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Thought for the Day
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As written at
Prasanthi Nilayam
Source: Radio Sai
Global Harmony
Thought for the Day Archive
November 2003
01 November 2003
Just as you attend to the needs of the body,
feeding it three times a day in order to keep it in good running
condition, so too, spend some time regularly everyday to keep your
inner consciousness also in good trim. Spend one hour in the morning
, another at night and a third in the early hours of dawn for japam
(repetition of God's name) and meditation on the Lord. You will find
great peace descending on you and new sources of strength welling up
within you as you progress in this sadhana (spiritual endeavour).
02 November 2003
An empty iron box gets value when it contains
jewels; the body is honoured when it contains the jewels of
consciousness and values known as 'virtues'. Life has to be lived
through for the sake of the chance to unfold the virtues. Otherwise,
man is a burden upon the earth, merely a consumer of food. Help to
the needy has been described as the highest virtue and harming
others has been condemned as sin.
03 November 2003
Man is deriving innumerable benefits from
Nature and enjoying the amenities provided by it in various ways.
But what is the gratitude he is offering to Nature and God? Man is
forgetting the Divine who is the Sole Provider of everything. This
is the reason for his falling prey to various difficulties and
calamities. While he is receiving countless benefits from Providence,
he is offering nothing in return to Nature or God. This shows how
unnatural and heartless man's behaviour is. When we are enjoined to
return good for evil, how unbecoming is it to fail even to return
good for good? Man should learn the great lesson Nature is trying to
teach him - the lesson of doing service with no expectation of
return.
04 November 2003
When man thinks, speaks and acts along
virtuous lines, his conscience will be clean and he will have peace.
Knowledge is power, it is said, but virtue is Peace. Virtues are
like cows yielding health-giving milk. Vices are like the tigers
that fall upon the cows and tear them to pieces. If you build a
barricade of God's Name, then the tiger of vices cannot harm you or
your virtues.
05 November 2003
Vice breeds disease. Bad thoughts and habits,
bad company and bad food are hostile grounds where disease thrives.
Arogya (Good health) and Ananda (Happiness) go hand in hand. A sense
of elation and exultation keeps the body free from ill-health. Evil
habits, in which men indulge, are the chief cause of disease in the
physical as well as the mental state. Greed affects the mind;
disappointment makes man depressed. Man can justify his existence as
man only by the cultivation of virtues. It is only then that he
becomes a worthy candidate for Godhood.
06 November 2003
Everything that is born must die. But you can
escape death by not being born again. When you realise that you are
the limitless Atma, you are no longer subjected to the limitation of
birth. That is the secret. How is this knowledge to be acquired? It
is the result of a long process of sharpening and purifying the
emotions and the impulses. You may do the most rigorous japa (repetition
of God's name) or submit yourself to the ordeal of austerities, but
if you are not virtuous, all of it is sheer waste.
07 November 2003
Morality has to be grown in the heart by
feeding it with love. Then only can we have justice, security, law
and order. If love declines among the people, nations will weaken
and mankind will perish. Morality should be taught in conjunction
with other subjects, not separately. The respect commanded by a
community depends on its moral strength.
08 November 2003
During bhajans, instead of paying great
attention to raaga, thaala, laya and shruti (the melody, the beat,
the rhythm and the tone), one should try to elevate the bhajans to a
spiritual level by singing with true feeling and ecstasy of devotion.
The songs should flow not from the lips but from the heart. When the
songs come from the heart, they will be blissful to the ears also.
Conduct your bhajans with a pure unsullied heart, oblivious to all
worldly desires. When you chant the Lord's name with a pure heart,
you will experience the Divine.
09 November 2003
Man is a creature of society and owes
everything to society. Gratitude is a supreme virtue. Ingratitude is
a grievous sin. It will deprive a man of his God-given right. There
is no means of atonement for the ungrateful person. If you wish to
safeguard your future, you have to be grateful to those who have
helped you in your difficult times and enabled you to obtain your
personal needs.
10 November 2003
One should so live that no pain is caused to
other beings through one's activities. And, one should be ever
grateful for the kindness received. Even if you fail to be helpful
to others, do not cause harm to others. All spiritual aspirants
should cherish in their hearts with gratitude, the good done to them
and the help rendered to them by others.
