Everything Depends On Good Thoughts

February 1982, Anantapur, AP

Published English.

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One may have studied all texts and ; 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 (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; (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

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Living beings can be classified into three categories, namely , and . 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 are lovers of God’s creation and lovers of divine qualities. All their deeds, words and looks are filled with love for God. The belong to this category. They prayed to in ways such as:

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O ! 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 ! play the flute with ecstasy of love!

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Their lives were totally filled with love. It is a trait of the . 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.

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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, implies purity of mind is an essential requisite for any action.

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We must take up sacred deeds in order to make the vessel of the heart pure. We spend several hours in doing (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 , 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.

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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 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.

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The third category is, (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 (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?

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

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is associated with the mundane human environment and all its aspirations, deeds and desires. This is naturally invoked when one considers himself, "I am the body", that is when one identifies himself with the body. is a result of mundane and selfish desires for comforts and so on. There the is known as , power of knowledge, is known as , physical strength; and the is known as , power of action. It is clear that 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 . 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.

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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, . What is jnana? The discriminative power (the power of discrimination between good and bad) is jnana. Your own conscience is the judge.

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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 . You say “ has come. In fact, it is you who have reached . 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 say, “ (mind alone is the cause for bondage or liberation).”

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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 and . Teachers of must be endowed with the noblest qualities so as to teach the highest kind of wisdom to the student. Teachers of must be able to teach the discrimination between good and bad. The third type is 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.

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