Good to see Sanathana Sarathi Jan. 2021 share Sathya Sai discourse excerpts on escaping from sorrow and Vedantic inquiry for Atma/true Self

Yesterday night I was going through Sanathana Sarathi (English) January 2021 issue (print version). It had an article covering Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's 1st Jan. 1992 discourse. Given below are some quotes of Bhagavan from this discourse-article:

'The greatest cause of bondage is the failure to know himself. An individual who is not aware of his true self cannot escape from sorrow.'

...

'Hence, the destination for man is the realisation of his divinity. This realisation must come through the Vedantic process of exclusion ("Neti, Neti" "not this, not this"). "I am not the body. I am not the intellect. I am not the Will. I am not the Antahkarana (the inner instrument)." All these are only instruments. Man should realise: "I am the master of all of them". When by this process of elimination man realises his true Self, he is freed from sorrow. Man's most precious and sacred gift from God is Buddhi (intelligence). The intelligence that should be used for seeking the Atma (soul) is being used by man today to seek Annam (food). When you are given a mirror to recognise your face, if you turn it in the reverse direction, how can you see your face? Use the mirror of Buddhi to recognise your true Self. That is known as Sakshatkara (direct vision of one's true Self).'

...

'God incarnates on earth for revealing to man his divine essence. Man has been endowed with intelligence so that he may use it for discovering the Divine within him.'

--- end quotes from Bhagavan discourse-article ---

In my considered view, Bhagavan was a very great teacher of the essence of Vedanta and the process of Vedantic inquiry to know one's true Self/Atma. I have heard Bhagavan elaborate on these in so many discourses that I have had the privilege of hearing live sitting in Sai Kulwant Hall. I have benefited enormously from these teachings of Bhagavan (from discourses I heard live as well as those I read or recorded versions that I heard/viewed).

This Vedanta teacher aspect of Bhagavan sometimes gets lost on social media as most of the social media posts on Bhagavan focus on Bhakti, miraculous power of Bhagavan, Seva activities etc. which are all important surely. 

I am glad to see that Sanathana Sarathi continues to share these powerful Vedantic teacher discourses of Bhagavan. I felt that I should share some of these Vedanta and Vedantic inquiry quotes from it on social media and so I put up this post.

[I thank Sanathana Sarathi and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above quotes from Bhagavan's discourse from their magazine, on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]