True devotee comes for Knowledge of the self

Whatever others may do take it as the will of the Divine. Think that whatever, good or bad, happens, happens for your good. It is proper when such good thoughts are fostered in the hearts of the devotees. Though many come here, some go away thinking that Swami has not spoken to them or seen them or Swami has not fulfilled their desires. Yet there are some who sit in the mandir but do all the outside transactions. There are people of many ways. Are they all devotees? Therefore a true devotee comes for the knowledge of the self. But those are very rare. Whether they come here or not, Bliss can be obtained only with Self realization. One must make an effort to realise the true nature.

All who come to Prasanthi Nilayam are not devotees

The poet Vemana said “If all stones were to become Gods, will not the kings grab and swallow them?” Similarly if all the people who visit Prashanthi Nilayam were to be devotees, then there would be no place in Prashanthi Nilayam! All those who come to Prashanthi Nilayam are not devotees. Only those who follow Swami’s teachings are devotees. That is the reason why Swami says He has been searching from the time of Shiridi. “I have been searching and searching, for whom? For the true man.”

Story of Valmiki

Ratnakara, who was ruthless and cruel hearted, indulged in many wicked activities to making a living. He had all wicked thoughts and they took a very wild form. All his actions were filled with cruelty. Hence Ratnakara became a way laying bandit. He had no thoughts of mine and thine and robbed and killed all who passed his path. Ratnakara was cleansed of all the sins accumulated from doing wrong and cruel deeds the moment he set eyes on the “Saptha rishis”, the seven sages. Ratnakara tried to rob and kill the seven sages. The seven sages said, “Son! Killing is no great deed. Even the insects and bugs do harm to humans. The one who helps is human. Good can be done by Lord too!! So seek to help and refrain from doing bad. Why are you doing these deeds? “Jaanedu potta nimpukona chikkula nonduchu, Kotividyalan punikamera nerchi, Paripoorna sukhambunu pondaleka, Ee manavajathi lokamuna mrakkaganela?!! Ee paratparun dhyanamu cheyu bhaktulaku Daarini choopakayundune maanava?” Man undergoes much travail to fill his small belly He studies hard various forms of knowledge, Still he is bereft of total happiness, Then why spend his time in this world undergoing so much? O man will He not show the path to them Who meditate on God and tread the path shown by God?” O madcap!! What happiness can you accumulate by harming so many to just fill your tummy? What kind of happiness can your family enjoy? You should not resort to such sinful acts. Having taken this human birth, do your duty; toil hard to earn your food.” The seven sages counselled him thus. Ratnakara’s thoughts underwent a change upon meeting and conversing with the Saptha rishis. Hence good company is essential to man. Man can develop focus and solitude due to good company. Man can get rid of bad thoughts by being in good company. Getting rid of bad and wicked thoughts leads to liberation. Therefore man must make an effort to develop good thoughts. After being counselled, motivated by the Saptha rishis, Ratnakara started chanting the name of Lord Rama. He sanctified his life with Lord Rama’s name. The Lord who is the giver of this world is “loka data” and Valmiki became the “sloka data” the giver of poetry. Being dedicated to His Lord, he could improve his compositions. Without the divine composer, “sloka data”, the magnificence and grace of the Lord, who is the “Loka data”, would not have spread in the world. Therefore “Sloka data” Valmiki became an ideal to the world.

Who is a true Sadhaka and a devotee

A good person is described using many adjectives in Bhagavatha and Bhagavad Gita. He has been likened to sugarcane. A noble person is likened to a sandal wood tree and to sugarcane stalk. The sandalwood tree imparts its fragrance to the axe that cuts it but does not find fault with the axe for cutting it. The sugarcane, though subjected to squeezing and juicing, yields only sweet juice but not bitter juice. Likewise a true Sadhaka, spiritual aspirant, is the one who, in spite of troubles and hardships, endeavours to see and experience only the good in others and do good deeds but never seek revenge. A dry leaf and an iron ball stay still in the absence of wind. With the wind blowing, the dry leaf jumps eighty paces. The ball of iron does not budge and remains steady in its place. Similarly among the “sthitha pragnya”, (the one who is unwavering in both adversity and joy) and a fraudulent spiritual seeker, the fraudulent seeker is unsteady and is influenced by the troubles, sorrows and bad teachings. People regard themselves as devotees. But a true devotee does not think about God at appointed time; he thinks of God continuously. But an ordinary person, unlike the true devotee, gets influenced by hardships, troubles and bad teachings. He who has a wavering and fleeting mind cannot be called as a devotee. A true devotee would stand firm in the face of any difficulty, trouble, calumny and criticism. Such steady minded people are very few in the present times.

Bhagawan wishes all of us to be happy

“Lokasamastha sukhino bhavanthu!”- Let everybody in the world be happy and peaceful. That is Swami’s desire and for that Swami is ready to do anything. Swami is ready to sacrifice His life for the humanity. What is the use of that human being who does not aspire for the welfare of his fellow men? Swami always desires for the welfare of others and so Swami always has good thoughts. When one’s intentions and thoughts are good one need not bother about the money; the money will come walking to the person.

