The world today is suffering from selfish politics, nihilistic religion, and heartless competition. This is indeed a disgraceful state of affairs. People have completely forgotten their fundamental, divine nature. At such a crisis, what is most urgently needed is peace and divine love; they are the drugs that will cure this dreaded disease.
No other specific can ameliorate the illness. Love is the only means to get peace. The fuel of love yields the divine flame of peace. Love brings about unity of all mankind, and this unity, combined with spiritual knowledge, will bring about world peace.
The discipline of the self is the basic foundation for successful living. Through that alone can one attain real and lasting peace. And, without peace, there can be no happiness. Peace is the very nature of the Atma. It coexists only with a pure heart; it is never associated with a greedy heart full of desires. Peace is the distinguishing mark of yogis, sages (rishis), and wise men. It doesn’t dep...
If there is anything sweeter than all things sweet, more auspicious than all things auspicious, holier than all holy objects, verily, it is the name of the Lord - or the Lord Himself. Give up the company of the worldly minded, the association with those infected by demonic qualities. Keep away from every type of wrong doing. Seek always the company of the wise, the good. Take refuge in the Lord Himself (Narayana); He, the pure One, is the perfect embodiment of peace, of happiness, and of wisdom. He, the Lord (Sri Hari), is seated within everyone. He stays constantly in the place where devotees sincerely and with single-mindedness honour His name. Therefore, first, you have to practice intense devotion toward the Lord. Then, you can certainly attain real and permanent happiness and wisdom.
Of what use is the pursuit of the fleeting pleasures of the senses? Worship the Lord (Hari) who lives in the cavity of your heart, nearer to you than your dearest friend, or your father, mother, or gu...
The principles of dharma will not change to suit the convenience of people. Dharma is immutable. Dharma persists as dharma then, now, and forever. Of course, the practices and rules of applied dharma might change according to changing causes; but even then, the practices have to be tested on the basis of the scriptures (sastras), not on the basis of advantage. There should be no such calculation. The scriptures may not always support rules that yield tangible visible advantage, nor can the Vedas etc. be expected to indicate only such acts. Dharma cannot be tested on those lines; direct or ocular proof is impossible. Mimamsakas state that dharma can be known only through the Vedic mantras and that the Vedas attempt to elucidate only truths that are beyond ocular demonstration.
If dharma is followed with an eye on the consequences, it might even be neglected when the advantage is not patent or immediate. Everyone will not have the same motive or the same standard. For example, each will ...
The Prasna Upanishad is an appendix of the Atharvana-veda. It is so named because it is in the form of questions (prasnas) and answers. By this means, it discusses more elaborately some topics dealt with briefly in the Mundaka Upanishad. It has thus become a commentary on the Mundaka Upanishad.
For example, the Mundaka says that knowledge (vidya) is of two types - absolute transcendent and worldly - and that knowledge of the world-related Brahman is of two kinds - action and worship (karma and upasana).
The second and third questions in Prasna Upanishad deal with worship. The discipline of action is fully covered in the section on action (Karma Kanda), so it is not elaborated on here. When both activity and worship are practised, regardless of the fruits thereof, they promote renunciation and non-attachment. This is the conclusion arrived at by the first question. So, studying the Prasna Upanishad after the Mundaka makes the subject clearer.
Seekers meet the guru with sincere heart off...
The devotee can well pray for and ask from the Lord the gift of such a peace, as well as the virtues (sat-gunas) necessary for their growth. Why, the aspirant has only this one thing as capital for earning any goal: prayer.
Some people may have some doubts related to this. Of what avail is prayer? Will the Lord gratify all that we ask for in our prayers? He gives us only what, according to Him, we need or deserve, is it not? Will the Lord like to give us all that we ask for in our prayers to Him? Under such circumstances, what is the use of prayer? Of course, all these doubts can be resolved.
If the devotee has dedicated everything - body, mind, and existence - to the Lord, He will Himself look after everything, for He will always be with the devotee. Under such conditions, there is no need for prayer. But have you so dedicated yourself and surrendered everything to the Lord? No. When losses occur, calamities come, or plans go awry, the devotee blames the Lord. Some, on the othe...
