THOUGHTS OF SRI SAI BABA AND UPASANA

[SS91]

Discourse No. (47)
WHEN MAN TRANSCENDS RELIGION!What is religion for the masses, the science of the Masters is for the few, selected by God to tread the path and reach Godhood in as few incarnations as possible. Religion is the seed of the tree of life. It is sown in the soil of the human body, when the soul enters it. This seed has to be carefully watered and cultured to give full foliage to the tree. If the seed sown is rejected, the tree withers and life loses its charm. If the seed is properly tended and taken care of, the tree grows in full and becomes a source of protection to others.
Lead the life of religion for the progress of your own soul and for the betterment of the world at large. If you fail in this, you waste your incarnation and add to the misery and suffering of the world.

Religion is essential for every one. To discard God is to lose everything in life. There can be no joy in life without love of God and love of all mankind. Christ was sent to preach the great doctrine of Love for God and all mankind. True love generates from the purity of heart. It is unselfish and stainless. It is a consuming fire that burns away all the dross in man and makes him supremely happy. There can be no happiness unless you make others happy by your thoughts, words and deeds.The higher you soar in life, the more spiritual your soul becomes and it seeks larger avenues for the satisfaction of its aspiration.

The bedrock of religion is faith. But the devotee who yearns for God and God alone, renouncing everything for the love of God, is seized with an inward desire to see God face to face. He is not content to live in faith alone. His soul is consumed with a desire to transcend religion i.e., he wants faith in God to be no more a theoretical teaching but a living experience. This happens when God selects him for the path and gives him a Master to guide him to the goal.

Religion in its exoteric teachings is meant for the masses. Religion in its esoteric teachings is the lever to raise the devotee to the highest pedestal of spirituality. The two aspects of the divine science should not be lost sight of, the exoteric and the esoteric - the external and the internal, the open and the hidden.

[SS91]

Discourse No. (48)
THE MESSAGE OF THEOSOPHYTheosophy means divine wisdom, the knowledge of God. The followers of this philosophy have enriched your world with beauty - a beauty that shines the most when it radiates from a pure source of divinity. The founders of Theosophy were persons of great latent powers, which they made use of for the purpose of finding out the secrets of the universe. They must be reckoned as apostles of a new religion - a religion of humanity, free of creeds, dogmas, rituals and other paraphernalia.
The strength of Theosophy lies in its teaching of the Science of the Masters. Its recognition of the Masters is the most salient factor and a distinct contribution to the advancement of your world on the right lines of divinity. But for the Masters who are guiding and controlling your world, your earth plane would be continuously in a state of anarchy and misery.
Of course, the teaching of Theosophy is not at all a new teaching. It is a reflection of the old, old teaching embedded in the occult side of all religions, preached by their founders. But what these religions have failed to do, except in solitary cases, Theosophy has been able to spread the secret teachings of Masters to a much larger extent.
Theosophy aims also at providing a synthesis of all religions, thus bringing the different elements, divided into exclusive and isolate groups or camps, into cohension and harmony. Theosophy is a precursor to One World Religion, which is the crying need of the world today.

[SS91]

Discourse No. (49)
THE TWO PATHS - THE BROAD AND THE NARROW H

Self-realisation is the goal of life. But in the pursuit of the objects of the senses, people forget it entirely and create to themselves and others greater and greater difficulties and greater suffering becomes the order of the day. They all want to tread the broad path which leads eventually to destruction and ruination. The broad path is easier to travel, but it becomes narrower and narrower, as the weary traveller treads it and gets lost in the end. This is not the case with those who take to the narrow, razor-like path. It seems exceedingly difficult to travel on such a path but in reality, it is not so. It is the path of the Masters, who are stationed at every step and they help the pilgrims on the way.
He who seeks to lose himself, gains his life. He who seeks to gain the wealth of the world, loses all.
Self-realisation is the only goal of life worth aspiring for; all else is a waste of incarnation

[PiyaSoni]

Discourse No. (50)

THE HIDDEN POTENTIALITIES OF MAN

Nothing moves in the universe without the consent of God. He is the creator, harmoniser, ruler, controller, destroyer and awakener of all forces in the universe—both hidden and manifest. The sun and the moon and all the planets and the stars and the constellations are His creations. They manifest His power, His rhythm, the rediance of His splendour, the joy of His Being.

