Daily Positive Thoughts: January 08, 2016: Calm and Clear

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 08, 2016: Calm and Clear

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 Giving Correction:

At some point, we all have to correct someone about something. 

To give corrections without offending and insulting, isn't just about when, how, and what you say.

To ensure corrections are sincere:
1) Check your intentions. If your intention is to support the person, then there will be power in your words.
2) Have good wishes for the person and fill your words with good wishes. Good wishes help your corrections to be taken in the right spirit.

Providing Emotional Support To Your Loved Ones

What do we do when friends and loved ones come to us for, and expect emotional support from us? Spirituality teaches us the right technique of providing emotional support - the technique of detached involvement, which is the technique of not being overawed, of not being affected ourselves by the emotions of others.  If a friend, colleague or any loved one is upset and we also get upset (because we love them - that's what we normally say), we cannot provide them the necessary support or the assistance to see why they are reacting emotionally and how they might change the nature of their emotions by themselves.  True love for someone would mean that I am able to provide them that. While being concerned is fine, but by becoming upset, seeing them upset simply aggravates the situation and adds fuel to their fire.

By remaining detached, we can be more effective in our ability to care, listen and help them think clearly about the situation, they find themselves in.   Only if we are stable, and that can happen only when we are detached, will we be able to provide them stability.  We can encourage and empower them to change their negative reaction to a more positive response, and thereby generate a healthier energy.   If we become over-involved in someone else's problems, there is a risk that our own judgment will be affected negatively.  This is why making decisions and choices under the influence of your own and others' emotions is normally ineffective.

Soul Sustenance

The Lamp Of  Hope 

You create the future basing yourself on what you think, feel and do in the present. If you act according to your values, it is easy for you to trust in your destiny. That strengthens your hope that all will go well, and, if it doesn’t, you know and trust your inner resources or treasures to be able to deal with things and change. That trust feeds the enthusiasm, the motor energy that, along with motivation and passion, helps us to advance.

When you lose courage and you feel weak, when you feel insecure and do not see with clarity where to go towards, hope lights the way for you to carry on going forward. If you fall, get up again and carry on looking ahead. Don't look back. Don't let your past be a burden that is too heavy and prevents you from advancing. Focus your vision on your objective and on all your potential to achieve it.

Whatever happens, keep the lamp of hope lit. You can. You will achieve it. Change will become reality. You will free yourself from the shadows of fears, blockages and the other limitations that weaken you.

Live each situation as an opportunity. Learn from criticism and failures. On living life as a constant opportunity for personal growth and learning, you keep hope always alive.

Give yourself moments of silence on beginning each day, during the day and on finishing the day, to connect with your inner self. That way your awareness stays awake, the lamp of your hope, your motivation and your values remains lit.

Message for the day

When you are content you can give the experience of contentment to others too. 

Expression: Each day check if you are content with what you are doing. Also check if others are content with what you are doing in your life. If there is an experience of contentment within yourself others will be content with you.

Experience: At the end of each day, make a mental list of all that you have attained for the day, things that you are happy about. This will enable you to be content even during the phase when things are not going so smooth, because you are able to look at the positive aspect too.
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 07, 2016: Week or Weak - it’s a choice!

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 07, 2016: Week or Weak - it’s a choice!

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“Adam and God” Artist:  Michelangelo Buonarroti (March 1475 – 18 February, 1564):

the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome

Week or Weak - it’s a choice!

Without GOD, our every week would be: 

Sinday,

Mournday,

Tearsday,

Wasteday, 

Thirstday,

Fightday &

Shatterday. 

Remember seven days WITHOUT GOD makes one WEAK!! 

Self-trust

We all have moments of doubts when we question our abilities. It's when we start to believe and accept our self-doubts that they can sabotage our performance and overshadow our enthusiasm.

Every minute that we spend in self-doubts is a minute that could have been invested in planning, preparing and thinking constructively.

Get over self-doubts and get really good at self-trust.

Think: "I have the capacity to do whatever comes my way." Take an action with trust, and move forward!

Providing Emotional Support To Your Loved Ones

What do we do when friends and loved ones come to us for, and expect emotional support from us? Spirituality teaches us the right technique of providing emotional support - the technique of detached involvement, which is the technique of not being overawed, of not being affected ourselves by the emotions of others.  If a friend, colleague or any loved one is upset and we also get upset (because we love them - that's what we normally say), we cannot provide them the necessary support or the assistance to see why they are reacting emotionally and how they might change the nature of their emotions by themselves.  True love for someone would mean that I am able to provide them that. While being concerned is fine, but by becoming upset, seeing them upset simply aggravates the situation and adds fuel to their fire.

