Letters to Devotees

There is nothing more personal and touching as reading some of the letters, which Bhagavan has sent to people over the years. In them, one can sense Bhagavan's greatness, His compassion, understanding, and kindness—and His Omniscience.

Here are some letters sent to devotees in the 1960's and 1970's:

An elderly woman grieving her husband's passing, received a surprise letter of comfort from Bhagavan, expressing:

Wedding binds two persons together as husband and wife. What were they to each other minutes before? The one would not have worried for the other if the wedding had not happened!

Where were the son, and the brother before they were conceived and born? Life is an interlude between what was and what will be. This interlude should be used not to lament over what cannot be helped or set right, but to seek God, see Him and take refuge in Him. Your husband lived such a life in the light of Truth he had glimpsed. He did no wrong to anyone; he loved and served the suffering and the illiterate. He salvaged many families from penury and infamy. He helped many young people to go through college. Many sick persons were saved by his timely donations. He was ever cheerful and spread cheer wherever he went. And, at last, God willed that he cast away the body that limited him. Of what profit is it now to calculate what might have happened, had he not gone to Madras that day?

Your duty from now on is to sustain the fame he earned, to follow the ideals he had placed before himself. Your husband is here, in MY presence now, and he will be there forever as he had wished to be when alive. Swami will not allow him to be separated from the Presence. He is now free from bonds and boundaries.

You are indeed fortunate that destiny drew you to him and gave you so many years of loving companionship with such a fine person. His thoughts were pure; there was no blemish of envy, hatred, or greed in him. So his place is with Me, forever. I am writing this letter to you in order to shower on you the cool rain of love. That rain will scotch the flames of grief that are now raging in you. Your husband is at Prasanthi Nilayam, in the presence of Sairam, having attained that climax by his spiritual attainments.

Baba

Love has no distance:

During Bhagavan's absence from Prasanthi Nilayam in earlier years, He used to send letters to be read out loud for all the residents; to bring them joy and make them aware that He was thinking of them, and knew of their whereabouts—no matter the distance between:

Blessings to all at the Mandir!

Tell them to fulfill the duties assigned and carry out the responsibilities fixed. The daily schedule of puja, dhyana, bhajan, sankirtan and study should be followed punctually and with faithful devotion. People should move along with others with love and reverence. Of what benefit is sadhana if it is done without controlling jealousy, envy, pride, anger, and malice?

However long you may live in the Ashram, these vices will yet undermine whatever merit you acquire. The proof of the rain is the wetness of the ground. The proof of sadhana is the subjugation of the senses. Give up irrelevant and impertinent talks and activity; cultivate self-examination, self-discovery; develop the inner eye, the inner discipline. Make the best of this chance acquired as a result of the good done many previous lives. Of course, Swami's sadhana

Baba

When a devotee fell on bad times, it was not the family or friends who became the support, but God, Bhagavan, came to rescue as the bringer of encouragement and joy, revealing His Omniscience and Divine attributes:

Dear child Veerbhadram!

You are Badhram (meaning: happy, full of confidence and joy). Aren't you? You might answer, "What kind of bhadram is this?" Of course, that answer is natural.

When life flows clear and smooth with no hurdles to cross, to feel that it is all because of one's own choice and to forget God, and when that flow encounters obstacles and obstructions at every turn, to lament and lose heart—are these not signs of the intellectual frailty inherent in man? You, too, are human, dear Bhadram, therefore, it is no wonder that you are overcome by depression and despair when troubles bother you at every step.

Bangaroo! Man only is the target of trouble; trees are not. Even when they are, they have no capacity to express how deep they are hurt.

And though the life of man is basically a manifestation of Immortality and an unbroken stream of Ananda, he strays away from the awareness of the Atman, the spring of that Ananada, slavishly yielding to the ravishing tactics of the mind, the reason, and the vagaries of the ego. Sinking and floating, rising and falling on the turbid waves of the sea of delusion, he is tossed between anxiety and calm, grief and joy, pain and pleasure. He is afflicted with the evanescence of the world and the unreality of his plans and passions.

Why are you confound and confused by this false panorama? nemember, you are thereby despising and denying your own Atmic identity. You have stored in your brain the Vedas, the Sastras, the Puranas, the Ithihasas and the Upanishads, but you behave like dull boor; you bewail your lot and weep at your plight, as it is not worthy of the learning you have accumulated. You have to draw strength and courage therefrom and further the blossoming of holy, heartening thoughts.