11 November 2003
Dharma is bound up with a great many variety
of meanings and does not mean only duty, which pertains to one
individual. Dharma is a body of principles that are fundamental to
social stability and individual progress. It is eternal, same for
everyone, everywhere. The birthplace of Dharma is the heart. What
emanates from the heart as a pure idea, when translated into action,
is Dharma, or to put it in simple words- "Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you."
12 November 2003
The ideal of gratitude has been handed down
the ages as a heritage in India. A man without this supreme virtue
of gratitude is worse than a cruel animal. Having received his
wealth, education and skills from society, if he does not serve the
cause of society, his wealth, education and skills are but a sheer
waste. It is only by serving society that these acquire splendour
and significance.
13 November 2003
We should do our might to enhance the
reputation of our country, its culture, and language. But, let not
that pride lead you to dislike other languages and cultures. The
languages by which thoughts are expressed may be varied, but the
thoughts, emotions and feelings are the same. The language of the
heart is the same, but when it comes to the tongue, it may take
various forms.
14 November 2003
Lava and Kusha became heroic because of their
great mother, Seetha Devi. The noble thoughts of the mother make the
children great. A mother may go wrong in other respects, but she
will always strive for the well-being of her children. Hence every
son has to love the mother as his primary duty. Then he should love
the father and revere the preceptor. The mother confers the body.
The father protects it. The preceptor imparts knowledge and wisdom.
All three are essential for every human being for getting on in this
world.
15 November 2003
You must pay attention to small details also,
for Bhakthi (Devotion to God) is not just a pose. It is a series of
little acts, directed by the attitude of reverence for the Divinity
in all the beings. Watch for the lie that lurks on the tongue, the
violence that lurks behind the fist, the ego that lurks behind the
deed. Restrain them before they grow into habits and settle down as
character to wrap your destiny.
16 November 2003
You must become like the flute in the Lord's
hands. Let the breath of the Lord pass through you, producing
delightful music that melts the hearts of everyone. Surrender
yourself to Him; become hollow - egoless; then He will Himself come
and pick you up caressingly and apply you, the flute, to His lips
and blow His sweet breath through you. Allow Him to play whatever
song He likes.
17 November 2003
Those who seek to impart the values of Sathya,
Dharma, Santhi, Prema and Ahimsa to others, must try first to
practise them themselves whole-heartedly. To imagine that values can
be installed by teaching is a mistake. Such learning will have no
permanent effect. Educationists must take note of this fact. If
transformation is to be effected in students, the process must start
from a very early age.
18 November 2003
Man may love the body, the mind, the Buddhi
(the intellect) or the Antah Karana (the Inner Instruments). Love
for the body ends with the death of the body. Love for the mind
results in bondage because of the aberrations of the mind. Love for
the intellect results in endless speculation and enquiry. Love for
the Antah Karana promotes the ego feeling. It encourages dualism (separating
man from God). Only the one who realises his oneness with the Atma
can experience infinite bliss - the bliss that is eternal.
19 November 2003
Ladies Day
Women are the makers of the home, the nation and the world. They are
the mothers who shape the generation to come. So, they must enshrine
in their hearts the spiritual urge towards light and love, wisdom
and bliss. The Feminine Principle is the foundation on which a
peaceful and happy world is to be raised. When women are true,
brave, kind, and compassionate, the world can have an era of peace
and joy.
20 November 2003
Man grieves because he has developed
attachment towards the unreal. He cultivates an unreasonable
affection for wealth; but he is prepared to sacrifice the riches in
order to save the lives of his children, for attachment to children
is stronger than to the wealth he has earned. But, the same man
stoops so low as to neglect his children when the choice is between
his survival and the children's welfare. But, the bliss that one
gets when he dwells on the Atma, the source and spring of all joy is
unbounded and imperishable. That is the real joy.
21 November 2003
Whoever subdues his egoism, conquers his
selfish desires, destroys his bestial feelings and impulses and
gives up the natural tendency to regard the body as self, is surely
on the path of Dharma. He knows that the goal of Dharma is the
merging of the wave in the sea; the merging of the self in the over
self.
