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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
July 2004
July 1, 2004
The duration of life is under the control of
He who gave life in the first place, the Creator. It does not depend
on the calories of food consumed or the quality of drugs that are
injected, or the qualification of the physician who prescribes the
medicines. The chief causes of ill-health and death are fear and
loss of Faith. If one concentrates on the Atma (soul) that is beyond
diminution, senility and destruction, one can conquer Death.
Therefore, the most effective prescription for all kinds of
illnesses is the administration of 'Atma Vidya' or the knowledge of
the Self.
July 2, 2004 - Guru Poornima
'Gu' means darkness and 'Ru' means light. Guru
(spiritual preceptor) scatters darkness through light; he imparts
wisdom which roots out our ignorance. 'Gu' also connotes
'Gunaatheetha' (One who is beyond 'gunas' or attributes) and 'Ru'
connotes 'Roopavarjitha' (One who has transcended Form). Do not seek
human Gurus, however great their reputation. They are bound by the
qualities they have developed and they are still in need of the Form
so that they may conceive of Reality. They themselves being limited,
how can they communicate to you the Unlimited? Pray to the
Parabrahma Principle (transcendental principle) or God within you to
reveal Itself. Accept that as the Guru and you will be illumined.
July 3, 2004
God is the harmony of all the Forms and Names
that man gives Him. Only those who are ignorant of God's glory will
insist on one Name and one Form for His adoration and, what is
worse, condemn the use of other Names and Forms. Be warned against
such silly obduracy. Do not go about proclaiming that you belong to
a separate sect and are distinct from those who adore God in other
Forms and Names; thereby you are limiting the very God whom you are
extolling.
July 4, 2004
A wise man controls the mind and purifies the
heart by removing bad thoughts and replacing them with good
thoughts. Do not underestimate the power of good thoughts. They are
sacred and divine, having great impact on the mind. On that day when
we free ourselves from evil thoughts within us, we will be able to
have a vision of God.
July 5, 2004
If you live on the level of the body and the
individual, you will be entangled in food, entertainment and
frivolity, in sloth, envy and pride. Forget it, ignore it, overcome
it - you will have peace, joy and calm. On the divine path, there is
no chance of failure; it is a path on which every milestone is a
monument for victory. It is the path of Love.
July 6, 2004
Of all the gifts you receive from God, the
greatest gift is Santhosham (Contentment). The opposite of
Santhosham is sorrow, which is the fruit of desire that arouses hope
and almost always results in disappointment or despair. One desire
engenders another and proliferates into a hundred, even when it is
fulfilled. It knows no justification and has no end. So, Santhosham
is the supreme blessing of the Lord, who in His infinite Love, puts
an end to that unquenchable thirst. No wealth or other attainment
can equal it in efficacy, Santhosham is the culmination of desire in
full contentment and sacred satiety.
July 7, 2004
God has no characteristics, except that of
Sathya (Truth), Jnana (Wisdom) and Aananda (Bliss). He is
everywhere, yet no eye can espy Him, for He is subtler than ether.
Having known this, do not lend your ears to people who swear that
there is no God. God is too vast and too far above the reach of
reason or imagination. You can get a glimpse of His blissful nature
by contemplating on His magnificence.
July 8, 2004
The universe can be seen, experienced and
enjoyed. But God is unseen. He has to be inferred through His
handiwork. So too, society to which seva (service) is rendered
cannot be seen as such. We can contact only individuals. But,
through the individual, you infer the immanence of the Divine. All
are actors on the world stage, in His play. Every atom is surcharged
with His power, His might, His glory. Every being is surcharged with
His bliss, His beauty, His goodness.
July 9, 2004
The greatest single cause for misery in the
world today is envy. When one is happy and contented, others envy
him and strive to ruin his peace of mind. When anyone is acclaimed
as great, malice moves others to invent calumny in order to tarnish
his reputation. This is the way of the world. This is the tragedy of
ignorance and selfishness - they force men to take the wrong path
and suffer calamity. Take the right path; be happy and make others
happy. Then your name will last even after the body disintegrates.
July 10, 2004
In the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord declared :
"Bheejam maam sarva Bhootanam" meaning "I am the seed (source) of
all the beings. The tree consists of branches, leaves, flowers and
fruits, all of which have grown out of a small seed. Every fruit of
that tree has the same kind of seed. Contemplate a while on the
magnificent multitude of life in all its rich variety that has come
out of the single seed of God. Visualise the immanent Divinity in
them. At once, you will be filled with humility, love and wisdom.
