The key that opens the door to the lords domain, his secret chamber is love, love,

love. he is love incarnate. love is the key to his heart. love that is directed towards
his creation. in the form of service, love that has no likes and dislikes. the love that
sees with equanimity and equality both the ant and man. such is the love that wins
the heart of him. he will attach himself with us forever.

swami in his song love is my form, truth is my breath, bliss is my food has said it
all. love is neither a concept, a thought or an idea but experience, feelings. cleanse
our heart with water of prema and detergents of prayers so stains of desire is
removed. wehre there is love, there is life. life is the flower for which love is the
honey.
practising love:1 love the royal road
often swami says he separated himself from himself to love himself. then why
doesnt he not simply change the human mind to provide this love. he is all
powerful and he is the one who pulls the strings and his will operates throughout
the universe. why does not he change us? make us a better person? or make us
love him. the world would have been a better place. now he has gifted man with
total and complete free will and he will not interfere nor negate the laws he has
established. he bows to the rules.
love is the energy of this creation which manifests as negative and positive currents
. bassis for the entire world is prema. bhagwan created a huge box, like a glass
cage.
practicing love 2-non-violence
acompassion
by having compassion for all, by serving others, we revere god within them and
draw closer to the source. love is god. god is love. wherever there is love god is
there. love more people. transform love service worship is the highest sadhana.
love is not an obligation. it is an expansionof our inner divinity.
.
do good and be loving
move with good people, speak good words,and see good things. only when you
develop
good vision and good thoughts and undertake good activities will become a good
person.

do not read bad and cheap literature. reading such trash is like moving in bad
company. today, i don't wish to dilate upon such topics as divinity, spirituality, etc.
what i am interested in is that you should lead your daily life in accordance with the
principle of truth. the five human values of sathya, dharma, santhi, prema, and
ahimsa are natural to human beings. one has to manifest them from the heart and
lead a natural life. they are embedded in you. they are like the five vital airs in you.
they are, however engulfed by 6 hurdles. lust, hatred, delusion, greed envy n pride
anger. this can poison a person and they tend to forget their divinity. we should
focus on god inorder to get rid of these qualities . swami says that in india they use
lakshmana rekha stick around the house way you dont want insects to come to
your house similarly where there is love these 6 evil qualities wont enter .
c-faith- faith is also important. faith is also important, if you want to draw water
from a well, you
have to tie a rope to a bucket and, with the help of this bucket, draw water. in the
well of
your heart, there is the pure water of human values. in order to draw that water
from the
well, you have to secure the rope of firm faith.

love vs hatred love offered to god must be free from desires. wer should love
ourselves before wer love lord which will lead to love the society love world love
god. where there is love no room for hatred. hatred enables ego to grow. love
confers compassion and grace.

d-respect swami says the very god that we pray to is present in everyone
including the animals , insects and plants. treat all with respect.

e- not to hurt anyone or anything. neither in thought, word or deed we should not
cause harm to anyone. not even to hurt by a look or gesture. tolerence, is needed .
harming on self the bad habits and improper living bad vision, bad hearing or bad
talk is harmful and gandhi followed until his end. when he saw a cow suffering fr
pain he could not bear it and advised the doctor to give and injection to end its life.
swami says to keep our home free fr the insects and others we can get rid of them.
f silence or moderation of speech. it develops love for most misunderstanding
arising out of carelessly sppokenwords, when food slips it can be healed, when
tongue slops the wound it causes in the heart of another will festger for life . . bond

of brotherhood strengthens if people speak less. we are all spiritual aspirants at

various stagers of roads. silent man has less no enemy. avoid long talk, gossips,
anger and hate talks which affects health. voice of god is heard in the silence. s
spiritualise every task
whatever we do we must spriritualise from cooking, working. when we do it with
faith and patience, it becomes a success. not to involve in other peoples affair.
( Pray before eating,driving, remember )

speaking obligingly and sweetly- without anger. dont boast of attainments. be

humble, eager to serve, conserve speach and no idle thoughts. treat everyone with
respect. greet them smilingly. it is such a good practice that our sai family greet
each other with sairam. we are greeting with nama. already our karmas will be
burnt because of taking swamis nama. in madura the natives and devotees greet
each other by radhekrishna.
god has put same quality of love in everyone, all are pure. everyone is good. but
have few flaws and should not wait for it to become evil
an eg from bad to good -valmiki from bad to good. he was earning thru adharmic
ways when went and aasked his family to share his bada karmas. they were not
willing to. he went back to the sage and surrendered to get rid of the six enemies.
he started meditating on rama and fought the 6 enemies by the 5 weapons.
darkness to light . greatest rishi maharishi.
whereas kaikeyi , dasharathas wife was other way round in the story. she was a
very good mother . she loved rama more than her own son. but because of
mantares influence, got rama to leave the kingdom. greed caused her to transform.
grace of god is immeasurable. he is love. only love can win grace of lord. love that
needs no bargaining, love that is gladly paid as tribute to the all loving, love that is
unwavering love alone can overcome obstacles however many and might, there is
no bliss more satisfying than love.

