Contemplation: Communication

Contemplation:  Communication

 

Communication

In prayer you communicate with God, in meditation God communicates with you.

Matters of the Heart

A well-nourished heart is automatically giving and full of grace. We
can nourish our hearts with the energy of positive thoughts and pure
feelings. When we realize we are eternal souls, beings of consciousness
rather than Matter, and that our original nature is benevolent and
wise, the heart grows full. When we remember, with love, that we are
the offspring of an eternal Parent, a source of eternal truth, the
heart overflows. This is the greatest gift we can offer to each other
and the world in the year ahead.

Discovering Inner Compassion (cont)

To really understand compassion, we have to experience it for ourselves. We can observe and admire others; we can even acknowledge that we have behaved compassionately on some occasions, but how do we develop the virtue of compassion inside us? If we can find a place of inner silence where we can slow down our thoughts and touch our deepest nature, we will discover that it is peaceful and compassionate. This is the source of our compassion and the more we experience it the more it will become part of our actions. Meditation reminds us that we are compassionate at our core.

Most people can remember a compassionate act. It may be an everyday situation or something that stands out as very special. Examples may be sitting holding the hand of a distressed relative or friend, or simply smiling and being positive. Reflecting on such acts helps us to identify the qualities of compassion that a person may express, such as patience, tolerance, generosity and calmness. By thinking about acts of compassion and the people that perform them, we can begin to get a sense of what compassion means and, with further reflection, how we have shown these same qualities ourselves.

We all use words in different ways to describe how we feel and what we mean, and the meaning can change in different settings. We need to come to some understanding of the word compassion, redefining it for ourselves. Compassion can mean simply kindness; it can mean patience, generosity, respect and understanding. Compassion is unconditional love.
(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance
Pure Cooking (cont.)

1. First, it is essential to develop a positive attitude towards cooking. Before undertaking any food preparation, ask yourself. 'Do you consider the project at hand to be an enjoyable, creative activity or an unpleasant time-consuming boring, repetitive karma?’ Find a way of enjoying it, by playing spiritual songs or trying new recipes and having deep meditation while cooking.

2. Before cooking, make sure the kitchen is clean and in order. Take out all the things you will need to make the meal and place them where they will be used. This makes the process of cooking more smooth and enjoyable.

3. While cooking avoid doing other work in between. You will actually be saving time and the food will definitely turn out better.

4. As much as possible, remain in silence, paying attention to the quality of the thoughts you have. Try to have pure and peaceful thoughts. This creates a powerful atmosphere that fills the food with pure vibrations and brings personal benefits as well. 


Message for the day 

To be obedient to God means to have a right to His inheritance.

Projection: We sometimes find ourselves feeling low and unenthusiastic. We tend to blame the situations and the people around which makes us feel even more dull. At such times we expect and seek God's help and power but experience no help from him. 


Solution: We need to realise that we don't have to ask God for power or blessings but have a right to them. Before we perform any task we need to ask ourselves if God will like what we are doing. If we do everything according to God's wishes that means we are obedient. Such obedience will get us the inheritance of peace and happiness from God.

Wish you & your family a very very Happy Diwali & Prosperous New Year !!!

Wish you & your family a very very Happy Diwali

& Prosperous New Year !!!

​

This Diwali,

This Diwali,

instead of wearing a new dress,

can I change the way I address people?

This Diwali,

instead of cleaning an already clean house,

can I work on scrubbing my dusty heart?

This Diwali,

instead of lighting up my doorway,

can I light up my pathway to ignorance?

This Diwali,

instead of stuffing myself with sweets,

can I give up the bitterness in my heart?

This Diwali,

instead of bursting crackers,

can I burst my egoistic pride?

The day I do all this,  God will quietly walk into my heart!

While we all light up our houses, do spend some time to light a few lamps inside you; sit in silence with your eyes closed.

Light the 1st lamp inside you and let it burn away any anger and jealousy that you have for any one; see it melt away.

Light the 2nd lamp and let it burn away unwanted greed and desires. Feel happy and contented with what you have been blessed with.

Light the 3rd lamp and let it fade away all insecurities that you may have in your mind related to anything material or financial; just believe that God has given you life and He will surely give you enough to survive.

Light the 4th lamp and carry that lamp to each part of your body; let it burn away all your diseased cells or any disease in making. Feel healthy as this lamp travels to each part of your body and illuminates each of your organs.

