Society Is the Reflection of the God You Adore

Wherever men gather with a purpose into a society, there you perceive the Divine, the sat, chit, and ananda (being, awareness, and bliss)! A personality has arisen; a clearer flash of reason is evident; a deeper joy fills the hearts. Immerse yourselves in them. This is real spiritual endeavor; not pining in solitude or reveling in the breaking of bonds with others of your kind, priding on your independence! Be with others, in others, for others. Be with all, for all, and in all.

But, nevertheless, be unattached, be the unfailing source of Love. Therein lies success in spiritual endeavor, the triumph of spiritual discipline. Thus is the Sai in you manifested; thus is the world fostered; Sai within; thus is the heart purified enough to install. There are questions raised: Of what relation is society and social ties with spirit and its glory? Of what relation is the spirit and its glory with society and its tangles and trickeries? Such questions arise from erring minds.

Spiritual endeavor must aim at individual illumination, social betterment and the divinization of the human community. This is extremely urgent and essential. While in society, the divinity inherent in man can blossom more quickly, more widely, more fragrantly. You recognize the world, but not God who is immanent in it! So, too, you see the individual but not the corpus that is immanent in society.

All beings form the Universal Body of One God. Of course, society is not another concrete composite collective body! It is the expansion and expression of the Divine in each of its components, denotable, and enjoyable as One. Society is the awareness of this cognizable Divinity. So, the one should not flee from the many; the individual is not harmed by society. The one should rather see the many in a new light—the light that reveals that society is but God, who activates and prompts the composite whole. The one is rendered fuller by association with the many: he gains by losing himself in the many!

All men are kith and kin, one family, one aspiration, one attempt at one acquisition. They are all equally Divine, all form the Universal Body of the One God. All are heirs to the ananda that this awareness can give. Of course, society does not happen when people gather by chance or get together with no common goal of good. The many-faceted skills and intelligence that are contributed by the many must flow pure and clear, untarnished by egoistic desires, along the channel of the spirit; then they will feed the roots of truth and goodness; they will ensure peace, for, all ideas of high and low will disappear. This is the criterion for a stable, strong, sweet society, not mere numbers. Be conscious of the God in each and in all; then inner equality will impress each so indelibly that the awareness will stay undisturbed. Shanti (Peace) will reign in each and all.

Understand the atma or God that is your core; that will establish shanti in you, and you can share that shanti with others. What can you give others if your hearts are empty?

Feel that you are a true limb of society. Do you intend to be in society? Do you crave to serve it and be served by it? Then seek the God in all; see the same in all. Yearn to worship that God by selfless service. That alone makes you a true limb of society.

If you feel separate, distinct, outside and beyond society, you will run after name and fame, you will be enslaved by hate and partiality and ruined in the end. So, ease out those evil attitudes; feel that you are giving society what is its due, offering God His own gift of skill and intelligence. Vow to serve, to dedicate. Cultivate Love; society is the reflection of the God you adore, the God whose nature is ananda. Transform yourself into Love and become ananda. Adore society as the Divine Body; that is the truth, the eternal vision.

~ Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 11 (1971-72)

Those who wish to serve society in the true spirit and experience the joy therefrom should go into society with dedication. They must undertake service activities according to their capacity and competence and should not overstretch themselves. They should not get involved in fundraising. Money is the cause of many differences and conflicts. Concentrate on service. There will be no lack of funds for any good cause. There are enough people in the Sai organization with resources. There is none poorer than the person who will not use his money for good purposes. Such men are a pitiable lot.

~ Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 20 (1987)