to be at your back”. The words of God are mysterious, wonderful and have a deeper meaning. Not all can understand God. Follow His command, it our duty.