The Goal of Life
Sathya Sai Baba tells us our goal in life is to seek to understand and become one with God. Baba has said it is “part of our human nature to desire to reach the presence of the Almighty, see Him and be ever with Him.”. All religions proclaim man as having a special place in the scheme of the universe – Christianity speaks of man being created in the image and likeness of God; Islam refers to man as the Vice Regent of God. It is the task of every woman and every man to regain this lost glory, their true identity as children of immortality, one with the Divine.
“Transmuting humanity into divinity is the task allotted to man – word, thought and deed are instruments for this unavoidable destiny. By unremitting practice, this has to be achieved.
Life has been bestowed not for just eating and digesting, roaming and reclining, but for a greater purpose – the realisation of the Divinity in us, in all that exists around us and even beyond all things that strike our senses.”
Voice of the Avatar, Vol 2, p1.
Devotional Activities
The Sathya Sai Baba Organisation provides many activities for participants to enable them to achieve the goal of life. Common to all activities, (service, spiritual effort and education in human values) is the cultivation of the understanding of our own nature, and of our goal in life. Both these aims are achieved in the Sai Organisation by strengthening our capacity to love all people in every different station in life,and to love people of different races, castes, creeds and religions.
To this end, in the Sai Organisation, the Devotional wing provides devotional activities such as devotional singing, weekly readings from Sai literature, study circle and reflection, meditation, regional workshops on various devotional topics, the company of the good and godly, prayers and unity of faiths events.
The Proof is Peace
We cannot experience happiness unless we experience peace within our core. The amount of peace we bring into our lives depends entirely on the degree of our devotional efforts.
The proof of rain is the wetness of the ground. Likewise the proof of true devotion is the peace of mind that the aspirant has been able to attain, the peace which protects him against the onslaught of failures, the peace that does not perturb his mind with anger, hatred, jealousy, conceit and lower passions, the peace which makes him tranquil, unconcerned, unattached under all circumstances and with all human natures. Know that you are the embodiment of peace.
Setting the Example for Youth
Sathya Sai Baba advises us that it is our duty to take up devotional activities and to show the rising generation of youth by our lives that spiritual effort and study have made us more joyful and courageous in the adventure called life. Children and youth learn from the behaviour of parents, and always imitate their elders. A good example by their elders leads to this behaviour being emulated by the children.
Sai Baba teaches is that it is the responsibility of all pious men and women, parents and grandparents, to demonstrate in and through their lives that piety is not weakness but strength; that it opens up a vast spring of power and that a person with faith in God can overcome obstacles much more easily than a person who does not have faith in God.
You may read more about Devotion Wing activities following the links given below: