PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

(Sathya Sai Baba is a guru to over 100 million people. A film about Baba by his follower Rod Serling is at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJYgXXvRSec)

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All beings are beautiful seen through eyes of love.

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God looks upon sin as a Mother upon her baby's first halting attempts to walk

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Those who ask for love in return are coolies demanding wages.

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The actor who slaps you on stage waits behind the curtain to congratulate you on your performance.

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Proximity leads to attraction. Attraction leads to thought. Thought leads to action.  (re the dharma of marriage and avoidance of temptation)

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Why does the dead ball moon shining with stolen light have more power on earth than the self-luminescent stars (many times larger and more brilliant)?  Proximity.

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Why pluck a flower and hasten her death?

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You are actors on the stage before the footlights. The Director, who knows the
Play, who assigns the roles, who gives the cues, who calls you in and puts you
on is behind the curtain.

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If the fruit is green it will not fall to the ground even if you beat it with a sharp stick. When it is ripe it falls of its own accord in the silence of the night.

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You must be a lotus, unfolding its petals when the sun rises in the sky,
unaffected by the slush where it is born or even the water which sustains it!

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Diamonds shine more brightly foiled by black velvet. (in reply to someone who asked about an author paid to write a book attacking Baba)

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God is in every creature. How can you cause such pain?

*(to a nonvegetarian)

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Not in the morning (mourning) pond does the lion
wash his blood. (given in meditation)

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It is easy to conquer anger through love, attachment through reasoning,
falsehood through truth, bad thoughts through good and greed through charity.

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Birds and beasts need no Divine Incarnation to guide them, for they have no
inclination to stray away from their dharma. Man alone forgets or ignores the
goal of life.

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In the flower,  you have its beauty and fragrance.
In color see harmony, in light see joy.
In outward form and in the depths of things, behold your Self.
You are the Truth.

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Each is all.
(Baba's response when Linden Hill asked how he could love Baba more.).

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If some people say there is no God it only means they are at too great a
distance to be aware of Him.

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The acid test by which an activity can be confirmed as holy or sacred is to
examine whether it promotes attachment or avoids bondage.

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God is the doer; you are but the instrument.

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Physical charm and force can never overpower the charm or force
of the Spirit.

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One needs no map to see the stars.

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I have come not to disturb or destroy any faith, but to confirm each in his own
faith, so that the Christian becomes a better Christian, the Muslim, a better
Muslim, and the Hindu, a better Hindu.

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Never harm a snake or a scorpion. He will only harm you if ordered to do so by
God. If so ordered there is nothing you can do about it. (in Sai Satcharitra)

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By satsang, the company of God-minded persons, by systematic attention to self
control and self improvement, man can overcome the delusion that makes him
identify himself with the body and its need and cravings.

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Health care is not a business.

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Science is a glowworm in the light of billions of blazing suns

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Love is the rose. Lust is the thorn.

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I give you what you want so that you will want I have to give.

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Corn corn (seed) begets corn.

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Charity is the ornament for the hand.
Truth is the ornament for the throat.
Scripture is the ornament for the ears.
Of what use is any other ornament?

During the 10 months of her confinement in Lanka, Sita never raised her head and
looked at her captor Ravana's face even for a second. Such was her purity and
chastity.

The Lord takes the Form that the seekers crave for; He is above all Name and
Form. Children go to the sweet shop and select sweets representing the animals
they love; some ask for the dog,
some the peacock, some the horse, some choose the elephant. But, what they
desire is the sweetness therein. To say that one Form alone can be sweet is to
deny the compassion of God.
He is eager to satisfy the yearning of the genuine seeker.

The house of the material body is on fire from the moment of birth.

The foot of a gold idol is as valuable as the head.

The most heinous sin is to hurt the heart of another.

Maya is a Narthaki, a juggler, an enchantress who entices the intelligence and
traps the senses. This Na-rtha-ki can be subdued by ki-rtha-na, Kirthana or the
concentrated contemplation of the glory of God.

Have faith in yourself, your own capacity to adhere to a strict
timetable of sadhana (spiritual discipllne).

Satisfying God means to satisfy your own conscience.

God is not a separate entity. Humankind is the image of God. Daivam maanusha
rupena, declare the scriptures. It means that God appears in human form. God has
no separate form. It is to show to humanity how human life can be divinized that
Avatars come from time to time.

I have often declared that God does not come down as avatar to relieve
individuals of their troubles and sorrows and to confer joy and happiness on
them. Difficulties, troubles and worries come in the natural course as a
consequence of past actions. The Gita says: Karmaanubandhini manushya loke
(Human beings are bound by Karma in the world). As human birth is the result of
Karma, there can be no escape form the consequences of Karma. As is your action,
so is the reaction to it.
March, 1968.

