23.jul.25
What can we do to enjoy and lead a life of peace and happiness? Bhagawan explains, reminding us of what we can learn from the ancients of this land.

People of yore enjoyed peace and happiness a thousand-fold compared to the present generation. They were selfless, egoless, and simple. They always had liberation as the goal of their lives. To enjoy the same kind of peace and joy, we must strive to foster humanism first. Mind plays a prominent role in the life of man. Mind keeps on playing tricks with humanity. It can do good and bad. It is the cause for sorrow as well as happiness. Mind is both negative and positive. The principle of the mind is the most important thing that man must know about. It is the needle-like thorn that gives pain; and it is the same needle that removes the thorn. It is fire that dispels darkness and cooks food. It is the same fire that burns and destroys things. Mana eva manushyanam karanam bandha mokshayoh (The mind alone is responsible for both bondage and liberation). It is the mind that is responsible for all our joys, sorrows, sins, merits, good or bad. We must try to understand the traits of the mind, and we must strive to take hold of it.

– Divine Discourse, Jan 12, 1984

Riches and pomp are ephemeral, like passing clouds. Virtues are our real wealth. To forget virtues is not a symbol of civilised life! – BABA

22.jul.25
Why should youth take to service actively? How should we ascribe success or failure in any action we take? Bhagawan lovingly answers both these questions for us today.

The age span, 16-30 years, is crucial, for that is the period when life adds sweetness to itself, when talents, skills, and attitudes are accumulated, sublimated and sanctified. If the tonic of unselfish seva (service) is administered to the mind during this period, life’s mission is fulfilled, for the process of sublimation and sanctification will be accelerated by this tonic. Do not serve for the sake of reward, attracting attention, or earning gratitude, or from a sense of pride at your own superiority in skill, wealth, status or authority. Serve because you are urged by love. When you succeed, ascribe the success to the grace of God, who urged you on, as Love within you. When you fail, ascribe the failure to your own inadequacy, insincerity or ignorance. Examine the springs of action, disinfect them from all traces of ego. Do not throw the blame on the recipients of the seva, or on your collaborators and coworkers, or on God.

– Divine Discourse, May 19, 1969

Man should serve and worship God when he is walking on two feet; he should not postpone it to old age when he is virtually walking on three feet. – BABA

21.jul.25
For any spiritual aspirant, what is the importance of love and service? Bhagawan reminds us today, so that we may draw benefit from this opportunity.

Greater than all other forms of worship is Seva (service to one’s fellow men) done in an unselfish and dedicated spirit. There is an element of selfishness in forms of worship like recitation, meditation, etc. But when service is done spontaneously, it is its own reward. It must be done as an offering to God. Seva is a small word filled with immense spiritual significance. Hanuman is the supreme exemplar of the ideal of service. When the rakshasas (demons) asked Hanuman, during his search for Sita in Lanka, who he was, he replied simply: Dasoham Kosalendrasya. He was content to describe himself as a humble servant of Rama. Seva must be viewed as the highest form of Sadhana. Serving the poor in villages is the best form of sadhana. In the various forms of worship of the Divine, culminating in atma nivedanam (complete surrender to the Divine), Seva comes before atma nivedanam. God’s grace will come when seva is done without expectation of reward or recognition. Sometimes, ahamkaram (ego) and abhimanam (attachment) raise their heads during seva. These should be eliminated altogether.

– Divine Discourse, Jan 25, 1985

Every Seva done with sympathy and skill to anyone in distress, anywhere in this world is Sathya Sai Seva. – BABA

20.jul.25
For any spiritual aspirant, what is the importance of love and service? Bhagawan reminds us today, so that we may draw benefit from this opportunity.

Greater than all other forms of worship is Seva (service to one’s fellow men) done in an unselfish and dedicated spirit. There is an element of selfishness in forms of worship like recitation, meditation, etc. But when service is done spontaneously, it is its own reward. It must be done as an offering to God. Seva is a small word filled with immense spiritual significance. Hanuman is the supreme exemplar of the ideal of service. When the rakshasas (demons) asked Hanuman, during his search for Sita in Lanka, who he was, he replied simply: Dasoham Kosalendrasya. He was content to describe himself as a humble servant of Rama. Seva must be viewed as the highest form of Sadhana. Serving the poor in villages is the best form of sadhana. In the various forms of worship of the Divine, culminating in atma nivedanam (complete surrender to the Divine), Seva comes before atma nivedanam. God’s grace will come when seva is done without expectation of reward or recognition. Sometimes, ahamkaram (ego) and abhimanam (attachment) raise their heads during seva. These should be eliminated altogether.

