The Sai Teachings

Pain and Pleasure

All the pains and difficulties that you get will ultimately turn out as a means to give you happiness and pleasure. Even a diamond of high quality does not get its value unless we cut the facets on it. Pure gold will not be turned into a beautiful ornament unless it is repeatedly put into fire and moulded.

Whenever you experience pains, trials, obstacles and tribulations, you should recognise them as paths for obtaining ultimate happiness. So we should be prepared to accept pain. To seek pleasure alone and not to welcome pain is not right. Pleasure comes out of pain. We should recognise that all pain will ultimately end in pleasure.

The Sai Teachings

Love and Devotion

Divinity in the form of love enters minds and creates attachment between a person and another. If a mother shows affection to a child, we should interpret it as an aspect of the Divine and not just a bodily relationship. This aspect of the Divine present as love in the mother, expresses itself as affection. When this aspect enters the minds of friends, it takes the shape of friendship. When this spreads to various objects we like, it takes the form of desire.

If this aspect is directed towards God, we call it devotion. Because this love is present in everyone, when we say, “All this is Divine”, we are stating an irrefutable truth. This is also why we say, “Love is God, Live in Love.”   

                                                      We must practice,

“Start the day with Love, spend the day with Love, fill the day with Love, end the day with Love”, as this is the way to God.

 

The Dead Horse Theory

The Sai Teachings

Your Truth…

A prescribed quality is exhibited or worn as a cloak by every entity in creation. This quality is also called its dharma or truth. Just as a student in a particular class can be promoted to a higher class by effort, an individual by promoting one's own natural dharma, and giving attention to something higher and nobler, can earn promotion to a higher level. A piece of iron is worth only a few pennies, but by making suitable changes to it, you produce a watch worth a thousand rupees.

Observe here that it is change that we give to the substance, which brings the value to it and not the inherent value of the untreated material. Even an ordinary person can get an opportunity to elevate oneself to the position of a realised sage, by seeking the company of elevated beings.

The Sai Teachings

Sacrifice

The Vedas (Holy scriptures) urges us to sacrifice everything, and through sacrifice we would be able to have vision of the Divine within. The creation and its maintenance depend only on sacrifice. If there is no sacrifice, there will be no life, and the society will not remain intact.

Even from a worldly perspective, if we do not give out the breath that we take in, we cannot live. If blood is not constantly flowing from one place to another every instant, we cannot live. Unless the clouds give up the water they have gathered, they cannot remain as clouds. That is why it is said, what you cannot get by your knowledge and effort can be got by sacrifice. If we think that something is good and welcome it, some bad too may come in the process. That which gives you happiness when it comes will also cause sorrow when it goes away from you. Whether it is the good or the bad, we have to sacrifice continuously.

 

The Sai Teachings

Being Humane

Children without good qualities, education without character building as its objective, and life which has no morality, are purposeless. An individual without peace of mind and the world which has no moon shining in it are similar. Every item of creation in this world has some distinctive feature and a character of its own. If any item gives up this distinctive aspect, it will destroy itself.

For example, fire has the ability and quality to burn. Water has the ability to flow. Man has got the quality of human nature, and an animal has the quality of being brutal. When the ability to burn disappears, you cannot call it fire. When the ability to flow disappears, you cannot call it water. Similarly when the inner vision or the basic human nature disappears in an individual, you cannot call him a human being. Being humane is the natural quality of a human being.

 

The Sai Teachings

The Goal of Life

What is the origin of pride? Is it knowledge? No! It is ignorance. What is the cause of ignorance? It is the feeling of duality. Where did duality originate? From attachment and hatred. What is the origin of these two? They are the products of circumstances. How did circumstances come about? Through Karma (past deeds).

What is the cause of Karma? Birth! Thus be clear that birth is the cause of all sorrow. Only by seeking freedom from birth that you can free oneself from sorrow. The opportunity of a human birth must be used for realising this supreme goal. The duty of parents is to set children on the right path from their early years. They should not hesitate to correct them and even punish them when the children take to wrong ways. The best way parents can show their love for their children is to do everything necessary to lead them on the righteous path.