By remaining detached, we can be more effective in our ability to care, listen and help them think clearly about the situation, they find themselves in.   Only if we are stable, and that can happen only when we are detached, will we be able to provide them stability.  We can encourage and empower them to change their negative reaction to a more positive response, and thereby generate a healthier energy.   If we become over-involved in someone else's problems, there is a risk that our own judgment will be affected negatively.  This is why making decisions and choices under the influence of your own and others' emotions is normally ineffective.

Soul Sustenance

Being A Good Transformation (Change) Agent (cont.) If you go inside yourself and observe, with sincerity, your feelings towards someone that you consider unbearable or intolerable, you will see that your perception (way of looking at them), your expectations and your bad feelings make you feel that the other is unbearable or intolerable. You have allowed the other to influence you in the creation of your bad feelings. You have lost compassion (kindness) and the capacity to accept and understand the other. Being a good transformation (change) agent requires having full control over your inner world. If you are the victim of your rapidly moving mind, your bad feelings, your aggressive emotional states and of your not-very-healthy habits, you will easily feel yourself to be the victim of others, of circumstances, of time and of society. In relationships, the key is in living with your consciousness awake and not to do anything that your conscience does not agree with. In doing so, you don't have to fear the opinion of others. You don't have to feel insecure or doubt yourself. If not, we will continue to act against our own consciousness and we will feel ourselves to be victims. To avoid pain or the unhappiness that arises automatically when we act against our own consciousness, we look for guilt excuses: "Because of... I haven't acted as I should." We blame or we make excuses. That way we suppress the voice of our consciousness until the suffering and unhappiness is such that our conscience scolds us, which increases our unhappiness even more. A good transformation agent will always obey the voice of the inner conscience. By remaining in tune with our conscience and creating right thoughts, words and actions, it becomes easier for us to move from victim consciousness to transformer consciousness (one who brings about change). 

Message for the day 

To be in the awareness of our own specialty is to be free from negativity. 
Projection: When we perceive negativity in others, we find ourselves very easily influenced by it. We then react negatively to them and are not able to maintain our own positivity. All our specialties remain hidden in such a negative atmosphere and we continue to be negative too.

Solution: Like a rose we need to maintain our originality and uniqueness while being amongst the thorns. Instead of blaming others and their negativity for our own negativity, we need to practice being positive and working with our original qualities. Then we will never complain but will always use our own specialties.
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 06, 2016: Self Manage

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 06, 2016: Self Manage

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Self-Manage

There is a huge hole in the heart of all our educations. It is where the skills and abilities of self-management should be. No one teaches us how to manage our thoughts, feelings, attitudes and behaviour, so we find it hard to manage the four Rs – relationships, roles, responsibilities and resources. So let’s get started. Consciously choose the quality of your thoughts today – accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative and clean up the waste. Everything, which means everything in your life, begins with your thoughts.

relax7

"Us" 

When I perceive myself as separate and disconnected from you, there emerges a feeling of "you and me." When we operate in this mode, life becomes a big scoreboard.

We choose to make situations a win-lose contest as we 
try to gain points through "winning." The big question is, was there really a contest in the first place?

Why not, try to change your perception and 
build a connection by creating a feeling of "us." 
And then build bridges and create a win-win situation!

God As The Ocean Of Knowledge

It is believed that God knows the details of every atom and every thought in the universe. It is because of God's ultimate, pervasive knowledge that He can be described as an ocean.  Understanding this world does not necessarily mean to be aware of every detail of the movement of every single leaf or every single molecule. All that is required is to understand completely the conditions through which souls and matter pass. 
One of the basic beliefs of Christians is that God created man in His own image. God, being the embodiment of knowledge, creates with knowledge. Being the wisest of all, He has the power to change the intellects of human souls. How? When we, the souls, having come in the process of birth and rebirth, become impure, God shares with us the knowledge of the soul and its births; the knowledge of Himself, the Creator; the knowledge of meditation i.e. the method of connecting with him and the beginning, the middle and the end of creation or the vast world drama, as a result of which we are able to appreciate this drama, and imbibe our true qualities of love, peace and bliss. As a result we are liberated from sorrow and a new world order is created. In order for him to perform His work as Creator it is not necessary for Him to listen to our every thought, our every secret. He is part of an eternal, predestined drama that He did not create but in which He finds Himself as the principal actor. Thus He is the only true philanthropist. Human actions, whether good or bad, are dictated by self-concern, whereas God has nothing to gain because He is complete in all respects. He is the perfect embodiment of spirituality. He alone has the right to give knowledge regardless of human arguments. His knowledge is purely spiritual.

