Joy and Sorrow

Value: Joy

Sub-Value: Trust, Faith

I have in my hands two boxes which God gave me to hold He said,

“Put all your sorrows in the black, and all your joys in the gold.”

I asked, “God, why give me the boxes, why the gold, and the black with the hole?”

“My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings, the black is for you to let go.”

I heeded his words, and in the two boxes both my joys and sorrows I store

But though the gold became heavier each day

The black was as light as before.

With curiosity, I opened the black, I wanted to find out why

And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole which my sorrows had fallen out by.

I showed the hole to God, and mused aloud,

“I wonder where my sorrows could be.”

He smiled a gentle smile at me.

“My child, they’re all here with me.”

Learning:

Joy and sorrow are inseparable, together they came and where one sits alone with you at the board remember that the other is asleep upon your bed,” Khalil Gibran.

Master’s Message: Discover and Decide

Sathya Sai Speaks: Volume 5, Chapter 43  

Summary: All the scriptures that are revered in all lands and climes proclaim that love alone prevails, detachment alone is the lasting wealth, unity alone is the truth, God alone is the goal.

Man has to be liberated from the bonds he has woven round himself. The patient is clamouring for the medicines that he can relish, not for the medicine that can cure him according to doctors who are experts. He does not accept the conclusions of those who know, for, he is afflicted with a perverted egoism.

An acecdote about acceptance: https://saibalsanskaar.wordpress.com/2024/01/29/god-the-photographer/

Derive divine bliss by diving into the depths

Unless you rise to the heights, by following certain disciplines, you cannot experience Godhead. Once you do that, all judgements, all disputations and even sense of victory, disappear. It is always preferable to approach God for the fulfilment of wants, rather than cringe before men, who themselves are but tools in the hands of God.

In his own silent way, God will transform the mind and turn it towards sadhana and successful spiritual pilgrimage. When you approach God and seek his help and guidance, you have taken the first step to save yourself. You are then led to accept His will as your own. Thus, you achieve shanti.

An acecdote about practice of daily connecting with God:

Importance of Daily Prayers

The audio version of the story is available on the podcast Sai Prem: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1498462/episodes/8200413

Come with hands that supplicate, not supply

I must say that I accept certain things before giving you that Grace: I demand and take sathya, dharma, shanti and prema. I seek the gifts of truth, virtue, peace and love. I repair broken hearts and fragile minds, warped intellects, feeble resolutions, and fading faith.

Do not become a puppet in others’ hands

Approach me with prema and I shall reciprocate with prema. Saaruupyam and saayujyam (sameness of form and absorption into the diety) are won by love, devotion, faith, humility, and wisdom.

Win Lord’s Grace through faith and devotion

Through a desire to judge or estimate or evaluate, you cannot discover the mystery of God; through devotion and faith, you have to win His Grace, which will reveal Him to your understanding and experience. Steady faith alone can earn victory.

An acecdote about unwavering faith in the lord.

Trust in God

Above all, insist on the senses obeying you, when you command them to desist from dragging you. With the senses under control, your intelligence will become clear to reflect the Glory of God that pervades the Universe. That is the teaching of the Vedas and of Vedanta, Prashanti Nilayam: Dasara, 1-10-1965.

“A man or an institution is to be judged by his its integrity, whether acts are according to the principles professed in the mind, the body, the word – all three must work in unison. By such disciplined karma the senses will be sublimated and prashanti won; then, out of this prashanti will arise prakanthi or the great light, and from that will emerge Param-jyothi, the suprasplendour of illumination. That illumination will reveal Param-aathma, the Oversoul, the Universal,” Shri Sathya Sai.

Lessons from His Creations

Value: Truth

Sub-Value: Acceptance/ Unity

It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold.

The hedgehogs, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm.

This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions.

After awhile, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth.

Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their companions in order to receive the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.

Learning

The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person’s good qualities.

Master’s Message: Pay the Price

Sathya Sai Speaks: Volume 5, Chapter 42

Summary: Man’s sense of values is so degraded that he does not revere the Gita as much as he values and scans the pages of the daily newspaper. This is to be attributed to sheer ignorance and perversity.

