Raamanaama will yield fresh sweetness, fresh joy, every time it is rolled on the tongue.

Sairam,                                                                                                                                       

Prashaanthi Nilayam, 1963

Once there was a fisherman who spread his net over a lake and sat watching as robbers might drag away his catch. He sat on a tree and for getting clearer vision all round. It was a bilva tree and the day was Magha Krishna Chathurdhasi, Shivaraathri day, in face Mahaashivaraathri (Great Night of Emergence of Shiva's Radiant Form). He plucked leaves and pulled off branches. Right under the tree where bilva leaves fell, there was a Shivalinga! For want of food, he starved the night and so he got the merit of a vigil and of a fast! His wife too ardently waited for him in his hut. Just when she was about to eat her supper, a dog peeped in. She felt it was very hungry and so she followed it with the plate of food and fed it in a spirit of puuja. She too kept vigil. In the morning, the fisherman went to the temple and prayed that he may merge in god. His wife prayed that he may be spared for her sake. But God had both of them merged in him. 

The griha (home) must resound to the name of Govinda; otherwise, it is just a guha (a cave) where wild animals dwell. The body itself is a house where the name of Govinda must be heard else, it is a ghata (a mud pot). Your houses must be prashaantha i.e., immersed in the highest shaanthi (peace) undisturbed by any streak of hatred or malice, pride or envy. No puuja, no thapas, no vratha can equal the efficacy of obedience. You need not be proud when you are able to sing better or if your puuja room is better decorated. There must be a steady improvement in your habits and attitudes; otherwise, saadhana is a vain pastime. 

Unbelief is an insidious disease which sets fire to the tiny shoots of faith and reduces life into cinders and ashes. Doubt, anger, poison and illness have to be scotched before they grow. Repeat the Raamanaama whether you have faith or not. The Lord considers only quality not quantity. He does not calculate how many measures of "sweet rice" you offered, but how many sweet words you uttered, how much sweetness you added in your thoughts. Offer him the fragrant leaf of bhakthi, the flowers of your emotions and impulses freed from the pests of lust, anger, the fruits grown in the orchard of your mind, sour or sweet, juicy or dry, bitter or sugary. All fruits will be sweet once you decide that orchard in your mind belongs to Lord. All who aspire to be bhakthas must eschew raaga and dhwesha (attachment and aversion).  

One has to discover entity by means of the characteristics it is supposed to have with the help only guide map given by the experience of sages in the form of Bhaagavatha, the Ramayana and Puraanas. Hanuman searched for seetha though he had not seen her. He could also judge what she should be like, if Raama could aspire for her so deep. Man too should search for lord as Hanuman searched for Seeta. He should seek for incomprehensible Aadhishakthi (Primal Energy) among the multifarious counter-attractions and distractions of Lanka. 

Search for Lokamaatha (Universal mother) by taking Raama as your guide as he is the master. Vedhas are like Lakshmana. Sugreeva and rest are like Shaasthras which could not describe Seetha as they had not seen. You can fill yourself with bliss by establishing yourself in the faith and having the universal mother in the heart and proceeding into the land of raakshasas. Raamanaama will yield fresh sweetness, fresh joy, every time it is rolled on the tongue. Merge with the Universal with no trace of separation or distinctness like the aakaasha (space in the pot merges with the aakaasha outside the pot silently and fully. 

Individual reconstruction is much more important than the construction of temples. Multiply virtues, not buildings; the real pilgrimage is to practice what you preach; the real bath in holy waters is to cleanse your minds of envy and malice. Of what avail is the name of the Lord on the tongue, if the heart within is impure?  

Injustice and discontent are spreading everywhere due to one fault in man "saying one thing and doing the opposite". The tongue and the hand going in different directions. Man has to set himself right and correct his food, his recreation, his method of spending his leisure as well as his habits of thought. 

--SATHY SAI

 Omsai srisai jaijaisai