Eternal Parent

"I have come especially for those of you who
have never known a mother's love"

(Baba to Tal B)

Economy

Second and Hour Hands

3600 movements of the second hand are required to
equal 1 of the hour hand... similarly the saint acts
with greater economy and power than others

-Sai Baba-

paraphrased

Humility

"Be content if your seva (service) is to lift a lame lamb
over a stile."

(Poster opened to this passage in Sathya Sai Speaks in reference to a hip
dysplasic dog...Cayuga)

Love

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

"All beings are beautiful seen through the eyes of love."

Detachment

Diamonds shine more brightly foiled by black velvet

(Baba's comment to His followers who wanted to take
action against the calumnies of a militaristic intelligence
agency author)

Inaction

"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."

Forgiveness

"The actor who slapped you on the stage waits behind
the curtain to congratulate you on your performance
http://www.vahini.org/downloads."

Nonviolence Or Ahimsa

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

(Baba on flesh eating)

"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. http://www.saibaba.org/saisatc.html

Why pluck a flower and hasten her death?

Proximity

Proximity leads to thought leads to attraction leads to action.

(Baba on why women and men are segregated at ashram)

Sai Baba Quotes

Sai Baba Quotes

"Why pluck a flower and hasten her death?"

"The actor who slapped you on the stage waits behind
the curtain to congratulate you on your performance
http://www.vahini.org/downloads."

"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."

"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!"

"Nature can be modified by nurture; Dogs too can cease to relish
meat when they are trained to relish only vegetarian food.
Sathya Sai Speaks Vol XII, Chap. 36."

"diamonds shine more brightly foiled by black velvet."

"God is in every creature. How can you cause such pain?
(Baba to a nonvegetarian)."

"Not in the morning (mourning) pond does the lion
wash his blood." (Baba in third ear of a devotee)

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

"I have been stressing the vital importance of people giving up this habit of eating non-vegetarian food even from my boyhood days. Meat eating fosters animal qualities in man making him descend to the demoniac level; it is a heart-rending sight to see cows being slaughtered to serve as food for man. The cow has been worshiped as mother in Bharat since ancient times... Cow-slaughter is reougnant to the culture of this country. The provision of drinking water to the people and putting an end to the killing of animals for food are two prime needs for the country to regain its pristine glory. Violence in any form is evil and to kill innocent animals in tantamount to blatant savagery. I bless the prime Minister (of India) and expect him to get there two things accomplished furing his tenure. Sanathana Sarathi December 1994 p. 322."

"Get the flower, and 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."

"Don't mention it Sai"
(said by the Avatar to a devotee who said Thank You Baba).

"To light a fire, strike one match to start;
To light your life, take one word to heart."

"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."

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

"Be content if your seva (service) is to lift a lame lamb
over a stile."

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

"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."

"Love is the rose. Lust is the thorn."
http://www.sathyasai.org."

"A sannyasi takes no desire-caused action."

"I have a Task: To foster all mankind and ensure for all of them lives full of ananda (bliss). I have a Vow: To lead all who stray away from the straight path again into goodness and save them. I am attached to a work that I love: To remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack. I have a reason to be proud, for I rescue all who worship and adore me, aright. I have my definition of the devotion I expect: Those devoted to me have to treat joy and grief, gain and loss, with equal fortitude. This means that I will never give up those who attach themselves to me.

(in a letter to Baba's brother)."
"As much as possible sleep under the midnight sky.
(said to a woman attempting to end 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."

"Do not admit doubt into you.
Want of faith or steadiness is not as
destructive as the venom of doubt."

"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."

"God looks on sin as a mother looks on her baby's first
halting attempts to walk."

"Brahma was in existence well before mind and intelligence came into existence.
Brahma cannot be understood be one's mind or intelligence."

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

"She is right in her conspiracy theories.. but one must
see the agent as God and speak to him of God."

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

"God stands outside all mathematical equations
no matter how long.. ready to render a plus or minus,
multiplication or division."

