SATHYA SAI SPEAKS

YIELD PLACE TO NEW, SACRED AND SUBLIME THOUGHTS

The Three Active Agencies In Man

Turn the love that arises in you towards God. Dedicate your body to the Divine. This is the true mark of devotion. There are three constituents in man: the mind, the power of speech and the body. These three are called Thrikaranas - the three active agencies in man. It is when all three are used for sacred purposes, that man becomes sanctified.

Every human being needs to cultivate the spirit, irrespective of his beliefs. All need devotion. It is only spirituality that can purify the heart and mind of man. The second requirement is morality. Morality helps to purify Vaak (speech). The third is Dharmikam (Righteousness). All righteous deeds done by the body or hands sanctify a man.

It is through spirituality, morality and righteousness that the three instruments get purified. Only the one who has achieved this triple purity can realise the Divine, if any of these instruments are impure, he cannot realise the Divine.

To comprehend the Divine, man has to understand the subtle atomic principle that pervades the entire cosmos. The difficulty in comprehending the Divine was recognized by the Gopikas (ardent devotees of Lord Krishna) who declared: "How can we know you, oh Krishna! You are the subtlest among the subtle and vaster than the vastest among the 84 lakhs of species in the cosmos."

The Three Ornaments To Cherish

With faith in the omnipresence of the Divine, man should engage himself in good deeds, cherish good thoughts and dedicate his life to good practices. His words should be words of truth. The ornaments he should cherish are truthfulness in speech, charity for the hands and listening to sacred lore for the ears. Develop faith in your divinity. Then you will redeem your life. Follow your conscience. Make your heart pure. You cannot realise the Divine by immersing yourself in worldly concerns….

Embodiments of Love! The New Year comes regularly year after year. But do you have any new thoughts? You do not shed your old, mistaken ideas. They should be given up, yielding place to new, sacred and sublime thoughts. Of what use is it to celebrate New Year days if you do not change your old ways of thinking and behaving? Make proper use of time which is both precious and sacred. Do not indulge in useless gossip. Develop good qualities like compassion, love and sympathy. Act as your own monitor and correct yourself by self-punishment. By a simple method you can control your wandering mind or your anger. Moreover, place your reliance on God.

With the power of the Divine to sustain you there is nothing you cannot accomplish. Karna and Ravana (evil persons from Indian epics) are examples of powerful men who were destroyed because they did not have the power of the Divine behind them. The Pandavas (from the Mahabharata) were saved because of their faith in the Divine and their unity. Happenings in the world show how some families have prospered because of unity and how others have suffered because of divisions within the family.

Today the nation needs unity above everything else. It is through faith in God that unity can be promoted. Look at the diversity of people in this hall, the different creeds they profess, the different nationalities to which they belong. All are united in their common allegiance to Swami. By this single feeling of faith in the Divine, unity can be achieved. It is the absence of this faith that is the cause of division.

Stand Up For Your Belief

All of you are embodiments of the Divine. All of you are embodiments of love and peace. You are the Divine in human form. Develop that conviction. Immerse yourselves in Divine love. Offer that love to the Divine. Thereby you will have love for all. It is only when you develop this love principle that you will be realising the meaning of festivals like these.

Stand up for your belief in God, even as you stand up for your father or mother. Render service to society, without which you cannot exist. Your welfare is bound with that of society. Develop the feeling of oneness with all, loving all as members of one Divine family.

- Divine Discourse in Prashanthi Nilayam, on 1-1-1996.

- Heart2Heart team