Should this one single trouble—want of money—make you stoop in weakness and fear? You have with you, and you know its efficacy, the Name which is Dhanvanthari for the ills and anxieties of man. Instead of letting the name dance merrily on the tongue, why are you paying attention to what you call 'loss,' 'grief,' and 'worry'?

You are the repository of so many branches of scriptural scholarship; but you have neither realized their value nor attempted to experience the joy they can give you. This must be your goal. On the other hand, you are spending your days contentedly and with vast self-satisfaction, as if the biggest purpose to which you can devote your learning is exhibiting it in speech and demonstrating it in outer behavior. The result is, you are led into the baseless belief that you are being 'attacked' by anxieties and adversities.

Really speaking, these are all objective phenomena, passing clouds that are but a feature of the external nature. The Ananda that the Atma can confer on you cannot be lessened or hindered in the least. Have faith in this Truth. Don't you know, Bangaroo, the freedom, the delight and the peace that you can derive by the contemplation of the Ananada, that the unbroken awareness of the Atma can endow you with! Then, though mountains roll on your head, do not get attached with, or affected by, happenings in the objective world.

To preach to others is quite easy; but it is extremely difficult to put even a fraction of what is preached into actual practice and experience the felicity promised. You have been announcing in ringing tones that Swami knows everything; Swami is the Unitive Embodiment of all the names and forms by which man has adored God down the millennia. But you forget to establish its truth in your life, which problems overwhelm you.

Don't I know? The other day, when you were reduced to plead with your father for help and when you were about to proceed to where he resides, your wife suggested, "We shall write to Swami about our troubles and losses," let me ask, why you told her, "I won't allow this; you should not write." May I tell you the reason? You thought she might inform me various other details! Don't I know? Can I know if she writes to me? Foolish Bangaroo!

Don't I know that you went to Ramachandrapuram, proposing to give a series of talks on the [Bhagavad] Gita and returning with a minus balance? The 'Gita discourse' did not receive the response you expected, since your talk was pervaded and polluted by the Burrakatha style that has struck roots in you since long. It cannot easily be overcome. Bear with it patiently and by steady effort, get rid of this tendency. If you desire that your Gita talks should be appreciated, some improvements are called for. Without effecting them, why do you moan, be gloomy and dejected, blaming your scholarship and your experience as mere useless loads?

Well, for me, who is fostering all these worlds, fostering you and your family is no burden. I am giving you these series of troubles, in order to teach you some lessons. "Study is not all important. Practicing what you have learnt is very necessary." My purpose is to bring to your notice this facet of the process of learning.

Let me tell you this. He who but plants a sapling cannot but water it; if he had no will to water it, he wouldn't have planted it. This is the identifying principle of the Atma and the Jiva, the Universal and the Individual, God and man. You had written and published that the name of Swami is dancing in home after home, that Swami's Form is being adored in home after home. And for this little vision, you were filled with Ananda. No, it is not every home only; the Sai Name will arouse ecstatic delight filling the entire world, nay, every inch of it. People sing now, "All is Sai-full, this world is Baba-full." This fullness will be realized, without doubt. Be bold; be in bliss; take up the burden of the duties assigned to you. Seek the realization of the four goals of man-justice, prosperity, righteous desire, and liberation from bondage.

When you resolve to progress on these lines the Lord of Parthi (Sai Ram) will Himself be available to you as the God who will lift you and liberate you. Therefore, Bangaroo, seek and gain your own motivating principle, I will never give you up. I will not forget you, no never.

You have been maligning the rich; give up this erroneous habit. Not only the rich; you should not dishonor anyone in any manner in any measure. Remember, Sai resides in all men; so maligning any person involves the maligning of Sai Himself. If they are bloated in their ego, they will suffer. How can it affect you? Convey my blessings to your wife and children.

I have written this long letter out of the compassion and love I bear towards you. I have not written this out of anger or a sense of hurt. Be ever in joy; be ever intent on practice and experience.

The Resident of your Heart,

Sai

Here are extracts from letters written to students of the Brindavan Campus:

1 December 1971

I suppose all the hostel boys are happy? Is the discipline being properly maintained? Exercise some control in regard to your thoughts, words and actions and understand and carry out SAI's command, work hard and study with interest. Do not let down your parents and their hopes and expectations but strive to make them happy. Studying in SAI's college, staying in SAI's nilayam and being frequently in SAI's company, you should feel SAI's presence everywhere. It is only when you understand and assimilate SAI's ideals of living that SAI's Grace is showered on you.

In my presence you display utmost obedience and reverence, but in my physical absence, you indulge in careless and vulgar actions. You may think that they are for your good but the truth is not hidden from Me. Understand that SAI is present (resides) in your heart, it is SAI's wishes and not yours. That should be materialized in your actions, it is understood that you don't believe that SAI resides in your heart.

