Prakriti

Prakriti (Nature) has no beginning. She is timeless. She cannot survive without the company of Purusha (Creator). She can be compared to a pious wife. Her beauty is beyond all description. Her strength is enormous. She can push anyone into the confusion of a family when one forgets God. She can cause trouble to even great people. Prakriti has been communicating a lesson to us that there can be no pot without the mud. There can be no ornament without gold. There can be no cloth without yarn and there can be no world without the Brahman. It is erroneous to separate Prakriti from Paramatma (God) and regard them as distinct and worship nature alone. We should not be subservient to nature but make it subservient to us. Nature is not anybody’s property. It is not even the property of all the people put together. Nature belongs to God.

Therefore, if you want to keep nature under control, you will have to do so only after earning God’s grace. If after acquiring God’s grace, you undertake to conquer nature, it will herself yield to you. Today, by neglecting and forgetting the Lord and believing that nature is the only thing that is important, we are attempting to use nature unsuccessfully for selfish purposes.

Summer Showers 1973 – Indian Culture and Spirituality

Multiplicity is how the One appears when It assumes name and form. Then It becomes the Jagat, the Flux, the Cosmos, the Universe. God was alone before the Cosmos appeared. He projects, He protects, He dissolves, and draws it into Himself. This is the Truth. Man has the rare good fortune of adoring nature as the body of God and offering grateful worship to God. But, is he conscious of God being the source and sustenance? Does he give God the first place in his thoughts that is His due? Or is he engaged in the activities of life in total disregard of God? It is a pity that, instead of paying attention to God, nature, and man, in that order, men today are concerned most with themselves, more with nature and very much less with God. From birth to death, from dawn till night, man pursues fleeting pleasures by the exploitation, the despoiling, the desecration of nature, ignoring the truth that it is the property of God the Creator, and any injury caused to it is a sacrilege that merits dire punishment

Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 18 (1985)

God’s creation is very sacred. Do not pollute it. How sacred are the five elements given by God!

But, today, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, the sound we hear—everything is polluted. All these sacred elements have been made unsacred by humanity. That is why the world today is afflicted with so many diseases. That one is a true human being who makes sacred use of the five elements. Never waste natural resources.

Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 29 (1996)

Just as hands, eyes, nose, mouth, etc. are the limbs of the body, likewise all human beings are the limbs of society. Society is the limb of nature and nature is the limb of God. Seeing this vast nature, one should not think that it is different from God. One should understand the fundamental truth that Divinity pervades the entire creation. Bulbs, their colors, and wattage may vary, but the current in all of them is one and the same. Likewise, names and forms of individuals may be different but the principle of the atma that exists in all of them is one and the same. The service you render will become meaningful only when you understand this truth. You should not think that you are different from the one whom you are serving. This kind of dualistic feeling gives rise to evil qualities like hatred, jealousy, etc.

In fact, all evil qualities like desire, anger, greed, etc., are of man’s own making. They arise from the head, whereas noble qualities like love, compassion forbearance, originate from the heart. Head sees unity as diversity, whereas heart proves unity in diversity. Hence, head symbolizes pravritti (outward path) and heart stands for nivritti (inward path). Never think that society cannot progress if you do not render service. Society does not depend on you. If not you, someone else will do the needful. God governs everything. In the first instance, try to understand the meaning of the word “service”. It is possible to understand this once you understand who you are. You are a manava (human being). Manava does not mean the physical form alone. It is synonymous with the principle of the atma. Human being is the manifestation of the five elements. The ancient sages had total control over the five elements and thus could enjoy peace and security. Man will shine forth as atmaswarupa (embodiment of the atma/soul) once he becomes the master of the five elements.

Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 33 (2000)