True Devotion

Embodiments of Love, the human body is given as a great gift by the Lord. Only when you put it to proper use does life get sanctified. The physical body is attained as a result of one’s past deeds. The body is, verily, an instrument to perform righteous deeds.

Love for God

People mistake the path of devotion to be going on pilgrimage and doing charity. These are all preliminaries [activities on this path], but, truly, they are not very important. Equally, it does not mean that you have to give all these activities. While performing these preliminaries, concentrate on real devotion. Devotion means worshipping the Lord, not caring for the fruits of your actions, but concentrating on Him and consecrating every act as an offering to the Lord, offering your life itself to Him. Allowing your pure selfless love to flow unhindered towards God without smearing it with any expectation is true devotion. You should allow selfless love to grow and develop. Just as the river flows towards the ocean, as a creeper winds itself around the tree, the star that twinkles in the sky—just as these function in a natural, similarly you will

man’s love towards God should grow in a natural way. Whatever obstacles the river has on its way, it flows finally into the ocean. For the river, the ocean is the original base. Similarly, true devotion is that love which flows toward God continuously, without expecting any results, because it is from Him you have emerged and it is in Him that you yearn to merge again.

Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Kansa (characters in the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata) and others prayed to the Lord, did penance and acquired considerable powers. These very people, who got such tremendous powers from the Lord, began going against God himself. Instead of developing true love for the Lord, they began hating the Lord. If their wishes were fulfilled, they became furious. If they were granted, they became egotists and a source of trouble. This behavior is not an indication of true devotion. True devotion is that which enables your love to flow constantly towards God regardless of any results, without expecting any rewards.

God knows His devotee’s wants, when to give them and how much to give. Do not ask; if you go on asking, the chances of your wishes being fulfilled are very remote. If you do not ask, immediately all desires will be fulfilled.

When there is a wish-fulfilling tree ready to give you whatever you want, why do you ask for Coffee powder? …. When God is prepared to bless you and liberate you, why do you go on asking Him for small favors? If you can attain Him, you have attained everything. If you have earned His love, you have earned everything else in the world; you have acquired the entire universe. If you become a slave of your desires, you will become a slave of the entire world.

God Gives Unasked

A small sapling is a very feeble thing, and for its protection, the cloud brings down rain and sustains it. The sapling does not go to the cloud for rain. In the same way, the little child has no strength even to move towards its mother for milk, but the mother comes to it and protects it. In like manner, God will come down to the devotee and fulfill all his wishes and give him whatever he wants. For this to happen the most important factor is your love. Love emanates from the name. If love emanates from the name, the Lord emanates from love. That is why it is said that for the principle of Godhead, the basis is love. And for that love, the name is the basis. For the name, it is the feeling that is the basis. For all these, the will power is very important.

Expand Your Love

The love offered to God should be free from desires. Before you love God you should love yourself. After loving yourself, you should love society, then the entire world. If your love is not selfless, you cannot love the world, you can never love God. …  To enable your love to flow to society and the world, you should allow your love to flow to your family. A boy’s love starts growing his mother. His love flows to the father, then to the other members of the family; As he grows further, it flows to his friends. After his marriage, his love flows to his wife, then to his own children. God has conferred this concept of family so this love can spread and expand and not remain in a narrow selfish sphere. As love starts growing, your heart becomes very large. This devotion is conferred on man to that his life grows beyond narrow limits.

Your love should envelop the entire world. Expounding your love in this way becomes the worship of the Lord. Then love and service become all pervasive. It is only the name of the Lord that can help us to broaden the limits of our love. Nothing is greater than devotion. Nectar is described as supremely sweet. When you compare the sweetness of love with the sweetness of nectar, nectar becomes insipid and tasteless; love for the lord is the sweetest.

God Is the Only Friend

Some people say there is no need to tell Swami about our difficulties. If we do not tell our difficulties to Swami, how can we get them resolved? The good and the bad depends upon the action. Do good, and you will get good. Whatever is desirable, the Lord will give you. Do not go on concentrating on the fruits of action. If you can only concentrate on the name of the Lord, all your wishes will be fulfilled. Do not go on asking for things. Aspire for God—that is true devotion. That is how you should live. All you have to get is God’s love. All you have to do is namasmarana [repetition of God’s name] The essence of all the scriptures is love. This love will never decline. The love of the world will certainly decline.

The love of the Lord is full, total. We must make all efforts to attain this supremely divine love. At the same time, we have to do our duty in the world. As long as you have physical body, you have to love everyone. This may not be possible, but one must make an effort. You have to make an effort to go close to the Lord though love. Only then will your life become sanctified.

Embodiments of divinity. You have to offer your physical body, your time, your actions, as an offering to the Lord and sanctify our lives. You have to reach; that permanent place of the supreme Lord. True love consists of serving the Lord, recognizing the Lord recognizing the Lord in everyone in the same way. He is your closest and dearest friend. Forgetting such a dear friend, you are taking shelter with others who are not real friends. In this world it is impossible to recognize true friends. If you have some money with you or if your father is in a good position, everyone comes to say hello. But the moment your pocket is empty, or your father has no position, people are not prepared to even say good-bye. As long as the tank has water, thousands of frogs come and collect there. But the moment the tank gets dried up, not even a single frog lives in it. That is the type of friends you have today. But God who is your true friend, is with you at all times, and He will never leave you at any time or at any place. Believe firmly that God alone is your true friend and follow Him. This is the right royal path to reach the Lord. By chanting the name of the Lord, sanctify your time. By singing His glory, sanctify your life. Always continuously develop a pure heart for the welfare of the world. This kind of purity of love alone will prepare the ground for attaining God.

God Is in Your Heart

Mira was a great devotee. She did not invoke any other name except Krishna. But there was a worldly desire in her. Her desire was to have a Krishna idol and install it in a temple so that she could go and pray there. She asked herself, “Who will build a temple for me? Can this be done?” In this manner, she went on worrying. At that time, a prince came to her. He wanted to marry her. She agreed to marry him, hoping that by doing so her wish to build a temple for Krishna would be fulfilled. Because she had become a slave to this small desire, she had difficulties. After some time, when she conducted herself against the wishes of the prince, he drove her away from the palace. Then a Hash of wisdom lighted in Mira’s heart. She thought, “The temple was built by the prince. The idol was installed by the prince. All this is temporary. The temple of my heart is built by my lord. He is established there already.”  ‘Wherever my glory is sung, I bestow my divine presence,’ says the Gits [Bhagavad Gita. Hindu scripture] ira remembered all this.

Your physical body is the temple. You can sanctify your life by chanting the name of the Lord. Do not waste time, which is sacred. The indwelling Divinity is common in all. The sky is common; the earth is common; the water that we drink is common. Then why this hatred? Let us have only love. Develop this love. Earn the grace of God. Let yourself be filled with the love of the Lord.

Excerpted from Divine Discourses of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, November 19-24, 1987
and Sankirtanam: Discourses during Navaratri Festival, October 1988, pp. 128-138