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earn from Swami. Many prize-winning students look forwardto getting prostration at Swamis feet (padanamaskar) whenthey receive prizes from Swami. Yesterday, I allowed all studentsto offerpadanamaskarbecause they were willing toforgo receiving the prizes. It is their spirit of sacrifice that has

enabled them to get this benediction from Bhagavan.From self-confidence to self-realizationA spiritual edifice is built on the foundation of self-confidence.The walls are made up of self-satisfaction. Self-sacrificeis the roof. Self-Realization is fulfillment in life.Students! Fill your minds and hearts with these sacredspiritual truths and go out into the world to spread the spiritualmessage in every street and every alley.The world today is in utter confusion. Unrest and fear stalkthe world. To eliminate this disorder and fear, you have to instilldevotion among the people.

Today, the world lacks righteousness and spirituality. Peopleare immersed in materialism and worldliness. They are afterpower and pelf. This is utterly wrong. Money comes andgoes. Morality comes and grows. You may carry on your vocationalduties. But along with it, render social service. See thedivine in the people whom you serve.Even an agnostic occasionally invokes the name of God.For instance, on one occasion, Jawaharlal Nehru was visitingthe Meenakshi Temple in Madurai. During the worship of theGoddess, Nehru noticed a large emerald adorning the idol. Heasked about the value of the emerald. He was interested in thevalue of the gem. But the devotees in the sanctum were meditatingon the divine form of the Goddess. They were concernedabout Divinity. Nehru looked at the idol from a worldly pointof view. When he was informed that the ornament was worthseveral lakhs, spontaneously he exclaimed: "My God!" WhatSathya Sai Speaks, Volume 31 16made him think of God? Because God is in everyone. Whenexpressing surprise at something one exclaims: "Oh! MyGod!" In this manner, people give expression to the Divinitywithin them unconsciously.A lesson to the PandavasDoubts about God may sometimes arise even amongstaunch believers. This may be illustrated from an incident inthe Mahabharata. Once, while the Pandavas were in exile inthe forest, Krishna visited them. Krishna was told that the fivebrothers took turns during the night to keep a vigil over the activitiesof evil spirits and demons. One night, an evil spirit appearedbefore the Pandava brothers, and they had great difficultyin fighting it. In view of this, Dharmaja, the eldest of the

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Pandavas, tried to dissuade Krishna from participating in sentryduty. Krishna, however, insisted on taking his share.During that period no evil spirit appeared. Then came Arjunasturn, and Krishna watched the scene from a distance. To

Arjunas surprise, no evil spirit appeared while Krishna was

there. Krishna then explained to Arjuna that evil spirits wereonly a reflection of ones hatred and fear, and when one is free from these, no evil spirit would appear or do any harm.Krishna revealed that the Divine existed even in so-called evilspirits and that if a person gets rid of the evil qualities withinhim, the evil spirits can do no harm. Ones anger assumes the form of a demon. If you develop love, everything you confrontwill have the form of love. This was the lesson Krishna taughtthe Pandavas.Students should eschew bad qualities like anger, hatred,and envy. By manifesting love, they will enjoy bliss.

Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 31 17"Follow your dharma"The essential message of the Gita is: Follow yourdharma.Do your duty without expectation of its fruits. If you are ahouseholder, perform your duties as a householder. Whateveryour stage in life, act according to the duties appropriate to thatstage. If everyone does his duty, there is nothing greater in life.But there is one duty that is common to all stages: the dutydictated by the heart (hridaya-dharma). Fill your hearts withlove. Through this you can accomplish anything. Start the daywith Love, Fill the day with Love, End the day with Lovethis is the way to God.I am presenting a silver cup to each campus of the Institute.

Accept it as my love offering to every student individually.Everyone should develop a sense of oneness with all. Theworld today suffers from divisiveness. Students should go outinto the world and promote the sense of human unity. That willbe the offering you can make to Me.You are all my property. And I am yours. Let us share eachothers love. That is the true path of devotion. Ritualistic worshipis not the true mark of devotion. The essence of devotionis the feeling of identification with God.During the recent Unity Cup Cricket Match, a cricketer ofrepute observed, I dont do any work on my own. Whatever I do, I regard as Swamis work. Because I did Swamis work, my work was taken care of by Swami. I did not attend to mywork. After coming here, I received a telegram to the effect:Your task has been accomplished successfully. He then announcedthat, while I attended to Swamis work, Swami carriedout my work.

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Likewise, if you do Swamis work, your work will be taken care of by Me. Dedicate every action to the Divine. The responsewill be equally divine. This has been described as diSathya Sai Speaks, Volume 31 18vine vibration. That vibration will sustain and support your

life.Take up social service in the villages after you go back toyour homes. That is the way to make use of your studies andput Swamis teachings into practice. Instill in the villages devotion to God. Practise what you preach. This is true service.14 January 1998Sai Kulwant Hall, Prasanthi Nilayam

A mirror, though clean, may not reflect your imageif there is no mercury coating behind it. So also theheart may be pure, but there should be a coating oflove behind it to facilitate reflection of God.

Baba3Buddhas gospel of good lifeEmbodiments of Divine Love!Man today is acquiring various types of knowledge.

Among these he is learning how to live and act like lions andother animals.What is the meaning of knowledge (jnana)? It is not mereacquaintance with numerous books. Even the acquisition ofinformation about all the objects in the animate and inanimate

is not knowledge. True knowledge is awareness of the relationshipbetween the individual and collective (samashti) and theironeness.Men today do not recognize the nature their humanness.How can they recognize their inherent divinity?It is only when man is aware of his humanness that he willbe competent to recognize his divinity. How then, is man toreach humanness? What is the means? Buddha undertook variousinquiries to discover the Divine and came to the conclusionSathya Sai Speaks, Volume 31 20that it is only through mastery over his senses he can achieve

this. Man has to make the right use of his senses for sacredpurposes to realize his divinity.Samyag darsanamHence, Buddha declared that the first requisite is samyagdarsanam(Having the right vision). The implication of thisstatement is that, having been bestowed with the great gift ofeyes, man should use them for seeing sacred objects and holybeings. But, on the contrary, by using his eyes to look at unsacred

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objects and evil persons, man fills himself with badthoughts and becomes a prey to evil tendencies. What one seesinfluences the feelings in the heart. The state of the heart determinesthe nature of ones thoughts. The thoughts influenceone's life.

Hence to lead a good life the first requisite is a pure vision.Man has to cultivate sacred outlook. As a result of looking atcruel, ugly, and wicked scenes man leads an animal existence.The very first inquiry one should make is to ascertain what ispure, edifying, and godly that he should see. Whatever he seesleaves its imprint on man. Few realize the effects of this.Human life today is racked by anxiety, misery, unrest andtroubles of various kinds. The root cause of all this is that manis witnessing what is repulsive, wicked and demeaning. Fortransforming one's life, the first requisite is a proper vision.The eye (netra) is comparable to a spiritual text (sastra) and

one's vision (drishti) determines one's views of the cosmos(srishti). Hence to acquire the highest knowledge one has topurify the vision. This means one should avoid seeing what isobnoxious. One should strive to see only that which is sacredand pure. What man sees is like seeds sown in the heart. Evilscenes give rise to evil thoughts. Good scenes evoke goodthoughts. When sacred scenes are implanted in the heart there