Listen, Reflect and Practice

Embodiments of love,

In childhood, one is engrossed in playing with friends. In the middle, one is busy earning money. In old age, one is sad for all the things he is missing. So throughout life there is hardly any chance for thinking of God.

What is life? For whose sake should we live? If every man does enquire in this way, no person can give an appropriate reply. Each lives for his own self. Some may say he lives for the family. He gets a job and works for his family. Each one is living for his own sake. When two people are sleeping on the same cot, each dreams a different dream. Supposing a person is taking his meal. He gets the news that his son had met with an accident. Immediately, he loses his appetite and runs to the hospital. Therefore, he is living for his family. The same individual rises to the occasion when there is a problem in the village. He considers himself as part of the village. He will understand the welfare of society. First, himself, second, his family, third, state, the society. His welfare depends on the welfare of the society.

Next the limbs. Man is a limb of the family. The family is a limb of society. The society is a limb of nature and nature is a limb of the Divine. Man is forgetting the divinity of nature. Therefore, he is restless. He is not having pious thoughts. Today, Bharath's wealth is on the decline. The word of Sai shows the path of Truth. Where do thoughts come from? They come from the world. The world comes out of the will of God. God had supreme will. Therefore, all thoughts come from Divinity. When you develop this cosmic feeling, you live in Bliss. Man considers himself separate from the world. The world is not separate from God. Without Master, there can be no God. We say Divine Master. The station master, postmaster, all are masters. When we say Divine Master, the Divine is separate from Master. Post office is separate from postmaster. When we say Divine Master, it is contradictory. Divine is not Master. The Divine is Divine. People are not conducting themselves in full knowledge of this.

There are three steps. Sravanan, Mananam, Nidhidyasanam. All that is heard must be recapitulated. All that is recapitulated must be practiced. It is not enough to merely listen, one should reflect and practice. For example, the food should be taken to the dining hall and be eaten. Then only one is satisfied. So sravanam is compared to the cooking, mananam to taking it to the dining hall and nidhidyasanam to eating. We have to pass through these three steps for satisfaction. We listen to noble souls, scriptures, etc. But what is the use? We reached nowhere. We are only dissatisfied. We do not put it into practice. Again and again we are taking rebirth. What is life, youth, middle age and old age? They are all passing clouds. Man is not understanding his value. So all the yogic practices without purity are a mere waste. Sankara said, "The pride of knowledge, wealth, youth, all vanish eventually in time. What do we sacrifice?"

We cannot sacrifice our habits. We do not try to give up habits like coffee, smoking, snuff. Man is too weak. When he cannot give up simple habits how can he attain Divinity? Man has become frustrated due to "I and mine". Therefore, we should consider the moral values as the backbone for spirituality. Develop Divine thoughts and sacrifice the worldly thoughts. Then you have human values. Man has traveled from animal to man and man to Divine. You do not progress even an inch.

What is mantra? The word can be split into Man - tra. "Man" is "Mind" and "tra" - "change". So mantra is to change the mind. What we think repeatedly is mantra. The human life is for attaining divinity. In a sugar cane the outer skin is thick but the juice within it is so sweet. So also the body houses the Divine. God comes in the human form. The human being is Divine, but we are not understanding the Divinity. What happiness is there in the world? Happiness cannot be found anywhere except in God. When we cannot understand the world, how can we understand God? Consider the body, mind, intellect, senses, all as Divine. The human being is rare. Having been given this rare opportunity, we are wasting time. Live in close proximity to God. When the Ganges is flowing nearby, the foolish man is dying of thirst. So human beings are not able to understand the Divinity of God. Divinity pervades from top to bottom in our bodies. Everywhere there is Truth. Why forget Truth? Now man cannot decide Truth from (untruth). We do not have faith in Truth now. Have faith in Truth. God is Truth. From Truth, the creation merges in Truth. The unsullied Truth pervades everywhere. The water bubble comes from the water. Similarly, the human being is born from the Divine and merges back into the Divine. So water is the Sath Chith Ananda. So man should merge back into the source of Divinity.

Truth is the very form of God. This life is like water bubble. The body is like a water bubble. The mind is like a mad monkey. So don't follow the mind and body. Follow only the basis - Sath Chith Ananda. This love is the Atma. Make an effort to know love. Recognize the nature of love. Every undertaking should be for the sake of knowing Sath Chith Ananda, which is the goal and purpose of life. Do not waste life on mean things. Life is highly valuable and sacred. It must be surrendered. Killing the mind is the true diamond. Life is a diamond. Enquire why we are born, how to spend life. Having been born, one is only living for himself and family. Consider also the welfare of the society. The cardinal principles are Truth, Righteousness, Peace and Love. So recognize this.