Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

One may be the master of all forms of knowledge, One may vanquish one’s adversaries in debate, One may fight with valour and courage in the battlefield, One may be an emperor reigning over vast kingdoms, One may offer cows and gold as an act of charity, One may count the countless stars in the sky, One may tell the names of different living creatures on the earth, One may be an expert in eight steps of yoga, One may reach even the moon, But is there anyone who can control the body, mind, and senses, Turn the vision inward, And achieve the supreme state of equanimity of the mind? (Telugu poem) When a child emerges from the womb of their mother, one does not find any garland around the child’s neck.

There are no jewels made of pearls, nor are there glittering gold ornaments.

There are no necklaces studded with precious stones, like emeralds and diamonds. But there is one garland around the neck. Brahma strings together the consequences of the child’s past deeds into a heavy garland and puts it around the neck at the time of birth. (Telugu poem)

The body is given to humans to perform actions. As the Gita says: Your right is on actions only, not the fruits thereof (Karmanyevadhikarasthe ma phaleshu kadachana ). It is your duty to perform actions. Duty is very important. Your responsibility is only to perform your duty; you have no authority on rights. When you discharge your duty sincerely, you will get the rights automatically. But people today forget their duty and crave authority. So, take care of your responsibility. If you perform your responsibility earnestly, you will get the rights naturally.

When there is downpour of rain, rivers flow naturally. Without rain, how do you expect the rivers to flow? Pray for the rain; you need not pray for the rivers to flow.

Likewise, when you do your duty, you will certainly get the reward of your actions. So, perform actions without any desire for the fruits. Why? People in the world are bound by action (Karmanubandheeni manushya loke ). Human society is bound by action (karma ). You have to perform actions right from the time of rising from the bed in the morning till going to sleep at night. This karma does not mean discharging duty alone. In fact, one cannot live without action even for a moment. But karma does not mean merely those actions that you perform with your hands and legs. Your blood circulation and breathing also denote karma .

What efforts do you make for inhalation and exhalation? You may be in waking state, in sleep state, or in dream state; you may be in a state of anger; you may be walking; you may be doing anything - your inhalation and exhalation goes on naturally. Will any fool say that inhalation and exhalation are because of their own effort? You make some effort for certain actions, but what efforts do you make for respiration or beating of your heart? It is not in your hands. These are natural actions, which happen by God’s Will. The food that you eat gets digested. Who gave you that power of digestion? This is also done by God. Lord Krishna declares in the Bhagavad Gita : I am present in all beings in the form of digestive fire.

United with inhalation and exhalation (prana and apana ), it is I who consume the four kinds of food.

Aham vaishvanaro bhutva Praninam dehamasrita

Pranapana samayukta

Pachamyannam chaturvidham. It is the digestive power gifted to humanity by God that digests all the four types of food that are eaten. But people, out of their ego, claim that it is they themselves who accomplished a particular task and achieved success by their efforts. However, this does not mean that a person should not make efforts to perform a task. For all worldly and mundane chores, effort is necessary. But what effort do you make for Atmic , sacred, spiritual, inner, and mystic activities? Who is the doer? It is Isa, Girisa, Naresa, Paresa, Bilvesha.

Who is Isa? The one endowed with all aiswarya (wealth) is Isa. What do you mean by aiswarya ? Aiswarya signifies all wealth, whether it is materialistic, scientific, ethical, or spiritual. He is the source and master of all the different forms of wealth.

Who is Girisa? What is Giri? Many Indians (Bharatiyas ) know. They visit Tirupati and offer their hair. But what will happen out of that? Do you think God wants your useless hair? With all high desires, you offer your worthless hair and pray to God! You pray to God in that vile way! This is not the significance of offering hair in Tirupati.

Your head is the Giri (mountain) of your body. In this head, Thamoguna performs its bestial dance. What is Tamoguna ? What is its nature and form? Thamoguna signifies black colour, darkness, and ignorance. This darkness enters the human head. Offer this darkness to God to manifest the white, pious, serene (sathwic ) quality. Offering worthless hair to God is meaningless. This is how our age-old good traditions have been distorted.

