In plain words
Bhajans are not for show; they are for the love of God alone; they are only for gaining purity of citta by dwelling on God! But if you ask whether the bhajans held here are giving Ānanda, … . Only when feelings well up and overflow from within the heart, only when you sing a saṅkīrtana that is free of show and unsullied by Ahaṅkāra, can it give Ānanda. If people sing vying with one another, if they show petty minds, how will the bhajans flourish? How will they win the love of God? Such attitudes and such conduct can be a great insult to the very way of bhajan. So I wish to set before you one small ideal.
Not only here but in any bhajan group, in any samiti, when newcomers come, take part in the bhajans and sing, the old members do not sing after them; and even if they join in, they do not sing with the same zeal and delight. This is just what I called a petty mind. Whenever the old members sing, all the old members follow and sing along; on top of that, they make the newcomers lose heart and keep them apart as a separate group. This bad feeling must die out completely; these wicked notions have no place in the Sathya Sai bhajan group. Whoever sings, it is nothing but the Name of God, so all must join together and sing with one voice. Seeing people sit there idle instead of doing so, one is driven to ask, “Have your mouths gone, or have your very hearts stopped?” Bhakti and feelings of difference have no connection whatsoever. Put away feelings of difference and sing bhajans from the heart, and then they will delight the heart; but rather than display the demonic trait called the feeling of difference, it is their duty to keep away from bhajan.
Besides those who sing as usual every day, if someone who sings with Bhakti and prapatti comes and wishes to sing, and you give them no chance and do not cooperate with them, you must take note that the insult in this is not to them: it amounts to spurning Sai Himself. Not here alone but anywhere at all, if anyone at all stays idle, saying, “This is not my song, it is theirs; why should I join them and sing?”, there is no objection whatever to calling that the mark of a wicked nature. The play, the songs and the ways of Sai devotees should hold out ideals to everyone. Suppose feelings of difference spring up in the Sai bhajan group itself — whether in the bhajan or in the seva programmes. How then is the world to be set right? Where is the establishing of Dharma?