Soul Sustenance

Being A Good Transformation (Change) Agent 
Often, we feel ourselves to be victims of different factors that seem to direct the course of our life without us being able to control them. The world does not seem to dance to our music and our will, and we feel ourselves to be victims because things do not work out or are not as we want. Therefore, we give up and decide to resign ourselves to this reality; to be victims of it and observe passively (non-actively), resisting what comes, getting frustrated and bad-tempered. However, we could position ourselves in another way: being transformation (change) agents (the ones who are able to change the external factors like people or situations) by creating a different reality. To do so we have to change our perception. Also, it is necessary to strengthen our capacity to tolerate, accept, let go and forget. Tolerance here also refers to understanding, love and compassion (kindness). Not to put up with people or things, but to remain above them, to go beyond them; to co-operate with trust and motivation. It is difficult for us to tolerate because we have expectations and pre-conceived ideas of how others should act and be. Then we create negative feelings towards them because they are not like that or don’t act in the manner that we want. This makes our relationship with them difficult.

When your vision towards others is positive, you see their qualities, their efforts and their values instead of their defects and their errors. You are open to listening to them and to understanding their intentions. That way it is easier to have good feelings towards them. Basing ourselves on a positive and objective vision and on good feelings, we do not have to put up with, or even tolerate the other - the relationship becomes streamlined.

(To be continued tomorrow…)

Message for the day

The one who is a giver, has attention constantly on giving fully. 
Projection: When the system that we are working in doesn't let us give maximum benefit to the people around us or deprives them of their natural right, we tend to react negatively. We tend to become upset which doesn't help either of us in anyway.

Solution: When we remember and maintain the awareness that we are a giver, instead of complaining about the restrictions that society or people around us impose, we continue to give those around us something that will make them happy. This could be in the form of kind and supportive words or at least an understanding smile. When we give in this way, it will make others too, free from negative thoughts.
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 05, 2016: Ego Alert

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 05, 2016: Ego Alert

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Ego Alert

How do you know if you're reacting from a place of ego?  If you feel insulted on any level, if a criticism hurts - it's your ego reacting, rather than you responding!

Understanding The Process Of Birth And Death

When the body has become unserviceable due to age or disease, or it suffers a fatal injury, the soul leaves the body. At the moment of death, the soul withdraws its energy from the organs of the body and vacates its seat in the middle of the forehead. Like a bird, it leaves the cage made of skin and bones, and taking its sanskaras, it enters into another body, in the womb of the new mother. From the very birth, the sanskaras of a soul are apparent; whether the "new-born" baby is happy, unbothered, sad, shy, mischievous, quiet, violent or agitated.

Death occurs at the precise moment when the account of giving and taking with other souls through a particular body is finished. The new birth is determined by the soul's account of karmas with another set of souls. One may be born into a cultured, wealthy family, another as a beggar, one may be born deaf, dumb, blind or crippled, another with a strong supple body. The type of body and the conditions of birth are determined by the thoughts and actions performed in the previous births.

Three Components Of Change

In order to bring about a fundamental (major) change, three elements need to exist simultaneously:

Focus: A clear sense of purpose in life and clear goals to guide your life's activities.

Will: The motivation and enthusiasm to introduce and sustain the actions.
Capabilities: The skills and abilities to fulfill your purpose and goals.

But where do you start? There is definitely a right place to begin and that is with your focus. Why? Because if your focus is powerful and based on a very deep sense of your inner most purpose in life, then that will provide you with the will power you need to keep going. Then if you have a clear driving focus in life and lots of will power to back it up, you will soon develop the skills and capabilities you need to make it happen. You may not have them yourself, but your enthusiasm and passion will certainly inspire others who do have them to join you.

Soul Sustenance

Meditation And World Transformation (Change) - cont. 

Yesterday we had explained how one can become a medium of world transformation by sitting in meditation.

To become a world transformer, while performing actions, the following method can be practiced - when dealing with others, continually maintain the internal feelings of being a spiritual rose flower, spreading the fragrance of divine qualities through good vibrations and good wishes. When viewing others, look not at the eyes, but look at the point of light in the centre of the forehead whose original qualities are peace, bliss, love, joy, power, etc., and remember that it is the eternal (beyond life and death, timeless) soul talking to the eternal soul, through the body. Also, while maintaining this type of spiritual vision, sprinkle other souls with the energy vibrations of the same virtues. 