SAI is your Thaai, Maai, Aayi. So, do not give place to any ill feelings but conduct yourselves towards one another as brothers do.

Convey my blessings to ... ... ... ...

Baba

The secret of perfect health lies in keeping the mind always cheerful, never worried and never hurried.

Baba

January 1972

SANKRANTHI

Dear Boys,

How are you all? Are you pursuing the same old habits or has there been any change? Has there been any acquisition of noble ideas and ideals? In winnowing, the dry outer coverings are removed from the grain. Similarly, you should also separate and isolate the seeds of bad thoughts and emotions from the good and healthy ones. Let not the seeds of bad thought sprout anywhere near you. At least from this Sankranthi day onwards, live up to the word you've given to Swami and walk along the flowery path shown by SAI. Receive in full SAI's Grace and Love. Lead your life with good thoughts, good inclinations and good ideals. Strive to attain the fruits of your studies. SAI is your 'Hridayasthaayi'. SAI is the One who grants your wishes. It is this SAI, who is your Thaai: SAI MOTHER.

Blessings to All,

Swami

11 July 1972

To All Hostel Boys!

How are you? You are very happy because I am not there. No, no, I am here, there and everywhere. Swami is Love. Love is Swamiji. Therefore, Love is there. There are two kinds of love. One is called Personal love and the other is called Impersonal. Personal love relates to the physical part of the being and Impersonal to the spiritual part. Life is intended to practice Impersonal love, because this Love is revealed in your heart and then you realize wonderful universal truth, spirit or existence which is called God.

To devote yourself to Swamiji in order to realize Him means shedding your individual sense and knowing that you are Universal Truth and spirit. This is possible only when you transcend the individual sense or the ego sense in you. The ego sense is the cause of your unhappiness, bondage and misery in the world.

'SAI KRISHNA' through Geetha has asked you to surrender yourself to the Divine completely and be free from the ego sense. When the ego sense is eliminated you shall have the universal vision and based upon that vision you love all alike. God is love and He dwells in love. In one who dwells in God, God dwells in him. God as love is dwelling in your hearts and therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is within you. When you realize this truth in the freshness and beauty of the Immortal Spirit. Let thy life sing with the music of love.

With Blessings,

Baba

17 July 1972

Dears!

Little knowledge is a dangerous thing making one conceited, it causes his downfall. Ego is the root cause of all troubles.

Realizing is resting. Laziness is rusting. Is it not the truth? Surrender of the disciple and blessings of the Swamiji (God) smoothens the path of self-realization. Life without Swamiji is like a boat without a rudder. Churning the mind with self-inquiry gives the cream of Knowledge. Love is the manifestation of self-illumined. Like water in a reversed pot, the spiritual knowledge does not enter the mind pot. Man's heart is the temple of the Divine. Don't inflame it with ideas of mine and thine.

"Time lost is life lost". Doing one's duty however small, in an unattached manner gives rise to the awakening of self-awareness. Ego is limiting and pushing one into darkness. Truth is a flame of life, trying to reach the peak of attainment! The angry do not go to hell but inflame hell fire wherever they are. Water does not stay in the basket. Wisdom does not stay in the mind passionate. Mind is like a dog, wanders without any objective...

This is My Love

With Blessings,

Baba

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Sometimes Bhagavan will remind His devotees of the spiritual reality, which is the birthright of each and every individual.

This letter was written to a devotee from the U.S.A.:

You as body, mind or soul are a dream but what you really are is Existence, Knowledge, Bliss. You are the God of the Universe. You are creating the whole universe and drawing it in. To gain the infinite universal individuality, the miserable little prison individuality must go. Bhakthi is no crying or any negative condition. It is the seeing of all in all we see.

It is the heart that reaches the goal, follow the heart.

A pure heart seeks beyond the intellect. It gets inspired. Whatever we do reacts upon us, if we do good, we shall have happiness and if evil, unhappiness. Within you is the mighty ocean of nectar divine. Seek it within you, feel it, free it, it is here the Self, it is not the body, the mind, the intellect, the brain, it is not the desire of the desiring, it is not the object of desire.

Above all, there you are. All these are simply manifestations. You appear as the smiling flower, as the twinkling star. What is there in the world which make you desire anything?

With Blessings and Love,

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

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1 January 1974

Dear Boys!

