The Message of Love

A person who has mastered the Vedas (ancient spiritual revelations) and Vedanta (metaphysics of the Supreme Reality) might be honoured as a Pandit (learned scholar). Another might be praised for his brilliant writings in both prose and verse. But if such scholars have neither purity of consciousness nor elevating ideals, their capacities will result in more harm than good. They will promote neither the happiness of the people nor peace in society. They will pass through life without the awareness of its sanctity or sublimity. The Lord blessed the boy Dhruva, appreciating his innocence and his steadfast faith in Him. The Lord saved Prahladha from direct disasters planned by his own father, for the boy had surrendered to Him and placed unshakeable trust in His Mercy. The Lord showered Grace on Kuchela who suffered from agonizing poverty because he never once faltered in his devotion to Him. The Lord is the refuge of all who seek refuge, the savior of all who have to be saved. He is the Embodiment of Sat-Chit-Ananda (Being-Awareness-Bliss Absolute). He is now at Puttaparthi as the Effulgent Emperor over the region of truth, goodness, and beauty.

Today Man’s Behavior Is Really Artificial

Life sustained by food is short; life sustained by the Atman (Divine Spirit) is eternal. Do not lay claim to long life, but to Divine life. Do not pine for more years on earth but for more virtues in the heart. Lord Buddha knew and made known to the world the truths: Everything is grief. Everything is empty. Everything is brief. Everything is polluted. So the wise man has to do the duties cast upon him with discrimination, diligence, and detachment. Play the role, but keep your identity unaffected. Have your head in the forest ashram (retreat), unaffected by the aimlessly rushing world. But it is your duty, a duty you cannot escape, to fully engage yourself in your work, unconcerned with loss or gain, failure or success, slander or praise. The Gita instills this very lesson in you: “Whoever does upasana with no thought other than Me, him I shall have with Me; I shall bear his burden now and forever.” The Gita says, “Keeping Me ever in memory, engage yourself in the battle of Life.”

This ‘Me’ to which Krishna refers is not something outside you or extraneous to you. It is your own Divine Reality which you can cognize in the silence of your own dhyana (meditation), when you shut out of your awareness the distraction of the senses, the mind, and the ego. You can take refuge in the calm coolness of your heart where He has installed Himself as the Charioteer. You must only engage yourself in work that is purifying, with an attitude that sanctifies. Most people do not know how to set about on this most rewarding adventure. They waste their lives in sorrow, wading through disappointment and despair, for they cling to something as theirs and treat something else as belonging to others. They grab and grieve, and labor to acquire and lose. Desire multiplies desire, and man sinks deeper into discontent and distress. The behavior is really artificial; it does not conform to man’s real nature, the prompting of his Atman, which is Divine. In the universal, eternal sea of change, the Atman alone is above change.

All Differences Are Apparent, Not Real

In creation, in the objective world, no one article is like any other. No two human beings are similar in every respect; there is some twist or turn which distinguishes one from the rest. Each has his own peculiar experiences. Immense diversity prevails. Nor is an individual the same for any length of time. The infant changes into a child, then into a boy, an adolescent, an adult, and soon becomes middle-aged, old, decrepit, and, finally, senile.

In one single day, the Individual is changed into a wakeful person, a dreamer, and a sleeping log! So man must seek refuge in the changeless, the Paramatman (Supreme Reality), from which all variety emerges and into which it merges. Then only can he secure peace and contentment. The past is past; do not lose time looking back on the road you have traversed. Look forward, deciding to march on with confidence and courage. Take the first step NOW. Tomorrow may be too late.

Repeat to yourself the truth that the world is as much God as heaven is. There are no two distinct entities or categories called material and spiritual. All distinctions are apparent, not real. Sai has drawn the old and the young to Himself and every one of them has Sai in his heart. The scriptures of different creeds—the Bible, the Quran, the Upanishads (philosophy of the Vedas), the Zend-Avesta—appear different, but their aim is the same: to establish the Brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God as the basis for the peace of mankind. No creed need put on airs of superiority as each is shaped by the compulsions of time and space, of language and levels of experience. You are all members of the Sai Family, bound by the religion of Love. Though ostensibly you profess to belong to different faiths, faith in Sai has removed the barriers in your minds. Love is God. Live in Love.

Love Must Express Itself As Service

Your Atman, which you mistake to be your body, your senses, your mind, your intellect, etc., can have no sorrow or joy. It has no death, no birth. It is eternal and unchanging. What you judge as joy or sorrow is only like a passing cloud which cannot affect the splendor of the Sun or Moon. Know that such emotions follow one another when the wheel of life turns round from moment to moment. The sea has water that cannot quench thirst, but it has also pearls and corals. You have to get toughened by the hammer strokes of joy and sorrow until you are unaffected by the vicissitudes of fortune.

This year you have named My birthday the ‘Golden Jubilee’ of the Avatar (divine Incarnation), and gathered in vast numbers from all parts of the world. I am sure you have benefited from the Satsang (holy company). I do not accost one particular date in the calendar as My birthday, for I consider the day when Divinity blossoms in your heart as My birthday in you. Therefore each of you should individually celebrate such a day as My birthday. The day when you resolve to practice My advice, to follow My directives, to translate My message into acts of service, and to engage in sadhana—that day is My birthday for you. The 23rd day of November which you now honour as the day on which I was born, is only like any other day if you celebrate it in a routine, ritual fashion. Adore man; the adoration reaches Me. Neglect man; you neglect Me. Of what avail is it to worship the Lord and to suppress man, His counterpart? Love for God must be manifested as Love for man, and Love must express itself as service.

Through Love alone—Love acquired through sadhana and shared with all as sadhana—can peace be attained, by the individual as well as by the nation. My Life is My Message and My Message is Love. That explains why you have gathered hither in hundreds of thousands.

Prasanthi Nilayam, 23-11-1975