A bubble is born on water, from water and merges in water! Man is born in God and merges in God! This is the lesson India has been teaching her children as well as all men anywhere for centuries. She gave the message of divinity to humanity. Festivals like Dhasara are designed to make man aware of his divinity, to endow him with purity; to become aware of his holiness, to imprint on his heart the wisdom won by the sages after years of yearning. The monastic heads, hereditary Gurus, the leaders and rulers of the land are not inspiring people to awaken to this truth. Though millions get a glimpse of the ecstasy of union with the divine beauty and divine majesty from these festivals and pilgrimages, the real purpose of the festivals and the benefit one has to derive from the concourse of like-minded people is not understood or explained by any one. The holy teachings of our land are not being implemented by the so-called custodians of culture - the educationists, the preceptors and the Gurus.

Pilgrimages impress on people the lesson of unity; they bring together people from all corners of the world, irrespective of language or locality. The places of pilgrimage are also distributed all over the land. Festivals like the Dhasara at Prashanthi Nilayam bring together Sadhakas from all the continents, irrespective of religion, caste, creed, and color; they are all motivated by the same urge, to involve themselves more and more in attempts to realize their innate divinity. They have met here to enjoy the supreme delight in the holy presence of the Lord and to recognize the unity of all in the divine Aathmic splendor.

Discourse, Prashanthi Nilayam, 17 Oct 1972