Everything Depends On Good Thoughts

One may have studied all texts and puranas; 
One may be a philosopher, a doctor or a ruler! 
One may be revelling in luxurious 
Mansions romancing in fantasies; 
One may be an unchallenged warrior 
Making all enemies runaway; 
One may be the meanest slave 
Who is at the mercy of Lord of poverty; 
He is of no use without love! 
Servant with love is more venerable 
Than a king without love 
What more should I explain? 
Sai’s word is a bundle of wealth Sai’s look is a shower of parijatas (a kind of fragrant flower) 
Sai’s hand is mother’s love that bestows inner peace 
What I spoke is a fact indeed! 
Camphor is white; kamadhenu (sacred cow) is 
white 
Star is white and the wing of heron is white 
Beautiful smile of Sai is white 
It is a fact that is spoken above

Three Kinds Of People
Embodiments of love!

Living beings can be classified into three categories, namely pushti jeevis, maryada jeevis and pravaha jeevis. Pushti jeevis are those who are engaged in noble deeds and sacred practices, and they become eligible for God’s love and grace. God loves them. Love has to be obtained only through love. But most of us, these days, love only material comforts. The pushti jeevis are lovers of God’s creation and lovers of divine qualities. All their deeds, words and looks are filled with love for God. The Gopikas belong to this category. They prayed to Krishna in ways such as:

O Krishna! play the flute with ecstasy of love 
Shower nectar of love making streams of love flow 
Sprout up love in hearts parched of love 
O Krishna! play the flute with ecstasy of love!

Their lives were totally filled with love. It is a trait of the pushti jeevis. Such people may appear like any ordinary beings. They may not go around displaying their devotion or knowledge. This quality is due to the background of merits done in previous births. They are very dear to God.

Maryada jeevi are the second category. They are engaged in worship, scriptural studies and other good deeds. These people are also lovers of God. But they are short of obtaining God’s love. There is a vast difference between those that love God and those that are loved by God.

There is no use of our love when God does not love us. Is there any use of your ringing (making a phone call) when the phone at the other end is not lifted? There is no point in remaining content with our love towards God. We must contemplate on the quality of our love; and we must try to understand the qualities that will make God love us. It is not the amount of worship one does or the time spent on meditation that is important. God looks for the change of your heart and for its purity. Noble qualities and clean practices will attract God’s love. Any amount of scriptural studies will not help when the heart remains impure. They are artificial. The scriptural dictum, Chittasya suddhaye karma implies purity of mind is an essential requisite for any action.

What is devotion without the purity of mind? 
What is food without the purity of the vessel? 
What are practices without the purity of heart?

We must take up sacred deeds in order to make the vessel of the heart pure. We spend several hours in doing japa (reciting name), and we spend days in meditation, without knowing its purpose and goal. Really speaking, every individual is a form of God. His real nature is divine. Like in the Biblical story of Peter, a meaningless habit of shouting will change one’s own personality in the eyes of close associates. Sorrow and worry are not natural to man. For example, you may find someone crying while going on the road. Everybody eagerly enquires the reason for crying.

What is the reason for this enquiry? Because crying (sorrow) is not the innate nature of man. Every person is interested in knowing why he was crying because they knew that crying was not a normal quality (or nature) of man. On the other hand, when a person is looking happy and joyful, no one asks him why he is not looking sorrowful. Because happiness is human nature. In other words, it is the atmic principle. Similarly, to ‘follow consciousness’ also means the same. To follow consciousness is the natural (or right) course for man; and to follow the external world or nature’s traits is not the right course. Before whatever you do, you must question yourself whether it satisfies your conscience; you need not worry whether others are praising, despising or criticizing.

You must do anything and everything for satisfaction of the self. The worldly praises or rebuke are like passing clouds. This is a principle pertaining to the mind.

The third category is, pravaha jeevis (pravaha means flow or stream; jeevi means being), these people are totally immersed in worldly activities and are associated with all its whirlpools and rigmaroles; and are not used to thoughts of God. They undergo punarapi jananam, punarapi maranam (birth and death again and again). In a stream, water keeps on moving out and new water keeps on entering. The water cannot remain static. Man’s life is like this stream wherein people are taking births and are dying incessantly. Without knowing the reason for birth and about their destination, what is the progress this kind of humanism can make?

Three Powers Associated With God

Embodiments of love!

Man is born so that he does not born again. We must realise this truth. What should we do so as not to be born again? Any plant must have an origin of a seed. Our desires are the seeds for the sapling of rebirth. To get rid of this, we must endeavour to reduce the desires. This requires fostering of the requisite power that is within us.

There are three powers associated with God. They are known as para shakti, apara shakti and avidya shakti. (Shakti means power). Para shakti is the power of Vishnu. Vishnu means omnipresence. Generally, para shakti is considered as Amba, Lalitha and other feminine forms of Goddess. In fact para shakti is formless and is omnipresent. The second is apara shakti. This is the power of conscience that is present in everyone and is known as kshetrajna; and it is confined to the individual concerned. Para shakti is universal while apara shakti is individual power. This is also known as atmic power or life-force.

Avidya shakti is associated with the mundane human environment and all its aspirations, deeds and desires. This is naturally invoked when one considers himself, Aham dehasmi "I am the body", that is when one identifies himself with the body. Avidya shakti is a result of mundane and selfish desires for comforts and so on. There the para shakti is known as jnana shakti, power of knowledge, apara shakti is known as bala shakti, physical strength; and the avidya shakti is known as kriya shakti, power of action. It is clear that jnana shakti is the most important of the above because it is a basic prompter for the other two powers. Our goal lies in endeavouring to obtain this jnana shakti. This is our aim in life. In fact all these three powers are inherent in the individual. The form, principle and divinity associated with these three powers are available within the human body.

God is not residing at a distant place. He is there right within the body. Sin is not a foreign substance. It is associated with all our deeds. Sin or merit is a result of our thoughts and actions, but not due to God’s grace or God’s wrath. Divinity is in the all-pervasive, jnana shakti. What is jnana? The discriminative power (the power of discrimination between good and bad) is jnana. Your own conscience is the judge.

We say mind travels fast. Is it travelling to any place, or is the place coming to the mind? Mind is not travelling to any place. It is bringing the place into itself. Suppose you are travelling from Bangalore towards Puttaparthi. You say “Puttaparthi has come. In fact, it is you who have reached Puttaparthi. In fact, the thing that travels is the gross body and not the mind or the self. We are bringing all sorts of things into our mind because of desires. When desires for materials are reduced, then they will not bother your mind. The Upanishads say, “Manayeva manushyanam karanam bandha mokshayoh (mind alone is the cause for bondage or liberation).”

Meditation is the best means of limiting the thoughts of the mind. But what kind of people are eligible to teach meditation? Duties are of three kinds, namely niyamita vidhi apara vidhi and paripurna vidhi. Teachers of apara vidhi must be endowed with the noblest qualities so as to teach the highest kind of wisdom to the student. Teachers of niyamita vidhi must be able to teach the discrimination between good and bad. The third type is paripurna vidhi which involves circumspection on all that we do. We must be mindful about the basic purpose for which we are here. Our thought, word and deed should be in tandem.

Will the mind absorb in meditation 
Without having good qualities and thought? 
How does one build a house 
Without having bricks and cement?

Meditation in the absence of a pure mind is a sheer waste of time. It may be termed as ‘fake meditation’. I conclude my discourse with a blessing that all of you will develop good qualities and lead an ideal life.