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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
May 2005
May 1, 2005
The bee will hover around the flower, humming
and droning until it settles down to drink the nectar from it. Once
it enters the flower and tastes the nectar, it will hover, hum and
drone no more. It will have no extraneous thought to disturb its
bliss. It will become so intoxicated with the bliss that it will not
heed its own safety; for, when the petals close and the flower
folds, it allows itself to be imprisoned inside the flower.
Similarly, once the mind settles on the lotus feet of the embodiment
of goodness and beauty, it can never crave anything except the
nectar of the lotus feet.
May 2, 2005
When you seek to assuage the suffering of
others, it is really your own suffering that you mitigate. When your
fellowbeing is relieved of his pain, it is truly you who feel the
relief. Service can be effective only when the feelings of 'I' and
'Mine' give place to 'God' and 'God's'. It is only when your
attention is focussed on the body and its needs that egoism grows in
strength. When you instead direct your attention to the Antaratma
(Inner-self), which is God, you perceive the same God to be present
in all and a flood of reverence fills you and sanctifies every act
of yours.
May 3, 2005
The mind is the monarch and the senses the
ministers. But, if the mind of man serves the senses, man will know
no peace. Every sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) who aspires to achieve
the expression and expansion of the Divine in him has to therefore
earn mastery over the senses. That is the first step. The next one
is the conquest of the mind, its elimination. The third is uprooting
the Vasanas (innate tendencies), and the fourth, attainment of Jnana
(spiritual wisdom). The mind is the trunk, the senses are the
branches and the innate tendencies are the roots. All three have to
be overcome and destroyed, so that the awareness of Reality can be
gained.
May 4, 2005
The rich, the healthy, the strong, the
powerful, the influential - all are equally afflicted with
discontent, worry, fear and anxiety. They have no peace of mind.
Shanti (Peace) comes from within; contentment is a mental condition.
Do not feed the roots of attachment to worldly comforts more than is
absolutely necessary. They lead only to anxiety and fear; they can
never satisfy the innermost craving of man. Lead your mind on to the
path of devotion and dedication; this is the true path to
contentment and joy.
May 5, 2005
Be always saturated with Prema (Love); do not
use vicious words against any one, for, words wound more fatally
than even arrows. Speak softly and sweetly; sympathise with
suffering and loss; try your best to apply the salve of the soothing
word and timely succour. Do not damage the faith of anyone in virtue
and divinity. Encourage others to have that faith by demonstrating
in your own life that virtue is its own reward, that divinity is
all-pervasive and all-powerful.
May 6, 2005
Motherhood is the most precious gift of God.
Mothers are the makers of a nation's fortune or misfortune, for they
shape the sinews of the soul. Those sinews are toughened by two
lessons: fear of sin and regard for virtue. Both these qualities are
based on faith being the inner motivator of all. If you want to know
how advanced a nation is, study the mothers. As the mother, so the
progress of the nation; as the mother, so the sweetness of the
culture.
May 7, 2005
The Divine Spirit dwells in the temple of the
body. The body must hence be kept pure and sacred. By bathing, the
body can be purified externally; by speaking the truth, the tongue
is purified. Through study and penance, the spirit is rendered pure.
The intellect acquires purity through Jnana (spiritual wisdom).
Thus, the body has to be made a shrine for the Divine by pure
thoughts, pure deeds and by meditation. It is, therefore, the
primary duty of man to ensure that the body does not indulge in
wrongful practices, and fall prey to falsehood and unrighteousness.
He should use the body to promote divine qualities and pursue the
divine path.
May 8, 2005
Sacrifice is sweeter than enjoyment. Sacrifice
should become the aim of 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 soul any amount of wealth cannot be of any use.
Surrendering the fruits of action with a dispassionate mind is alone
eligible to be termed sacrifice.
May 9, 2005
Be ever immersed in the search for Truth; do
not waste time in the multiplication and satisfaction of wants and
desires. Satiation of one want only gives rise to further wants.
Thus, the mind seeks to acquire various objects again and again. Do
not yield to the vagaries of the mind. Turn back, even forcibly,
from sensory attachments. Stick to the same place and schedule while
undertaking spiritual practices. The Atma (Self) itself will sustain
the sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) and give him strength and
steadiness.
