Friday, October 31, 2014

Be Bound to the Atma



"Be bound to the Atma in you.  Take rest and refuge in that, meditate on that, without interruption.  Then, all bonds will loosen of themselves, for the bond with which you attach yourself to the Lord or the Atma has the power of unbinding all other bonds."


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
(Sanathana Sarathi - May 2004)


Thursday, October 30, 2014

Taking out the Trash

I just finished taking out the garbage and I must say that the house smells so much nicer now. In the humid heat of Summer an overflowing trash can will soon begin to take on a life of its own. It is not a good life either. It is rather one filled with disgusting, noxious odors and rotting, decaying filth. Happily, though, it is a simple matter to take the garbage out the door and to the trash bin.

Sometimes our own lives can start to resemble a trash can. Sometimes we collect so much anger, resentment, and negativity that we start to stink as well. The longer we hold on to these things the worst the smell gets too. Our lives literally become garbage cans full of the rot and decay of anger, hate, fear, pain, and depression. 

Looking at the garbage doesn’t make it go away either. Analyzing it and sorting through it doesn’t make it any less disgusting. In order to get rid of the garbage in your life you have to tie up the bag and toss it out.

It is as simple as it sounds too. Just take those negative thoughts out of your mind and those negative feelings out of your heart. Forgive yourself for your past mistakes and know that God forgives you too. Forgive others as well and send them your love. 

 Begin to choose love and joy again in what you think, feel, and do. Begin to share that love and joy with others and to help them in any way you can. Before long you will realize that the trash you have been holding inside you is gone and all that is left is peace, joy, happiness, love, and oneness with God. 

Remember then to take out your trash often. Remember to keep your life and your soul clean of the garbage that negativity brings. Life was meant to be a garden of love and joy, not a dump. 


~ Joe Mazzella ~


The Mother Cat

  
 
The mother cat, it is said, carries its newly born kittens, still with unopened eyes, from house to house, depositing them in seven different homes.  By the time the seventh house is reached, the kittens open their eyes and can see well and clearly.  Man changes home every birth but his eyes do not open to the truth of God, even after his changing home (lives) many and many a time.


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

Whenever You are Angry ...


 
"Whenever you are angry, sit quietly at some place and drink cold water.  Chant the Divine Name.  Then your anger will gradually subside.  If your anger persists, go to a place of solitude and walk briskly for half a mile.  Thus, there are many easy ways to control one's anger."


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
(Divine Discourse - 5.7.2001)

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Baba's Storytime - Do Service



 “If some kind of hurt or harm is caused to others, we should make an attempt to help them by doing some service.  It is not only by work and by keeping out surroundings clean that you can do service.  You can do service by your words as well.  With a good word, you can soothe their hearts and by doing good deeds, you can soothe their minds.  Therefore by using good words and doing good work, you will give comfort to others and this is good service.

Today people who call themselves leaders are not doing good service and as a consequence, the world around us is becoming very confusing.  In this context, a story relating to the Krishnavatara has to be mentioned.

One day Krishna approached Yasoda and told her that all his cowherd friends were inviting him to go with them and tend the cows and that he was planning to go.  The mother explained to him that to go to the forest will mean that he will have to walk on thorns, that he may have to meet snakes, and that he may get close to bushes.  She said that his tender feet may not be able to put up with the troubles and she said that it is better if he puts on footwear before going to the forest.  She said that shoes for him will be ready only the next day and he could go to the forest only the next day.

Immediately Krishna asked the mother to tell him how she addressed him.  She said that his name was Gopal and that she addressed him by his name.  The word “Gopal” stands for one who tends the cows.  He said that he acquired that name because he could tend the cows and be the leader of the cows.  Since the cows will follow him as their leader, he said that he will have to do something which the cows also will do.  The cows do not have shoes to protect their feet and therefore he said that he also should not have to protect his feet.  He said that he will do only that which persons who follow him can possibly do.  He said that if he wore shoes, the cows will also want to wear shoes because their leader was wearing shoes.  He was not going to wear shoes and allow those whom he has to protect, go without shoes.  This is how he argued with his mother.

