FEBRUARY 2010 - Sri Sathya Sai Books & Publication Trust

Mind by nature is absolutely pure. It isonly due to the infl uence of bad companythat it becomes wicked. Take, for example, anewspaper. If you wrap jasmine fl owers in it, itwill acquire the fragrance of jasmine fl owers.Similarly, if you wrap Pakodas (an Indiansavoury) in it, it will emit the smell of Pakodas.The newspaper on its own does not have anytype of smell. Whatever item is wrapped in it, itextremely wicked. In fact, it becomes demonic.There is nothing good or bad in the mind itself.It is only due to good or bad infl uences that itbecomes good or bad. If you want your mindto be good, you should associate yourself withgood company. At times, good appears to bebad and bad appears to be good. It becomesdiffi cult to decide what is good and what is bad.Good habits, good speech, good conduct andFirst of all, man should becomegood. Then, the whole world willbecome good. Therefore, first andforemost, man should conducthimself in a manner worthy of ahuman being and should lead a lifebefitting his status as a human being.This itself will transform the humaninto divine. But, on the other hand,if man becomes animal, how canhe do any good to the world? Thisis impossible. Hence, the first thingfor man to do is to lead a life worthyof a human being; he should notdegenerate to the level of an animalnor should he become a demon.will acquire the smell of that item. Similarly, ifthe mind follows noble path and you associatethe mind with everything good, the mind willalso become good. What is the noble path?How noble would the mind become when it isassociated with sacred feelings, good thoughts,noble behaviour, good company, spiritualactivities, moral values and righteous actions!On the other hand, when it is associatedwith wicked qualities, wicked thoughts, evilcompany and bad behaviour, it becomesgood behaviour will ultimately make us good.Therefore, good habits are very essential forevery human being. You should get rid of allyour evil qualities and develop good qualities.Shirdi Sai Baba’s Love for NanaOne day, Shirdi Sai Baba started laughingloudly all of a sudden. Nobody couldunderstand the reason. In those days, somepeople considered him a mendicant, othersconsidered him a fakir and a few othersFebruary 2010 43