Thought for the Days

November 30th

Man is a pilgrim set on a long journey: he has started from the stone, moved on to the vegetable and animal and has now come to the human stage. He has still a long way to go to reach the Divine, and so he should not tarry. Every moment is precious; every step must take him further and nearer. What is it that gives each individual this special ability to develop talents? Is it not what he is carrying with him from his previous birth? You may argue that it is the effort that the individual puts in that is responsible for his becoming either a poet or a singer. This is not the case. You will have to think how, without any special training, these individuals are sometimes exhibiting such special skills.

November 29th

There are varieties of karma: bad, good and mixed. Some add fourth, the karma of the jnani which is neither good nor bad. Bad karma is an act done without the fear of God or of falling into sin. All acts done under the influence of six enemies, kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and matsarya (lust, anger, greed, infatuation, ego and jealousy), all acts devoid of Daya, dharma, sathya, shanthi and prema (compassion, righteousness, truth, peace and love). You do not see the foundations of a multi-storied skyscraper, so will you argue that it simply sits on the ground? The foundations of this life are laid deep in the past, in lives already lived by you. This structure has been shaped by the ground plan of those lives. The unseen decides the bends and the ends: the number of floors, the height and weight.

November 28th

Strive to see good things, hear good things, speak soft and sweet, instal the Lord in the alter of your heart. Believe in the consequences of karma done now and in the past. No one can avoid the reactions of his actions. The effects have to be consumed by the actor himself. One bad karma will spoil the spiritual discipline like the most tasty dish will become uneatable if a drop of kerosene oil falls in it.

November 27th

Do karma, but do not hanker after the fruit. Fruits, whether good or bad, have to be consumed by you only. So the best means of liberating yourself from the consequences is to ignore the fruit and do karma for the sake of karma only. You will not be burdened with either sin or virtue if you act so. Your duty is to believe that the Lord is the impeller of your activities and draw strength from the belief. Until the wound heals and the new skin hardens, the bandage must protect the injury. So too, until the reality is realized, the flame of faith, of holy company and holy thoughts must be applied to the ego-affected mind.

November 26th

One should not worry about what is past or what is in the womb of the future. It is such worry that is the cause of all of man's troubles. There is no meaning in worrying about the unknown future. Keeping the present in view, men should engage themselves in right actions. You must not ask either for pardon when wrong is done or for reward when right is done! Doing right is but man's duty; it is it's own reward. The joy of having done one's duty properly is the reward. To do good and aspire to get the fruit of goodness - that is pardonable, because it is not as bad as doing wrong and then blaming God that He has given you the reward admissible for evil deeds.

November 25th

A man is judged by the nature of his actions; if they are good, then he is considered a good man and if actions are bad, one is considered a bad man. Man's qualities and actions are interdependent. Good karma will automatically lead to good dharma. Duty is God. It is wrong to desist from the appropriate action, placing reliance on destiny. If you do, even destiny will slip out of your hands. Many good deeds are being done all over the world, People should participate in such good activities, render help to others and regard them as spiritual exercises.

November 24th

Carry on your legitimate duties, discharge your obligation, but do not allow attachment to grow. A wise manhas todo the duties cast upon him with discrimination, diligence and detachment. Play the role, but keep your identity unaffected. Have your head in the forest (ashram), unaffected by the aimlessly rushing world. But, it is your duty which you cannot escape , to fully engage yourself in your work, unconcerned with loss or gain, failure or success, slander or praise. God is but a witness to man's activities; He is above hate and anger. Man gets punished by his own actions and not by God.

November 23rd

I do not accost one particular date in the calendar as My Birthday, for I consider the day when Divinity blossoms in your heart as My Birthday in you. Therefore, each of you should individually celebrate such a day as My birthday. The day when you resolve to practice My advice, to follow My directives, to translate My message into acts of service and to engage in Sadhana (spiritual effort) -- that is My birthday for you. The 23rd day of November which you now honour as the day on which I was born, is only like any other day if you celebrate it in a routine, ritual fashion. Adore man; the adoration reaches Me. Neglect man; you neglect Me. Of what avail is it to worship the Lord and to suppress man, His counterpart? Love for God must be manifested as love for man, and Love must express itself as Service.

November 22nd

It is essential to suffuse all actions with Dharma. That Dharma should be dedicated to the Divine. Therefore build your lives on the four pillars of Jnana (Wisdom), Karma (Action), Dharma (Righteousness) and Brahman (Godhead). Our condition in life is determined by our actions. Our habits are governed by our actions. Habits determine conduct. And conduct determines our future. Hence it is extremely important to control our actions. Good and Bad in life are determined by the nature of our actions.