practicing love 3- devotion is comprised of many feelings emotion and thoughts,

gratitude, adoration love thanksgiving. devotion can destroy ego. devotees love
towards all reaches god, devotion by namasmarana, bhajans, hyms, etc devotion
is comprised of having feeling emotion, and thoughts, gratitude, adoration, love
thanksgiving. devotion can destroy ego. devotees love towards all reaches god,
devotion by namasmarana, bhajans, hyms , namasmarana etc devotion is
comprised of having feeling emotion

song/bhajan/hyms/ namasmarana language of the soul. bhajan is a tonic for the

weary. it lightens our soul and fills us with the taste of heaven. it is the universal
language of the heart. swami used to sing with his devotees and remove diseases.
once swami called the non-singers with the singers for a session. to everyones
surprise he made the non-singer sing. all enjoyed yet.
love and devotion wells up in our heart. the tongue is a post, bjn is the rope with
that rope you bring god almighty near you and tie him so that his grace becomes
yours. god is so kind that he will yeild to your prayers and get bound. it's a very
beautiful analogy. the first one, bhagawan says, is like prahlada. the young one of a
monkey, if we observe, holds on to the mother and even as the mother jumps from
tree to tree, the young one is literally glued to its mother. here the responsibility is
with the child, just as prahlada always held on to lord narayana, be it any difficulty.

the other type of devotion is possibly a more beautiful one which is like the
relationship between the cat and the kitten. if we observe, as the mother cat moves
from place to place she holds the kitten in her mouth. here, the responsibility is that
of the mother, because the kitten has left itself completely in its mother's care.
bhagawan says this is the example of lakshmana who had completely surrendered
to lord rama. in this scenario it becomes the responsibility of god to take care of the
devotee.
bhagawan says that the power of this surrender or love for god is incomprehensible.
he often gives the example of mother meerabai, who was a great devotee of lord
krishna. it was indeed her love for lord krishna that transformed even poison given
to her into nectar.

4. practicing miracles swami manifests a lot of gifts for devotees because of his
immense love for them and also to get them have faith in him. these objects as
watches, rings are brought from existring supplies. his will brings the objects. swami
is everywerhe. swami advises devotees who gets power to practaice tjois. we must
uinderstand swami is a avathar purugh master of the universe. it brings about
egoism hindersing spritual path.
swami says the miracle he expects is diiferent. he wants to see change in everyones
behavious. that is what he calls miracles
quotes some eg of the love practic es healing, unni, vibhuthi( i will quote)
once at the bhajan hall his student kumar was singing very movingly songs like a
he anathanatha sai, sai pitha aur matha sai . swami suddenly left his seat and
students then continued singing and just about finishing the bhajan song swami

came and looked at kumar and comforted saying his mother was about to die. he
went near the ashramam where whe lived materialized divine water and made here
drink it and saved her life. di you not call me as your mother father the protector of
orphans in your song. how can i fail to protect you. students were astronised.
gss: giridhar, before i invite your thoughts on this, i'll mention the two approaches
to devotion, just as amey talked of the four categories of devotion. one is called the
markatamarga or the approach of a monkey and its child, and the other one is
marjalamarga or the approach of a cat and the kitten.