"Fire is hidden in wood and God in Man."

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

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

"Humans seek to change the foods available in nature to suit their tastes, thereby putting an end to the very essence of life contained in them.
(a reference to the health of uncooked fruit)."

"Nishidda Karmas relate to acts which are to be eschewed. For instance, the spiritual aspirant has to observe certain regulations regarding food. He must totally eschew rajasic food like alcoholic drinks and meat. The nature of the food determines the nature of one' s thoughts,
feelings and actions. If one' s conduct is to be right and proper, one should carefully observe the
disciplines regarding diet."

"I know the agitations of your hearts, the aspirations, the waves and whirlpools; but, you do not know My heart. I react to the pain you undergo, the joy that you feel. For, I am in every heart. That is the temple where I dwell."

"If 899 matches go out, the
900th is enough to set the world aflame.
(paraphrased from imperfect memory of poster)
http://www.vahini.org/downloads."

"When worldly attachment hinders the path of duty,
when ambition blinds the eyes of
sympathy, when hate shuts out the call of love,
let us listen to the
Geetha."

"46 Maxims
1. Prema, Love, should be considered as the very breath of Life.
2. The Love that is manifest in all things equally, believe that the same Prema is Paramatma.
3. The one Paramatma is in every one, in the form of Prema.
4. More than all other forms of Prema, man's first effort should be to fix his Love on the Lord.
5. Such Love directed towards God is Bhakthi; that is the fundamental test, the acquisition of Bhakthi.
6. Those who seek the Bliss of the Atma should not run after the joys of sense objects.
7. Sathya, Truth, must be treated as life-giving as breathing itself.
8. Just as a body that has no breath is useless and begins to rot and stink within a few minutes, similarly, life without Truth is useless and becomes the stinking abode of strife and grief.
9. Believe that there is nothing greater than Truth, nothing more precious, nothing sweeter and nothing more lasting.
10. Truth is the all-protecting God. There is no mightier Guardian than Truth.
11. The Lord who is Sathyaswarupa grants His Darsan to those of Truthful Speech and Loving Heart.
12. Have undiminished kindness towards all beings and also the spirit of self-sacrifice.
13. You must also possess control of the senses, an unruffled character and non-attachment.
14. Be always on the alert against the four sins which the tongue is prone to commit:
Speaking falsehood
Speaking ill of others
Back-biting and
Talking too much
It is best to attempt to control these tendencies.
15. Try to prevent the five sins that the body commits:
Killing
Adultery
Theft
Drinking intoxicants
Eating of flesh
It is a great help for the highest life if these also are kept as far away as possible.
16. One must be always vigilant, without a moment's carelessness, against the eight sins that the mind perpetrates:
Kamam or craving
Krodham or anger
Lobham or greed
Moham or attachment
Impatience
Hatred
Egoism
Pride
Man's primary duty is to keep all these things at a safe distance from himself.
17. Man's mind speeds fast, pursuing wrong actions. Without letting it hurry like that remember the Name of the Lord at that time or attempt to do some good deed or other. Those who do thus will certainly become fit for the Lord's Grace.
18. First give up the evil tendency to feel impatient at the prosperity of others and the desire to harm them. Be happy that others are happy. Sympathise with those who are in adversity and wish for their prosperity. That is the goal of cultivating the love for God.
19. Patience is all the strength that man needs.
20. Those anxious to live in joy must always be doing good.
21. It is easy to conquer anger through love, attachment through reasoning, falsehood through truth, bad through good and greed through charity.
22. No reply should be given to the words of the wicked. Be at a great distance from them; that is for your good. Break off all relations with such people.
23. Seek the company of good men, even at the sacrifice of your honour and life. But be praying to God to bless you with the discrimination needed to distinguish between the good men and the bad. You must also endeavour, with the intellect given to you.
24. Those who conquer states and earn fame in the world are hailed as heroes, no doubt; but those who have conquered the senses are heroes who must be acclaimed as the conquerors of the Universe.
25. Whatever acts a good or bad man may do, the fruits thereof follow him and will never stop pursuing him.
26. Greed yields only sorrow; contentnment is best. There is no happiness greater than contentment.
27. The mischief-mongering tendency should be plucked out by the roots and thrown off. If allowed to exist, it will undermine life itself.
28. Bear with fortitude both loss and grief; try and search for plans to achieve joy and gain.
29. Assume silence when you are invaded by anger or remember the Name of the Lord. Instead, do not try to remind yourself of things which will inflame the anger more. That will do incalculable harm.
30. From this moment, avoid all bad habits. Do not delay or postpone. They do not contribute the least joy.
31. Try as far as possible within your means to satisfy the needs of the poor, who are really Daridranarayana. Share with them whatever food you have and make them happy at least that once.
32. Whatever you feel should not be done to you by others, avoid your doing such to others.
33. For faults and sins committed in ignorance, repent sincerely; try not to repeat the faults and sins again; pray to God to bless you with the strength and the courage needed to stick to the right path.
34. Do not allow anything to come near you, which will destroy your eagerness and enthusiasm for God. Want of eagerness will cause the decay of the strength of man.
35. Yield not to cowardice; do not give up Ananda.
36. Do not get swelled up when people praise you; do not feel dejected when people blame you.
37. If among your friends any one hates another and starts a quarrel, do not attempt to inflame them more and make them hate each other more; try, on the other hand, with love and sympathy to restore their former friendship.

