For Me, from Me

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, Prashanthi Nilayam, 24 Nov 1972
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Feb 17, 2002

The mother who bore you, the father who fostered you and the teacher who opened your eye to the mystery of nature in and around you, have all to be revered. However high you may rise in social status, however huge may be your bank account, if your parents are neglected in distress, your life has been a tragic waste. Parents are mightily happy, when their children evince the slightest regard for their comfort. Any little sign of gratitude is welcomed by them with delight. If you have no urge to please them and make them happy, how can you ever hope to please God?

The envelope might cost a Naya Paisa only; inside it, the bit of paper might be shoddy and soiled. The scribbling on it might be full of blotches; the letters might be higgledy piggledy, but, when the child writes to the mother, she reads and appreciates the letters with tears of joy. The envelope might be a deluxe one costing five Rupees, the letters may be of gold, printed in choice antique type in an aristocratic press; but, she will not be interested even to look at it. The mother seeks love, craves for gratitude, thirsts after sympathy. She values feeling, not external display.

The divine mother too is moved by the same feeling. She does not appreciate demonstrative trappings like matted hair, rosaries, marks on forehead or sacerdotal robes. She values sincerity, yearning, virtue, compassion, and love.

Minds of Men are Cesspools of Desire

The Vedhas declare that Her grace, that is to say, immortality, can be achieved by Thyaaga (detachment), rather than by hectic activity, or affluence or progeny. Give up; do not grasp in clenched fists. Release; do not bind and get bound. The units of the Sathya Sai Seva Organisation must emphasise though example and personal practice that no joy is equal to the joy of sharing, giving, renouncing.

You can understand this better when you pay attention to the behaviour of children. They are like realised souls, without attachment. There are three motives that rule man: Rathi (attachment), Praapthi (acquisition) and Thusti (bliss). Rathi is the desire to contact the objective world; Praapthi is the craving to possess the object; the Thusti is the Aanandha (supreme bliss) available when the secret of nature is realised. Examine the contents of a child's pocket. You will find a few pebbles, a piece of glass, or a twig or flower. The child gets from these more joy than an adult derives from a wad of notes. The child does not crave to possess and to deny others. It does not accumulate for coming days, or for the mere pleasure of becoming renowned as an accumulator. The child may have a dirt-covered body, but its mind is free from dirt; elders are scrupulous about physical cleanliness but, their minds are cesspools of desire, of hate, envy and clogging slush.

Shed all Envy and grow greatly in Love

This is because the real nature of God, nature and man is not understood. Man is but a wave of the ocean which is God. Nature is just a manifestation of the same God, appearing as having diversity, and as good-bad, gentle-cruel, useful-useless, and, such other dual attributes. Desire to acquire or anxiety to avoid comes because man is caught in this duality, which is fundamentally, a creation of his own mind.

Man caught up in the tangle of desire, craves for much fruit with little effort; the man who is detached from the temptations of the objective world craves for a little fruit, but, is prepared to undergo much effort for the same. Just a little sign of grace endows him with immeasurable delight, Aanandha.

"For me", "to me" - This is animal desire. "From me, by me" - this offering is a sign of the divine nature in man. Share, then the sense of oneness gets established; you lose all fear and shed all envy, and grow greatly in love.