– Divine Discourse, Jan 25, 1985

Every Seva done with sympathy and skill to anyone in distress, anywhere in this world is Sathya Sai Seva. – BABA

20.jul.25
What is the attitude with which we must take up the Sadhana of service? Bhagawan gives us a beautiful message today.

Just think for a moment: Are you serving God? Or is God serving you? When a pilgrim stands waist-deep in the Ganges, takes in his palms the sacred water and, reciting an invocatory formula, pours the water as an offering to the Deity, or arpanam as he calls it, what he has done is only pour Ganga into Ganga! When you offer milk to a hungry child, or a blanket to a shivering brother on the pavement, you are doing nothing but placing a gift of God into the hands of another as a gift of God! You are reposing the gift of God in a repository of the divine principle! God serves; He allows you to claim that you have served! Without His Will, not a single blade of grass can quiver in the breeze. Fill every moment with gratitude to the giver and the recipient of all gifts. Nurture the will to ‘give’, to renounce the little for the big, the momentary for the sake of the momentous!

– Divine Discourse, May 19, 1969

In whatever activity you are involved in society, do it with a spirit of service. There is no one in the world who is not a servant. – BABA

19.jul.25
What should we do to ensure our life is a pilgrimage to God? Bhagawan lovingly reminds us today of the basic essentials, so that we may practice and benefit from them.


For want of the five human values, mankind is in the throes of distress and disaster. The morning newspaper is full of murder, massacre, arson, and dacoity. The brain and the mind have been polluted to a dangerous extent. Education aims only at providing information and promoting skills. It has not tackled the problem of moral degeneration, of the sublimation of low desires, of sense control, and the development of spiritual insight. Man is converting himself into a brute with a human form. Vali, the monkey, is said to have argued that Rama wounded it with his mortal arrow, despite the fact that the sin it had committed was pardonable and even proper among monkeys. But, Rama replied that Vali was only a monkey in appearance; it knew both right and wrong, and so deserved punishment. Man, today, is a beast in human garb. When he develops and demonstrates human values, he would have to discard the beast in him and become man, the pilgrim to God.

– Divine Discourse, Mar 07, 1986

For peace and happiness, human values are most important. Bereft of human values, man can never be at peace. – BABA

18.jul.25
What is the nature of our mind, and how can we deal with it? Bhagawan, our Loving Lord, guides us with an important message.


The mind flits fast from one idea to another; it fondles for a moment and forsakes it the very next moment. You may manage to keep your mouth shut, but it is next to impossible to keep the mind shut. The mind is of that nature; it is woven so, out of the yarn of desire. Its characteristic is to flutter and flit, hither and thither, through the outlets of senses, into the external world of colour, sound, taste, smell, and touch. But it can be tamed and put to good use by man. If we keep it engaged in good pursuits and good adventures, particularly in the contemplation of the Universal, the Absolute, the Eternal, that is to say, God, then it will not go astray and land man in ruin; for God is the source of undying strength, of everlasting joy and unfathomable wisdom.

– Divine Discourse, May 19, 1969

The body is like a water bubble, the mind is like a monkey; don’t follow the body or the mind, follow the conscience. – BABA

17.jul.25
Why is service to be considered the very basic nature of human society? Bhagawan, our loving Lord, clearly explains to us today.

Society is the coming together of people. Cooperation among people in a society, motivated by spontaneity and by pure intentions, is the hallmark of seva (service). Seva can be identified with two basic characteristics: compassion and willingness to sacrifice. History informs us that in all countries and in every age, man is a social animal. Man is born in society, he grows through society, and his life ends in society itself. Man’s songs and speech, his duties and diversions, are all determined by society. Society for man is like water for fish: if society rejects him or neglects him, he cannot survive. What a single individual cannot accomplish, a well-knit group or society can achieve. A man walking alone will feel tired and miserable at the end of five miles; but walking with ten others as a group, he would find the five miles a jaunt. He arrives refreshed and strong!

– Divine Discourse, Nov 19, 1981

When service is done spontaneously, it is its own reward. – BABA