questions
what is the difference between divine love and worldly love?
questions (powerp)
divine love is selfless and unconditional and steady it is infinite. it knows no
hatred, greed or envy. it is ever compassionate and empathizes.
worldy love lways expects something from others. it is narrow. it is painful. it is
conditional
what are the challenges you face in your daily life? at home, outside. how do you
counter them.
why is seva the best form of practising love?
divine love is selfless and unconditional and steady . it is infinite. it knows no
hatred, greed or envy. it is ever compassionate and empathizes .
worldy love always expects something from others. it is narrow. it is painful. it is
conditional

worldy love always expects something from others. it is narrow. it is painful. it is

conditional

love practiced in the divine and worldly way

3) divine love swami narrates to the students on the love between radha and
krishna. krishna goes back to brindavan to see his parents vasudeva and yashoda.
after that he goes to see radha at the bank river yamuna where they used to meet
when they were young. krisna asked radha if she was not surprised to see him
radha looks at him quizzically and then goes to the river, takes a palm full of water,
calls krishna and says, look krishna, are you not there in every drop of this water?
she now runs towards the tree under which she was seated, shows a leaf and then
says, are you not there in every single leaf of this tree? in every breeze and in
every atom of this brindavan, its only krishna and nothing else! when did you leave
that you have come back as you say?
hearing this krishna was so pleased that he said, radha, ask for anything and i will
give it to you.
she replied, i dont want anything from you.
not even my love? krishna asked.
radha said, krishna, i know that i love you and you are mine. that is enough for me;
i dont expect anything from you, yes, not even your love.
at that moment, swami says, that krishna fell on his knees and said, radha, for the
first time i have been a recipient of something from my devotee. love is giving
without any expectations. it is said this is the highest form of love madura
another story of a mothers sacrifice during the earthquake that robbed the sichuan
province of china in may 2008.the touching picture of the mother protecting her
child at the cost of her own life, during u the earthquake in china, 2008.
after the earthquake had subsided the rescuers reached the ruins of a young
woman's house and through the cracks they saw a dead body. but they noticed that
there was something strange in her posture she was crouched as if she was
praying and her two hands seemed to be supporting some object. the collapsed
house had crashed on her back and her head. so the leader of this team put his
hand through the cracks and touched her body; it was cold and still. obviously she
was no more. the rescuers started to move on but the leader driven by sixth sense
suddenly paused. something told him to go back to that woman. and now he put his
hand through the narrow cracks to search the little space under the dead body. and
then suddenly he screamed with excitement, there is a child; there is a child! the
child was alive the mother had protected the child so well that the little one was
blissfully asleep. thats really touching!bp: in fact the story goes that there was also

a message in a cellphone that was found there which read. baby! if you survive, you
must remember that i love you.

well, i do not know if that part of it is true, nevertheless that definitely is the
unspoken message of that amazing mother. now, imagine multiplying this sacrifice
an unimaginable million times and what you probably get is a glimpse of love that is
absolutely deep and tremendously touching that is divine love. now think of
swami. if we look at what he has done in his life, he has just given himself
completely to others. even in the last few years i remember how he used to sit for
long hours in the evenings, sometimes even up to 9 p.m. watching the programmes
in the sai kulwant hall and filling the cup of every devotee's heart with joy. i feel this
zenith of unconditional affection, this pinnacle of sacrifice, this state of supreme
selflessness is love.
3) i was reminded of another outstanding example of what a mothers love is. in
fact, it took three yugas, for the avatar to come back and give us the real meaning; i
am talking about the love of mother kaikeyi. here was a mother who sacrificed her
name, fame and her most loved entity - rama himself. we think that kaikeyi asked
rama to go to the forest, but swami says that in fact, it was rama himself who had
told kaikeyi a few weeks earlier, mother, if you love me... and i know you love me
the most help me to carry out my divine mission. and for this you have to take on
the ignominy for the rest of your life. are you ready to do this? and she simply said,
yes, i will. in fact swami says that no parent today ever names their child after
kaikeyi. very true. so i think that is the kind of love that one must have. it's
ultimate sacrifice!
love associated with creation (shrishti prema) the manifestation of love towards
creation
lets move on to srishti prema, that is, love for creation itself. there's so much of talk
going on today about the need for being 'green' and environment-friendly. so can
we also have some examples where people have really moved to this higher level of
love, wherein they start expressing their love for other beings, not just human
beings, but even for plants?
kmg: i'm reminded of a story which mrs. geeta ram narrates. it seems when she
was a small child, she was sitting in the lawns of brindavan (baba's ashram in
bangalore) and inadvertently pulling out grass. suddenly she felt somebody
standing behind her and it was none other than swami himself.
baba immediately disapproved of her act saying, you should not be plucking grass
because they too have life in them. come with me, i'll show you that even an
inanimate thing like flower or grass too responds to love.

swami took her to a place where there were many buds which had not yet
blossomed. baba then touched one of those buds and it immediately bloomed into a
beautiful flower. swami said, do you know why this bud blossomed? it is because of
love. even you can transform the bud into a beautiful flower if you share your love
with it.
then she touched the bud but nothing happened. but when swami held her hand
and made her touch again, the bud now instantly blossomed into a beautiful flower.
swami said, even an inanimate thing like the flower responds to your love.

