I called on all those suffering in the endless round of birth and death to worship the Feet of the Guru (spiritual preceptor), the Guru that was announcing Himself, who had come again for taking upon Himself the burden of those who find refuge in Him. That was the very first Message of Mine to Humanity. ‘Manasa bhajare’ – ‘Worship in the mind!’ I do not need your flower garlands and fruits, things that you get for an anna or two; they are not genuinely yours. Give Me something that is yours, something which is clean and fragrant with the perfume of virtue and innocence, and washed in the tears of repentance! Garlands and fruits you bring as items in the show, as an exhibition of your devotion; poorer devotees who cannot afford to bring them are humiliated and they feel sorry that they are helpless; they cannot demonstrate their devotion in the grand way in which you are doing it. Install the Lord in your heart and offer Him the fruits of your actions and the flowers of your inner thoughts and feelings. That is the worship I like most, the devotion I appreciate most. (SSS Vol.1)
Worship is just a means of educating the emotions. Human impulses and emotions have to be guided and controlled. Just as the raging waters of the Godavari have to be curbed by bunds, halted by dams, tamed by canals and led quietly to the ocean, which can swallow all floods without a trace, so too the age long instincts of man have to be trained and transmuted by contact with higher ideals and powers. Even enthusiasm must be under control; devotion must be regulated. (SSS Vol.2, p. 121)
Just reflect on this for a minute: How did man forget his Divinity? How did he fall into this delusion of littleness? Then you will know that it must be as a result of the mind running after momentary pleasures. What then is the remedy? The answer is just one word---‘Worship.’ Do everything as worship. Yat Bhavam Tad Bhavati - You become that which you feel. You can get the feeling for the Divine only if you have a taste of the prema of the Divine. That is why the Avatar has come to give you a taste of that prema, so that the yearning for the Lord will be planted in your heart.(SSS Vol.2)
When you suffer from the burning sun, you are refreshed by a dip in the Godavari river. When your hearts are parched by the burning desire fore equanimity, you must dip in the cool company of the spiritually great. Have a time-table for spiritual sustenance, just as you have now for physical sustenance. A breakfast of pious repetition of Lord s name (japa) and meditation (dhyana), a lunch hour of ritual worship of the Lord (puja), tea and snacks of reading scriptures or sacred books (pravachana) in the afternoon and a light dinner of devotional music (bhajana) in the early hours of the night. If you follow this regimen, you can sleep soundly and wake up refreshed. Feel that you are born with the dawn of every new day; that you nestle in the lap of death when your eyes close in sleep. For, what happens in deep sleep? The body, the senses, the mind, the intelligence, all are negated and there is not a trace of awareness of the world. (SSS Vol.5)
It is not necessary that one should worship the form of Sai only. This human form is indeed the formless Self. Whatever form a devotee may worship, the SOS’s sent by him reaches S.S.S. – Sri Satya Sai. Whichever path is chosen for spiritual progress, I approve of it, not once but thrice, sayings S.S.S. (yes, yes, yes). To go further, it is enough if one adheres to right conduct and truth, and is loving to all. He need not even believe in God. Though he won’t call on any divine name, I shall rush to him in danger and save him from harm. (BSS Part I, p. 163)
Work, worship and wisdom are not three distinct things. Work is like a flower. If we can protect the bud of this flower, it will transform and change into a flower. The same flower in the course of time will ripen and become a fruit. Without a bud, we won’t get the flower, and without the flower we won’t get the fruit. This is the reason why we should not regard work, worship and wisdom as three things distinct from each other. They are inseparably connected with each other. Whatever work you do, do it in the name of God. Do it as a task for God, then work will become worship. (SSB 1977, p. 24)
Worship Me as your own Self. (SSS Vol.3, p. 109)
A person who is desirous of getting rid of the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ must worship Hari. He must become a Sadhaka, without likes and dislikes. (Prema Vahini, p. 47)
(Prema Vahini,. - p. 47)
Parents have to be worshipped as visible representatives of the God-head; they are responsible for your very existence and for all this joy and adventure in the physical and spiritual spheres. For this reason they have to be tended and respected and worshipped.(SSS Vol.1, p. 69)
Continue to worship your chosen God along lines already familiar to you. There is no need to change your chosen God and adopt a new one when you have seen Me and heard Me. (Golden Age, p. 74)
If you sincerely, unhesitatingly, constantly, gladly, lovingly offer all your skill and strength to the service of others, God will melt and move and manifest Himself in you, before you, with spontaneous grace. Shiva likes the three forms of worship, namely bhakti, Jnana and vairagya; that is to say, devotion, discrimination and detachment. You should pray only for grace. That one-pointed devotion can be got only by long practice of sadhana, especially the sadhana of Namasmarana. Thank the Lord for giving you this life, this much intelligence, this much detachment, do Namasmarana with this gratefulness in the background of your mind. (SSS Vol. 6, p. 48)
God is to be worshipped in and through man. God has not made any man wholly bad or wholly good; your likes and dislikes are inducing you to label them as such. (SSS Vol.8, p. 72)
In the initial stages, man worships portraits or idols of God in all the sixteen forms of reverential homage. Preliminary concentration (Dhyanam), invocation (avahanam), offering seat (asanam), washing feet (Padyam) offering hospitality (arghyam), ablution (snanam), offering vestments (vastram), sacredotal threadwear (Yagnopaveetham), sandal paste (chandanam), flowers (pushpam), incense (dhoopam), lamp (deepam), food (naivedyam), paan (tambulam), camphor flame waving (nirajanam), circumambulation and prostration (Pradakshina namaskaram). But, good character, good conduct and virtuous life are essential qualifications for the aspirant. Of course, floral offerings are commendable. The sixteen items are good. But, one should progress from this stage to the awareness of the Atma. Flowers fade and rot soon. The effect of offering flowers may not last long. What God loves more are the flowers blossoming on the tree of man’s own life, fed and fostered by his own skill and sincerity. They are the flowers of his virtues grown in the garden of his heart. viz., Ahimsa (non-violence), Indriya nigraham, (mastery of the senses), Daya - Sarva bhuta daya (compassion towards all beings and all things), Kshama (tolerance, fortitude), Shanti (inner peace), Tapas (ansterity - coordination between thought, word and deed), Dhyana (meditation) and Satyam (truth). (SSS Vol.11, p. 166)
The higher mode of worship is through good and pure thoughts, through good and pure conduct. This is a far superior type of devotion and is also called Parabhakti. Instead, if one continues forever doing worship only with flowers and material things, which is the lower form of worship, one will remain in the lower stages only and will not be able to progress forward on the spiritual path. It is a far higher and nobler form of worship to propitiate God with good conduct, good thoughts and keeping holy company (Satsanga), thus worshipping God through one’s own virtues, which is no ordinary worship, but is a far higher and advanced mode of worship.