The third is Naresa, the master of mankind. What is meant by Nara ? ‘Na’ means not, ‘ra’ means ignorant. One who is not ignorant is Nara . A person is is not ignorant - and is not sinner either.

The next one is Paresa. What do you mean by Paresa ? Para means limitless, above everything. So, Paresa is one who is vast, infinite, and beyond all definitions.

The next is Bilvesha: Lord Siva, who is worshipped with bilva leaves. There are three bilva leaves on a single stalk. While worshipping Lord Siva, we recite this mantra : One bilva leaf with three petals (Tridalam trigunakaram ). The three leaves represent the three attributes (gunas ). The heart is the basis of these three attributes. Offer your three qualities wholeheartedly to God. This is the inner significance of the worship of Lord Siva.

People do perform actions. What are the results of these actions? You can see yourself that all of them are temporary.

Oh people!

You struggle hard in life merely for the sake of filling your belly.

You acquire myriad types of knowledge from various fields.

Examine and enquire for yourself what great happiness you have achieved by spending all the time from dawn to dusk in acquiring worldly knowledge and earning wealth while forgetting God.

(Telugu poem) You acquire education. But what do you learn? All your learning is worldly and materialistic. Why should you use your intelligence to learn about material things? You make so many calculations, you do so much work with a computer. Having studied thus, you consider yourself highly intelligent.

But, as it is said in Telugu, “Even a washerman (dhobi ) is superior to an educated man.” How? Suppose you give your clothes to a dhobi and write in a notebook: two pants, two shirts, two handkerchiefs, and a towel. The washerman carries with him a large number of clothes of many people, but he does not write it down. After washing the clothes, he will return the clothes of all his customers correctly. So, what a lot of difference is there between your education and that of the washerman! What you acquire is bookish knowledge. Bookish knowledge is temporary.

Oh people!

Do not feel proud of your education. If you do not offer your salutations to God and do not think of Him with devotion, all your education will become useless. (Telugu Poem) The learning that is permanent will be imprinted on your heart. But your education is only for a living. It is not for the bliss of the Self.

People make efforts and struggle hard to attain bliss. They try to acquire it from worldly objects. They yearn and pine for bliss. But they do not realise that they themselves are the very form of bliss.

Bliss is within, but people search for it outside. What a foolishness this is! For this, people strain themselves, sacrificing even food and sleep. At the end, what do they experience? People are deluded that there is happiness in education or wealth. There is no happiness in them. There have been many mighty kings, who were the masters of great wealth, power, and pelf. They ruled over mighty kingdoms. Where are they now, and what did they experience? They tried to attain bliss in these mundane objects, but all in vain.

Bliss is present only on the spiritual path, nowhere else. People should perform all actions to please God. We read many texts, we go to meet many noble souls, we do so many spiritual practices, but there is no result at all. Why? Because we are heroes in speech and zeros in practice.

One time, the deer in a forest had a conference. All the deer gathered there.

The head deer, the president of the conference, got up and said, “We should pass a resolution. The main point of this resolution is that we are in no way inferior to dogs. We can run faster than dogs. Dogs are non-vegetarian, but we are vegetarian. The strength that we have in our legs is not present in the legs of dogs. We lead a sacred life. After our death, saints make use of our skin to do penance. But will anyone make use of a dog’s skin? Does the dog possess that strength, that sanctity? Dogs can’t run as fast as we can. So, with all our strength and power, why should we be afraid of dogs”? This was the central point for discussion.

After discussion, they resolved not to be afraid of dogs. All the deer joined and expressed their agreement. After thorough discussion, they passed the resolution that from that day onward they would not be afraid of dogs. Having resolved thus, they felt blissful and happy.

At that time, a hunter was passing through the forest along with his dogs. Suddenly, one of his dogs barked. On listening to the barking of the dog, all the deer started running. In a moment, the entire dais became empty. Where did the deer go? What happened to the resolution? Why do they have fear?