July 11, 2004
The chief means by which you can detach your
mind from the distractions of the world and attach yourself to the
search for God are : Yoga and Thyaga. Kaama (desire) has to be got
rid of by Thyaga (renunciation) and Raama (God) has to be secured by
Yoga (the conjunction of all your faculties for a common purpose).
Desire dulls the intelligence; it perverts judgement; it sharpens
the appetite of the senses; it lends a false lure to the objective
world. When desire disappears or is concentrated on God,
intelligence shines in its pristine splendour; and that splendour
reveals the God present within and outside. That is
'Atma-saakshatkaara' or Self-realization.
July 12, 2004
Happiness is union with God. There is no place
without God. Whatever you do, you should feel that it is God's work.
God is performing through your body. He is thinking through your
mind. He is working through your hands. If you work with this
feeling, there is no chance for the ego to arise. The body is
lifeless, just matter. The mind is a bundle of desires. It is just
imagination. You are not the body; you are not the mind; you are the
Atma (soul).
July 13, 2004
Spiritual pride is the most poisonous of all
varieties of pride, it works insidiously and ruins the person
suffering from it. Always be aware that you are but an instrument in
the Divine Mission of Dharmasthapana (re-establishment of
righteousness). Try to become better and efficient instruments in
the Divine hands. The hand that wields the instrument knows how and
when it has to be applied.
July 14, 2004 The realization
of the One cannot be gained through advice, listening to talks and
discourses, study of books, or austerities. The wisdom which comes
as actual experience is as pure as a raindrop, compared to bookish
knowledge or derived knowledge, which is like sea water, saline and
unfit for drinking. Through the action of the sun's rays, salinity
is removed and the water which is thus lifted into the sky becomes
sweet and sustaining. Sadhana (spiritual exercises) is like the
sun's heat that confers sweetness to the water.
July 15, 2004
The ways of the Lord are mysterious. In
everything He does, He sets an example for the world. No action of
God is without purpose, though to man its meaning may not be
obvious. God has no likes and dislikes; He is above and beyond all
differences. He is all Power, Love, Mercy, Goodness and Wisdom. He
gives whatever you ask for, so be careful what you ask. Learn to ask
what is truly beneficial. Divine grace is like rain - pure and
pellucid, falling on all equally. How it is received and used
depends on the heart of man.
July 16, 2004
You have it in your power to make your days on
earth a bed of roses instead of a bed of thorns. Recognise the Sai
resident in every heart and everything will be smooth and easy. Sai
will be the fountain of love in your heart and in the hearts of all
you come in contact with. Know that Sai is Omnipresent and that He
is present in every living thing. Adore everyone as you adore Sai.
July 17, 2004
The five elements each have a characteristic
that affects and attracts one of the five senses. The ether as sound
fascinates the mind through the ear; air as touch draws the mind to
itself through the skin; fire as form manipulates the mind in its
favour through the eye; water as taste enslaves the mind through the
tongue; and earth as smell intoxicates the mind through the nose.
The senses interact with the external world and produce experiences
which yield joy or grief. Falsely identifying himself with the
senses, man suffers in the coils of attachment. He does not realize
that he is neither the body nor the senses, that he is Brahman
Himself.
July 18, 2004 Love alone can
reveal the divinity latent in all. Love is God. Live in Love. Love
lives by giving and forgiving; self lives by getting and forgetting.
Love is selflessness; selfishness is Lovelessness. Do not waste your
life pursuing the narrow interests of the self. Love! Love! Become
what you truly are - the embodiments of Love. No matter how others
treat or what they think of you, do not worry. Your own heart
shining with Love is God's Love. You should constantly remind
yourself, "I am God." The day you see yourself as God, you become
God.
July 19, 2004
Man did not come to this world to eat, sleep
and indulge in sensory pursuits. He has come to manifest the Divine
in Him. That is why he is called 'Vyakthi', one who manifests
(Vyaktha) the latent Shakti (Power) in him. For this purpose, he has
come endowed with body, mind and the intelligence needed to control
it and divert it to useful channels of activity. You must achieve
this by steady pursuit of Dharma (morality) and Karma (good deeds).
July 20, 2004
The span of life allotted to man is very
short; the world in which he lives is very wide; time extends far
behind and far beyond. What little man has set out to do has to be
done quickly, at the place that is assigned to him and within the
time that is allotted to him. Man has a very formidable task before
him; it is to fulfill it that he has come as man, exchanging for
this human frame all the merit he has acquired during many past
lives. The task is no less than the manifestation of the Divinity
latent in man.
