SU-DARSHANAM(THE POWER OF SACRED VISION)
Students!! There are many things that are not known to the students and many things that need to be learned. Students need to understand the difference between the intellect and intelligence. Likewise there is a difference between mind and the thoughts. The mind is very pure like a white cloth. It becomes impure and dirty because of the bad thoughts. The whiteness is its natural quality. The white cloth becomes soiled and dirty with usage and is put to the washer man for cleaning. The washer man brings in the washed and clean cloth. People say that the washer man has made the cloth white and bright. The washer man does not have the ability to whiten the cloth. The whiteness is the very nature and quality of the white cloth. The washer man had just removed the dirt. Likewise the mind, too, is pure and sacred like the white. It gets impure due to the exposure to the worldly and physical attachments. The mind loses its dirt when it is washed on the stone called ‘contemplation of the Lord’. That is ‘Shraddha’, steadfastness. One must inculcate such steadfastness. With sincerity and faith there is nothing that man cannot achieve. One can achieve anything with faith and sincerity- can go to the moon, reach the stars and even reach the sun! What is the Sun that one can reach? It is not the Sun that produces Hydrogen and who helps the entire world! “Chandrama manasojathaha, chaksho sooryo ajayatha” Who is the Sun? One’s eye sight is the Sun. One can certainly reach the sun- the proper and pure vision. People think that God has taken a disc for a weapon. This weapon is called as the ‘Sudarshanam’- which means ‘good seeing’.(SathyaSai Speaks on 21/06/1996)

Then again, I will advise children not to read horror comics, books on crime and sex, and novels of vice and wickedness. Avoid also films, for though they may be advertised as very educative and inspiring, the producers, in their greed for profits, smuggle in low vulgar debasing scenes in order to please raw untrained minds. Don't allow the virus of vice to infect your brains. If that happens you descend to levels worse than the beasts. Do not imagine that it will be possible for you to live happily, without any anxiety or bother. Do not build castles in the air, and hope to live in them. Life is a mosaic of pleasure and pain; grief is an interval between two moments of joy, peace is the interlude between two wars. You have no rose, without a thorn; the diligent picker will avoid the pricks, and gather the flower. There is no bee without the sting; cleverness consists in gathering the honey nevertheless. Troubles and travail will haunt you, but you must not allow them to deflect you from the path of duty and dedication.The Gopees (milkmaids) of Brindhaavan were chastised and punished by their parents, parentsin-law and even husbands for taking the name of Krishna, but, they had the name printed on their hearts, just like the pictures in the books you read, and they could not remove the Name, just as you would find it impossible to remove the picture from the paper! When you have the Name in your heart and on your tongue, you will never go astray, your hand will be clean, your eyes will be bright, your face will beam with courage and self-confidence.(SathySai Speaks on  April,1973,Hyderabad)

Nowadays none wakes up when the cock crows, nor when the loud whistle of train blows, but get up late in the morning at eight or nine. What is the reason? They go to sleep late at night. Are they at least using the night hours for studies? Not at all. They put on Television or Radio, thus polluting their own minds besides wasting time. Much of what is seen on the television are things that are lewd, disgusting, immoral and vile. Such are the undesirable things being shown. I wonder what pleasure or profit accrues to Government out of all this. On the other hand Government promotes this as a great medium. So it is Government which is spoiling the children. It turns the pure, steady and selfless hearts of the youth into impure, wicked and repugnant. On top of it, it seeks for more import from foreign countries.Instead of habituating children to such evil traits, can one not encourage good practices? Can they not be shown good stories which promote good behaviour in them? None protests against this evil, neither parents inside house, nor the teachers, the educated persons and the elders in the society. The reason simply is that they too have succumbed to this addiction. So if they try to correct children, they would have to face the question “What about you?” Such are the elders of to day to whom children would give a piece of mind. They in fact are the ones who occupy the front seats in front of TV sets. Let me tell you what some of these elders are up to. They tell our students when they go home on vacation, “Son, it is an year since you watched TV or movie, as you were at Puttaparthi. Now go ahead and watch them to your heart’s content”. Mothers even serve meals to them in front of the TV set itself. Should any mother interested in the well-being of her child do this? Certainly not. But unfortunately they are all out to spoil their own children. And Government only adds to the problem, mindlessly. The government servants themselves are glued to TV as soon as they return home from offices. Or they go to clubs where they drink, fill themselves with unhealthy food and gamble. It is precisely due to these bad habits, evil traits and unhealthy activities that today’s citizens are turning into cruel people. Even their speech is not soft and pleasant but is very rude. That is why I often tell you, ‘You cannot always oblige, but you can speak obligingly’. One should speak obligingly with all humility an d modesty. Today even these virtues are disappearing. I n addition to all this they squander away money in idl e pursuits.(Sathya Sai Speaks on 27/05/2002)

Eyes are the manifestation of the power of the Sun. The light is not in the eyes. One needs to understand this concept clearly. There are two aspects to this. The boy had just recited: “anthar bahischa tat sarvam vyaptha narayana stithaha”. There is light inside and outside and this constitutes the vision. The sun shines brightly. In spite of the bright sunlight, if one closes one’s eyes, one cannot see anything. Standing in the bright sun, one must be able to see the sun with closed eyes, but it is not so. What is the reason? The sun in oneself and the sun outside must unite; otherwise it cannot be called as one. One cannot see anything sitting in a dark room even with eyes open. The reason for not being able to see things in a dark room is that there is no sunlight in the room. When standing in the bright sun with eyes closed there was no light in the eyes so one could not see the sun. Therefore, one can see objects when the light of the sun and that of the eyes, both are present. One must have sunlight and must keep one’s eyes open to be able to see the things. One cannot do away with sunlight for in a dark room one cannot see the objects with mere eyes. Therefore, there must be unity of the outer sun and the inner sun for developing pure intellect. “Dheeyoyonah prachodayath”-The brilliance of the sacred intellect shines the sun called the eyes.(SathyaSai Speaks on 21/06/1996)

Another instance in our Puranas where the child in the womb got such knowledge was the case of Abhimanyu, who learnt the details of Padmavyuha (labyrinth of lotus shape, particular type of maze), while in the womb of his mother. In view of this, it was the custom in those days that pregnant women were taken care of with great effort and they were always kept happy and were permitted to listen only to sacred stories and sacred things. They were always given only good news. It is in this context that the baby in the womb will be experiencing only happy situations and as a result will turn out to be a happy individual. But today, pregnant women see various kinds of pictures during the period of pregnancy and in this process the child also develops bad ideas even from the time of its being in the mother’s womb and they take to an unsacred path once they are born. Thus the entire future of a child depends on the manner and conduct of the pregnant woman in whose womb the child is growing.If today we take to a sacred path and do the right thing, there is no doubt that our children in the future will also attain reputation and will take to a sacred path.Although one does not directly see the greatness of a manthra, it is sure to hand in the consequence by inference. Some people argue that it may not be necessary to read the manthras with the proper accent and the proper stress at the right place and that it may be looked upon as a mere collection of words. Our youth have no understanding and familiarity with the divine path or with anything that relates to the culture of our country. It has become a fashion to take a crooked view of everything and they give a reply which is quite irrelevant.you. Your friends and relations may come till the burial ground to bury or cremate the body, and thereafter all will return home. Only the good and bad acts that you have performed in your life will accompany you. Your next birth will be carved out according to your deeds in this life.(Excerpts from SathyaSai Speaks on Summer Culture & Spirituality ,1974)

"See no evil; see what is good" is the prescription for the eyes. Keechaka (in the Mahaabhaaratha) looked with an evil eye on Dhraupadhi (who was serving as the Queen's maid in the palace of the king of Viraata dhesa). His lustful vision brought about his death. His very name is abhorred by everyone.(SathyaSai Speaks on 12/04/1996)

 “Sathwik listening is listening to the stories, experiences and messages of Sages and Saints who aspired after God and realised Him. Sathwik seeing is seeing the worshippers of the Lord, seeing the portraits of saints and sages, attending festivals in temples, etc. Rajasik seeing is seeing scenes of luxury, pictures of sensuous joy, of pompous pageantry, of the exhibition of power and status and display of egoistic authority. Taking delight in the description of sensuous scenes and incidents, in the demonstration of power and authority, in the assertion of might and prowess—these are to be classified as Rajasik listening. Others take delight in listening to gruesome adventures, stories of wicked ogres and vicious deeds. Such are Thamasik individuals. They admire cruelty and terrifying tactics and they take pleasure in keeping such pictures before them. They worship demonic bloodthirsty Gods and they revel in the lore of ghosts and evil forces.”(Excerpts from Geetha Vahini,Page No-276,Chaptr. XXVI)