Message for the day

Perfection comes to the one who is open to learning. 
Projection: When we realise having made a mistake, we usually have negative thoughts about ourselves. This is because we expect the best out of ourselves, i.e., we expect ourselves to be perfect in everything we do. But this expectation prevents us from taking naturally the learning from the situation.

Solution: We need to realise that perfection does not come by thinking about it but by being busy in whatever we are doing. With every action of ours comes a learning and this automatically brings perfection.
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 04, 2016: Generosity

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 04, 2016: Generosity

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Apricot Tree

Generosity

 Generosity can be defined in many ways but respect, kindness, benefit and accessibility are its key characteristics. Generosity is like a fruit tree in season. All its fruit is available to anyone for the picking. When I am full, complete, when I have conquered selfish needs then I can be naturally generous. My being is open to others to share the best without any obligation.

 To make an appointment with the self is to increase self-esteem. 

To make an appointment with someone means to spend quality time with that person. When I make an appointment with myself too, I need to make use of it fully. So, from time to time during the day, I need to go within and see the specialties that I have. I need to get back to work and interactions with the consciousness of these specialties, which will color positively all that I do. Today I will learn from the tortoise. Just as it withdraws within from time to time, so also let me take just a minute to introspect and see the specialties that I have. The more I spend such quality time with myself, I am able to increase my own state of self-respect.

The Seven Relationships With The Supreme

Every soul has a close relationship with the Supreme (God), but we simply forget it as we become over-involved in, attached to and distracted by our life on the physical plane and our different relationships with different physical beings during our journey of births and rebirths.   Spirituality makes us realize the need of restoring our connection with God, which has either broken or has become loose. It also makes us realize that this connection needs to be a very deep and personal one.

God plays many roles, just as a good parent, being one, but will play many roles while bringing up his or her child.   Each role consists of different spiritual characteristics and virtues of God, expressed by Him. Take a few moments to think about the main roles that God plays in our life and identify the main virtues and characteristics which He expresses e.g. in the role of Father He demonstrates the art of living to us and how to perform right karma.  In the role of Mother He gives spiritual sustenance, in the form of virtues like peace, love and joy to us. In the role of Teacher, He showers us with true knowledge of the spirit or the soul. These are just a few examples. We suggest you do your own thinking about seven different roles that God plays: Father, Mother, Teacher, Guide (or Guru), Companion (or Beloved), Friend, Child and how he plays them. Once you have done this inner thinking exercise, experience each of these seven roles on each of the seven different days of the week, one role per day.   Feel Him being in that role for you and then note what you feel exactly and how you relate to Him.   Also identify the spiritual characteristics and virtues that it brings out from within you.

Soul Sustenance

Meditation And World Transformation (Change) 
As one practices Rajyoga meditation, one can become a spiritual lighthouse for the entire universe, a medium to radiate (spread) the divine qualities and powers that one gains through the link with the Supreme Soul who is the Supreme Spiritual Energy and the ever luminous Being of Light; to all other souls, through the power of thought and pure vibrations. Physical charities are limited by time and space, and can only reach a few people at a time. The subtle (non-physical) charities of qualities can benefit all souls, even those who are physically many miles away. One can even change the five elements of nature and the spiritual atmosphere.

Slowly read over and visualize the following thoughts one by one:

I become aware of myself as a soul........
a point of light sitting on my throne between the eyebrows........
I picture my destination, a land of soft golden-red light........
On the wings of thought I fly there........
leaving the physical world behind........
Strong currents of spiritual light and might are emanating from me in all directions........
I watch from my sweet home the world below........
It is full of millions of tiny star like points of awareness, my brother souls........
I picture a meeting with the Supreme Being, a blissfully radiant (full of light) being overflowing with energy........
Golden rays of complete purity, love and peace are flowing from the seed of the human world tree into me........
And through me, onto the whole world.......
I am a seed of world benefit, the Lighthouse and Mighthouse.........
This flow of positive spiritual energy washes away the tensions and sorrows of all the souls........
I feel these rays charging the atmosphere of the world with happiness, love and spiritual calm........
The elements are being purified and returning to their original pure state........

Remain in this experience for a few minutes. This exercise should be practiced in silence. 

