Youth @ Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre of Ottawa-Carleton

Aum Sri Sai Ram

The topic for the youth study circle on February 16th is satwic diet and how to use the five senses. The text we will use is entitled "ten kinds of purity" and is listed below. For those who wish to read the entire discourse, the reference is SSS Vol. 18, Discourse 31, "Students and Satwic Purity" and can be found at:

http://www.sssct.org/Discourses/Speaks/Pages/Main.htm

Quotations on the Five Senses

(Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 30, Discourse 25)

"In the pursuit of sensory pleasures man forgets his Divine origin. Man can redeem his life only when he understands wherefrom he has come, what is his role in life and what is his destination."

"As the senses are God-given gifts, abuse of the senses by excesses will not only mean transgressing the divinely ordained limits, but will also lead to many harmful consequences. Hence everyone has to adhere to the appropriate limits prescribed for the use of the senses."

"People should realize that God's grace is secured by the sacred use of the senses endowed on man by the Divine."

Ten Kinds of Purity

(Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 18, Discourse 31)

The first is purity of the place in which one lives. It is necessary to fill the room in which one resides or studies with a satwic atmosphere. The pictures or other objects you see should fill you with peace and pure thoughts. Objects which arouse agitation and bad thoughts should have no place. The room should be clean and free from anything that is impure.
Second: In the family in which you live, there should be mutual understanding and cooperation, and a sense of harmony. There should be no discord in the family that will create a bad atmosphere. A harmonious atmosphere will give you true peace of mind.
The third need is satwic food. This means that none of the edible items should be excessively sour, bitter or hot. You should eschew rajasic food like fish or meat. Even good satwic food should not be taken in excess. Some people consume so much of satwic food that even though it is satwa, it develops rajasic qualites. It is only satwic when you sit for the meal with a light stomach and get up from it with a light stomach! If you sit with a light stomach and get up with a weighty stomach, it becomes ramona.
Fourth: Whatever fluids you take should also be satwic. You should not drink whatever water is available. It should be pure water. Alcoholic splits should be eschewed.
Fifth: Satwic thoughts and feelings are of great importance. Students tend to neglect this factor. Only if your thoughts and feelings are pure, can you get the full benefit of a clean room, a good family and pure food.
Sixth: If you want to develop satwic feelings and thoughts, your vision must be pure. All Srishti (creation) is based upon drishti (sight). It is only when you have wrong vision that you have wrong thoughts. You must look upon every elderly woman as your mother and all women who are younger as your sisters. When you are filled with such pure thoughts, you will have pure feelings. It is because you are students, you have to be told this. Imagine how offended you will feel if someone looks at your mother or sister with an evil eye. Realising this, you have to entertain pure feelings towards other women. You should not commit the sort of offences which you will not tolerate in others.
Seventh: Whatever books you read or whatever you write should be pure. This is the Sadhana relating to study--Sahitya Satwika. If you read or write that which is not pure, it warps your mind. A good book makes for a good mind. Any book you may study about Physics or Chemistry or other subjects, does not affect your character. But books which are literary, are not always good literature. If improper books are prescribed for study, treat them as mere text-books and do not attach any high value to them as guides for life.
Eighth: Pure Satwic service. With regard to service, you have to decide what is satwic and what is rajasic. We go and clean streets, build roads in villages or dig wells and do them all as a service to the community. But the kind of service which we do should give real happiness to the people. In the name of 'Social work' you go to a hospital and approach a patient. This is not real service. Any person whom you wish to serve, you should regard as an embodiment of the Divine. Going to the help of the destitute and the neglected is rendering service to God. Narayana has two forms: one is 'Lakshmi Narayana', the other is 'Daridra Narayana'. This 'Lakshmi-Narayana' is full of wealth. He is able to help any number of people. He will be able to get many persons to serve him. But, for 'Daridra Narayana' there is nobody to serve him. It is to such persons that we should do satwic service.
Ninth: Sadhana. This is spiritual discipline. This must be satwa. Some people do Hatha Yoga. Some strive to develop the Kundalini Sakthi. Some invoke evil spirits, to do harm to others. These forms of sadhana are not sadhana at all. The individual is Chith (Consciousness), God is Sath (The Eternal Absolute). When Sath and Chith combine, you have Ananda. Sath-Chith-Ananda. Only the sadhana undertaken to realise Satchidananda is true sadhana. Where is this Sath? This Sath, the Divine, is in everybody. So, you must be prepared to serve everybody, regarding everyone as the Divine. You may have normal relationship with your kith and kin. There is nothing wrong in this. You must perform sadhana in the spirit that the One pervades the many. In this process, you must cultivate the feeling of Love. There is no higher sadhana than the cultivation of Love!
Tenth: Your occupation or profession. What is the kind of work you should take up? It should be work which can benefit the nation, the community. The nation enables you to earn a living. You must see what you can give to the nation, in return. You must ask yourself: "What is the service, what is the help I can do for the community?" You must see that there is no untruth in any work you do, no unfairness, no fraud, no evil motive.