Contemplation: Cooking and Eating

Contemplation:  Cooking and Eating

Swami Prabhupada – in an ISKCON kitchen

Cooking and Eating

Cook and eat with powerful vibrations. By placing great importance on cooking and eating with loving and peaceful vibrations, you will nourish both mind and body.

Beauty is Life

When we are connected with the true spirit and beauty of life we can be
tireless. It means that we allow nothing to take away the color and the
beauty of life. It comes from an appreciation of the variety that life
brings. Even in a difficult situation we need to remind ourselves that
we can only enjoy the beauty of life if we are able to appreciate
equally all that life brings. As much as we enjoy success, we also need
to enjoy learning from our failures.

Rising Above Limits

From the moment the soul has occupied the physical body, it has been living a life completely surrounded and absolutely controlled by limits. The domination of these limits has been increasing as it has taken body after body. Not just physical limits such as of gender or power, money or material possessions, but of time - the time I spend with my children, the time it takes me to finish a particular task, the time my friendship lasts, the time it takes me to drive to the office, etc.

The beauty of meditation is that it detaches me from the consciousness of the body and as a result I rise above these physical limits and limits of time. I experience the pure and very importantly, free and independent consciousness of the soul. I step out of the boundaries of both space and time. I begin to feel my own eternity, in which I simply am, without a beginning or an end. I existed before the formation of the body and I shall exist after it has returned to dust.

This awareness of my eternal (with no beginning or end) identity is powerful, because it removes the fear of death. With that goes away a lot of the ego-driven, pressure filled behavior, the desperate need to make a mark through my profession or material objects which I own or in my relationships. This is the behavior in which I indulge when there isn't the realization of my eternal identity.

I, the soul, become aware of a continuity to my existence. Very importantly, I am also able to have the feeling of a place that is my eternal home, a place of rest, of peace, of complete stillness and silence. It is my place from where I began my journey. I exist in that home, and I come from that home to play my role on Earth, and I return there when my role is completed. This realization makes me internally full, fearless and content.

Soul Sustenance

Fulfilling Desires By Changing Your Belief System (Part 1) 

One most important characteristic that differentiates the Supreme Soul from human souls is that the Supreme Soul is the only entity that exists in this World Drama that is completely desire-less and remains that way eternally. If we were to make a list of desires that human beings have, we would name a lot many and various different types of desires. 

Whatever karma or action any soul performs at different points in the World Drama, whether positive or even negative, pure or even impure, they are all performed to fulfill these different types of desires. But when seen from a spiritual perspective, whatever the external form of the desire may be, the internal desire is always very simple – to go back to its eternal (or inert) state of peace or original state of peace, love, joy and power. 

The eternal or inert state of each soul is the state in which it exists before it begins its journey of birth and rebirth, when it resides in the soul world and the original state of each soul is the state in which it exists when it has just begun its journey of birth and rebirth i.e. at the beginning of the birth-rebirth cycle. Even negative karmas based on the personality traits of anger, greed, ego, lust, etc. may externally seem to be filled with violence or impurity, but internally, each time any soul performs such karmas, all it desires is a return to its eternal and original state (we shall explain this in tomorrow’s message). But it does not realize how these karmas take the soul away and not close to these states. 

This is where the role of the Supreme Soul comes in. The Supreme Soul is completely desire-less and possesses the capability, knowledge and power to fulfill these desires of the soul. 

Being the Supreme Teacher, He guides and teaches us what are the right karmas or actions that can help us fulfill our desires and take us closer to our eternal and original state and which actions, take us away from it. Also He is the only one who can teach us how to connect with Him so that these desires are fulfilled, because he is the Ocean of all the qualities that exist inside us in our eternal and original state and connecting with Him fills us with these qualities. The connection and the right actions, both, are vital for our progress.

(To be continued tomorrow…)

Message for the day

The one who is clean and clear inside is the one who becomes a mirror for others. 

Expression: When there is the ability to realize and bring about a change, there is also the ability to make oneself clear and clean inside. Such a person naturally becomes a clean mirror for others to see their own perfection. He becomes an inspiration for those around for bringing about the best from within. 

Experience: Each and every moment of my life, when I am able to work to bring about a change in myself constantly, I am able to remain in touch with my inner qualities. I have the joy of experiencing my inner perfection, which naturally flows and touches the lives of those around.