The fear and anxiety that infect humanity today are the results of this degradation of values, this ignorance of what is of significance and what is not, this want of faith in what the elders and sages have handed down as the wisdom of ages.

People prefer what is pleasing to what is beneficial.

An anecdote that aptly exhibits reflection as an inevitable outcome of our habits. Good habits reap good results and vice versa: https://saibalsanskaar.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/reflection-value-optimism/

Listen to this story on our Saiprem podcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/1498462/episodes/14759728-reflection

Get something divine if you want the Divine

Once you become a slave to the senses, they will not leave hold of you until your death. It is an unquenchable thirst. But I call you to Me and even grant worldly boom, so that you may turn Godward. No Avatara (incarnation) has done like this before.

Here, in this Prashanti Nilayam, pathram, pushpam, phalam and thoyam (leaf, flower, fruit and water)- all the four should not be brought by devotees. Of course, I accept your offerings, but I take another four: Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, and Prema (Truth, Virtue, Peace and Love).

Bring me these or any one of these and I shall most gladly accept the gift. Give something divine if you want the Divine. Prema, Shanti, Dharma and Sathya are Divine. Do not try to get it for a flower that fades, a fruit that rots, a leaf that dries, water that evaporates.

God can be won over only by Prema

My plans for Dharmasthaapana (establishment of Dharma), My movements, I shall not modify at all. I have stuck to this determination for 26 years, and I am engaged in the task for which I have come, that is, to inculcate the path of Prashanti activities and movements will never be altered, whoever may pass whatever opinion on them.

Krishna is Premaswarupa and He can be won over only by Prema. Audacity cannot approach Him. I am always full of happiness, whatever may happen. Nothing can come in the way of My smile. Derision and calumny only tend to make it grow better and happier.

An anecdote that examplifies love according to Swami.

To love is to share and serve

Do not undermine the faith of others

The sambhaashana (conversation) with God is said to result in sankata-vimochanam (liberation from the grip of grief). Consider the relief that you experience after conversation with Me and dwell upon that joy. That is enough to give you peace.

The Lord is like the Lotus, unaffected by the environment where He is; that is the reason, why His Eyes, His Face, His Feet, are all compared to the Lotus. Do not discard the one Form and one Name—the Form and Name you have selected and save yourselves. Do not compare and cavil at others Ishtadevathas (chosen deities). It is wrong to undermine the faith of another, and to disturb your own. Faith is a plant of slow growth; its roots go deep into the heart. Silence is the best sadhana, to guard faith; that is why I insist on silence here also, as a first step in sadhana for you, Prashanti Nilayam: Dasara, 30-9-1965.

Establish the status of the mother in the home, as the upholder of spiritual ideals, and, therefore, the Guru of the children. Every mother must share in this effort- the expansion and steady manifestations of the God-Consciousness latent in every child, Shri Sathya Sai.

Master’s Message: Silence and Solitude

Sathya Sai Speaks: Volume 5, Chapter 41  

Summary: Man does not know the correct technique of karma. The fruit depends upon the seed, the soil, the manure, the care, the fence. The fruit of karma has to take account of the tendencies and consequences of the activities in previous lives also.

Note the difference and shape your activity accordingly. Act in accordance with what you profess to be; that is the real Dharma.

An anecdote about one of the principles of karma:

Give Before You Receive; The Principles of karma

You can listen to the story here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1498462/episodes/6929879

Practise meditation in silence and solitude

Man’s dharma is to cultivate his faculties for the great adventure of realising his oneness with the basic substance of the Universe, a substance that is attributeless, yet is mistaken to have attributes like names and forms and functions.

To get the mind and the intelligence fixed in that oneness, man must meditate on them in silence and solitude, under the guidance of a guru. Practising meditation in silence and solitude, one can in due course establish silence and solitude in the heart, even in the busiest thoroughfares.

Silence has to be started with oneself; that is to say, one must talk less, and think more deliberately, more discriminatingly. One must try to empty the mind of impulses and prejudices and preferences. Thus, man must strive to reach down to his real nature or dharma, which is Divine, Dharmaswarupa (righteousness personified).