The 5th lamp is a miniature of the Sun, nothing but the divine light. Light it and let it fill you with warmth and love. Feel one with the Divine. Let the love and warmth filled inside you radiate out of you. Carry this love with you and you will find everyone around you happy and elated too.

Light these 5 lamps and carry their positivity wherever you go.

Contemplation: Perfect

Contemplation:  Perfect

  

Perfect

May you make your thinking, speaking and doing equal, and become complete and perfect. In order to become perfect, your thoughts, words and actions should all be the same.

Creativity

Creativity is to discover new thoughts, new ideas that might never have
been part of me before. It is seeing something in a new way, finding a
different way to get something done or to solve a problem. I can bring
creativity in my life when I use knowledge and training to develop my
gifts, when I have the discipline to practice and think of new ways to
make things work better.

Discovering Inner Compassion

Competence and compassion are the two most important aspects of our professional life. We would contend that compassion needs to be valued at least as much as competence in our work and in education.

There are many reasons why we find it difficult to be compassionate in our job; often there is not enough time to respond to competing demands, we have to concentrate on our tasks, we feel too exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally to give any more. Then there are the negative feelings that block out compassion. Being clear about what we mean by compassion can help us to understand how it can be an integral part of our work. This will help us to be caring in our work, without suffering compassion fatigue and emotional burnout.

Our own negative feelings, such as anger, hatred and jealousy, can prevent us showing our compassion. By understanding those feelings and how they affect us, we can release them and allow ourselves to be more compassionate. Compassion can be compared to the sun; it is always there but sometimes it cannot shine through because of the clouds. The clouds are the negativity that hides our true nature of compassion.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Other recipients:

A well-nourished heart is automatically giving and full of grace. We can nourish our hearts with the energy of positive thoughts and pure feelings. When we realize we are eternal souls, beings of consciousness rather than Matter, and that our origina

Other recipients:

In the ocean of silence you may discover your eternal treasures of peace, love and happiness. In silence, you can let bad feelings and past sorrows dissolve. Silence calms your heart. It is a balm that heals the wounds of the soul. It strengthens the

Soul Sustenance

Pure Cooking

A significant part of our lifestyle is to consider the quality of our thoughts required while making food. Living in a family may make it more difficult to have that quiet and ordered state of mind while cooking. Also, children, friends, husbands and wives have the habit of coming into the kitchen while you are cooking. So, see if you can re-organize your timetable so you can cook at a time when they are busy, and then you can properly concentrate on giving pure vibrations to the food. It also helps if you play some gentle, soothing music which reminds you of the Supreme Soul or God while you are cooking. Even better sit in meditation for 4-5 minutes in the kitchen before starting to cook.

If you think of yourself while you are cooking then there will be a vibration of greed created. If you think of others while you are cooking there will be a vibration of attachment created. Think about the Supreme and there will be that feeling of deep love and freedom (liberation).

Physical cleanliness before cooking is important. Walking off the market or crowded roads, into the kitchen and cooking can affect the vibrations of the food. Washing, changing and meditating is a good start for preparation of satwic food. The ideal time for cooking is in the morning, the mind is quiet and if one has read a short paragraph of spiritual knowledge sometime after getting up, the mind is filled with new gems of spiritual knowledge, free of waste thoughts.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Message for the day

Where the intellect is free from assumptions the right decisions are made.

Projection: As soon as we are faced with a situation we correlate it to some previous incident and assume based on our past experiences either with the situations or with the people involved. Such assumptions sometimes lead us to wrong decisions.

Solution: The solution lies in detaching ourselves from our past experiences. Of course we have to learn from the experiences of our past, but we also need to be open to look at the situation in a new way. Such detachment will enable us to make the right decisions.

Contemplation: Ask

Contemplation:  Ask

Ask

Ask your heart, do I have pure positive feelings for everyone, including myself?

Conflict Resolution

Too often we focus on the 'enemy' rather than understanding the
underlying causes of conflict. Our old beliefs and thought patterns can
be both a block and a limitation. If we as individuals accept personal
responsibility and recognize that the source of conflict is internal
rather than 'the other' - then the possibility of resolving conflict
comes back into our hands. This is a great relief and very empowering.

