An Unforgetable 24/4/2011...

By Dr. Viji Via SaiNewsMalaysia

Om Sairam dearest Sai Family,


Swami, after His 28 days of hospitalisation, He has left us all on a "physical level". Probably it was all part of the DIVINE PLAN to stay that long so that devotees would not be shocked to listen the sad news all of a sudden. Swami "pretended" to be in the body all these 28 days but it is only for us to minimise the sorrow. Such a great Avatar, even at the last days of His life, He preferred to make us happy. Since the day of His hospitalisation, there were millions all over the world who were praying for His speedy recovery. As Swami had told that He would be in the body till the age of 96, every one were hoping for a miracle. In Swami's DIVINE DICTIONARY it probably meant 86 and not 96.

As it is a great shock to every one, People in the streets of Parthi are banging their chest in grief. There are so many in the streets with tears in eyes, some are seated before the closed shops some on the pavements and every where.. Swami who had been part of our lives, especially to residents of Puttaparthi for whom every thing, every moment is SAI. It is a matter of great shock to the Sai Family. The great Avatar of Kali Age, has left us physically. But He has left us tons of " responsibilities". Sisters and Brothers, yes this is very sad news. The heart's of every devotee is hurt immensely. but a "true devotee" can never say that Swami is no more. If Swami was to be confined to His body, how could He be seen all over the world.

Swami was the only "person" in the world who wanted every thing to be give for "free". In the times when people don't even smile for "free", Swami has given world class medical services completely free to every one. There came one suggestion from some one requesting Swami to charge "little bit" to the rich who can afford to pay, and Swami our kind Lord said, there is no difference between "poor man's heart" and "rich man's heart' who could ever tell this.

Some years ago, in Kodai kanal, some officials were briefing Him about the arrangements for Eswaramma day and when one officer said, "Swami tomorrow we will have poor feeding", Swami corrected him saying, Sai's feeding can never be "poor feeding" you rather say "feeding the poor". Such is the kindness of Swami.

Swami who has given every thing to the devotees, has also given nutririous food to all at affordable price. Apparently couple of years ago, some one from the South Indian Canteen went to Swami and said, Swami our canteen has incurred great loss. So we have decided to raise the price from Rs.6 to Rs.10 for a full meal. Swami looking at him bit seriously said, if you irritate me like this, I am going to give the food for free. when it is Swami's canteen, why are you worried about the loss. It is my "business". Can any one do such Divine Business? No business man can make such a statement.

SWAMI'S SAMADHI ARRANGEMENTS:

Sai Kulwanth Hall, the venue for all the "historic" events in Parthi, will also be His Samadhi temple (tomb) in future.. Swami's divine body will be brought to the ashram around 4pm from the Super Speciality Hospital..there are already arrangements being made in the Sai Kulwanth hall. Swami's Samadhi would be on the dais from where He used to watch us all while we sing His glory. At present there are white curtains around the stage and the recently erected elevated wooden dais, is now completely removed. Any moment, they will start digging the dais. Meanwhile, the final darshan of Swami's BODY would start from 6pm, 24th april and the darshan will continue on monday, tuesday as well. in the morning of wednesday, the burial will be performed.

Police are making all the arrangements for the final darshan. I think Swami's body will be placed in the middle of Sai Kulwanth hall and ladies and gents would be allowed separately into the hall for the final darshan.

It is still unbelievable to know that we wont be able to see our beloved Lord in Puttaparthi. We devotees should not forget the great services rendered by the doctors in Super Speciality Hospital. Even though they tried their best, perfectly following Swami's message of KARMA YOGA, they(doctors) and We knew from the day one that it will be Swami's FINAL DECISION that will matter.We should also have to appreciate the patience and hardwork of Sri Sathya Central Trust and its members who tried their best to give ultramodern medical facilities to Swami in no time, all praises to Minister Geetha Reddy for all that she has done being a bridge of love between governemnt and devotees.

All the ministers, governors are reaching Puttaparthi. The Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Sri.Ashok Chavan have already come to Parthi. Sonia Gandhi, Prime minister Manmohan Singh, L.K.Advani, Ms.Jayalalitha and many other top leaders have expressed their deep condolences on Swami's Divine Departure. The government of Andhra Pradesh has declared 4 days of mourning.

It would be a very sad day for Sachin Tendulkar as his birthday unfortunately coincided with Swami's Physical Exit. He is also coming to Parthi tomorrow for the final darshan.
Since his hospitalisation, Swami was in headlines. while reporting they also spoke all the good work Swami had did and also His miracles. many people who were not in Sai Fold who were watching this did get an urge to have darshan of this great Avatar and hoped for one physical darshan but little did they knew that it was too late..

Looks like the final darshan will also be shown live in various TV channels as the arrangements are already being made. Please try the following links after 6 PM Indian Standard Time.

Swami has not left us. Indeed He has immersed in the state Maha-samadhi , which is beyond the ken of our our ordinary worldly comprehension. His premature termination of His physical sojourn on the auspicious day of this holy Easter in the Satwic hour of this mornig, when Christ got resurrected, indicates His early Advent as Prema Sai shortly. Just like Sathya Sai Baba revealed the historic facts of Shirdi Sai Baba including His birth date, place and parents , similarly the Prema Sai Avatar will certainly clarify the reason of Sathy's Sai Baba'a premature shedding of His mortal coils. Let us wait!

Just like Lord krishna changed many plans for the sake of His devotees and the Pandavas , Swami has also changed His plan for the welafre of the world and His devotees in wake of declining Dharma for its revival.

Swami is indeed a divine inscrutable phenomenon. God's ways are incomprehensible. Only the one whose pure heart is tuned to the Divine incessantly may get some glimpses of His Divinity. Other will keep wandering on the sea shore claiming that there are no pearls in the ocean.

If we calim to be His devotees, let us atttach to His Atmic principle, which is eternal and follow His main teachings of universal love and triple purity by engagiging in philanthropic activities. Swami never grieved over the departure of His parents, because he wanted to show the world that be attached to the Atma, indestructrible divine entity, not to the perishable body. Hence, instead of grieving and groaning, resolve to be His ideal devotees, as Swami said "Your life is My message". Just like the eleven disciples of jesus, let us resovle to change the world by emulating His example to establish peace and righteousness.

Swami will always be us, around us, below us , above us. He will give His Divine Drshan to some chosen few, just like Jesus did and Shrid Sai Baba did. Let sanctify our lives by indulging in Naama-smarana ceaslessly to seek His Divine Darshan.

SPECIAL MESSAGE CONCERNING BHAGAWAN’S HEALTH

By Dr. Micheal G. Goldstein, MD

Dr. Michael Goldstein, is the Chairman, Sri Sathya Sai World Foundation, as well as the Chairman, Prashanthi Council – the international body that oversees the activities of Sri Sathya Sai Organisations worldwide.

This is the transcript of the message Dr. Goldstein recorded in the studio of Radio Sai for the benefit of all listeners on April 8, 2011.

With humility and love I offer my pranams at the Divine Lotus Feet of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Sai Ram to all of you!

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is currently an intensive care patient at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, the hospital that He built for the poor who receive treatment there free of charge. He has cardiac and pulmonary problems. His condition is stable. There has been improvement, but He is still seriously ill. Medical reports of His condition are being given on a regular basis by the eminent Director of this Hospital (Sri Sathya Sai Institute for Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram), Dr. A. N. Safaya, formerly the Medical Superintendent of the All India Institute for Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Medical updates can be obtained at the following internet page: srisathyasaihealth.wordpress.c om
Bhagawan Baba, our Beloved Swami as we refer to Him, is, and always has been, in control of the human life that He has assumed. He is, and has always been, in control of His own destiny in this life that He Himself ordained to take place for the benefit of mankind. We, who are devoted to Him, pray that He will decide to recover and remain amongst us. We pray that He will continue to teach us, inspire us, bless us, and love us as the Divine Mother and Father that He is and has always been. We pray that He will enable all of mankind to accomplish the inevitable spiritual journey that awaits each and every one of us, the journey towards enlightenment and self realization.

This last November, the President and Prime Minister of India visited Bhagawan Baba on the occasion of His 85th Birthday. They acknowledged and paid homage to the monumental and unprecedented humanitarian accomplishments and services rendered by Baba over many decades.

Free schools, primary through University level, providing high quality worldly education and unprecedented spiritual education, incorporating the universal human values: Right conduct, Truth, Peace, Love, and Non-violence, into the curriculum at all levels.

Who has ever done such a thing?

Free medical services in mobile hospitals, general hospitals, and super-specialty hospitals where the poor are treated for ordinary maladies as well as complicated medical diagnostic evaluations, treatments, and surgery. All free of charge.

Who has ever done such a thing?

Conceiving and building a system of reservoirs, overhead tanks, wells, and thousands of miles of pipes conducting pure water to millions of poor people at no cost to the people or the government.

Who has ever done such a thing?

Most noteworthy and awe inspiring, is the following of kindred hearts, the procession of human goodness and selfless love, the good people who have joined together to follow Him. They imbibe His Divine Teachings and emulate the noble examples that He has demonstrated. Over the years, people from many countries, who had a dream, or a feeling, or a thought, or heard a voice, or read a book, were all suddenly inspired to act and become His devotees. There was no solicitation, advertisement, or campaign. There was no telephone call or written invitation. They received the message promulgated by the Divine One, our Beloved Baba, heart to heart. There are hundreds of thousands of devotees all over the world, perhaps millions of good hearted people, finding the light of His love deep in their own hearts, transforming their lives into beacons of virtue.

Who has ever done such a thing?

Now, He, who has been the veritable source of goodness and godliness, who has taught and sacrificed for the people, who has taken upon Himself a serious illness, is being falsely maligned in some quarters. Onerous prefabrications are promulgated. A litany of old, scandalous accusations, proven false repeatedly over the years, is being published irresponsibly. Multitudes of tender hearts suffer as a result of this callousness.

“Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do!”

I am hopeful that noble minded journalists will seek, find, and write about the “greatest story ever told”. They will seek the truth and humanity will be served. They will find the truth in the lessons taught by our Beloved Baba to mankind through His Words and His Works over many decades. They will find lessons for the spiritual redemption of mankind.