22 November 2003
XXII Convocation of S.S.S.I.H.L.
Education can claim success only when it
results in the student gaining awareness of the Divinity inherent in
him and others. No academic degree can confer as much
self-confidence and self- satisfaction and lead man as quickly and
gladly to self-sacrifice and self-realisation as that awareness. It
has to be transmitted by teachers who have attained it through a
sense of duty and in a spirit of love. It has to accepted by
students who have cultivated faith in the teacher and reverence for
his role.
23 November 2003
78th Birthday Celebrations of Bhagawan Baba
You can call Me Premaswarupa (the embodiment
of Love). Prema is the wealth I have and which I spread among all. I
have no other riches. The Grace of the Lord is always flowing like
the electric current through the wire. Fix a bulb and the current
will illumine your house. The bulb is the Sadhana (spiritual
practice) you perform, the home is your heart. Come to Me gladly;
dive into the sea and discover its depth. There is no use playing in
the shallow waters and lamenting that the sea has no pearls. Dive
deep and you will secure your heart's desire.
24 November 2003
'The Lord is all Love; so He can be seen only
through love. The moon has to be seen only through its own light, no
other light can illumine the moon. In the night of Vyamoha (delusion),
the Lord can be seen only by the light that He Himself is, the light
of pure love or Prema. He is Sathyam and Nithyam, the True and the
Eternal and so, He is beyond the categories of Mithya or Jagath,
falsity and change.
25 November 2003
A little practice will teach you to hold fast
to the feet of God while roaming about in the world, doing all
duties and carrying out all responsibilities dedicated to Him. Do
all work as actors in a play, keeping your identity separate and not
attached to your personality or your role. Remember that the whole
thing is just a play and the Lord has assigned you a part; there
your duty ends. He has designed the play and enjoys it.
26 November 2003
Human values cannot be promoted merely by
repeating the words - Sathya, Dharma, Santhi, Prema and Ahimsa. The
Vedas declare: 'Sathyam Vada, Dharmam Chara' (Speak the truth,
adhere to right conduct). Truth and right conduct should be adhered
to with pure intentions. A righteous life leads to peace. Love is to
be experienced in the depths of peace. Love should find expression
in non-violence. Where love prevails, there is no room for doing
harm or indulging in violence towards others. All these basic values
have to be demonstrated in action and not limited to preaching.
27 November 2003
The greatest obstacle on the path of surrender
is egoism. It is something that has been inhering to your
personality since ages, sending its tentacles deeper and deeper,
with the experience of every succeeding life. It can be removed by
the twin detergents of discrimination and renunciation. Bhakthi (devotion)
is the water to wash away the dirt of ages. And the soap of Japam (chanting
the Lord's Name), Dhyanam (meditation) will help to remove it
quicker and more effectively.
28 November 2003
Man always seeks happiness by trying to
satisfy his desires. If a desire is fulfilled, he feels joyous and
when it is not, he feels disheartened. But the trouble is, desire is
a bonfire that burns with greater fury asking for more fuel
everytime. One desire leads to ten more; and man exhausts Himself in
trying to fulfil his desires. He has to be turned back from this
path of never-ending desire, to the path of inner contentment and
joy.
29 November 2003
Dharma is that which sustains mankind. True
humanness consists in observing unity of thought, word and deed. All
actions done with this triple unity are Dharmic actions. There are
various rules of conduct which are related to conditions governing
time and space. Such rules are liable to change from time to time,
and country to country, according to changing situations. But if
Sanathana Dharma (the eternal Dharma) changes, humanity will cease
to be human. Just as burning wood which loses its heat becomes a
mere charcoal; likewise man remains truly human only as long as he
adheres to the eternal Dharma which is represented by unity and
purity of thought, word and deed.
30 November 2003
There is in everyone a spark of Truth; no one
can live without that spark. There is in everyone a flame of Love;
life becomes a dark void without it. That spark, that flame is God,
for He is the source of all Truth and all Love. Man seeks the Truth;
he seeks to know the reality because his very nature is derived from
God who is Truth. He seeks Love, to give it and share it, for his
nature is God and God is Love.
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