Relation between worldly and spiritual work
The relation between worldly and spiritual work (karma) has also to be examined. We plough the field deep and make it fit for the seeds to grow. We select good seeds and sow them in the furrows. We foster the saplings with care. We remove the weeds that hamper and harm them. We water the plants when they need it. We protect the crop by erecting fences. We keep vigilant watch and save the plants from pests. Take it that each of these crucial steps are carried out by us diligently and without delay, as and when required.
But how can we be certain, in spite of all these, that the fruits of our labours will reach our homes and can be stored by us for our use? The irrigation canal might go dry any day. The sky might pour down too much rain or withhold it altogether. Pests might prove too powerful to be eliminated; they might destroy the crop just when the harvest is in sight. But people should not, even when such disaster faces them, collapse, as ...
To be living as a contemporary of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is itself a unique chance, for His is the authentic voice of the Lord Himself; and He is easily accessible and eager to receive pious souls and persons afflicted with physical handicaps or spiritual confusion. His advent itself is to restore dharma in human relationships and instill courage in the hearts of spiritual aspirants and purity in the ranks of pious people (sadhus). He began this mission at the tender age of fourteen, when He announced Himself as the Saint of Shirdi, Sri Sai Baba come again, according to the promise the saint had made that He would reappear to complete His work eight years after He left His body (after His Mahasamadhi). Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba unostentatiously proclaims His divinity by a continuous manifestation of miracles beyond the reach of the laws of science. He counsels, consoles, confers boons, and, above all, encourages the faltering aspirants to march forward toward Him; for He is th...
This little book contains the articles written by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba in the series Dharma Vahini for the Sanathana Sarathi, the monthly journal published from Prasanthi Nilayam. They are given here in English; but, it must be said that the original Telugu is simpler and sweeter. It is difficult to express in English the fundamental ideas of Indian culture, for English is strange to the translator and perhaps to many a reader; the English vocabulary does not offer satisfactory equivalents to many words that form the common currency of Indian languages. The reader will, therefore, pardon me for the alloy of abstruseness that might have come into the pure metal of Baba’s Telugu clarity.
This must be said of this book: It is the authentic Voice of the Divine Phenomenon, that is setting right the moral codes and behaviour of millions of men and women today. So, it merits careful and devoted study. The Lord has declared that when ethical standards fall and man forgets or ignores ...
This Book
Baba has clarified that the word vidya used for this vahini (stream), means “that which (ya) illumines (vidh)”.
It is this sense that is highlighted in expressions like Atma-vidya, Brahma-vidya, and even the name Vidyagiri (giri means hill or mountain) given to the campus of the Institute of Higher Learning at Prasanthi Nilayam.
Baba makes us aware of the comparatively less beneficial lower learning, which deals with theories, inferences, concepts, conjectures, and constructions. The higher learning hastens and expands the universal urge to know and become truth, goodness, and beauty (sathyam, sivam, sundaram). Baba has come as Man among men on a self-imposed mission to correct the wrongs inflicted on mankind through the fanatically blind pursuit of lower learning. The human race has to voyage on an even keel; it is leaning too alarmingly toward the briny grave; the lower learning is lowering it into the bottomless pit. Only spiritual knowledge - that which illumines (vid...
An aphorism (sutra) expresses the genus of its meaning in a few terse words. The Brahma Sutras systematically explain the basic principles of Vedanta, the science of Supreme Reality. When contemplated, they reveal the innermost metaphysical secrets.
Today, harmony is the need of the hour. The ephemeral world needs spiritual awareness, and this is what the Vedantins visualise. Vedic scriptures offer comforting counsel. They throw a kindly light.
Man has distorted vision: he dotes on apparently real and also non-real phenomena. True vision makes him cognize the universal Being in nature’s creations. Realization of this awareness is liberation (moksha). The be-all and end-all of life of the human being is the realization of constant integrated awareness - of Brahman visualized both as the primary, absolute, supreme, unlimited entity and as its subsidiary cosmic creative aspect and mergence in Brahman.
In this Stream of Aphorisms (Sutra Vahini) on Brahman, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba ha...