November - 21st

Appreciating the importance of actions, you must see that everything you do is pure and holy. Action is not limited to what you do with your hands. What you hear, what you see, what you speak and what you think - all of them constitute action.This means that the things you see, the words you hear, the thoughts you think and the speed you make in doing these, should all be pure. All thatyou take in through your five senses should be wholesome and pure, not merely your food alone, only then can it be Sathwic.

November - 20th

There should be no sense of egoism in doing one's work. Self-conceit in performance of actions and attachments to its fruits have to be given up. The actions done on the basis of love and faith are good karmas. You must be concerned only to see whether your actions are pure and selfless according to your conscience. Do karma based on jnana, the jnana that all is one. Let the karma be suffused with bhakthi - that is, humility, love, non-violence.

November - 19th

Every activity of man has a goal, an end in view. Proceeding to the market, going to school, each has a purpose. When such short-term activities are motivated by goals, how can man pass 60 or 70 years of life on earth with no purpose guiding him and leading him on ? Everyone's priorities in life continuously undergoes changes because of alterations in their circumstances. For example, if you were to invite a devotee to accompany you to Puttaparthi, he may regret inability on the grounds that he has exhausted all his leave. And yet on the same day, if he receives a message in his place of work that his son has met with an accident, he would proceed on leave without delay to attend to the treatment of his child.

November - 18th

An idle man's brain is the devil's workshop. When one is busy with some work there shall be no room for any thoughts, a peaceful mind is the abode of love, which is inherent in everyman, even in a thief, but it has to be nourished by dedicated service. Man engages himself in many activities in his self-interest and thus spends his life. No single achievement satisfies man or society. Man constantly strives to accomplish more things. Today it appears as if man seems to revel in dissatisfaction.

November - 17th

To live is to change, to move: you may not move the whole body or any of its parts, but still movement is taking place. Food is being digested, blood is being circulated. Life is karma. All living beings are engaged in karma, offering themselves in the sacrificial rite of ceaseless activity. Karma shapes the future as it has shaped the present.

November - 16th

All beings, men or women, trees and animals, worms, insects, all have to do Karma; everything in the Universe is bound by this law. There is no escaping this obligation. Karma is the characteristic of Nature. You cannot desist from karma, only you have to take care that it is saturated with prema and promotes the welfare of the world. Without karma progress of the world is very difficult. Karma cleanses the mind if it done as a dedicatory act, the consequence being left to the Will of the Lord. Repentance saves even sinners from perdition. No ceremony of expiration is as effective as sincere repentance.

November - 15th

Whoever it may be, whether he is devotee or a believer, an aspirant or an unbeliever, his actions will determine what rewards or punishments he gets in life. Your good behaviour shall be your shield of protection. (Law of karmas). Karma is no religion of despair; it is religion of hope, of assurance, of encouragement to lead an active, useful, beneficent life. For the future is in your hands; tomorrow can be shaped by today, though today has already been shaped by yesterday. Have the sense of equality feeding all your activity, but do not make all your acts equal will all and for all. A razor cannot be used for shaving a beard, a pencil or a wooden plank without distinction.

November - 14th

The mind spins a cocoon for the soul(jivi) to be imprisoned in. Karma(actions) which is the activity of maya(ignorance) grasps the individual in its grip; it is the husk that makes the paddy seed grow. Remove the husk and there is no more sprouting. The husk, karma, makes the jivi sprout and undergo the penance of vasna and samskaras. You reward and punish yourselves as the result of your activities. The guru can only help you to a limited extent and you ought to be grateful to him for that. He is like an expert gardener who tends the plants, watering them carefully, cutting the tree into a proper shape, applying the correct manure to supplement the soil and keeping it free from drought and pests.

November - 13th

The Deha(body) is indeed a Kshetra(field of activity) and we must discover the kshetrajna(the master of the field) after deep search. Seek and you shall find. Seek and you shall find the Divine, but only after a deep search. It is when we knock that the Master opens the door. So, we should:Ask, ask, and ask;Knock, knock, knock;Seek, seek, seek.

November - 12th

From the point of view of the Divine, there is no free will, for all is GOD. But for the EGO view point of the individual there is free WILL. There is general law (God's law) for the individual & Society. The individual acts in society according to his free will, but all conform to the general law. The individual must act and his action is a Function of his mind. There are thoughts, which function as seeds and they sprout & become actions. The actions then appear to be free will to the concerned individual. Every one has been given skill & talents such as intelligence, reason, energy, and they must be put into right action.

November - 11th

"Duty is God; Work is Worship; and there is a dictum. Heads in the forest, hands in the society;" Do deeds that are holy and beneficial, untarnished by ego and the greed to benefit. Start on the sacred pilgrimage to the Divine goal and make every minute of your life holy, and purposeful. Then, surely, this Earth, your felid of work, will be transformed into Karmakshetra and Dharmakshetra."

