Fill Your Hearts With Love

Whether one is a great scholar
Or a ruler living in a mansion,
Or a hero who has won great victories,
Or a destitute groveling in poverty,
Without love in his heart, he is nothing.
A devotee with love is more worthy of veneration.

Of what use are men in Bharat
Who can make the stones sing in joy,
Men who can play with the heads of the enemy,
Men who can wield power over the land.
If they have no awareness
Of the wail of the oppressed,
When will they respond
To the cries of the poor?

Embodiments of love!

The cosmos is filled with love. Love is Righteousness. Love is Truth. The universe is based on love. Lost in the transient pleasures of worldly life, man is forgetting this supreme Love principle.

What is the reason? Selfishness has grown and selflessness has declined. Narrow-mindedness is widespread. Broadness of heart is on the wane. Desires have increased. Ideals are vanishing. Human life is dominated by selfishness and self-interest.

The ancient sages enthroned sacrifice (thyaaga) on the highest pedestal. They adored Righteousness. Today these sublime ideals are forgotten in Bharat. As a consequence the country is racked by every kind of trouble.

A heart without love is a cemetery. Love demonstrates the existence of the Divine. It is all-pervasive. It is the basis for human unity. Only when selfishness goes and faith in the Divine grows will human unity be achieved.

Hence, every human being should fill his heart with love.

               God is Love; Love is God
                Love is linked to love
                When one is full of love
                He is fit for oneness with God

It is most vital for everyone to recognize and practice this Love Principle. At all times love has existed among the good and the bad, in the forest or in the palace, in attachment or in separation, in one's conduct as well as in one's speech, in the mind as well as in action. It is all-pervasive.

THE POWER OF LOVE

The most powerful weapon to destroy the forces of evil rampant in the world today is love. Unfortunately men are not pursuing the right path to acquire this sacred love.

Love is the seed of love. It is also the branches, the flowers and the fruit. To enjoy the fruit of love one has to practice Love.

Instead of seeking to know the true nature of love, man is engaged in the pursuit of wealth and power. No doubt wealth and power are necessary, but only within limits. The vast ocean, when it swells beyond its bounds, is censured for its misbehavior. The human body and mind will be healthy only when food is consumed within limits. Excessive eating causes various disorders.

Everything in the world is governed by the bounds set for it. However, love has no limits."Anirvachaneeyam Prema", declares the sage Narada. "Love is beyond the power of words".

The flow of love is the life-giving water for everyone. How is this love to be secured by one? Not by Japa (chanting the Lord's name) or meditation or by studying the scriptures. God does not dwell in the Vedas or the Puranas. God dwells in the heart and should be sought there. People should close their mouths and open their hearts. Then they will experience the divine bliss.

Today love has been almost totally banished. Where love should prevail hatred has taken its place. Petty jealousy has usurped the place of compassion. Man can experience true happiness only when the appropriate qualities reside in their allotted places.

Transform your entire life into a saga of love. You will then lack nothing to make you happy. All wealth and position will be added unto you. Love conquers all.

TOTAL SURRENDER

What is the nature of this love? When praying to God, you should have a feeling of total surrender. If you are really keen about realizing God, if you are hungering and thirsting for God, then you should cultivate this all-absorbing love. Mere expression of desire is not enough. You should endeavor to experience union with the Divine. If your heart is full of selfishness, how can you experience the Divine merely by a wish?

There is love of sorts today. It is related to the body consciousness and not to the Self which is the basis. Spiritual love begins with the concept of Daasoham ("I am your servant") and culminates in the concept of Soham ("He and I are one"). Without the feeling of Daasoham, you cannot experience the feeling of Soham. Soham is the expression of divine oneness. The Atma and I are one.

That Atma is Brahma. That is love. That is Truth. That is Righteousness.

THE FIFTH GOAL OF LIFE

Men have been concerned with the four goals of human life (the Purushaarthas: Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha. Righteousness, wealth, sensuous desires, and Liberation). But there is a fifth goal: Love. Only when love is achieved will the world become an earthly paradise.

Where love prevails there will be no room for hatred or envy. Love can have no truck with evil thoughts and actions. Love should be steadfast and unwavering. If one goes on hopping from one "Swami" to another, from one form of worship to another, he will never experience love of the Divine. "One word, one path" - that should be the aim.

