Sathya Sai Baba The World-Avatar Teaching and Revelations

serves two purposes: the extinction of the ego, and the attainment of
bliss.
When someone sitting near you is sunk in sorrow, can you be happy?
No. It may be that a baby weeps pathetically. You get tears in your
eyes in sympathy. Why? There is an unseen bond between the two.
Man alone has this quality of sympathy; he alone can be happy when
others are happy, and miserable when others are miserable. That is
why he is the paragon of creation, the acme of animal advance. Man
alone is capable of service; that is his special glory, unique skill.
Before the festivals of Dasara, Birthday and Shivarathri, every year, I
exhort you to take up the vow of service as a spiritual worship; I must
say that I am not satisfied with your performance yet. But, I have not
given up commissioning you for I hope that you will catch up with the
ideal some day. This is an example of the quality of mercy that is natural
to me. That quality makes me appreciate even the little attempts
you make to practice the ideal of service.
Why have you come such long distances, braving all the expenses and
troubles of the journey? To be in my presence and to win my grace.
Why then do you seek other contacts, others' favours, once you have
reached this place? Why fall into grooves that deny you my presence
and grace? Forget all else, and stick to the orders that I give; I want
only to initiate you into the spiritual path of service and love. (...)
Everyone of you has the yearning to do “foot worship”. And, if I give
the chance to all, what will happen to my foot? And, what a crush there
will be around me! In the very nature of things, all those who yearn cannot
be satisfied. But, know that my feet are everywhere. “In all places,
his hands, his foot”, says the Bhagavadgita. The Vedas says: “God
has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet”. The
heads, eyes and feet of the thousands who gather here, are my heads,
my eyes and my feet. (...)
The homage that you pay to all the forms of God flow towards the one,
God. I would elaborate further and give you this new mantra: “The reverence,
the service, that you offer to every single being flows automatically
to the one, God (Keshava). What does Keshava mean? It means
the supreme Godhead, whose every hair represents the trinity of Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva, the creative, the conserving and the disintegrating
powers of the Divine.
Serve the people who will gather here, with love and intelligence, humility
and efficiency. Then, when they return to their villages, they will
tell their kith and kin: "The people we met at Prashanti Nilayam treated
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