Sathya Sai Speaks

THE TRUE GOAL OF EVERY RELIGION

Embodiments of Divine Love! God is complete love incarnate. This love shines equally in every human being. The fragrance of a flower remains the same whether it is held in the right hand or the left. Likewise God has no distinction such as the favoured and the excluded.

Different persons, proceeding from their own likes and dislikes, attribute to the Divine the divergent views existing in their own minds. God has no feelings of differentiation such as the good and the bad, the likable and the unwanted, the wicked and the virtuous. The sandalwood tree imparts its fragrance even to the axe that fells it. Likewise God is ever prepared to love, foster and protect equally everyone without any distinction. But the narrow-minded cannot easily grasp the Divine's equal-mindedness. Indeed, how can a fishmonger know the value of diamonds? Everyone apprehends God's powers and attributes according to their own limited conceptions and experiences.

Religion Reunites Man with the Profound Purpose of His Life

To get rid of such narrow ideas, the first requisite is the cultivation of love. How is love to be promoted? By "giving and forgiving" man develops love within himself. In relation to God, this implies that you should always have the attitude of offering your heart to God. Today, far from having such a sacred attitude what we witness is the habit of "getting and forgetting."

These days man receives the love, the blessings, and the grace of God, but shows no gratitude and is immersed in his own selfish pursuits. This accounts for his narrow outlook.

To start with, man has to recognise what is the goal of life. Seekers in all countries and followers of different religions have enquired into this question of the purpose of life. As a result of these enquiries, different religions arose. Jesus is the founder of the Christian faith. For centuries before Christ, Judaism existed as the religion of the Jews. The Jews believed in the coming of the Messiah to protect the people of Israel.

When Jesus was born, three kings came from the east to bless the infant in Bethlehem. The first king, seeing the child, declared that he would be a great lover of God. The second one declared that God would immensely love the child. The third one declared that Jesus is God and God is Jesus. What is the inner meaning of these statements? The first statement implies that all who love God are messengers of God. When God loves a person, he becomes a son of God. When a person gives up the sense of dualism and merges his consciousness in the Divine he becomes one with the Divine.

The Salient Declaration of Jesus

When Jesus was a child, during a visit to Jerusalem, he was lost in the crowd. After a frantic search Mary found him in a temple listening intently to the speech of a priest.

When Mary told Jesus about the trouble they had gone through in searching for him, Jesus said: "Mother! When I am safe with my Father in His home, why should you worry about me? This is the temple of God.

It is my Father's mansion. Nothing will be lacking here. In this eternal and sacred home I am perfectly safe and well protected." This shows that even by his twelfth year, Jesus was full of Divine qualities and was imparting the Divine message to those around him.

Christ declared to the world three important things: (1) God is one. (2) He is omnipotent. (3) Do not hurt anyone. God is the indweller in every being. Christ embarked on his mission and went about calling upon people to earn the love of God by developing love towards God.

The Way to Experience the Pure Consciousness is Purity

People professing different faiths worship God under different names: Vishnu, Siva, Ganesha, Allah, Christ, and others. The truth is there is only one God. People today try to find God in religions. But God is to be found not in mathamu (religions) but in the mathi (mind). It is only when the mind is controlled and purified that God will be recognised.

While the Lord is ever by the side of man, he is searching for God all over the world. By exploring the external, you can never purify the internal. It is essential to transform the consciousness. You have to rectify your conduct and actions, because everything depends on your deeds. Adhering to the righteous path, with a pure heart, you have to divinise your life. All spiritual disciplines have been designed only for this purpose. All the prayers and rituals that are offered are intended only to purify the heart.