Quotes by Swami Sai Premananda

Some people say, “Oh no, if I take up a spiritual life I can’t live in the world.” What foolishness is this? Look right here. You can talk, you can move, you can function, yet this level of peace is there within you, deeply. It’s like an undercurrent of your being that will always be there. I am free to laugh and joke and dance and yell and argue and do anything I want. That undercurrent is always there. Nothing takes it away. Nothing in the world can take it away. This is the state. So the same way you can laugh and talk and listen to me but still hold on to this feeling, the same way you can be in the world.

When you’re with stillness, you merge on some level with everything around you. You can’t pin-point where it’s coming from. From inside? From outside? Where? It just is. It is just this moment of peace and stillness. This is what you should be experiencing in your meditation. When you become very good at it, you will have the stillness with you all the time. It doesn’t leave. It never leaves. It is constantly with you—a sense of being. A sense of completion. And a sense of silence. A level of peace is with you at all times.

It’s very simple; it’s not complicated. If you want to go home and complicate it with the mind and say, “Oh I can’t do this,” then you’ll never do it. But if you simply accept the truth and do, then it will come very quickly. Don’t let the mind complicate your life; always be simple. Start off by doing simple acts of love. To people and friends whom you haven’t said, “I love you,” to in a long time, send an email out tomorrow: “How are you? I’m just sending a loving thought to you.” You’ll see what happens. When you leave a shop, turn around and tell the person, “Have a nice day.” Then you’ll see how you change that person’s point of view and how happy they feel. Wear a smile on your face when you walk the street and see how many people will smile back at you. Have a wilful feeling that everybody should feel love today in a small way. It starts by you doing something in a small way to make someone very happy. If you know something is going to make someone happy, then go out of your way and make them happy. That is our duty as human beings. Can you imagine if everyone lived with this principle? Everyone you talk to would be trying to make you happy. How beautiful is this?

Going forward, when you open your mouth to yell at somebody, you should know immediately that that is coming back to you. That is also self-love. Self-love is understanding the higher principles of a human life, the laws that we’re bound by and have to live within. I’ll tell you, there is self-forgiveness and there is self-acceptance. If you can work on these alone you will grow in love. You will have this love for yourself. Then the more God-work you do, naturally love for yourself will come because you begin to have such beautiful feelings inside you, such tenderness inside you, such compassion inside you, such sweetness that you say, “Yeah, I love me because I’m pretty lovable.”

When you take that love outside, remember this: we talk about loving others in the multitudes, but who are you really loving? You’re only loving yourself. So it’s good enough if you can at least cause no harm to others. Be within yourself and learn to love and perfect yourself. If you spend enough time loving yourself and the Jesus inside you, or the Ramakrishna inside you, or the Buddha or the Allah inside you, then that love will grow and blossom within you. Then it’s very easy to love others. So you think, so you become.

Many people ask, “Should I do this or should I do that?” I say, “Why are you wasting your time? Love God and perfect yourself. That is the fastest way to God.” It is the most perfect path to God. Become a principled human being. Become an authentic human being. When you say that you are going to do something, do it. Don’t say you will do something and then not do it. That’s not what a principled human being is like. Thought, word and deed must come together. These are actually the holy trinity within the human being: thought, word and deed. When thought, word and deed are in alignment at a very high level, then you are living a principled life. You are living an authentic life. This takes you to living a divine life.

In meditation, you are not supposed to “concentrate” on the things that arise in the mind. Rather, you are supposed to “bear witness” to the things that arise in the mind. Now bearing witness means what? It means to stand aside and observe, become aware, and examine: “Yes this is there. That is there. This is happening. That is going on.” This is very important because it lays the foundation for the actual inner spiritual work that the meditation will provoke. Meditation is the foundation for deeper spiritual evolution.

This is extremely important—becoming the witness. If you cannot become the witness silently within, you will not be able to consciously be a witness to your actions and reactions in the world around you. Then you truly cannot see yourself. You will only see yourself as you think you are, but not as you really are.

You see there are three steps: witnessing the mind, witnessing others and then witnessing yourself. That is the exact way in which it happens. All of this is transferred from inside to outside and then back to you. A perfect reflection of the mind; this is the main way that you can perfect yourself. It is your duty and responsibility to learn from others. Take what is good from others, and incorporate it within yourself. Take what needs enhancing in others and enhance it within.

How do you know how to be perfect? You do not know how to be perfect; you learn how to be perfect. It is the spiritual work that one does daily which awakens your world on the path to perfection. The world begins to reflect how to be perfect by experiences and actions, going on and around you all the time. These are the things that cannot be taught in books, as there are too many variances in behaviour and personality. The tough lessons of love and friendship happen throughout our own lives and we must seek to find the lessons of life hidden deep within all interactions.