The After Effects Of Anger

If realized deeply, it's alright to conclude that anger destroys. If it doesn't destroy our physical body (that too it manages to do in the long term), it definitely destroys our capacity to be creative. And after all the very purpose of our life - is to be creative. So in short, anger deviates us from reaching our very purpose of life. Anger is never every good for health - mental or physical; never ever positive or empowering and never ever allowable or justified. Many authors of self development books, philosophers, psychologists and experts on the human nature have argued that anger is a natural, biological and psychological response which is an integral part of human sanskara and life. While this can be respected as a point of view, it is not at all true.

From a spiritual perspective, which means a view based on the absolute truth because the word spiritual means that which is the truth, anger is never ever natural or beneficial. While we are all used to getting angry, each one of us to different extents; on a little introspection, we will realize that it drains us out and is counter-productive. Anger is an absolutely unwanted emotion if we want to live a peaceful, contented and blissful life. It totally destroys the ability to create meaningful and deep relationships based on trust and respect and brings the efficiency of our actions, performed at the workplace, at home or anywhere else, down. If we believe in the necessity of anger, we need to stop for a while and reflect deeply and see if we can see how it is a huge obstacle to our own contentment and fulfillment, and how it negatively influences the contentment and fulfillment of those around us.

Soul Sustenance

The Faculties of the Soul (cont.)

The intellect is used to assess thoughts. This is the faculty (energy) of the soul used for understanding and decision-making which stands out as the most crucial faculty of the three. With the deepening and broadening of the intellect, clear understanding and realization of knowledge becomes natural, and the power to decide and reason becomes clear. It is the intellect which remembers, discriminates, judges and exercises its power in the form of will-power.

Sanskaras is a Hindi word which best describes what we could call impressions. They are the record of all the soul's past experiences and actions. Sanskaras can take the forms of habits, talents, nature, personality traits, beliefs, values or instincts. Every action performed by a soul either creates a sanskar (this is how a habit begins) or reinforces an old one. Whatever impression is etched in the soul remains within the soul, forming a complete collection of all the experiences that the soul has had. When we speak of defects, specialties or virtues we are referring to the sanskaras. The sanskaras are the basis of the soul's individuality.

Message for the day

To be a master is to be able to experience freedom.

Projection: Usually whenever things go wrong we find ourselves caught up with our own weaknesses. We give in to them and find ourselves totally bound. This, in turn, makes us feel heavy as we feel helpless. Then we will never be able to overcome them.

Solution: We need to remind ourselves of our own powers and the fact that our weakness is our creation and we are the master. The more we remind ourselves of this, the more we will be able to experience freedom and use these powers.

Contemplation: October 17, 2017: Learn Meditation

Contemplation:  October 17, 2017: Learn Meditation

Learn Meditation

Why has meditation been the core practice of all wisdom paths for over two thousand years? Because it is the most effective method to access your innate wisdom, rediscover inner peace and enhance your creative ability. Meditation restores well being, and once your being is well again, all that you do will be successful and fulfilling. But maybe you think you are OK as you are. Perhaps you feel your being is well. But is it. Do you feel tense, worried, hopeless, mentally tired, emotionally upset...ever? Then your being is not well. Your body may be OK but you, the being, is unwell. Medication is for the body, and meditation is for the soul, that's you, and for your mind. Learning how to meditate is one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself. Practicing meditation says you care about yourself. Being in meditation can touch the minds and hearts of others a thousand miles away. It actually says that you care about others too. But first...your self.
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Trust

In any relationship trust is the first thing to leave and the last to
return. And if you recognize that the most important relationship is
with yourself, then perhaps it's time to start some trust building
close to home. Make and keep a promise or a commitment to yourself,
however small! Make one and keep one today, and then notice the surge
of inner power as a result. See how much more you like yourself as a
result. Trust is being built.

The Spiritual Sculptor And The Piece Of Art

A sculpture is a three-dimensional artwork created by an artisan, a sculptor, by shaping materials which may be hard like wood or stone or soft like clay. God or the Supreme Being also has been remembered as the spiritual sculptor. With that consciousness, I being like a rough living block of wood or stone or a plain piece of clay, place myself in his safe hands. There are three types of faith in this consciousness:-
1. the faith in the Sculptor,
2. the faith in myself and
3. the faith in time.