Let us pray that Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba will decide to remain with us for the salvation of all. As He has taught, and may we all experience, that everyone of us are children of God. We are all essentially divine. Let each of us turn inwardly, find the light of selfless love - the light that enlightens. May each of us ultimately become the noble beings that we truly are and behave accordingly.

Let us all pray that Swami will hasten His recovery and move amongst us once again.
Jai Sai Ram!

Leelas and Mahimas of the Kali Yuga Avathar...

By Prof. G. Venkataraman


At the outset, I would like to offer humble Pranaams at the Lotus Feet of our Dear Lord Sai.
Loving Sai Ram and greetings from Prasanthi Nilayam. As I am writing this, it is about seven thirty in the evening of Sunday, April 3, 2011. I returned from the hospital a short while ago and I would now like to give you not only an update regarding Swami’s health but also take the opportunity to share a few pertinent thoughts. Later in the week, I hope I can do a full Musings on the recent hospitalisation of Bhagawan.

First, the news. I have been visiting the hospital regularly ever since Swami was first admitted a few days ago. This evening as I went upstairs, I found for the first time not only fewer people present but also a tension-free and relaxed atmosphere. That straight away meant that all was well and that there was absolutely no room for any kind of anxiety. Just to make doubly sure, I talked briefly to Dr. Safaya who said, “Good progress is being maintained, all vital parameters are completely under control, and there is absolutely no room for any anxiety.” A little later, Mr. Chakravarthi came out and he too confirmed every bit of the good news. I therefore most earnestly appeal to all devotees to pay attention to what people in responsible position have to say and not go by what they hear via e-mails, text messages, tweets, and so on.

It seems to me that we have two issues here; one is that of managing the health of Swami. That of course is the job of doctors in the hospital, who are assisted in matters relating to logistics by senior members of Swami’s Trust. Thus both teams, the doctors as well as the Trust members, are busy in their own respective ways. Turning now to the second problem, it is that of rumour management.

I don’t know how rumours get generated; indeed, I wonder if even God knows! Everyone decries rumours, but when the chips are down, most people tend to get swept and immediately carried away by bits and pieces of news, without bothering to check their source, veracity, the credibility of the person passing on the news, etc. Imagine now if people from all over flood the doctors and the Trust members with phone calls, distracting their attention.

I know people would say, “But what about us? Do you mean to say we do not care for Swami? Are you aware how concerned we are about Swami? Do you have any idea of how anxious we feel about Swami?” I understand all that, and indeed that precisely is why we in Radio Sai are constantly trying to reach out and assuage your anxiety. You might have noticed that we do it in two different ways; one is by broadcasting as well as posting the formal bulletins issued and signed by the Director of the Hospital, and the other is by offering suitable reflections on what we really ought to be doing during such a situation.
This afternoon, a young gentleman who helps us a lot in our work dropped into my room when I went for lunch. He came mainly to discuss some matters relating to our work and after we were finished with it, he said softly to me, “You know, this thing about Swami; it is too difficult to take. What are we to make of it? How do I personally handle it?” I knew perfectly well what he was asking; and yet, when suddenly asked that difficult and profound question, I found myself a bit dazed, to put it mildly. It got me thinking intensely, and several thoughts came rushing to my mind. But one thing was clear. Life always bowls bouncers, to use cricket terminology. And Swami has all along been telling us how to face such fierce bouncers that life has a way of surprising us with. However, we seldom pay attention to that, probably under the impression that what Swami is saying is all high philosophy and has nothing to do with us.

My mind immediately went back to the hospital, to Dr. Safaya there, managing a thousand things and the doctors attending on Swami, who were doing a job for which there is no known precedent in any of the earlier Avatars. And then the Members of the Trust who from the sidelines had many complex logistic issues to deal with. True, Lord Rama was injured during the battle with Ravana; however, there were Divine servants like Hanuman who could handle those kinds of crises. This is Kali Yuga where the Lord plays His human role with no frills. I said to myself, “Imagine what would happen if these people looking after Swami in various ways lost their cool?!” Luckily, that has not happened. How do I know? By watching from close quarters, how these people have been handling themselves. If there was one thing that they all radiated, it was equanimity. I tell you, it was a stunning lesson for me.

Remember Krishna saying that of all Yogas equanimity is the best? Remember Swami giving entire discourses on the importance of equanimity? I then recalled that equanimity does not drop like manna from heaven. It is a discipline and a virtue that has to be meticulously cultivated; and that is possible only by paying the closest possible attention to Swami’s teachings.

Talking of Swami’s teachings, I cannot help referring to an exceptionally beautiful Discourse that Bhagawan once gave, revolving around just two words. In brief, this is what that Discourse is all about. Bhagawan said, “Suppose you are not well? What would you do? Go to a doctor of course. After examining you and all that, the doctor would do two things; first he would give you aushadam or medicine, after which he would prescribe pathyam or diet restrictions. God also does the same to cure you of your spiritual sickness; He first prescribes aushadam or medicine and then outlines the pathyam or restriction you have to observe. What is the medicine God recommends? Simple; namasmarana or chanting the Name of the Lord. And what is the pathyam that God wants you to observe? That also is simple; it is that we must follow God’s command, always.”

Let us all pause at this juncture and honestly ask ourselves: “How often is it that we do namasmarana? Does even the idea of doing namasmarana occur to us, say once a day?” Similarly, Swami has given us so many commands, most of them absolutely simple ones. One of them is, “Talk less.” Do we do that? Earlier, we needed someone else if we wanted to talk. Not so these days, because there are the phones. Till about fifteen years ago, phones or landlines were still rare in India. But now, even children have cell phones. Recently a school teacher from Bangalore stunned me with the news that a survey conducted in her school showed that grade 8 students send on the average about 800 text messages per day! I am sure many of these students were children of devotees.

Let us be honest and ask ourselves; how seriously do we take Swami’s instruction, advice, command call it what you will, about being limited in our conversation? I guess we all know the answer. As I come to work or go for a walk in the evening, I see people on the cell phone all the time. I sure can understand some people having the need to have phone conversation when there is a specific need. But to keep talking while walking and going from place A to place B, while driving a scooter or even a car for that matter?

If you ask me, this is the moment when we all must ask ourselves how seriously we take Swami. This is a moment for a serious audit of our Heart, shall I say? It is not enough to say that we love Swami dearly. Of course, we all do. But does that not also place on us the responsibility of giving respect to His prescription and command? Maybe we mistakenly ignored it all along. But surely, we can make this the teaching moment, can we not?

Think about it.

God bless and Jai Sai Ram.

As always, with much love and deep respect, I offer this short talk at the Lotus Feet of Swami.


source: radiosai.org


In depth Information on Sai Baba's health: Latest Official Statement about Swami’s Health @ http://www.saibabaofindia.com/

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This morning's bulletin by Director, *SSSIHMS, Prasanthigram reads as follows:

(4th April 2011)

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba who was admitted in the hospital on the 28th March continued to show improvement in His clinical condition. He is still on assisted ventilation and on kidney support through CRRT, which is a process of slow dialysis. All other clinical parameters are nearly normal. The panel of doctors attending Bhagawan are satisifed with the progress made so far.



*Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthy



*********OM SAI RAM**********

Swami's Words of Wisdom

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Human desire is illimitable and without end. It makes you pursue the mirage in the desert; it makes you build castles in the air; it breeds discontent and despair, once you succumb to it. But develop the thirst for Krishna; you discover the cool spring of Ananda within you. Krishna Nama makes you very strong and steady; it is sweet and sustaining.

Mine, not thine, this sense of greed is the root of all evil. This distinction is applied even to God!- my God, not yours! Your God, not mine!

Your life is really like a tapestry. You look at one side and see all the disconnected and loose ends, and say, 'What a mess my life is!' God sees the finished product on the other side and sighs, 'How beautiful you have become!'


The individual born in the lake of Society must swim and float in the calm waters, and joining the River of Progress, merge into the Ocean of Grace; Man has to move from the stance of 'I' to the position of 'We'. To this day, we see only the wild dance of go-stricken individuals, who hate society and behave most unsociably.


All men have two constables ever with them; They are the symbols of his sentence of imprisonment. They are 'Abhiman' (Sense of I) over 'Mamakar' (sense of mine), the egoistic feeling and the pride of possession. Man is a prisoner of his senses as long as these two keep him under guard. Man strays away into misery and pain, because he loses the sense of value and runs after the temporary and the trivial. He ignores the voice of God which warns and guides him from within; and he pays the penalty for the transgression.

Man is equipped with a return-ticket when he takes birth. Holding it in his grasp, he earns and spends, rises and falls, sings and dances, weeps and wails, forgetting the end of the journey. But though he forgets, the wagon of life moves toward the cemetery, which is its terminus. It brings no glory to man if he is tied helplessly to the wheel of birth and death. His glory and greatness consist in disentangling himself from that revolving wheel.
Do not consider any act of service as demeaning. Sweeping the streets, for example, is not below your dignity. Do you not sweep the floor of your homes? Do you not scrub and wash off dirt? When you undertake such tasks, the villagers will also gladly share in them. Why feel ashamed to be good? The ridicule that may be cast on you has been the reward of many saints. It will soon fade away. Muhammad was driven out of Mecca by those who could not appreciate his teachings. Jesus was crucified. But their names resound in the heart of millions.

Remember, God is your guardian, when you sleep; when you are helpless; even when you have forgotten or neglected or discarded Him. He has no need you offer or promise to offer. He is ever content, ever blissful, ever full and ever free. Do your duty to yourself - that is enough offering for Him.

You may have a vast scholarship, fame or fortune. But, the bee can give you a lesson on how to be free from torment. The tree can teach you forbearance and tolerance. It offers shade to all, irrespective of age, sex or religion, nationality or status. It helps with fruit and shade even to the foe who lays his axe on its trunk! The dog can teach you a lesson in Faith, Self-less service and the process of Dedication.

There is only one God and He is Omnipresent". True. But to concentrate on the Omnipresent, some fixed point or preliminary form is needed. And to conceive of the Divine as present everywhere and at all times, the mind of man is to be clarified and purified by means of a certain psychological process called Sadhana.

