On Guru Purnima day, 29th July, Baba sent a message to the Samithis all over India and to devotees overseas, where He quoted the prayer of Prahlada as an example to be adopted. ‘Grant me, O Lord! The adoration of Thy Lotus Feet, the comradeship of those who adore Thy Lotus Feet, and give me compassion, deep, vast, unlimited, towards all beings in all the world’. ‘Start the day with Love; live the day with Love; fill the day with Love; spend the day with Love; end the day with Love. This is the way to God’, He wrote. During the discourse that He gave that evening at Prasanthi Nilayam, He warned against institutionalising religion, and compartmentalising society. ‘It is good to be born in a church, but it is not good to die in it’, He declared. ‘One must travel beyond the limits set by mind and reason and reach the boundless expanse of the Absolute and the Eternal Atma’, He advised. (SSSm Vol.3, p. 143)
God is the embodiment of intelligence and wisdom and looks at things in a total and complete manner. In His creation, there cannot be anything which has no specific purpose. He creates everything with a specific purpose. If we keep the valuable jewels in a valuable golden box, nobody will wait till he has a look at the jewels inside. He will take away the box itself as soon as he sees it. It is natural to protect valuable things in a valueless box, which will not attract attention. Therefore, in order that we may reach the realm of knowledge, bliss and happiness, it becomes necessary to look after the well being of the outer casing, namely, the body, mind and life. (SSB 1973, p. 30)
Start serving your parents, your teachers, the elders, the poor, the diseased, the distressed. Do not foster factions and divisions. Promote love, concord, cooperation, brotherliness. Do not look upon people as belonging to this state or that; all are in the state of bondage to the senses, to the objective world. Join the company of the good, the striving, the yearning sadhakas and you will soon reach the stage of peace within, and harmony without. (SSS Vol.4, p. 50)
The Lord will take a form which is determined by the ideas and thoughts of the devotees. In order that we may experience the sacredness of this divine aspect a clean mind and a pure form are necessary. Our life should be put on the path of truth so that we may reach divinity which is truth itself. (SSB 1978, p. 190)
If you want to reach God, you must be free of defective vision, defective touch, defective speech, defective hearing.
Three types of activity reach God and earn His Grace.
- Activity not prompted by personal desire.
- Activity emanating from unselfish Love and
- Prayer arising from pure hearts. These are the items to which the Lord pays heed; they reach God direct. (SSE, p. 16)