Sathya Sai Speaks
The Key to Immortal bliss

This is the most sacred month of the year on which falls the Birthday of our beloved Lord, Bhagavan Baba. If there is one word that can sum up the message delivered by Bhagavan in His countless discourses right from the early days of His Avatarhood in 1940s, it is Love. He is the Avatar of Love. Period. As we celebrate the 83rd year of His Advent on this earth, let us recapitulate and ruminate on this immortal message of Love. Here are excerpts from His illuminating 71st Birthday discourse delivered in 1996.

The Supreme Principle - 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 thyaga (sacrifice) on the highest pedestal. They adored righteousness. Today these sublime ideals are forgotten. 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 can mankind achieve unity. 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 palace, in attachment or separation, in one's conduct as well as speech, in the mind as well as in action. It is all-pervasive.

The Most Potent Force - 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 misbehaviour. 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" (Love is beyond the power of words), declares the sage Narada. The flow of love is the life-giving water for everyone. How can one secure this love?

Not by Japa (chanting the Lord's name), meditation or studying the scriptures. God does not dwell in the Vedas or the Puranas (ancient scriptures). God dwells in the heart and should be sought there. People should close their mouths and open their hearts. Then, they will experience Divine bliss.

Today love has been almost totally banished. Where love should prevail, there hatred permeates. Petty jealousy has usurped the place of compassion. Mankind 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.

The Fifth Goal of Human Life

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 endeavour 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 feeling of Dasoham (I am your servant) and culminates in the concept of Soham (He and I are one). Without the feeling of Dasoham, you cannot experience the feeling of Soham; Soham is the expression of Divine oneness, that is, "The Aatma and I are one." That Athma is Brahma. That is love. That is Truth. That is Righteousness.

People have been concerned with the four goals of human life - the Purushaarthas - Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha (Righteousness, wealth, 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 cannot stay with evil thoughts and actions. Love should be steadfast and unwavering… God's love is reflected in your bodies. That is the meaning of the declaration in the Bhagavad Gita: "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. Sage Narada declared, “Ya labhdhvaa pumaan siddho bhavathi, amrutho bhavathi, thriptho bhavathi" (Having gained Divine love, a person becomes perfect, immortal and contented). He considered Divine love as supreme over everything.

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 ignore this plenitude and go 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.

The Best Investment

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 also yield you increasing returns by way of bliss. 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.

This love has been characterized as Amritha-swaruupa (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.

Today, your foremost duty is to enthrone thyaga (sacrifice). 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.

- Divine Discourse on November 23, 1996 in the Sai Kulwant Hall