It's my first faith, my faith in the Sculptor, in his vision of his finished work i.e. a perfect and complete me, which he foresees, waiting to emerge from my present imperfect self, that allows me place myself in his hands. His vision of perfection is so clear that knowing it, I feel I must regain my original condition. Also when I come in front of God, who is a perfect spiritual being, his love and the knowledge he gives me makes me aware of myself as a spiritual being similar to him. This awareness then reminds me of my original qualities and the spiritual beauty and perfection hidden inside me, which helps me in having the second faith, the faith in myself. I am able to trust the Sculptor, knowing that the knocks I receive will chip away at my weaknesses, and restore my truth and beauty.

Initially, I may not know myself completely or have full faith in myself, the second faith, but God, the Sculptor, knows me and has full faith in me, all the Sculptor wants me to do is to be still and patient. Being still means having complete faith in myself and him and being patient means having the third faith - the faith in time. His knowledge and power gives me the strength and courage to be still and patient i.e. strong in all three faiths while he continues his work on me. I should not move or be impatient i.e. not let any of my faiths waiver, otherwise I will not become perfect. There is a vast difference between how God sees me, and how I am at the present moment. Holding the vision that God has of me, I have to just surrender my mind to the Spiritual Sculptor and keep myself in his hands. When I do that, the thoughts inside my mind get focused spiritually on him and as a result I receive his spiritual energy, which reshapes and transforms me. That which is highest and most beautiful in me begins to emerge gradually.

Soul Sustenance

The Faculties Of The Soul

When the soul is in the body it functions through three faculties (non-physical entities). Although each faculty (entity) can be given a different name, it is actually the same energy, the soul, functioning on three different levels simultaneously. These are the mind, the intellect and the sanskaras.

Mind is the thinking energy of the soul. It is the mind that imagines, thinks and forms ideas. The thought process is the basis of all emotions, desires and sensations. It is through this faculty that, in an instant, thoughts can be projected to a far off place (one can travel to a far off place on the thought level); past experiences and emotions can be relived or even the future anticipated in less than a second. It is the mind that experiences the variations of moods. The mind is an energy of the non-physical soul, not to be confused with the heart or even the brain.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Message for the day

As is our thought, so we will become.

Projection: When we are faced with our weaknesses, we usually think of our own negativity and are caught up with it. We can no longer think positive and we continue to work with our own weaknesses. We will, then, find no improvement in ourselves.

Solution: We need to create a very elevated thought for ourselves based on any of our strengths or specialities. When we do that we will be able to bring about a positive change in ourselves without being caught up with our own weaknesses.

Contemplation: Good Parent

Contemplation: Good Parent

 

Good Parent

A good parent teaches the child with love and patience until the child learns. Be a good parent and teach your mind to have positive thoughts and to let go of worries. Then when your mind needs peace, it will find it.

Newness

It is easy to create new things, change places or do something
different. To sustain that sense of newness that creates enthusiasm is
more difficult. The secret of newness in life is not to do new things
constantly, but to see everything you do with new eyes, new insights
and a new perspective.

The Journey Of Time (cont.)

In yesterday's message, we had explained how the Law of Entropy works on a physical level. When the Law of Entropy is applied to spiritual energy, our virtues, to the quality our thoughts, words and actions, we can perhaps begin to see why, as individuals, we feel tired and old in virtues, irrespective of whether we are young or old physically. We can also understand why we succumb to negative thoughts, words and actions more easily than being influenced by the positive.

In fact, the entropy of our virtues i.e. the spiritual entropy has followed the same pattern as the entropy of the physical world or the physical entropy (explained yesterday) i.e. the spiritual energy or the energy of the virtues of the world has been reducing (as the world has become older and older) because it has not been renewed or re-energized from a source outside the system.

When we accept this movement from new to old, we understand the journey of time in a completely different way. As we look backwards into the journey of time, we find that although there have been very important scientific discoveries and global communication has improved immensely, which have all contributed to the give everyone an illusion of progress, everyone accepts that we are not enjoying healthier, more loving and peaceful relationships with ourselves, each other or the planet Earth. The reason for this is understood easily by applying the second law of time i.e. everything new becomes old.

At the present moment, the source from outside the world system (on a spiritual level) which is required to re-energize it and restore it to its original new stage is the Supreme Soul or God or the Spiritual Sun, who is an ocean of spiritual energy and divine values or virtues. In meditation we, as living beings, who are part of the world system, can absorb this energy or divinity from him and contribute to this process.

