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soccer games, PTA meetings, and family gatherings. We tried to be balanced and encouraged our daughters’ interests in many directions: dancing, sports, art, and music.
However, most of our friends and extended family members were mystified by our devotion to Sai Baba, and were disinterested or even disapproving, so we couldn’t share with them the central focus of our lives. Many felt uncomfortable with our vegetarian diet and with the large pictures of Sai Baba in our home. When our daughters went to sixth-grade summer camp for a week, they stood out from others because they brought some of their own food since meat was the main ingredient in camp meals. Our daughters couldn’t share an important part of their lives with most of their childhood friends, and they were sometimes jokingly called the “Sai-Baa- bees.” They felt slightly different because of their vegetarian diet and their parents’ spiritual beliefs, and thus were happy for the support of one another.
We wondered, how could we integrate all the elements in our lives, and how could we help our children do so? We determined that the problem was faulty vision; worldly life appears to be separate from spiritual life when they are actually one and the same. We taught the unified principle to our daughters that only by puing spiritual principles into practice in the world can we develop a flawless character. As Sai Baba says, “The blemishes of the heart have to be washed by the moral life and the doing of one’s duty.” When all acts are infused with love, then everything becomes sacred: our work and play time, as well as prayer time—soccer games, as well as Sabbath days.
Do not tell students that the world is an illusion. It is intensely real so long as we are present here. Let people live lives with deep interest in the process. For a meal that takes up a few minutes, we take great trouble to make it a tasty, delightful experience. Then, for a life that covers long decades should we not take the
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