Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the Sri Sathya Sai Organization (SSSO) - Part-VI – Ten Directives for SSSO Members

The Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation was founded in the 1960s by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to enable its members to undertake service activities as a means to spiritual advancement. The Sathya Sai Organisation derives inspiration, guidance and strength from Bhagawan Baba’s mission and message of propagating the truth of man’s inherent divinity, which is proclaimed and preached by all religions of the world. In consonance with this truth, the Organisation has as its main objective selfless love and service without any distinction of religion, nationality, race, socio-economic status, either for those who work in the Organisation or for those who are served by them. Thus, it transcends all barriers, leading humanity towards the ideal of ‘Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man’. In fact, this spiritual basis enables everyone in the Organisation to pursue his own religion better by putting its teachings into practice by way of love and service to the God who dwells in all hearts (Source)

Bhagawan’s Divine Sankalpa (Will) to create this edifice of the Sri Sathya Sai Organization for the emancipation of humanity, is like a potent seed sown in the 1960s which has now spread out with innumerable branches across the globe. To comprehend the power and determination behind this Divine Sankalpa is mind boggling. However, it is very important for us to understand and recognize how Bhagawan Baba, notwithstanding all the Divine Powers at His command, in a very human way, through a very natural process, built this edifice brick by brick, laying out its blueprint in all its enormity, phase by phase. He communicated its vision, mission, and modus operandi in every possible detail to all the stakeholders. Studying the “construction” of this Divine Organization and appreciating its “architecture”, in the backdrop of its Divine Creator, is a matter of great thrill and joy, a source of profound wisdom and message and a matter of immense fulfilment and satisfaction. This will be the focus of this posting. Needless to say, what will be covered is just a drop in the ocean, for there is so much that Bhagawan Baba has said and done, and only part of which is documented and even less is available as audio files in His Voice. Therefore, what is included here is just a part of what is available to us, audible in His own Voice.

This posting on Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the Sri Sathya Sai Organization (SSSO) will be covered in the following seven parts:

Part	Theme
Part-I	Genesis and Management Model
Part-II	Emphasis on “No connection between SSSO and Money”
Part-III	Discipline – The undercurrent of all activities in SSSO
Part-IV	Love-Service-Sacrifice – The Three Pillars of the SSSO
Part-V	Expected Profile of SSSO Members
Part-VI	Ten Directives for SSSO Members
Part-VII	Concept of Ceiling on Desires

Part-VI presents the Ten Directives given by Bhagawan to all members of the SSSO in the year 1985, on the eve of His 60^th Birthday and on the occasion of the 4^th World Conference. These are very crisp messages with very profound implications, simple to follow and with far reaching impact contributing to the welfare of the whole world. The ten audio extracts in this posting are taken from the Discourse delivered by Bhagawan in the year 1985. 

Each clip corresponds to one directive given by Bhagawan. Clip-1 is about love for the Motherland. Clip-2 talks about respecting all religions. Clip-3 appeals all to follow the principle of brotherhood. Clip-4 is about keeping our homes and environs clean. In Clip-5 Bhagawan discourages people from promoting beggary by giving charity. Instead, He advises us to provide the necessary food and shelter for the poor. Clip-6 prohibits giving and taking of bribes. Clip-7 discourages entertainment of any differences based on caste and religion. Clip-8 focuses on self-reliance. Clip-9 highlights the need to Love God and fear sin. Finally, in Clip-10 Bhagawan urges all members to follow the rules, regulations and law of the land.   

Each audio clip has a name that adopts the following code: Serial number, Title appropriate to the key content, Duration of the clip, Year-Month-Date of the Clip. Below the title is the translation in English of the select excerpt of the Discourse, followed by the audio player. The post ends with a short quiz that would help you evaluate your assimilation of Bhagawan's Message from these extracts.  

Note: Those receiving this blog by email may see words bunched together due to a technical glitch. That is beyond my control. Please click on link at the top of the email to read the blog directly. Sorry about this. If anyone has a solution to this please help me out.

01-First Directive-Love and Serve your Motherland-1.27-1985 November 21

Love and Serve your Motherland

Most importantly, today, I wish to give you ten significant principles. The first one is, “Janani Janmabhoomischa”. The land that gives birth to you is similar to the mother who gives you birth. Therefore, every individual must have pride for the nation. Whatever country one belongs to, one should develop pride for that country. As we take care of the progress of our nation, we must not nurture any criticism for other nations. While having faith in one’s own nation, one must not hate any other nation. Neither in your thoughts nor in your dream must there be any scope for betraying your country. Therefore, for any individual, pride in the motherland is very important. This is the first principle.

