“What exactly is your duty? First, tend your parents with love and reverence and gratitude. Second, speak the truth and act virtuously. Third, whenever you have a few moments to spare, repeat the name of the Lord, with the form in mind. Fourth, never indulge in talking ill of others or trying to discover faults in others. And finally, do not cause pain to others, in any form.”

One must act, and one’s duty is to act well, to act in fear of God, to act within the bounds of morality, and to act in love. The consequences will naturally follow as the fruit follows the flower. Sai Baba said one’s actions are responsible for one’s good or ill, one’s fame or disgrace, one’s joy or grief, and that one should not get excited over petty demands and desires. Indeed, one should fix one’s mind on a permanent basis.

How? When one dedicates one’s life to God and adheres to the path of righteousness one can sanctify one’s life and achieve peace, happiness and prosperity. Sai Baba said the Godly will take up activity as a means of worshipping God and they leave the result to God. They know that they are but instruments in the hands of God.

Sai Baba said that in order to evolve oneself into a balanced individual, service is an essential quality. This idea of service has the good quality of removing ego in man, it promotes love and affection and it takes him away from the aspect of worldly attachments and puts him on the path to the Divine.

Baba added that there can be no happiness without restraint of desires. He said man is losing real happiness by his attachment to material things which cannot give happiness, and also because attachments, longings and cravings all cloud the mind. Desire makes man forget his real nature. When there is no restraint, excessive desire becomes an evil. It leads to misery.

It is true that man cannot exist without desires but they should be within reasonable limits. Man has to install himself as master, not crawl as a slave. When we strive to control desire, in due course it develops into non-attachment or renunciation. Cultivate detachment.

Devotional singing is one of the processes by which one can train the mind to expand into eternal values. Baba tells us to teach the mind to revel in the glory and majesty of God, and to wean it away from petty horizons of pleasure. By devotional singing one can get merged in the Divine.

Community singing creates a wave of vibrations that enter into the atmosphere and purify the air, which is polluted by bad thoughts and feelings. God’s Name is the only unparalleled means to cleanse the entire world.

Baba says the greatest of any individual depends upon the reform of his character. It does not depend upon his power, money or position. Good conduct, good qualities and an exemplary character are the most valuable riches one can possess. Unfortunately, men today have given up these three and are seeking worldly goods and, immersed in their own concerns, are imagining that they are leading pious lives. Baba cautions that the Divine cannot be attained through such delusions.

He has frequently reminded man that the only wealth one can carry with him after death is the love of the Lord, and so one should strive to earn that wealth during his life. This can be done only by selfless devotion and love. To earn God’s love, one has to dedicate one’s time, body and actions to the service of the Lord.