My activities are not for publicity or propaganda or even to confer joy on others! They are for conferring joy primarily on Me! I have no need to please others and to earn approval or appreciation. For, I and you are not different entities; you are I; and I am you. I am the current that flows into every bulb and illuminates it. Those who see me as separate are seeing falsehood. I am in your hearts; you are in Mine. Don't be misled into doubt and distress. Dogs may bark and jackals howl; but Truth moves Majestically forward.

A person being transferred from one Goal to another will have two constables who will escort him; the 'Punya' and the 'Papa' ( good consequences and the bad consequences of actions) are the consequences who lead man from one birth to another. If you must escape from their attention and avoid migration from one Goal to another, act - but do not calculate the consequences. That is to say, do not worry about the consequence; leave it to God who prompted the act and made it possible. Dedicate the act, the will and the wish, all to God.

Happiness and peace do not follow when man is fed well, clothed well, housed well, and educated up to a good standard and employed under comfortable conditions, with no injury to health or security. There are many who have all these in plenty but who are yet worried or in pain or discontented. They depend on the inner equipment of man, not his outer skill or riches.

The ultimate step of Self-realisation depends upon the base of Self-confidence. You must therefore develop as a first step Confidence in your own self. Without having and developing Confidence in your own self, if all the time you are talking of some power being with someone else, if in this way you travel all the time and depend on power which is with someone else, when are YOU going to acquire any power and confidence in ownself?

If you live on the level of the Body and the Individual, you will get entangled in food, fun and frolic, ease, envy and pride. Forget it, ignore it, overcome it -- You will have peace, joy and calm. In the Divine Path, there is no chance of failure; it is the Path of Love.

It is easy to criticise or belittle the "leelas" or infinite potencies of God. But it is very difficult to comprehend the truth about the Divine. The Omnipresent Divine is present both in Truth and untruth. He is present both in righteousness (Dharma) and unrighteousness (Adharma). He is present in good and evil. With regard to such an all-pervading Divine, how can anyone determine what is good and what is bad?

No matter where you go, always do your duty as you see it and know that I will be there inside you guiding you every step of the way...There is no need to worry about anything. Whatever is experienced, whatever happens, know that this Avatar willed it so. There is no force on earth which can delay for an instant the mission for which this Avatar has come. You are all sacred souls and you will have your parts to play in the unfolding drama of the new Golden Age, which is coming.

You cannot be fresh and feeling fine, wearing a washed vest under an unwashed shirt; or, an unwashed vest over a washed shirt. Both have to be clean, to provide a sense of tingling joy. So too outer and inner cleanliness is but the reflection of the inner achievement. There is a strange glow on the face of a guileless person. Inner cleanliness has its own soap and water - the soap of strong faith and the water of constant practice.

Reason can prevail only when arguments are advanced without the whipping of the Sound. Silence is the speech of the Spiritual Seeker. Soft sweet speech is the expression of genuine Love. Hate screeches; fear squeals; Conceit trumpets. But, Love sings lullabies; it soothes; it applies balm. Practice the Vocabulary of Love; unlearn the language of hate and contempt.

I had to tell you so much about my Truth, for, I desire that you should contemplate on this and derive joy from the reform, so that you may be inspired to observe the disciplines laid down by Me and progress toward the Goal of Self Realisation, The realisation of the Sai that shines in your hearts.

To achieve release, man kneels before a million Gods, in frantic pain. If he but blasts the ego within the Goal is reached, he is freed indeed! It is difficult indeed to understand the ego in its depth and devious ways. It is an inert entity: that is to say, it cannot know itself not can it know others; It has no fear; it will not bend before others; it degrades man from the golden glory, which is his due, to the level of lowly dust.

The World today is in a very bad state. The situation can improve only through Asthikas, who are believers in Divinity. They should become Prema Swaroopas or Embodiments of Love and by their Sadhana, backed by patience, forbearance and compassion, play their role in serving Society and contributing to the betterment of the World. God is present in you and is visualising through thousands of eyes what you do. Even when no one is seeing, God is watching your actions always. Do everything with this awareness.

Life is a bridge. Cross over it, but don't build a house on it.

All religions exhort man to cleanse the heart of malice, greed, hate and anger. All religions hold out the gift of Grace as the prize for success in this cleaning process. Ideas of superiority and inferiority arise only in a heart corrupted by egoism. If someone argues that he is higher or his religion is holier, it proves that he has missed the significance of his faith.

Man is basically, essentially and fully immortal. He is 'Amrithaswarupam' yet he is afraid he would die! He is 'Anandaswarupa'; yet, he is it that weeps that he is miserable. He is 'Shanthiswarupam'; yet, everywhere he is overlaid by anxiety. This absurd self-deception is the root of the tragedy from which the World suffers today.

For each person, there is a Code of Conduct laid down in the Shastras, according to age and status, the profession adopted, the stage of spiritual attainment reached and the goal of life accepted. Do not carp at the behaviour of others or at the efforts they make, to get consolation and courage amidst the turmoils of life. For each, there is the path that he has chosen and the Name and Form of God he prefers. Also do not give up your code of duties and take up that recommended for someone else.

Man seeks joy in far off places and peace in quiet spots; but the spring of joy is in his heart. the haven of peace is in himself. Even when he walks on the moon, man has to take with him, his fears, his anxieties, his prejudices and his pet aversions. Have faith in God and in the correctness of moral living. Then, you can have peace and joy, whatever may be the fare that fortune offers you.

The parents gave you this body and fostered the intelligence and love that are embedded in it; so, gratitude is their due. If you do not honour the parents who are the creators in human form, how can you learn to honour the Creator in Divine Form? Moreover, the parents reveal to you the glory of God and the means of worshipping Him; they are the first representatives of the authority which you meet with, authority modified by love and care. Learn to bend before that authority and you will learn how to submit before the Lord.

You have it in your power to make your days on Earth a path of flowers, instead of a path of thorns. Recognise the Sai resident in every heart and all will be smoothness, softness and sweetness for you. Sai will be the fountain of Love in your heart and in the hearts of all with whom you come in contact. Know that Sai is Omnipresent and that, He is present in every living thing and you. Adore everyone as you adore Sai.

Rise up to the Divine, don't bring Godhead to your human and even animal levels. Do not worship God as the picture before you, but worship the picture before you as God, because God is in everything and can be grasped through every single symbol. There is nothing wherein He is not,; there is no might or right, apart from Him.

Snakes hiss; pigs grunt; and bills moo! They are asserting their ego, intent on keeping others away. Of the traits of ego, pride is the most poisonous. But, the pride of the scholar and the vanity of Pundits are so thick, that it is impossible for them to get rid of these.

In organizations like Government there are different Departments; namely, the Departments of Health, Education or Finance. Similarly, even in the spiritual field, there are different "departments". They are creation, sustenance and dissolution. Each department has a [leader]. Each leader of a department has to look after and run the department smoothly and efficiently. There would be a Master (Head) in charge of all three departments. He may be called either Chief Minister or Prime Minister. He controls all the three departments. He is also called Allah and [other] names by different people. In the English language, He is called GOD. "G" stands for Generation; "O" for Organization; and "D" for Dissolution.

To know the Divine, we should develop Divine thoughts.

The essence of all religions is One. Surrender is the main duty of everyone. Surrender means the feeling of oneness: I and God are One. Why? The reason is that the One who is present in you is present in me.

Only one God is present in everyone. Never follow the differences basing on the differences of the body. There is no chance or scope for conflict. It is the body attachment, which is responsible for fights. Never believe that body is permanent. Body is like a water bubble. Mind is like a mad monkey. Don't follow the mind. Don't follow the body. Follow the Conscience. That is the main principle of this text. So we should follow our Conscience.

In order to acquire Divinity, in order to find out the Divinity within us, if you want to know yourself, you should develop PURE LOVE. It is this bond of Love that binds everybody. This is the bond of Love.

Practice is very important. You can propagate, that will never be permanent. You can propagate by practising what you say, through practice. That is the fundamental thing. When you practice and enjoy, others will follow you.

This attachment is not God's gift. Bliss is God's gift. God's gift is Peace. God's gift is Truth. That is the God's gift. All the rest are passing clouds.

So today we have to develop compassion. That is the principle of Jesus. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. LOVE IS GOD. LIVE IN LOVE. START THE DAY WITH LOVE. FILL THE DAY WITH LOVE. SPEND THE DAY WITH LOVE. END THE DAY WITH LOVE. THIS IS THE WAY TO GOD. Therefore, we should live in LOVE continuously.

GOD IS ALWAYS WITH YOU, IN YOU, AROUND YOU. We should have such a friend. So actually speaking, real friend is GOD. God is our permanent friend. All worldly pleasures and comforts are like passing clouds

GOD IS IMPORTANT. If you have God with you, you will have the rest. Real wealth is God. Real health is God. We should make every effort to pray for God. Because we are from God, we should be back to God.

Embodiments of Love! There is Love in everyone of you. Develop that Love. Share it with the people. You also experience with your fellow people. This love - this love is not one-way traffic. It is just two-way: GIVE and TAKE. We don't need to go anywhere, if you have Love.

All are One. Be alike to everyone. Share, propagate this truth all over the world. God is in everyone. God is in you and you are God. Strengthen this fundamental truth. When you propagate this truth, that is the real service. It is the service that will take you to closer proximity, a boat. In this ocean of life, take the help of this boat and gain the proximity.

The Lord rushes toward the Bhakta faster than the Bhakta rushes towards HIM. If you take one step towards Him, He takes a hundred steps towards you ! He will be more than a mother or father. He will foster you from within you, as He has saved and fostered so many Saints who have placed faith in HIM.

You must not be a bit of blotting paper, absorbing all the passions and emotions, all the joys and grief that the actress of Nature demonstrates of the stages of life. You must be a Lotus, unfolding its petals when the Sun rises in the sky, unaffected by the slush where it is born or even the water which sustains it!

Faith in God is the secure foundation on which hope has to be built. The faith has to be stable and strong. The feeling that God will come to our rescue has to be vivid and vital, motivating and activating all that we do or speak or think. Service rendered to others in this spirit will be a great source of joy to you as well as to the recipient.

