Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Quotable Quotes



"We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.  God is the friend of silence.  See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grow in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence.  We need silence to be able to touch souls."

~ Mother Teresa ~

Monday, October 29, 2012

His Own Rock



There was a monk near Haridwar who had given up for many years both health and home and was living on alms; he used to keep all the food he collected on a flat rock that jutted out of the Ganga and used it as a plate from which he took his meal

One day he came to his rock and found another monk sitting there, taking food!  He got enraged at this trespass on his "property".  Then the newcomer said, "Alas!  You have renounced all sense of  I and mine; you have shaved your head, so that you may not be recognised by erstwhile companions; you yearn to be free from all bonds but you have tied yourself up with this rock!  How can you swim across this Sea of Samsara with this rock round your neck?  You are living a life of hypocrisy."

That opened his eyes to his error.


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

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Quotable Quotes



God always gives His best to those who
leave the choice with Him."

~ Jim Elliott ~

Celestial Poems of Sathya Sai Baba



"If there is no goodness
In your heart, speech and conduct,
How can Swami appreciate you and give you joy?
Speak if what I say is not proper!"

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

Friday, October 26, 2012

Cleansing of the Speech



"The first step in sadhana is the cleansing of the speech.
Speak sweetly without anger.
Do not boast of your scholarship or attainments.
Be humble, eager to serve.
Conserve your speech.  Practise silence.
That will save you from squabbles and from
frittering away your time."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
(Sai Avatar, Vol.II)

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Life is a Jungle



"Life is a jungle, there is a great deal of dry wood
which harbours worms and insects.
No one cleans the floor of the forest or cuts away
the undergrowth of bush and bramble.
To wade through the thorns and the leech ridden floor
of the jungle, one has to wear boots.  
So too, one has to wear the boots of sense regulation, 
if one has to pass through the jungle of life,
without harming oneself."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

Monday, October 22, 2012

Celestial Poems of Sathya Sai Baba



"If you worry thinking about worldly life till the end,
Do you gain in the least?
Who will prevent you from pain,
O' mad man, at that dismal hour?"

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

Omnipresent Lord



I see You in the rising sun and in the stars at night
Arid in a raging sea with all its power and might
I see You in the willows weeping in the rain
And in the fragrant flowers of a country lane
I see You in a baby's smile and in a mother's love
And in the peace and beauty of a snow-white dove
I see You in a caring heart and in a helping hand
And in the sick and suffering that's so hard to understand
I feel You sometimes near to me yet sometimes way afar
Oh Lord I see You everywhere, 'cos that is where You are!


~ Don Wilkinson ~
(From: "Sai Reflections" , Dec. 1999)

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Divine Wisdom





Get Up, Arise, Awake!



"If only men knew the path to permanent joy and peace,
they would not wander distracted among the bylanes of sensual pleasure.
Just as the joy felt in dreams disappears when you wake up,
the joy felt in the waking stage disappears when you awake
to higher awareness (jnana).

So the Upanishads say, "Get Up, Arise, Awake!"
Time is fleeting fast.
While the moment is available, put it to the best of uses:
the awareness of the Divine in all.
When you die, you must die, not like a tree,a beast, or a worm,
but like a man who realizes himself to be Divine (Madhava).
That is the proper consummation of all the years you
spend in human form."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
(Voice of the Avatar. Vol.1)

Friday, October 19, 2012

Navratri Blessings



Nine nights for Goddess Durga
Full of dance and songs
People worship her image
With flowers and prayers long.

May the Goddess bless us
With precious gifts to mankind
People praise her image
Full of beauty divine!


(Poem courtesy of iloveindia.com)

Navratri



Thursday, October 18, 2012

Hard It Is To Understand



"Hard it is to understand:
By giving away our food,
we get more strength;
By bestowing clothing on others,
we gain more beauty;
By founding abodes of purity and truth,
we acquire great treasures."

