Today in all spheres – ethical, moral, educational, spiritual and scientific – because there is no unity or oneness among those that compose a group, there is confusion and lack of peace everywhere. A group consisting of different individuals can be referred to as a society only when all of them stand on one common base and accept one common thought. (SSB 1974, p. 16)

A true society is a community of selfless individuals. An ideal society must have scales of values and a code of morality, which should be applicable to all individuals. There is no scope for the efflorescence of Dharma in a society dominated by absolute selfishness and predatory competition. A society contaminated by ‘Adharma’, or immorality, will corrupt the entire country. (SSB 1979, p. 65)

Ananda must surge out of the individual and fill the lake of society, and from thence, stream into the Ocean of Grace. Society is just a name for a group of individuals; but it has no corporal body. Individuals are the limbs that nourish and support the ‘corpus’ called society. (SSS Vol.9, p. 11)

Be in society but remain careful to see that your faith and devotion are not perturbed. If your faith shakes, your life will become shaky. If your mind can be controlled, you can certainly do something useful and your life will become purposeful. (SSB 1973, 1973, p. 110)

Man is born in society, he is bred in society; he is shaped well or ill by the subtle influence of society. He, in his turn, as a member of society influences the people who contact him. His life is turned or twisted by the standards, modes and behaviour patterns of the society into which he is born, through the effects of his accumulated karma. The deha and the desha are inextricable, intertwined. The body is one encasement, the country is another, for the spirit of man. Use society for your uplift; try to shape society so that it will help the uplift of individuals and not turn them away from God. (SSS Vol. 6, p. 188)

A society without values will cease to be human. The more human values are cherished, the better will be the growth of society, the nation and the world. We cannot rest content with an educational system, which is confined to academic achievement. It has to promote simultaneously human virtues. The main problem of our education is how to adapt the spiritual and cultural traditions we have inherited from the past to the needs of daily life today. The relationship between the individual and society has to be rightly understood. Why should the individual serve others? What claims has society on the individual? When we examine these issues we realise that the individual can find fulfilment only in society. Born in society, growing up in society, living in society, man ends his life in society. In the word Samajam (Society), Sam represents unity, ja means going towards. Samajam (society) means going forward in unity.

Society may be viewed as a many-petalled flower. Every individual is like a petal. All the petals together make for the beauty of the flower. Without the petals, there will be no flower. Likewise, every individual is a petal making the glory of the divine. Society may also be compared to a four-wheeled chariot. The four wheels are: Aikyamatyam (Unity) Svadhinam (Control), Jnanam (Knowledge) and Shakti (Power). These four help the society to go forward. How are human qualities to be promoted in society? Society is made up of individuals. No man can be an island to himself. Living amidst fellow human beings, man has to sow the seeds of love, rear the plants of harmony and offer the fruits of peace to society. Thereby his humanness is manifested. (SSS Vol.20, pp. 171-172)

Man has to recognise his indebtedness to society and his duty towards it. This is the best way to solve the troubles of the day. Attention is paid only to arguments and counter-arguments, propositions and oppositions, plans and programs; the aim of the ego-centred is more to win a verbal victory than achieve a valid solution. No attempt is made to foster the social virtues of honesty, tolerance and cordiality. Society is the expression of Divinity into manifold phases, with its love, its ardour, its eagerness to comfort and console. A chance conglomeration of humans does not become a society. It has to be welded into a unit by the consciousness of kinship in God, by the sharing of each other’s joys and sorrows, and the cultivation of equality. The individual has to manifest, through word and deed, the bliss inherent in him and in society. (SSS Vol.12, p. 44)

Man should feel deeply that he is a limb of the society into which he has been born and which has fostered him and fed him with ideas and ideals. Spiritual life is not isolated existence. Man has to sow the seeds of love in his heart and harvest peace. He should share peace with all. You can find happiness only in the vast, the limitless, the infinite – not in the little, the small, the limited. (SSS Vol.12, p. 15)

This should be the true function of society - to enable every member to realise this vision of Oneness. (Oneness destroys the desire for objective joys, for there is no object distinct from the subject). Men and women who are bound by mutual interests in a society are not merely families, castes, classes, groups of kinsmen or kinswomen; but they are one spirit, one atma. They are knit by the closest of family ties and are not only part of the society to which they feel bound, but they realise that all mankind is One. Vasudhaiva kutumbakam, as the Shastras (moral codes) declare, ‘the whole world is one family.’ This unity must be experienced by everyone. (SSS Vol.12, pp. 93-94)

Society is the coming together of people. Cooperation among people in a society, motivated by spontaneity and by pure intentions is the hallmark of Seva (service). Seva can be identified by means of two basic characteristics: Compassion and Willingness to sacrifice. History informs us that in all countries and in every age man is a social animal. Man is born in society, he grows in and through society and his life ends in society itself. Man’s songs and speech, his duties and diversions, are all determined by the society. Society is like water for fish; if society rejects him or neglects him he cannot survive.

What a single individual cannot accomplish, a well-knit group or society can achieve. A man walking alone will feel tired and miserable at the end of five miles; but, walking with ten others as a group he would find the five miles a jaunt. He arrives refreshed and strong. Social living contributes increased happiness and more efficient effort among birds and beasts. They are able to defend themselves from enemies, secure food and shelter and migrate to places beyond great distances when they act as a group. Even ants have learnt that immense benefits are derivable from group activity and social organisation. Monkeys also live in groups for greater security and happier lives.

