Seek Refuge in Him

It has become common to recognize each body and its form separately, and the common divine content is not seen by anyone. We are only looking at those different bodies and forms in an external way, but the real connection and comparison between one and another is through the Atma.

There is one other small example here. There was a father who had an only son. His only son was looking after the father very dearly and was serving him with great affection. In his 61st year, the father passed away. This son was sitting by the side of the dead body of his father and was crying, “Oh father, you have left me and gone. Who else will look after me in this world?” We should examine this carefully. When he says, “Father, you have left me and gone,” for 60 years he has been calling that body his father. The body, which has been described as his father, is still there. What is it that has gone away? Truly, if that body was his father, the body is still there, and he can retain that body as his father. No, it is not right.

What has left and what he was regarding as his father is the life-force that was in the body, and this life-force has left the body and gone away. What has left the body is his father and the dead body that is remaining there is not his father. It is the life-force or the chaitanya that entered the body that gives him the illusory feeling that the body was his father.

We see here that so long as there is life in a body, we promote the connections and the relationships with that body are experienced, but the moment that life goes away from that body, we will hesitate to keep that body in our home. We will have no attachment or affection to that body once the life-force has gone away. This body has taken a form that is made up of all five elements. This is only a casual and artificial appearance. There is a distinct difference between this body, which is composed of the five elements, and the Atma that is in the body. We should get the knowledge by which we can recognize the distinctive difference between the body and the Atma.

Summer Course 1977

As long as one is alive, all seem to love the body. This is also for purely selfish reasons. God alone is utterly selfless. Loving that God, you can lead your lives in the normal way. There is nothing wrong. Whatever you do, treat it as an offering to God. See God in everyone. Don’t have ill will toward anyone. Do not have excessive attachment for anyone. Direct all attachments toward God. Love all. But do not rely on anyone except God. Realize the impermanence of the body and place your trust solely in God. Seek refuge in Him.

Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 29 (1996)

The father is one’s treasure; the mother is his god. Instead of valuing such precious wealth and divinity, men engage themselves in all kinds of activities to acquire riches and positions. The father and the mother are inseparable like the word and its meaning. Everyone should cherish one’s parents as embodiments of the Divine. The mother and father may be physically separate, but spiritually they are one. Even the distinction between man and women relates only to the physical body. The Indwelling Spirit in both of them is the same Divine. In fact, every human being can be divided into two constituents. One is the body. The other is the Atma (Divine Self).

Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 16 (1983)