Take the Middle Path
It is advisable to all to follow the middle path, ‘athi sarvatra vajayeth’ is an ancient axiom; it means, ‘avoid excess, in all places.’ You must respect the limits set by the experience of ages in the sacred texts. They act like embankments that curb the floodwaters; they direct the raging passions toward harmless channels and save you from ruin. Of course, man has elementary needs—physical, mental, and intellectual; these have to be fulfilled in some measure. But there is no need to encumber oneself with unwanted food, superfluous furniture, and multi-roomed mansions. Luxury enervates and enslaves.
What is required is the awareness of the vicious game that the mind plays. It presents before the attention, one source after another of temporary pleasure. It does not allow any interval for you to weigh the pros and cons. When hunger for food is appeased, it holds before the eye the attraction of the film, it reminds the ear of the charm of music, and it makes the tongue water for the pleasant taste of something that it craves for. The wish becomes very soon the urge for action, the urge soon gathers strength, and the yearning becomes uncontrollable. The burden of desires gradually becomes too heavy and man gets dispirited and sad. Train the mind to turn toward the intelligence for inspiration and guidance, not toward the senses for adventures and achievements. That will make it an instrument for reducing your vagaries and saving time and energy for more vital matters.
Desires when fulfilled breed further desires; when unfulfilled, they lead to further installments of life on earth, in order to calm the urge. The only method by which the delusion of desire can be destroyed is to dedicate all activities to God and engage in them in a spirit of worship, leaving the consequences to Him and ceasing to attach yourselves to them. Look upon everyone as the embodiment of the Divine and worship each, as such, by offering love, understanding, and service.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 13, pg. 34-36
Intelligence being the special mark of humans, every effort must be made to amplify and sharpen it so that it may be a fit instrument for understanding the inner and the outer worlds. Along with intelligence, character, too, has to be cultivated in equal measure, for then alone can that intelligence be used to serve society. The readiness to renounce one’s pleasure in order to relieve the burden of another is a prime virtue of character.
What exactly has to be renounced? Desire is the worst enemy and it has to be canalized and reduced with determination until it ceases to bother you. Besides desire, anger and greed also have to be discarded, for they are present wherever there is desire. When you say ‘bowman’, it is implied that arrows, too, are there with the bow. Thus desire is ever associated with anger and greed. Desire is bad even if it is for fame and authority. It is the avarice for power and pelf that ruins many a human life.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 13, pg. 111-112