~ Buddha ~

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Celestial Poems of Sathya Sai Baba



"What Sai seeks from you are virtues,
Brotherhood of man, oneness of humanity,
Renunciation of selfishness and pure selfless service to society.
That is the true wealth that you can give to Sai."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

India



India beckoned
Finances were reckoned
Not for me its sun drenched beaches
Or gazing at the Taj Mahal
Or trekking in its southern reaches
Or those foothills of Nepal

My mind was set
When I boarded the jet
To be a pilgrim

To touch His robe
Was my ambition
To gaze at His face
Was my mission

I came I saw I wept
He looked deep within me
And held my hands
Softly saying I will bless


~ Alice Grace ~
(From: "Sai Reflections", Feb. 1999)

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Divine Wisdom



He has Neither



There is the story of a young man who was riding a cycle on a dark night along a crowded road; the policeman on duty asked him to stop and alight, for he had no lamp on his cycle.  The fellow, however, shouted, "Policeman!  Keep away.  Of course, I have no lamp; but beware, I have no brake either!"

That is the pathetic condition of every one now.  No one has the lamp of wisdom or the brake of sense control.  How then can they go along the road to Ananda, without causing injury to themselves or others?  The cyclist must have both; man too has need of wisdom and self control.  Or else, he is certain to ruin this chance he has got, to save himself.


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

Friday, October 12, 2012

Divine Wisdom



He Knows the Way



As I drive along the endless road,
I see the landscape beyond man's eye.
Each leaf tells a story,
each rock hides a secret, and
Each mountain grows out of karma.
I am in the land of the living Avatar,
Part of me is anxious with anticipation,
A greater part is serene.

I know not the Will of the Avatar,
I feel simply His love,
This pilgrimage of uncertainty 
is the path to detachment.
Moment by moment,
Maya melts away
for in THAT moment
I have accepted and surrendered:
Only He knows the way.


~ Smita Pujara ~
(From: "Sai Reflections")

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Celestial Poems of Sathya Sai Baba



"Having grasped what ought to be grasped,
Hold on with a tight grasp till the end.
Having desired what ought to be desired,
Hold on till the desire is fulfilled.
Having asked what ought to be asked,
Hold on till you receive that you have asked for.
Having thought what ought to be thought,
Hold on till the thought comes true.
Either He has to bless you out of frustration with your prayers,
Or you have to ask with all your heart intensely.
It is not proper in the part of devotees to give up half way."


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

Monday, October 8, 2012

Awareness of God



"God is omnipresent.  So do not act differently when you are away from My presence.  Be always and everywhere conscious of the Presence.  Be vigilant, even while engaged in little tasks.  Maintain silence in the recesses of the heart as well as outside.

The Gita says God's hands and feet are everywhere.  You can hear His foot fall, only when no other sound hinders.  God, out of His infinite grace, assumes the form that the devotee yearns for.  He is purity, He is supreme wisdom.  He is ever free, ever merciful.  

Develop the awareness of God, see Him and serve Him in every living being."


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
(S.S. July 1998)


Divine Wisdom



Saturday, October 6, 2012

Quotable Quotes



"I sought to hear the voice of God and climbed the topmost steeple
but God declared, "Go down again - I dwell among the people."

~ John Henry Newman -

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Who is a Real Bhakta?



There is the story of a rustic who sat among a gathering of devotees and listened to the exposition of the Gita by a great pundit.  All were wonder-struck by the scholarly commentary which the pundit gave and his learned disquisition on each word and phrase; and the rustic, though the exposition was very much over his head, seemed to attend very closely for he was all the time in tears!

When at last the pundit asked him why, he was weeping and he surprised everybody by the sincerity of his Bhakti.  For he said that he wept at the predicament of the Lord, who had to sit at the head of the chariot and half turning his neck held forth so long to convince the dull-witted Arjuna.

"How much pain must He be suffering in His neck?" he asked and wept.

That was real devotion, a sure passport to spiritual victory.  He had identified himself with participants in the episode and the whole setting had become alive for him!


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


Celestial Poems of Sathya Sai Baba



"Will hearing about light dispel darkness?
Will hearing about sumptuous dishes satisfy hunger?
Will hearing about money rid a poor man of poverty?
Will hearing about medicines cure a man of diseases?
Will learning without practice
Dispel the dense darkness of ignorance?
All these come to a naught like a zero."


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~