November - 10th

Without flowers, the plant yields no fruit. Without the emerging fruit, ripeness cannot happen. Without intense Karma (effort), Bhakti (devotion) cannot emerge, Without Bhakti, how can Jnana (Wisdom) be found? Somaka the wicked, spurned and suppressed the Vedas, But did he reap any happiness? The ten headed monster coveted and kidnapped another’s wife, But did he achieve any gain? The close-fisted Kaurava refused pin-point land to his closest kin, But did he keep the loot? The terror-stricken Kamsa sought out and slaughtered each new-born baby, But did he escape from death? Wicked men, even now, shall meet this fate Take this Sai word as the word of Truth.

November - 9th

It is not easy to explain in what form and in what manner karma follows a person. A cow, which may feel proud about its horns and its size, finds itself controlled by a rope through its nostrils, on account of its karma. Hence, one must bear with whatever troubles that may come, treating them as consequences of past actions. But, the effects can be mitigated or removed by earning the Grace of the Divine.

November - 8th

Papa (sin), Punya (merit) are consequences of the karma done by the body. As per the inescapable law of karma, the results of good or bad actions are not like the milk that you get immediately as you draw it from the udder of the milch cow, but they are like fruits that you get from a tree long after the seed is planted. Therefore, do not feel elated just because your bad actions have not given you the bad results immediately; you are sure to experience them in due course.

November - 7th

Do not act as per your fancies. First consider whether your action is proper or improper. Do not act in haste. People complain when they experience difficulties as to why God is subjecting them to such trials. The truth, however, is that the Lord neither punishes nor rewards anyone. Man should do his duty and leave the result to God. It is only when you recognize your own faults that you begin to understand the ways of the Lord. Today the tendency is to ignore one’s own fault and blame God for one’s suffering. Nothing can happen without a cause. Good actions will earn good returns and bad actions will result in bad consequences. That is why the Lord is described as ‘Karma-phala-pradaata, meaning the dispenser of the fruits of karma (actions). As you sow, so shall you reap, is a relentless law. You cannot escape from the consequences of your actions.

November - 6th

The fault lies in the belief that things happen as a result of human effort and planning, human intelligence and care. No one can succeed in any venture without Divine Grace. It is God’s plan being worked out through man, but man prides himself that it is he who is working for it. Man will realize his mission on earth, when he knows himself as Divine. The wealth you earn is not true wealth! True wealth is the grace of God.

November - 5th

Each man carries his destiny in his own hands. You will not be bound, because others are not freed. You should strive for your salvation, at your own pace, from where you started when you were born. Earn yourself, for yourself. Two people may have two acres each in the same village; but they reap different quantities of grain, depending on the skill and attention they bestow and the quality soil, the seeds and the manure they use.

November - 4th

"To say that God is the prime cause of every thing is true to a certain extent; but you are not thrust by Him into an iron cage of destiny from which there is no escape. Lord has endowed you with Viveka (discrimination) and Vairagya (detachment) and with a sense of awe and wonder and you have to use these for attaining him. Though bound, you are not entirely incapacitated. A cow that is tethered to a post by means of a rope can walk around and graze on all the area which the rope can traverse freely as far as the rope allows. But do not stray far from the post and pull at the rope and inflict pain on your neck."

November - 3th

"The law of karma is not an iron law. By dedication, by purification which invites benediction, its effects can be modified and its vigour mitigated. Do not despair, do not lose heart. When vices hold sway over your heart it becomes foul and sooty. The flames of Kaama (desires), Krodha (anger), Lobha (greed) clear the heart. Grace is proved by the quenching of those flames. Grace confers Anandam (bliss) which Kaama, Krodha anf Lobha can never confer."

November - 2nd

"According to the purity of our actions, we will get the fruits there of."

"Man cannot escape from the consequences of sinful deeds. Evil thoughts and bad intentions are ruining the life of man."

"You feel happy when someone gives you something. But you don't feel equally happy in giving to others. Man desires fruits of good action; but will not perform good actions. They wish to be saved from the consequences of evil deeds but will not abstain from bad actions.

As you sow, so shall you real, is a relentless law.

"You cannot escape from the consequences of your actions."

November - 1st

"On your land, you can grow food as you like, or you can idle and let it lie fallow. You owe yourself the cause of ruin or progress. The tools are in your hands; you can learn the skills and break the shackles and escape. But if you decide to spend life in slavery and bondage, who can save you? Do not blame fate. The status of the present life is decided on your actions in the previous life. Bad deeds never yield good. Good deeds never breed bad, Neem seeds never yield mangoes The Lord grants the fruits of every action, according to each person’s deserts, in any situation, through any agency. All results follow the actions"