Be ready to face and overcome the obstacles in the spiritual path and Submit yourself wholeheartedly to a Guru

Sairam,       

Once there was a coward who had neither courage nor wisdom; neither devotion nor sincerity. He had a great desire to present himself before the eyes of the public as a great devotee of Lord Narasimha. He went to a tattooer (the one who paints with pins and pricks) to get tattooed on his back the figure of Lord Narasimha so that the people would take him as staunch devotee. The tattooer began to paint Legs of Lord Narasimha on back of the coward. Within few minutes, unable to bear pain, the coward asked the tattooer to stop and to start paint hands of of Lord Narasimha. Again after sometime, he asked the tattooer to stop and start paint from the head. Finally, before completion of the work, he ran out and started shouting, "O Men! Lord Narasimha has been pleased with me. He has taken his seat on my back. How great a devotee I am!". The people saw few awkward scratchings on his back made by the tattooer and mocked and pitied at the coward on his folly and ignorance.

Similarly, The world is full of pseudo-Jnanins, pseudo-Vedantins and pseudo-Yogins who want to pose as great Yogins and Bhakthas but they possess neither the courage to face the obstacles in the spiritual path nor the will to submit themselves to a Guru and learn patiently what the Guru teaches. They just catch a word or two that comes from the Guru’s mouth and go about preaching the public under the impression that they have become realised persons. O man! Be ready to face and overcome the obstacles in the spiritual path and Submit yourself wholeheartedly to a Guru so that he will write a full ineffable picture of the Lord in your mind. Be bold; courageous; patient; earnest.

Develop parama-prema (Supreme divine love) without giving room for doubts and hesitations. Never yield to doubt; unsteadiness; decline of faith and shake in mind because they will only add to the grief which you already suffer from. Doubts makes you to turn away your faces from Lord because you are enmeshed in worldly attachments and physical attachments. Geetha says, "Shraddhaavan labhate Jnaanam" means the person who is steady in his faith gains the knowledge of the path of liberation; "Samshayaathma vinashyathi" warns against the sinister consequence of 'doubt' that it leads to perdition and spiritual ruin. Develop devotion and steady faith to achieve the Glory of Self-realisation. The Lord reveals his Premaswarupam to awaken your higher consciousness in the flood of Universal love when you become transmuted into Prema.

Human birth is a unique chance for living beings because you are endowed with discriminating intelligence ie., the power to reason out the best among the alternative courses. You should not relapse into Pashuthwa (animality) by getting swayed by Egoism, pride and greed because you are far from Pashu (animal) and closer to Pashupathi (Lord of beings). Cultivate Prema that illuminates your thoughts, words, movements, activities and judgements to realise that the Lord is in the heart of every being. A senses enjoying person has greater poison than Cobra and his venom can be found in his eyes, his tongue, his hands, his mind, his heart and in his thoughts.

Virtue is the life-breath; character is the backbone. Engage yourself in spiritual discipline, spiritual thoughts and spiritual company. Only the years that you have lived with the Lord are counted as life but not the years that are spend in the marshland of pleasure seeking. You must act so that the heart of the Lord melts at your devotion which will cleanse the mind of evil and vice. A characterless man is like a pot with many holes i.e., neither useful for carrying water nor for storing. Strive after Namasmarana and Dhyanam but neither for the fame nor for the friendship of the famous.

A fish cannot be happy outside of water eventhough you give it a very comfortable velvet bed because it cannot be happy without water. Similarly, we cannot be happy unless we have spiritual food and live in spiritual life because we are all spirit soul.

--SATHYA SAI 

Omsai Srisai Jaijaisai