Top 407 Quotes & Sayings by Sathya Sai Baba - Page 3

Only thoughts of God and intense love for Him bring peace.

All service should be regarded as an offering to God, and every opportunity to serve should be welcomed as a gift from God. When service is done in this spirit, it will lead to self- realization.

All spiritual practice must be directed to the removal of the husk and the revelation of the kernel.

Service is the highest spiritual discipline. Prayer and meditation, or knowledge of scripture and Vedanta (holy scriptures of India), cannot help you reach the goal as quickly as service can. Service has a double effect, it extinguishes the ego and gives bliss.

Whenever you undertake to do something, do it thoroughly or not at all.

The in­dividual exists only in your imagination. It is just an illusion. When the Atma is one without a sec­ond, when the Atma is everywhere, where is the individual? Only in your imagination. The Atma alone is real. Realize it through meditation.

God is in everyone. God is in you and you are God. Strengthen this fundamental truth. When you propagate this truth, that is the real service. It is the service that will take you to closer proximity, a boat. In this ocean of life, take the help of this boat and gain the proximity.

Plant the seeds of Love in your hearts. Let them grow into trees of Service and shower the sweet fruit of Ananda. Share the Ananda with all. That is the proper way to celebrate the Birthday

There should be a harmonious blend of religion, philosophy and art for man to live healthily in the world.

Of the twenty-four hours a day, Use six for earning and spending, six for contemplation of God, six of sleep and six for service to others.

Multiplicity is a delusion. Unity is the Reality.

When individuals change, society will change. And when society changes, the whole world will change. The welfare of the individual is bound up with the welfare of society as a whole.

Love is selflessness, Self is lovelessness.

Whatever happens, the path of virtue should not be given up.

The essence of all religions is One. Surrender is the main duty of everyone. Surrender means the feeling of oneness, I and God are One. Why? The reason is that the One who is present in you is present in me.

Regard the heart as a vast field. Use the mind as a plough. Treat the gunas (qualities) as bullocks. Use the intelligence (Viveka) as a whip. With these aids, cultivate the field of your heart. What is the crop that is to be grown in it? Sathya, Dharma, Santhi and Prema are the crops. Bhakthi is the rain, meditation is the manure, Brahmananda is the crop.

I behave like you, moving, singing, laughing, journeying, but watch out for the blow I inflict all of a sudden, to chastise and to warn.

WOMEN preserve the culture of this country with greater tenacity and faith. They keep men on the moral path and inspire them to follow spiritual discipline. Their hearts are tender and full of compassion for the hungry and the distressed. That is why in this land, women are adored and revered.

Do not consider any act of service as demeaning. Sweeping the streets, for example, is not below your dignity. Do you not sweep the floor of your homes? Do you not scrub and wash off dirt? When you undertake such tasks, the villagers will also gladly share in them. Why feel ashamed to be good? The ridicule that may be cast on you has been the reward of many saints. It will soon fade away. Muhammad was driven out of Mecca by those who could not appreciate his teachings. Jesus was crucified. But their names resound in the heart of millions.

Though, I am here bodily, still I know what you do; beyond the seven seas. Go wherever you will, over the wide world, I am with you. My abode is in your heart and I am within you. Always worship Me, Who is seated in your heart, as well as in the hearts of all beings.

You can hear the footsteps of God when silence reigns in the mind.

If the fruit is green it will not fall to the ground even if you beat it with a sharp stick. When it is ripe it falls of its own accord in the silence of the night.

If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character. If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nations. When there is order in the nations, there will peace in the world.

Swami cannot give peace of mind; you must work for it yourselves. First, stop the questioning and ask, 'who am I?'. This is my body, my mind, my intelligence. But who is this 'My'? Who is it that claims the ownership of that which is declared to be 'mine'? 'My' indicates ownership. That 'My' is the life. As long as the life is in the body, there is this connection between the 'my' and the intellect - 'my' body, 'my' house, 'my' land. But the moment you remove the life from the body, there is no 'my' or sense of possession. Life is God.

Teachers are reservoirs from which, through the process of education, students draw the water of life.

Hear good things, see good, do good, think good, then you get the Grace of God, as all the evil tendencies will be uprooted.