This is the state of affairs in the world today. There are so many conferences, so many meetings, so many resolutions, but in practical field it is a big zero. The spiritual field should not be like that. The proper study of mankind is man. There should be perfect harmony between thought, word, and action. This is the first step on the spiritual path.

What is the second step? Each one should enquire, “Who am I”? One should say, I am a human. Should one be satisfied with that? No! Saying, “I am human,” is only half the truth. What is the other half? The other half is, “I am not an animal.” Always repeat: I am human, not animal. I am human, not animal. When we join these two halves, we have the full truth. Truth is one, but the wise refer to it by various names (Ekam sath viprah bahudha vadanti ). It is only one that exists, not the second. Truth is one, not two.

When you get bad thoughts, you should immediately start enquiring, what are human values and what are animal qualities? Ask yourself: Am I the body? Am I the mind? Am I the senses? Am I the intellect? Am I the inner instrument? Put these questions to yourself.

You say, this is my handkerchief. So, the handkerchief is separate from you. You say, “This is my body.” So, you are separate from the body. When you say, “my mind,” the mind is separate from you.

Then you should question yourself, who am I? In this way, when we question ourselves in ordinary matters in daily life, we will be able to understand the eternal truth that is Divinity. When you understand that you not the body, you are not the mind, and you are not the senses, then who are you? You should say, I am I. That thou Art (Thattwamasi ) is non-duality. But when you say, I am Brahman (Aham Brahmasmi ), it is not non-duality because I and Brahman are two. Two is not truth. That is dualism. So, you should say, “I am I.” That is non-dualism, meaning you are you.

The body is like a water bubble, the mind is like a mad monkey. Don’t follow the mind, don’t follow the body, follow the conscience. That is the spiritual practice you should do. Follow your heart (hridaya ) on the path of spirituality. Hridaya does not mean physical heart. It is spiritual heart. Where is it located? It is present everywhere.

What do you mean by body? The body is a temple and the Indweller is God (Deho devalaya proktho jivo Deva sanathana ). Body is the temple of God.

What type of temple is it? It is a moving temple. Wherever your body moves, there is God. So, where is God? He is everywhere. You cannot say God is here and not there. The Bhagavad Gita also declares: With hands, feet, eyes, head, mouth, and ears pervading everything, He permeates the entire universe (Sarvatah panipadamtTat sarvathokshi siromukham, sarvatah srutimalloke sarvamavruthya tishthati ). Wherever your feet go, there is God. God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. Because your vision is narrow, you are not able to understand this truth. You say that you are put to suffering by the world. But it is not the world that puts you to suffering; rather, you are making the world suffer. The Bible also propounds this truth. It is said that the devotees are in search of God. This is not correct. What is the necessity for a devotee to search for God when God is everywhere? Where do you search for God, who is present at all places? This is not right. In fact, God is in search of a devotee. Where is a real and true devotee with steady faith? When we enquire like this, we find that it is, in fact, God who is in search of a true devotee. To say that the devotee is in search of God is untruth; it is false. So, we need not search for God. He is the indweller of your heart. He is all-pervasive. He is present within you, around you, below you, above you. That all-pervasive God is present within and without (Antarbahischa tatsarvam vyapya Narayana sthita ).

In fact, you are also God.

It is not enough if you think that you are God. You should develop divine feelings and perform divine actions. If you say, “I am God” and indulge in demonic acts, then your saying is meaningless. Always remind yourself, I am human, not animal. Anger, jealousy, hatred, and greed are animal qualities. Truth, compassion, love, and sacrifice are human qualities. Develop human qualities. Then only can you call yourself manava (man).

The word manava has three letters ma , na, va . Ma means ignorance, na means without, and va means one who conducts themself. So, manava means the one who conducts themself without ignorance. That is the true meaning of the word manava .

If you lead your life in the light of this truth, God will be with you, in you, and around you and will protect you in all situations. Having been born as a human being, you should never lead the life of an animal.

