Looking

I am looking for me.

I look and look.

Who am I?

I can't find.

I can't define.

I can't see.

Who am I?

I AM looking.

There is no looker and nothing looked.

There is only the looking.

The looker and the looked are one.

(The Daily Enlightenment)

Celestial Poems of Sri Sathya Sai Baba

"Without shedding lethargy (Thamas)

You cannot have true vision.

Without shedding passionate tendencies (Rajas)

You cannot have devotion.

Serenity (Sathwa) alone is the path to devotion.

This is the Truth I declare."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

Milk and Water

Pour a glass of water into a vessel containing a hundred glasses of milk; the water poured gets the properties of milk and fetches the price of milk.  It improves by the association!

Pour a glass of milk into a vessel containing a hundred glasses of water.  The milk loses its health-giving sustaining properties and becomes as tasteless as water itself!  

This is the consequence of the company we mix in.

(Chinna Katha from the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)

Surprise

Your first glimpse of Truth

will leave you speechless.

First,

because of surprise.

Second,

because words fail to describe it.

Even these words.

(The Daily Enlightenment)

Whatever Be the Circumstances ...

"Whatever be the circumstances we confront, we should not get excited or agitated.  We should allow time for the nobler feelings to well up from inside us and manifest themselves.  By practising patience and forbearance, we will be able to acquire all the other important spiritual qualities such as mind control, faith, renunciation, endurance and concentration.  This will bring a state of inner purity and fill us with abiding peace."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

A Time to Pray

Wintertime is ended, Summer now is nigh,

Time for all to look around - a time to wonder WHY.

Why all the Earth is as it is, why people are so sad,

Why pain and misery abound - we can't be all that bad.

But can we?  Let us think awhile.  Have we done all we can

To feed the hungry, clothe the poor, uplift the stumbling man?

A little niggle pricks us there.  Well, have we?  Think again.

What have we done to ease the course of hunger, cold and pain?

What's that you say?  They don't live here?  They live across the sea?

Hundreds of miles divide them from the likes of you and me?

Your Heavenly Father sends His love and fills you with His grace.

Does He consider just how far it is from place to place?

Let this time be your thinking time and set your conscience clear,
Share your thoughts and say a prayer for those that are not near,
That man be so guided to share the worldly wealth
To feed the starving masses, and bring them back to health.

Your prayers will all be answered if you do your part.
If love and understanding are coming from your heart
So send out now your prayers for  PEACE
Send out your thoughts that wars may cease!


D.B.
(S.S. June 1987)

Gratitude

An ant was caught on a dry leaf that was being carried down a flooded river and it called out from its tiny heart to God for succour.  God prompted a kite that was flying over the river to dive and rise up with the leaf in its beak for He made the bird mistake it for a bird or fish!    The bird was sorely disappointed but the ant was delighted to land on hard ground.  God came as a kite and rescued me, it felt.  It must be grateful to the bird, to all birds, it resolved.

One day, while on its morning round, it saw a hunter aim an arrow at a bird; remembering how its own life was saved by a bird, it bit the heel of the hunter when he was about to release the mortal shaft.  The aim failed, the bird flew off and was saved.  The ant had paid its debt.

(Chinna Katha from the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)

Celestial Poems of Sathya Sai Baba

"Excess of speech harms the mind;

Less talk elevates the mind.

Less talk bestows peace,

Hence, cultivate restraint of speech for your own good."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

The First Thought

The first thought is like the camera

that snaps an objective picture of the landscape.

The second thought is

the photographer's unnecessary commentary

on the beauty or ugliness of the picture taken.

The landscape, your experiences,

are just as they are,

neither beautiful nor ugly.

It is our judgement based on attachment and aversion

that spoils every picture we see.

(The Daily Enlightenment)

Letter to Swami

Sai Ram Divine Ones reading this message:

This took place in the Verandah at Prasanthi Nilayam on November 26, 1999.

Our Lord had just emerged from the interview room. A small student sitting in the first line where the students sit (one step below the main verandah) clasped a letter in his two palms and offered it to Swami. Swami took the letter and the boy offered Padnamaskar. Then Swami asked the boy if it was a big letter or a small letter, the boy did not reply but just kept on looking a Swami with palms clasped in Namaskar position. Swami opened the envelope and saw the letter and instantly there was so much joy all around, just looking at the expression on Swami's face.

Swami first read the letter for everyone seated in the front and then showed the letter to the students seated in the front as well as the adults seated in the front in the Verandah.

The letter went: "MY DEAR SWAMI, PLEASE DON'T WORK SO HARD, PLEASE TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOUR HEALTH, FOR YOUR BODY IS MY BODY".

Swami then asked the boy 'How old are you?'  

The boy replied 'Seven'.

Swami also asked the boy 'From where are you?' 

The boy replied 'From Swami'.

At this point Swami looked around to everyone with so much joy, as if to say, 'Look at this boy!'

Immediately Swami turned to Uncle G.B. (co-ordinator for Arabian Gulf countries) and asked him 'From where are you?'  Uncle G.B. replied 'From You Swami', and Swami said to him 'I Know, I know, I know, you are simply saying that because you just heard this little boy say the same thing, you are from Dubai'.

Then Swami materialised Vibhuti for the 7 year old boy, and no sooner did He finish materialising the Vibhuti, the boy pulled out a handkerchief for Swami to wipe His hands!

My opinion is that perhaps we can learn a lesson of simplicity, honesty and purity from this act of Divinity which took place between the 7 year old boy and Our Lord!

Yours in Divine friendship, 

S. D. B. D.

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sainsw/message/266

Anger

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal 

with the intent of throwing it at someone else; 

you are the one who gets burnt."

~ Buddha ~

They are All Mine

"Think no thoughts but those of Mine

Say no words but those of Mine

See no other than forms of Mine

Give love to all, as they are all Mine"

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

(Sai Darshan)

Mother, Your Foremost Duty

"It is your foremost duty to love your mother. As soon as you wake up in the morning, the first thing you should do is to touch your mother's feet and offer your salutations. Such a noble practice will protect you always and bestow on you all types of wealth. You are going to be fathers and mothers in future. You will be loved and respected by your children only when you love and respect your parents now. You are bound to face the reaction, resound and reflection of your actions. When you respect your parents, there will be rich rewards for you in the future.”

`

 ~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

- Divine Discourse:- May 6^th, 2003

Happy Buddha Poornima 2012

Who is the Thief?

"Buddha did penance for six long years.  One day he opened his eyes and said that he had caught hold of the thief. Who is the thief?  It is the mind.  He realised that mind was the root cause of all suffering.  If you control your mind, you will never suffer."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~ 

 (S.S. Nov. 1998)

Returned with Thanks

Buddha was seated alone one day and later some men gathered around him.  One among them who did not like his teachings and the effect it had on the people,  got up and started a tirade in very vulgar terms against him.  

Buddha was smiling, listening to all that calumny, without a single gesture of disapproval.  The man got frothy in the mouth through rage, his vocabulary was fast getting exhausted, his tongue began to show signs of overwork.

But Buddha only asked him with a smile, "Brother, have you finished?"  The man said, "You have no sense of shame; you do not even react when I abuse you.   You are thick-skinned, you are a log of wood."

Buddha asked him, "If a person does not accept a gift, what happens to it?"  He said, "It remains with the giver."  "Well, keep these gifts of abusive words with you, brother!  I do not accept and react."

(Chinna Katha from the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)