02-Second Directive-Respect all Religions-0.23-1985 November 21    

Respect all Religions
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The second principle is that we must respect all religions and must not have any hatred towards any of them. In addition to having pride for one’s motherland, we must also respect all religions.

03-Third Directive-Treat all as your Brothers and Sisters-0.32-1985 November 21

All are your Brothers and Sisters

The third principle is that we must love the entire humanity as our own brethren. There is only one caste, the caste of humanity. As we are all born in the human race, we must recognize that all human beings are essentially one and we must love each other accordingly. 

04-Fourth Directive-Keep your homes and the environs clean-0.41-1985 November 21

Keep your home and environs clean

From a worldly point of view, keeping the house clean, keeping the environs / surroundings of the house clean, is the fourth principle. By keeping the house and its surroundings clean, we will acquire good health and happiness too. This will be beneficial for our worldly life.

05-Fifth Directive-Do not promote beggary by giving money-Instead provide them a livelihood-1.11-1985 November 21

Provide the poor with a livelihood

Charity does not mean making our nation full of beggars. We must provide some support or livelihood for the beggars but must not give in the form of charity. We must provide them some solution; make arrangement for some shelter, and create an environment that provides them food, clothing and other conveniences from time to time. We must not keep on giving money to beggars whom we come across in the market, thus bringing a bad name to our nation as a land of beggars. Because we keep on giving alms, people in cities and villages are becoming lazy and turning into beggars. This is not good.

06-Sixth Directive-Do not give or take Bribes-0.42-1985 November 21

Do not give or take bribes

Next is the sixth principle. The practice of giving bribes and getting the work done or taking bribes to do the work, must never take place in Sathya Sai Organization. Taking bribes or giving bribes amounts to betraying the Sathya Sai Organization. All members must keep this ideal in their sight and conduct themselves with extreme caution.

07-Seventh Directive-Do not develop jealousy, hatred, envy or any differences on account of Caste or Religion-1.37-1985 November 21

No differences on account of caste or religion

Now the seventh principle. Mankind is faced with a number of problems. To seek solutions to these problems, we need to adopt and follow certain principles. Feelings of hatred and jealousy grow within us. We would need to develop broad mindedness to put a check on this hatred and jealousy. To develop this broad mindedness, we must see to it that we do give any scope for differences based on caste and religion. We must not go by caste or religion. You may follow your traditions in your home. But following your specific practices in society can lead to danger. It will lead to promoting someone and putting down someone else. Therefore, we must love each other like brothers (and sisters) and we must never encourage any differences of caste and religion.

08-Eighth Directive-Be Self-reliant-Only then can you serve others-1.04-1985 November 21

Be self-reliant

How can those who do not do their own work, serve society? Therefore, every member of the Sathya Sai Organization must do her/his own work and must not get it done by others. There could be many wealthy people, and they may keep some servants. The servants may be used to perform some tasks, but to get one’s personal work done by the servants, amount to laziness. People who succumb to such laziness can never do service to the society. One who does do service to the society does not deserve to belong to the Sathya Sai Organization. Therefore, in order to serve the society, first of all, one needs to serve oneself. This is the eighth principle.

09-Ninth Directive-Love for God and Fear of Sin-0.25-1985 November 21

Love God and Fear sin

There must be love for God and fear of sin. Love God constantly. Hate sin. So long as you commit sin, you will not get God.

10-Tenth-Observe the rules, regulations and laws of the land-1.44-1985 November 21

Observe the Laws of the Land

It is imperative for the members of the Sathya Sai Organization to follow these ten ideals. These apart, there is one more general point common to all. We must never transgress the law of the land (government). We must strictly abide by the rules of the government. Every member of the Sathya Sai Organization must experience and practice the rules and regulations along the right path, and set an ideal for the Government too. Therefore, in our Organization, we must not perform any activity that is against the law. Establishing this in your heart, you must provide the right ideals for the Organization. With this wish and Blessing you all, I bring My long discourse to a close.       

A Short Quiz

01-What are the ten Directives given by Bhagawan Baba for all members of the SSSO?

02-Have you heard of the Nine Point Code of Conduct prescribed by Bhagawan for all members of the SSSO? What are they?

Part-V of this posting would have exposed you to the ten principles / directives given by Bhagawan, way back in the year 1985, for all members of the SSSO. These ten directives are so encompassing that they cover almost the entire framework required for becoming a good, responsible citizen of the world fraternity. In the final Part-VII of this posting, Bhagawan Baba elaborates on the ninth point in the Nine Point Code of Conduct prescribed by Him for the members of the SSSO. This point relates to the concept of “Ceiling on Desires”. Kindly click here to read Part-VII....
http://hismessagehisvoice.blogspot.in/2012/09/bhagawan-sri-sathya-sai-baba-and-sri_9.html