Do not distance yourself from active social activities, for the work that you do is the work of God. If you do your work in a spirit of unity, that pleases God.
(Sathya Sai Baba – “Lectures at Kodaikanal”, 1996)
Sathya Sai Baba is the clearest example of an ideal life. It is quite obvious to me that Sathya Sai Baba is a divine Avatar who embodies the fullness of divine love and wisdom. He was born as a human and lived a wonderful human life. His life is the greatest example for each of us.
An Avatar born in the human world is always active in social activities. It may seem to us that society is a terrible and absurd space, but we see what we are ready to see. The manifested world is originally perfect, and everything happens in perfect accordance with the Divine plan.
Active work in human society is largely based on the correct alignment of one's relationship with money. If you use finances correctly, you will embody all your good ideas in the social space of human society. Money is a divine energy that God uses to develop and improve human culture.
In the Vedic tradition, the energy of money is personified by the Goddess Laxmi. Can the beautiful Goddess Laxmi be bad or sinful? Speaking in scientific terms, money is the universal equivalent of exchange. Goods and services are exchanged in human society, usually, for money.
Money is just a function in the exchange of goods and services, it cannot be sinful or righteous. With the help of money, scientific research is financed, universities are built, industry and agriculture develop, books are published, and films are made, medicine develops, new technologies are created, and much more. Think about how many good deeds are done with the help of money and with the help of the energy of the Goddess Laxmi.
Sathya Sai Baba was never engaged in business or commercial activities; he helped people, and therefore, in gratitude, many wealthy families considered it an honor to donate huge sums of money to him because they knew that he would correctly use those financial resources for the benefit of people. Sometimes people mistakenly believe that money is the cause of all evil, but in fact money is a form of divine energy.
There is a common misconception that active participation in social life interferes with spiritual practices; in particular, meditation. There is no sin in money. The cause of all problems is the selfish use of money, greed, lust for power, self-interest, and attachment to material objects. Ignorance gives rise to problems and suffering, whereas the realization of the True Self gives wisdom.
Sathya Sai Baba never married, but all his life he paid great attention to his family. He was very respectful toward his parents. When his father and mother passed away, he gave instructions to build a large tomb for them, around which there is a magnificent park. Sathya Sai Baba treated his brother and numerous relatives with care and respect. All of this is an example of how a perfect person should live and act.
The Avatar, performing His great divine mission on earth, was very active in society; for society itself is also part of divine creation. Sathya Sai Baba built a magnificent ashram where millions of people come from all over the world to study meditation and philosophy. He founded several universities, where he gathered the best teachers. Unique specialists were gathered and special programs for teaching various disciplines were developed.
In his village, He built two large modern hospitals and equipped them according to all modern standards. He founded charitable projects, including financing a drinking water supply system for a great number of villages in southern India.
There were millions and millions of people around Sathya Sai Baba who were spiritually transformed by his blessings. Numerous people from different countries were able to embark on the path of self-improvement and meditation. Of course, there were exceptions; sometimes he could bless people for the life of monasticism and the solitary practice of hermitage. However, he mainly preached on the active creative position of a person in society as being an important element of the spiritual path.