“The Sevadal badge you wear is not a decoration item which can be secured without a price. It is a symbol of high character, generous feelings and steady and sincere endeavour. It is the external indicator of internal enthusiasm and strength, skill and faith. As iron is drawn by the magnet, and when you allow these qualities to shine through you, it will draw the dejected, the downcast and the distressed towards you. If you are proud and self-centred, blind to the kinship that binds all in fraternal love, the badge is a betrayal. Mere sentiment and empathy are of no use; they must be regulated by intelligence and skill. It is not the quantity of service you do that matters; nor is the variety. It is the inner joy, the love that you radiate that is important.”

“Do not consider this badge as an ordinary call for duty, it is a step for spiritual upliftment and a tool for the cultivation of love.” “You must realise now that this badge which I gave you is not a passport for easy life; it means strenuous routine, the giving up of comfort, the acceptance of hard toil, sleeplessness and sacrifice.”

“It is a badge which a “servant” alone is entitled to wear, not a master lording over others. The badges rest on your hearts, don’t they? If your hearts are filled with pride, and a sense of superiority over others who have no badge on their chests, then, the hearts themselves will be affected by the evil aroused by this decoration.”

“When you disregard or disrespect the badge, you are disregarding and disrespecting your own inner reality.”

“It does not allow you to exercise authority over any one or appropriate anything from any one. It is a call and a challenge for you, to provide comfort and consolation to those in need, to seek out means and methods to increase the ways in which you can help others and contribute to their joy.”

“This scarf and this badge confer on you the right to declare that Prashanthi Nilayam is your home. Keep that in mind and do not behave in any manner that will tarnish the brightness of that declaration.”

“Do not feel that this is an obligation imposed on you by the rules of the Organisation or by the person nominated as your leader. Do not feel that the scarf and badge that you wear are impediments to freedom. They are reminders of the high mission to which you have been initiated, the keys to your Realisation of reality through the saadhana of seva.”

“Do not put the badge in your pocket when your work here is over and the festival in finished, and when you leave for home to resume your old avocations and your discarded habits. This is not a three-day thamaasha (show). This is a life-time’s pilgrim march. The badge must get inscribed on the heart, indelibly, for life.”