What does God Want
“Even if you offer a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or a drop of water to God in the true spirit of devotion and surrender the results will be infinitely good.”
What does God really want from us? Does He want our offerings, our wealth, our most precious possessions? No. He wants our love. But the bhakti (devotion) and love offered to God have to be pure, free from selfishness, and from the heart. Baba says, “The Gita does not intend that you should pluck a leaf or a flower or a fruit from some plant or tree and place it before God. Nor does it ask you to bring water from a well or a river or the roadside tap. The leaf ls your own body, which, like a leaf, sprouts, greens, fades, and finally falls from the branch. The flower is the heart freed from the insect pests of lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride, hate, etc. The fruit is the mind, the consequence of its yearnings, which have to be dedicated to God. The water is the stream of tears that flows from the eyes when one is in ecstatic bliss at the contemplation of God’s glory. Giving these four is the real act of surrender, saranagathi. The offering of leaves or flowers or fruits or river water is at best a way of helping the plant or tree or river to secure a little merit.”
Sathya Sai Speaks 8, p. 157
“The Gita clearly declares that only the hrudaya-pushpa (heart lotus), free from impurities, that grows in the manasa-sarovar, the pellucid waters of the mind, is worthy to be offered to God. That is the reason why Krishna told Arjuna, ‘My dear brother-in-law, whatever activity you are engaged in, whatever gift you give, whatever food you take, do it as a dedicated offering to Me; do everything in the dedicatory spirit as a tribute to God; for only such acts reach Me. I have no special preference for any one name; all names are Mine. l know neither friend nor foe. I am the unaffected Witness. l reside with all who serve Me and derive joy from that service.”
Gita Vahini, p. 169
“Only those prayers that have their origins in the spirit of nishkama karma (actions without expectations and desires, for the sake of the Lord alone), infinite and pure love, and an unsullied heart reach the Lord directly. It is not possible for prayers of any other kind to reach Him directly. Therefore, it is only through these three media, that ls, nishkama karma, boundless love and an unsullied heart, that we can hope to secure direct contact with the Lord and obtain His Divine sanction to our request.”
Summer Showers in Brindavan 1979, p. 137
