Teachings of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

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WATCH

Watch Your Words, Actions, 

Thoughts, Character, Heart

The Real Watch Is When You Watch Your Words, Actions, Thoughts, Character, and 

Heart, Not the One You Wear on Your Wrist

You Cannot Escape the Consequences of Your Sinful Acts. Watch How You 

Speak to Others - Abusing Others Is a Sin

Observe Total Silence - Silence Is Golden

Watch Your Thoughts - Each Time a Thought Arises, Analyse It.

Welcome Only Good Thoughts

some form or the other. Hence, exer-

cise control over the tongue.

Silence Is Golden

Buddha observed silence and became 

quiet. Every sacred act has manifold re-

wards. By being quiet, Buddha began 

to experience Soham (“I am That”) 

within Him. You may chant the names 

of Rama, Krishna, Govinda, Buddha, 

and Sai to steady your mind. Once 

the mind becomes steady, you do not 

need to chant. Observe total silence. 

That is why it is said, silence is golden. 

Once words become less, the activities 

and vagaries of the mind also become 

less. As words increase, the vagaries of 

the mind also increase. Annihilate the 

mind by quietude. However, it is easier 

said than done. Man may die, but the 

mind will not die. The mind vanishes 

when words vanish from it.

T

he word WATCH has an im-

portant message to convey. 

WATCH means:

W – Watch your Words

A – Watch your Actions

T – Watch your Thoughts 

C – Watch your Character 

H – Watch your Heart

The watch you have may break some 

day or the other. But this “watch” is 

unbreakable. So, possess this “watch.” 

Watch whether you are speaking good 

or bad. Watch whether you abuse others 

or appreciate them. You should not use 

your tongue to abuse others. Abusing 

others is a sin. Do not let your tongue 

indulge in such sins. You cannot escape 

the consequences of your sinful acts. 

Everything has reaction, reflection, and 

resound, and it comes back to you in 

Do Not Give Room to Doubt and 

Hesitation

Determination is the fifth D. It is 

like the reins of a horse. When you 

want to achieve something, you must 

have the determination and persistence 

to secure it by all your efforts. No room 

should be given to doubts and hesita-

tions. There is nothing on Earth that 

cannot be achieved with firm determi-

nation.

Starting with dedication, you end 

with determination. There is no use 

relying solely on book knowledge or 

mere intellectual cleverness. There 

must be firm faith in God as the basis 

of everything.

There is one kind of pest that affects 

the leaves and branches of a tree. There 

is another that destroys the root of a 

tree. Likewise, hypocrisy is a human 

pest that can spoil a good man. The 

hypocrite is not merely an actor. He 

poses as a devotee externally but is re-

ally evil-minded. He leads a double life. 

It is dangerous to associate with such 

persons. Many good men in the world 

have come to grief because of their as-

sociation with such pretenders.

Worldly and Divine Love

Love is of two kinds: one related to 

the physical and the other related to the 

Divine. All the fears and delusions af-

flicting the world, all the chaos and vio-

lence prevalent today are due primarily 

to physical attachments. These are also 

responsible for the falsehood, corrup-

tion, and other evils rampant in soci-

ety. Divine love knows no differences 

among individuals and nations. Ego-

istic attachments and selfishness are at 

the root of all human troubles and con-

flicts. Physical love should be confined 

to strict limits. If the Divine conscious-

ness were not present within, of what 

use would the body be? It would be as 

useless as a school without teachers, a 

farm without water, a temple without 

a deity.

You must develop divine love. You 

must be resolute in striving to achieve 

what you aim at. Only then will your 

devotion and discipline bear fruit. 

There is no meaning in parading one’s 

devotion. The external human form 

has no significance. You must be hu-

man in your actions and feelings. By 

reforming your conduct and purify-

ing your thoughts and actions, sanctify 

your lives. That alone is true education, 

which will lead to Self-realisation.

1

References

  1. Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume XXI, Chapter 5: 

The Five Ds.

 2. Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 32, Part 1, 

Chapter 15: Control Your Senses.

 3. Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 32, Part 2, 

Chapter 3: Recognise the principle of “I.”

  4. Summer Showers in Brindavan 2000, Chap-

ter 1: Seek Educare Instead of Just Educa-

tion.

  5. Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 25, Chapter 15: 

Rise from Animality to Divinity.

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low level. This should not be what is 

meant by “educare.” Educare is bring-

ing out the latent Divinity in a human 

being. Whatever words you speak, 

you must watch whether they are the 

result of your education or educare. 

Today, nobody is keeping this watch. I 

often refer to the spelling of the word, 

WATCH. The spelling consists of five 

letters, namely, W A T C H. These let-

ters stand for:

W – Watch your Words

A – Watch your Actions

T – Watch your Thoughts 

C – Watch your Character 

H – Watch your Heart

The real watch is when you keep 

a watch on your words, actions, 

thoughts, character, and heart, not the 

one you wear on your wrist. The wrist-

watch may go for repair, but the word 

“watch” will never be damaged. It will 

always bring purity of thought, word, 

and deed. How great these words are! 

