Become Embodiments of Love
Contemplate on God with a pure heart. There is no greater spiritual exercise. But as long as men are attached to worldly objects, they can make no progress in the spiritual field. Once Radha and other gopikas [milk maidens] wanted to go down in a boat from Mathura to Brindavan. They rowed the boat all through the night, but found to their astonishment that the boat had remained where it had been. They then discovered that they had not untied the rope that kept the boat bound to a post on the bank.
The first need is to develop the spirit of sacrifice and get rid of attachment and possessiveness. Then the yearning for God grows. All are entitled to receive God’s grace according to their merits. It is like drawing upon a bank according to what you have deposited with it. There are three ways of getting money from a bank. One is drawing on your deposit. In spiritual terms, this means realizing the fruits of your past actions. The second means is raising a loan on the security of your assets. This corresponds to the grace you get by your current good deeds. The third means to get money from a bank is to have a good surety to the loan you wish to raise from the bank. Spiritually, this corresponds to securing God’s grace through the medium of a guru. Who is the guru? He is the Divine dispeller of the darkness within you. ..
Forgetting this basic truth, people run after men wearing the ochre robe who profess to impart a mantra and stretch their palm for money. This is not what is meant by Guru. Install God in your heart. The vibrations that emanate from the heart will elevate you spiritually and confer divine wisdom. This wisdom has been defined as prajnaana (constant integrated awareness). To acquire such wisdom you have to keep your mind pure as a mirror, using shraddha (earnestness) as a cloth, dipping it in the water of prema (love) and wiping the dust on the mirror (in the form of bad qualities). This wisdom cannot be acquired from books. It has to be got through self-examination and self-correction.
Everything is based on man’s thoughts, which find expression in external forms — a reflection of his inner being. This can be illustrated by a simple example. When one wants to build a house, he plans in advance how the different rooms should be located. These ideals are later incorporated in blue prints. The thoughts come first and then they are given concrete forms. Similarly when you want to write a letter, you first think of what you should write and then commence to write.
Thoughts lead to action. There can be no action without sankalpas (firm thoughts). Hence it is essential to entertain sacred thoughts. Everyone should realize that all the sorrows and miseries of modern man are due to his bad thoughts. Every man thinks that someone else is responsible for his troubles. This is not so. You alone are responsible for the good and evil that befalls you. You blame others because of your weakness.
Gurupoornima is an occasion for cleansing the mind to make it absolutely pure. It is not enough to praise God. You have to love Him. You have to become love itself so that you can love the entire universe. I address all of you as “Embodiments of Love.” When you become embodiments of love, you can love all.
Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Chapter 21, Vol. 28
