Poem by Lord Buddha

Flowers

Who shall conquer this world
and the world of death and the gods?
Who shall find the clear path of truth,
as a skillful person finds the flower?

The wise student will conquer this world
and the world of death and the gods.
The wise student will find the clear path of truth,
as a skillful person finds the flower.

Whoever knows that this body is like foam
and has learned that its nature is a mirage,
will break the flourishing arrows of Mara
and never see the king of death.

Death carries off a person who is gathering flowers,
whose mind is distracted,
like a flood carries off a sleeping village.
Death terminates a person who is gathering flowers,
whose mind is distracted,
before one is even satiated in pleasures.

As the bee collects nectar and departs
without harming the flower or its colour or scent,
so let the sage live in a village.
Not the faults of others
nor their errors of commission or omission,
but one's own errors and omissions should the sage consider.

Like a beautiful flower, full of colour, but without scent,
are the fine but fruitless words
of those who do not act accordingly.
But like a beautiful flower, full of colour and full of scent,
are the fine and fruitful words
of those who do act accordingly.

As many kinds of garlands
can be made from a heap of flowers,
so many good works may be achieved by a mortal after birth.
The scent of flowers does not travel against the wind,
not even that of sandalwood, rose-bay or jasmine,
but the fragrance of good people
travels even against the wind.
A good person pervades everywhere.

Sandalwood or rose-bay or lotus or jasmine---
among these perfumes, the perfume of virtue is unsurpassed.
Limited is the scent of rose-bay or sandalwood;
but the perfume of the virtuous
rises up to the gods as the highest.

Mara never crosses the path of those who are virtuous,
who live without thoughtlessness,
and who are liberated by true knowledge.
Just as on a heap of rubbish thrown upon the highway

the lotus will grow sweetly fragrant, delighting the soul,
so also among those who are like rubbish
the wise student of the truly enlightened Buddha
shines brightly with wisdom above the blinded crowd.

Dalai Lama quotes on Happiness

" I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness…"

Long before Truth has put on her shoes, Falsehood completes her journey round the world

What should be our attitude towards practice of truth?

The chief goal for man is to practice and propagate the principle of truth. One has to practice Truth before preaching it. Come what may, one should have the courage and conviction to tread the path of truth. Even at the cost of food, raiment and shelter, even at the cost of one’s own life, one should be prepared to practice truth and righteousness.

Sathya Sai Quotes

Habits mould character and character decides one’s destiny

What are the qualities that one should foster?

Some say knowledge is valuable, but character is more valuable than knowledge. One may be a learned scholar, one may hold high positions of authority, one may be very wealthy or be an eminent scientist but, if one has no character, all the other acquisitions are of no use at all. Sacrifice, love, compassion and forbearance are the sterling human qualities that should be fostered, shedding jealousy, hatred, ego and anger which are animal qualities.

Quotes of Sathya Sai

Quotes of Mother Teresa

It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.

Mother Teresa Quotes

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.

The God-centred person has three qualities: Purity, Perseverance and Patience

The great virtue of forbearance

Forbearance is one of the most important qualities that you should possess, and it is absolutely essential on the spiritual path. It is by putting yourself under test in difficult circumstances that you can cultivate this quality of forbearance... There is nothing extraordinary about returning good for good, but doing good in return for bad, that is something great, and the practice of such a virtue requires a great deal of skill. However much other people may criticize you, however much they may comment and condemn, you should never lose your forbearance. When others admonish you, what can you possibly lose thereby? You should remain unperturbed and continue to enjoy inner peace. If by chance you should lose your patience and forbearance, then you lose everything. So, you have to learn how to use forbearance and practice it properly, whatever the circumstances.

Quotes from Sathya Sai

Keep the joy of loving God in your heart and share this joy with all you meet especially your family.Be holy, let us pray

"I once picked up a woman from a garbage dump and she was burning with fever; she was in her last days and her only lament was: ‘My son did this to me.’ I begged her: You must forgive your son. In a moment of madness, when he was not himself, he did a thing he regrets. Be a mother to him, forgive him. It took me a long time to make her say: ‘I forgive my son.’ Just before she died in my arms, she was able to say that with a real forgiveness. She was not concerned that she was dying. The breaking of the heart was that her son did not want her. This is something you and I can understand."

Quotes of Mother Teresa

There can be no sacredness in service, if good thoughts and good feelings are absent

How to practise 'Dharma'?

