Inspiring Thoughts
Dwelling on the faults and vices of others, is to invite our own Spiritual downfall
"Do not allow the mind to dwell on the faults and vices of others; it will be contaminated thereby. Fix it on the fairness and virtues of others; it will be sanctified thereby. I know that during moments of emotional frenzy, you set aside your real nature and you indulge in abusing others or wish that they come to harm or exult over their distress. Such evil thoughts get implanted in your own minds and grow wild, leading to distress and dishonour in return in your own life. Why worry about others? Speak to them if you like them. If you do not like them, leave them alone. Why seek faults in them and talk ill of them? To do so is to invite spiritual downfall. Such people lose all the gains they hope to secure by japa, puja, dhyana, or darshan (repetition of the Lord's Name, ritual worship, meditation and divine vision). They will remain bitter despite all these sadhanas (spiritual disciplines), like the bitter gourd which a pilgrim carried with him, intending to make it sweet by dipping it in holy waters."
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba"
“When you enter sincerely into the path of spiritual practice, the urge to find faults in others or to publicise one's own excellence will disappear. When you yearn to reach God, you have to observe the guidelines and walk along the stipulated path; every step will bring you nearer. When you need to reach a village, you have to rise and move towards it; it will not rise and come towards you! Similarly, when you need to reach God, rise and move, as He has directed you to! By this means alone, can you make life worthwhile.
Jesus taught simple practical lessons in spiritual advancement for the good of mankind; Jesus exhorted people by precept and example to cultivate the virtues of charity, compassion, forbearance, love and faith. If you are a sincere aspirant, celebrate His birthday in a spirit of dedication, deepening the faith in your hearts and revering His doctrines through more intense practice.”
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“Take time to introspect. The grief you cause to others will suffocate you after getting hardened to hatred.
It will recoil on your own head with tenfold force. So avoid causing pain to others and be vigilant to not allow pain to yourself as well. Then you will attract the grace of God. You cannot be successful in your pursuit for Divinity if you contrive by tricks to cause harm to others, or revel in the misery of others, or concentrate only on your own happiness and progress, unmindful of the injury you cause to others.”
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“Envy is invariably accompanied by hatred. These two are twin villains. They are poisonous pests. They attack the very roots of one’s personality. A tree may be resplendent with flowers and fruits. But when the inimical worms set to work on the roots, imagine what happens to the splendour! Even as we look on admiringly at its beauty, the flowers fade, the fruits fall off and the leaves turn yellow and are scattered by the wind. At last, the tree itself dries up, it dies and falls. So too, when envy and hatred infect the heart and set to work, however intelligent and however highly educated the man, he falls.”
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
"The tongue is liable for four big errors:
1. uttering falsehoods,
2. scandalizing,
3. finding fault with others, and
4. excessive articulation.
These have to be avoided if there is to be peace for the individual as well as for society. The bond of brotherhood will be tightened if people speak less and speak sweetly. That is why silence was prescribed as a vow for spiritual aspirants by the scriptures. You are all spiritual aspirants at various stages of the road, and so this discipline is valuable for you also.
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“You should avoid the difficult obstacles in the path of meditation, viz. anger, pride, conceit, the tendency to discover the faults of others, mischief, etc. These operate even subconsciously, just like the currents in the depths of the ocean. Spiritual aspirants must be vigilant not to lose their temper on even small things, for that will block their progress. They must cultivate love toward all, and gentleness. ”
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“The shadow of the moon falling upon the sun is not the calamity that people should fear; the shadow of Maya (Ignorance of who we truly are) falling upon the intelligence is the eclipse that has to be treated as a bad omen, as inauspicious. The mind is the moon, the intelligence is the sun; see that they do not suffer from eclipse. Then, you are safe. Do not worry when something happens in the outer sky; worry when the shadow of some dark desire, some foul passion, some monstrous emotion, some fell intention casts its evil gloom over your inner sky. See that the splendor of the Lord, the cool rays of His Grace are not dimmed in the recesses of your heart.”
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
"Don't depend on death to liberate you from your imperfections. You are exactly the same after death as you were before. Nothing changes; you only give up the body. If you are a thief or a liar or a cheater before death, you don't become an angel merely by dying. If such were possible, then let us all go and jump in the ocean now and become angels at once! Whatever you have made of yourself thus far, so will you be hereafter. And when you reincarnate, you will bring that same nature with you. To change, you have to make the effort. This world is the place to do it."
- Paramahansa Yogananda
"Life is one long series of worries from birth to death. But all worries can be overcome by the love of God. Cultivate this love at least from now onwards. Man has to journey over the road that lies over pleasure and pain, grief and joy. The journey can be smooth only when he resorts to wisdom, devotion and detachment. When the night grows chill, you draw the rug tighter around you, is it not? So too, when grief assails you, draw the warmth of the name of the Lord closer around your mind."
- Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
"We must consider that we have taken birth only to render service to society as a sacred duty. Whatever small service we may do, if we do it in the right spirit, serving with no thought of self, we shall be doing something commendable and worthwhile. An act of service by itself may be a small thing. But it must be done wholeheartedly. Just as a cow transforms whatever it may consume into sweet, wholesome milk, any kind of service rendered with a pure heart will result in great good. You should not have any returns in view in rendering service. "This is my duty. I am born to serve"--it is with such an attitude that you should take up service."
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“Each second is a fresh chance given to you for training the mind, refining the intellect, purifying the emotions, strengthening the will, for getting confirmed in the conviction that you are the deathless Self, the Infinite Consciousness, the Atman.”
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
"Foster the tiny seed of Love that clings
to ‘me’ and ‘mine,’ let it sprout into Love
for the group around you, and grow into
Love for all mankind, and spread out its
branches over animals, birds and those
that creep and crawl, and let the Love
enfold all things and beings in all the
worlds. Proceed from less Love to more
Love, narrow Love to expanded Love."
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“From the narrow vision of the individual needs, one must voyage out into the broad vision of the Universal. When a drop of water falls into the ocean, it loses its narrow individualities, its name and form and assumes the form, name and taste of the ocean itself. If it seeks to live separately as a drop, it will soon evaporate and be reduced to non-existence. Each one must become aware that he/she is part of the One Truth that encompasses everything in the Universe. Make the heart big and the mind pure, only then can peace and prosperity be established on earth. ”
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“Duty without love is deplorable.
Duty with love is desirable.
Love without duty is Divine.”
- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“Whatever talent a person has should be dedicated to the rest of humanity - indeed to all living beings. Therein lies fulfillment. All men are kin. They are of the same likeness, the same build, molded out of the same material, with the same divine essence in each. Service to man will help your divinity to blossom, for it will gladden your heart and make you feel that life has been worth while. Service to man is service to God, for He is in every man, and every living being, in every stone and stump. Offer your talents at the feet of God. Let every act be a flower, free from the creeping worms of envy and egoism and full of the fragrance of love and sacrifice.”
- Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“If a person overlooks the faults of others, and sees only their merits, and thus keeps his mind pure and serene, his whole life will be happy. To be unconcerned in all things, with the mind cool, free of desires and without hate, is beautiful in a seeker.”
Ramana Maharishi
“The secret of perfect health lies in keeping the mind always cheerful - never worried, never hurried, never borne down by any fear, thought or anxiety.”
- Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
"The flame of a lamp has two qualities. One is to banish darkness. The other is a continuous upward movement. Even when a lamp is kept in a pit, the flame moves upwards. The sages have therefore adored the lamp of wisdom as the flame that leads men to higher states. Hence, the effulgence of light should not be treated as a trivial phenomenon. Along with lighting the external lamps, men should strive to light the lamps within them."
- Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“There is only one religion, the religion of Love;
There is only one language, the language of the Heart;
There is only one caste, the caste of Humanity;
There is only one law, the law of Karma;
There is only one God, He is Omnipresent.”
- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
“Learn to do good things with the body; contemplate about good things with your mind. Cultivate good thoughts and perform good deeds. Sometimes, people ask: “Yes, we should learn to love everyone, but what should be done if the other person hates us in spite of our loving them so much?” Why should you be bothered whether others reciprocate your love or not? Your duty is to see that you do not swerve from the right path. If you also hate, how can you claim that you are still good? Endeavour your best to influence and transform others,but do not swerve from being good.”
- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
"Silence is the only language of the realised. Practise moderation in speech. That will help you in many ways. It will develop love, for most misunderstandings and factions arise out of carelessly spoken words. When the foot slips, the wound can be healed; but when the tongue slips, the wound it causes in the heart of another will fester for life. The tongue is liable for four big errors: uttering falsehood, scandalising, finding fault with others, and excessive articulation. These have to be avoided if there is to be peace for the individual as well as for society. The bond of brotherhood will be tightened if people speak less and speak sweetly. That is why silence was prescribed as a vow for spiritual aspirants by the scriptures. You are all spiritual aspirants at various stages of the road, and so this discipline is valuable for you also".
- Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
"The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all."
Mulan
"You sit in Meditation for ten minutes after the evening Bhajan session (devotional singing session); so far so good. But, let me ask, when you rise after the ten minutes and move about, do you see everyone in a clearer light as endowed with Divinity? If not, Meditation is a waste of time. Do you love more, do you talk less, do you serve others more earnestly? These are the signs of success in Meditation. Your progress must be authenticated by your character and behavior. Meditation must transmute your attitude towards beings and things, else it is a hoax. Even a boulder will, through the action of sun and rain, heat and cold, disintegrate into mud and become food for a tree. Even the hardest heart can be softened so that the Divine can sprout therein.“
- Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
