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Love
and Service
Bhagawan Baba’s principal message is
love. He is the embodiment of selfless love and His life is
a saga of selfless love for the humanity. Talking about the
nature of Love, He says,
"Love lives by giving and forgiving;
self lives by getting and forgetting. Love can never entertain
the idea of revenge, for it sees all others as oneself. When
the teeth hurt the tongue, do you seek vengeance against the
wrongdoer? No, for they both belong to you and are integral
parts of your body. So too, when someone insults you or inflicts
pain, allow your wisdom to guide you.”
“Selfless love is the source of happiness,
truth, peace, sacrifice, endurance and all the higher values
of life. There is no security and safety without 'Prema',
the absolute, unalloyed form of love. Love is the most fundamental
moral value.”
Love is the
common denominator
Delivering a discourse in Chennai, Tamil
Nadu on the 21st of Jan 1985, Baba said,
“When your thoughts emanate from a
mind purified by love, they will result in Right Action, which
is Dharma, When Love becomes part of your experience, thought
and action you get Shanthi (Peace). When we comprehend Love
clearly, Ahimsa or non-violence will result automatically.
So, Love is the unseen undercurrent binding all the four values.
It can be summarised thus: Love in thoughts is Sathya (Truth);
Love in feelings is Shanthi (Peace); Love in action is Dharma
(Righteousness) and Love in understanding is Ahimsa (Non-Violence).
Love is the common denominator for all these values. It is
the form of God, for God is love. One who gives Love is a
man and one who fails to nourish this love is a beast. Love,
or absence of Love makes one an animal, man or God.
Ref: “Sathya Sai Speaks” –
Vol. XVIII, Chapter-2
The Royal Way
to God
Here are a few excerpts of Baba’s discourses
where He has emphasized the principle and practice of love:
The Grace of God cannot be won, through the
gymnastics of reason, the contortions of yoga or the denials
of asceticism. Love alone can win it. Love that needs no requital,
love that knows no bargaining, love that is paid gladly, as
tribute to the All-loving, love that is unwavering, love alone
can overcome obstacles, however many and mighty. There is
no strength more effective than purity, no bliss more satisfying
than love, no joy more restoring than Bhakthi (devotion to
God), and no triumph more praiseworthy than surrender.
Never Give
Up Love
“Love should not be rationed based
on caste, creed, economic status or intellectual attainment
of the recipient. It should flow fully and freely, regardless
of consequence, for, it is one's nature to love, to seek out
the dry dreary wastes that love can water and make fertile.”
“When love is directed towards things
that cater to the senses or bodily happiness, it will dry
up when they fail or disappoint. When profit is loved, loss
will undermine it. Discontent will sap its springs, when you
love with the motive of worldly contentment. Even when ten
million disappointments continue to distress you, never give
up love; fix it on the source of love, the spring of love,
the supreme goal of love, namely God. Whatever the handicap,
however you are tempted to loosen the grip, hold on to God.”
“Love saturates all activities with
joy and peace. Love enables the least and the lowest. Love
yourself for the God that it embodies; Love others for the
sake of God enshrined in them, who speaks and acts through
them.”
“Love knows no fear, no untruth, no
anxiety, and no grief. I am Love; I shower love; I share love;
I am pleased with love; I bless you that you cultivate love
towards all beings. Love is God. God is Love.”
Prema: The
Highest sadhana (Spiritual Practice)
“Cultivate Prema (Love) towards all.
That will destroy envy, anger and hatred. Rama (God) and Kama
(lust, desire) cannot co-exist in the same heart. Trust begets
trust; Love begets Love. When I am talking to you with so
much Prema, you cannot develop any Dwesha or hatred towards
Me! Prema binds the whole world as one family. It is the greatest
instrument of concord.”
“The farmer plants the seedling and
watches over it with great care; he waters them as and when
necessary, removes the weeds, destroys the pests, spreads
manure and waits for the day when he can reap the harvest
and fill his granary. So too, you must nourish Prema and pluck
out the weeds of hatred and envy. If you wear red glasses,
everything appears red; wear the glasses of Prema and all
will appear loveable and good. The eye of Prema will see all
as embodiments of God.”
“Love is God, God is Love. Where there
is love, there, God is certainly evident. Love more and more
people; love them more and more intensely; transform the love
into service; transform the service into worship… that
is the highest sadhana. There is no living being without that
spark of love; even a mad man loves something or somebody
intensely. You must recognise this love as but a reflection
of the Premaswaroopa that is your reality, of the God who
is residing in your heart. Without that spring of love that
bubbles in your heart, you will not be prompted to love at
all.