Education in the olden days contrib-

uted to making man a noble and ideal 

human being.

3

Watch Your Thoughts and See That 

They Do Not Go Astray

Do not waste your thoughts, for it 

makes your mind unsteady and waver-

ing. (Showing His handkerchief) What 

is this? This is a cloth. No, this is not a 

cloth but a bundle of threads. Not even 

threads, it is just cotton. Without cot-

ton, there can be no threads, and with-

out threads there can be no cloth. Like-

wise, the mind is nothing but a bundle 

of thoughts. Therefore put a check on 

your thoughts. Even the wealth you 

acquire and the food you eat must be 

within a certain limit. Food is God; do 

not waste it. 

You should help others, never hurt 

them. Help ever, hurt never. These are 

some of the guidelines for purpose-

ful living that you must follow. He is 

a blessed one who conducts himself in 

such a way that he does not hurt oth-

ers nor is he hurt in the process. You 

have to learn these skills, which are 

not available in textbooks. Watch your 

thoughts, and see that they do not go 

astray. Each time a thought arises in 

your mind, analyse it. Is it good or bad? 

If you feel it is bad, do not allow it to 

persist. Just let it pass. If it is a good 

thought, put it into practice so that you 

and others also will be benefited.

4

Achieve Awareness 

of the Atmic Reality

Desire breeds wishes. Wishes cause 

birth and death. When one is devoid of 

desire, one need not go through birth 

and death. The next birth is the result 

of unfulfilled desires in this life and is 

determined by them. Those who have 

no trace of desire for material objects 

can achieve the awareness of the Atmic 

Reality.

In fact, the desire to know God, to 

love God, and to be loved by God is 

not a desire that binds. When aware-

ness of God dawns in all its splendour, 

every worldly, sensual desire is reduced 

to ashes in the flames of that awareness. 

The individual Self will turn toward the 

Universal Self as soon as desire comes 

to an end and the Self delights in su-

preme peace. The Self must break off 

it can also bind. Yoga is the restraint 

of the waves natural to the mind. By 

learning and practising the disciplines 

of  yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, 

prathyahara, dharana, dhyana, and  sa-

madhi (abstention from evil-doing, 

various observances, postures, control 

of breath, restraining the sense organs, 

concentration, meditation, absorption 

in the Atma), the seeker can overcome 

and eliminate the mind.

When the mind is eliminated, the 

reality will become patent! It is like the 

discovery of the lost “tenth man.” Ten 

friends waded across a river in floods, 

and when they reached the bank oppo-

site, each one took a count and found 

only nine, for he did not count himself! 

So, they inferred that “the tenth man” 

was drowned and began lamenting his 

loss. Then, a passerby came along and 

counted them; he found that all were 

there; the tenth man too was there; 

only ignorance had kept him unrec-

ognised. This is the consequence of 

illusion. Since you do not know the 

real nature of the Self or Atma, you do 

not recognise the Self at all; when this 

knowledge is communicated by the 

guru or scripture, the ignorance of the 

Self disappears.

2

Keep a Watch on Your Words

Dear students! You are pursuing 

your education in a sacred atmosphere. 

You must continue to develop this at-

mosphere later in your life. Modern 

science is, of course, great. But, your 

senses are at a low level. Along with sci-

ence, the senses must also be raised to 

a higher level. Today, we are leading a 

high-level life, keeping our senses at a 

Observing silence is one of the ways 

of silencing the mind. That is why our 

ancients practised silence. We should 

not allow the mind to go wherever 

it likes and do whatever it likes. We 

should not allow the mind to ridicule, 

hurt, and hate others. If you hurt any-

body, you will be hurt ten times more. 

You may be proud that you have abused 

somebody. But there will be somebody 

who will abuse you also someday. The 

sin you commit today will bring ret-

ribution to you later amplified mani-

fold.

1

Do Not Encourage the Mind 

to Follow Its Whims

You are easily led astray by the va-

garies of the mind. That is why, I say, 

WATCH! W is for watch your Words; 

A is for watch your Actions; T is for 

watch your Thoughts; C is for watch 

your Character; H is for watch your 

Heart. If the watch reminds you every 

second of the need to watch these five, 

you can be quite happy.

The mind swings like a pendulum 

between one pleasant object and an-

other. To stop the pendulum, the easi-

est means is to stop winding. That will 

put an end to the swing. So too, stop 

encouraging the mind by following its 

whims and fancies. When we beat an-

other or cause harm to him, we justify 

it as only right and proper; when he 

beats us or harms us, we revolt and call 

it wrong and punishable.

The Mind Is a Double-Edged Sword

Everything is judged by us on the 

touchstone of the ego. The mind is a 

double-edged sword – it can save, but 

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