bp: so love is the key and through this example, swami was telling us how we
should love even inanimate things. i think today's problems of environment, of
global warming, and the climate issues of the post-industrial revolution era are due
to the absence of love. we see today the exploitation of resources. this is because of
this poverty of love; we have not been able to love nature.

in fact that is the reason why swami has been emphasising so much on ceiling on
desires. the other day, i read an interesting fact. it seems the number of overweight
people today has passed the number of people who are malnourished in the world!
currently there are an estimated 800 million undernourished people, but more than
a billion are considered overweight the world over.
once when swami came out to the interview room he had a red eyer. all were all
quite surprised. swami went on to say, usually when i apply soap to my face, i turn
off the tap. and in order to turn it on again, i open my eyes. at that time, a little
soap went in. then he continued, most of you whilst shaving or washing your face,
keep the tap on. waste water. when swami comes out of the interview room he off
the fan and lights. he has so much love for inanmimate objects

r eminded of another touching episode of bhagawan and his expression of love for
beings. this was another occasion in brindavan. all the students were invited by
bhagawan for a brunch session. we were seated and swami came down and
started serving all the items to the various students.

we were very happy at being served by bhagawan, but then, we felt a little
uncomfortable because after doing all that, swami was still standing. he did not sit

down on the chair kept for him. we ate a little and then said, swami, please sit
down because swami wouldn't eat, of course.

but swami refused. he moved amongst all of us, asking each one whether we had all
the items. when we had almost finished, he had not yet sat down. then, one of our
professors took courage and said, swami, we are feeling very uncomfortable.
please, why don't you sit down? bhagawan then gave a beautiful smile and said to
one of the students, you see my chair? there is a cushion kept as a backrest. just
remove that.

the student went and removed the cushion. just behind the cushion on the chair, a
wasp had built a nest and there were some eggs inside. swami said, had i sat and
rested against it, all these eggs would have got destroyed. one important thing, of
course, was bhagawan's divine omnipresence; he knew about it. but the second
remarkable thing was the sensitivity that swami had even towards small eggs of a
so-called insignificant wasp.

5) love associated with people or things you like something after sometime you
go for something else. like hp. that is known as attachment. it is not love. it is
possessiveness

during an interview in july 1989, swami suddenly told him: victor, go to zambia
and spread my message of love there. build a school. he was dumbfounded and
thought zambia is a strange country as he had been there not more than once. his
wife was more flabbergasted than him, so she just blurted out: swami, where do
we get the money from? bhagawan spontaneously responded saying: sell your
house. my godp: baba said, sell your house and use that money to buy the school
and if that is not enough, borrow money from the bank. and you know what they
did, without even batting an eyelid they immediately went back to london, sold
everything they had including land, building, pots, pans and curtains. soon they
moved to zambia and started a school which is now being hailed as the 'miracle
school' of zambia. b so he is one person who had really sublimated his attachment
for things into such an exalted state. this shows how you can really convert this
moha or attachment to objects into something supreme.

ad: yes, the whole idea is to actually sublimate the attachment, so that even an
attachment to a supposedly material object can be taken to a completely different
level. and we have many examples to illustrate this idea.
whoever thought 10 years back that bill gates would be one of the leading
examples for giving away his wealth? we always associated him with making a lot
of money. theres an incident i believe that changed this thinking completely. on a
visit to africa, he was supposed to go on a safari in the savannah and for some
reason it was cancelled. he then visited a village and was moved by the utter
poverty in which people lived. its said that at that moment, he and his wife melinda
wondered how they could live a life... in such luxury while other human beings lived
in dire straits and that is said to have changed his perspective towards life. today,
gates is hailed as one of the greatest philanthropists in the world. there are several
examples in our own country. mr. azim premji, chairman of wipro technologies ltd.
gave away two billion dollars of his personal wealth for the setting up of several
primary schools across the country because he felt that is what india needs. i think
these are the few moments in peoples lives where things and perspectives have
changed and they have been able to sublimate their moha or attachment to
material wealth to something that elevates the entire. these great personalities
showed their selfless love.

love from possessiveness to devotion

kmg: one of the main limitations of anuraga is that it has a quality of

possessiveness, where one tries to possess the other and assume ownership only
because he or she is scared of losing the other person. this obviously is suffocating
for the other person, as it takes away the most important gift of life - freedom.
freedom is dear to everyone and the moment anyone comes in its way, that person
starts withdrawing immediately, which leads to a lot of heartburn and unnecessary
pain.

just to give an example: if one holds sand on his two open palms, he can very well
retain the grains. but the moment his open palms start clenching to possess the
sand, he sees the dust particles slipping out.

the same applies in our lives. the moment you invade the freedom of the other
person and try to control them, they go away from you. but the moment you give
them the space, so that they can be what they want to be, they come back to you.
just like the butterfly that flies away if you try to catch it, but comes back and sits

right on your shoulder if you remain in one place. we need to stop this mad chase of
possession.

bp: you mentioned mad chase of possession and that immediately took me to an
anecdote from the life of saint tulsidas. we all know this famous saint who gifted this
world the famous composition of ramcharitmanas, the elevating story of lord rama.
he belonged to the 16th century.

right from his early age, thanks to his association with holy men, he had developed
great love for lord rama. this only grew, and slowly, he became one of the very
learned and respected youth in his land because of his knowledge as well as his
devotion to the lord. it was at this time that he was married to ratnavali.

tulsidas' anuraga was sublimated into bhakthi and he was transformed into
sant tulsidas
tulsidas becomes so enamoured with his wife's beauty that he is unable to think of
anything else. earlier during his meditation, his mind used to be focussed on lord
rama. but now, it was resting on ratnavali's form.

and this disturbed ratnavali tremendously as she herself was a great devotee of lord
rama. that she had become a distraction in her husband's spiritual path bothered
her immensely. so one day, she thought, what would be good for me is to actually
go away from this house for some time.

so, she left a note at home and left to her brother's place. when tulsidas returned
and saw ratnavali's note, he just collapsed in despair. he could not imagine living
without her. immediately, he rushed out of the house. the storm raging outside
didn't bother him. he just went into the river which he had to cross, and in sheer
desperation caught hold of a log and somehow managed to reach his wife's
brother's house.

ad: what infatuation!

bp: yes. and then he caught hold of a rope and jumped into the balcony of the
house. when ratnavali saw him in that almost crazy state, she was shocked. she
said, what is this madness after a bag of flesh and bones? in your infatuation, you
didn't even see that you actually held on to a python; it was not a rope.

gss: oh my god! that's why they say love is blind.

bp: in fact, even while crossing the river tulsidas actually didn't hold onto a log, it
was a dead body. that is how delirious he was! ratnavali could not take this. she just
blurted out: if only you had pined for lord rama with such intensity, by now, you
would have definitely attained him. she said it so powerfully that it struck tulsidas
like a lightning, and changed his life forever. a short while after that, what came out
of him is the holy epic ramcharitmanas.

so, here is one instance where deep anuraga was so powerfully transmuted into
deep devotion.

kmg: in a way, you can make anuraga a gift by channelizing it towards god.

ad: absolutely! and i think we need those moments to help us take that quantum
leap, so to say. i'm reminded of one very beautiful e-mail forward. i'm sure most of
us would have read it.

it's about this little boy whose sister was to be operated upon, and she requires
blood immediately. the doctors find out that this little boy is the only one who can
give blood.

so his parents ask the little child, are you ready to give blood? this boy is lost in
thought and takes a few moments. after some time, he says, okay, i am ready.

what this boy thought was, if i give my blood, i won't have any more blood left in
me and so, i have to sacrifice my life. as he was giving blood, he found that
nothing much is happening to him. so, he asked his mother, how come nothing is
happening to me, though my blood is going out of my body? his mother said,
nothing will happen to you. why did you feel that way?

and it was then that the boy revealed, i thought i am going to die. this child was
ready to sacrifice his life and that is why he took a few moments to actually say yes.

I felt very touched with this mom

6) love associated with nation desha bhakthi the manifestation of love as

patriotism
: i'm reminded of one inspiring patriot who comes from a foreign soil nelson
mandela. in his time leadership was not fashionable and had no celebratory social
standing in the community. it was an era when there was no known price tag for a
voting horse. but nelson mandela made supreme sacrifices for his country. his
actions gave evidence to the fact that the relation between him and the motherland
was sealed with blood.

mandela was not recruited. he joined the struggle voluntarily as a soldier and
suffered as a result of punishment, interrogation, and harassment from counterrevolutionaries. but none of this altered his centre of attention; he never neglected
sacrifice, like quite a few others did. he cherished the ideal of a democratic and free
society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.
that was an ideal which he hoped to achieve, live for and if need be, even die for.

bp: wonderful! such an inspiring life! i'm reminded of another freedom fighter who
was also a saint. she's from the 15th century joan of arc from france. she
continues to inspire even today. joan was an illiterate daughter of a farmer. yet she
understood the political and military situation in france much better than anyone
else. when she was only 16, she left her home for good. she won great victories,
crowned a king, and died as a martyr.

in fact she was directly responsible for the coronation of the french king charles vi.
she was captured by the tribes, sold to the english, tried by an ecclesiastical court,
and finally burnt at the stake when she was only 19 years old.

