Small Teachings

You use a mosquito net to avoid being bitten. As long as you have the net, no matter how many mosquitoes there are outside, you don’t have to worry. However, if mosquitoes are inside the net, nobody can save you from them. If you put up a net to protect yourself, but foolishly allow mosquitoes in, it is like visiting holy places, keeping holy company, doing holy deeds, but not clearing out the defects within.

Divine Discourse, p. 104

What does a sculptor do when he sees a good boulder? He pictures in his mind a lovely idol of God within. He becomes possessed with the idea of liberating the idol from the hard clasp of the stone. He takes up the chisel and removes the extra stone that lies around the beautiful figure; finally liberating the image. The boulder has to suffer all that hard chiseling in order to become the image of God. So too, cast off all the impediments and encumbrances that drag you down and make you a boulder instead of a Devotee and a released soul.

Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. II, p. 64