Students in the Interview Room with Sri Sathya Sai

September 9,1991

On this day, Swami graciously blessed the 1st MBA boys with an interview. Bhagavan profoundly delivered this sweet message for almost two hours. 

Student : Where are we going Swami? (Destination) 

Sathya Sai with Students in the Prasanthi Nilayam Interview Room

Swami : You are going from hostel to the Institute, Institute to the Mandir and back to the hostel, like a triangle. (Jokingly)

Swami : What is education?

Student : Concentration of mind.

Swami : Yes, concentration of mind. Not merely collection of facts. But all of you are collecting information.

Swami : (Asking the question) What is man made up of? (He Himself told) Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide. Trees are made up of three elements; Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide. Man exhales Carbon Dioxide and trees receive it and give Oxygen to man. This is how balance is maintained. The sun is made up of Hydrogen and Helium. Hydrogen burns but Helium does not. When both the gases are present together, how can Hydrogen alone burn and not Helium? There is a balance existing between them. Who has created the gases there?

Scientists combine Hydrogen and Oxygen to prepare water. But who has created this Hydrogen and Oxygen? When you churn the ocean of milk, you first get poison and then comes Amrita (nectar). Similarly when humanity is churned, you get Vairagya (detachment). When you question yourself, ‘Am I the body?’, you realise that the body is made up of flesh, blood, bones, urine and excreta, then you will get detachment. Though the body looks good on the outside, it is dirty inside. Life is momentary.

Youth is like lightning - it does not last long.

Desires are like passing clouds.

Beauty is like a flower that blossoms in the morning,

And dries up in the evening.

Sathya Sai with Students in the Interview Room at Prasanthi Nilayam

Swami : The other day when I asked you, “Who am I?” and “Who are you?”, nobody could answer. From dawn to dusk you say, “My pant, my pencil, etc.”, but who is this I, I, I? If you think you are the body - it is a water bubble. If you think you are the mind - it is a mad monkey. If you think you are the senses-sensual pleasures are momentary. Everything in the world is interplay of reaction, resound and reflection. Whatever the students do, it will come back to them. But Swami is like the pure mirror, reflecting whatever is in the front. You do Namaskar in front of the mirror; the image will do the same. If you show threatening gestures, it will show the same. What is the meaning of ‘Pratiphal’? 

Students : Reaction, Swami.

Swami : Correct. But people do not think about Karmaphal (reaction of one's actions). Whatever you do will came back to you. Everyone comes alone into this world. You do not come even with a piece of cloth around you. While leaving (this world), you do not even leave an address and go. Husband does not tell his wife his future address, mother does not tell her son, etc. No one knows where he or she will go. It is only the good and bad alone that you do in this world that will follow you even after death. The Jeeva (individual soul) is like the reflection. Nature is the mirror that reflects the reality of God. Once you remove the reflection and the mirror, God alone will exist. What is bad?

Students : Swami, something that is not good.

Swami : What is not good? See, I always tell ‘Help Ever, Hurt Never’. Shakuni used to hurt and that too he used to hurt good people. Hurting good people is really bad. That is why he was finished in the end.

Source: Students with Sai Conversations Part 1 (1991-2000)