Cultivate a sweet temper and the sweet speech which is its natural consequence.

It is best to live with honor for just a day than with dishonor for many decades; better a short lived celestial swan than a century-lived crow.

Open the gates of wisdom, tear the veil of ignorance, enter the abode of Divine Bliss. Rest in peace forever.

You may have the best vegetables, you may be the most capable cook, but, if the copper vessel in which you prepare the vegetable soup is not tinned, the concretion you cook will be highly poisonous! So 'tin' your heart with truth, right conduct, peace and divine love; it will then become a vesssel fit for repeating holy name or symbols, meditation, religious vows, pilgrimage, ritualistic worship and the other dishes that you prepare in it.

You take this meat eating. Many people have to kill the animals because of your non-vegetarianism. You are responsible for the death of those animals. They are killed because you eat them. This is a sin. What a sin to kill innocent animals and eat them.

True devotion must not get dispirited; nor elated or satisfied with lesser gains; it must fight against failure, loss, calumny, calamity, ridicule and against egoism and pride , impatience and cowardice .

All are one family, serve all.

Of these five vital principles, Love is the foremost. It is Love that flows as the under-current for the other four values. How does it flow this way? When Love is associated with our thoughts, it manifests itself as Truth. When Love is associated with feelings, it produces Peace. When Love animates actions, it results in Right Action. When Love is combined with understanding it becomes Non-violence. Therefore whenever you feel angry, think of love, develop thoughts of love in your heart. You will have peace.

Love helps you to know yourself... turn your vision inward.

You must welcome tests because it gives you confidence and it ensures promotion.

A lamp kept on mound illumines the area; if kept in a pit, it is as if it were not. A virtue that is practised is a lamp that shines for all; good thoughts and good deeds have a way of influencing others. The gems of wisdom, the light of intuitive experience should not be kept away from fellow - men. They have to be shared, even at the cost od one's life. That was the lesson Jesus taught and symbolised.

Your sight must become an insight; it must be turned within and used to purify and clarify your mind.

A man who has no love in him is as barren as a cloud with no moisture, a tree with no fruits or a cow yielding no milk; he is ever far from God and can never earn His Grace.

Small minds select narrow roads; expand your mental vision and take to the broad road of helpfulness, compassion and service.

Keep your own house and its surroundings pure and clean. This hygiene will keep you healthy and benefit your worldly life.

God is one; there are not many Gods, one for each tribe among men.

Do your duty and think about God all day from morning to evening. See everything as God.

Discipline trains you to put up with disappointments, every rose has a thorn.

The ego is a very bad quality. Ego sees everything as sep­arate; it sees everything as dual. You must remove this ego and see only the Unity. Think only of Unity; think only of the basis of everything.

When you realize the Atma then there is no individual.

The Atma is everywhere.

Humanness consists in harmony of thought, word and deed.

Practise any one of the human values. Prema (love) is the basis for all the values. Action with love is right conduct. Speak with love and it becomes truth. Thinking with love results in peace. Understanding with love leads to non-violence. For everything love is primary. Where there is love there is no place for hatred.

Practice the vocabulary of love - unlearn the language of hate and contempt.

Leadership is Idealism in Action.

Man becomes fit and functionally valid only when, along with scholarship and expert skills, he has imbibed these values. The person who is wedded to Truth and Love would need nothing more for peace and happiness. When Creation is witnessed through these values, it becomes holy scripture, an inspiring lesson and guide,. Therefore I exhort you: Let Truth and Love be the goals for all your efforts and studies.

Truth has to persist unaffected, in the past, present and future. That which is absent in two states, how can it be true.

You must be ever vigilant to discover the unifying Truth behind all the scintillating variety.

But a little milk, butter and cheese are acceptable because no harm is done in obtaining them.

Do not spend your time thinking about the world or your relationships to individuals. These are all impermanent. They have only to do with the body.

Service broadens your vision widens your awareness. Deepens your compassion.

To a worldly man, a God-intoxicated person will appear mad and he will laugh at him, But to the God-intoxicated man, the worldly appear insane, foolish, misled, blind.

Prayer must emanate from the heart, where God resides, and not from the head where doctrines and doubts clash.

In Sadhana there will be internal talk with God. You will give up all attachments and at­tach only to God.