Hypocrisy

Real Friend

Generally, man seeks only happiness and joy; under no stress will he desire misery and grief!  He treats happiness and joy as his closest well-wishers and misery and grief as his direct enemies.  This is a great mistake.  When one is happy, the risk of grief is great; fear of losing the happiness will haunt the man.  Misery prompts inquiry, discrimination, self-examination and fear of worse things that might happen.  It awakens you from sloth and conceit.  Happiness makes one forget one's obligations to oneself as a human being.  It drags man into egoism, and the sins that egoism leads one to commit.  Grief renders man alert and watchful.

So misery is a real friend; happiness spends out the stock of merit and arouses the baser passions.  So it is really an enemy.  Really, misery is an eye-opener; it promotes thought and the task of self-improvement.  It also endows one with new and valuable experiences.  Happiness draws a veil over experiences that harden a person and make him tough.  So, troubles and travails are to be treated as friends; at least, not as enemies.  Only, it is best to regard both happiness and misery as gifts of God.  That is the easiest path for one's own liberation.

(Baba, The Breath Of Sai, pg 291)

Thanks-Giving

There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves - that heartfelt acknowledgement that we are the caretakers of life on this planet.

- Brooke Medicine Eagle

There are not enough hours in the day to thank God for all my blessings, for God is continually blessing me.  So I say, "Thank You, God, for life and for all the blessings in my life.  You have given me a sacred trust, and I do not take that responsibility lightly."

I show my appreciation for God's greatness as well as speaking it.  When I am interacting with others or enjoying the great outdoors, I treat everyone and everything with love and respect.  I honour the wonder that God has created.

I also express my thanksgiving by sharing the blessings I have already received.  I devote time and energy to helping others.  Just maybe my best way of thanking God is living my life in appreciation of God.

Through God's blessings, I am fulfilled.

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

GEM 742

Any work undertaken without discriminating it to be a personal work or God's work would become service.

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

Work

Divine Mold

Joy is a deceptive trap; grief is the real preceptor, teaching caution, circumspection, discrimination, detachment, awareness and vigilance.  Death is not the merciless foe he is made out to be, he is the friend and companion, the teacher, the kindly kinsman who takes you into his fold and clothes you with the halo of remembrance.  The heart of man has to toughened, not hardened; it has to be made soft, not slithery.  This can be achieved only the blows of loss, grief and distress.  It is God's way of shaping us, in the Divine mold.  But man ins blind to His mercy; he revolts at the first blow of the sculptor's hammer.  Do not lose the great chance of association with the Divine, by identifying God with your trivial likes and dislikes, your tawdry aim and ambitions.  Having come into this un-eternal un-happiness filled world, adore Me in order to save yourself.

(Baba, The Breath Of Sai, pg 290)

GEM 741

Acquisition of skill and perfection in one's work delights one's self.

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

Q499

Why is so much significance conferred on the Lord's Feet ?



'Feet' do not mean sandals made in silver or gold.  Feet refer to the Divine that sustains everything.  Viewing from the point of view of science, it will be noted that blood flows from the feet upwards to all parts of the body.  It is this blood which sustains the entire body.  The feet that bear the burden of the entire body are essential for life itself.

(SSS Vol 26, pg 339)

Sai Darshan II, Part 1 - Message 26

Sai Darshan II, Part 1 - Message 26

If you cannot change yourself

Then who will?

If you cannot believe in yourself

Then who will?

If you cannot inspire yourself

Then who will?

If you cannot awaken yourself

Then who will?

If you cannot love yourself

Then who will?

If you cannot realize yourself

Then who will?

(Extract from : Sai Darshan II written by Seema M Dewan)

Negligence