Yajna (sacrifice) means "giving up" or "renunciation". What exactly has to be given up? Riches? That is easy enough. One's home? That too is not hard. Does it mean retiring into a forest, breaking away from kith and kin? Many have done so and become proud of it. The renunciation (thyaga) that thesacrifice (yajna) demands is the casting off of pomp, pride, envy, greed, in short, the ego itself. Every rite laid down in the Veda (ancient Indian scriptures) has this aim only - to promote selflessness and Universal Love. Concentration on sensual gratification, anger, fury, hatred - these are bestial characteristics. Man must be ashamed to have even a trace of such traits. The characteristics of human nature are, and ought to be - love, forbearance, detachment, renunciation and truth.

- Divine Discourse, December 21, 1982.

The God-centred person has three qualities: Purity, Perseverance and Patience. - Baba