Purify the Heart
“Once man purifies his heart, he will find purity everywhere. The world outside is just a reflection of your heart. If you fill your heart with love, you will experience love everywhere. If there is hatred in your heart, the same is reflected outside. Whatever you see, hear and experience outside is only the reflection, reaction, and resound of your inner being. All the good and bad that you come across in the external world are just your own reflections, reactions, and resound of your inner being. So, do not point an accusing finger at others. The whole world depends on your own conduct. If you are good so, too, will the world be. It is a mistake to think that there is evil all around you in the world. In fact, it is your own evil which is reflected outside. If your feelings are demonic, the world all around you will look demonic. If your feelings are divine, you will find divinity everywhere.”
Purifying the Heart, p.70
“Whether we are actively working in the world or have withdrawn from it, the most important consideration is not the work that we do or not do, but how effectively we have been able to uproot and destroy the vasanas (deep-seated tendencies) which lie hidden in our heart. The removal of these impurities, which have encased themselves so deeply, is the principal objective of all spiritual practice.”
Purifying the Heart, p.135
“The vasanas invade the realm of the heart; they cause endless trouble. They remind you of pleasures, agitating the memory of past experiences, and you start craving for them again.”
Purifying the Heart, p. 136
“The emphasis must be on the spiritual effort of purity and sacrifice. Purity is Divinity. Through sacrifice there is purity of mind and heart. By purity, Divinity is realized. Sacrifice is an offering, a giving up to the Lord, a dedication to the Lord. What is to be sacrificed to the Lord is the sense of ego, of “mine.” Once all sense of ego is sacrificed to the Lord, given up to the Lord, heart and mind are purified of ego-attributes and Divinity can then be realized.”
Heart 2 Heart, Conversation with Sai, part 39
“The most beneficial thing that can happen to a person is that he should draw God’s love to himself. His love for God is of less importance, because it is an imperfect mixture of divine and worldly love. The most important action to gain God’s love is righteousness, dharma. Spread out on a flat surface there may be gold, silver, copper, iron filings, diamonds, rubies, silks, and other things of value, but a magnet pays no attention to all the riches; it selects only the iron filings. It is the same with devotees. God does not select on the basis of wealth. He looks to the purity of heart.”
Heart 2 Heart, Conversation with Sai, part 19
“There are two important organs for man. One is the heart and the other is the hand. The head is preoccupied with enquiring into mundane phenomena. It is concerned with the external; its focus is on objects outside. The heart looks at what is within. The concern with the external has been termed pravritti marga (the path of externals)… All man’s actions today, including the knowledge he acquires and the wealth he gets, are related to the pravritti marga. The six vices of kama (lust), krodha (anger), moha (infatuation), lobha (greed), madha (pride), and matsarya (jealousy) are related to the pravritti marga. These undergo constant changes. Because the body is associated with these qualities, it is also subject to change.
“But the heart remains unchanging. It is associated with the nivritthi maarga (the inward path). What are the qualities associated with the heart? Truth, compassion, love, forbearance, sympathy, and sacrifice; these human qualities emanate from the heart. So, in human life, the head and the heart play crucial roles. These two are kept in balance by the hand. Thus, the heart, the head and the hand are the three H’s which are important in studying the human predicament.”
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 7
