FEBRUARY 2010 - Sri Sathya Sai Books & Publication Trust

Hence, fi rst of all, man should becomegood. Then, the whole world will become good.Therefore, fi rst and foremost, man shouldconduct himself in a manner worthy of a humanbeing and should lead a life befi tting his statusas a human being. This itself will transform thehuman into divine. But, on the other hand, ifman becomes animal, how can he do any goodto the world? This is impossible. Hence, thefi rst thing for man to do is to lead a life worthyof a human being; he should not degenerateto the level of an animal nor should he becomea demon. If man lives like a human being, it isenough. This is the path that leads to divinity.It is the mind that is responsible for manto live like a man, to rise to the divine levelor to degenerate to the level of an animal.Humanness, animality and divinity do notexist separately. They all are present in man.When you lead your life with love, kindnessand compassion, you rise to the level of God.These are the attributes of Sattwa Guna(serene quality). On the other hand, if youbecome the slave of your senses and submityourself to their dictates, you become angryand excited from moment to moment. Theseare the attributes of Rajo Guna (quality ofpassion). Then you verily become a demon.Under the infl uence of Thamo Guna (qualityof sloth), man sees good as bad and bad asgood. Man is the combination of Sattwa Guna,Rajo Guna and Thamo Guna. The world alsois the combination of these three attributes.Man should transcend these three attributes.Only then can he experience Brahmananda(divine bliss). Obey the divine command andact according to it. Try to understand what Godexpects from you. Develop the sacred feelingthat though God is present in all, He assumeshuman form for man’s redemption. If you seeWhat is the noble path? How noblewould the mind become when it isassociated with sacred feelings, goodthoughts, noble behaviour, goodcompany, spiritual activities, moralvalues and righteous actions! On theother hand, when it is associated withwicked qualities, wicked thoughts,evil company and bad behaviour, itbecomes extremely wicked. In fact, itbecomes demonic.only His physical form and think that He islike any other human being, you don’t gainanything. The physical form of God may besimilar to any other human form. The differencelies in the feelings. God is Bhavapriya and notBahyapriya (lover of inner feelings, not outwardappearances), whereas man is Bahyapriya andnot Bhavapriya. You should transcend Bahya(outward appearances) and make efforts todevelop Bhava (divine feelings).Only God has Free WillThese were the doubts that Nana initiallyhad. Later on, Nana developed so much faithin Baba that he would not leave him even for amoment. If Baba wanted to smoke, it was Nanawho made Chillim (pipe) ready for him. Nanabecame a close devotee of Baba. There wassuch an intimate relationship between Babaand Nana that Baba would not eat food withoutNana and Nana would not eat food withoutBaba. Ordinary people could not understandthe mystery of this relationship. Some of themobjected why should Baba not eat his foodwithout Nana. Then Baba told them, “It is myFebruary 2010 49