There is not one Dharma for the Indian and another for Westerners. Dharma is universal. Yes. There is a test that may be applied to any action and you may thereby determine if it is according to dharma. Let not that which you do harm or injure another. This flows from the recognition that the light, which is God, is the same in every form, and if you injure another you are injuring the same light that is in yourself. Dharma enables you to come to the recognition that anything that is bad for another form is also bad for you. The test of dharmic action is stated very clearly in the Christian religion. That is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Quotes from Sathya Sai

Mother's Quotes from Prayers and Meditations

Give me Thy light, O Lord, grant that I do not fall into any error. Grant that the infinite reverence, the utter devotion, that intense and profound love I bring to Thee may be radiant, convincing, contagious and be awakened in every heart.

O Lord, Eternal master, Thou art my Light and my peace; guide my steps, open my eyes, illuminate my heart and lead me on the paths that go straight to Thee.

O Lord, Lord, grant that I may have no other will than Thine and that all my acts may be an expression of Thy divine law.

A great Light floods my whole being, and I am no longer conscious of anything but Thee....

Peace, peace, peace upon all the earth


Extracts from the Mother’s spiritual diaries

The one with noble qualities of purity, patience and perseverance is verily God

Which is the kind of love that we must cultivate?

Love is of three kinds

- Swartha or self centred, which like a bulb, illumines just a small room
- Anyonya or mutual, which like moonlight, spreads wider but is not clear
- Parartha (divine) which like the sunlight, is all pervasive and clear

Cultivate the third type of love that will save you. For all the service that you do to others, through love, is actually service done to yourself. It is not others that you help, it is yourself that is being helped.

Quotes from Sathya Sai

Body is like a water bubble, mind is like a mad monkey. Don’t follow both. Follow the conscience

What should be our outlook to life while we discharge our duties?

Live in absolute conviction that you are the Atma (spirit). That is the hardcore of eternal teaching. The Atma sees through the eyes, hears through the ears, handles through the fingers and moves through the feet. That is the basic ‘you’. That ‘You’ is not elated by praise or deflated by blame.

Quotes from Sathya Sai

No one can judge another, for, when another is judged you are yourself condemned

Practise of Discrimination is very important for our life


1. Accept good and discard bad.
2. Lets always ask ourselves, " is it good" or "is it bad"?
It is not enough that discrimination be practised only for physical objects. We should use it for our vision.

Our words, our actions, our behavior, what we listen should all show discrimination. Then the word 'discrimination' acquires its significance.

Human life is a combination of morality, spirituality and righteousness

Making mistakes- How can we avoid

We feel God should forgive our mistakes. In fact, if we are truly human, we should not commit mistakes at all. Even if we commit mistakes willingly or unwillingly, we should not repeat it again. It is grievous error to think that its natural for human being to err. We should not be weak, nor an animal, nor a demon.
And always think we are human being.

When we have such convictions, we would never commit mistakes.

Divine love is the only penance for all your troubles and miseries arising from insatiable desires and frustrated ambitions.

Chanting God's name

Repeating god's name without a feeling will never reach its peak. Instead we need to repeat God's name with wonder and awe, reverence and humility.

Feeling is a force that pulls the strings and makes the Name reach the Named, the bearer of the Name.

We should have constructive thoughts, consoling words and compassion

Lets be in happiness and peace always. How can this happen?

We do not have happiness and peace because we are busy finding faults with others and happy at others failings. Instead we should be working on our own faults and failings.
What we see in others is a reflection of our own self. They are our prejudices and preferences.

We can be in happiness and peace if we are compassionate towards all creatures. Knowlingly causing injury is bad.

So lets spread love and happiness through compassion and be filled with joy and peace.

Living without Faith is like life without breath

Life is full of storms, how can we handle them

Life is filled with happiness and sadness. How we handle them is very important?

Its like a garland full of bloomed flowers, some brings happiness and some unhappiness. We become depressed when unhappiness occur and don't cherish the happy moments. In this process, we forget the string that binds the both.

In moments of storms, we should focus on the divine principle.

Being calm and centered is very important.

The power of love is responsible for the earth to rotate

True devotion

There is nothing greater than love. Love can accomplish anything. So, we should make every effort to spread love everywhere.
True devotion consists in offering all our thoughts and actions to GOD and seek his grace. Devotion is a state of non-separation from God.

Being in the pooja room or visiting temple is just a brief spell of devotion. During that time, devotion seems to swell within us and we feel at peace but, once outside, the peace is lost and anger takes place. This is not devotion.