This simply means that when God takes a human form, men will try and imbibe his qualities and will behave like him.  In those days when God appeared as an Avatar in the form of Krishna, the Gopis, the Gopikas and the cows followed him.  Today, if an Avatar comes and makes some decisions, we will be able to recognize the same as divine only by putting such decisions into practice.”


 (Source: Summer Shows in Brindavan 1973)

Celestial Poems of Sathya Sai Baba

 


 "Failing to realise Swami who is right in the front,
People frantically search for God all around.
It is like searching for ghee
Witout seeing it in butter."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~


Divine Wisdom



Monday, October 20, 2014

Happy Diwali


Sai Ram, dear friends.Due to a breakdown in our telephone and internet lines,
we regret we are unable to go online.  With the grace of our dear Swami,
we hope to be back with you in a short time.  May we wish you a happy and joyful Diwali.

DIVINE BLOSSOMS




Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Hold My Hand

   
 
Once a little girl and her father were crossing a bridge. The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter, "Sweetheart , please hold my hand so that you don't fall into the river."

The little girl said, "No, Dad. You hold my hand."

"What's the difference?" asked the puzzle father.

"There's a big difference," replied the little girl.

"If I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go. But if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go."
 

(Author Unknown)

Sugar Candy




Once a few devotees wee sitting with Baba at the foot of a mountain and Baba held a few pebbles in His hand and threw them towards a devotee, converting these into sugar candy.  At this the devotee enquired from Baba that if He could instantly convert those stones into sugar candy, could He not transform the entire mountain in front of them into sugar candy?  Baba replied, "It can be done, but why unnecessarily interfere with its nature?"

In fact, no material or movement is necessary to materialise anything for Him.  His Will (Sankalpa) is supreme.  

On one occasion, Baba was talking on spiritual matters to a devotee, and all of a sudden the devotee found on his lap a red apple.  The devotee was astonished and Baba told him, "Didn't you say, earlier on, that you did not have any breakfast?  Eat it now, for you will be having your lunch only after a couple of hours."  This was accomplished without any transformation of any material or without any wave of the hand.

"Get detached from the transitory pleasure; boldly attach yourself with the One, peerless and perennial, remaining in a serene state of Blissful Awareness." says Baba.


(Sathyam Sivam Sundaram - Pt.III)

Part-time Devotion

 

"Today we show only part-time devotion and we want full time reward for this part-time devotion.  How can we get this?  If you give only part of your mind and ask for full return of the grace of God, it is like asking for full pay for half work.  If you recognise with the fullness of your heart that everything that you do is by God's grace, then surely full return will be given by God.  You try and you will get it."


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
(Summer Showers in Brindavan)

Divine Wisdom



 "Humility and obedience are the qualities of a devotee.  Excessive humility that often goes with devotion might act as a barrier in forging the spirit of intimacy with God which is so vital for attaining Atmajnana or Supreme Wisdom.  On the other hand, close friendship and excessive familiarity might make a person take undue liberties.  For these reasons, Krishna referred to Arjuna as both "devotee" and "friend" or one in whom friendship is enriched by humility and devotion is tempered by intimacy.  As Arjuna was both a devotee as well as a friend of the Lord, he was the most deserving recipient of the Bhagavad Gita."


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
(Sanathana Sarathi - Jan. 1999)

Monday, October 6, 2014

The Blue Monkeys



There is a story of an ancient Emperor who, in middle life, married a beautiful young girl on whom he doted.  She was, however, not a strong woman and died a few years later of an incurable disease.

The Emperor was devastated, his life wracked with sorrow.  In his despair, he visited a sage and asked him how he could possibly rid himself of this heart sickness.

The sage said, rather unhelpfully, that time heals all things ... and on no account should His Mightiness waste time thinking of blue monkeys.  The Emperor was, quite naturally, puzzled at this, but the sage would say no more and so the Emperor had no choice but to take his advice.

He found himself curious about these blue monkeys and so consulted every scholar, priest, philosopher and mystic in the empire.  Nobody could help him.  So the Emperor cast further afield for his answers, even sending an expedition to the high mountains in the north, where the blue monkeys were rumoured to dwell.  Alas, it returned empty-handed.