People perform spiritual practices to remove animal qualities from their mind. What do you mean by spirituality? To root out animal qualities within you is true spirituality. All spiritual practices like chanting, meditation, and sacrifice are useless when there are animal qualities within you. So, you should imbibe sacred human values. A vessel with a number of holes will remain empty in spite of heavy rain.

What is this body?

It is a perishable leather bag with nine holes but not like a resplendent diamond. No fragrance but only foul smell emanates from it every moment.

It is made up of flesh, blood, bones, and fecal matter.

Should we develop attachment to this body? (Telugu poem) This body is bound to perish. The human life span is said to be hundred years, but nobody can be sure when the end will approach - in boyhood, youth, or old age, in town, forest, or water. Death is certain.

People should know God as long as they has the body. This sacred human life is gifted only to realise divinity. One can make one’s life worthwhile by developing divine qualities. What are the divine qualities? God is attributeless, unsullied, final abode, eternal, pure, enlightened, free, and embodiment of sacredness (nirgunam, niranjanam, sanathana niketanam, nitya, suddha, buddha, mukta, nirmala swarupinam ). Not only this, other attributes of Divinity are: embodiment of sound, mobility, and immobility, light, speech, eternal bliss, perfection, delusion, and wealth (sabda brahmamayi, characharamayi, jyotirmayi, vangmayi, nityanandamayi, paratparamayi, mayamayi , and sreemayi ). Out of so many divine qualities of God, do we have even one? You don’t need to put into practice all that is said. Practise at least one teaching of Swami. But you listen and go. Once, a sculptor brought three idols in King Bhojaraja’s court. Bhojaraja said to his minister, “Minister, judge which is the best of the three.” The minister pierced an iron rod into the ear of one idol. The iron rod came out through the other ear. This idol was kept aside by the minister. He examined the second idol. When the rod was put into one ear, it came out through the mouth. The same reply ensued. Now the minister put the third idol to test. The iron rod went into the ear but did not come out. The minister said, “Oh king, this idol is most valuable.” “What is the reason?” asked the king. The minister said, “The first idol represents a person who hears with one ear but lets out information through the other. This is not good. The second idol symbolises a person who listens with one ear but leaves out the information through the mouth. No value. But the third idol stands for a person who receives information through the ear and treasures it in his heart.” So, whatever good thing you hear, treasure it in your heart. If you put it in your heart, it may develop at one time or other. It is like the negative of a photograph. When you have the negative with you, you can make any number of copies at any time. What you take into your head, it is like a Polaroid picture. You cannot make any copies out of it. Keep good things safe in your heart like a negative so that you can put it into practice. Many teachers teach spirituality to devotees in many different ways, leading to confusion for everyone. They teach for their selfish ends and to earn name and fame, not for the welfare of society. Aspirants who put in great efforts to learn spirituality should not be misled.

God is one, and He is present in everyone. What is the way to God? First and foremost, try to know what is the best way. The best way is through removal of immorality. In fact, removal of immorality is the only way to immortality. Not only this. The best way to love God is to love all and serve all, because God is present in everyone. There are many such subtle truths, but these easy paths are not being taught today. That is why devotees are confused. They have lost their confidence altogether. Confusion also gives rise to doubts. Because of doubts, faith declines. There is no scope for doubts in spirituality. So, never allow doubts to shake your faith. Consider faith (viswas ) as your life breath (swas ). Just as a person becomes a dead body without breath, they are spiritually dead without faith. First and foremost, develop self-confidence. Self-confidence leads to self-satisfaction. When you have self-satisfaction, you will do self-sacrifice. Where there is self-sacrifice, there will be Self-realisation.

Self-confidence is the foundation, self-satisfaction is the wall, self-sacrifice is the roof, Selfrealisation is life. Hence, develop self-confidence in the first instance.

Self-confidence is the basis of love. You cannot achieve anything without love. (Bhagavan brought His Discourse to a close with the bhajan “Prema Mudita Manase Kaho …”)