Sathya Sai Baba The World-Avatar Teaching and Revelations

of holy names (japa), devotional singing (bhajan) and worship (puja).
With strength and skill thus reinforced, the mind can help the world or
harm it. (...)
Man has three chief instruments for uplifting himself: Intellect, mind
and the senses. When the mind gets enslaved by the senses, man
gets entangled and bound. The same mind, when it is regulated by the
intellect, can make man aware of his reality, the Atman. (...)
Now, for the second of the six virtues: Non-attachment means keeping
the body and the senses under control. This can be achieved only by
spiritual exercise and not by any other means. (...)
The third qualification with which one has to be equipped is retraction.
This implies a state of mind which is above and beyond all dualities
such as joy and grief, liking and disliking, good and bad, praise and
blame, which agitate and affect the common man. (...)
The fourth qualification is equanimity. This is the attitude of forbearance,
which refuses to be affected or pained when afflicted with sorrow
and loss, and the ingratitude and wickedness of others. (...)
The fifth among the virtues to be cultivated is faith (sraddha); unwavering
faith in the sacred scriptures or Shastras and in the moral codes
they contain as well as in the Atman and the guru. (...)
The sixth qualification is deep meditation (samadhana). One has to be
irrefutably convinced that what the Shastras make known and what the
guru teaches are both one and the same. One's intellect must rest
upon and draw inspiration from the Atman, at all times and under all
circumstances. (...)
Next, you shall consider contemplation - the longing for liberation. (6-
7/13)
This, the very first Sutra stresses one lesson: He who devotes his life
to earn the knowledge of the Atman that is his Self, must possess holy
virtues, and they must mould his conduct and contacts. For no knowledge
can be higher than virtuous character. Character is power, really
speaking. (...)
For, the stage of equanimity so essential for spiritual progress can be
gained only when the intellect is cleansed of the blot of deluding attachments
and involvements. Devoid of that serenity, the intellect or
buddhi cannot proceed on the path of Brahman. (6-15/16)
The Sutra “janmadyasya yathah”, is intended to lead us to the discovery
of the genuine basis for all that “is” and “was” and “will be”. It an-
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