Women are proverbially too individualistic! There is a popular belief, born out of folk-experience, that three women cannot live in unison! There is a Telugu limerick, which says, "The world shivers before one woman. The ocean will dry up, if there are two! And if there are three, O, the stars will drop down at noon!" Why is woman so characterized? Woman is extremely deficient in Sahana, I mean ability to bear defeat, fortitude, forbearance, patience and quiet, suffering with no thought of retaliation. That is why woman is said to be the weaker sex.

SILENCE, Cleanliness and Forbearance. In Silence can be heard the Voice of God, not in the revelry of noise. Through Cleanliness, you earn purity. By Forbearance, you cultivate Love. You have come today to your own home. This is your home not Mine. My home is your heart. So, do not try to have your lunch elsewhere but in your home, where you get this day food consecrated by Me, the Prasad.

If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character. If there is beauty in character, there will be harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world".

I have come to light the lamp of Love in your hearts, to see that it shines day by day with added lustre. I have not come on behalf of any exclusive religion. I have not come on any mission of publicity for any sect or creed or cause; nor have I come to collect followers for any doctrine. I have no plan to attract disciples or devotees into my fold or any fold. I have come to tell you of this unitary faith, this spiritual principle, this path of Love, this virtue of Love, this duty of Love, this obligation to Love.

It is the duty of everyone to live in the awareness of Truth. He who lives on Earth must become Man at first. Then, he has to learn the way to God, and discover the delight of the Spirit. This is the 'Raja Yoga' path that the Vedas teach. The Atma illumines all objects; It needs no other source of illumination to shine; It is the seer of the Universe.

The world itself is a great teacher, a constant guide and inspiration. That is the reason why man is surrounded and sustained by the world. Every bird, every animal, every tree, mountain and star and each tiny worm has a lesson for man, if he has but the will and the thirst to learn. These make the World a veritable University for man; it is a Gurukul (place where teacher and student both learn and grow together) where he is a pupil from birth to death.

If you do not feel the call at the sight of human distress, disease or deviation from the right, how can you muster the determination and dedication necessary to serve the unseen, inscrutable, mysterious God? When you do not love man, your heart will not love God. Despising brother-man, you cannot, at the same time, worship God; if you do, God will not accept that hypocrisy. God is resident in every heart; so, if you serve any one, that service reaches God within him: it brings to you the Grace of God.

Life has been bestowed not for just eating and digesting and roaming and reclining, but for a far greater purpose - the realization of Divinity in us, in all that exists around us and even beyond all things that strike our senses. To waste such a life in vain pursuits and in mere senses of pleasures is not the sign of an intelligent person. Deserve the Grace of God by helping the weak and poor, the diseased and the disabled, the distressed and the downtrodden.

Faith has to be cultivated, first and foremost. It has to be nurtured in Love. Love is fostered by Shanti (equanimity). Shanti can be got only when there is full reliance on God and complete surrender to the Divine Will. If one loses wealth, he may regain it by some means or other. If he loses health, some doctor might prescribe a tonic to win it back. If one loses status and authority he may, by sheer luck, gain them back. If Virtue is lost, it is lost forever; nothing can restore the pristine purity. So one has to be ever vigilant and should never slacken.

The spiritual laws that the sages of India have discovered and laid down will never be overruled; they stand valid for ever. Further research can only strengthen and confirm their authenticity, as further facts only render the diamond more brilliant. Bharath has contributed to the World the priceless gem of Truth; 'Iswarah Darvabhutaanaam Hrddese, Arjuna, Thishtati'. God is the resident motivator of all beings. Until this fact is realized by the individual, he will be tainted by traces of anger, pride and hate, for he sees others as distinct and different.

All religions teach one basic discipline - the removal from the mind of the blemish of egoism, of running after little joys. Every Religion teaches man to fill his being with the Glory of God, and evict the pettiness of conceit. It trains him in methods of detachment and discrimination, so that he may aim high and attain liberation. Believe that all hearts are motivated by the one and Only God - that all faiths glorify the One and the Only God; that all names in all languages and all Forms men can conceive, denote the One and Only God.

It was ascribed to one's past deeds and one's own mental tendencies. It is wrong to cast the blame on others. But, someone pointed out that God was the originator of both joy and grief and that, without His Will, no blade of grass can waver in the wind; Yes; if that Truth be firmly established in the heart, one gets the unique bliss of liberation. God gives everything; whatever we get is His grace. You have no right to judge whether what you get is good or bad."

You are only actors on the stage before the footlights. The Director, who knows the Play, who assigns the roles, who gives the cues, who calls you in and puts you on is behind the curtain. You are a puppet; He holds the strings. If He must be seen, you have to be His 'Sakhaa' (friend) or 'Bandhu'(kinsman). Merely being an onlooker will not entitle you to approach Him and be in His Holy Company. Cultivate His Friendship or Kinship by the attitude of Love and Dedicated Service.

Do not hope to gain Grace by looking down upon mankind and looking up at Sai. Remember, that your dress, behaviour and appearance will reveal your character and attitude towards others. Always have sweet, soft words on your tongue; cast your eyes only on holy sights. Wear clean, simple clothes and do not imitate those who are fascinated by latest fashions in dress and style. How can you do Seva when you move so far away from the common man ? I advise you to "Follow the Master". By 'Master' I mean the Conscience within you, the Voice of God.

Service is God. Why has God endowed man with a body, a mind and an intellect ? Feel with the mind, plan with the intelligence and use the body to serve those who are in need of service. Offer that act of service to God; worship home with that Flower. Put into daily practice the ideals that Sathya Sai has been propagating and make them known all over the World, by standing forth as living examples of their greatness.

God is the inner Motivator of all beings; All this is enveloped in God; This is the inner mystery of the Incarnation. God incarnating in all ! All are one; The One is All. There is only one God; He is Omnipresent ! There is only one religion - the Religion of Love. There is only one Caste - the caste of Humanity. There is only one Language - the Language of the Hart.

To presume that either from wealth or from kith and kin you can derive mental peace is a great error. Such peace only comes from God. In fact there is no strength superior to Love; where Love is there everything is. So you must live in God; and live in Love; then everything shall be right. You must make others also live in Love.

People crowd into film shows, rush towards social clubs - spend days together in playing cards - but when they are asked to sing the Glory of God and purify themselves and the atmosphere, they clamor for concession ! When the heads hit against each other in anger, can the feet be steady and unaffected ? They too will kick and trample as maliciously as they can.

As the Vedas announce, there is no Dharma higher than Truth. Truth gets hidden, appears distorted and is declared to be failing; so, the Avatar asserts its validity and value once again. God wears Truth, the good seek Truth and the bad are rescued by Truth; Truth liberates; Truth is power; Truth is freedom. It is the lamp that illuminates the heart and dispels doubt and darkness. The effulgence of God is Truth. Welcome God in your heart. Install Him there as a result of yearning. Be always concerned with Brahman; then you are entitled to be known as a Brahmin.

Injury inflicted on any being is sacrilege, self-injury. Love is transformed into poison, if hate contaminates it. Love some but do not hate the rest, for that hate will foul the Love and make it mortal. Love comes automatically to the realised soul; but, the Sadhaka has to cultivate it by means of Seva and inquiry into the unity of the Atman. Love must flow not from the tongue or from the head only, but chiefly from the heart.

Prasadam means Grace, which flows from God when He is propitiated. My Grace is ever with you; it is not something that is given or taken; it is given always and accepted by the Consciousness that is aware of its significance, Win the Grace of your own sub-conscious, so that it may receive the Grace of God which is ever available. God does not deny anyone; it is only you, who deny God. When the gift is proffered, you have to do only one little act, so that you may earn it. You have to extend your hand to receive it.

Ambition to earn fame in the world, to gain some position of authoritz over fellow-men, to lead luxurious life - this can never ensure Shanti, Mental Peace. Mental Peace is the result of quite different attainments. Wealth cannot command it, nor authority commander it ! It must be won the hard way through Meditation, Namasmaran and the nine steps to the presence of the Almighty. It must be won on the Earth, to which man rightfully belongs; and, not on any other heavenly body towards which he may dare navigate.

The basic lesson that each Religion teaches is to surrender to the sovereign-will of God and leave the consequences of deeds, well done, to the Lord Himself. It is His will and your only duty is to shape yourself into a fit instrument. To suppress the assertive ego, disciplines have been laid down in every Religion, by every compiler of moral codes, by every educator and reformer of human morals. But the oldest, most-effective and the most successfully practised system is the body of directives laid down in the Vedas and Shastras of India.

Time ticks on relentlessly and man is born, lives and dies, rotating on the wheel of Karma and consequently unaware of the means of escaping from the oncoming destiny. Agony and anxiety have not softened his heart; adventure and achievement have not made him humble. He is proud of his advance in the path of hatred and haughtiness. He revels in cruelty and sin. He displays an unholy satisfaction in immorality and untruth. He has reduced himself to a level lower than that of beasts.

The receptacle may be different but the Divine content is the same. The taste of sea-water will be saline whether you test a truckload, a bowlful, a potfull or a sip or a drop on the tongue: the taste of the Divine can be experienced in the atom or the Cosmos, the friend as well as the foe, the virus and the Universe. This is Realisation, the Liberation, the Illumination and the Revelation: "Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagat". This sphere of change is surcharged with the Omnipresent Divine.

From the narrow vision of 'individual need', man must voyage out into the broad vision of the 'Universal'. When a drop of water falls into the Ocean, it loses its narrow individuality, its name and form, and assumes the form, name and taste of the Ocean itself. If it seeks to live separately as a 'drop', it will soon evaporate and be reduced to non-existence. Each one must become aware that he is part of the one Truth that encompasses everything in the Universe. It is reprehensible to stick, for one's whole life-time, to the narrow path of selfishness, envy and greed. Make the heart big and the mind pure.

There is no discipline equal to service to smother the ego and to fill the heart with genuine joy. To condemn service as demeaning and inferior is to forego these benefits. If a wave of service sweeps over the land, catching everyone in its enthusiasm, it will be able to wipe off the mounds of hatred, malice and greed that infest the World. Attune your hearts so that it will vibrate in sympathy with the woes and joys of your fellow-men. Fill the World with Love. Love will warn you against advising another to do something which you yourself are unwilling to do; your conscience will tell you that you are living in a lie!

