Steadiness of mind

There is no scar on the sky, though clouds, stars, the sun and the moon all appear to streak across it. So too let a thousand ideas streak across the mind, ensure that your mind remains unaffected and serene. Get firm in mind; then, your reason also will not deviate. Without that equanimity or shanthi, you can get no soukhyam (happiness). Saint Kabir had no food for three days – but he thanked God for giving him the coveted chance of observing a ritual fast. The great devotee of Rama, Saint Ramadas was confined in prison – and he thanked God that he got a place where he could meditate on Him without disturbances. Such is the attitude of the saintly, those who are the beloved of the Lord. Sri Sathya Sai Baba - Divine Discourse, May 23, 1965.

Karma

The Law of Karma is not an irreversible iron law. Dedication to the divine and purification of thoughts, words and deeds invite divine benediction. The effects of karma can be modified and its rigour, mitigated through grace. When vices hold sway over your heart, it becomes foul and sooty. The flames of desire, anger and miserliness (kaama, krodha and lobha) leave char within your heart. Do not despair or lose heart if vices trouble you. There is no place where God is not present. There is no being to whom He denies blessings. Grace manifests itself by quenching the flames within your heart and confers bliss which desire, anger and miserliness can never confer. God is immanent and eternal. Follow the path and obey the ideals laid down by the Lord with relentless discipline. Your mind will be purified and divine grace will be ref lected therein. Sri Sathya Sai Baba - Divine Discourse, Apr 10, 1965.

The one that is free and aware of Divinity

When Arjuna prayed that Krishna must tell him the true characteristics of a Sthithaprajna, the Lord explained that a Stithaprajna is free from all desire and is stable in the knowledge and awareness of the Divine (Atma) alone. This state can be attained by two processes: first negative and then positive. The former is to give up all the promptings of desire in the mind and the latter is to implant therein ever-present joy. In the negative process, remove all the seedlings of wrong and evil from the mind; and in the positive process, grow and reap the crop of attachment to God. The pleasures the senses draw from the objective world are weeds; the crop is attachment to God. The mind is a bundle of wishes, and unless these wishes are removed by destroying their roots, there is no hope of vanquishing the mind. When the mind vanishes, the Stithaprajna is made.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Spiritual practice

The cycle of birth and death cannot be got rid of by scholarship. Hence start with this first lesson. Cleanse your mind and journey to that realm where you see God in everyone, everywhere, at all times, through uninterrupted remembrance of your chosen Lord. This is the most effective spiritual practice.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba -
Divine Discourse, Mar 16, 1966

We must not be carried away by our skill in yoga practise. However much we can do the asanas with understanding, it does not matter. This affects only the body. Our very outlook must change. Dr Krishna Raman