Bhagavan’s mission is to bring about a spiritual transformation, in order to save mankind from the abysmal depths of materialism into which it is blindly heading at present. His self-imposed task is to weed out the vices in man and nourish the virtues. For this purpose, He emphasizes, in private interviews and public discourses, as well as in His talks to groups of workers in the Sathya Sai Seva Organization, the Sathya Sai Sevadal, or students of the Sathya Sai or other colleges, the supreme value of three D’s: duty, discipline, and devotion.

These are not accidental accompaniments to His spiritual teachings, or just ornamental fringes of His message. They are the central cores of His mission. They are vital to the crucial task of reviving spiritual values; they are the keys to opening the gateway to the exciting discovery of the Divine in man, a discovery for which Bhagavan is calling all of us. He relentlessly exhorts us to “realize the Sai that is resident in your hearts”.

In these critical days, duty, discipline, and devotion are a trinity of virtues that are indispensable to the survival of man. They stand for the three dimensions of human existence, the three relationships which mark out the life of man on earth: man’s relationship with his own inner self, which is governed by discipline; man’s relationship with society, governed by duty; and man’s relationship with God, governed by devotion.

Bhagavan does not wish to make saints of us, detached from humankind or material ties; neither does He advise us to become rishis [sages] engaged in undisturbed meditation in Himalayan solitudes. He wants us to live, free and full, in all three dimensions—individual, social, and spiritual. In other words, He encourages us to live our lives in awareness of the Divinity of which we are the expressions, unaffected by the sordid realities that may be around us. And, for such a life, the trio of the three D’s are invaluable guides.

Bhagavan speaks of discipline as the first of these three. Discipline to what end? The personal and direct experiences of the individual constitute his private life. His yearnings and urges, his strengths and weaknesses, his emotions and passions—these define, to a large extent, his path in life. Discipline is meant to train the mind, to regulate the passions and emotions, and to resist the temptations that assail us from all around. When passions are allowed to run wild, man reduces himself to the level of a beast.

Driven by the mad urges of unbridled passion, man descends into evil, vice, and sin. Then he can never be at peace with himself, for he will be troubled by his conscience. As long as evil remains unconquered, the conflict between that and the good in us goes on unabated. As a result, man cannot attain inner harmony or achieve awareness of the Divinity latent in him. Discipline therefore, helps us to reach these goals and realize the God in us.

The second D is duty. When Bhagavan speaks of duty, to whom is that duty due? Man does not, and cannot live in isolation. He lives in a social milieu with all its myriad activities, problems, and entanglements. He cannot escape his responsibilities and obligations to the society that has fostered, guarded, taught, and shaped him.

Indeed, our attitude to, and our relationship with, society are largely defined by our sense of duty. Those who have a sense of duty know that service to humanity is service to God. Such men refuse to be corrupted by temptations. The evils of society today such as nepotism, adulteration of food, hoarding etc., can be traced to the dwindling sense of duty to society. Dharma [right action] is dislodged wherever the black marketeer or hoarder is respected and an honest man treated as a fool. A major plank therefore, in Bhagavan’s program is to inculcate in  everyone a sense of duty to society.

The third virtue Bhagavan insists upon is devotion. Devotion to whom? Obviously it is to God. Devotion develops the third dimension of man’s personality. It transcends the limits of man as an individual or even as a member of society. Devotion to God awakens and purifies our deepest yearnings – for peace, bliss, power, and tranquility. It deals with the problems of life and death, sin and destiny. Devotion does not mean mechanical chanting of mantras  [holy formulae] with ritual regularity. God’s grace cannot be won by duplicity. True devotion reflects itself in every sphere of activity, both public and private. It should keep us at peace with ourselves, and with society. Only then can it earn Bhagavan’s grace.

The three D’s are not mutually exclusive; rather, they are complementary to one another.  Unification of these virtues and a harmonious growth of all these dimensions of a human being are the real aims of Bhagavan’s teachings. If one aspect outgrows the other, that personality becomes distorted. The three D’s form a trident, with which we can fight evil, subdue the ego, and lift the human in us to the heights of the Divine.

Many Sai devotees try to scrupulously follow the three D’s. Anyone who comes across a circle of Sai devotees cannot fail to notice the sense of humility, modesty, duty, and devotion with which they go about their mundane pursuits. Many of them live their lives with a sense of strict discipline, do their duty with selfless zeal, and they are next to none in the practice of devotion. Always Godfearing, ever conscious of their duty to their fellow men, they are free from many of the social evils and private sins responsible for the moral and spiritual decay of the world today.

If this message of Bhagavan is spread in every nook and corner of the world, and if mankind embraces the values of duty, discipline, and devotion, a new era will dawn and new beings will emerge. These people will have minds guided by the noblest concept of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God. We know that this springtime in the evolution of man is not far away.

[J. Srihari Rao, Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Sept. 1974]