Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 1 (1953 - 60)
10
Discrimination And Detachment

Contents 
You are all standing in the open, on the road, and some are even perched on trees; it is really cruel for Me to speak to you for long. But in spite of all this inconvenience, I find you yearn to hear My words, so I shall satisfy you. Well, man is divine, take it from Me. He is really here on a holy mission, for a divine purpose. To consider one as mean or weak or sinful is a great mistake. That is itself a great sin. A person must earn their birthright, namely, peace (santhi). Restlessness is an unnatural state. One’s real nature is peace To recover the heritage of peace, people try various methods: accumulation of riches, maintenance of health, mastery of knowledge, cultivation of the arts. But these are not fundamental. Three basic wants still remain after all these methods have been tried: the need for reality, light, and immortality. Only when existence, divine light, and divine nectar are won will peace be stabilised. It is no use indulging in arguments and disputations; one who clamours aloud has not grasped the truth, believe Me. Silence is the only language of the realised. Practise moderation in speech. That will help you in many ways. It will develop love (prema), for most misunderstandings and factions arise out of carelessly spoken words. When the foot slips, the wound can be healed, but when the tongue slips, the wound it causes in the heart of another will fester for life. The tongue is liable to four big errors: uttering falsehood, scandalising, finding fault with others, and excessive articulation. These have to be avoided if there has to be peace (santhi) for the individual as well as for society. The bond of brotherhood will be tightened if people speak less and speak sweet. That is why silence was prescribed as a vow for spiritual aspirants by the spiritual texts. You are all spiritual aspirants at various stages of the road, so this discipline is valuable for you also.
Prema must transform all relationships
Love (Prema) is what the individual and the nation must cultivate now for progress. Hindustan became great on account of the flood of prema that swept over the land for centuries. Prema must again transform all relationships - social, economic, educational, professional, family, religious, legal, and others. The father must love the child a little more intensely and intelligently; the mother must spread love to all who come within her influence; children must love the servants. The sense of equality that everyone is the repository of the divine Essence must transmute social and individual behaviour.
Discrimination and detachment are given only to humans
You can call Me Embodiment of Divine Love (Premaswarupa)! You will not be wrong! Prema is the wealth that I have and that I scatter among the miserable and afflicted. I have no other riches. The Grace of the Lord is always flowing like the electric current through the wire. Fix a bulb, and the current, to the extent of the wattage, will illumine your home. The bulb is the spiritual exercises you perform; the home is your heart. Come to Me gladly; dive into the sea and discover its depth; there is no use dipping near the shore and swearing that the sea is shallow and has no pearls. Dive deep and you will secure your desire. Remember, the sword of prema has to be kept in the sheath of wisdom. The senses have to be rigorously controlled by discrimination and detachment, the twin talents given exclusively to humans. Discrimination instructs you how to choose your avocations and your associates. It tells you the relative importance of objects and ideals. Detachment saves you from too much attachment and injects a sense of relief, at times of elation or despair. They are the two wings that lift the bird into the air. They hold before you the impermanence of the world and permanence of the Bliss of Reality. They prompt you to direct your lives toward spiritual disciplines and the never failing contemplation of the glory of the Lord.
Selected Excerpts From This Discourse
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