"Remember always that it is easy to do what is pleasant. But it is very difficult to be engaged in what is beneficial. Not all that is pleasant is profitable. Success comes to those who give up the path strewn with roses and brave the hammer blows and sword thrusts of the path fraught with danger. As a matter of fact, no road is strewn with rose petals. Life is a battle field (a Dharmkshetra), where duties and desires are always in conflict. Smother the fiery fumes of desire, of hatred and anger that rise up in your hearts; it is sheer cowardice to yield to these enemies that turn you into beasts. Meet all obstacles with courage. Difficulties make you tough and strong." 

-Sathya Sai Baba - Divine Discourse, Feb 20, 1965

"Service to your fellow beings is more needed than service to the Lord. In fact, serving a person is equal to serving the Lord Himself. That is the path of true devotion. For what greater means can there be to please God than that of pleasing His children? The scripture Purusha Suktha describes God as having a thousand heads, eyes and feet. That is to say, every living being is God. Though there is a mention of a thousand heads, there is no mention of a thousand hearts, there is only one heart. The same blood circulates through all the heads, eyes, feet and limbs. When you tend to the limb, you tend to the individual. When you serve a human being, you serve God. When your goal is to serve and adore God, every step will yield in you a spring of joy, and every moment, every opportunity is a valuable gift from Him." 

-Sathya Sai Baba - Divine Discourse, March 1966