The lotus in the heart of man pines for the Sun, the splendour
of the Lord. But to attain it is hard. Withdrawal of all affection
towards the world alone can win it.

A wandering sage came to the palace. The king complained of an illness. The sage told him to look upon the color green for healing. The king spent lakhs and lakhs ordering painters to cover every building with green. The sage returned a year later and said "would it not have been better to wear green glasses? (paraphrased)

Yama can be countermanded by Samyama; death can be conquered by control of the
senses.

Her son was totally averse to non-vegetarian food. He would not even visit the
houses where non-vegetarian food was cooked. Seeing his noble qualities,
Easwaramma
realized that the child was not an ordinary one, but one of divine
nature. Her eldest daughter Venkamma also recognized the divine nature of the
child. Together, they brought up the child with love and care.

If an unripe avocado is thrown against a wall, it will shatter.If a ripe avocado is thrown, the fruit will separate from the seed. Souls ready for liberation are freed by crisis. (paraphrased).

People talk grandly of nonduality, of the oneness of all but they are the very persons who exaggerate every difference and emphasize every distinction. Nov 84 Tustin Ca newsletter of Sathya Sai Baba Society.

It is hard to obtain the company of the noble. It is easy to obtain the company
of the ignoble, Pebbles are available in plenty; but it is hard to obtain the
precious diamond.

My devotees in satsang should send love in meditation to vivisectors and
legislators. Lawmakers will make laws to eliminate vivisection
(literally, cutting up living animals.. has evolved to mean confinement of and harming of lab animals).

I alone know the agony of teaching you every step of the dance.

Do not cultivate too much attachment to things of the world, which appeal to
carnal desires and sensual thirsts. A moment comes when you have to depart
empty-handed, leaving all that you have laboriously collected and proudly called your own.

Death is throwing the ball back into the sky.
The veil of maya hides from him the Face of God which is shining from every
being and thing around him.

The mind is a bundle of desires.

The Lord uttered a Blessing that all who come to the Holy Land of Ayodhya and
all who bathe in the sacred Sarayu can reach Him.

A green gourd sinks in the water, but a dry one floats. Become
dry. Rid yourselves of attachments, desires, avoid anxieties, worries. Then you
can float unaffected in the waters of change and chance.

God has not created creatures such as devils and evil spirits.
These are the creations of human beings.

As much as possible sleep under the midnight sky. (said to a woman trying to leave a relationship)

Sow an action, reap a tendency; Sow a tendency, reap a habit; Sow a habit, reap
a character; Sow a character, reap a destiny. You are the maker of your destiny.
You can do or undo it.

The Vedas have infinite depth of meaning. All may not be able to comprehend the
inner meaning of the Vedic teachings. The earth's gravitational force existed
even before it was discovered by Newton after rigorous experimentation.
Similarly, the eternal truths hidden in the Vedas were perceived by the Rishis
(seers) after intense penance and Sadhana (spiritual austerities). Unless one
practises their teachings, one can never get happiness or peace. In order to
realize the Divine, you have to practise the precepts prescribed in the Vedas.
No doubt, even listening to the recitation of the Vedas is itself capable of
purifying your mind and elevating you to a higher level. For, it is Shabdha
Brahman (God embodied as sound). If you ruminate over it and practise it in your
life, you can imagine the magnitude of the bliss you will attain.

The force that compelled Lakshmana to disobey was the prompting of his Destiny.(in Ramayana:.. 72 of Baba's books are onine and free at http://sathyasai.org in the Discourses link.

The sun and the moon are shining. What scientist can make
them shine. None. They shine by the power of Divinity.

As the saying goes,' Like the mole in the eye, the stone in the shoe, the thorn in the foot, the faction in the home; is this doubt in the brain'. When such doubts asSail Arjuna, who
is the representative Man, it means they are Humanity's own doubts. They can be solved only by Madhava who is beyond and above Humanity.- Sai Baba GV-P61.

1 movement of the hour hand equals 3600 movements of the second Similarly, the
Saint acts with greater economy and power than others. (paraphrased).

The mind sees separateness. Love sees unity.

Politics without principles, education without character,
science without humanity, and commerce without morality
are not only useless but positively dangerous.

Focus the mirror of your intellect on the sun, not the void (paraphrased)

Parvathi, the daughter of the monarch of the Himalayas, was the very acme of
physical beauty. In spite of this, she had to acquire the quality of Sathwa
(goodness) by destroying the pride in personal beauty and her native egotism
through intense asceticism.

