就是恩典，受苦的人得到的就是我的恩典。只有通过受苦，他们才会反求诸内。而若不向内探求，他们绝不能避开苦痛。
由于各种不当的欲望，人们渴望实践之但都失败了，而陷入痛苦的深渊。他们太执着于物质世界的价值。只有在执着增大时，你才承受痛苦和哀伤。
用石头敲击一粒青绿的罗望子果实，你会伤到果实内的果肉，但敲击成熟的果实来看看会有什么结果。脱落的是干瘪的外皮；果肉与果核不受影响。成熟的求道者不感到命运的冲击；只有不成熟的人才会受到任何打击的伤害。
苦与乐是同样体验的正反面。苦尽乐来，乐尽苦来。如果你邀请一瞎子共进晚餐，你必须同时准备两个盘子，因为他有另一人带他过来。苦与乐是不可分割的同伴。
作为学生，你很清楚，大学规定年终时必有一些考试。你不会视这制度为对你的虐待吧？你认为那是一个不愉快的征兆吗?你知道这些考试之所以执行就是为了让你提升，不是吗？瑜伽师，求道者都受到神的试炼以提升他们。
当挫败或困扰降临时，你们有一些人会觉得我忽视了你们。然而，只有这样的障碍才能使你的个性变得刚强并使你的信心变得坚定。当你要挂一张图画于墙壁上时，你试一试，摇一摇铁钉，看看是否够坚硬去承受图画的重量。同样，为了避免神（祂的影像寓于你心中）的图画掉下以至于破碎，插入心墙的铁钉（神的名号）必须试一试，摇一摇以确定它够坚定和安稳。
甘蔗应该接受切割，砍劈和挤压以及煮沸和扭折的过程，那是它理应承受的。没有这些严峻的考验甘蔗会变得干枯而不甜美。那么人也一样，必须受到苦难的磨炼，而唯有苦难才给内在心灵带来温馨甜美。
如果一个母亲有两个儿子而其中一个儿子病倒了，她会给生病的儿子吃的只是苦药而给另一个儿子他所要的任何东西。她这么做不是偏爱。母亲认识到苦口的良药对生病的儿子有益，但不是因为她爱他较少。
对那些外在与斯瓦米有“距离”的人，他的训诫就不若那些“亲近”的人严格。人们以斯瓦米的“亲近” 信徒来判断斯瓦米，因此，那些“亲近”者必须遵行严格的行为准则。
神护佑他的信徒。神亲近，也爱他的信徒，而他一路护送信徒一生平平安安。
无论如何，你不应该屈服于困难和悲伤，怀疑和沮丧之下。你必须信心满满。对自己要有信心并致力于理解神之爱的本质。获得那爱是人生的神圣目标。
你认为我会无故地让你面对痛苦吗？开敞你的心扉迎接痛苦，就如你现在迎接快乐一样，因为那是我的旨意，是我为你好而精心制作的。要视之为一种挑战而加以接受。不要躲避它。不要听从你心念的使唤，因为心念只是“需求”的另一个字眼。心念产生需求；它以这世界彰显，因为它需要这世界。这都是我的计划，借未满足的需要所带来的剧痛去推动你，从而使你聆听我的声音，而在你听到时，它熔化你的自我和心念。
It is grace; those who suffer have my grace. Only through suffering will they be persuaded to turn inward and make the inquiry. And without turning inward and making inquiry, they can never escape misery.
People suffer because they have all kinds of unreasonable desires and they pine to fulfill them and they fail. They attach too much value to the objective world. It is only when attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief.
Strike a green tamarind fruit with a stone and you cause harm to the pulp inside, but strike the ripe fruit and see what happens. It is the dry rind that falls off; nothing affects the pulp or the seed. The ripe sadhaka (aspirant) does not feel the blows of fate or fortune; It is the unripe man who is wounded by every blow.
Joy and grief are the obverse and reverse of the same experience. Joy is when grief ends; grief is when joy ends. When you invite a blind man for dinner, you must set on the table two plates, for he comes along with another man who will lead him in. Grief and joy are inseparable companions.
Being students, you know very well that the university has prescribed certain examinations at the end of every academic year. Do you ascribe this system to any desire for persecuting you? Do you think it is a sign of displeasure? You know that they are conducted so that you can be promoted, don’t you? The yogis, sadhaks, and aspirants are being tested by God only to promote them.
Some of you feel neglected by me when disappointment or trouble comes upon you. But such obstacles alone can toughen your character and make your faith firm. When you hang a picture on the wall, you shake the nail and find out whether it is firm enough to bear the weight of the picture. So, too, in order to prevent the picture of God (his image in your mind and heart) from falling and being shattered to bits, the nail (i.e., God’s name) driven into the wall of the heart has to be shaken to ascertain whether it is firm and steady.
Sathya Sai Speaks 7, p.444
The sugarcane should welcome the cutting, the hacking and the crushing, the boiling and the straining to which it is subjected; without these ordeals, the cane would dry up and make no tongue sweet. So, too, man must welcome trouble, for that alone brings sweetness to the spirit within.
If a mother has two sons and one of them is sick, she will give the sick son only bitter medicine, while she may give the other son anything that he may ask for. If she gives bitter medicine to one son and sweets to the other, it is not because the mother likes one son more than the other. The mother realizes that it is for the good of the sick child to take bitter medicine, and so she gives him a bitter medicine, but not because she likes him less.
People, those outwardly “distant” from Swami, he tells, but not so severely as those “near”. People judge Swami by his “near” devotees and so those individuals must follow very strict standards of behavior.
God protects his devotees. His devotee is near and dear to God, and he carries the devotee safely through life.
You should not allow yourselves to be overwhelmed in any way by difficulties and sorrows, doubts and disappointments. You must have faith. Have confidence in yourself and strive to understand well the nature of God’s love. To secure that love is the sacred goal of human life.