May 10, 2005
Of all the gifts you receive from God, the
greatest gift is Santosham (contentment). The opposite of Santosham
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, Santosham is the
supreme blessing of the Lord, who, in His infinite Love, puts an end
to that unquenchable thirst. No wealth or worldly attainment can
equal it in efficacy; Santosham is the culmination of desire in full
contentment and sacred satiety.
May 11, 2005
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.
May 12, 2005
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 acting 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).
May 13, 2005
Your child gives you great joy by its play and
prattle; but when it interferes with your work or teases you when
you are otherwise engaged, you get very angry at it. It is a source
of joy as well as grief. There is nothing that can give unmixed joy;
even if there is, when it is lost, it brings about sorrow. This is
in the very nature of things; so try to correct the very source of
joy and sorrow - the mind; control it and train it to see the real
nature of the objective world, which attracts and repels you by
turns. That is the real fruit of spiritual study.
May 14, 2005
Man extols God as omnipresent, omniscient and
omnipotent, but ignores His presence in himself. Many venture to
describe the attributes of God and proclaim Him to be such and such,
but these are mere guesses and a reflection of their own
predilections and preferences. Who can affirm anything about God?
Each one can acquire from the vast expanse of the ocean only as much
as can be contained in the vessel one carries to its shore. From
that quantity, they can grasp but little of that immensity.
May 15, 2005
People suffer because they have all kinds of
unreasonable desires and they pine to fulfill them and fail. They
attach too much value to the objective world. It is only when
attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief. If you look
upon everything with the wisdom derived from inner vision, then
attachment will slide away and you will see everything with greater
clarity and with a glory suffused with Divine splendour.
May 16, 2005
When thoughts emanate from a mind purified by
love, they will result in Dharma (Righteousness). When Love becomes
part of your experience, thought and action you get Shanti (Peace).
When you comprehend Love clearly, Ahimsa (non-violence) will result
automatically. So Love is the unseen undercurrent binding all four
human values. It can be summarised thus: Love in thought is Truth;
Love as feeling is Peace; Love in action is Righteousness and Love
with understanding is Non-violence. Love is the common denominator
for all these values. It is the form of God, for God is love.
May 17, 2005
God is the sole sustainer of human life, its
basis, structure and consummation. Money cannot help man to
cultivate godliness and merge in God. Scholarship too is equally
powerless. The Upanishads proclaim that release from the cycle of
birth and death cannot be achieved through action, or progeny, or by
the accumulation of riches. It can be gained only through Thyaga
(renunciation). It is a pity that this warning is not heeded and man
is engaged in mere grabbing and grasping. As a result, he suffers
from more and more bonds that get tighter and tighter. The best
means to escape from this fate is to take refuge in the company of
the good and godly, and journey along the path pointed out by them.
May 18, 2005
Man is born with a great thirst and a deep
hunger for bliss. He knows that happiness is within his reach, but
he does not know where to search. Deep within, he knows that he is
heir to the kingdom of Bliss, but he knows not how to lay claim to
his heritage. Something in him revolts when he is condemned to die,
to suffer and to hate. His heart whispers to him that he is the
child of Immortality and Bliss. But, man ignores these promptings,
and like one who exchanges diamonds for dirt, runs in search of
meaner pleasures and sordid comforts.
May 19, 2005
One's actions decide one's destiny. It is of
no avail to blame others for one's misfortune and misery. Nor is it
correct to blame God as being partial or cruel. When one plants the
seed of a bitter fruit, one can only expect a bitter fruit to grow.
God is only a witness to the chain of causes and consequences. The
way to escape this predicament is by dedicating every act to God in
a spirit of detachment.
May 20, 2005
Everyone must seek and discover the answer to
the question, "Who am I?" The senses are powerless to give the
answer; indeed they are limited in their own functioning - there are
sounds the ear cannot hear, colours the eye cannot perceive and
tastes beyond the ken of the tongue. They are imperfect instruments
for the study of the external world. How then can they serve us in
our enquiry into the intangible, inner world of the Self?
Contemplate on the truth that the body and the Atma (Self) are
separate. This practice is indispensable for realizing the truth of
one's Divinity.
May 21, 2005
Why is man so pathetically afflicted today
with fear and anxiety? Are we to search for the reasons outside us
or do they lie within us? The reason lies in the false emphasis we
have laid on things of the material world, ignoring matters of the
spirit. The body that man bears is essentially a receptacle of God.
It is a temple where God is installed, where God is the Master.
Hence, it does not behove you to pander to its every whim. Instead,
realise it to be a very valuable instrument in your Godward journey.