24 years later, on the initiative of charles the vi, the then pope revoked the decision
of the ecclesiastical court, found her innocent and then declared her as a martyr.

she was beatified in 1909 and canonised in 1920. surprisingly even though she tried
so much for her goal which was to relieve the people of france from the english rule,
on the day charles vi was crowned as the king, she refused to appear in public. she
said her job was over. let the king have all the glory. i have done my part. i ask for
nothing, except that my village should not be taxed, because the people in this
village are poor.

gss: what a noble thought!

bp: so here is another amazing personality whose love for the country was at such
an exalted state.

sg: in fact, swami gives the example of lord sri rama. once ravana was killed and
the mission was accomplished in lanka, vibhishana was to be crowned as the king.
at this point vibhishana offered the kingdom to lord sri rama. in fact lakshmana also
felt that it was such a beautiful offer. the whole kingdom was made of gold. so he
said, brother, why cannot we stay back here itself?

at that moment, lord sri rama made a wonderful statement, which inspires patriots
in our country and all over the world for all times. he said, ee swarnamayi lanka
kinchitapi name rochati lakshmana. janani janma bhoomischa swargaadapi
gariyasi, which means, lakshmana, this golden lanka does not interest me even to
the slightest extent. mother and motherland are even greater than heaven.

bp: amazing! this is another example swami himself has narrated to show us the
level our love for the country should reach.

gss: that's really touching. coming to contemporary times, those who have been
following the news in india would have heard of anna hazare, who has been a social
reformer, but not so much heard of.

a simple man, with not muc

it is impossible for uys to love everyong for the world is peopled with all sorts. ask
god to send his love through us to the worl. we get back so much. love transforms
to a divine being and manifest the divine. cleanse heart with water of prema and
detergents prayer so stains of desire is removed, then god pours his grace into it.
swami says normally man preaches but does not practice. love and affectgion is
preached and not practiced . spiritual and daily life is the same. one should adhere
with thought deed and action. belief and love can move mountains. serve and love
your neighbours. then we serve god and have understood swamis divine msg of
love.
gss: but, all said and done, let's now ask ourselves the most pragmatic
question how do we practice this love? it's easy to philosophise love and
talk about it and its various nuances. but then, how do we transform our
worldly love into divine love?
today, there is a dire poverty of love in this world. it would be very
appropriate here to recall what mother teresa says about this poverty of love.
she says, love begins at home. love lives in homes. why is there today so
much of suffering and unhappiness in the world? everybody seems to be in
such a terrible rush, anxious for greater development and greater riches.
children have very little time for their parents; parents have very little time
for each other. in the home begins the disruption of the peace of the world.
she says that today there is more hunger in the world for love than for bread.
the most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved. how
to bring love to transcendental level ie worldly to divine.
yes sir. talking about of how to practice love, we all are aware that each of us
have our own strengths and weaknesses. in fact nowadays, the situation is
that when we look at our weakness or anybody points out our shortcomings,

