Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Why is it said so? Everybody wants progress, prosperity, and welfare of society. There are three main principles through which this can be achieved. They are:

For morality to prevail in society, the individual should fear sin. Someone will fear sin only when they develop love for God. Therefore, it is necessary to develop love for God. When one develops love for God, one will have fear of sin and will adopt the right path in life. That will bring about morality in society. A man without morality cannot be called a human being in the real sense of the term. But modern people are immersed over head and ears in sin.

Then how can they have love for God? One can have love for God only when one fears sin. One should, in fact, consider love for God, fear of sin, and morality in society as one’s three main limbs - like feet, stomach, and head.

Love for God, fear of sin, and morality in society are interdependent. One will have fear of sin when one develops love for God. One will develop morality when one has fear of sin. Conversely, a person devoid of morality will have no fear of sin, and one who has no fear of sin can have no love for God. People desire many things in life; they perform many types of yoga, meditation, and penance. But all these are useless if they lack fear of sin.

Therefore, for morality in society, the individual should have fear of sin. One can earn respect and attain a place of honour in society only when one has morality. No society can exist without morality. Therefore, spread morality in society. Society that is based on morality will promote love for God. On the other hand, if society is without any moral base, there will be neither fear of sin in its members nor love for God. Therefore, it is the foremost duty of people to safeguard their morality.

A true human being is one who is endowed with humanness. First of all, one should have love for God. If you engage yourself in selfless service (seva) without love for God, it amounts only to selfishness. As long as one has selfishness, one cannot realise the Self. In fact, a fish is better than a selfish person in the sense that the fish cleans the water in which it moves. Selflessness is the noblest virtue.

You consider yourselves human beings, but do you have humanness and human qualities? If you lack these, then where is the difference between a man and an animal or a beast? The animals at least help people to grow crops, but people today have become so selfish that they do not help anybody. Therefore, we should ask ourselves this question: Are we human beings, animals, or beasts? Of course, we are not animals or beasts; we are human beings. When we know this, we should develop befitting human qualities.

Everybody should think and ask themself, “Do I have human qualities or not?” The human values of truth, righteousness, peace, love, and nonviolence (sathya, dharma, santhi, prema, and ahimsa) are like the five life-breaths of the human. You can call yourself a human being only when you possess these five human values. If you lack these five values, then whatever other qualities you may have, they cannot make you a real human being. An animal has hunger, lust, and anger. It leads its life without any restraint. It lacks kindness and compassion, which are the main qualities of a human being. Lust, anger, delusion, greed, pride, and jealousy are common to a man and an animal. One who has no control over these animal qualities is verily an animal. One should keep them under check and develop truth, righteousness, peace, love, and nonviolence instead. One should have kindness and compassion for all.

First of all, one should have love. We can have peace only when we have love. We can have fulfilment in life only when we combine peace and love. When we have both peace and love, we will have no hatred and we will not hurt anybody. If we hurt others, it shows that there is anger in us. Sorrow is the reaction of anger. Therefore, we should develop love.

If at any time the feelings of anger and hatred arise in us, we should check them. That is the quality of a human being. That is why we should have fear of sin, love for God, and morality in society. When we develop love for God, all our sins will be totally burnt to ashes. Therefore, if we want all our sins to be destroyed, we should develop love for God.

That is why Avatars take human form. Since you have human form, do not give room to animal qualities. Even if they arise in you, drive them away. When you have animal qualities, you will have no fear of sin. Therefore, always have love, love, and love alone!

Anger and jealousy are the worst enemies of man. One who has these two cannot be called a human being. Such a person can never attain divinity. One who flies into a rage from moment to moment shows lack of humanness. It shows only their animal quality. Therefore, first of all control anger and jealousy. This is what all our sacred texts like the Gita and the Upanishads teach. These two are more powerful and fierce than even a lion and are always waiting to overpower you. The anger of a lion is short-lived; the lion can kill anyone in a few minutes. But people harbour anger and jealousy for months and years and do not give them up easily. Therefore, anger and jealousy are the most fearful enemies of humanity. They destroy the feelings of unity and forbearance.

Real sweetness lies in the love for the mother. We should consider love and forbearance as our mother and father, but, unfortunately, these two are nowhere to be seen in people today. When you acquire these two virtues, you are nothing but God. Therefore, it is essential to have love for God, fear of sin, and morality in society (Daivapreeti, papa bheeti, and sangha neethi).