Months went by and the Emperor thought of little else but blue monkeys, until finally he realized they were dominating his life.  He returned to the sage and begged to be rid of this plague.

"I can do that for you, Great One," said the sage.  "But first you must see that the memory of your wife, as well as the lady herself, is now truly at peace ..."


(Author Unknown)

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Celestial Poems of Sathya Sai Baba




"More effulgent than the sun, whiter than the immaculate snow,
Subtler than the sky, the Brahman abides in all beings.
Even the minutest atom cannot exist without the Brahman.
The light of the Brahman lights up the whole cosmos.
You abide in the Brahman and the Brahman abides in you.
You are the Brahman and the Brahman is yourself.
Suffused with Brahman, you become the Brahman itself.
But, clouded by delusion, you do not see the Brahman."


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
 

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Time

 
 
"When time itself is swallowing every individual, to grieve and to think that an individual is permanent is not the right thing.  The Goddess of time is swallowing everyone.  It is possible that the beautiful spring season that has gone may come again.  It is also possible that the phases of the moon that have gone may come again.  But the water that has once flowed in the river and the youth that has gone behind you will never come back and since life is a stream moving in one direction only, it is necessary for us to spend our life in a purposeful manner."


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
(Summer Showers in Brindavan)

Masks



Don't be fooled by the face I wear, for I wear a thousand masks, and none of them are me. Don't be fooled, for goodness sake, don't be fooled. 

I give you the impression that I'm secure, that confidence is my name and coolness is my game, and that I need no one. But don't believe me. Beneath dwells the real me in confusion, in loneliness, in fear. That's why I create a mask to hide behind, to shield me from the glance that knows. 

But such a glance is precisely my salvation. That is, if it's followed by acceptance, if it's followed by love. It's the only thing that can liberate me from my own self-built prison walls. I'm afraid that deep down I'm nothing and that I'm just no good, and that you will reject me.

And so begins the parade of masks. I idly chatter to you. I tell you everything that's really nothing and nothing of what's everything, of what's crying within me. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying. I'd really like to be genuine and spontaneous, and me. But you've got to help me. You've got to hold out your hand.

Each time you're kind and gentle, and encouraging, each time you try to understand because you really care, my heart begins to grow wings, feeble wings, but wings. With your sensitivity and sympathy, and your power of understanding, you alone can release me from my shallow world of uncertainty.

It will not be easy for you. The nearer you approach me, the blinder I may strike back. But I'm told that Love is stronger than strong walls, and in this lies my only hope. Please try to beat down these walls with firm hands, but gentle hands, for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you wonder...
I am every man you meet. I am every woman that you meet.
And I am also you.

~ Author Unknown ~
on't be fooled by the face I wear, for I wear a thousand masks, And none of them are me. Don't be fooled, for goodness sake, don't be fooled.

I give you the impression that I'm secure, that confidence is my name and coolness is my game, And that I need no one. But don't believe me. Beneath dwells the real me in confusion, in aloneness, in fear. That's why I create a mask to hide behind, to shield me from the glance that knows.

But such a glance is precisely my salvation. That is, if it's followed by acceptance, if it's followed by love. It's the only thing that can liberate me from my own self-built prison walls. I'm afraid that deep down I'm nothing and that I'm just no good, And that you will reject me.

And so begins the parade of masks. I idly chatter to you. I tell you everything that's really nothing and nothing of what's everything, of what's crying within me. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying. I'd really like to be genuine and spontaneous, and me. But you've got to help me. You've got to hold out your hand.

Each time you're kind and gentle, and encouraging, Each time you try to understand because you really care, my heart begins to grow wings, feeble wings, but wings. With your sensitivity and sympathy, and your power of understanding, you alone can release me from my shallow world of uncertainty.

It will not be easy for you. The nearer you approach me, the blinder I may strike back. But I'm told that Love is stronger than strong walls, And in this lies my only hope. Please try to beat down these walls with firm hands, but gentle hands, for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you wonder...

I am every man you meet. I am every woman that you meet.

And I am also you - See more at: http://www.spiritual-short-stories.com/spiritual-short-story-269-Masks.html#sthash.5iGito2k.dpuf

Quotable Quotes

 

 
"The future depends on what we do in the present".