An anecdote about mindful awareness:

Stop and Smell the Roses

One need not take to asceticism

This sahaja-swabhava (innate nature) is to be found in children; at that stage man is untouched by the pulls and stresses of the senses. So, he revels in his own reality, that is, in joy, in Shanti and in Prema.

Make that stage steady, so that you may lead a dharmic life. To discover one’s reality and to dwell in that Divine peace, one need not give up the world and take to asceticism.

Detachment is the crucial gain; one cultivates it either in the jungle or at home.

A devotee is more than an emperor

There is no one higher than a bhaktha whose mind is fixed in the Truth. He is more than an emperor. So far as I am concerned, I consider the bhaktha. You have heard the adage, “Yathaaraaja, thathaa praja”—“As the king, so are the subjects”. The rulers have to be brought here, so that they may see and hear, and know about things that matter, get inspired by the bhakthi that fills the air, so that through them it may be shared by the country at large, Prashanthi Nilayam: Dasara, 29-9-1965.

Stay Young

Value: Confidence, Perseverance

Sub-Value: Optimism, Determination

The story of Rose who joined University at the age of 87.

When she was introduced by the professor to others, one student asked her, “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?”

She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel.”

Then on a serious note, she said, “I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students.

She was living it up.

At the end of the semester, Rose was invited to speak at football banquet. Her speech says it all.

She spoke, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream…

… When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it!……

…..There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability……..

…..The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.” She challenged each one to study the lyrics and live them out in their daily lives.

At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation, Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.

Learning

Growing old is a growing concern during middle age. It troubles most people. For some, aging is a dreadful thought. At what stage does one really start aging? 50, 60, 70, 80, or 90?

Michelangelo was appointed the architect of St Peters’ basilica in the Vatican to design its dome when he was 71 years old.

Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken moved to Canada to oversee his Canadian Franchises at the age of 75. He was active till the age of 80. He apparently wrote a book on cooking at the age of 70, which was found in the archives of KFC.

John Milton wrote Paradise Regained when he was 63. The famous inventor Thomas Edison worked till the age of 83 in his laboratory.

Mark twain wrote some of his master pieces when he was 71.

The greatest discovery of Galileo was made when he was 72.

Age is just a number and this series of numbers don’t define who you are, what you have achieved, or what you can still accomplish. One can achieve anything at any age, whether old or young.

Maha Shivarathri

Today we are celebrating Sivarathri. “Sivarathri” means “Auspicious darkness”. At least on this day, one should chant Shiva’s name all through the night. At least on one day in a year, chant the Lord’s name. This night, devotees are expected to stay awake by chanting the sacred name of Shiva. Keeping awake in any other way is purposeless. Spending the night reciting the Lord’s name sanctifies one’s life. Divine Discourse: Feb 25, 1998.

The lesson of Sivarathri is that devotees should foster good and sacred thoughts. They should be filled with godly thoughts. They should seek to become one with the Divine by reflecting on their inherent divinity. If you constantly chant the name of God, God realization will come in due course.

Whatever other things they may possess, men suffer from lack of peace and bliss. These two can be obtained only from God. It is for these two that men should pray to God and not for anything else, because God alone can give them. When these are secured, all other things will come of their own accord by the grace of God. People should yearn for God. All other desires are worthless. Divine Discourse: Feb 26, 1998.

Sivarathri has a variety of meanings. “Rathri” implies the darkness of night. But “Sivarathri” connotes not darkness but the special sacredness of this night. There is darkness in this night also, but this darkness is invested with auspiciousness. The reason is that on this l4th day after the Full Moon (Chathurdasi day), the moon, who is the presiding deity for the mind, has shed fifteen of his sixteen digits. This is an auspicious time for having proximity to God.

The Upanishaths refer to the attributes of the Divine as Truth, Goodness, and Beauty (Sathyam, Shivam, Sundaram). Plato regarded Truth, Goodness, and Beauty as the attributes of the Divine Goodness (Shivam) represents the principle of auspiciousness. It is associated with Truth on one side and beauty on the other.