38. Instead of searching for others' faults, search for your own faults yourself; uproot them, throw them off. It is enough if you search and discover one fault of yours; that is better than discovering tens of hundreds of faults in others.

39. Even if you cannot or will not do any Punya or good deed, do not conceive or carry out any Papa, or bad deed. This is far preferable.
40. Whatever people may say about the faults that you know are not in you, do not feel for it; as for the faults that are in you, try to correct them yourself, even before others point them out to you. Do not harbour anger or vengeance against persons who point out your faults; do not retort, pointing out the faults of those persons themselves, but show your gratitude to them. Trying to discover their faults is a greater mistake on your part. It is good for you to know your faults; it is no good your knowing others' faults.
41. Whenever you get a little leisure, do not spend it in talking about all and sundry, but utilise it in meditating on God or in doing service to others.
42. The Lord is understood only by the Bhaktha; the Bhaktha is understood only by the Lord. Others cannot understand them. So, do not discuss matters relating to the Lord with those who have no Bhakthi. On account of such discussion, your devotion will diminish.
43. If anyone speaks to you on any subject, having understood it wrongly, do not think of other wrong notions which will support that stand but grasp only the good and the sweet, in what he says. True meaning is to be appreciated as desirable, not wrong meaning or many meanings, which give no meaning at all and cause only the hampering of Ananda.
44. If you desire to cultivate one-pointedness, do not, when in a crowd or bazaar, scatter your vision to the four corners and on everything, but see only the road in front of you, just enough to avoid accidents to yourself. One-pointedness will become firmer if one moves about without taking one's attention off the road, avoiding dangers, and not casting eyes on others' forms.
45. Give up all doubts regarding the Guru and God. If your wordly desires do not get fulfilled, do not blame it on your devotion; there is no relationship between such desires and devotion to God. These worldly desires have to be given up some day or other; Bhakthi feelings have to be acquired some day or other. Be firmly convinced of this.
46. If your Dhyanam or Japam do not progress properly or if the desires you have entertained do not come to fruition, do not get dispirited with God. It will dispirit you even more and you will lose the peace, however small or big, that you might have earned. During Dhyanam and Japam you should not be dispirited, desperate or discouraged. When such feelings come, take it that it is the fault of your Sadhana and endeavour to do them correctly.

