1966: Sweetness is the fruit
Teachings to treasure, teachings that transform.
In this auspicious year 2015 commemorating the 90th birthday of Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, we offer a compilation of key messages from the over 140 discourses in the month of July, including Guru Poornima Days between the years 1958 and 2009.
1966: Sweetness is the fruit
The Puraanas and the epics teach the path
of devotion and surrender. They ask that man should
do every deed in a spirit of dedication. Allow the wind of
doubt or the sun of despair to affect the
pot of aanandha you have
filled, and it will evaporate quickly. But keep the pot in the cool
waters of good company and good deeds; it can be preserved
undiminished for ever.
By imbibing the teachings of the Bhaagavatha,
your thamo guna (quality of inertia) will be
raised into rajo guna (quality of
restless activity) and purified into sathwa guna (quality
of poise
and serenity). It is like the fruit growing by the combined
influence of the earth and sun first into
full sourness, then to partial sweetness and finally complete
sweetness, in three stages. Man too
by the twin forces of the Grace from without and the yearning
from within, grows into the
complete sweetness of aanandha and prema.
The Lord likes to be called Aartha-thraana-paraayana (protection
of, and devoted to, the
distressed and oppressed) more than any other name, for He is
most happy when He rescues
those in agony.
The unseen alone can confer contentment and courage to face
fortune as well as
misfortune. Ignoring it has caused the discontent and distress
prevalent in every heart and home
today. Develop bhakthi (devotion) and
you are free, for the Lord takes on the burden you carry.
The main thing is the control and the sublimation of the
senses. Letting them have their way, by
directing them on the objective world of tastes, smells,
shapes, melodies and softnesses is to fall
into a bottomless pit. It is like locking up the treasure in a
golden box with a golden lock. The
thieves get a richer loot, that is all.
How can man serve others or the Lord who is resident in all
when the senses drag him away
from that service or when passions peep in to tarnish the love
that inspires the service? The
Lokesha (Lord of the world) is engaged in
spreading aanandha in the Loka (world);
man should
be engaged in spreading aanandha around him.
That is the way to co-operate and share in the
task of the Lord. Every evil deed hastens one's fall.
This Bank helps you to keep your money safe when you deposit it
with them. They are happy to
receive it from you; they will allow you to make use of it when
you are in difficulty. There is another Bank which receives deposits and maintains
accounts strictly and confidentially. Every little sum is entered and accounted
for deeds, thoughts, words, good, bad and indifferent. If this Bank takes good
care of your aasthi (properties, wealth), that Bank
watches whether you are an aasthika, a person who
acts on the assumption that there is asthi--a sovereign guiding principle that
is divine, that whispers warnings from the heart when dharma
and sathya are infringed, when artha
and kaama enslave man unchecked.
Points to Ponder:
How to experience bliss (ananda)?
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