Swami on Dasa and Devotee

Few hours back Central trust member K R Prasad came. In the course of conversation, he said, "Swami! What is the difference between a devotee and servant? Then I said, "Child, Servant is the one who serves with body identification. Devotee is the one who thinks of God wherever he or she is. "Sarvada Srava kaleshu Sarvatra harichintanam", that is everywhere, at all times, the devotee is thinking of God. Whereas servant is the one who serves continuously.

Swami on William Gladstone; UK PM

There are lots of things that we need to achieve. For all this, Love and sacrifice are most important. At one time Queen Victoria was ruler at that time. There was a prime minister there. William was the prime minister. He is highly intelligent, highly educated and a great politician. Such a man through love and sacrifice had proved divinity, started discharging his duty. You may converse with anybody sweetly. You can assign work in a pleasing way. There was no trace of restlessness in him. Lord Brains mentioned all this points in the biography. That statesman described Williams the politician as very great noble soul. The noble qualities demonstrates the divinity. The selfless love, selfless sacrifice, where you find the bliss which is equal, there you find God.

Become messengers of God

There are three paths. "I'm the messenger of God" (is the first one). I should be the messenger, I should propagate the message of God, I'll pass on the message of God to everybody and in this aspect I'm the messenger of God. The second one is, "I am the son of God". I am the son and He is my Father. What is God's property? Truth, Peace, Love, Forbearance. You should experience all of them. You should work for peace, struggle for love, you should work for righteousness, you should practise and then share with others. Only then can you call yourself "the Son of God". When there is total identity between the two, He said, "I and my Father are One." He was ready for anything. There, on the cross, he was smiling. This suffering is only for the body. The body is made up of the five elements. It is bound to fall one day or the other. The indweller is immortal. In fact, the indweller has neither birth nor death, neither bondage nor liberation. That indweller is essentially divine. "I'm not the body, I'm divine. I just protect my body. In fact, the body is just a vesture." That has been his understanding all through. So everyone should consider themselves as messengers of God and we should transform ourselves to become messengers of God.

Bhagawan's blessings to devotees

Today, may you have that permanent devotion, may you have sacred life, long happy life and all of you have all these. May all your difficulties go, will leave you. Don't be bothered by your problems and experience this permanent happiness here after.

Bhagawan's message to Devotees

Embodiment's of Love! What can I say today? Looking at all of you, my heart is overwhelmed with love. I feel so happy because I have been the recipient of so many people's love. Bhagawan has not invited any one of you. It is Bhagawan's love that has invited you all here. This is the message of Divinity, your love and Bhagawan's love. What message is to be said this morning. Bhagawan gives and you receive. You give, Bhagawan receives. This kind of relationship of giving and receiving is between you and God. Let all of the beings be happy, safe and secure. Let everyone be happy. Understand spirituality and practice all that you have learnt. The present day position of the world is highly strange. We find restlessness and agitation all over. We have to struggle for safety and security in spite of reaction, reflection and resound. Let us carry on our lives with full conviction the very same God is present in everyone.

Prahlada on intelligence and mind

It is in this context that Prahlada proclaimed that there is no pleasure in this world. There is no pleasure in being born again and again. There is no pleasure in being born only to die and in dying only to be born again. Why should we be born if it is only to undergo the repeating cycle of births and deaths? One should be born in such a way that he becomes immortal and is never born again. One who, after finding the path, arrives at such truth is the wise person. If we carefully enquire into the words that Prahlada used on that occasion, we will note that he said that the intelligence of such a person is that of a wise man and not that of an animal. This means that Prahlada decided that one who understands and is after the path of immortality is a wise person. If one does not understand this, he is like an animal. He gave a very satisfactory answer to those who doubt the truth of such a statement. He illustrated it by comparing your body to a bow, your mind to the string on the bow and your life to the arrow. This means that the bow of your body has become subservient to the string which is your mind. When you put the arrow, that is your life, on this string of your mind and pull it, you find that the bow or the body bends. The arrow goes just as straight as is determined by the extent to which you are able to pull the string of your mind. This string of your mind should be pulled quite strong and should not be left loose. It is in this context that we are told that the right path to reach Madhava is to control our mind. By attaching much importance to our mind and body, a mind which is unsteady and a body which is like a water bubble, our entire life is rendered fruitless.

