Life 45 (Jan 23 - Aug 23)

[winston]

Which is that one quality on which all that is important for mankind is based?

If one loses wealth, he may regain it, by some ruse or other.

If he loses health, some doctor might prescribe a tonic to win it back.

If one loses status and authority, he may by sheer luck gain them back.

If virtue is lost, it is lost forever; nothing can restore the pristine purity. So one has to be ever vigilant and never slacken.

The greatest of the virtues is Love. Love is the basis of character. You may have all other desirable things in plenty; but, if you have no character, that is to say, virtue, which is all strung on Love you can have no genuine peace.

Money comes and goes! But, morality? It comes and grows! Morality has to be grown in the heart by feeding it with Love, only then can we have justice, security, law and order.

If love declines among the people, nations will weaken and mankind will perish.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 03, 1972.

Each one of you should become a Lamp of Love, shedding virtue and purity all around you.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is the means to a healthy body and sharp intellect?

The mind must first be calmed and quieted. Only then, can the body be healthy and the intellect sharp.

The mind is projected at one time only on a single object, not on many. But it is still a conglomeration of thoughts, desires, fancies, imaginings, and the rest.

In fact, the mind has inside it, in a nutshell, the entire history of creation. That is the delusion (maya) of humanity.

The mind is the battlefield where the good and bad, right and wrong contest for supremacy.

Iron has to be beaten flat by iron alone. So too, the inferior, low mind has to be shaped better by the superior mind.

One has to make one’s mind superior and stronger for the task of personal uplift. That is the purpose of this ‘Prasanthi Vahini’ (Stream of Supreme Peace).

Drink deep from the waters of this Stream, the waters of discipline indicated therein. Immerse yourself in it and become cleansed; may its coolness refresh your sorrows and pains, and quench the fires of sin.

- Prasanthi Vahini, Ch 3.

Man will be able to fulfil himself if he realises the subtle and mysterious workings of the mind.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is the most precious gift the Divine expects from each one of us?

You must offer the Divine, not the flowers that plants grow; that will reward the plant, not you!

The Divine wants you to offer the lotus that blooms in the lake of your heart, the fruit that ripens on the tree of your earthly career, not the lotus and the fruit available in the marketplace!

You may ask - "Where can we find the Divine?" Well, He has given His address, in the Scriptures - “The Divine resides in the heart of all beings."

Now, after knowing that, how can you look down on any living being in contempt or how can you revel in hate or indulge in the pastime of ridiculing?

Every individual is charged with the Divine Presence, moved by Divine attributes. Love, Honour, friendliness - that is what each one deserves from you. Give these in full measure.

- Divine Discourse, Apr 16, 1964.

What the Divine seeks is a heart filled with love. There is nothing greater in the world than such a heart.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How potent is faith in the Divine and how can we acquire it?

Faith can affect even inanimate objects.

The ancients have laid a royal road for cultivating the spirit and achieving the truth with that as the instrument.

Why wander about in thorny wastes, or slushy bylanes?

- Divine Discourse, Apr 16, 1964.

Other spiritual practices like charity, rituals, worship, and so on are of little use, if you do not chant the Divine Name.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why do we fail to see Divinity within ourselves and in others?

So long as you have a trace of ego in you, you cannot see the Divine clearly.

Egoism will be destroyed if you constantly tell yourself, 'It is He, not I’, 'He is the force; I am but the instrument’.

Keep His Name always on the tongue; contemplate His glory whenever you see or hear anything beautiful or grand; see in everyone the Divine Himself moving in that form.

Do not talk evil of others, see only good in them. Welcome every chance to help others, to console others, and to encourage others along the spiritual path.

Be humble, do not become proud of your wealth, status, authority, learning or caste.

Dedicate all your physical possessions and mental skills and intellectual attainments to the service of the Divine and to the His manifold manifestations.

- Divine Discourse, Aug 13, 1964.

The man who is wrapped up in his ego cannot recognise the Divine. When ego goes, He appears!

Source: radiosai.org

[behappyalways]

‘More important than fun’: siblings get up at midnight to help parents make and sell dumplings
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1XAfnDsB8DE

[winston]

Releasing Blame

A person who is not loving has not experienced love. It is not his fault. Realizing this gives rise to forgiveness. We vow that suffering will stop with us.

- Guo Jun, “A Special Transmission”

[winston]

How can we give up doubt and live in bliss every moment of our life?

As a matter of fact, there are no atheists at all but only ignorant people.

They do not know that the Divine is their innermost core. They deny Him because they do not know that their very breath is Him.

It is like fish denying the existence of water. You have to pity them for their colossal ignorance, not get angry with them for saying things you do not like.

He dwells in you as ananda (divine bliss); that is why you seek ananda automatically, always and in every object around you.

To become as full of ananda, you have to sacrifice your ego and saturate yourself with the consciousness that the Divine is your very being.

- Divine Discourse, Aug 13, 1964.

Theists and atheists are really one. Atheists are like buds of flowers and theists are like flowers that have blossomed.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Each of us has been brought up in a certain religion or tradition. But how can one be a true representative of that religion?

First, eliminate all that is bad in you and then imbibe all that is good. It is a sin to accuse others when there is a mountain of evil within you.

The same sentiment was echoed by Jesus. Man today is not making an attempt to recognise the innumerable faults in him; instead, he is magnifying the minutest faults in others.

In fact, he is searching for mistakes in others with a thousand eyes. This is the sad state of man today.

Man is losing his true identity because he has allowed evil qualities to enter his heart. People today are more interested in finding others’ faults rather than seeing their merits.

He is a true human being who sees only good in others. He is a true Christian, a true Sikh, a true Hindu, a true Muslim, who cultivates love in the field of his heart.

Unfortunately, today, no one is sowing the seeds of love in his heart. Then how do you expect the harvest of love? How do you call a person a true Hindu if there is no love in him?

- Divine Discourse, Feb 14, 1999.

Avoid in your behaviour, actions, and speech all traces of the desire to pain others, to insult others, or to cause loss or misery to others.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is the root cause of a restless mind? What should we do to live our day peacefully, every day?

Content with what one has, refusing to be worried by the absence of things that one doesn’t have, trying as far as possible to reduce and eliminate desires, passions and hatreds, one should strive to cultivate truth, dharma, love, and patience (sahana).

Cultivate them and, at the same time, practice them systematically. This is the real duty of humanity, the real purpose of human birth.

If the above-mentioned four qualities are cultivated and practised by each, there will be no envy between people, selfish grabbing will cease, the interests of others will be respected, and world peace can be stabilised.

Instead, if you yourself have no peace, how can you ensure world peace?

Those enthusiastic about world peace must first learn how to experience and enjoy peace themselves; later, they can spread that peace to the world outside themselves and help to promote it.

- Prasanthi Vahini, Ch 15.

What is sought to be surrendered is your mind but when it is itself turbulent and beyond your control, then how can you surrender it?

Source: radiosai.org