What does fear of sin mean? It is the fear of hurting and insulting others. Sin does not necessarily mean killing somebody. Hurting the feelings of others also amounts to killing. Therefore, see to it that you do not cause any mental hurt to anybody. To refrain from all this is fear of sin. Rama went to the forest and killed those who indulged in sinful deeds in order to wipe out sin. Vibhishana also came to Rama and helped Him to annihilate sin.

Vibhishana was Ravana’s younger brother. They were three brothers: Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Vibhishana. Vibhishana was always calm and composed and was free from hatred, jealousy, and anger, unlike his elder brother Ravana. The third brother, Kumbhakarna, was eating and sleeping all the time. The very name Ravana signified anger, jealousy, and hatred, whereas the name Vibhishana indicated peace and quietude. A person’s name influences their nature.

Certain names create pleasing feelings when you hear them, but some names create the feeling of fear and repulsion. For example, when we hear the name cuckoo, it creates sublime and sweet feelings in us. We hear with great pleasure when the cuckoo sings. There is a pleasing feeling in its very name. On the other hand, people throw stones at the crow when it opens its mouth. We should give names to our children with proper consideration. That is why people name their children after taking into account the star of their birth. We should have names that are good. Never have a name that is not proper. The name should be such that it gives rise to feelings of peace and sweetness.

Sathyanarayana is the name of this body. How sweet it is! This name was given by Kondama Raju, the grandfather of this body. He also changed the name of the mother of this body from Namagiriamma to Easwaramma, which means “the mother of Easwara (God)”. That is how the name Easwaramma has become famous in the world.

Words like snake and scorpion create in us a feeling of fear because of their poison. A snake has poison in its fangs and a scorpion has it in its tail. Their poison is localised in certain parts of their body. But people today are filled with poison from head to toe. Not only speech, but all actions are also poisonous. Some people have so much poison in their speech that whatever words come out of their mouth are full of poison. They hurt the feelings of others by such words. We should keep our speech free from such poisonous words and should always talk sweetly.

Some people have poison even in their smile. But there is no poison in love. We should have a smile that is full of love. Swami always smiles lovingly. His smile radiates bliss. You should always have a smiling face. Never put on a “castor oil face”; it reflects anger, hatred, and jealousy. Always have a smiling face. Keep smiling even if somebody abuses you. Then the other person will also stop abusing and start smiling. When you ask someone, “How are you, brother?”, he will also say, “How are you, brother?”, even if he is your enemy.

As is your action, so will be the reaction. As is the sound, so is the resound. When you lovingly ask someone, “How are you?”, they will also ask, “How are you?” Everything has a reaction, reflection, and resound. Therefore, our speech, our actions, and our conduct should be good. This is the main quality of a true human being.

Be humble and courteous in speech. Do not cause fear in others. In this lies true humanness; otherwise, people will brand you as a person without human quality. Our speech and actions should be pleasing to others. A person who gives a speech cites their experiences as an example. We should narrate only good experiences. When you call yourself a student of Sri Sathya Sai University, your conduct should be in accordance with the reputation of the institution in which you have studied. You should respect and honour your elders. See no evil. When you conduct yourself in this manner, everybody will call you, “Good boy, good boy.” You should earn such a good reputation. Only then will the saying, “Out of all living beings, human birth is the rarest (Jantunam nara janmadurlabham).” become meaningful.

(Bhagawan sang the song, “Hari Bhajan Bina Sukh Santhi Nahin …” and continued His discourse.)

When I went to Chennai some time ago, some people asked Me, “Swami! People aspire for peace and happiness. Where do peace and happiness lie?” I answered them through this song, “Hari Bhajan Bina Sukha Santhi Nahin (There can be no happiness and peace without chanting the name of God).”

Bhajan means to contemplate on God. That alone gives us peace and happiness. Peace and happiness are not separate from each other. They can be attained only through Hari bhajan (contemplating on God). Someone may ask you, “Sai Baba speaks of peace and happiness. Where do they exist? What have you understood?” When you give them the reply, “There can be no happiness and peace without chanting the name of God (Hari Bhajan Bina Sukh Santhi Nahin)”, there will be no further questions.

Humanness will blossom only when there is love for God, fear of sin, and morality in society. You will be victorious in the entire world when you have these three. These three are enough; you do not need anything else. Sing the glory of God. Then, you will set a great example for all. Chala santosham (Very happy).