There are Four *F's* that you will have to fix before your attention:

(1) Follow the Master;

(2) Face the Devil;

(3) Fight to the End; and

(4) Finish at the Goal.

Follow the Master means: observe Dharma. Face the Devil means: overcome the temptations that beset you when you try to earn Artha or wealth or the wherewithal to live in comfort. Fight to the End means: struggle ceaselessly; wage war against the six enemies that are led by Kama or lust. And finally, Finish at the Goal means: do not stop until the goal, Moksha or Liberation from ignorance and delusion, is reached. The *F's* are fundamental for the pursuit of the four Purusharthas - Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.

No bird casts the seed on land to grow food for itself, nor do beasts plough and enclose fields claiming - this is mine, this is for my children and children's children -. 'Nishkama-Karma' is the natural face of activity for the children of God, the progeny of Immortality. They sing and swim, they dance and drive, they talk and walk and they pray and pine, because they must; it is the nature too. They do not know what will happen, as a consequence, they do not care; they do not anticipate any result. They are just themselves when they do these things. It is Sahaja-Lakshana, their innate nature and their inborn characteristic.

Agriculture is for living; mind culture is for life. Skills are for shaping material things so that they cater more for the comfort of man; studies are for shaping attitudes, feelings, desires, emotions and impulses of man, so that they may confer more peace, more joy and more fortitude on man.

Egoism will be destroyed, if you constantly tell yourself, 'It is He, not I', 'He is the force, I am but the instrument'. Keep His name always on the tongue, and contemplate His glory whenever you see or hear anything beautiful or grand. See in everyone the Lord Himself moving in that form. Do not talk evil of others; see only good in them. Welcome every chance to help others, to console others and to encourage others along the spiritual path.

Man is suffering because he cannot rid himself of the greed for sense-objects, and sense pleasures, or Vishaya-Vasana. He knows that he has to give up whatever he earns and collects, sooner or later; but yet his attachment waxes instead of waning, as the years go by. If every man on Earth could take with him on death even a handful of mud from the Earth, there would have been nothing much left and mud would have been rationed at so many ounces per head!

You have read that the Lord, melted and moved when one performs acute Thapas, comes and asks softly and sweetly: "My dear child, What is it you need ?" He wants you to express in words what you have yearned for and ask the Lord whom you have brought before you through the exercise of silence. That is the little game He plays. And sometimes He wills that the questioner answers in the way His plan demands.

To cross safely the flood of "Birth-Death-Continuum", the bridge, called Nishta or discipline of an unflinching kind, is essential. It must be a sturdy, safe bridge: or else you will fall into the raging waters and be drawn into the sea, infested with the sharks: Lust and Anger. See how great heroes like Prahlada did not lose their hold on the Lord, in spite of heavy odds. Prahlada never gave up the repetition of the Name of the Lord, though he was tortured, twisted and burnt. One, must have that determination and faith.

Sorrows and disasters are like the clouds that flit across the sky; they cannot injure the blue depths of space. Your duty is just to strive on from this very moment. Do not vacillate or postpone. Who knows when death knocks ? May be, he may knock this very night, this very moment; therefore, do not delay. Do you postpone for tomorrow the dinner of this day ! Feed the spirit as scrupulously as you now feed the body.

You will find that you have craved only for paltry things and for momentary distinctions for fleeting fame; you should cry only for God, for your own cleansing and consummation. You should weep, wailing for the six cobras that have sheltered themselves in your mind, poisoning it with their venom: Lust, Anger, Greed, Attachment, Pride and Malice. Quieten them as the snake-charmer does with his swaying flute. The music, that can take them, is the singing aloud of the Name of God. And when they are too intoxicated to move and harm, catch them by the neck and pull out their fangs as the charmer does. Thereafter they can be your playthings; you can handle them as you please.

If you seek to fulfill low desires, why come here ? Come here only if you seek to earn Grace. Go to a hospital only when you are resolved to take the drug the physician prescribes and go through the regimen he lays down. So, obey the directions that I give, whatever others may say or however difficult they may appear to be. You have not come to Prasanthi Nilayam to please those others. You have to please Me.

Turn the key in the lock to the right, it opens; turn the same key to the left; it is locked. Turn your mind towards the objective World, it is locked, caught, entangled. Turn it to the right away from the objects of the senses; the lock is loosened, you are free and deliverance is at hand. How to turn right? Well, begin with Namasmarana, as the first step. That will itself take you through the second and the third...... to the very goal.

If Liberation means the stoppage of grief and the acquisition of joy, then it is easy. What you have to do is to place all your burdens on God; that makes you grief-free and care-free. Then, when you take everything as the Leela of Lord you love, you clap your hands in Ananda whatever may happen, for it is His Leela and you are as happy as He is, when His plans are going through!

The mind must become the servant of the intellect, not the slave of the senses. It must discriminate and detach itself from the body. Like the ripe tamarind fruit, which, becomes loose inside the shell, it must be unattached to this shell, this casement called body.

Liberation is just the awareness of Truth, the falling off of the scales of delusion from the eye. It is not a suburb of select souls - it is not a closed monopoly of expert Sadhakas. Like the Godavari losing its form, its name and its taste in the sea, Liberation dissolves the name and form, aptitudes and attitudes. You are no more a separate, particular individual.

You are happy, that you have come on a pilgrimage here, but let Me tell you one thing: unless you control the stream of desire that springs in the mind, this is just a wasted opportunity. If your wish is fulfilled, you revere Me; if it is not, you revile Me. That is how Desire debases you. When one wish is fulfilled, ten rise in its place. For there is no dearth of want; the same person has come to Me seeking success at the examination, then a job, then a father-in-law, then a child, then a rise in the salary, a transfer in a cheaper place and a seat in the Medical College for his son - a never ending series of wants, until at last he comes seeking My Grace for an end to worldly pursuits and for initiation into the path of spirituality.

No one can liberate you, for no one has bound you; you hold on to the nettle of worldly pleasures and you weep for pain. The kite is pursued by the crows so long as it carries the fish in its beak, it twists and turns in the sky trying to last and it drops the fish. That moment it is free. So give up the attachment to the senses; then grief and worry can harass you no more.

When you know that thieves have broken into your neighbour's house, you become extra cautious and, every night, before you retire, you examine every lock and bolt in the house. When you know that death has carried away a victim from the house next door, why do you not examine yourselves, whether you are equipped to meet it when it comes for you ? Why do you immerse yourselves in distractions like building houses, piling bank-balances, celebrating picnics and contesting elections. Engage yourselves rather in things that will make you immortal and serve your best interests by service to the World ! Seek your own Reality, That is what a wise man should do.

Remove the vices of lust and hatred, and put out the raging flames of anger and greed, then the innate Santham and Soukhyam and the Swarupam and Sevabhavam of Man, will manifest themselves unhindered. Santham is the Swarupam; and Soukhyam; and is the Swabhavam of man.

The body can be clean if washed with water; speech can be clean if it is saturated in Truth; life can be purified if it is sanctified by Tapas; and the intellect can be cleared of blemish through Jnana. Above all, the conviction that you are not the body only a resident of the body has to grow in you. If you identify yourselves with the body that you carry about with you, you are inviting sorrow and suffering to overwhelm you instead of the joy and peace which are awaiting to bless you.

When the Gita directs you to give up all Dharmas (Set codes of morality), it does not ask you also to give up all Karma (activity): that is to say, you have to do Karma, and, when you do it for God, through God and by God, the Dharma of it does not matter; it has to be acceptable and it is bound to benefit you. The statement is not an invitation to licentiousness or complete inactivity; it is all for dedication and surrender to the highest in Man, viz. God.

Do not admit into your mind the demon of A-santhi. Direct all your cleverness and all your intelligence to the successful execution of the great Drama, in which all of you are taking part at present. It is His Drama. He is the Director, you play a role, an actor carrying out His Will, speaking the words that He put in your mouth and making movements as directed by Him.

The experience of this one life must be enough to show you that there is no joy unmixed with grief, that both grief and joy are short-lived and they both depend on the mind and its control. You do not require the experience of a series of lives to grasp this patent fact. This World is keeping you in bondage; it is a prison from which you must get released; and you should not plan to return to it again and again.

The eye which is scarce two inches long can see millions of miles into space, but is incapable of seeing itself ! Man too is as shrewd and as weak as the eye. He can analyze others' motives, count others' faults and map out others' skills and capacities, but he is powerless to analyze himself, his feelings and his emotions. Unwilling to discover his own faults, he cannot assess his innate skill and realize his inner reality ! But the power can be acquired if you keep company with Sadhakas (aspirants for spiritual progress), not otherwise.

Man thinks himself that he knows everything but, when asked about himself, he hangs down his head in shame. Man knows the news of every land, but he is ignorant of the nuisance that he himself is to himself and others. He is moving in darkness but yearning for Ananda. He does not know the means of securing Ananda: Prayer, Seva, Study of Spiritual Texts, Meditation and Silence. He has no face that he is Ananda and that Ananda is his own nature. He is blown off by calamity, for he has no strength to withstand the blow. Faith in the God within is the toughest shield against the thrusts of Fate.

When you do not accept the insult some one casts on you, it goes back to the person who indulged in it first; a registered letter that is not accepted returns to the sender. Do not damage your mental peace by receiving the letter and reading the contents. Refuse to receive it. You have a chance of correcting the wrong-doers too; accept it and join the gang of mischief-makers. So be warned!

WHEN you pray for a thing from God, you run the risk of condemning Him, if for some reasons the Prayer is not answered the way you want it to be or as quickly as you want it. This contingency arises because you feel that God is an outsider, staying in some Heaven or holy spot, far away from you. God is in you, God is in every word of yours, every deed and every thought. Speak, do and think as befits Him. Do the duty that He has allotted to you to the best of your ability and to the satisfaction of your conscience. That is the most rewarding Puja.

WHEN you stand before another, his image is in your eye and your image is in his; have you not observed this? You are in Him, I am in you: that is the Truth this phenomenon proclaims. When you believe in this, and when you cultivate Love, Humility, Reverence for Life and Tolerance, you are on the Right Path. When you are not on this Path, that is to say, when you are traveling left, you are certainly left out when it is a question of sharing Divine Grace.

