Thought for the Day - As written at Prasanthi Nilayam


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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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