Inaugural discourse at the All India Sai Active Workers' conference
19 November 1987
Rendering Service selflessly with a compassionate heart Is alone true Service.
One is bound to attain peace If he serves in a friendly spirit This is the truth
This is the truth.
EMBODIMENTS of the Divine Atma! You have to recognise that life is meant for selfless service and not to be lived for selfish purposes. Only through such service can the oneness of mankind be experienced. Unselfish service is the sheet-anchor of Karma Yoga ( Divine dedication through Action). The basis of Yoga is disciplining the mind and the body through disinterested service. Society honours only such persons who serve society. Such persons earn the grace of God. Every individual has to realise the paramount importance of selfless service. The spirit of service should be coupled with readiness for sacrifice. Only then it can be called selfless service free from any taint of self-interest. Such service lends savour to life. Universal love sustains life by its nourishment. Love is the life-breath of man. Mag...
Baba's message to members of all Sathya Sai Organizations
August 1981
My Dears! Accept my Love and Blessings! The world to-day is in the grip of a supreme moral and spiritual crisis. People everywhere are feeling frustrated and helpless and anxiously wondering what is in store for humanity. The hopes raised by the advances of science and technology have proved dupes. While science has overcome the barriers of time, distance and nationality, it has done little to promote better understanding between man and man and nation and nation. Never has there been so much distrust, hatred and violence as is witnessed to-day, in almost every country. Men have forgotten their essential divine nature and have even failed to observe those basic human qualities which raise them above the level of animals. In the ceaseless pursuit of material acquisitions and sensuous pleasures, they have forgotten that the real source of happiness and bliss is the discovery of the Atma (the true self) that is in each of them. There are, however, heartening signs that earnest people in ...
Choose men and women who have unshaken faith in this present Avathaar, with this Name and this Form. That will save the units from many complications later on, arising from loyalties which may dissipate or divert the energies of the office-bearers. The leaders of these units lead because they have the vision and the yearning, not because they have the votes or the purse. The aanandha they derive is the only reward they are after. When men who have no understanding and no vision encroach into positions of authority, unrest and confusion usurp the saddle. Detachment, simple living, steady saadhana—these are the qualities that entitle a person to membership of these units. Give up; do not gather—that is the road to Grace. Abu Ben Adam found that the Angel had recorded his name in the list of those whom God loved, though his name was nowhere to be found in the register of those who loved God; for, he loved, not God, but men. That is enough to win Grace.
Some persons suggested that the Presidents of these Organisations may be given a short refresher course of instruction, so that they may carry out their duties (of encouraging units to undertake saadhana and service) more efficiently. This is very much like the move to train whole-time archakas (priests) for performing worship in the temples! Imagine someone being trained for adoring God! It is not a mechanical process, amenable to the curricula and time-table of the classroom; it is a spontaneous urge from within, born out of sincere faith and yearning.
INDULAL SHAH informed you about the resolutions adopted by the various sub-committees, suggesting modifications and additions to the rules already current, so far as the organisation is concerned. The main purpose running through all these regulations is known to you; it is the establishment of Sathsang (Company of the pious), which will help the Realisation of the Reality, Atma-Sakshathkara. It is to recover, in and through this agitated world, the peace that is your birthright, and utilise that peace for the illumination of the heart, which will reveal the splendour of the Atma which you really are. So long as Arjuna believed that he was the doer and the enjoyer of the rewards for the deed, he was miserable. But, when the Lord taught him and demonstrated to him that he was but an instrument, that his duty was only to surrender to the Will of the Lord, that those whom he sought to kill had already been killed by the Lord, he was freed from grief; he was filled with unspeakable peace. ...
THE Valedictory Session of this Third All India Conference is on us, so soon. Time swoops past like a whirlwind, sweeping everything before it. So one has to concentrate on the duty of the moment, leaving the consequence to the God who prompted it and made the task possible, giving one the chance to carry it out. Time ticks on relentlessly and man is born, lives, dies, rotating on the wheel of Karma and consequence, unaware of the means of escaping from the oncoming destiny. Agony and anxiety have not softened his heart; adventure and achievement have not made him humble. He is proud of his advance in the path of hatred and haughtiness. He revels in cruelty and sin. He displays an unholy satisfaction in immorality and untruth. He has reduced himself to a level lower than that of beasts. Man evokes pity because of this plight. For, he has taken the wrong turn on the road to happiness and landed himself in this hell. No one seeks grief; all seek only joy. But, those who know that grief i...
SOME people hope to accumulate merit by charity; others feel that asceticism is superior; still others adhere strictly to what they believe Sanathana Dharma (Eternal Religion) to be, considering it a better way to secure Divine Grace. But these, and even the highly praised path of sathya (truth) and dharma (righteousness), are not as fruitful as the path of seva (service). This sacred land of Bharath has earned great renown in the world for its consistent practice of this ideal of service through sacrifice. Embodiments of the Divine Atman (Self)! Shiva is Omnipresent; He is the Inner Motivator of all beings. He is ever present, everywhere, in our realm as well as in the realms around us. This fundamental truth has to be firmly believed in by every Seva Dhal (Voluntary Service Corps) member, and, realising this, he has to be humble and full of reverence towards all. You have to encounter various contrary gusts of passion, emotion, impulse, and intellectual doubt. Nevertheless, bear...
Valedictory Address - International Seva Conference
23 July 2002
In spite of acquiring great wealth, peace eludes man; People forget to recognise humanness; This is the Truth revealed by Sai.
What man has to aspire for today is not happiness. It is not sorrow, either. In fact, happiness and sorrow are only transitory in nature. Man's duty is to realise divinity in the unity of happiness and sorrow. Even while you feel elated at the prospect of happiness, you will encounter sorrow. Similarly, even while you feel depressed on account of sorrow, happiness beckons you.
Since ancient times, several great rishis (sages) made efforts to rise above the feelings of happiness and sorrow. They recognised the fact that it was only in times of sorrow that the divine nature in a human being manifested. More than happiness, it is sorrow that is helpful to man in several ways. Na sukhath labhathe sukham (happiness does not come out of happiness). It is only from sorrow, that happiness springs. The main source of happiness in man is sorrow. Just as we welcome h...
Society is the coming together of people. Cooperation among people in a society, motivated by spontaneity and by pure intentions, is the hall-mark of seva (service). Seva can be identified by means of two basic characteristics' Compassion and willingness to sacrifice. History informs us that in all countries and in every age, man is a social animal. Man is born in society, he grows in and through society and his life ends in society itself. Man's songs and speech, his duties and diversions, are all determined by society. Society for man is like water for fish: if society rejects him or neglects him he cannot survive. What a single individual cannot accomplish, a well-knit group or society can achieve. A man walking alone will feel tired and miserable at the end of five miles; but, walking with ten others as a group he would find the five miles a jaunt. He arrives refreshed and strong. Social living contributes increased happiness and more efficient effort among birds and beasts. They...
