True Offering
Swami says, “True offering to a guru is to know yourself.” Let us then commit ourselves to making this true offering by practicing the quintessence of Swami’s teachings.
“There are three things which one should keep in mind: I will not think of anything else except God; I will not do anything without the permission of God and I will have my attention completely fixed in God.”
“The eyes have to be trained to discover the footprints of God; in this process the mind has to be mastered. The mind is the pivot of thoughts and feelings. The mind is the thinking aspect of Brahman—the Absolute Consciousness. The Absolute Self manifesting itself in imaginative activity is mind. However, instead of turning towards the Absolute, it turns outward, and starts using the senses as its instrument; it forgets its source, the atma. How and why this happens is inexplicable. We know that this happens and that it can be avoided and prevented. The intellect cannot grasp the secret that is called maya [illusion], for it too is bound by it. One has to transcend the intellect in order to understand it. That is a fact and the fact has to be faced. The mind is the background of the world. If thoughts and activities of the mind are sound, healthy, non-violent, filled with love, morally harmonious, then peace is near at hand and Brahman can be attained. That is why spiritual effort is to be strictly pursued to train the mind inward, towards God, its source.”
“Do not cultivate too much attachment to things of the world, which appeal to carnal desires and sensual thirsts. A moment comes when you have to depart empty handed, leaving all that you have laboriously collected and proudly called your own.”
“Above all recognize this truth: Sai is in all. When you hate another, you are hating Sai; when you hate Sai, you are hating yourself. When you inflict pain on another, remember that the other is ourselves, in another form, with another name. Envy causes pain on those who are envied. When another’s fortune is green, why should your eyes be red? Why get wild when another eats his fill? Give up this vice of envy; be happy when another is happy. That is more pleasing to the Lord, than all the mantras you recite, or all the flowers you heap on His picture or image, or even the hours you spend in japam(reciting God’s name) or dhyanam (meditation).”