May 22, 2005
Man must always proceed towards 'Balam'
(strength); he should not take to untruth, wickedness and
crookedness, all of which denote the fundamental trait of cowardice.
This cowardice is born out of accepting an inferior and false image
of oneself. You believe that you are the husk, the outer covering.
But, truly you are the kernel, the core. This false identification
is the fundamental mistake. All Sadhana (spiritual effort) must be
directed towards the removal of the husk and the revelation of the
kernel. So long as you say 'I am so and so', there is bound to be
fear, but once you say and feel 'I am Brahman', you get
unconquerable strength.
May 23, 2005 - Buddha Purnima
Buddha's emphasis was entirely on purity in
every aspect of daily life. Purity in vision, purity in thought,
purity in speech and purity in action. He considered the spirit of
sacrifice as the true yajna (sacred offering). Sacrifice is the
means for attaining Nirvana, freedom from the bondage of mundane
existence. Buddha was totally opposed to anyone being forced to lead
a worldly life against his will. The Buddhist prayer must be
properly understood. When the Buddhists say: "Buddham sharanam
gachchaami, Dharmam sharanam gachchaami, Sangham sharanam
gachchaami," the real meaning of the prayer is: You must divert your
Buddhi (mind) towards Dharma (right conduct). And right conduct
should be aimed at serving society. When this is done, society gets
purified.
May 24, 2005
Man has in him vast resources of power. When
he does not utilize them in discharging his duties to the society
which sustains him, he becomes a target for ridicule. When a train
arrives late, how do you react? You fling abusive words at the
train. When those inanimate coaches receive such treatment, how much
more rebuke do you deserve for not fulfilling your duties and
obligations. Utilize your skills and learning as consistently and as
effectively as duty demands.
May 25, 2005
You complain that God is invisible; but the
fault truly lies with you, for you do not recognise God in all His
manifestations. You are yourself a manifestation of God. But, you do
not know it; you label yourself a sinner, wallowing in sin and
wickedness. But let someone take you at your word and call you a
sinner; you resent that. The reason is that your true nature is
purity, peace and joy.
May 26, 2005
Before pointing out the faults of others,
examine yourself and assure yourself that you are free from faults.
That alone gives you the right to judge others. But the truth is
that you discover faults in others only when you have defects in
you. Once you rid yourself of these weaknesses, all creation appears
to be pure and sacred. That is the alchemy of Divine, Universal
Love, love for love's own sake.
May 27, 2005
Man is endowed with many skills; he is offered
many lives and shown many paths. The purpose of all these gifts is
to develop in him the spirit of devotion and release him from the
duality of joy and grief. When man visualizes the universe as God,
its capacity to confer the dual experience disappears; in its place,
man finds peace and calm. God is One and One only, He is the
immanent principle. Hence, one must endeavour to know God, who is
Truth.
May 28, 2005
You are in this body, this receptacle, in
order to realise your Divinity. This body is the cocoon you have
spun around yourself by means of your impulses and desires. Use it
while it lasts to grow wings so that you can escape from this snare.
You came into this world crying, announcing your grief at being
thrust into it, grief for having lost hold of God. Having come with
grief, decide to get rid of it in this life itself.
May 29, 2005
Injury inflicted on any being is sacrilege and
indeed self-injury. Love is transformed into poison if it is
contaminated by hate. Love some, but do not hate the rest, for that
hate will befoul the love and make it mortal. Love comes
automatically to the realised soul; but, the sadhaka (spiritual
aspirant) has to cultivate it by means of Seva (service) and enquiry
into the unity of creation. Love does not flow from the tongue or
the head, but from the Heart.
May 30, 2005
It is no mean achievement to get the name of
the Lord on the lips during the last moments. It needs practice of
many years based on deep-seated faith and a strong character, devoid
of hatred, greed and pride; for, the thought of God can survive only
in a pure heart. But, we never know which moment may turn out to be
our last one. Therefore, one must constantly chant God's name and
endeavour to cultivate good qualities.
May 31, 2005
Have no thorn of hate in your mind. Develop
love towards all. Desire is a storm; greed is a whirlpool; pride is
a precipice; attachment is an avalanche; egoism is a volcano. Keep
these things at bay, so that you can enjoy undisturbed equanimity.
Let love be enthroned in your heart. Then there will be warm
sunshine and cool breeze and the gurgling waters of contentment will
feed the roots of faith in your heart.
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