(To be continued tomorrow .... )

Message for the day

To take a vow means to guarantee transformation 

Projection: When we decide to bring about a change in some aspect we sometimes work hard in the beginning with commitment and sincerity and slowly find our enthusiasm lessening. So we give up before we could really bring about any change.

Solution: Just as the one who takes a vow never breaks it, we too need to take the vow to transform. Whatever obstacles come our way, our special attention has to be not to break the vow. Then we will not stop when obstacles come our way.
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

​Daily Positive Thoughts: January 03, 2016: Inner Calm

​Daily Positive Thoughts: January 03, 2016: Inner Calm

Inner Calm

Inner Calm remains when I am present in the moment and at the same time receptive to my relationship with others.

True cooperation is to have good wishes for even the one who harms. 

Everyone needs the cooperation of good wishes to overcome their weaknesses. Good wishes makes them realise their own true worth and empower them to bring about a change. So, even for the one who harms, I need to have a feeling of mercy and good wishes and not hatred. This will help them at every step. Today I will think of one person who has not been good to me. I will work on my thoughts in such a way that I will have good wishes for this person. I will do something to have a thought of good wish for this person. The little help that I offer in this way, will return back to me too in the form of good wishes and blessings.

Choosing Peace Over Anger

Making the choice of peace is a simple choice, which lies in the hands of each one of us, at every moment right through the day, every day. A lot of people would choose a world, the world out there, made of peace but spend most of their time remaining peaceless in their own inner world, and then in their next door world, i.e. in their personal interactions. A lot of us would prefer a life of peace and we try to shape up such a life, only to be influenced by the old belief about how it's absolutely fine to get angry once in a while, without which it's difficult to get things done. We also get influenced by those people around us who continue to get angry for the shallowest of reasons. These people could be either at home, at the workplace, in the friend circle, the world at large or people who do not matter too much to us but whom we encounter every day - at the vegetable market, on the highway, or even in the movies for that matter! Unaware of the root causes of their anger, all these people around us will find a thousand ways to justify it, and will keep continuing with the habit in their lives. Their emotional un-clarity is so deep and addiction to the emotion of anger is so powerful that they will probably laugh at the idea that anger is a negative emotion and is form of weakness or suffering. They will, on the other hand, say that peace is timidity and a form of weakness or suffering. So, if you do choose peace over anger in your life then you are also choosing to be in a state of power and becoming free from suffering as a result. However, after having made that choice, to experience it in every moment of your life, it is necessary to rediscover where your peace is located inside you, it's true nature or essence, how to access it through meditation and finally how to use it or apply it in your daily life.

Soul Sustenance

God’s Three Roles In The World Drama (cont.) 
God As A Destroyer

There are many mythological stories all over the world about a revengeful God, destroying whole armies who dared to stand in the way of His chosen ones. The Mahabharata  in India depicts the same, where Lord Krishna helped the Pandavas defeat the Kauravas, because Pandavas had love, devotion and respect for Lord Krishna and Kauravas did not. We have even gone to war, praising the righteousness of our causes and counting on God's support. Somehow the heart rejects the idea of a violent God who is a destroyer of life. He is the destroyer of evil (and not of life) and the creator of virtue.

The story of the Mahabharata. is obviously symbolic. It can be applied to the present moment in the World Drama, when the Supreme Father, the Incorporeal (non-physical) Father is with us and is helping us in our war. Our war is not a physical one, our enemies our not our brothers, but our own weaknesses. The weapons (shastras), which are shown in the Mahabharata in the physical form, are actually the weapons of knowledge and spiritual power acquired through meditation; with which we are able to bring down our enemies, our vices and shortcomings e.g. the discus (chakra) has a spiritual significance. It is shown in a physical form but is actually a discus of self-realization (swadarshan chakra). Swa + darshan means self-realization. Self-realization is achieved when one receives spiritual knowledge. The Supreme Father possesses this discus, which he gives to us, along with other weapons (shastras). We, the chosen ones, the true followers of God, make our path easier for us through His powerful guidance. We leave suffering behind and make the journey to the other side - to a promised elevated world. Our former captors (those who had imprisoned us), our weaknesses, try to follow us in the elevated future but are destroyed completely with God's help.

Message for the day

Humility comes from an open and clean heart. 

Projection: Humility needs a good home to dwell in. When the mind is filled with negative feelings or biased ideas towards anyone, we cannot use humility. So we need to fill our mind with positive thoughts towards everyone.