Let me tell you that nothing is impossible of achievement if an organised society is set on achieving it. Even liberation from material entanglement (Moksha) can be won through serving and promoting the progress of society. Through the sense of unity, the willingness to sacrifice and the softness of compassion, all objects can be gained. So, the Sathya Sai Organisation must move forward with hearty enthusiasm in the field of service to society. (SSS Vol.11, pp. 191-192)

The many in the One - that is the real nature of Society. (Sens.SS, p. 33)

Krishna commanded Arjuna, ‘Develop a broad mind and expand your vision. You can start with the concept of the individual personality, but do not get stuck there. Do not waste your entire life thinking only of individuals. ‘From the individual you must move on to the concept of the society, which transcends the individual, Individuality and personality are associated with a limited name and form, but let your mind soar beyond name and form. Reach and experience that principle which is full of Dharma. You are still viewing everything in the framework of Dvaita, or duality, and so your life is manifesting only duality; you are caught up in name and form, in subject and object. Make the effort to travel from Dvaita to Vishishtadvaita, from dualism to modified non-dualism, keeping the highest wisdom of pure non-dualism, pure Advaita as your ultimate goal. Make an effort to see the same divine principle everywhere and in everything, until you realize the ultimate truth, that only the Atma exists, that only the Self is real.’ Buddha taught the same great truth, although he may not have made reference to Veda or used Vedantic terms, nevertheless, he experienced and demonstrated the essential spirit of the Veda.

First he said, ‘Buddham Sharanam Gacchami’, meaning, ‘I take refuge in the Buddhi, my power of discrimination’. This deals with the individual; it speaks of the limited personality. Gradually, he added, ‘Sangham Sharanam Gacchami’, meaning ‘I take refuge in the community, I take refuge in the Society’. He recognized that feelings associated with individual and personal considerations are selfish and narrow, and cannot take you very far.

Society does not have any particular form; it is made up of individuals. When large number of individuals joins together they become a society. Swami often says, ‘Expansion is My life. When you expand individual life to infinity it becomes divinity’, that is to say, let individual life multiply and broaden and it will eventually reach divinity. Therefore, Krishna told Arjuna, ‘Live in the society, serve the society; and develop broad mindedness’.

The meaning of society in one country may be different from that in another; and a society or community called by one name may have nothing to do with a society or community called by another name. So, you will find that there are limits even for a society, and that the society by itself will not take you all the way to infinity. Therefore, Buddha added one more step, ‘Dharmam Sharanam Gacchami’, meaning ‘1 take refuge in Dharma, I take shelter in ‘truth and righteousness’. Dharma, as used here, has a very broad connotation; it refers to the one who supports the entire world. - When you investigate the general meaning of the word Dharma, you find that it relates to the basic nature of a thing, its essential truth. The ‘thing’ referred to here is the immortal Atma the indwelling divinity. Therefore, the deeper meaning of Dharma is found in the true nature of divinity. To take refuge in Dharma is to become one with the attributes of divinity. It has been said that Maya is the body of God, but it is more correct to say that Dharma is the body of God. It is His very form. That is why Krishna announced, ‘For establishing Dharma, I have come again and again’. Dharma reveals the broad nature of divinity in all its glorious aspects. (DBG, pp. 249-250)

The idea of a high standard of material living has played havoc with society. The desire can never be satisfied. It leads to a multiplication of wants and consequent troubles and frustrations. We need morality, humility, detachment, compassion, so that the greed for luxury and conspicuous consumption is destroyed. (EL, p. 211)

Only young men and women are capable of eradicating restlessness in the society. Excessive desires are the main cause for the suffering of man. Keep a check on your desires. As a student, discharge your duties diligently. Study well and obtain good marks. Respect your parents and serve them. Keep in mind the welfare of the society and nation at large. Earn a good name in the society. Do not feel proud of your education. Your education is a mere waste if it is not utilised for the welfare of the society. The education you have received from the society must be dedicated to it, by way of service. The goal of education does not lie in merely acquiring degrees, securing good jobs and amassing wealth. Service is the hallmark of the educated one. (DD on 18.11.1999 , p. 5)

The truth is that people merely call themselves devotees. It is a delusion. They should examine whether they have the qualities of devotees. Everyone seeks to know what good he can derive from other individuals or from society. No one asks himself what good or benefit society derives from him. Start with rendering benefit to society.

Everyone goes about trying to see what he can get from society. Today, thanks to the influence of the Kali Age, two kinds of diseases have grown: One is the insatiable thirst for wealth. In every city there is a mad rush for making money. Everyone is caught up in this craze for money. No doubt money is necessary, but only up to a limit to meet one’s needs. Owing to excessive desire people lose all sense of proportion. Men turn into demons in the pursuit of wealth. It may be asked whether at least they make good use of their immense wealth. No, Ultimately, the money may fall in the hands of robbers or others. What you get from society give it back to society. That is the primary value to be cherished by every one.

The second malady is the thirst for power. The thirst for power and position is unquenchable. Afflicted with these two maladies man is converting the whole world into a madhouse. The desire for wealth and power is not wrong as such. But wealth and power should be used for right ends. Whatever position you occupy, see that it is used worthily. A cobbler stitching shoes is pursuing as worthy an occupation as a Prime Minister governing the country. Therefore, everyone has to do his duty properly. There is no high or low in these matters. To each person, his occupation is a matter of pride. Hence, do your duty sincerely. Everyone should be filled with this feeling. He should see that he does his job well without any lapse or defect. When everyone does his duty in this spirit the well-being of the whole world will be automatically ensured.

People proclaim that they desire the well-being of one and all in the world, but they do nothing to promote it. They are concerned only about their own well-being. This is not the right attitude at all. (SSS Vol.30, p. 39)