we become the greatest of lawyers. but when it comes to the weakness of

others, we become the greatest of judges. that is how it is today.
swami has given two tips in this regard. he says that whenever we see the
weakness in ourselves, we must see it as something big, because we have to
work on it. and when we see shortcoming in others, we must look at it as a
small thing; in tother words, we have to overlook it.
the second tip that swami gives is we should see the divine in everybody. an
example of this that comes to my mind is a real-life incident from the life of
phyllis krystal that happened sometime in 1975.
bp: a long-time devotee of swami.
kmg: she in fact has authored the book, mastering the monkey mind.
gss: and the ultimate experience.
bp: and they are wonderful books!
phyllis krystal with
bhagawan baba
kmg: in 1974, she was travelling from puttaparthi back to los angeles. their
aeroplane was hijacked and you can imagine the situation. she narrates in
her own words that the hijacker had in fact spilled alcohol and perfumes all
over the cabin in the aeroplane. and he was holding a cigarette, threatening
all the passengers that if they moved, he would light up the cabin.
she was very panicky and at that moment, inside her she was shouting,
baba, baba, baba please help. suddenly, she heard her inner voice saying,
send love to them. it was a very clear instruction, but she thought, it's a
very crazy instruction! is it possible?
all these questions started going on in her mind.
but somehow, may be because they had just come back from darshan, she
closed her eyes and started visualising swami. when you think of swami, the
first thing that happens is that love dawns into your consciousness; you go
into that state of love. she started breathing that love and visualising swami.
the effect was that slowly, the hijackers started shivering. they became
nervous and right in front of her, she saw that they were dropping the guns.
after some time, the plane landed safely in the amsterdam airport and within
minutes, the hijackers were arrested.
later that year, she came back to puttaparthi and shared how they were
saved by swami's intervention. immediately, swami in his unique style said,

baba, baba, baba, the way she had shouted in her mind. he told that it was
actually the love when she thought of swami and the love which filled the
cabin and permeated the entire ambience through her, which changed the
situation. that is the power of love and that is a practical tip we can take
away.
gss: but ganesh, one question that comes to our mind is, if there is somebody
whom we cannot stand the very sight of, how do we go about loving them?
especially if they are very much part of our own life.
kmg: oh yes, i am sure there are lots of examples to solve this problem.
conquer with love
sg: in fact, i can give an example from my own life. there was one colleague
of mine i found very difficult to get along with. even seeing him would create
some kind of a negative emotion in me. i definitely wanted to get rid of that,
because swami insisted all through his life that one has to love all. so i was
praying to swami and he gave a beautiful tip if you're not able to stand
somebody, or cannot look into his eyes for any reason, then how can you
express your love to him? instead, you can do this: when you're not in his
presence, close your eyes and pray to swami to fill that person's life with joy,
love, and laughter.
such selfless and unconditional love, if we practice continuously, just by
closing our eyes, thinking about that person and sending our unconditional
love to him through a prayer to bhagawan, it really does wonders. when i
started practicing this over years, now i see that we get along very well, and
it's a beautiful experience. now when we meet each other, we greet happily
and the bond of love is re-established.
kmg: that is the power of love.
bp: yes, absolutely. i would like to share something which i have been trying
to practice in my life. whenever i feel that there is some person in my life who
doesn't have a relationship with me the way i want it to be, what i do is
during my prayer time, imagine that i'm enveloping that person with my love.
i have done that any number of times and believe me, it has had amazing
results.
the next time or the subsequent times when i meet that person, that feeling
of negativity is not there. he's no longer someone who doesn't want to look at
my face, because the power of love is so much.

if it can save a plane from being hijacked, it can do all these other small
things too. these are no big challenges for love to achieve. so, if there's any
situation that is not working, all we have to do is pour more love into it.
practicing love 5 seva. this is the most important way of practicing love.
seva selfless service which swami keeps speaking about a supreme
manifestation of love
there can be no true love that does not manifest as service. similarly, there
can be no true service that does not manifest as love. love is born in the
womb of service, love expresses itself as service, and love grows through
service. in fact, bhagawan says wherever you see a disconsolate, diseased
person, there is your domain of service. every nerve must tingle with love
with eagerness to share that love.
here, i would like to narrate the experience of a devotee of bhagawan by
name hal honig from us. he had a very good habit. whenever he left his
office, he would buy a few buns to distribute to some poor people who sat
along the street. it so happened that one of these men was just at the
entrance of his apartment, and this was a regular practice.
now, one evening, he was very busy and unfortunately, he could not buy
these buns. he was feeling very uncomfortable because he wouldn't be able
to give it, but he came along. his only worry was that while he would be able
to bypass all the other poor people because he would be driving in his car,
the person he would definitely have to encounter is the one at the entrance
of his apartment.
he wondered, how can i face this person? surely, he's going to ask me for
the bun and i will have to tell him 'no'. so, he came up with an idea. he
thought, i'll park my car a little far away and enter my apartment from the
rear.
but, unfortunately, when he reached his place and was about to do this
disappearing act, this poor man sitting in the entrance saw him and called
out, sir! hal says it was a very uneasy feeling. he thought, he's going to
ask me for the bun. how am i going to tell him that i have no bun today?'
anyway, he responds and says, i'm really sorry, i couldn't get a bun today.
the poor man looks at him with a smile and says, sir, i did not call you here
for your bun, but every day, when you give me your bun, you give a beautiful
smile and that makes me feel wanted. that makes me feel part of this human
fraternity and it's only that smile that i ask for.