July 21, 2004 Do not blame God
for your misfortunes. When everything goes right, you say that God
has come close to you; when something goes wrong, you say that God
has deserted you and gone far away! He does not move far or near.
The distance between Him and you is as much as the distance between
you and Him. He is everywhere. He is always in your heart. Recognise
Him there; realise Him as nearest and dearest to you. He is your own
self, neither terrible nor tender, but simply 'is'.
July 22, 2004
It does not suffice if in the name of
spiritual practice, you confine yourself merely to Japa (chanting),
Tapa (penance) and Dhyana (meditation). It is in fact Chittha
Shuddhi (purity of the mind) that leads to Jnana Siddhi (acquisition
of wisdom). Cultivation of purity of the mind is therefore the true
spiritual practice that you should undertake. With purity of the
mind and attainment of wisdom, man achieves equipoise.
July 23, 2004
Today people study the Vedas and other
scriptures as a ritual; they do not put into practice any of their
injunctions. Of what avail is it to merely know how the Vedas and
Upanishads have described the Divine, when this knowledge is not
reflected in one's life? Such a person is like a blind man who hears
about the existence of the world but cannot see it. The scriptures
are meant to provide guidance for practical living and not merely to
be learnt by rote.
July 24, 2004
All that you see is the reflection of what is
inside you. If you call a person bad, it is just that the bad in you
is reflected in him. It has got nothing to do with him. Good and bad
are the reflections of your inner being. Never consider them as
separate from you. Good thoughts are the source of good vibrations.
If your inner being is full of love, the same principle of love will
find manifestation in your speech, vision, hearing and actions. When
you have sacred thoughts, you will become a divine person.
July 25, 2004
The whole world is like a mansion and various
countries are like different rooms in it. So, do not divide humanity
on the basis of nationality. It is because of such divisions that
humanness is on the decline. Sai devotees should not entertain any
such differences. All should stand united. Names, forms and colours
of people may be different, but the entire humanity is one family.
God is one, all human beings belong to the divine family.
July 26, 2004
Many people imagine that to divinise man and
make him a godly being is a super-human exercise. This is not so.
Divine Love is well within the reach of man. It is his natural
state. He is entitled to possess it. Divine Love should not be
considered as something transcendental or alien to man. But, men
tend to degrade this love by giving it different forms and names.
July 27, 2004
All the potencies present in the external
world are present in man. The material substances constituting the
human body have together very small value. But realise how valuable
the human body itself is. To animate the physical body, a vibrant
power is needed. That vibration power is derived from the Prana
(Life-force). All the activities of the body are rendered possible
by this Life-force. The Life-force itself derives its vitality from
a higher source - the spirit. Ignoring these profound truths, men
are wasting their energies and lives in meaningless pursuits.
July 28, 2004 Realise the
relationship between your body and God. You are a limb of society.
Society is a limb of the world. The world is a limb of Prakriti
(nature). Nature is a limb of God. Man has no need to seek anything
outside him. He has the universe within him in his heart. He is
potentially the Cosmic Being. He has within him the magnetic power
of attraction. It is derived from the Divine.
July 29, 2004 The joy and
pleasure earned by activities are only temporary. Nevertheless, one
should not desist from karma (action). How, then, is one to act? One
should practice detachment and desirelessness towards the results of
one's actions. That is to say, one should treat all actions as
yagnas (sacrifices) performed for the glory of God and not for
selfish ends; for earning lasting merits and not for temporary
benefits. Action done in this spirit will not cause either greed or
grief. It will cause only a sense of fulfillment of one's duty.
July 30, 2004
The cosmos does not exist. It is an illusion.
It never is, has been or will be. The creation of the cosmos, the
dissolution of the cosmos, these billions of individuals emerging
and merging, all this is but a dream. There is no separate
individualised soul (Jivatma), how can there be billions of
Jivatmas? There is only one Indivisible Complete Absolute. Like the
one sun reflected as a billion suns in a billion lakes and other
water bodies, the Jivatmas are but reflections of the One in the
minds that it shines upon.
July 31, 2004
How can you surrender something over which you
have no control? When you are enslaved by your mind, its passions
and prejudices, how can you claim that you have surrendered your
mind to God? I do not ask for such declarations. It is enough if you
believe that God is everywhere and at all times and that you are no
different from Him. When you are God yourself, to whom are you to
surrender what? Think this over deeply and attain to this
realization.
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