Soul Sustenance

Overcoming the Loss/Separation of a Loved one (cont.)

How quickly could a person get over the loss of a loved one and begin to feel fine? We have the capacity to do it the same day or the next day. But our beliefs and conditioning, our attachments and lack of will and inner capacity, prevent us from getting better rapidly and feeling fine. Independent of the kind of mourning that you have to go through, it is a matter of preventing your memories from invading your spirit, your mind and your heart. Circumscribe them, limit them and put them in their place: in the past. Yesterday has already passed.

On the level of action, now, in the present, use your time, your talents and your thoughts for creative tasks. Help your friends and other close ones. It will help you to come out of your aloneness and to relate. Share, dialogue and involve yourself in serving. With respect to your accumulated experiences, meditate to gain mastery in managing your memories. Clean out the cupboards of your inner self, so that the stored memories do not cause upsets, interference or suffering in the present moment. Meditate to accept and let go. Give thanks to the past. Learn from it. But now let go and free yourself. Live this moment in wholeness. It depends on you to create the right thought for it to be like that.

Message for the day

Where the mind is free from worry, the biggest task becomes light.

Projection: We sometimes find ourselves in such situations, which make our mind heavy. We are not able to work well in such a situation, as the smallest thing need to be done seems very big and difficult.

Solution: We need to learn the art of looking at the brighter side of things, because even the most negative thing has something positive in it. When we develop this art we will be able to be light and give our best to the task at hand. Then even the most difficult task will seem very easy.

Contemplation: A Loving World

Contemplation: A Loving World

 

“The Mirror of Venus” Artist Edward Burne-Jones

A Loving World

A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror.

Your World

Your internal dialogue establishes your way of seeing the world. When
you make demands on and reproach yourself, you create a world of stress
and pain. To be peaceful, create a loving dialogue with yourself,
enabling your inner values to awaken and be expressed regardless of
your external world.

The Journey Of Time (cont.)

We also see in nature that everything new becomes old. Nothing ever starts old and becomes new. All material possessions including the human body, all political movements, religious movements, different philosophies etc. move from a state of newness to a state of oldness or decay. This is on a micro level.

When we apply this principle and process on a macro level to the world as a whole, we can then easily understand why we live in an 'old world' - a world with scientific progress but overused, misused, tired and where many sectors are simply worn out. This process is sometimes known as entropy.

The Law of Entropy states that a closed system moves from order to disorder or chaos, when the energy inside it reduces because it is not renewed or re-energized from a source outside that system. On a physical level, the sun sustains and re-energizes the systems of nature on the physical Earth every day. But in the recent past our exploitation of the world has started to become faster than the world's ability to renew or re-energize. We now use the trapped energy in our physical world much faster than the sun can replace it.

Tomorrow, we shall explain how the Law of Entropy can be applied to spiritual energy and our virtues.

Soul Sustenance

Overcoming the Loss/Separation of a Loved one (cont.)

In mourning, regret or remorse may emerge. Let's look at some feelings that are born in relation to these questions:

* Did I do everything I should have?
* Could I have avoided it?
* Did I tell them everything I had to tell them?
* Did I give them everything that they needed?
* Was I there when they needed me?

These questions converge into a feeling where sometimes one feels responsible for the death of the other. It is a mourning difficult to overcome. What is required is an inner control that does not allow these questions and their answers to go on for a long time. If we don't achieve this capacity we fall into a regret for what might have been and was not, and the present escapes before our very eyes.

Mourning in relation to the separation from someone with whom you have shared moments of beauty and wholeness, of love, requires an effort of peaceful acceptance. Not to remain trapped in feelings of guilt, bitterness or hate, given that these feelings take us in a past that is no longer alive except in our consciousness, because we don't allow it to die. The images and memories of experiences of the past emerge again and again onto the screen of the mind, causing different kinds of feelings that range from sadness to frustration.

Tomorrow we shall explain some simple ways to get over the loss of a loved one. 

Message for the day

Words are effective when they are short and sweet.

Projection: Many times we find that although we say the right thing to others, it has no effect on them. We, then, begin to blame them and feel that they are not listening to us. But the words spoken with such an attitude do not have any effect on others.

Solution: When we speak to others especially in a delicate situation, we need to make sure that our words are filled with love. When we talk with love, our words will be filled with sweetness and we naturally speak only to the extent necessary. Then whatever we say will have its effect on others.