describe to you the sweet taste of a ripe mango beautifully and colorfully, but until you taste the mango directly for yourself, you will not be able to understand the wonderful taste and sweetness of the mango.
(Sathya Sai Baba – Sathya Sai Gita Chapter 24)
Mango is not just a sweet and tasty fruit, but a deep symbol meaning the fruits of human good deeds. To taste sweet mango, symbolically, means to gain the fruits of spiritual awareness, harmony, and peace. Meeting with Sathya Sai Baba, itself, is the result of many good deeds in past lives, but it is important not only to see the external form of Sathya Sai Baba, but with the help of his blessings to find peace in the soul and to open the endless space of possibilities and potentials in your heart. Sathya Sai Baba poured out mercy on everyone who came to see him and he brought down the divine energy, which brought people into amazing mystical states and helped them experience the infinity of consciousness.
Reading books can help you gain intellectual knowledge while the path of meditation allows you to gain the treasure of self-realization. In meditation, the delusion that you are a limited being disappears, just as darkness disappears when the sun rises in the morning. You are the master of your thoughts, words, and actions, which means only you create your reality. There are no accidents in life – everything is the result of cause and effect. In meditation the illusion of separation and conflict dissolves and the true reality of unity in diversity remains.
The mango is a symbol of the spiritual fruits you receive as a result of intensive and deep practice of meditation and service in society. In meditation all doubts and conflicts come to an end. Your bright thoughts, wise words, and perfect actions create a happy and joyful space.
If something does not make you happy or does not bring you joy, leave it with gratitude and move on with your wonderful life, for you consciously and freely choose only that which brings joy, happiness, contentment, bliss, and peace into your life.
56. Self-esteem and inner freedom
It is difficult for people to understand what spirituality is and what individual freedom is. If you analyze the divine principle more deeply, you will realize that true spirituality and individual freedom are one in essence.
(Sathya Sai Baba – "Summer Showers of Brindavan", 1990)
There are quite a lot of misconceptions that spirituality and individual freedom are allegedly in conflict. The essence of spirituality is in the realization of the Truth about the nature of one's Self. Personal freedom is the most important foundation of the spiritual process of self-knowledge. A free person trusts his intuition, while a person deprived of freedom is guided by domineering opinions. A free person is responsible for his actions, while a person deprived of inner freedom shifts responsibility to others.
A free-thinking person is able to reflect on the essence of his soul, while a person deprived of inner freedom can only memorize the thoughts of others. Whatever the great thoughts of the sages, they do not need to be thoughtlessly memorized, because then they become dogma. Personal freedom ultimately leads to the core of the Absolute Self, which only a truly free person can open.
True freedom is always associated with caring for everyone around you. If you realize your freedom to the detriment of other people, then this is ordinary selfishness, which has nothing to do with freedom. Many books have been written and many sermons delivered about the need to love and care for others, but all this has long become dogmas and beautiful words.
Only one who practices meditation begins to deeply feel the unity of all people. Feeling the unity of all that exists, a deep understanding of morality and ethics arise, but not as dry and lifeless book ideas, but as a natural need of a spiritual person.
People around you may be friendly, support your ideas and projects, but some of your relatives and friends may be very negative. They may constantly try to instill in you that you are allegedly not capable of doing anything in life. Remember that you are free because of what you know about yourself and your talents. This self-understanding is more important than what others think.
When your self-esteem is more valuable to you than what the world around you can dictate, you not only understand your purpose in life, but you begin to embody all your talents and share the things that are really important in life.
57. Believe in yourself and make your choice
This next story seems so insignificant on the surface, but in fact it shows Sathya Sai Baba's amazing attentiveness to every detail and to every person.
One day Sathya Sai Baba came to Mumbai (Bombay) to meet his devotees and students studying under the program of the Universities of Sathya Sai Baba. Preparations were made for his arrival, including many students lining up in front of the entrance of the university. Each of them had one red flower in their hands, which they were going to present to their dear guest.
Among the greeters was a small boy, who was taking a preparatory course and was not yet a university student, so he was not allowed to stand in the front row, and he was not allowed to give Sathya Sai Baba a flower. The boy was very upset about this but decided not to give up. Finally, the long-awaited day came for the meeting of Sathya Sai Baba, and his car drove up.
The young boy edged his way toward the students awaiting Sathya Sai Baba’s approach and quietly squeezed through the crowd. He really wanted to give Sathya Sai Baba a flower, and he must have been very worried he would not be given such an opportunity. Seeing a simple flower on the ground in front of him, the boy must have joyfully picked it up.
Sathya Sai Baba passed by the students with each one offering him a flower.
