Realise God through Pure Love

25 December 1995, Christmas, Prasanthi Nilayam

Published English.

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The elements and the Divine It is essential to have faith in God. The five elements are manifestations of God. They are the earth, water, fire, air and ether (or space). In the earth God exists in the form of (Awareness). In fire, God is in the form of (wakefulness). The Vedhik warning is, "Be awake". In air, God exists as the (vital breath). In ether (or space) God pervades it as the primal sotmd, . Every element thus proclaims the manifestation of one aspect of God.

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Mind is the cause of man's bondage The mind, according to the scriptures, is the cause of man's bondage or liberation. The mind has three qualities: , and . The Thamasik quality makes the mind ignore the truth, pursue the false and impels man to indulge in what is unholy and improper. It is necessary to correct this tendency of the . The is responsible for a person living in a kind of dream-state and treating it as real. The Sathvik quality makes a person see good even in a bad person or object. The Sathvik person sees God in the whole cosmos and fosters the godly approach to creation.

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Make love the basis for all your actions. The prayed to to play on the flute and fill their barren hearts with love so that love may grow and ripen in their hearts. The love of God should be free from any desire for favours. God judges the devotee's love by the intensity of the feeling and not by the number of ways in which worship is offered. Love of God does not mean giving up your normal duties. In the performance of these duties, every action should be done as an offering to God - (for the sake of pleasing God). Look upon the body as a moving temple, wherein God' resides. Recognise that God is always with you and around you.

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Messengers of The Messengers of are doing excellent work. They are helping to build dwellings for the poor in the villages. They also arrange for the marriage of poor villagers, raising the money from among themselves. Many old students of the Women's College (at ) are living in overseas countries like Germany, U.S.A, Australia and Japan. It is an index of their devotion to that they have come from these distant places for this annual meeting of "the Messengers" at great expense. I asked the President of the Association why the members are wasting money in this way. Why should they not use it for helping some poor people in their places? Every trip costs about a of per person. Her reply was: "! We are not concerned about the expense. We come to to get our spiritual batteries recharged go that we may render, better service Money comes in one way or another: But we have to develop our spirit of sacrifice. It is for this reason that we are coming here. Even the money we earn is not really ours. We are merely agents. We are a kind of trustees for our incomes." This attitude has to be appreciated. People should regard all wealth as coming from God to be used for sacred purposes. No one brings anything with him at birth and carries anything with him at death. All relationships in between are transient. Treat all alike. Even bad people will be transformed if you treat them with love.

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Among the Messengers of , consisting of men and women, it is the women who are carrying on more service activities. This is all the more commendable because of the handicaps they labour under as housewives with in-laws and others who dominate over them. Nevertheless they are persuading their husbands to come to . This is true because they are converting sceptics to believe in God. The male old students have more freedom but are not equally zealous in rendering service. They should realise the true meaning of freedom, namely, carrying out the dictates of the Spirit. As a nation we have achieved freedom, but we have not achieved unity. Unity can be achieved only through love. This was the message of Jesus.

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Make yourselves worthy of calling ' Devotees' Students! When you are observing today the birthday of a divine personality you have also to follow his teachings. You have to remember what constitutes the greatness of the person whose birthday you celebrate. We celebrate 's birthday, but how many respect the words of the father as did? How far are you prepared to sacrifice position and power as did? People insist on rights to which they have no claim. How can they call themselves devotees of ? You should follow the ideals of . What is meant by calling yourselves devotees of ? You have to foster love and develop unity. You must consider yourselves as members of one family, the children of one God. Only then you are entitled to call yourselves devotees. Whatever others may say, do not bear any ill-will towards them. Welcome everything as for your good. The more you serve God, the more the bliss you will experience. Hence, fill your life with love, grow in love and end your life in love.