In plain words
Yet today these very people—“Rāma did not give watches. Kṛṣṇa did not give watches. Śaṅkara did not give watches. Sathya Sai is giving watches. Sathya Sai did not give golden gooseberries. So this is not divinity,” they say. Kṛṣṇa did not give golden gooseberries, did He! So is there no divinity in Kṛṣṇa? You forget that all these are in keeping with the place, the time and the circumstances. In those days, watches were not needed. Today, in the Kali Age, there are people who ask even for pumpkins and greens.
Truly, the Buddhi of those who set out to recognise divinity blossoms in many ways. If you do not take refuge in the path that says “The Ātma alone is man's real Satya”, and follow some other path, there is no gain. Each of you must rely on your own faith alone. You must not take another's faith as your support.
All of Sathya Sai's powers are nothing but proofs of divinity!
None of Sathya Sai's powers is a display; they are nothing but proofs of divinity. When you inquire spiritually, what is going on is not an investigation of Sathya Sai but only a test of the devotees. Farmers winnow the grain in the wind and then bring home only the solid grains, don't they! In the same way, this is now a test in the wind called atheism.
One more thing. Truly, talk like this has always come along with divinity, age after age. This climate, too, confirms that ‘the principle of Sathya Sai is divinity itself.’ In the time of the Rāma Avatāra, though there were mighty great sages, the Maharṣi Agastya, the Maharṣi Viśvāmitra, and the Maharṣis Vasiṣṭha, Vāmadeva and Bharadvāja, the arguments and counter-arguments arose over Rāma alone. People set out to investigate the principle of Rāma alone. In the time of the Kṛṣṇa Avatāra, too, there was no lack of men of great power. Even so, the opportunists and those afflicted by disbelief tried to investigate the principle of Kṛṣṇa alone. Now, too, it is just the same! Whoever you go to, they are saying, ‘First go and see Sai Baba, and come afterwards.’ If you observe this, the truth that the Sai principle is divinity becomes plain with ease.
Whether others believe or not, rely on your own faith and develop these: your broad Prema and your spirit of service that holds all as equal. The Supreme Person who protected Prahlāda, the One whose story the Vedas tell, who rescued Kucela, the Dweller in Vaikuṇṭha who cherished the boy Dhruva, the One the immortals worship, the Lord of the helpless, the Lord of Śrī, the Lord of the worlds: He Himself is this Lord Sathya Sai, the embodiment of Saccidānanda, the true Emperor of Puttaparthi. This Sathya Sai is the very form of Satya, who spreads that vast Prema over the whole universe. In view of the feelings within you, I have had to teach you in this way, specially, today.
The principle of life is itself the principle of God
Many people, not accepting or believing the truth that ‘the jīva itself is God’, spend their whole lives in sorrow and unrest. Some ask, “How can living human beings become God?” Then, can a corpse become God? The principle of life is itself the principle of God. Others again—“Disasters such as floods, droughts and earthquakes keep happening, don't they? If there is Īśvara, how can all this happen?” they ask. All these are simply the natural traits of Prakṛti. Through Bhakti and prapatti, you can find relief even from them. Those who ask, “Why do such calamities happen?”—why should they not ask, “Why should such evil thoughts arise in man?”