Source: Sandeha Nivarini by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba."
"You limit God by your assumptions."
"Just like a child yearns for its mother's bosom,a lost calf for its mother in a herd, and a widow cries for her lost husband in a corner, you too must aspire for the proximity of Sai and reap joy therefrom."
"Those who ask for love in return are coolies demanding wages."
"All beings are beautiful
seen through eyes of love."
"What is true Love? Pure, unselfish Love towards all living beings, considered as embodiments of the Divine, with no expectation of reward, is true Love.

(Sanathana Sarathi, June 1985:117ff)."
"Money comes and goes.
Morality comes and grows."
"More fragrant than the sweet-smelling flowers
like the Jasmine and the Champak,
Softer than the cheese and the butter,
More beautiful than eye of the peacock,
More pleasant than the moonlight,
Is the love of the mother."
"I have come especially for those of you who
have never known a mother's love
(said to TB of Charlottesville, Va)."

"Why does the dead ball moon shining with
stolen light have more power on
earth than the vastly larger self luminescent stars?
Proximity (in reference to avoiding the temptation of powerful opposite sex
gravitational pull)
Sai Baba
http://www.vahini.org/downloads."

"You are all separate beads strung together on that one thread - God."
"Transcend pin comes by not identifying with the body.
(paraphrased)."

"Take the troubles that come to you as tests and opportunities to learn non-attachment. It is the hot summer that sends you to air-conditioning. Grief sends you to God."

"There is in this world no austerity higher than fortitude, no happiness greater than contentment, no punya (good deeds) holier than mercy, no weapon more effective than patience."
"God whose form is peace."
"A barking dog in a room full of mirrors sees only enemies."
"God is the Doer, You are the instrument."
"You can blame me when things go wrong if you praise me when
things go right."
"Boys ran along the shadows of the birds that flew above."
"God has a million names ... a million forms. Select any name of His that appeals to you. Choose any form of His. Every day when you awaken to the call of the brightening East, recite the Name, meditate on the Form. Keep the Name and Form as your companion, guide, and guardian throughout the waking hours. When you retire for the night, offer grateful homage to God in that Form, with that Name - for being with you, by you, beside you, before you, behind you, all day long. Know that within the many forms and many names, God is present is all of them. The inner being is, in reality, only One."
"As long as you believe in sin, it will have power in your
life."
"Inside the wrath of the chalice is the blood of Jesus.
(said to a follower)."
"Rats build homes in the little waterfalls
along the river's journey.
Some birds soar high and hear
the distant sound of the great waterfall."
"If you had wanted to, you would have done so by now.
(in response to a follower who asked if she should
become a sannyasi)."
"There is God everywhere and there is no second entity anywhere."
"Be silent like the rose which communicates only
through fragrance."
"As the more strands, the stronger the rope,
so the more chords of love, the stronger it is.
-paraphrased-."
"Dharma protects those who protect Dharma."
"As men squeeze juice out of the fibrous cane and drink only the
sweetness, as the bee sucks the honey in the flower, regardless of its symmetry and colour, as the moth flies towards the brightness of the flame, ignoring the heat and the inevitable catastrophe, the Sadhaka (Spiritual Seeker) should yearn to imbibe the Karunarasa (the expression of the emotion of tenderness, pity and compassion) that the Ramayana is saturated with, paying no heed to other subjects.

in Baba's Ramakatha Rasavahini
http://www.vahini.org."
"Take one step toward Me. I shall take 100
toward you."
"There is only one nation, the nation of humanity; There is only one religion, the religion of love; There is one language, language of the heart; There is only one God and He is Omnipresent."
"It is Truth and Truth alone, that is one’s real friend and relative. Abide by Truth and tread the path of righteousness and not even a hair of your body will ever come to harm."
"Look out into the universe and contemplate the glory of God. Observe the stars, millions of them, twinkling in the night sky, all with a message of unity, part of the very nature of God. You can see the moon which orbits the earth on a perfect path, a path which can be calculated by scientists for centuries ahead."