The Scriptures have referred to this mode of worship as ‘Guna Archana’, worship through virtues, and also they have listed these virtues through the offering of which God will be pleased and we will be able to earn His Grace.
These are the real flowers for Worship.
Ahimsa (non-violence), is the first flower
Indriya nigraham, (sense control), is the second flower
Sarva bhuta daya, (compassion to all beings), is the third flower
Kshama, (forbearance), is the fourth flower
Shanti, (equanimity), is the fifth flower
Tapas is the sixth flower
Dhyana is the seventh flower
Satyam, (truth), is the eighth flower
Through the worship of God through these eight flowers, His Grace can be won in full. Instead of worshipping God with flowers obtained from Nature, which fade and wither away in no time, and lose their fragrance; instead of worshipping with such flowers and craving for rewards which will be transient, you should try to worship God through real, everlasting and enduring flowers, the flowers of your virtues, and earn thereby the everlasting and enduring reward, the reward of experience and realisation of the ultimate reality.
In our county Bharat, there were many who attained such high states, states of divine realisation, by practising this mode of worship. Every aspirant desiring to attain to the highest state of gaining what is lasting and enduring, should take up the superior form of worship, or worship with the flowers of virtues. (TTFFW, pp. 2-3)
Whatever the difference in interpretation, when we take our stand on the central core of the Truth on which all agree, in both the East and the West, there will be seen a vast deep passage where all journey to the goal. The people of the Eastern countries seek in the inner regions of themselves, the realisation of this gloriously beneficent consummation. While worshipping, Easterners close their eyes and endeavour to visualise God inside themselves. People of the West lift up their faces and visualise God in outer space, in the beyond. They believe that their Scriptures have been recorded by persons under the direction of God. People in India believe that the Vedas, their sacred scriptures, were the very breath of God conveying meanings to the sages who had installed Him in their hearts. (UD)
To purify one’s feelings to do useful and virtuous things for the benefit of the others, that is worship. To do good to others, that is penance, do not forget these good words. (S, p. 36)
If one does not worship the Lord wholeheartedly,
If one does not sing His glory till his mouth aches,
If one lacks truth and compassion in his heart,
He is a curse on the womb of his mother. (Telugu poem)
Why should such person be born at all? Is his birth meant only to cause pain to the womb of his mother. (SS Sept 12, p. 292)
Man has to worship God in the form of man. God appears before him as blind beggar, an idiot, a leper, a child, a decrepit old man, a criminal, or a mad man. You must see even behind these veils the divine embodiment of Love, Power and Wisdom, the Sai and worship him through seva (service). Above all, do every act as an offering to the Lord, without being elated by success or dejected by defeat; this gives the poise and equanimity for sailing through the waters of the ocean of life. (SS60, p. 24)
You can consider your own form as divine. Respect yourself. Respect others. Love yourself. Love others. This is the real worship. (Div, p. 19)
Our real worship is worshipping God in all the forms and seeing God in all the forms. The most essential form of God is love. His form is truth. He is subtler than the subtlest Paramanu. That is why it is said that truth is more fundamental than atom. Scientist is considering atom as the subtlest thing. Truth is subtler than that. Truth is everywhere, all pervasive. We should recognise that truth as all pervasive and worship truth as the form of God. Worshipping truth in a specific form, you will not be able to worship properly. We should peak truth. Righteousness has emerged from truth. This righteousness flows from our heart. Dharma gives self-satisfaction. Dharma is self-consciousness. We have to firmly believe and develop confidence in it. No one can go against his own conscience. Going against that is Vikritam. Following it is Sukritam. Giving satisfaction and following your own conscience that is the correct path. (Div, p. 21)
Continue your worship of your chosen God along the lines already familiar to you..... There is no need to change your chosen God and adopt a new one when you have seen me and heard me. But perform selfless service to the lowly and the lost, the poor and the needy, the sick and the distressed. (SV90, p. 15)
Man has to worship God in the form of man; God appears before him as a blind beggar, an idiot, a leper, a child, a decrepit old man, a criminal or a madman. You must see even behind those veils, the divine embodiment of love, power and wisdom, the Sai, and worship Him through selfless service. God cannot be identified with one Name and one Form. He is all Names and Forms. Your Names too are His, you are His Forms! You appear as separate individual bodies because the eye that sees them seeks only bodies, the outer encasement! When you sanctify your vision and look at them through the Atmic eye, the eye that penetrates behind the physical with all its attributes and appurtenances, then, you will see others as waves on the ocean of the Absolute, as "thousand heads, eyes and feet” of the Supreme Being as it is sung in the Rigveda. Strive to win that Vision and to saturate yourself with that Bliss! (Sanathana Sararathi June 2021 p 19-20)