Sai Is The Supreme Preceptor

6 April 1996, Sai Shruti, Kodaikanal, TN

Published English.

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The True Meaning Of Life Is Love In this universal drama of life, everyone is acting to express love, and the end of transformation is to become the embodiment of love. The first stage of this transformation is information (knowledge). And this information gathered in life culminates in transformation. God has created each being out of love. But it is unfortunate that man has forgotten his role of acting with love. In this drama of life, everyone should play his role well and express the quality of Divine Love ().

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Here is a small story to illustrate this. A hermit was one day bathing in the , when he saw a scorpion. This is God encased in the scorpion form and name, he felt; he wanted to save the scorpion. So, he took it on his palm, but, when it stung him, he dropped it on the waters. Then he was stricken with remorse and so, he lifted it up again. Thus it stung him five or six times; but, he persisted in his mission of mercy and at last, managed to drop it on dry land so that it could go its way, alive and happy. Many people who watched his efforts laughed at him for his stupidly exaggerated sympathy. The hermit told them that the scorpion had taught him a lesson and he was thankful for it. They asked, what? He said, “Stick to your innate nature, whatever may happen – that is what it has taught me. Its nature is to sting; it stung, regardless of whom or when. But man’s nature is to love. When it being an insect does not leave its nature, why should I change my nature being a human being?”

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Do not forget your nature and become distant from love. Do not convert love into greed or anger. The whole world needs love. At one time, the prayed to Lord :

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Oh , play Your sweet flute and sow the seeds of love in the desert of loveless hearts. Let the rain of love fall on earth and make the rivers of love flow.

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Suffuse your entire life with love. The true meaning of life is love. Love is most essential for life. Fill your mind with love and heart with compassion. But man today does not understand the true nature of love and is indulging in worldly love for pleasure. All that is worldly is temporary, momentary and ephemeral. Earlier, the ladies sang the song, “I am God”. Everything is the form of God, and God has infinite number of forms. When one has firm conviction of this truth, then true love will naturally flow from him. From birth to death, man keeps searching for happiness. A student is happy if he passes the exam and goes to the next class in school. But how long does this happiness last? Then he desires to stand first in the university. He is happy when he achieves that. Soon he wants to acquire a postgraduate degree. He gets this and feels happy, but for how long? Thereafter he wants to obtain a job and then a wife. After getting these, he is happy, but for how long? Next he wants a son and then a daughter. In this way, he keeps on struggling for happiness, desiring one object after the other until he retires. Thus, worldly happiness comes and goes; it is impermanent. It is the spiritual happiness that is permanent. It comes from the . No worldly happiness can equal this bliss.

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Once upon a time a person not able to support his family, left his house without informing anybody. After earning money by doing some odd jobs for some time, he decided to return home. At the time of leaving his house, he had a son who was very much attached to him. After his father left the house, the child died as he was unable to bear the pangs of separation from his father. As the father was returning home, all of a sudden, there was a heavy downpour with lightning and thunder and it also became dark. He thought it was not safe to travel in such a situation. He took shelter in a in a nearby village for the night. As soon as he fell asleep, he had a dream. He saw that he had become a king served by many servants, and he was seated on a golden throne. He also dreamt that he had six sons dressed in princely costumes. He saw that he had a royal bed on which he could recline without any worries whatsoever. Meanwhile, his dream was broken by a loud thunder. He at once got up and looked around. He thought, “Alas, what happened to the royal bed? Till now I was a king; where has my throne gone now? What happened to all my servants who were attending on me? And where have my six children gone?”

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Now he was in a state of despair as he realised that it was all a mere dream. Next morning, he got up and returned home. Seeing her husband, his wife started crying bitterly. On the one hand, she was happy to see her husband return home, but on the other hand, she was grief-stricken at the loss of their only son. When he asked his wife where their son was, she told him that he had died. On hearing this, he was shocked and stood there like a rock without showing any emotion. Then his wife asked him the reason why he was not showing any signs of sorrow on the death of their son whom he was so much attached to. Then he replied, “Oh foolish woman! Last night while sleeping in the I had a dream in which I was a king served by a number of servants and I was reclining on a royal bed. I had six sons dressed as princes. But now I have lost those six sons. Whom should I cry for now? Should I cry at the loss of those six sons or should I cry at the loss of our one son? What is the truth? Is this the truth or that? No, none is the truth. I am the truth. I am there in the waking state. I am also there in the dream state. So, the waking state and dream state, both are false. I am the truth. Truth is God. So, I am God”.

