Sri Sathya Sai Baba is among those realised souls whose wisdom cuts across all barriers of race and religion, aimed only at restoring dharma and establishing the unity of faiths and peoples under the common banner of universal love and brotherhood. Manasa bhajare guru charanam, dushtara bhava sagara taranam — O mind, chant the glory of the Guru's feet, which can take you across the treacherous ocean of samsara — exhorts Baba.

However, to widen spirituality's reach beyond retreats and rosaries, it has to be made to touch all of life and divinise every activity. For this, the quest for atma vidya or self-knowledge is essential in a human being, for it awakens him to his inherent divinity and also promotes reverence and respect for all creation.

The Bhagavad Gita tells us that it is more important to be an atmavan or rich in atma shakti rather than be a dhanavan, materially rich or balavan or physi-cally strong. Atma shakti confers eve-rything on an individual. The real purpose of life is to make contact with God within, who is satyam, shivam, sundaram or truth, goodness and beauty and to draw from that supreme source the inspiration for an ideal life. This can be achieved by building on the foundation of satya, dharma, shanti, prema and ahimsa or truth, righteousness, peace, love and non-violence.

‘‘If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character, if there is beauty in character there will be harmony in the home, if there is harmony in the home there will be order in the nation, and if there is order in the nation there will be peace in the world”, says Baba. ‘‘Where there is love, there is peace, where there is peace there is truth, where there is truth there is bliss, where there is bliss there is God.'' Baba says, “Let the different faiths flourish. Let the glory of God be sung in all languages. Respect the differences between faiths and recognise them as valid, so far as they do not extinguish the flame of unity.'' The Vedas, repository of the highest knowledge, declare: Sahana vavatu, sahanau bhunaktu, saha-veeryam karvavahai, tejas-vinav dhitamastu maa vidvishavahai — ‘‘Let us live together, struggle together, grow together, in joy and harmony.''

What is dharma or righteousness? It is essentially purity and unity in thought, word and deed — trikarna shuddhi. No man can claim to be religious if he observes the sacraments but fails to be upright and compassionate. The end of all education is character and selfless seva is more beneficial to spiritual development than japam and dhyanam behind closed doors. ‘Help ever, hurt never' is the highest religion endorsed even by the Vedas, for hands that help are holier than lips that pray, and service to man is service to God.

Wasting of food, money, time and energy have to be studiously avoided and a ceiling placed on desires. The Vedas lay down the four goals or purusharthas as dharma, artha, kama, moksha — righteousness, wealth, desire, salvation. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says, “Since the first and last are difficult to attain, man has given them up as impractical and is struggling with the middle two, wealth and desire. All the misery and fear of life can be traced to this monumental mistake. The four should be taken in two inseparable pairs, dharma-artha, kama-moksha. That is, earn wealth through righteousness and let your primary desire be for salvation.”

Baba asks seekers to distinguish between the momentary and the momentous. He asks us to be constantly aware of three things: Faith in God, the illusory and ephemeral nature of the everchanging world, and the imperishable nature of the atman within. He also asks us to banish two ideas: The harm that anyone has done to us and the good we have done to anyone.

(Today is Sri Sathya Sai Baba's birthday)