True devotion transcends the limitations imposed by one's daily routines and the obligations of life. Love for God should always be present in any situation.
We should strive to develop such love and experience the joy of sharing with others

Service and Love are like two eyes for human being or two wings for a bird

Spiritual practice brings in visions which are reflections of divine vibrations in the mind. These occur on the path towards our goal. But these cannot come with you till the end. We have to travel alone and overcome obstacles.

Grace is showered on us by GOD which is very important for progress in spiritual path.
But what use is it, if our hearts are filled with bad thoughts and head loaded with ego?

First, we need to make our heart pure with Love and throw out ego by doing service.

Devotion is not a uniform to be worn on certain days

Devotion is not simply the love for God but there is something more to it

Devotion should focus on the discipline for reaching the Lord. It should not stop with acquiring and the love we have for Lord.
We should be eager to know what actions and behaviour makes the Lord happy.

We sometimes forget to follow these ideals. We focus more on the love the devotee has for the Lord and forget the righteousness and work the Lord appreciates.

So lets focus our thoughts, actions towards the Lord to seek his grace. Be in acordance with the Lord's will and not be subject to our own will.

Hands that serve are holier than lips that pray

There is nothing nobler than Service.

The tendency to separate spiritual path, the path of service and path of knowledge is common. But they are not separate, in fact they are one.
Service which is spiritual knowledge is the principle means to acquire divine grace. One cannot become a worthy leader without devoted follower. One cannot attain divinity without doing work.

We have to understand this truth.

The five sustainer's of happiness is Truth, Right conduct, Peace, Love and non-violence. We should not give up on these qualities.

Where there is confidence there is love, where there is love, there is peace

How can we remain at peace even when surroundings are hostile

when we get a registered letter from someone, we sign and accept. And then we are aware of the contents, even if we don't accept its contents. The letter goes back to the sender if we don't sign, thereby the sender's purpose is defeated.
Similarly, don't give ears to abuse. Maintain cool and remain disinterested. Then the foulness goes back to the sender and does not affect at all.
It will rather affect the sender as a resound, reaction and reflections. Instead of harming you, it will only recoil the sender.

True education is living with god, True devotion is living for God, True spirituality is living in God

How can we lead a life of fulfillment?

Our everyday life should be in trying and seeking to mould our mundane activities on spiritual values. we must have our heads in forest and hands in society. Meaning, our activities should be with spiritual ideals. This alone will bestow lasting peace on us.

All our spiritual exercises should direct towards settling ourselves in firm conviction, unwavering faith which would culminate in our life's fulfillment. All our senses should be sanctified by offering the actions performed through them to God.

To experience the Truth, follow your conscience and not the body and mind

The best Guru who can that be?

It is the Divinity in you, long to hear the voice, listen to the advice it gives.
The secret of liberation does not lie in the mystical words whispered in the ears. It lies in stepping out in action, walking forward and reaching the goal.

Trying to seek wordly gurus, we would be running from one to another.
Its like a rat caught inside a drum, which moves to the right when the drummer beats on the left and to the left when he beats on the right.

He who conquers the world is a hero, but he who conquers himself is a hero of heroes

How can we achieve our goals?

Promoting your individuality and following your ideals makes one a hero. But trying to imitate others is sheer laziness of thought.
One should aim high and not get disheartened if we miss our mark.

Its better to fall in shooting a tiger than succeeding in shooting a sparrow. Come what may, sticking to our goals or ideals is very important.

Love lives by giving and forgiving, self lives by getting and forgetting

We can perceive Divinity in ourselves and others by goodness, compassion and tolerance.

Being soft at heart is often condemned as weak, coward and want of intelligence. But if one is hard at heart , it leads to war, destruction and downfall.

Love alone confers lasting happiness and peace. We are born to share, to serve, to give and not grab. Sharing reduces grief and also multiplies joy.

Service is sacred only if one has good thoughts and feelings

Doing service in the right way is very important.

Service should be done without any expectation or returns. Any service we do should meet the needs of needy people and offer solution for problems.

While doing service, do not crave for publicity, crave for happiness and joy that shines on the faces of people we help.

The flower that is in our hearts gets its fragrance from the service we do. So any service we do should be filled with love and affection.

Prayers must come from the heart, not from lip

Dealing with the consequences of our actions

It is the mind that is the cause of bondage and liberation.

Our own actions are the cause of our sorrow or happiness. Blaming others for our situation is wrong, its a sign of weakness.

One has to bear the consequences of your actions.

If one cannot bear the troubles, surrender to GOD to get relief.

One needs pure love and firm faith to achieve anything in LIFE

Failure is a stepping stone to success, so do not allow failure to rule you. Be firm in your faith and grace automatically will shower.