God is no stony hearted despot. He is Compassion. He is Grace personified. Once you have cleansed yourself by tears, He draws you near and grants you consolation and courage. Without a cleansed heart, realization is impossible. Wisdom can enter only a purified mind. Spiritual discipline, slow and steady, can succeed in purifying it. The Spiritual discipline for each Age has been prescribed by the Scriptures; for the Kritha or first Age, it is Meditation; for the Thretha, the second, it is Righteousness; for the Dwapara, the third, it is Ritual Worship and for the present Age, the Kali, it is the Repetition of the Name of God.
The repetition of the Name of God, the Scriptures say, in this age of materialism is the one hope for man. Have the Repetition of God's Name on your tongue, the Form in your eye, the Glory in your heart, the thunderbolts will pass you quietly by. When you recite the Name of God, remembering the while His Majesty, His Compassion, His Glory, His Splendor, His Presence, Love will grow within you. Its roots will go deeper and deeper, its branches will spread wider and wider, giving cool shade to friend and foe, to fellow national and foreigner.
(Sri Sathya Sai Baba, The Breath of Sai, pg 308)
