Sathya Sai Baba The World-Avatar Teaching and Revelations

ers, instead of a path of thorns. Recognise the Sai resident in every
heart and all will be smoothness, softness and sweetness for you. Sai
will be the fountain of love in your heart and in the hearts of all with
whom you come in contact. Know that Sai is omnipresent, so He is
present in every living thing and you. Adore everyone as you adore
Sai. Allow the other man as much freedom as you like to enjoy; do unto
him just as you would like to be done by. Don't do unto him anything
you would not like done unto you. That is the sum and substance of
spiritual effort. 11.5.75, (23-238)
Giving up external struggle is not enough, nor is it a great achievement.
The real struggle is internal - the withdrawal of the extrovert
senses into the mind and making them ineffective through the exercise
of the intellect or discrimination. Investigate each material object that
entices the senses by beauty, fragrance, sweetness and softness. Realise
that these are all momentary, depending on your mental condition,
physical health and emotional balance. Man is enamoured of flitting
phenomena; he accepts them as valid and valuable. He is
entangled in these unrealities and strays far from the path of liberation.
This is not man's goal. (...)
The special instrument that God has allotted man, is intuition, the higher
intellect and has to be used by man to master these down-dragging
senses. Use the intellect to judge and decide the best means for the
uplift of the human to the Divine. It has to help man realise God and
nothing less than excellence. 26.9.79, (25-7+9)
From the point of view of spiritual progress, persons can be grouped
under three headings: The full-filled or complete, the part filled or limited
and the empty or heedless.
The first group, the full-filled people win the grace of God through adherence
to good conduct, good work and good faith. They are loved
by God and are blessed with unbroken bliss. Love is the effect of love
only. Love can be earned only by love. The ordinary men do not hanker
after the love of God; they yearn for material goods and the satisfaction
they confer. They are prompted by the lower self to cater to the senses.
But, the full-filled persons have the higher love that is free from selfishness.
Their thoughts, aspirations and deeds are all saturated with
love. (...) This group of devotees might be undistinguished in appearance
but they can be recognized by the spiritual glow of inner bliss. To
be blessed by the Lord with Divine love, one must have passed
through many lives of spiritual discipline of love.
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