Today thousands of people have gathered here. What has brought them together here? Love is the main cause. Without love few of you would have come from such distant places (cheers). How does this love express itself? It is a process of give and take. You have to receive God's love. And you have to offer your love. But both are one and the same love. God's love is reflected in your bodies. That is the meaning of the Gita declaration: "A fragment of Mine is present in everyone in the cosmos".

That Divine element in you should not be misused. It should be used for the benefit of others. The Divine principle of love is being treated with narrow ideas. From ancient times the sages welcomed this principle with open arms. Narada declared: Yallabhdvaa pumaan siddho bhavathi, amrutho bhavathi, thriptho bhavathi. Having gained Divine love, (Parama Prema), a person becomes perfect, immortal and contented. He considered Divine love as supreme over all things. Just as without sugar, no sweet will have sweetness, without love nothing in life can have any value. Your heart is inherently filled with love. But you are ignoring this plenitude and going after the trivial. Your real sustenance will come from this Divine love and not from other petty pleasures.

Every cell in the human body is filled with love. It is this microcosmic love that fills the entire cosmos.

INVESTMENT IN DEVOTION

You have no need to go in search of love elsewhere. It is all within you. A man makes every effort to accumulate wealth. An equal effort is needed to acquire the wealth of love. Men today invest their assets of love in pitiful ventures. Instead they should invest all their love in the Divine bank of devotion. This deposit is not only safe but will yield you increasing returns in terms of bliss (cheers). Your heart is the bank where your love for God should be deposited. Deposits elsewhere are insecure. Deposits of money may be in danger of being lost. But the deposit in your heart is immune from any kind of theft or loss. Make your deposit safe by "insuring" it within your heart. It is totally safe, though it has no bolts doors or locks. This love has been characterized as Amritaswarupa (the form of eternal nectar). Nectar pleases only the palate. But Divine Love confers eternal bliss which is sweeter than nectar. Everyone should resolve to acquire this nectarine Love.

THYAAGA AND PREMA

Today your foremost duty is to enthrone sacrifice (Thyaaga). Only when sacrifice reigns, love will come into its own. All your latent potentialities will then manifest themselves. You will succeed in all your legitimate undertakings. When love becomes the ruling principle, sorrow and disappointment will disappear. That was why the Vedas declared that sacrifice alone is the key to immortal bliss. "God is love. How can you hope to realize God without love?" (Telugu poem).

How to manifest that love that is within you? You have to engage your hands in clapping as you chant the names of Rama, Krishna and others. Recite the names of the Lord with your mouth. If you really desire to experience God, you must remember the name of the Lord always like Prahalada: Om namo Narayanaya. Sing the praises of the Lord like Radha and Mira. Worship the Lord like Jayadeva., Gauranga and Tukaram. Shed tears in devotion before the figure of the Lord like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Then you will experience the Lord. People shed tears over petty things, but do not shed a single tear for the Lord. There are two kinds of tears: tears of joy and tears of sorrow. What you have to shed for God are tears of joy.

POWER OF THE LORD'S NAME

When Krishna was being weighed in a balance, all the jewels of Sathyabhama could not balance His weight. Rukmini then came and declared that the mere chanting of the name of Krishna would be equal to His weight. By the additional offer of a leaf, a flower or a little water, the scales will be tilted against Krishna. So saying she placed a tulasi leaf on the scale. And lo! It went down. The tulasi leaf carried the full weight of Rukmini's boundless love for Krishna. All the jewels of Sathyabhama were of no avail. But Rukmini's invoking the name of Krishna and offering a tulasi leaf with a love-filled heart tilted the scales against Krishna. Such is the power of the Lord's name and a love-filled offering to the Lord. The Lord is not swayed by wealth or scholarship, power or position. Love alone can move him.

If you wish to sway the Lord, you must offer your love and love alone. Today unfortunately love has become scarce. Even material love is disappearing. But God's love is boundless. In whatever manner you may love Him, He responds in equal measure. But without love, you have no right to seek His love. Filled with bad feelings and thoughts, if you pray to the pure and unsullied Lord, how do you expect to win His grace? If you remain pure at least in your shrine, you may acquire some fragment of divine love.

There are any number of able exponents of spirituality. But of what use are their discourses if they do not practice what they preach.

MANIFEST YOUR LOVE

Embodiments of the Divine! If you are really filled with devotion, manifest your love for God who is the very embodiment of love. If you are genuinely hungering and thirsting for God, partake of Divine love to appease your hunger and quench your thirst.