Man has a tiny mark of God's divinity in him. His soul has emanated from God and it has to go back to God for union and harmony with the Great Divinity. Man's soul encased in human body is endowed with vast potentialities, which he has to discover himself and make the best use of them for his own progress and for the progress of the world in which he is born. These hidden potentialities, when realised, make man a God. To realise these potentialities of the soul, is the object of life and not merely bodilv existence or satisfying the senses.

God is the mightiest and greatest force in life. To work in harmony with this force in righteousness of spirit should be man's urge, for only in the fullest satisfaction of the inward feeling, will come that bliss which is eternal and by any other means.

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM!!

[PiyaSoni]

Discourse No. (51)

TRUE RENUNCIATION i.e., DESIRELESSNESS, THE SINE-QUA-NON IN SELF-REALISATION

In the former years, the general belief was that God could be realised only by taking sanyas. It is not necessary to leave one's home and seek refuge in the forest or in the cave of a mountain. The keynote to God-realisation is renunciation. The true meaning of renunciation is complete detachment of the mind. Some can attain this object quicker by leaving their home for a life in the wilderness. But a house­holder, living in the midst of worldly attractions, can also attain mental supremacy by his will and devotion to God. A life of austerity and perfect simplicity is necessary but mor­tification of the flesh, which formed the principal item in the aspirant's programme for self-realisation in the olden times, is not at all desirable. The sole idea in renunciation is to slay the mind, by annihilating all senses, for desires, though natural in the human frame, will have to be subjugated and controlled. It is through desirelessness that man's soul arrives at the goal. Perfect surrender to the will of God is the Sine-Qua-Non in the attainment of Self-realisation.

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM!!

[PiyaSoni]

Discourse No. (52)

MAN THE ARCHITECT OF HIS OWN FATE

There is no such thing in reality as predestination. Each man makes his destiny himself and he is solely responsible for it. He becomes as he thinks. He is the architect of his own fate. He has to select between the two forces of good and evil in life. What good he does, bears fruit in his life as well as in the incarnations to come. In a similar manner, the evil he does bears the fruit of misery and suffering for future incarnation also till he pays off his debt. Until a man succeeds in linking his will to God's will, he must go through the rounds of birth and death on your physical plane.

The law of Karma is so effective, that is must take its course. It is indestructible and inescapable. In plain lan­guage, it means as you sow, so must you reap.

To take shelter under the excuse that you suffer because of Kismat (fate), and not exert yourself to remove the cause of your suffering is foolish. Suffering is intended for man's purification and exaltation. It is a spiritual blessing, the best medicine for human ills.

Nothing is lost in the universe. Every beautiful thought in the mind, every kind world spoken, every kind deed done, reverberates and brinks back to the thinker, the speaker and the doer in a mysterious manner God's divine blessings for his spiritual growth and happiness. In a similar manner, every evil thought, word or deed brings to the individual a load of misery and sorrows, which then begin to act as purifying agents for preparation of a better life in the next incarnation.

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM!!

[PiyaSoni]

Discourse No. (53)

LOVE IS THE NEAREST PEDESTAL TO THE FOOT­STOOL OF GOD

Faith, Hope and Charity form the tripod of man's religious being. Without faith in God, life is a disaster and a blunder. Hope is the food which man must have every day to eat, for without it, life would be barren. Charity is that talisman which opens all doors of happiness. Charity is a wide and very comprehensive word. It includes love, pity, compassion, unselfishness, sacrifice, non-separateness, true neighbourliness and philanthropy. The object of life is to give and not to receive, to lose oneself, not to gain. To love all means to gain all. When you give unstintedly, it is true love. true love burns away the cinders of anger, fear, jealously, revenge sloth and selfishness. To live truly is to love deeply.  Love is Man’s supreme test. It is the nearest pedestal to the footstool of God

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM!!