The dark smoke of Maya settles hard on the eye of humankind and renders him
incapable of recognizing Divinity.

Reform yourself first before thinking of reforming others.

If you don't get a seat in the bus (because you have given it to an old person), you can afford to walk a mile or two, thereby deriving the double benefit of saving the bus fare and giving much
needed exercise to your body.

Brahma was in existence well before mind and intelligence came into existence.

Brahma cannot be understood be one's mind or intelligence.

Rama who was the guardian of the world would gladly wipe the tears from all
eyes.

Love God with no other thought. Then you become His and He becomes yours. There
is no nearer kindship than this. Fifty others may be peeping into the kitchen, hungry and expectant, but if you are the child of the master, you will be served first.

As a mirror focused on the dark void has no power, but shines with light when focused on the sun, so place your consciousness on the good, not transitory evil. (paraphrased).

Eating fish causes unclean thoughts.

There is no use trying to have one foot in one boat and another in another. Give
up Lokabhranthi and Dehabhranthi, that is, attachment
towards the body and the external world and year for God.

Man has to attain liberation while in chains.

Hospitals are meant to serve the poor and needy.

Life is a challenge, meet it! Life is a dream, realize it! Life is a game, play
it! Life is Love, enjoy it!

I give you what you want so that you will want what I have to give.

A single glance of the Avatar bestows all boons.

Like the river which leaps over precipices, creeps through bush and briar, flows
round hills, seeps through sand but keeps the
goal the sea always in view, man too must march untiringly towards God.

Iswara Sarva Bhutanam. God is the Indweller of all beings.

If you would be delivered of a block of negative karma,
chant the Ganapati Stotra in the muladhar.

Aspire to be good rather than great.
(in the context that many who have an ambition for greatness sacrifice on the
way what should not be sacrificed).

There is no disease equal to greed.
There is no enemy greater than anger.
There is no sorrow that is greater than poverty.
There is no happiness equal to wisdom.

Love expands; it does not limit itself to boundaries.

Happiness will seep into your life
as soundlessly as dew into a coconut.

Be like the tongue which lives unharmed in the midst
of 32 soldier teeth.

Money can purchase drugs but mental peace and content alone can guarantee
health.

You have betrayed your heart (whenever you have muzzled
its calls for compassion.).

I am Rama you are Sita!
I am coming to take you Home
We have played for many aeons
but now.. your time is up
(Baba to JC).

Learn to give, not to take. Learn to serve, not to rule.

There is no charity greater than feeding the hungry.
There are no greater gods than parents.
There is no greater dharma than compassion.
There is no greater gain than the company of the good.
There is no enemy greater than anger.
There is no wealth greater than good reputation,.
Bad reputation is death itself.
There is no ornament more beautiful than the chanting of God's Name.

Like the donkey that carries sandalwood, without knowing anything
more than its weight, man too carries the burden of wordly
worries, without being aware of the fragrance which he can really
get from the very burden on his back.

Pain comes from identification with the body.

Yhe world is a kaleidoscopic picture created by ones own imagination.

An ant was caught on a dry leaf that was being carried down a flooded river and
he called out from its tiny heart to God for succour who prompted a kite that
was flying over the river to dive and rise up, with the leaf on its beak; for He
made the bird mistake him for a fish or frog! The bird was sorely disappointed,
but, the ant was
delighted to land on hard ground! God came as a kite and rescued me, he felt. I
must be grateful to
the bird, to all birds, he resolved. One day, while on his morning round, he saw
a hunter aim an
arrow at a bird; he bit the heel of the hunter, just when he was releasing the
mortal shaft; the aim
failed; the bird flew off, and was saved. The ant had paid his debt.

Man's many desires are like the small metal coins he carries around in
his pocket. The more he has, the more they weigh him down.

Man's life is a bridge between this world and the Divine.

Be like the stream which flows in ananda (joy) over rocks.

See in everyone the Lord Himself moving in that form. Do not talk evil of
others; see only good in them. Welcome every chance to help others, to console
others and to encourage others along the spiritual path.

The blocks inside people manifest as obstacles in their paths. (paraphrased).

There are thousands of books and millions of articles written about him. A fraction of his own words are contained free online in 72 volumes at http://sathyasai.org in the discourse link. Several 24 hour a day 7 day a week channels of RadioSai.org are geared specifically to Africa, Asia, the Americas.

Ted Henry, former ABC affiliate news anchor for many years and his wife J Cleary have filmed a number of interviews with followers of Sai Baba.
https://vimeo.com/souljourns