Divine love is the only panacea for all your troubles and miseries arising from insatiable desires and frustrated ambitions. God's love is like a lighthouse beacon. It shows you the right path. Divert the boat of your life towards the lighthouse of Divine love. You are then bound to gain the shore of bliss.

You do not need any special type of penance or meditation. Meditate on love. Fill your mind with love. Even while attending to your daily chores, regard all of them as offerings to the Divine. God is omnipresent. See God in is everything and every being. Let love grow in your hearts like the waxing moon. Divine love will not wane like the moon. Let such steadfast love be enshrined in your heart. As Tukaram said: "Dil me Ram, haath me kaam" ("Ram in the heart and work in the hand").

The duty of everyone from today onwards is to cultivate true, unsullied love. With love of God you can secure anything. Without that love, you will only be steeped in misery.

Let the Buddhist prayer be your guide. First, take refuge in your intellect (Buddham Saranam Gachchaami). Divert that intellect to the service of society (Sangham Saranam Gachchaami). Then you will find refuge in Bliss (Anandam Saranam Gachchaami).

Do not divorce yourself from Nature. Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagath. The cosmos is permeated by the Divine. Hence recognize the Divine even in your enemy. His heart is bound to change; when you love even the one who has harmed you, he is also bound to change. Do not allow your love to be affected in any way.

When people pray to God, doubts may arise as to whether and how the Lord will respond. Such doubts arose even in the mind of Radha. But all doubts disappeared when she realized that the whole universe was the mansion of God and there was no need to keep any door open or closed. All that was needed was complete surrender to God. The mystic significance of the songs of the saints and devotees like Radha and Mira should be rightly understood. (Bhagavan sang a Mira bhajan, "Chalore man" to explain the esoteric meaning of the song).

SING THE GLORIES OF GOD

God is moved by the devotee's heartfelt song. He becomes one with the devotee. No other form of worship has the same effect as singing with a full heart the glories of God. It is enough if you do the singing within yourself. (Bhagavan demonstrated by singing the opening lines of a song, "Rama nannu kaapaadu", how a melodious prayer can move the heart of anyone). Make music the passport to merger with the Divine. Music is the gift of God. Only the gifted ones can sing sweetly, appealingly and delightfully. We have here M. S. Subbalakshmi. From her early years, she dedicated herself to music which filled her heart. This kind of soulful music cannot be acquired by anybody. It can come only through God's grace.

When you sing in public you can give delight to many. But if you cannot do so, you can sing to yourself. It will delight your heart and sweeten it. Immerse yourself in all work with love. Whatever you do, consider it as gifts from God. When you have malaria, you have to take the bitter quinine mixture. But that is the medicine for your ailment. Likewise, when adversity confronts you, treat it as a kind of medicine for your good. Gold has to be melted and beaten to make a jewel. A diamond is cut to make it more brilliant. Likewise, troubles in life serve to refine a person. Love should enable you to welcome even hardships as meant for your own good.

BHAGAVAN'S LOVE

Today this body enters on its seventy-first year. This body is made up of the five elements and is essentially impermanent. Do not attach much importance to the body. Take to heart the Love principle that is being conveyed to you. My entire life is filled with love (cheers). I have never put anyone at any time to any kind of suffering. I have never done any harm to anyone. I have hated no one. I have no aversion to anybody. What is the reason ? It is my love that is transforming others. I am now seventy one. But no one can know what accounts for my condition. I may act as if I am angry on some occasions but the anger does not stem from the heart but is confined to the tongue. (Cheers). From head to foot I am filled only with love. It is this love which has attracted the whole world.

I do not desire anything. I have three P's. One is Purity. Second is Patience. Third is Perseverance. It is these three which have secured the world's regard. No invitations were issued to those who have gathered here. Swami's love alone attracted them all like a magnet. Some may ask why they are not attracted to Swami if that magnet is so powerful. The reason is that these persons are like rusted iron which no magnet can attract. Let them remove the rust and dust and they will be drawn to the magnet. Their hatred and desires, their envy and greed are the rust and dust covering them. If you cleanse yourselves of these, wherever you are, you will be mine and I will be yours. The hapless and the forlorn, wherever they may be, are the concern of Sai. Promote sacred love in your hearts. That love will not only redeem your lives but will promote the well-being of all around you.

You need not offer anything except your love. In Prashanthi Nilayam no offerings are permitted. Only love is allowed entry (cheers).

[Bhagavan concluded His benedictory discourse with the bhajan, "Prema muditha manase kaho", in which the vast gathering joined with gusto.]