This is the primary message of Sivarathri. I am giving you three maxims that you have to bear in mind: Service, service, service (Seva, seva, seva). Never forget the duty to serve. For this you have to develop love. To develop love, you have to promote the spirit of sacrifice. Service will become meaningful when it manifests the love that issues from sacrifice. Consider service as conducive to your own spiritual development. Be good, do good. Divine Discourse: Mar 7, 1997.

The terms Shiva and Sankara mean Auspicious. Sam means blissful awareness (chitaanandha). Kara means the one who causes it. Thus, Sankara means the One who causes blissful awareness. Sankara is the One who confers blissful awareness on those who take refuge in Him or adore Him.

The secret of creation is evident from the description of the form of Shiva. The crescent moon on Shiva’s head symbolizes the consciousness in human beings, the Ganges river (Gangaa) symbolizes the life force, and the snakes on Shiva’s body represent the myriad of living beings. He resides on a silver mountain. His dearest friend is Kubera, the Lord of Wealth. Despite being endowed with all these, why was He obliged to carry the begging bowl? To demonstrate to the world that every kind of wealth is a hindrance to spiritual advancement, Shiva renounced everything. It is through renunciation that Shiva became the eternal embodiment of supreme bliss.

The three eyes of Shiva represent the three worlds (lokas). Shiva’s trident is symbolic of the past, present, and future, the three aspects of time. The three qualities (gunas) –serenity, passion, sloth (satwa, rajas, thamas)– are images of the Trinity: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The three worlds, the triune aspect of time, and the three qualities are the manifestations of the God Principle (Easwara Principle). When the Divine is installed in the heart in this manner, man can raise himself to the level of the Divine. Divine Discourse: Feb 23, 1990.

The day when man is able to experience the divine state of being-awareness-bliss (sath-chith-ananda) is really the holy day of Sivarathri. Till then, man is in perpetual darkness. Until a fruit ripens on a tree, its juice is not sweet. When the fruit is fully ripe, it drops from the tree. Attachment to the tree is gone. Likewise, when a man achieves spiritual maturity, he acquires detachment (vairagya) automatically. Man has to endeavour to reach this level of maturity by spiritual practices that transform his consciousness.

Turn your minds toward the Divine. Repetition of the Lord’s names has been prescribed as a spiritual discipline to turn your mind away from the things of the world. If you devote the whole of this night to thoughts about the Lord, your minds will be transformed, even if you are not able to reach the highest state of “Over-Mind”. Ever bearing in mind the triple characteristics of the Divine –Truth, Wisdom, Eternal Brahman (Sathyam, Jnanam, Anantham Brahman)– strive to achieve the supreme goal of Man. Divine Discourse: Feb 16, 1988.

Sivarathri is a very auspicious day for all. It is the fourteenth day of the lunar fortnight, when the moon is waning and the sun is in the sign of Aquarius. However, the festival is related to the moon rather than the sun. Unlike other nights, this particular night is the night of consecration, of dedication, of illumination.

The mind is intimately associated with the moon. Chandra, the deity of the moon, is the presiding deity of the mind. He loses one sixteenth of his brilliance every day after the full moon day and continues waning until, on this night, he is left with just one sixteenth of his power. The waned moon may be taken to stand for the mind with all its wild fancies and waywardness reduced after it has been conquered by spiritual discipline. On this night, there is just a minute part more to be conquered, and that can be done by keeping vigil and dwelling on the glory of God

The vigil that is prescribed is symbolic of the eternal vigil one has to observe, while the rite of fasting is symbolic of divesting the senses of the pleasures for which they crave. The night-long devotional singing is significant of the life long consciousness of the Divine Presence that everyone should cultivate. The rites and vows laid down for Sivarathri being absent on other nights of the year, their observance on this day comes as a reminder that they are useful. Divine Discourse: Mar 7, 1978.

Master’s Message: Right and Left

Sathya Sai Speaks: Volume 5, Chapter 40

 

Summary: The shastras and the vedas point out the means of securing the secret of lasting joy; but man is attempting to earn shadowy joys, fleeting pleasures, pleasures fraught with evil and harm.