I KNOW many parents who dote on their children and admire them when they learn the bad habits of gambling or drinking! They do not curb them when they swagger about in the bazaars, teasing and bullying those who pass by. They do not instill into the young minds the attitude of reverence towards property belonging to others. As a consequence, their children land themselves in trouble and, then, the parents repent and curse themselves for their unpardonable foolishness.

IF the parent is a drunkard, a gambler and a cheat, no amount of textbook ethics can cure the sons. I like children and the young innocence. I will not allow them to be blamed. The fault lies wholly on the shoulders of the elders, the parents, and the leaders who shape the norms which they imbibe.

CLEANSE your emotions, passions, impulses, attitudes, and reactions. That is the essence of spiritual discipline as laid down in all Faiths. Examine your mind, your thoughts; do not seek the fault ridden person. Seek only purity; speak ill of none. Do not humiliate anyone; respect him for the good in him. Their grief at your behaviour will haunt you during your last moments.

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 travails will haunt you but you must not allow them to deflect you from the path of duty and dedication.

IF you feel you must have something to be happy, pray to God: "God, you have the responsibility to keep me healthy, happy, good and intelligent; give me this thing which I believe is necessary for my happiness; but, if you think I am wrong, give me whatever you think best". God will never desert His obligation. He will feed you and foster you.

WOMEN preserve the culture of this country with greater tenacity and faith. They keep men on the moral path and inspire them to follow spiritual discipline. Their hearts are tender and full of compassion for the hungry and the distressed. That is why in this land, women are adored and revered.

THOSE who deny God, the Supreme Will or the First Cause, can give no real satisfactory justification for their stand; nor can those who assert that there is God. Both have to rely on their own experience. After all, how can sweetness be denied by one who refuses to taste sugar? How can one be convinced that sugar is sweet until one tastes it? We have to feel the great marvel of energy, manipulating both, the minutest atom and cell and the vastest, most distant star. How else can we understand the Omnipresence and Omnipotence, except by accepting God as the Architect of the Cosmos?

Follow the call of the Divine arising from the hearts of all living beings. Serve them in an attitude of worship, not expecting something in return. Do not accept even gratitude, having dedicated all your acts to the indwelling God. This will purify you so that you shall be able to listen to the "Soham" that your breath repeats every moment. "Soham" transmutes itself into OM when the distinction between He and I has dissolved itself in the process of 'Samadhi'.

The very first lesson of the Primer of the spiritual text is "Control of Speech". Speech is the armament of man; other animals have fleetness of foot, sharpness of claw, fang, horn, tusk, beak and talon. But man has sweetness of Speech which can disarm all opposition and defeat all the designs of hatred. Sweetness makes you "Pasupathi" - Divine; harshness makes you "Pasu" - bestial. Mere outward politeness or sweetness is hipocrisy ! Sincere speech must flow from real sweetness of heart, a heart full of love. Remove all evil from the Manasarovar, the pellucid lake of your Mind, and make it a fit abode of Godhead.

Every man desires to acquire Ananda. From where can Ananda be acquired ? Faith alone can win Ananda. Peace can be got only through Faith; Faith is the spring of Joy. But now we see Sorrow, wherever we cast our eyes. Why does this happen ? Because, man has lost Faith. He has no Faith in himself. How then can he acquire Ananda ? How can a person, how has not got Faith enough to live happily for a few days, win the Grace of God ?

At present, everyone is after Sukha. The hunt for comfortable jobs and positions of influence, the founding of banks and business-houses, the growth of bungalows - all this is evidence of the eagerness to live in happiness. But there is no eagerness to live in Santhi. Sukha is confused with Santhi. Sukha is taken to be the same as Santhi. No one of the rich or well placed or prosperous or powerful has Santhi. You can investigate and find out for yourselves the truth of this. Santhi is not found in the Pass-Book or many-roomed bungalows or godowns or iron safes. Your whole attitude is topsy-turvy.

Go straight along the path of Karma and Dharma towards Brahma; this is your destiny. Karma has to be done; there is no turning away. Each has his allotted task, according to the status, taste, tendency and earned merit. Do it, with the fear of God and of sin, deep in your heart. Welcome pain and grief; so that you take both success and failure as hammer-strokes to shape you into a sturdy Sadhaka. Inner contentment is more important than outer prosperity.

FRIENDSHIP must serve as lids for the eye, as sandals for the feet. The friend must be "another Me". He must experience, in equal depth, the joy and the grief of the other. Friends must be like milk and water. Let Me elaborate this example. When milk, into which some quantity of water is poured, is placed on a burning stove, the water goes off as steam. The milk laments the separation and boils over. Then, the only way to keep it calm, is to sprinkle a spoon or two of water; its friend is back and it is happy. Milk cannot tolerate separation from its friend.

YOUR friends today attach themselves not to you but to your purse or to some advantage they can gain through your father's kindness. When your purse is empty or when your father is no longer in power, they bid you good-bye. Friends who drag one away into evil habits and vicious deeds, are prowling around in search of victims.

Be in the world like a maid servant in a rich man's house. The maid servant deals with all the objects and things always knowing that nothing belongs to her and that this is not her true home.

Those who seek to know God must steel themselves to bear insult, injury and torture, with a smile.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

NIAT (National Interlok Action Team)

By CPI

Many Malaysians are not aware of NIAT and Hartal MSM, among two NGOs that have been in the forefront of civil society opposition to the use of Interlok as a compulsory Bahasa Melayu SPM text. Through a combination of hard research and public consciousness-raising actions, these two civil society organizations have shown the way forward in challenging various government policies that are not in the public interest.


There is a need for other civil society organizations in the country to emulate the example set by NIAT and Hartal MSM. There is a need to learn from and be inspired by their commitment to ensuring that racism does not become embedded in our society.

Their determination to stand up against the powerful political and bureaucratic forces working to undermine our liberal and democratic way of life is especially admirable. Their struggle is one against an entrenched and authoritarian system that is all too ready to employ the state apparatus in all its permutations to coerce or co-opt dissident voices into silence and passivity.

CPI is sharing with our readers excerpts from their various postings. We hope that you will not only visit their websites but also support the cause too.

NIAT, which represents the Indian NGOs, is giving a briefing to the Backbenchers Club in Parliament today. They had earlier on March 21 briefed Pakatan Rakyat MPs. The Chinese ground however remains woefully ignorant about the repercussions of Interlok remaining in the syllabus.

NIAT (National Interlok Action Team)

Chairman   - Dato’ Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim Al-Haj (Religious, Social & Language Activist)
Secretariat  - Mr Arun Dorasamy
Asst:          -Mr Krishna Subramaniam & Mr Tanabalan Egamaran

Malaysia Hindu Sangam

Leaders

Dr Suppiah - President, Federation of Indian NGOs (Representing more than 150 Indian NGOs)

Dr Bala Tharmalingam - Deputy President, Malaysia Hindu Sangam

Rev. Henry Sandanam - President, Association of Tamil Pastors and Christians Fellowship of Malaysia (TPCFM)

Mr Rajaretnam Armuggan - President, Persatuan Progresif India Malaysia (MIPAS)

Mr Kishur Goonasaran - President, Malaysian Indian Student Association (MISA)

Mr Barathidasan Saminathan - Secretary General, Persatuan Progressif India Malaysia (MIPAS)

Mr A. Murali - Chairman, Tamilan Uthavum Karangal

Mr Alegesan Batumalai - Vice President, Malaysian Indian Youth Council (MIYC)

Mr S. Gobi Krishnan - Secretary General, Malaysian Indian Arts, Culture and Heritage Organization (MIACHO)

Mr Uthaya Sankar SB - Presiden, Kumpulan Sasterawan Kayvan


*Footnote: NIAT represents more then half a million Malaysian actively and millions more silently.

Executive summary

NIAT (National Interlok Action Team): Withdraw Interlok from the schools based on our 900 man-hours research findings and the public outcry against the novel’s content which touches the sensitivity of ALL Malaysians in many respects.

This report is filed under five main classifications.

Interlok is against:
•Islam & other religious teachings
•the Ministry’s technical guidelines (falsafah pendidikan negara, BBT, DBP)
•racial integration: Insults Malay, Chinese & Indians
•1Malaysia policy of the Prime Minister
•human rights & the UN Charter

NIAT has compared Interlok’s core content, literal meaning (maksud tersurat), implied meaning (maksud tersirat) and literary value against the current philosophy and other ministerial guidelines as illustrated below:

•Panduan Penulisan Buku Teks KBSM is a detailed guideline for textbooks. Interlok failed to meet the criteria set forth by the bureau. It came to our knowledge that the Education Ministry’s textbook bureau advised the curriculum development department (BPK) to further edit the book to comply with guidelines. However, at this point we are unable to corroborate the information with written evidence. (Refer to Page 8 of our report)

Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka’s literature department has its criteria to assist the selection of literature deemed to reflect Malaysia’s history and modern societies. Interlok failed to meet five criteria out of six set by DBP. The agency’s selection process is the first level of filtration before any novel is shortlisted to be used as educational material. (Ref. p.7)

Falsafah Pendidikan Negara is the vision of our late premier Tun Abdul Razak through his national education philosophy contained in Penyata Razak. Interlok fails to meet his aspiration. (Ref. p.10)

•NIAT researched Interlok based on four classifications –
(i) Derogatory words/phrases and passages
(ii) Factual errors
(iii) Wrong portrayal of religion and
(iv) Wrong portrayal of culture

Derogatory portrayal

The characterization, incidents, choice of words and storyline are very derogatory (explicitly and implicitly) of the Malay (bangsa malas), Chinese (will do anything for money), Indian (low-caste community) and Caucasian (syaitan putih). Interlok’s metaphors comparing the certain characters to babi, anjing, kambing, its name calling Cina Panjang, Indo kuai, Malai kuai and its use of the word ‘pariah’ is unacceptable. (Refer to Page 13 of our report for details)

Factual errors
Interlok contains many obvious and arguably factual errors on the basis of historical reflection, sociological facts and geographical references. (Ref. p.15)

Religious deviance:
Interlok has a Muslim family believing in tangkal, dukun, chanting mantera and indulging in spirit worship. As to the Hindus, the author misrepresents the circumambulation seven times around fire at the Indian wedding ceremony, associates caste with Hinduism and confuses Brahma-Trinity God with Brahman/Brahmin. (Ref. p.19)

Cultural misquotes:
Indian wedding culture: Nalangu ceremony, thali, disrespectfully calling a husband by his personal name, “sucikan wang dengan air suci” as if money is received from lower-caste people is tainted, ‘Lembu Tua’ as sign of good luck. (Ref. p.20)

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. has wisely reminded mankind that no one is superior or inferior because of his ethnic or ancestral background. Yet Interlok concludes that:
•Malays are lazy and backward
•Chinese are materialistic, liars, will do anything for money or to get rich, hate Malays
•Indians are low caste, have no culture, an inferior race, coolies
Do we want our children to learn such stereotypes? Do we really need this novel in schools? Tepuk dada tanya selera.