Swami on the devotion of Thyagaraja

Thyagaraja was a great devotee but he too had to face so many difficulties.Thyagaraja, who could bear all the sufferings, could not bear the separation from his beloved Rama and started blaming the Lord. At one time he not only blamed the Lord but also developed hatred towards Him. In that hatred, he said, “Rama, you are not able to relieve me from my suffering. Is it that you don’t have the ability to free me from my suffering or is it that I don’t have the devotion to move you? No, no, I have the devotion; it is you who don’t have the capacity.” Immediately he got up, “What a fool am I? God has all the power to relieve me from my sufferings.” Then he closed his eyes and folded his arms, “Rama! Can the monkey cross the ocean? Can the mother tie you to a mortar? Will Goddess Lakshmi love you? Will Lakshmana serve you? Will the prudent Bharatha serve you? O Rama, you are all powerful!!" “Rama your power is the greatest. I became narrow minded, blinded with folly so I blamed you so. It is my mistake.” Likewise, in times of difficulty never blame God, never criticize God, enquire within, criticize yourself, find your own faults and rectify them, then alone will you be good.

Message of Bhagawan to all the Sai devotees

Therefore Sai devotees must, to some extent, sacrifice the selfishness, reduce the involvement in the worldly affairs and lead life with a spirit of ‘seva’, service. One must give up criticising and harming others and respect even one’s foe. One gets ruined as along as one fosters the feelings of hatred. Hatred is very bad and one must steer clear of hatred and develop love for others. Love every one. The needy and the downtrodden must be helped to the extent possible; that is “Help ever! Hurt never!!” It has also been stated by Sage Vyasa in Bhagawad Geetha, “Paropakaaraya punyaaya, papaya parapeedanam. - It is a merit to help others and a sin to harm others.” It is the main principle of Bharatiya culture. One must not think that one is harming others for, while harming others one is harming oneself. Man gets tenfold benefit by helping others and harmed tenfold by harming others; this must always be kept in mind. Sai devotees must strive, from the present moment, to become an embodiment of love and delve into sacred deeds with love filled hearts.

Krishna - Radha Tattwa

Embodiments of divine love! We should not consider Atmic principle only limited to bodies. Only when a flower blossoms, you get its perfume from that. The flower must be quite all right. Only when a right type of flower blossoms, you get beauty and joy. If it does not have strength and stamina in it cannot be beautiful. The perfume also will not be complete. What do you mean by keeping this flower in good health? You must fill your heart with virtues. Then only you will be able to attract the entire world. If you keep all your concentration only on the physical body, the joy that you get is only temporary. It was Radha who was attracted by the qualities of Krishna, who enjoyed the qualities of Krishna, who offered herself to Him. Chandrakala, who was the sister of Radha, only just saw the form of Krishna and enjoyed the form. Chandra based all her enjoyment on the form. Radha based all her joy on the qualities of Krishna. Radha enjoyed the joy and the delight of life based on the qualities of Krishna. She always reflected upon the qualities of Krishna. That is why this Earth has got the name Dhara and which is Radha. This Radha always spent her time in the worship of Krishna. All of you know the spelling of the word Radha, RADA. If you start this with the letter R, it becomes Radha. If you start this from A, it becomes adhar. If you start from D, it becomes dhar. If you start from the last A, it becomes adhar. That means to say that for Radha the entire basis is continuous worship. Whoever offers continuous worship of Krishna is Radha. Krishna is one, who through Bhagavatha, expounded and made Gopikas and Gopalas to experience the divinity in His love. All the leelas of Krishna are difficult to fathom, it is difficult to comprehend them, it is difficult to even to describe them. But people filled with meanness, have wrongly understood the relationship that existed between Krishna and Gopikas and they have interpreted wrongly. What is the ultimate meaning of all these? Brindavan is the heart. All our feelings to be compared to Gopikas. Atma may be compared to Krishna. This joy and delight, this is leela. That is the true Brindavan of the heart. Transform every man's heart into Brindavan. Consider your Atmaswarupa itself as Krishna. Every act you perform must be transformed into the leelas of Krishna. Today is Gokulashtami. We are celebrating that as birthday of Krishna. We are preparing a number of delicious foods of which paramanna is one. Paramanna refers to the supreme food. The actual paramanna is not the one prepared with various ingredients like rice, sugar and so on. As this food relates to the transcendental world and supreme world, it is totally delightful, and that is why it is called paramanna - it is very sweet. It is the name of Krishna which is really supremely delicious. God's name is really sweet. His word is sweet. His eyes are sweet. Everything is sweet about the master of Madhura, the Lord of Madhura.

Swami on the devotion of Prahlada

Out of Leelavati's (wife of Hiranyakashapu) womb, Prahlada was born, but he got strength which was beyond both of them. He grew up with the divine vision that God is all pervasive, his hands, his legs, his face is everywhere. When he was beaten with knives he kept chanting Narayan, Narayan. Even when the serpents stung him he kept on repeating Narayan, Narayan. When they pushed him down the steep mountains, he said Narayan, Narayan. Even when he was thrown in the ocean, he chanted Narayan, Narayan. Out of the tremendous faith which emanated from his Chitta and his faith in God he was saved, time and again. So the whole world is within our Chitta. We are forgetting that Chitta today. We are just immersing ourselves in the worldly desires.