Your Duty

What exactly is your duty? Let ME summarise it for you.

FIRST, tend to your parents with care and reverence and gratitude.

SECOND, speak the truth and act virtuously.

THIRD, whenever you have time, repeat the name of the Lord

with the form in your mind.

FOURTH, never indulge in talking ill of others or try to discover faults in others.

FINALLY, do not cause pain to others in any form.

~ Baba ~

S.S. Feb. 1996

A Devotee's Prayer

Dear Father Mine

Hoping You'll guide me-
this day or the day after-
I await your call from day to day.
Hoping You'll give darshan
but afraid you may not,
I'm all alert from hour to hour.

Hoping You'll come to me straight
This very instant
I'm watching and praying ever anon.
Hoping You'll smile at me
at last, though not at first,
I'm longingly gazing with thirsty eyes.

I shall stand and stay, in deep distress
Until my day of bliss does dawn,
I am Yours, Your own, though exiled far.
Dear Father mine! Do heal Your child.

(Prayer written by Baba and given to Kasturi on 23.11.62)

The Story of an Ant

An ant clutched half a grain of rice in its jaws and was running along the first enclosure to the Mandir in Prasanthi Nilayam.

"I want to offer it to the Lord," she has proudly exclaimed before starting the adventure. "Are you sure He will accept?"

Her astonished friend had questioned, "Why Not? A rice grain, a leaf - God accepts everything that is offered with a sincere heart. Do you not know even that much, how silly."

And off she went strutting in the pleasant morning sun. Half way along the wall, she confronted a senior ant.

"What brought you here, sweetheart?" The older ant was more than interested in the early guest.

"Oh! Sai Ram. Today is my birthday, so I brought this unnecessarily."

"Give it to me, I'll offer it on your behalf."

"No, please," was the astonished reply. "It is my birthday."

"No, you cannot, you do not know the procedure. Swami likes people to be disciplined," said the senior ant.

In the tussle, the new black one was thrown into a crevice. The older ant bit off a part of the rice ad disappeared.

Moaning and limping, the younger ant picked up her share. It looked so miserably small and dirty. She could have cried out but there was no time for personal sorrows. Six inches more and she was almost strangled by a scurrying foot that stalked towards Darshan.

Now dirty and tired, she dragged her body forward, hiding under the sand or a slit between two slabs of stones. She no longer cared for her appearance or her offering. The only desire was to have a glimpse of he Lord, maybe just a flutter of His robe.

The wall between her and the door seemed unending and the entrance was still a long, long way off.

"Oh, Lord of Creations," she looked ahead and sighed, "Oh, Lord of Creations, how many more tests to reach you?"

Story by Dr.Zeba Bashiruddin

SS July 1996

Nature's Cathedral

I do not need a church to pray,

No bricks and mortar, tiles of clay,

No altar table, cloth of white,

No golden chalice, candlelight,

Carpeted aisle with carved pews flanked

Don't make may prayers more sacosanct.

For God is with me every day in every place - in every way,

Through relaxation and through chore He is before me evermore.

The whole world is the Church of God,

From tallest tree to greenest sod,

The trees and mountains form the walls,

The flowers and green grass deck the halls,

White clouds on high the altar set,

Sun's rays, feeding life, the chalice;

Yet no candles - but when falls the night,

Profusion of stars to lend their light.

~ Joan Miller ~

(Australia)

The Rama Principle

The Ramayana should not be treated merely as the story of Rama. It has a life giving message for every human being. People lead artificial lives today. When they understand the Ramayana, they will know how to lead true lives.



The first requisite is to know what is right. Then it has to be practised. There is no meaning in merely repeating the name "Ram, Ram, Ram". The Rama Principle has to be fully understood. And one has to live up to it.



This is possible only if there is love. Through love, one realises the Rama Principle and is transformed into an image of Rama. All scholarship and religious observances are of no value without such a mental transformation. The mind should be divinised. Faith in the name of the Lord is the basis for this transformation.



From Bhagawan's discourse on 20.5.1996.

Sai Baba - As Beautiful As You

Lighting the Lamp of Wisdom

Once a sadhaka, who had great ambition to know something about the divine, wanted his eye of wisdom to be opened. He entered a cave where a guru was residing. While entering the cave he saw a small light. As he moved forward even that little light got extinguished.

In darkness one feels frightened, and in fear, we think of God very intensively. Thus he uttered loudly the word 'Namah S'ivaya' and on hearing this, the saint asked him who he was. He said that he had come to seek his grace. The great saint, who was sustaining himself in the cave only by breathing the air around him, had the competence to know the mind of his visitor. He said that he will answer his question later but asked him first to go and light the lamp, which had been extinguished.

The visitor took a matchbox and tried to light the lamp but did not succeed. He told the guru that he had finished all the matchsticks and yet he had not succeeded in lighting the lamp.

The guru then asked him to open the lamp, pour out all the water and pour oil in it, and then try to light it. The person did this but the lamp would still not light. The guru then said that the wick was probably wet with water and asked him to dry it nicely in the open and then attempt to light the lamp. He did this and succeeded. Then the person ventured to mention his need and sought it of the guru. The surprised guru said that the appropriate answer was being given all the while. The visitor pleaded that, being an ignorant man he was not able to understand the significance of the teaching and requested the guru to explain to him in clearer terms. The guru said:

"In the vessel of your heart, there is the wick of your jîva. The wick has been immersed all these days in the water of your sensuous desire. Therefore you are not able to light the lamp of wisdom. Pour out all the water of desires from the vessel of your heart, and fill it with Namasmarana of God.

Take the wick of jîva and dry it in the sunshine of vairagya; squeeze out of it all the water present in the form of desire and put into the heart the oil of devotion of Namasmarana. It will be possible for you to light the lamp of wisdom".

(Chinna Katha by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)

My Name is I Am

I was regretting the past

and fearing the future.

Suddenly my Lord was speaking:

"My name is I am."

He paused.

I waited.

He continued,

"When you live in the past

with its mistakes and regrets,

it is hard to stop.

I am not there.

My name is not "I was".

When you live in the future,

with its problems and fears,

it is hard.

I am not there.

My name is not "I will be".

When you live in the present moment,

it is not hard.

Here I am,

My name is "I am." "

~ Author unknown ~

36 Gems from Bhagawan

Learn to Give ...