Aathma is the ocean

Aathma is the ocean, Prakrithi (Nature) is just a wave of that vast ageless, boundless ocean and the deevi is just a drop of that wave. You cannot give up the wave or the sea. You can only merge the name and form of the drop. Once you enter the depths of the sea, it is all calm, it is all peace; agitation, noise, confusion – all are only on the outer layers. So also in the innermost recesses of the heart, there is a reservoir of Shaanthi where you must take refuge.

 

There are three types of people: The Thaamasik who are like iron balls, impervious to any softening influence; the Raajasik who are like cotton, absorbent but not changing their own nature; and the Saathwik, who melt as butter melts at the joy or grief of others or at the mention of the leelas (divine plays) of the Lord. They dive deep into the source and spring of sympathy. Anger, envy, greed and intolerance are all so many holes in the pot; the waters of shaanthi, soukhya and santhosha (peace, contentment, happiness) leak through the holes and the pot becomes empty. The pot has to be repaired and all leaks stopped so that it may be useful.

 

It is when you are in a desperate situation that you call upon the Lord, forgetting your pride and your egoism. The Paandavas were so full of misery in a worldly sense that they always had an attitude of prayer. If I had given you all the comforts and opportunities, you would not have come to Puttaparthi. Trouble is the bait with which the fish is hauled out of the water. Kunthi asked that Krishna should continue giving her and her sons all kinds of misery so that He may grant them His Grace continuously.

– Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Source: Sathya Sai Speaks 01 – 1953-60.