March 10, 2026
Why do we fail to find true and lasting happiness? Bhagawan explains the mistake in our approach with a simple story today.
There was once an old woman who lost her needle when she was mending clothes in her hut. As there was no lamp in her hut and she had cataracts in her eyes, she could not find the needle. She went out and started searching for the needle under a streetlight. A student who was passing in the street asked the old woman, “Grandmother, what are you searching for?” The woman replied that she was searching for a needle. The student said, “Tell me where you lost it; I will help you in searching for it”. She replied, “I lost it when I was doing stitching work with it in my hut”. The boy asked, “Why are you searching for the needle in the street which you have lost in your hut”? The old woman said, “There is no lamp in my hut. There is light in the street. Therefore, I am searching here.” See! Lost in the house and searching in the street! This is what man is doing today. All bliss and love is within, but he foolishly searches for it outside. External love and happiness are transient. The relationship with God is eternal. The human body is impermanent. How can one derive permanent happiness from the temporary body? We do spiritual practices like yoga, meditation, and japa. They also give only temporary satisfaction. Only love for God gives eternal bliss.
– Divine Discourse, Apr 25, 1996.
Take the mind off the sensory pleasures and fix it upon God; then the feeling becomes pure; whatever you think or say or feel will be for the good of yourself and others. – BABA
With Love,
Baba
#Sri Sathya Sai
Sai Inspires (‘Thought for the Day’, originally in English) is written daily, every day of the year, on a small blackboard, at Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram, Prashanti Nilayam.
