Sacrifice is Essential for Spirituality
Charity is giving of money, time, or energy for a good cause; sacrifice is giving up of one’s bad traits and weaknesses. If sacrifice means just giving up of hearth and home, many people will do it very easily! The hallmark of true devotion is this sacrifice—the giving up of one’s bad traits and weaknesses.
Digest 2, p. 60
Good people sacrifice their personal interests and purify the atmosphere of their environment. They are like an incense stick, which goes on burning and radiating fragrance to every one who comes close to them, even while burning themselves out. One who always thinks of others, of helping others, harboring sacred feelings in mind, will be improving day after day. A person endowed with sacred qualities can be compared to a man who builds a wall. The man who builds a wall will continuously climb up and he will never climb down. On the other hand, individuals who are always causing trouble, harm, and hurt to others, who are jealous of the prosperity of others, can be compared to the persons who are digging a well. The persons engaged in digging a well will continuously descend lower and lower, while the persons who are building a wall will ascend higher and higher.
Digest, p. 54
“Oh man, it is because you lack love and are filled with selfishness that the world is plunged in so much conflict and chaos. It is only when you develop love and the spirit of sacrifice that you will realize the divinity that is in the human.” The man who has no spirit of sacrifice will be prey to all ills. A man without love is a living corpse. It is love and sacrifice that make man divine.
Digest 2, p. 25
Look at the trees, the rivers, and the cows. They are supreme examples of self-sacrifice for the sake of others. The trees grow and produce flowers and fruits for the enjoyment of others. A tree gives shade even to one who is felling it. The rivers keep flowing, all the time, to provide life-giving water to all living things. The cows offer the milk, which is intended for their calves, to man. If trees, rivers, and cows can exhibit such exemplary qualities of sacrifice, it is deplorable that man, who has inherently noble qualities, should be lacking in the spirit of sacrifice.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. XVI