Website:www.myniat.com/ e-mail: Niat.secretariat@gmail.com

We were once "Malaysian"

By Tengku Razaleigh HamzahThe following keynote speech given by former finance minister and Gua Musang parliamentarian Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the 4th Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit (MSLS) today.

I have played some small role in the life of this nation, but having been on the wrong side of one or two political fights with the powers-that-be, I am not as close to the young people of this country as I would hope to be.
History and the 8 o’clock news are written by the victors. In recent years, the government’s monopoly of the media has been destroyed by the technology revolution.
You could say I was also a member of the United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC). Well, I was, except that belonged to the predecessor of the UKEC by more than 50 years, The Malayan Students Union of the UK and Eire. I led this organisation in 1958/59.I was then a student of Queen’s University at Belfast, as well as at Lincoln’s Inn. In a rather cooler climate than Kota Bharu’s, we campaigned for decolonisation. We demonstrated in Trafalgar Square and even in Paris. We made posters and participated in British elections.
Your invitation to participate in the MSLS was prefaced by an essay that calls for an intellectually informed activism. I congratulate you on this. The Youth of today, you note, “will chart the future of Malaysia.” You say you “no longer want to be ignored and leave the future of our Malaysia at the hands of the current generation.” You “want to grab the bull by the horns… and have a say in where we go as a society and as a nation.”
I feel the same, actually. A lot of Malaysians feel the same. They are tired of being ignored and talked down to.
You are right. The present generation in power has let Malaysia down. But also you cite two things as testimony of the importance of youth and of student activism to this country, the election results of 2008 and “the prime minister’s acknowledgement of the role of youth in the development of the country.”
So perhaps you are a little way yet from thinking for yourselves. The first step in “grabbing the bull by the horns” is not to require the endorsement of the prime minister, or any Minister, for your activism. Politicians are not your parents. They are your servants. You don’t need a government slogan coined by a foreign PR agency to wrap your project in. You just go ahead and do it.
A man at ease with himself
When I was a student, our newly independent country was already a leader in the post-colonial world. We were sought out as a leader in the Afro-Asian Conference that inaugurated the Non-Aligned Movement and the G-77.
The Afro-Asian movement was led by such luminaries as Zhou En Lai, Nehru, Kwame Nkrumah and Soekarno. Malaysians were seen as moderate leaders capable of mediating between the more radical leaders and the West. We were known for our moderation, good sense and reliability.
We were a leader in the Islamic world as ourselves and as we were, without our leaders having to put up false displays of piety. His memory has been scrubbed out quite systematically from our national consciousness, so you might not know this or much else about him, but it was Tunku Abdul Rahman who established our leadership in the Islamic world by coming up with the idea of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) and making it happen.
Under his leadership, Malaysia led the way in taking up the anti-apartheid cause in the Commonwealth and in the United Nations, resulting in South Africa’s expulsion from these bodies.
Here was a man at ease with himself, made it a policy goal that Malaysia be “a happy country”. He loved sport and encouraged sporting achievement among Malaysians. He was owner of many a fine race horses. He called a press conference with his stewards when his horse won at the Melbourne Cup.
He had nothing to hide because his great integrity in service was clear to all. Now we have religious and moral hypocrites who cheat, lie and steal in office, who propagate an ideologically that shackled the education system for all Malaysians while they send their own kids to elite academies in the West.
Days when we were on top
Speaking of football – you’re too young to have experienced the Merdeka Cup that Tunku started. We had a respectable side in the 60s and 70s. Teams from across Asia would come to play in Kuala Lumpur: Teams such as South Korea and Japan, whom we defeated routinely.
We were one of the better sides in Asia. We won the bronze medal at the Asian Games in 1974 and qualified for the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Today our FIFA ranking is 157 out of 203 countries.
That puts us in the lowest quartile, below Maldives (149), the smallest country in Asia, with just 400,000 people living about 1.5 metres above sea level who have to worry that their country may soon be swallowed up by climate change. Here in Asean we are behind Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, whom we used to dominate, and now only one spot above basketball-playing Philippines.
The captain of our illustrious 1970′s side was Soh Chin Aun, R Arumugam, Isa Bakar, Santokh Singh, James Wong and Mokhtar Dahari. They were heroes whose names rolled off the tongues of our schoolchildren as they copied them on the school field. It wasn’t about being the best in the world, but about being passionate and united and devoted to the game.
It was the same in badminton, except at one time we were the best in the world. I remember Wong Peng Soon, the first Asian to win the All-England Championship, and then just dominated it throughout the 1950. Back home every kid who played badminton in every little kampung wanted to call himself Wong Peng Soon.
There was no tinge of anybody identifying themselves exclusively as Chinese, Malays or Indian. Peng Soon was a Malayan hero. Just like each of our football heroes. Now we do not have an iota of that feeling. Where has it all gone?
Capital flight troubling
I don’t think it’s mere nostalgia that makes us think there was a time when the sun shone more brightly upon Malaysia. I bring up sport because it has been a mirror of our more general performance as a nation.
When we were at ease with who we were and didn’t need slogans to do our best together, we did well. When race and money entered our game, we declined. The same applies to our political and economic life.
Soon after independence, we were already a highly successful developing country. We had begun the infrastructure building and diversification of our economy that would be the foundation for further growth. We carried out an import-substitution programme that stimulated local productive capacity.
From there, we started an infrastructure build-up that enabled a diversification of the economy leading to rapid industrialisation. We carried out effective programmes to raise rural income and help the landless with programmes such as Felda.
Our achievements in achieving growth with equity were recognised around the world. Our peer group in economic development were South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, and we led the pack. I remember we used to send technical consultants to advise the South Koreans.
Bmalaysia stock exchange market klse 141008 05y the late 90s, however, we had fallen far behind this group and were competing with Thailand and Indonesia. Today, according to the latest World Investment Report, FDI into Malaysia is at a 20-year low.
We are entering the peer group of Cambodia, Burma and the Philippines as an investment destination. Thailand, despite a month-long siege of the capital, attracted more FDI than we did last year. Indonesia and Vietnam far outperform us, not as a statistical blip but consistently. Soon we shall have difficulty keeping up with the Philippines.
This, I believe, is called relegation. If we take into account FDI outflow, the picture is even more depressing. Last year, we received US$1.38 billion in investments but US$8.04 billion flowed out. We are the only country in Southeast Asia that has suffered net FDI outflow.
I am not against outward investment. It can be a good thing for the country. But an imbalance on this scale indicates capital flight, not mere investment overseas.
Time to wake up
Without a doubt, Malaysia is slipping. Billions have been looted from this country, and Billions more are being siphoned out as our entire political structure crumbles. Yet we are gathered here in comfort, in a country that still seems to ‘work’ – most of the time. This is due less to good management than to the extraordinary wealth of this country.
You were born into a country of immense resources, both natural, cultural and social. We have been wearing down this advantage with mismanagement and corruption. With lies, tall tales and theft. We have a political class unwilling or unable to address the central issue of the day because they have grown fat and comfortable with a system built on lies and theft.
It is time to wake up. That waking up can begin here, right here, at this conference. Not tomorrow or the day after but today. So let me, as I have the honour of opening this conference, suggest the following:
1) Overcome the urge to have our hopes for the future endorsed by the prime minister. He will have retired, and I’ll be long gone, when your future arrives. The shape of your future is being determined now.
2) Resist the temptation to say “in line with” when we do something. Your projects, believe it or not, don’t have to be in line with any government campaign for them to be meaningful. You don’t need to polish anyone’s apple. Just get on with what you plan to do.
3) Do not put a lid on certain issues as “sensitive” just because someone said they are. Or it is against the Social Contract. Or it is “politicisation”.
You don’t need to have your conversation delimited by the hyper-sensitive among us. Sensitivity is often a club people use to hit each other with. Reasoned discussion of contentious issues builds understanding and trust. Stress test your ideas.
4) It’s not “conservative” or “liberal” to ask for an end to having politics, economic policy, education policy and everything and the kitchen sink determined by race. It’s called growing up.
5) Don’t let the politicians you have invited here talk down to you.
Don’t let them
Don’t let them tell you how bright and “exuberant” you are, that you are the future of the nation, etc. If you close your eyes and flow with their flattery, you have safely joined the caravan, a caravan taking the nation down a sink hole.
If they tell you the future is in your hands, kindly request that they hand that future over first. Ask them how come the youngest member of our cabinet is 45? Our Merdeka cabinet had an average age below 30.
You’re not the first generation to be bright. Mine wasn’t too stupid. But you could be the first generation of students and young graduates in 50 years to push this nation through a major transformation. And it is a transformation we need desperately.
You will be told that much is expected of you, much has been given to you and so forth. This is all true. Actually much has also been stolen from you. Over the last 20 five years, much of the immense wealth generated by our productive people and our vast resources has been looted. This was supposed to have been your patrimony.
The uncomplicated sense of belonging fully, wholeheartedly, unreservedly, to this country, in all its diversity, that has been taken from you. Our sense of ourselves as Malaysians, a free and united people, has been replaced by a tale of racial strife and resentment that continues to haunt us. The thing is, this tale is false.
Reclaim your history
The most precious thing you have been deprived of has been your history. Someone of my generation finds it hard to describe what must seem like a completely different country to you now.
Malaysia was not born in strife but in unity. Our independence was achieved through a demonstration of unity by the people in supporting a multiracial government led by Tunku Abdul Rahman.
That show of unity, demonstrated first through the municipal elections of 1952 and then through the Alliance’s landslide victory in the elections of 1955, showed that the people of Malaya were united in wanting their freedom. We surprised the British, who thought we could not do this.
Today we are no longer as united as we were then. We are also less free. I don’t think this is a coincidence. It takes free people to have the psychological strength to overcome the confines of a racialised worldview. It takes free people to overcome those politicians bent on hanging on to power gained by racialising every feature of our life including our football teams.
Hence while you are at this conference, let me argue, that as an absolute minimum, we should call for the repeal of unjust and much abused Acts of Parliament which are reversals of freedoms that we won at Merdeka.
I ask you in joining me in calling for the repeal of the ISA (Internal Security Act) and the OSA (Official Secrets Act). These draconian laws have been used, more often than not, as political tools rather than instruments of national security. They create a climate of fear.
I ask you to join me in calling for the repeal of the Printing and Publications Act, and above all, the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA). I don’t see how you can pursue your student activism with such freedom and support in the UK and Eire while forgetting that your brethren at home are deprived of their basic rights of association and expression by the UUCA. The UUCA has done immense harm in dumbing down our universities.
We must have freedom as guaranteed under our constitution. Freedom to assemble, associate, speak, write, move. This is basic. Even on matters of race and even on religious matters we should be able to speak freely, and we shall educate each other.
Make BN multiracial
It is time to realise the dream of Hussein Onn and the spirit of the Alliance and of Tunku Abdul Rahman. That dream was one of unity and a single Malaysian people. They went as far as they could with it in their time. Instead of taking on the torch, we have reversed course. The next step for us as a country is to move beyond the infancy of race-based parties to a non-racial party system.
Our race-based party system is the key political reason why we are a sick country, declining before our own eyes, with money fleeing and people telling their children not to come home after their studies.
So let us try to take 1Malaysia seriously. Millions have been spent putting up billboards and adding the term to every conceivable thing. We even have ‘Cuti-cuti 1Malaysia’. Can’t take a normal holiday anymore. This is all fine.
Now let us see if it means anything. Let us see the government of the day lead by example. 1Malaysia is empty because it is propagated by a government supported by a racially-based party system that is the chief cause of our inability to grow up in our race relations.
Our inability to grow up in our race relations is the chief reason why investors, and we ourselves, no longer have confidence in our economy. The reasons why we are behind Maldives in football, and behind the Philippines in FDI, are linked.
So let us take 1Malaysia seriously, and convert Barisan Nasional into a party open to all citizens. Let it be a multiracial party open to direct membership. Pakatan Rakyat will be forced to do the same or be left behind the times. Then we shall have the vehicles for a two party, non-race-based system.
If Umno, MIC or MCA are afraid of losing supporters, let them get their members to join this new multiracial party. Pakatan Rakyat should do the same. Nobody need feel left out. Umno members can join en masse. The Hainanese Kopitiam Owners’ Association can join whichever party they want, or both parties en masse if they like.
We can maintain our cherished civil associations, however we choose to associate. But we drop all communalism when we compete for the ballot. When our candidates stand for elections, let them ever after stand only as Malaysians, for better or worse.