The mind is the monarch; the senses or indriyas are the soldiers; the soldiers are now ruling the king because he lends his ears to them and not to buddhi (intellect), who is the Prime Minister. Let buddhi take charge; in a moment, the senses will be forced back into camp and the mind can save itself. The atma is the sun in the firmament of the heart.

Man thinks he is enjoying the pleasures; but really speaking, it is the pleasures that are enjoying man. You should not plunge into action spurred by momentary impulse; ponder deeply over the pros and cons; weigh the expected benefits against the likely harm.

An anecdote about being good and doing good:

Be Good and Do Good

The podcast of the story on Saiprem podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1498462/episodes/14591655-an-expensive-shawl

The truth of thath-thwam-asi must lead to Bhava Adwaitham (nonduality of self), not Karma Adwaitham (duality of action), for, when you come down into the field of karma, duality is inevitable.

Truth behind two aspects of God

Saguna and Nirguna (with form and formless) aspects of God create the same doubt in the minds of sadhak, whether they can both be true. During the saguna worship, the basic nirguna aspect of God has to be sustaining the mind; no description can exhaust the glory, no word can approximate the majesty. During the nirguna meditation, the faith that God does not diminish His glory or majesty by being with form, attributes and name must be the sustaining force. The final step, however, must be the right foot, considered auspicious, the nirguna step.

An anecdote about God’s omnipresence in His formless form:

Where is God?

The podcast of the story on Saiprem podcast at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1498462/episodes/9584678

Remove the weeds in the garden of your heart

The shastras lay down steps in sadhana so that man can have peace, contentment and joy. The very first step is to remove the weeds in the garden of your heart, plucking by the roots the briar and bush of lust and greed, of hate and pride and plant in the ground thus cleared the fragrant flower plants of prema (love) and the sweet fruit trees of dharma (virtue), Prashanthi Nilayam: Dasara, 28-9-1965.

“God is Truth, Truth is Goodness, Goodness is beauty. Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Sathyam, Shivam, Sundaram is yourself. Be yourself, ” Shri Sathya Sai.

Management Lesson

Value: Truth

Sub-Value: Wisdom, Awareness

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day.

A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?”

The crow answered, “Sure, why not?”

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow and rested.

All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

*Management Lesson: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.*

Learning

People placed in higher positions have the priviledge of delegating work and to reach this level one has to work hard.

It is important to analyse situations against the background and context and make decisions; otherwise, one may land in trouble.

Master’s Message: Vitamin G

Sathya Sai Speaks: Volume 5, Chapter 39

Summary: Man must understand that the journey to his own inner realm and the discovery of its treasures are far more important than these engineering feats.

Discovering that there is nothing the matter with one, is the illumination one gets, with the dawn of spiritual knowledge.

Let the sense of equality feed all your activity

When you realise that He is the innermost reality of all, you can worship one another, with as much fervour as you now employ when you worship an idol. But, since the worship of an idol is more feasible, this is recommended; but the attitude must be that He who is in the idol is also equally found in all. Have the sense of equality feeding all your activity, but do not make all your acts equal with all, and for all.

An anecdote about being good to all because God resides in all.

Be Good and Do Good

Listen to this story on our podcast-https://www.buzzsprout.com/1498462/episodes/14426833

Minimum qualification for God’s Grace

Just as you prescribe minimum qualifications for every profession, the minimum qualification for grace is surrender of egoism, control over senses and regulated ahaara and vihaara (food and recreation).

The Gayatri is the vedhic mantra whispered in the ear during the ceremony of initiation into spiritual life. The Gayatri is a prayer to the supreme intelligence that is immanent in the Universe to kindle the intelligence of the supplicant. Repetition of this manthra will develop the intelligence.

Illness is caused more by malnutrition of mind

When the mind of man is unattached to the ups and downs of life but is able to maintain equanimity under all circumstances. Illness is caused more by malnutrition of the mind than of the body. I will call it the deficiency of Vitamin G, and I will recommend the repetition of the name of God, with accompanying contemplation of the glory and grace of God. That is the vitamin G. Man must reveal the divine qualities of love, humility, detachment and contentment, Prashanti Nilayam: Dasara, 27-9-1965.