Be Steady in Spiritual Practice
Life is like a flight of steps towards the Godhead. You have your foot on the first step when you are born; each day is a step that must be climbed; so be steady, watchful and earnest. Do not count the steps ahead or exult over the steps behind. One step at a time and that well climbed, that is enough success to be satisfied with and to give you encouragement for the next one. Do not slide from the step you have got upon. Every step is a victory to be cherished; every day wasted is a defeat to be ashamed of.
Slow and steady—let that be your maxim! Adhere to a regular routine, a timetable. Just as the doctor prescribes a certain fixed measure or weight of the drug and warns you that anything less is ineffective and anything more is harmful, so too, have some limit for your spiritual exercises. Do not overdo them or do them casually and without care.
Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. II, p. 29
There are three types of approaches towards the Lord the eagle type, which swoops down on the target with a greedy swiftness and suddenness which, by its very impact, fails to secure the object coveted; the monkey type, which flits hither and thither, from one fruit to another, unable to decide which is tasty; and the ant type, which moves steadily, though slowly, towards the object which it has decided is desirable. The ant does not hit the fruit hard and make it fall away; it does not pluck all the fruits it sees; it appropriates just as much as it can assimilate and no more. Do not fritter away the time allotted to you for sojourning on earth in foolish foppery and fanciful foibles which always keep you outdoors. When are you to walk indoors into the warmth and quiet of your own interior? Retire into solitude and silence now and then; experience the joy derivable only from them.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. II, p. 112
Of course, the majority of persons get glimpses of viveka (discrimination) and vairagya (detachment) off and on; but they soon forget the call and ignore it and cover it up by excess or excuses. One step forward and one step back… the journey does not take them far. Even if some do take up sadhana (spiritual practice), steadiness is absent. Like a ball of thread which slips out of the hand on to the floor. It all comes off because the grasp is not firm. Steady effort alone will bring success here, as in every other case. How can you expect quick success in the control of the mind? It is very difficult to overcome its vagaries, for it is many-faced and very adamant. You are unable to understand prakriti [nature], which is a reflection, a shadow of God; how then can you understand God himself? No, steady perseverance alone will tame your mind; and it is only through a tamed mind that you can experience God. In this case, you must become your own tutor; train yourself by using the spark of wisdom that has been implanted in you. Once you try with all your might, the Lord’s Grace will be there to help you forward.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. II, p. 34
