You should be established in the awareness that the Lord is ever present. You must also be prompted by the feeling that you are performing deeds for the pleasure of the Lord. This is the easiest way of achieving control of the mind. If you are prompted by feelings that your body belongs to the Lord, you will not sin with your body. On the other hand, all your efforts and endeavours will proceed towards Divinity. If you are saturated with the conviction that your energy belongs to God, you will not misuse it. It is in light of this that we have prescribed the principle of ceiling on desires in the Sri Sathya Sai Centres.

Four-fold programme
The first ceiling on desires is “Don’t waste food. Food is God.” Your body is made of food, and you are the result of the food eaten by your parents. Food is God. Eat as much as it is necessary to eat. But do not throw away food by taking too much on your plate. By wasting food, you will be wasting the energy divine.

The second instruction is “Don’t waste money. God is wealth.” Since God is wealth, misuse of money is evil. Practice charity by gifting away money, food, clothes, houses, etc., instead of misusing money in extravagance. Misuse of money is not only evil but a sin as well. The third instruction is “Don’t waste time. Time waste is life waste.” God is exalted as time. He is beyond time, transcends time and is the embodiment of time. Spend the time by using sanctifying words. Do not waste time. Wasting time is wasting God. The fourth instruction is “Don’t waste energy.”

People waste their energy by indulging in bad thoughts, seeing bad things, hearing bad things, and taking bad actions. The right royal road is the following: See no evil—see what is good. Hear no evil—hear what is good. Speak no evil—speak what is good. Think no evil—think what is good. Do no evil—do what is good. By translating the above instructions into practice, you will be sanctifying your time. This is the spiritual practice and the service that you have to undertake. A time will come when the mind will be extinguished and merger with the divine will be achieved.

Bhagwan Satya Sai Baba

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