Pray for Fortitude
New Year must usher in a new step in spiritual discipline. The old must be rung out; the new must be rung in! How do we celebrate the New Year Day? We sweep, we clean, we remove the cobwebs, we whitewash the walls, we hang up festoons and greens, floral garlands, and croton leaves; we wear new dresses, we feast on new types of dishes. For one day, we feel fresh and renovated. At this time of the year, Nature, too, puts on a new garb of green… In this festival of renewal, man alone continues with his old prejudices and tendencies, outworn habits, and moth-eaten principles. Should not he, too, brush the cobwebs from his mind? Should he not get rid of opinions and motives that tarnish and demean?
As a matter of fact, life is a series of acceptances and rejections, of attachments and detachments, of joys and griefs, benefits and losses… Take everything that happens to you as the gift of grace. Of course, on your path you must act with all the skill and devotion you are capable of. Do this with as much sincerity as you worship God. Then leave the result to the All-powerful, All-knowing, All-merciful God. Let whatever ensues ensue! Why do you hold yourself responsible? He prompted it, He got it done through you; He will give whatever result He feels He must! Without grief, there is no relish in joy! The orange has a bitter rind, the bitterness guards the sweet juice from marauders; you cannot have a sweet sugary rind for the sweet fruit, for then it will be consumed entirely by all and sundry then and there!
The urge of the fruit is to travel far so that the seeds may grow into trees in open spaces in the distance and not under the shade of the parent tree. The tree desires its progeny to spread far and wide. So, if the rind is bitter the eater will take it with him and travel some distance while removing it and start scattering the seeds only many paces away! You cannot keep gold safe in a gold box! You must have a steel almirah for it! The gift of joy comes packed in the rind of grief. Do not pray to God to give you only joy; that will be foolish. Pray for the fortitude to realize that grief and joy are but the obverse and reverse of the same coin.
~Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 11 (1971 – 72)
People talk about the new year but do not care to develop new feelings and new attitudes. They must develop new ideas and new enthusiasm. If they are all the time depressed, when will they learn to express the joy of good living? They must exude happiness. That is the mark of the Divine within. Happiness is union with God. God is eternal bliss. Get rid of your evil tendencies and fill your hearts with love of God. You will become one with God.
I am ready to give you all happiness. Are you prepared to receive what I wish to offer? Banish all worries. They are temporary like passing clouds. Do not allow anyone—whether it is the father, the mother, or the preceptor—to come between you and your duty to God. This is the lesson taught by Prahlada, Bharata, and Emperor Bali. Their allegiance to the Lord transcended all other obligations. God takes care of such devotees. Surrender yourselves to God and dedicate yourselves to the service of mankind. You have my blessings. Foster love and serve society.
~Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 31 (1998)
Be devoted to the Universal; be eager to become That. When you pray to God for a job, or a son, or a prize, you are devoted not to God but to the job, to the son, and to the prize. Pray to God for God; love because it is your nature to love, because you know nothing else, because you cannot act otherwise than love. Expand your Self, take in all! Grow in Love. That is the new dress you have to wear and shine in this day.
~Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 11 (1971 – 72)