Wish you a happy and peaceful New Year. What is the happiest day in your life? All are happy days to a person of true knowledge. Happiness is an internal conscious experience which comes as an effect of the extinction of mental or physical desire. The lesser the desire, the greater is the happiness, so that perfect happiness consists in the destruction or satisfaction of all desires in the Absolute Being. Life is an experience meant to train the individual for a higher, deeper and more expanded state of existence through the experience of the results of action. The aim of everybody's life is the attainment of complete perfection in the spiritual absolute.

Prema is not an illusion. It is a reality and actuality for those who have realized oneness in life.

What is man's dearest possession apart from his life; one's dearest possession is one's own true Self and there is no permanently dear thing apart from that.

God is great, all others are mere dusts.

God only is real and great. Everything else is unreal and valueless. I go further and say that God only exists and there is nothing second to SAI (God).

With Blessings,

Baba

1974 SANKRANTHI

Dear Boys,

Let every human being remake himself. Let us understand that we live not for money making, not for fulfilling our wants, not for scholarly and intellectual pursuits, but for spiritual development. Effects of karma's of the past have to be effaced with karma's backed by PREMA. Every karma must have a background of PREMA.

It is only in this world that spiritual progress can be made. Annihilation of ego and dissolution of desires can be made here and now. Conquer desires, the little 'I' feeling, vasanas, vikaras, raga and dwesha. All these have built this world of appearances and illusions.

Fill the heart with the LIGHT of PREMA so that the evil qualities of hate, greed and conceit find no place therein.

In winnowing, the dry outer coverings are separated from the grain. So too, you should separate the bad thoughts and emotions from the good and healthy ones. From this Sankraanthi Day onwards, walk along the FLOWERY PATH shown by SAI.

Receive in full SAI's Grace and Love. SAI is your Hridaya Sthaayi. SAI is the ONE who BLESSES your life with PEACE. SAI is the ONE who grants your wishes.

IT IS THIS SAI, WHO IS YOUR THAAYI (Mother).

With Blessings and Love,

Baba

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5 August 1974

JANMASHTAMI SANDESH

Dear Boys!

Accept My Blessings and Love. In the world today so full of people who are selfish, unloving and unloved, this brand, this kind of atheism is almost a religion.

What is the SELF? It is the Self that says 'Not I' for if it says so, then it is unreal self, since the real Self has no thought of itself. The real Self is the selfless self, the self that has no thought either of or for itself.

It is the Self that has forgotten itself because somehow it remembers itself only in others. It is the Self that seeks the truth without a thought of self because truth is selfless wisdom. It is the Self that is quiet because quietness is the cessation of self through the wordlessness of the mind. It is the Self in wordless meditation, because wordless meditation is the stopping of the mind through union with the Divine. It is the Self that does not judge, does not evaluate, does not compare, does not condemn, does not separate, does not seek security of any kind, does not seek even itself.

It is the Self that has completely abolished itself and yet in a strange and mystical fashion is never more complete, never more real, never more itself than it has ever been. This is the real Self.

God is Love, Love is Selflessness. Selflessness is the abolition of all sense of selfhood and separativeness, all thoughts of you, all identification with the isolative life of the counterfeit being called self. Self is separativeness. Separativeness is the denial of wholeness. Wholeness is God. The denial of God is Godlessness, God privation, atheism. Atheism therefore as now understood, is not the denial of this or that religion, or the denial of this or that concept of God. It is rather the denial of a life of love which is the nature of God. It is the assertion of the life of self which is negation of the being of God. In short, real atheism is the denial of love, the assertion of selfishness.

The process of God-ward called self-sacrifice is in its most real essence, love. For, God is love and love alone can lead to Him. As the most God-full act is the act of love, so the most God-less act is the act of non-love or hate. But hate, which is separativeness, can arise only when there is selfishness or self-fullness. Thus it comes to pass that the most Godless, loveless act is the act of selfishness or self-fullness.

Love must be completely selfless to be God-ward, to be Divine. Its creation must be the beloved first, its technique must be your happiness not mine. This way to happiness is the forgetting of oneself and the remembering of God (Sai Krishna).

Whatever we do reacts upon us. If we do good, we shall have happiness and if evil, unhappiness. Within you is the real happiness, within you is the mighty ocean of the nectar Divine. Seek it within you, feel it, feel it. It is here, the Self; it is not the body, the mind, the intellect, the brain. iI is not the desire nor the desiring. It is not the object of the desire. Above all, these you are. All these are simply manifestations. You appear as the smiling flower, as the twinkling stars. What is there in this world which can make you desire anything?

It is the pure heart that reaches the goal. Follow the heart. A pure heart seeks beyond the intellect. It gets inspired.

With Blessings,

Sri Sathya Sai Baba