so, this is a beautiful experience which says that it's not just about giving
material things. even a smile is also about love.
khalil gibran beautifully captures this need for love in our every act by saying,
work is love made visible and if you cannot work with love but only with
distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the
temple and take alms of those who work with joy. for, if you bake bread with
indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger. such
a beautiful thought!

the power of love ( water crystal photos)

talking about the power of love, i cannot but share this research done by the
japanese professor masaru emoto. probably, many might have seen the book the
hidden messages of water. this professor has been visually capturing the structure
of water at the moment of freezing, and he has done it through high-speed
photography.
what he has found is our thoughts have a direct consequence on the formation of
the water crystals. and the quality of these crystals depend on the emotion that we
exhibit to water. suppose you go to water and say love or gratitude, and express
happiness, then you see that the water crystal forms diamond-like structures which
are so beautiful to look at.
so when you talk about love to water, it is almost as if the water crystal is opening
itself and stretching its hands to express the joy. on the other hand, if you go to the
water and say, you're not so good, i don't like you, i hate you and so on, and
photograph that water crystal, you see that it is totally crumpled; it is so sad. it goes
on like that what you suggest to it it takes that shape. the message that professor
masaru emoto gives is, we must all pay respect to water and fill it with positive
vibrations, because when water changes, you will change, i will change, and the
whole world will change, because we are all made of 70% water. so we must pray
before drinking and eating so the food is charged with positive energy.
forgiveness is the most important step to practice love swami says.
I how to practice hooponopono in four simple steps
Have you heard of the hawaiian therapist who cured an entire ward of
criminally insane patients, without ever meeting any of them or spending a
moment in the same room? its not a joke. the therapist was dr. ihaleakala

hew len. he reviewed each of the patients files, and then he healed them by
healing himself. the amazing results seem like a miracle, but then miracles do
happen when you use hooponopono
what you might wish to understand is how this can possibly work. how can
you heal yourself and have it heal others? how can you even heal yourself?
everything outside is a reflection of ourselves. being positive and uttering
positive words are very important.
why would it affect anything out there? the secret is there is no such thing
as out there everything happens to you in your mind. everything you see,
everything you hear, every person you meet, you experience in your mind.
you only think its out there and you think that absolves you of
responsibility. in fact its quite the opposite: you are responsible for
everything you think, and everything that comes to your attention. if you
watch the news, everything you hear on the news is your responsibility. that
sounds harsh, but it means that you are also able to clear it, clean it, and
through forgiveness change it.
there are four simple steps to this method, and the order is not that
important. repentance, forgiveness, gratitude and love are the only forces at
work but these forces have amazing power.
the best part of the updated version of hooponopono is you can do it
yourself, you dont need anyone else to be there, you dont need anyone to
hear you. you can say the words in your head. the power is in the feeling
and in the willingness of the universe to forgive and love.
step 1: repentance im sorry
as i mention above, you are responsible for everything in your mind, even if it
seems to be out there. once you realize that, its very natural to feel sorry. i
know i sure do. if i hear of a tornado, i am so full of remorse that something in
my consciousness has created that idea. im so very sorry that someone i
know has a broken bone that i realize i have caused.
this realization can be painful, and you will likely resist accepting
responsibility for the out there kind of problems until you start to practice
this method on your more obvious in here problems and see results.
so choose something that you already know youve caused for yourself? overweight? addicted to nicotine, alcohol or some other substance? do you have
anger issues? health problems? start there and say youre sorry. thats the
whole step: im sorry. although i think it is more powerful if you say it more
clearly: i realize that i am responsible for the (issue) in my life and i feel
terrible remorse that something in my consciousness has caused this.
step 2: ask forgiveness please forgive me

dont worry about who youre asking. just ask! please forgive me. say it over
and over. mean it. remember your remorse from step 1 as you ask to be
forgiven.
when we do this we are healed . i am sorry. please forgive me. i love you.
thank you. go on with this method with everyone whom we cant get along. it
will bring about positive changes.
step 3: gratitude thank you
say thank you again it doesnt really matter who or what youre thanking.
thank your body for all it does for you. thank yourself for being the best you
can be. thank god. thank the universe. thank whatever it was that just
forgave you. just keep saying thank you.
step 4: love i love you
this is the best method to practice to get rid of all negativities and heal
ourselves according to dr ihale.