“My Instrument
and My Merchandise”
Once, when Baba was asked about His 'methodology',
He said, "I have no methodology or machinery or strategy
in the accepted organizational sense. My methodology is a
simple one, based on transformation through love, and the
machinery is one of human co-operation and brotherhood. Love
is My instrument and My merchandise."
"I can transform the earth into sky
and the sky into earth. But that is not my greatest power;
My true power is Love," declares Bhagawan Baba, “Only
true Love can touch and transform the human heart."
"You may call me Premaswaroopa (Embodiment
of Love)! Prema is the wealth I have and which I share among
the miserable and afflicted. I have no other riches. The Grace
of the Lord is always flowing like the electric current through
the wire. Fix a bulb, and the current, according to the wattage
of the bulb, will illumine your home. The bulb is the Sadhana
(spiritual practise) you perform; the home is your heart.
Come to Me gladly; dive into the sea and
discover its depth; there is no use dallying near the shore
and swearing that the sea is shallow and has no pearls. Dive
deep and you will secure your desire."
Service
"The Best way to Love God is to Love
All and Serve All"
Baba always exhorts people to take to the
path of selfless service, He says, “Hands that help
are holier than the lips that pray”.
Serve for Purity
Here are a few extracts from Baba’s
message on the importance of service:
“The trees yield fruits for the benefit
of others. It is for others that rivers carry water. Cow generously
gives its milk to humans. Man also, without considering his
own personal interests, should use his body for the benefit
of others. Neither by penance, nor by taking holy dips in
sacred rivers, nor by the study of scriptures, nor by japa
(chanting the lord’s name) can the ocean of worldly
existence be crossed. It can be achieved only by rendering
service to good people. After having written the eighteen
Puranas (scriptures), Sage Vyasa condensed the essence of
its teachings in a simple phrase, “Help Ever, Hurt Never.”
“The main aim of all the activities
in which you are now engaged and which you will take up in
the future is cleansing of the mind. Be it meditation, listening
to a spiritual discourse, singing Bhajans (devotional songs),
undertaking charitable activities or performing religious
rituals, the objective is to cleanse the mind of egoism, greed,
hatred, malice, lust, and envy, and fill it with love. That
is the sign of a true devotee.”
Men are born
to serve, not to dominate
On the occasion of Fifth World Conference
of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organizations on 20th October 1990,
Baba said,
“Seva brings out all that is great
in man. It broadens the heart and widens one's vision. It
fills one with joy. It promotes unity. It proclaims the truth
of the Spirit. It drives out all the evil qualities in a man.
It must be regarded as a great spiritual discipline. You are
born to serve, not to dominate. Everyone in the world is a
servant and not a master. All relationships – between
husband and wife, mother and child, the employer and employee
are based on mutual service. The world is progressing because
of such acts of service. If not for the principle of Seva,
the world would come to a halt.”
Ref: “Sathya Sai Speaks” –
Vol. XXIII, Chapter-31
Service - The
Highest Spiritual Discipline
Baba always places selfless service at the
highest level in the hierarchy of spiritual disciplines. During
the Summer course in Indian Culture and Spirituality in 1979,
He said,
“Selfless service is a more exalted
means of attaining spiritual progress than other means such
as meditation, bhajan and yoga. This is so because when we
undertake meditation, Japa (repetition of the name of God),
or yoga, we do so exclusively for our own benefit and not
for the good of others. These are aimed at fulfilling one’s
individual desires and securing happiness for oneself. However,
what we should aspire for is the attainment of the good of
others without any desire for personal gain”.
The spirit
of service eradicates egoism
One should not feel proud about the position
one occupies. The strength derived from wealth or position
is unreliable. Morality and purity of mind alone can confer
real strength. To develop these qualities, one has to take
up selfless service. The spirit of service eradicates egoism
and selfishness. In the process, not only is your life sublimated,
but the nation also gains through the example of a dedicated
servant of the public.”
Ref: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. XXII, Chapter-23.
Service to
man is service to God
In an inspiring discourse on the 5th of December,
1964, Baba said,
“Service to man will help your divinity
to blossom, for, it will gladden your heart and make you feel
that life has been worthwhile. Service to man is service to
God, for He is in every man and living being, in every stone
and stump.”
Ref: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. IV, Chapter-43.
“If you do not serve your fellowmen
who are your kith and kin who have similar feelings, impulses
and instincts as you whom you see before your eyes alive and
gladly accepting with a smile of gratitude, then how can you
serve God who is so far above and beyond you, so different
and distant, so powerful and mysterious? Train yourselves
to serve God by serving men, in whose hearts God is installed.”
“Service to any being amounts to serving
Me, for I am in all,” Bhagawan says. “The relief
and joy that you give to the sick and the sorrowing reach
Me, for I am in their hearts, and I am the One whom they call
out to. God has no need of your service. Try to serve the
godly; become the servants of the servants of the Lord. The
service of man is the only means by which you can serve God.”
Sanctify every
act
Baba has remarked that one must undertake
every activity as an offering to God and thereby transform
it into worship. Here a few excerpts from His discourses elaborating
on this idea:
“Discharging one’s duties in
a righteous and diligent manner is, in itself, a service.
If a person works conscientiously every minute of the day,
doing the job that he is hired to do, that is an act service
to the society, for, whose money is all this? It belongs to
the society. Therefore, dereliction of one’s duties
amounts to cheating society, which is a grievous sin.”
Service and
its spiritual benefits
Baba always says that the people who render
Seva are benefited more than the recipients of service, in
terms of spiritual progress. In a discourse on the 29th of
March, 1967 in Mumbai, He said,
“Do not believe that you can by means
of Seva reform or reshape the world. You may or may not, that
does not matter. The real value of Seva, its most visible
result, is that it reforms you, reshapes you. Do Seva as a
sadhana (spiritual exercise); then you will be happy.”
“Little acts of service can confer
on you great spiritual benefits,” Baba says, “Firstly,
it will destroy your egoism and develop in you the quality
of humility. Humility will then enable you to work in happy
unison with others.”
“Service is worship; each act of service
is a flower placed at the Feet of the Lord, and if the act
is tainted with ego, it is as if the flower is infested with
slimy insects or worms! Who would desecrate the Feet with
such foul offering? Have no egoism while you serve the people.”
“Seva is the best sadhana”, Baba
says, “for eliminating the nefarious pull of the mind
towards desire.”
Social service
is service to God
“You can please Sai only by performing
your duties to the fullest, serving society whenever and wherever
you get the opportunity. Service is not limited to serving
individuals. Any action that benefits the country is service.
One should experience Divinity through the service rendered.
There is no distinction between acts of service. It is immaterial
whether you are serving the poor or the rich. You should be
able to serve anyone, at any place, and under any circumstances.”
On the occasion of Guru Poornima on the 18th
of July in 1989, in the Poorna Chandra Auditorium, Baba said,
“The body has been given to man for
the performance of right action. Every person has to discharge
his duties in life. It is a sin to ignore one's duties. When
everyone performs his duties, the nation will prosper. Perform
your duties regardless of what others may say or do.
Engage yourselves in selfless service. Consider
social service as service to God. This is the easiest way
to earn the love of God. The best way to love God is to love
all and serve all. Your entire life will be sanctified thereby.”
Ref: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. XXII, Chapter-23.
Motivation
for service
“God will not ask you, “When
and where did you do service?” He will ask, “With
what motive did you do it? What was the intention that prompted
you?” But God seeks quality, the purity of the mind,
the nobility of the motive.”
In the opening remarks of a discourse when
Baba was in Mumbai on 29th of March, 1967, He said,
“Seva is the very essence of Bhakthi
(devotion), the very breath of a Bhaktha (devotee), his very
nature. It springs from the conviction and experience that
all beings are God's children, that all bodies are altars
where God is installed, that He resides in all places.”
Ref: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. VII, Chapter-14.
The example
of Hanuman
Bhagawan Baba often gives the example of
Hanuman from the epic of Ramayana to demonstrate the ideals
of service. Here is what Baba said in a discourse addressed
to the Seva Dal volunteers at a workshop on Health and Hygiene
at Abbotsbury, Chennai on 25th Jan 1985:
“Seva is a small word, but it is filled
with immense spiritual significance. Hanuman is the supreme
exemplar of the ideal of service. When the Rakshasas (demons)
asked Hanuman, during his search for Sita in Lanka, who he
was, he replied simply: "Daasoham Kosalendrasya."
He was content to describe himself as the humble servant of
Lord Rama. Though he was strong, learned, and virtuous, he
had no trace of pride. That is a fine example of uprooting
of the ego, which service must bring about in us. No one can
serve another while one’s ego is rampant. The attitudes
of mutual help and selfless service develop the "humanness"
of man and help manifest the Divinity latent in him.
Seva must be viewed as the highest form of
sadhana. Serving the poor is the best form of sadhana. God's
grace will flow when Seva is done without any expectation
of reward or recognition. Whenever Ahamkaram (ego) and Abhimanam
(attachment) raise their heads while performing Seva, they
should be eliminated altogether.”
Ref: “Sathya Sai Speaks” –
Vol. XVIII, Chapter-2
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