Healthy lifestyle and Diet- swapping the bad with the good..

It is hard, at the best of times, to stick to a healthy lifestyle and diet, and there are foods out
there that can completely ruin your chances of this. With the staple ingredients in Malaysian dishes being high in cholesterol such as coconut milk, clarified butter and sugar cane, we think that the Malaysian diet is among the unhealthiest food in the World.

It maybe an Asian gastronomic heaven and the diversity reflects the culture, but the truth is, these sinful delights are not only making it incredibly hard to stick to a healthy diet and lose weight, but that obesity levels, diabetes, strokes and heart disease are all on the increase and Malaysia has the highest rates in South East Asia.

The Nutrition Society of Malaysia says that: “Healthy eating is about meeting your daily nutritional requirements, while avoiding the deficiencies and excesses that contribute to the risk of diet-related diseases.

Lets look at some local and foreign delights that are truly bad for you and suggest delicious substitutes. That way, you'd be able to stick to your diet easier.

1.White Rice
While we know that rice is a staple part of the Malaysian diet and is pretty much served with most traditional dishes, we aren’t saying cut it out completely. While it isn’t a deadly sin, as we know, too much of something is not good.
White rice pretty much just converts to glucose (sugar) in your system and while most of it is used for energy, any excess will be stored as fat. It also probably won’t help you meet your nutritional goals as once it's cooked, the germ, fibrous chaff, and bulk of nutritional value gets stripped away. The result is refined starch that is largely deprived of its original nutrients

Healthy alternative: brown rice
Brown rice, on the other hand, is great, and after eating brown rice for a while, you’ll find white rice to be rather bland. With brown rice, you are going to get more dietary fibre out of it, and it provides 15 essential nutrients. The Nutrition Society of Malaysia emphasises that “whole grain products have a greater amount of iron, phosphorus, B-vitamins (thiamine, niacin & riboflavin) and fibre.”
By metabolising slowly and maintaining stable levels of blood sugar and/or serotonin, brown rice snips away food cravings. Brown rice can substantially reduce the risk of colon cancer, as it is a very good source of selenium, a trace mineral that induces DNA repair and synthesis in damaged cells and inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells.

2.Nasi Lemak
One portion of nasi lemak contains a whopping 279 calories and the estimated amount of those that come from fat is 41.9%. The protein, fats and carbohydrates content in the nasi lemak exceed the recommended nutrient intakes.
Therefore, if it is to remain a daily staple of the Malaysian diet, you need to watch out for the nutrient intake. The highly saturated fat content in the coconut milk can increase atherogenicity (fat deposits in the artery walls) and cause arterial thrombosis (blood clots).
This can increase many lifestyle diseases, such as heart disease, certain cancers, obesity and diabetes. The excess intake of carbohydrates will be stored as body fats which in turn, affect the body weight.

Healthy alternative: Modified nasi lemak
Now, rather than scrap this favourite meal completely, nasi lemak can be modified to make it better for you. Trim coconut milk or soya milk in comparison to raw coconut milk which contains 45% less fat.
The cucumber and egg in nasi lemak is perfectly good for you, but make sure that you don’t have more than one egg a day as they have a high cholesterol content of 212mg and the recommended daily intake is 300mg. A boiled egg is also going to be a lot better for you than a fried egg.

3.Teh Tarik
Recent research has indicated that drinking tea as part of a healthy diet and life style can help maintain a healthy body, including your heart. However, the condensed milk and the amount of sugar contained in teh tarik, Malaysia’s dear national drink, makes it so sweet and therefore so tasty to many. But, it is no surprise that it is bad for you - in one cup, there are 142 calories and of the 3.3g of fat, 10% of that is saturated fat.

Healthy alternative: Teh-O-kosong
Teh-O-kosong, on the other hand, is your healthier alternative as it is plain tea without the sugar (and milk). Tea without milk and sugar has virtually no calories and are full of antioxidants that are beneficial to us. However, the milk and sugar that people add to tea actually suppresses all the goodness that tea can offer. Even Teh-O-kosong is a better option as you won’t be having the added sugar. All you need to do is ask “kurang manis” and we are sure that they will accommodate.

4.Coconut Milk
The essential ingredient in the majority of Malaysian curries is fattening coconut milk and the saturated fat content of this is quite high. This is probably bad news, since saturated fats can raise your cholesterol levels. Even reduced-fat coconut milk contains about 10 grams of saturated fat per 100 grams, compared to about 2.3 grams per 100 ml in reduced-fat cow's milk.

Healthy alternative: Soy Milk
Coconut milk is slowly being shunted aside for nutritious soy milk by those who suffer from high cholesterol or who are trying to avoid saturated fat.
Soy milk only contains vegetable proteins which have the advantage that they cause less loss of calcium through the kidneys. It also contains no hormones or lactose, it reduces cholesterol and contains isoflavones, which is the most important and unique benefit of soy milk.
Isoflavones have many health benefits including reduction of cholesterol, easing of menopause symptoms, prevention of osteoporosis and reduction of risk for certain cancers (prostate cancer and breast cancer).

5.Hamburgers
If you're on the road or in a rush, sometimes you can't avoid finding yourself in a fast food restaurant. Hamburgers are a pretty popular menu item, and since every fast food joint prepares them differently, it's hard to make the healthiest choice. That said, they are loaded with tons of sodium and calories.
The meat is usually of poor quality and is high in fats and cholesterol. Like all red meat, they're linked to a variety of health troubles, including heart disease and cancer.

Healthy alternative: veggie burger or turkey burger
Not all burgers are bad for you and if you choose to have one with turkey meat or a vegetarian burger, it is certainly not as unhealthy.
Veggie burgers which are usually made from a patty of vegetables, grains and soy protein have less sodium and cholesterol and one of the best reasons for choosing a veggie burger is to cut saturated fat. Veggie burgers are known to be very good imitations of regular burgers.
A turkey burger is also better for you as the meat is lean meat. Therefore, it contains less fat and healthier for you if you have high cholesterol.
On the whole, it is also the extra additives that come with the burger that also make it bad for you. However, you do not need to give up beef completely. Instead, opt for leaner cuts of beef or any meat for that matter. Just make sure you don’t order the fried and add lots of mayonnaise!

6.Ice-cream
Traditionally, ice-cream is made with heavy cream loaded with saturated fat. An average half-cup serving of Häagen-Dazs ice cream contains half a day's saturated fat and a third of a day's cholesterol that coats your artery walls and gives you an extra 300 calories.

Healthy alternative: Frozen yoghurt
You can buy frozen yogurt at almost any supermarket or ice-cream parlour, and there are some fantastic varieties on the market. Good news: half a cup of frozen yogurt usually contains 100 kcal and less than 2 grams of saturated fat.

Give the healthy alternative a try...for a better and fitter you. Just my Thot and wish you well!

*Source- Healthy life style MSN & www.dailyplate.com