Solution: If I have negative thoughts towards anyone, I need to make an attempt to remove them. I need to tell myself that what I don't like about a person is just one particular aspect and not the person himself. In this way I will be able to change my own attitude and also will help the other person also to bring about change.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 02, 2016: Push Yourself

Daily Positive Thoughts: January 02, 2016: Push Yourself

Jonathan, the 182-year-old tortoise at the home of the St Helena governor

Push Yourself

To move ahead, make a point of stretching your mental muscles.  Did you ever notice, the tortoise only moves ahead because he sticks his neck out?

Power to Choose (...continued)

With whom does the choice to make your decisions lie? Are you going to be dominated by your fears and others. negatively powerful influences, which paralyze your judgment power and confuse you sometimes or are you going to exercise your choice? When someone dominates you, they control you and make you feel irritated, frustrated and weak; they satisfy their own ego like that by controlling you and bringing you under their influence. You need to decide if you are comfortable being a victim of the other by being the one who satisfies the egos of others. It is not a very healthy attitude, on their part, but it happens in many relationships and we fall prey to that, because of a lack of spiritual power. Get back your personal ruling and controlling power and do not be afraid to be free and responsible for your choices. From today on, promise yourself that you will not allow your husband or wife, or children, or your friend, or mother-in-law, or your office colleague, anybody for that matter, influence the power of choice, the power to decide, that you possess. In the end, that way they will be happier; perhaps not at first, because a power game is created. Your personal freedom will lead to a healthier relationship, in the long run. Its fine to take an opinion or a viewpoint or support from someone, but there is a fine line between that and being controlled by someone, which we, many a times cross, and become a victim.

You are free when you take responsibility for what you are and how you feel. In meditation you can realize everything that has influenced you and know how to clear it, so that only the highest, the most positive influence you. This depends on each one of us. In our present society, there are many influencing factors, from the most negative, violent, corrupt and mediocre, to the purest, highest and most spiritual. It depends on each one what you want to consume and allow to be influenced by.

Effort To Manipulate The Law Of Action

Human laws can be adjusted, manipulated and even ignored by some, but no one can do the same with the Law of Karma. On the physical level, there is no time interval between an action and its reaction. If I throw an object in the air, it falls back immediately with the same force. With the Law of Karma, however, there can be a delay between the action and its result or fruit. The seeds of certain actions (negative or positive) bring immediate fruit. Others can take years or even many births to bear fruit. If I eat too much ice-cream, I will see the result or karmic effect of the negative karma of greed within a space of ten-fifteen minutes in the form of a headache or after two days in the form of a cold and flu. This is an e.g. in which we realize the working of the Law of Karma, we realize clearly the cause and its effect, but on a subtle level, when we see the effects of actions, we do not realize that the cause may have actually been in a previous life. There is a total connection between the cause and the effect.

When we analyze a natural calamity such as a major earthquake that uproots buildings and trees, overturns vehicles and kills thousands of people. The physical cause may be tectonic activity associated with faults inside the earth's surface but at the same time, we realize that such a calamity could have its roots in a process initiated by human beings a few hours, days or months ago - an e.g. being testing of nuclear weapons. On a personal level, I can say that there is nothing which happens to me for which I am not responsible. Whether I remember what I did to make it happen or not, whether I realize it or choose to ignore it, I am ultimately responsible.

Soul Sustenance

God’s Three Roles In The World Drama (cont.)

God As A Sustainer

We need to understand God’s role clearly as a sustainer. We have to understand the difference between physical and spiritual sustenance. We may think that God is the sustainer in the sense that He gives us our goods, wealth, health, food, water, air and so on. If that were so, why should He give more of these things to some and not to others? Why do poverty, starvation and disease exist if God is a sustainer and provider of all in the physical sense?

Whatever I do or do not possess I have earned for myself. It is not God who pays us our salaries. Whatever fruits I earn are the results of my own efforts. As a spiritual sustainer, He fills us with His power and virtues like peace, bliss, purity and happiness. He also shares with us spiritual knowledge and bestows his love and blessings on us, all of which help us in our spiritual effort, so that we can transform (change) ourselves and does not provide us with food and wealth.

(To be continued tomorrow.)

Message for the day

Humility enables people to realize their mistakes and correct themselves.

Projection: Real humility results in so much power of truth that we don't need to say anything at all in words. The very power of our inner state of being will make the other person realize the error of their ways.

Solution: While giving directions or corrections to someone, I need to check my own attitude, reminding myself of the humility within and only then say what I have to say. With humility my words will be for their benefit and this will enable them to learn.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris