We have a rose plant. On the plant there are some rose flowers, but right below the rose flowers, you also have got some thorns. When you are seeking only the roses, then you do not have to touch the thorns. But because there are thorns, you are not going to give up asking for the roses. Our life is like a rose plant. On one side there are flowers, there are roses which give us the happiness and which give us the fragrance. On the other side, immediately below the roses, there are also the difficulties, the thorns. It is the same relationship that exists between the roses and the thorns. This is also the relationship which exists between prema and kama. Love is a flower; Lust is a thorn. Prema can be truly called prema only when it recognises the Divinity and only when it realises that we should love the Divine. That kind of prema alone can deserve to be described as true prema. (SSB 1972, p. 85)
The relationship between jiva, Ishvara and Prakriti is an inseparable one. (SSB 1974, p. 11)
In the pilgrim centre of Srisailam, there are two names for God and they are Mallikarjuna and Bhramaramba. Bhramaramba is Shakti and Mallikarjuna is Ishvara. Malli is the jasmine flower. Arjuna stands for white and Mallikarjuna stands for the pure white jasmine flower. In Bhramaramba, the first letter Bhra means bee. When Ishvara has taken the form of Mallikarjuna or is represented by the pure white jasmine flower, then ‘amba’, the mother, takes the form of a bee and sucks the honey in this white pure jasmine flower, which is symbolic of Ishvara. Here we get Bhramaramba in relation to Arjuna. This shows us the relationship that exists between Paramatma and Prakriti, the Lord and his creation. We see that it is only the bee that has the right to go into a flower and suck the honey from the flower. No other insect can go into the flower. All other insects simply go round and round the flower but it is only the bee that has the capacity to go right into the flower. This is the reason why an individual born in Prakriti, and who wants to join the Lord, will have to adopt this kind of close relationship with Paramatma. (SSB 1974, p. 204)
Since the entire creation was only a projection of Paramatma, in the context of Radha signifying creation and Krishna signifying Paramatma, the Creator, the relationship between Radha and Krishna was one like the relationship between an object and its image. To regard Radha of Bhagavatam as an ordinary woman, or to regard Krishna as an ordinary human being, a man, and to regard the relationship between them as no more than between a man and a woman, as people generally understand, is very wrong and quite contrary to what the author of the sacred text of the Bhagavatam intended to convey. The relationship is the sacred relationship that exists between God and His Creation.
Radha is part and parcel of Krishna even as much as the white colour is part and parcel of milk. The kind of association between Radha and Krishna has no parallel in the world and cannot occur in any other instance.
This oneness of Radha and Krishna has been referred to in the Bible as the ‘Kingdom of God’. This aspect of oneness of Prakriti and Paramatma has been referred to in several religions by using different words. However, to enable common people to understand the significance of Radha, our ancients have created a form and a name. But whoever continually, and at all times, thinks of Krishna, is a Radha. This is an aspect and not a name. (SSB 1978, pp. 102-105)
Be simple and sincere. It is sheer waste of money to burden the pictures and idols in the shrines and altars of your homes with the weight of garlands, and to parade costly utensils and vessels and offerings, to show off your devotion. This is deception; it demeans Divinity, imputing to it the desire for pomp and publicity. I ask only for purity of heart, to shower grace. Do not posit distance between you and me; do not interpose the formalities of the Guru-Shishya relationship, or even the attitudinal distinctions of the God-Devotee relationship between you and me. I am neither Guru, nor God; I am You; You are I; that is the Truth. ‘I am Yours’; ‘You are Mine!’ and finally ‘I am You’. There is no distinction. That which appears so is the delusion. You are waves; I am the Ocean. Know this and be free, be Divine. (SSS Vol.7, p. 253)
Try and see yourself in all, then you will not love one person more and another less, realising that they are both yourself. When love is shared, peace reigns. All worldly relationships are based on the principle of give and take. The highest form of love is expressed between a devotee and God, the devotee being intent on merging with Divinity. Thereupon, love flows towards everything and every being. According to Baba, God is Love, the lover is the individual and the beloved is nature. Knowing full well that nature is under the complete control of God, why be under the spell of creation? Realising God’s prevalence everywhere, let us learn to love the Creator, since creation is nothing but His manifestation. Baba says that we should direct all our thoughts towards God.
But we cannot do so until our minds are under our control. It is only through protracted practice that we can succeed in living in God - that is Love, through His grace. Almost everything that goes wrong in the relationship of man with man goes wrong because the self-impulses outweigh the altruistic impulses or because we over-value the satisfaction of appetite and undervalue the satiation of our spiritual hunger. True happiness for human beings is possible only to those who develop their God-like potentialities to the utmost. (SSSm Vol.3, p. 276)
The relationship between the teacher and the student should be like that of cow and calf. (DD on 26-07-1999, p. 5)
The truth about duality – the Jivatma (individual soul) and the Paramatma (Oversoul) relationship – is as the wife-husband relationship. The full, free Supreme Vishnu (protector and preserver) is the husband, the master, the lord, the ruler, the provider; the individual is the ruled, the dependent, the wife.
There is an internal relationship between Nature and Divinity. The ocean, the moon and man are inter-related. The ocean swells on Full Moon day. What is the connection between the ocean and the moon? The mind and the moon are inter-related. Without our being conscious of it, our minds are affected during Full Moon days. Mental afflictions are aggravated during those days. The scientist should develop an integral approach towards Nature, Man and Spirit. Only then can he realise the underlying divinity that unites the man and the cosmos. (SSS Vol.18, p. 18)
Human beings are limbs of society. Human societies are limbs of humanity. Humanity is a limb of Nature (Prakriti). Nature is a limb of Cosmic Self (Paramatma). If you consider this chain of relationships, you can see that man is related to the supreme embodiment of Bliss. (NNSG Vol.4, p. 50)
This morning a Russian lady came to Me. During the course of conversation, she said, ‘Swami, I have a friend.’ When I asked as to who he was, she took out her wallet and showed a small photograph. Then I told her, ‘Mother, he is your Husband, not your friend. Do not consider your husband as your friend or your friend as your Husband.’ She said ‘Swami, this is what I have been doing all these years. Is it a mistake?’ I said ‘Yes, it is a mistake, it certainly is a mistake.’ Then I asked her as to when she had met him first. She said that she knew him for the last three years. I told her ‘This type of relationship is temporary. God alone is your true friend. You may forget Him but he will never forget you. He will be with you even after your death. Hence, treat God as your true friend. Ultimately, you will become one with Him.’ DD on 12.10.2004, p.8)
The Lord shines resplendently in the universe; so also universe shines in the Lord. The relationship between the Lord and the universe is intimate and inseparable. What else is to be conveyed to you? (Telugu poem) (SSS Vol.39, p. 173)