Practice Without Purity Is Useless

22 April 1996, Sai Shruti, Kodaikanal, TN

Published English.

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Where do the thoughts come from and what is their basis? The basis of the thought is Nature and Nature is the manifestation of God. Since God embodies the supreme Will, all thoughts come from God. But man considers himself separate from Nature and becomes distant from God. When one develops the cosmic feeling of oneness with Nature, one can live in bliss. Some devotees use the term Divine Master when referring to God or . Likewise, people use the terms headmaster, stationmaster and postmaster. When we say Divine Master, we infer that the Divine is separate from the Master just as station is different from the stationmaster. So, when we say Divine Master, there is a contradiction in saying this because the Divine is not separate from the Master. The Divine is the Divine. Therefore, the use of the word Master is redundant. Man should understand this truth.

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Three Steps To Wisdom There are three steps which man has to follow to develop understanding and wisdom. These are: , , and (listening, recapitulation, and contemplation). We have to adopt these three steps to derive benefit from the Discourses of the noble souls and study of scriptures. What is the use of listening and studying if we do not reach anywhere and remain dissatisfied and disillusioned? Unless we put into practice what we study and listen, we cannot understand our reality and realise our divinity. This is why we are subjected to endless cycle of birth and death. Man performs spiritual practices like meditation and recitation of God’s Name. But performance of spiritual practices without purity is useless. said that one’s pride of youth, wealth, and knowledge is bound to vanish. Man can attain immortality only through sacrifice and renunciation. What is that we need to sacrifice in our life? First and foremost, we need to sacrifice our bad habits. If we are not able to sacrifice even our habits of coffee, tea, smoking, and snuff, how can we sacrifice our ego to attain divinity? Man today has become frustrated in his life because he does not leave the feelings of I and mine. He should attain purity of mind by inculcating moral values. He can develop moral values when he renounces worldly thoughts and develops divine thoughts. Only then can he progress on the path of spirituality. He should elevate himself from animal to human level and from human to divine level. But, unfortunately, most people do not progress even an inch in this direction.

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Live In Close Proximity Of God The purpose of human life is to realise divinity which is inherent in man. What is human nature? It is human life coupled with divinity. Sugarcane with its hard outer covering has sweet juice within. In the same way, human body has divinity within it. God Himself descends on earth in human form to show mankind that man is essentially divine. Even then he does not recognise his divinity. Man tries to seek happiness in worldly objects. But there is no happiness in the temporary world. Permanent happiness cannot be found anywhere except in union with God. Human life is a rare gift to man but he wastes it in worldly pursuits. Make the best use of your rare human birth by living in close proximity of God. When is flowing nearby, foolish man is dying of thirst. Man should first of all understand that divinity pervades his body from top to toe. He tries to understand God. But how can he understand God, when he cannot understand the world? He should recognise that his body, mind, intellect, and senses are all divine. But man forgets this truth due to his ignorance. He cannot distinguish between truth and untruth. The entire creation has emerged from truth and it will merge back in truth. This unsullied truth pervades everywhere. Just as the water bubble comes from water and merges back in water, human being has emerged from God and will go back to God. This water is (Being, Awareness, Bliss). That is the nature of God. Do not follow the body, do not follow the mind which are like water bubbles. Follow only the source which is . This is love. Make efforts to know and recognise the nature of love. Every undertaking of man should be for the sake of knowing , which is the goal and purpose of life.

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( brought His Discourse to a close with the “…”)