~ Mahatma Gandhi ~

Baba's Storytime - Example of Vidyasagar



Extracted from Bhagawan's Divine Discourse in Sai Ramesh Mandap on 6.5.1996.

"In the past mothers used to play a big part in moulding their children.  

For instance, there is the example of Easwar Chandra Vidyasagar.  He was a native of Calcutta.  He justified his name by being a great scholar ("Vidyasagar" means "ocean of knowledge").  He belonged to a very poor family.  His mother brought up her son at the expense of her own food.  Pursuing his studies under the most adverse circumstances, he completed his education and found a job on a salary of Rs.50 per mensem. In due course, he rose to an eminent position by dint of hard work.

One day he approached his mother and said: "Mother, I have reached an eminent position thanks to your blessings and guidance.  I am now able to fulfil any of your wishes."  The mother said: "Not yet, my son.  I have three desires but I shall tell them in due course."

Reaching a still higher position after some time, Eashwar Chandra renewed his appeal to his mother.  The mother said: "Our village is poor and the village has no school.  Please set up a school here so that the children will not have to go outside for their education.  That school will be an ornament for me."  The son carried out her wish.

Later, the mother revealed her second wish.  She wanted Easwar Chandra to set up a small hospital in the village to serve the villagers.  She said this would be her second ornament she wanted from him.  He set up a hospital as desired by his mother.

In the following years, Vidyasagar rose to greater eminence but remained as humble and free from conceit as ever.  He asked his mother what her third desire was.  She said he should build a small resthouse (choultry) for travellers passing through the village to stay.  Vidyasagar built a small community hall in the village.

Today's educated persons get puffed up over their petty educational attainments.  It was his mother's teachings which made Vidyasagar practise humility.

"Not penance, nor rituals, not pilgrimages are of any avail in crossing the ocean of human existence.  Only service to the good can take one across."  (Sanskrit sloka)

Service is most important.  It helps to promote humility and to further the oneness of mankind.  No room should be given for ostentation.  True devotion is free from exhibitionism."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~ 

Friday, October 3, 2014

The Journey of Life


 
"There are several trials and tribulations in the journey of life.  You have to acquire the power by which you can courageously encounter them.  That is the power of spirituality.  You should not become diffident and withdraw from your effort in the middle.  In this Bhavasagara (ocean of life), there will, of course, be turbulent waves which will toss your boat up and down.  Only God's Name can take you across the ocean of life as declared by Adi Sankara:

Punarapi Jananam Punarapi Maranam,
Punarapi Janani Jathare Sayanam,
Ina Samsare Bahu Dustare,
Kripayapare ahi Murare.

(Oh Lord!  I am caught up in this cycle of birth and death; time and again, I am experiencing the agony of staying in the mother's womb.  It is very difficult to cross this ocean of worldly life.  Please take me across this ocean and grant me liberation).


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
(Divine Discourse - 23.11.2004)

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Significance of the Flute

    


"What is the significance of the flute? It symbolises the human body. The flute has nine holes. The human body has nine openings. The body should be considered as the flute of God. It should be rendered completely hollow, so that the Divine may blow through it.Today the body is anything but hollow. It is filled with all kinds of desires. Only when the desires are removed, the body will be a fit instrument for the Divine to fill it with nectarine music. This is the process of surrender to the Divine. Then one gets intoxicated with the music of the Divine."

 ~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~
(Divine Discourse - 22.10.1995)

A Friendship Wish


   
May there always be work for your hands to do;
May your purse always hold a coin or two;
May the sun always shine on your window pane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.


 ~ Author Unknown ~

Divine Wisdom




Celestial Poems of Sathya Sai Baba

 

 "It is my resolve to lend joy,
To delight all and protect all.
It is my vow to run to the rescue of those
Who have strayed away from the right path.
I express my love by lending succour
To those stricken by poverty and pain.
To me, devotion lies in treating
Pain and pleasure in equal measure.
I do not forsake those who have taken refuge in Me.
I see to it that those who have taken refuge in me
Are not stained by any impurity.
Then how can My name be ever stained?"


~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~