GEM 820

Culture and spirituality are not different from each other.  Ekatma Bhava (oneness of spirit) is culture.

(From : Garland of 1008 Gems, Bhagawan Shri Sathya Sai Baba's Sayings)

Triple Incarnation

Freedom

Sometimes I wonder what it is like to be free, Like a monkey swinging from tree to tree, Or like young eagles way in the skies, Calling to each other with joyful cries. Oh, to be free and without a care, Not to live in bondage or constant fear. To live each day and spread my wings, To be forever untouched by negative things.

~ Belinda Schuler-Chin ~

Q530

What qualities in a devotee ensure the advent of God's Grace?



Earn the qualifications - holiness, purity, faith, universal love; then, He will approach you on foot to console, comfort and save!  Purity of heart and control over your desires and senses, if you have these two credentials, Grace is your right.

(SSS Vol 14, pg 100)

Absolute Nature

He Loves You!

God does not give His love in dribs and drabs.  
He lavishes it on us when we come to Him in faith.  
All along, He was waiting to make us His children, 
and we were the ones who resisted.

But once we face Him as children, 
God's love lets loose in our lives.  
Nothing is too good for His obedient children.  
Praise God that He loves you that much!

- Pamela McQuade -

Highest Wisdom

In this vast universe, every creature lives according to the law of its being.  Man alone, who has the gift of this extremely precious human birth, is failing to realize the purpose of his existence and ignores his duties.

Immersed in sensual mundane pleasures, man forgets his spiritual destiny.  All scholarship is valueless without Self-realization.  Ravana, Bhasmaasura and Kamsa were not lacking in scholarship or even religious practices.  But all these were related to the externals and not to the cultivation of the Spirit inside.  Hence, their basic demonic qualities did not change.

It is only when impure and unholy thoughts are expelled from the mind that sacred feelings will enter it.  To experience lasting bliss, the heart has to be sanctified by filling it with love.  Through that love has to be secured the highest wisdom.

(Sanathana Sarathi, September 1996, pg 231)

VEDA 55

The sea has a vast expanse of water, but, can it quench the thirst of man? Similarly, however much a man may possess, if he has not cultivated detachment, it is but arid waste. Detachment from sensual pleasures and objective pursuits helps the growth of love towards God and Godly.



(From : Sai Veda, The Word of God,  sayings of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)

SACRED PRESENCE

"Immersed in the presence of God, I am filled with the peace of God."

Dear God, I come to You in prayer to be refreshed. Immersed in Your presence, I am connected with the inner peace that You have created me to know and express.

In the sacred silence with You, I find relief from the sounds and sights and pressures of my day. And I realize that as I become still, as I relax, I open myself to a flow of peace that is there waiting to ease any anxiety, to quiet any fear.

Right now in this moment, I let inner peace - divine tranquility - rise up to meet me and to relieve all concern. From the depths of my soul, I feel a surge of serenity moving through me, relaxing my muscles, calming my thoughts.

Immersed in Your presence, God, I understand that this is where I can always come and be filled with peace divine.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you."

- John 14:27

(From : 'Daily Word' magazine by Silent Unity, a world wide prayer ministry)  

GEM 819

Contemplating on God with all your heart, chanting His name and surrendering to Him, redeem your lives.

(From : Garland of 1008 Gems, Bhagawan Shri Sathya Sai Baba's Sayings)