Sri Ma with Bhaiji

EXCERPTS FROM SAD VANI

Sri Ma’s sayings as presented by Bhaiji

1

   

 In the field of action, people's minds become crippled by the lack of 

freedom to proceed in their own way.  The same is true in the sphere of 

religion.  If the aspirant does not find scope for the wide extension of 

his search in keeping with his individual temperament, his efforts will 

stagnate in narrow grooves.  The path that has been chosen must be 

pursued with great vigor in order that purity of mind and heart may be 

developed.  When the goal is ever before one as a living reality, 

all that is needful will come of its own accord.

  2

  To be attracted means to become transformed.  

Whenever you feel drawn to anything, be it a person, 

an object, or an idea, you have to sacrifice something of yourself.  

In the exact degree that you give up, so will you receive.  

This is an axiom of life.  To gain everything without letting go of 

anything is never possible for the simple reason that two things 

cannot at the same time occupy one and the same place.  That is to say, 

without sacrifice nothing can be achieved.  The more the heart becomes 

filled with love of God, the fainter will grow the appetite for material 

enjoyments.  The moment you become charmed and therefore transformed and 

inspired by Him, your mind will be stilled.  True it is not possible 

to be fascinated by Him unless His pull is felt from within; yet a determined 

effort to look forward to this experience is essential. 

As a business man always keeps informed about the market rates, 

so should one constantly remain occupied with spiritual enquiry and 

investigation.

  3

  In the midst of limitation, if one line of approach is selected 

and steadily pursued, the bonds of limitation will fall away as soon as 

one becomes fully concentrated on the Goal.  The One will stand 

revealed as the many, and the many as the One.  In order to be blessed 

with the power to reach Infinity, one must begin by laboring within the 

finite.

  So long as one is identified with the body, it is necessary to submit to rules and prohibitions set forth in the Sacred Texts.  This requires patience and endurance.  Nature, although in constant flux, never accords help to anyone in his restlessness.

  4

  Ten Stages on the Path:

  First:             Of all the desire to find God is conceived.

  Second:            One begins to hanker after Him restlessly.

  Third:             The eagerness for union with Him grows overwhelming.

  Fourth:            One resorts to tall kinds of clever devices to reach the goal.

  Fifth:             There is intense yearning to soar up into the heights of divine                                Contemplation.

  Sixth:             Tears of longing for the Beloved are shed in great profusion.

  Seventh:           One wants to swim in the ocean of Bliss.

  Eighth:            Day and night God’s name is repeated in order to realize Him.

  Ninth:             Forgetting oneself and awakening of great love of God.

  Tenth:             The search is over; Self-realization is attained.

  5

  Without experiencing the anguish inherent in the mechanism of life 

in the world, the desire to become acquainted with the Great Mechanic 

(yantri)* Who causes the cosmic machine to revolve does not arise in the 

human heart.  Disease, grief, privations, remorse and the like, 

are very necessary for man.  Just as the fire burns away all dross and 

rubbish, so the three fold suffering (tritapa) purges man’s heart of all 

impurity, and results in a growing single-mindedness in his search for

 

Truth.  When he becomes deeply self-conscious of his weakness and 

tormented by the thought of his undesirable impulses and distressing 

characteristics, when afflictions like poverty, bereavement or 

humiliation make him feel his life is futile, then and then only does 

he develop real faith and religious fervour, and becomes anxious 

to surrender himself at the feet of the Supreme Being.  

Suffering should therefore be welcomed.  Never does the soft moonlight 

appear more soothing than after the scorching heat of a summer day.

  *A play on words:  Yantra, machine, and Yantrana, anguish.