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Do Everything To Please God Who is near God? One who follows the command of God and manifests divine qualities is near God. One who has full faith in God is a true human being in reality. What is the meaning of (human being)? is also called – . It means man is the embodiment of love. But if these three letters are reversed, then it becomes Si Ni Ma. Man today has become cinema. Human is gone, cinema has come. In cinema, they cry artificially, laugh artificially. Birth, death, happiness, everything is artificial in cinema. Do not follow the artificial way of life; follow God. If you follow the command of God, everything else will follow. If you have gold in hand, you can have any ornaments of your choice. Without gold, how can you have ornaments? You pray, I want grace, I want blessing, I want love. These are all artificial utterances. They are ornamental. What is the real gold? Real gold is the prayer when you say, “I want You, I want You, I want God”. If God is there, then everything is there. When there is no God, then nothing you find there. So, everything is nothing. All worldly things you crave for are nothing. Listening, experiencing and being happy, all these are nothing. That which is not heard, that which is not seen, that which is not performed, that which is not forgotten is bliss. Do not lead artificial life. Follow truth and experience Divine love. Love is God. Live in Love. How to develop this love?

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You are selected by God. Be privileged to listen to Him, be blessed to follow His command. This is the real good fortune. That is true human life. That is the goal of human life. It is love that is important. There is nothing in this world beyond love. The value of love is incomparable. Everything is love. Live in love. So, be happy, serve and worship God. Then you will attain eternal bliss which is ever fresh and new. Keep always smiling. None should put on a castor oil face because Swami is very happy to see smiling faces. There are two types of smile. One is and the other is . is smile. is loud laughter like that in cinema. Do not laugh loudly. What is the language of God? Silence is the language of God. Be pure of heart and steady in devotion. Spend life with smile.

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When the heart is full of love, there will be sweetness in speech. The ladies sang, “Oh Lord! You are the sweetest of all”. The sweetness you find in God is nowhere else. His watching is sweet, His listening is sweet; He is the sweetest of all sweets. Those who recognise the sweetness of God will be happy in life. So, develop love for God more and more. Mere listening to talks and reading sacred texts is not enough. Put into practice all that you read and listen. Otherwise, all learning is useless. There is no use of without practice. You repeat God’s Name, you meditate, you do and perform all actions through the body. Then love should manifest and emanate from your body. There is water in the tumbler. Without the container, you cannot hold water. The body is like the tumbler. Fill the water of Divine love in it. Fill the heart with love. Then only love will emanate from it. Devotion means pure love. This love gives you bliss. also said:

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Oh tongue, the knower of taste! You are very sacred. Speak the truth in the most pleasing manner. Chant the Divine Names of , and incessantly. This is your foremost duty.

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The tongue accepts what is sweet and throws out that is bitter. It discriminates between good and bad. It receives all that is good. All the bad is thrown out. Not only that, how sacred it is! It does not go out and visit anybody. It does not leave its place like some people who go from house to house like rats and cats. Use your tongue to talk sweetly. Do not utter falsehood and do not criticise. Let the Name of God dance on your tongue. The tongue is like a (dancer). It dances continuously. How can you control ? When you reverse the letters in the word , it becomes (singing the glory of God). So, continuously sing the glory of God through your tongue. Then only will it be put to sacred use.

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God And Devotee Are One Sanctify your tongue by uttering only sweet and true words. Do , do , do it with love. Do it blissfully, not simply with tongue but with heart full of love. Your singing should not be by force but by source (heart). This is the role you are supposed to play in the drama of life. Then only will you earn a good name. People will call you a very good actor. It is not enough if you get good name from people. You have to get good name from God. If you are not accepted by God, world will also not accept you. If God does not accept you, you become cheap. God’s love is immense as He is the Divine Mother. Become deserving of God’s love. How to earn this Divine love? You can earn God’s love when you follow the command of God and have exemplary conduct. God will then submit Himself to you.

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God creates the devotee and devotee also creates God by constantly remembering Him. So, devotee and God are one and the same. God has creative powers and so does the devotee. There can be no devotee without God. When there is no devotee, God has no value. Without God, devotee has no value. Unity of God and devotee exalts human quality and proves that God and devotee are one and the same. This sacred truth is being made unsacred today. Having been born as (human), one should end his life as (God). Nobody should die as a human. At the time of birth, we cry , , (who am I?). At the time of death, we should say , , (That I am). If you sit in the examination hall reading question paper all the time, when will you answer? What result can you expect? So, you get zero result. Learn the answer before your time on earth is up so that you pass the examination. Then you will get the degree. When you pass, God will say, “You are Mine”. It would be your greatest good fortune when God says this. Safeguard this fortune. In order to safeguard this fortune, you should think of God continuously.

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brought His Discourse to a close with the , “ Ram…”