[PiyaSoni]

Discourse No. (54)

MEDITATION - THE DOORWAY TO THE INNER SE CRET OF LOVE

Meditation is the doorway to salvation. It is the most difficult thing in life, but if a man makes up his mind, he can practise it and he will succeed in the end. It is the way to still the mind. To control the senses and the mind, which is the sixth sense, is Sine-Qua-Non in the path of renunciation. Concentration and meditation are absolutely necessary for the quickening of the inner powers and inner latent forces, without which no one can reach the goal of self or God-realisation.

Meditation becomes simple and extremely pleasant, when there is a deep yearning for God and God alone. One should meditate for the love of God and not for the purpose of gaining supernatural powers. To gain psychic powers by other means than deep meditation is most inadvisable. Seek God for the sake of God out of love and devotion for God and your meditation will lead you to God, who will crown you with powers, unsought by you but which nevertheless come to you automatically, because of your single-minded devotion to God.

Meditation is the key to the realm of ecstatic joy. It is a doorway to the inner secrets of life. It takes the devotee from the physical mundane world to the highest spiritual plane or ecstatic joy and delight.

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM!!

[PiyaSoni]

Discourse No. (55)

SAINTS, SAGES AND MYSTICS - GREAT SPIRITUAL ARCHITECTS AND ARTISTS

Saints, sages and mystics are the real pillars of society-Hold them in deepest reverence and serve them with utmost devotion. They are links that join your mundance world with our Spiritual Realm. They are life transformers, great spiritual architects and artists, who change the surface of your world from a wilderness into an ordered organism of love and peace, brotherhood and joy. They are the Masters in physical bodies, in communion with God and the Spirit World.

Every saint is a live force, a dynamo that blows out the rubbish of life and makes room for all that is vital and real. The sages, saints and mystics are torchbearers who radiate the real light of God's divinity and pave the way for the betterment of the world in every sense of the word.

Mystics are despised by your foolish world as mad people. They are not mad, but are deeply drunk with the wine of God - intoxication. They are intoxicated in God and they appear to be mad but are actually the sanest, best and wisest of all mankind.

God wants His children to follow the example of mystics, saints and sages, for they are the prototypes of superman, spiritual builders of the edifice of a new life, transmitters of joy and beauty, goodness and graciousness in a world of squalor and perdition.


OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM!!

[PiyaSoni]

Discourse No. (56)

TRUTH AND LOVE ARE INSEPARABLE LINKS

There is no religion greater than TRUTH, says the Theosophist. This is too true. God is TRUTH and to reach Him, you must practice Truth in all respects. Truth is a very comprehensive word. It is not merely the opposite of untruth. It bears a wider meaning. In fact, it is a conglomeration all virtues. Truth means righteousness and all positive virtues allied to it such as integrity, sincerity, solemnity, humility, purity, selflessness, sacrifice and, above all, surrender to the Will of God.

Truth represents the male side of virtues. Love represents the female side of virtues and where Truth is practiced,
Love must instantly follow. Truth and Love are brother a sister qualities in man, which have to be developed equally. You cannot neglect Truth and follow Love only, not neglect Love and follow Truth only. They are inseparable in fact If you are righteous, you must love your neighbor, as you love yourself, it shall be only be in the spirit of righteousness and no other. Love and Righteousness are complementary terms. They make one whole.

To Love God is to love Truth and all mankind.

Love is a dynamic force in the universe. Christ came to earth for the love of mankind and a sincere desire to redeem men of their sins and follies. He taught them the path of love and weaned them from the path of folly through his own great Love and Sacrifice. The four corners of the square which one must always keep in mind, if one wants to reach the goal, are Truth and Righteousness, Love and Sacrifice.

OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM!!