Contemplation: Centered

Contemplation: Centered

Mono Lake, California

Centered

Staying centered in your elevated self-respect will help you to remain undisturbed by others.

Inner Light

When someone lightens up your life just by their presence, you can be
sure they are emitting a very positive energy. When someone puts a
damper on the meeting or a conversation, you can be sure there is some
hidden inner baggage which contains sorrow and darkness. Which do you
bring with you? A little light or a little dark? A lot of optimism or a
little pessimism? If you are aware that you are carrying a little
darkness, perhaps it may be useful to spend time with someone whose
inner light is already lit, and stays lit in all circumstances. Eventually we may learn the art ourselves, and then serve as a candle to others.

The Law of Surrender

According to what or whom your mind thinks consistently of, you will take on the form of the object or the person to which you have surrendered. We can see this in children, when they transfer their minds to actors they see on television, and then begin to behave like them.

What is the highest form to which we can surrender our self? There may be several answers to this question in our mind. Choose the truth from among them. So what is the truth?

Spirituality gives us answers to questions like: Who am I? Who is the Supreme Being? What is my relationship with him? Where do I come from? Where am I going? What is the purpose of my existence? What is the importance of the present time? How can the Supreme Being empower me at the present time?

The answers to these questions show us the way to surrendering our mind to the Supreme Being, which is the highest entity to which we can surrender. When we do that, gradually we get colored by his knowledge, virtues and powers.

Soul Sustenance

The Relationship between The Soul And The Body – Explained With Interesting Examples 

Human being means the consciousness, the soul or being (living energy), experiencing life through the physical body, thehuman (non-living). The body is perishable and temporary, whereas the soul is eternal and without physical dimension. 
• The soul is the driver; the body is the car.
• The soul is the actor; the body is its costume.
• The soul is a diamond; the body is the jewelry box.
• The soul is the musician; the body is the instrument.
• The soul is the guest; the body is the hotel.
• The soul is the deity; the body is the temple.


I can use a knife to chop vegetables. I can use the same knife to kill someone. The knife neither decides (outwards) nor experiences (inwards), but can be washed easily under water. Now look at the fingers which held the knife. They neither decide nor experience the actions. They too can be washed under water. It's easy to realize that the knife is an instrument, but it is more difficult to realize that the fingers as well as the arms are instruments too. The legs are instruments for walking, the eyes for seeing, the ears for hearing, the mouth for speaking, the tongue for tasting, the heart for pumping food and oxygen (via blood) around the body, and so on. Even the brain is an instrument used like a computer to express all thought, word and action programs through the body and to experience the results. If every physical part of the body is an instrument, who or what is it that is using this instrument? Very simply it is "I", the self, the soul. The soul uses the word "I" for itself and the word "my" when referring to the body; my hands, my eyes, my brain, etc. I am different from my body. 

Message for the day

The one who is powerful finds one or the other means to finish waste. 

Expression: Life brings lots of situations which naturally bring about waste thoughts. But the one who is powerful searches for ways and means to finish this waste. Such a person is like a skilled player who is waiting for an opportunity to give his best. So each situation is used as a means to use of all the resources in the right way. Even if there is one method that doesn't work, there is always a search for a new method to bring about the right solution. 

Experience: When I am able to remain powerful even in the most difficult situation, I am able to recognise the powers that are within me and use them for overcoming that situation. I am never afraid of difficult situations, nor do I wish for life to be smooth without difficulties. Instead, I use each problem as a challenge to bring out the best from within me. So with each challenging situation, I find myself becoming more and more powerful. 

Contemplation: Move On: Merry Christmas

Contemplation: Move On: Merry Christmas

Move On

See beyond immediate circumstances. Clear the decks of any old grievances. Learn from the past and move on by tapping into your inner resources of self-worth and humility. With honesty and commitment, softly let go and let others change. There are new horizons, new growth and a new lease of life.

Spiritual love

Humility comes from confidence and helps us to be open. This openness
will help us make creative decisions. Forcefulness in thought, word and
action cuts off communication. Our expectations of others, insisting on
our way(s) also affect the way we make decisions and the way they are
received. Our heart has to be BIG to make the right decisions that
benefit others. We need the strength to travel within ourselves and see
our own values and the spiritual love we have for others to embrace the
situation, and then make decisions. Spiritual love is as natural as
sunlight.

Important Understandings On Reincarnation

(cont. from yesterday)

6. The world's population is increasing at such a rapid rate, indicating that the souls already here are taking rebirth and also that there are new ones coming down continuously from the soul world.

7. If one believed that one will receive the fruit of one's actions, if not in this birth, but in another one, a person would surely feel less inclined to perform negative actions.

8. Without reincarnation, it is impossible to explain how every soul has reached its present peace less state. Thousands of sins have been performed by each soul in its past births under the influence of the five vices - lust, anger, greed, ego and attachment. Due to this, sanskars of those vices have accumulated over the soul. The burden of these sanskars weighs heavily on the soul and causes it unhappiness in the present. The present cycle of birth and rebirth is fast approaching its end. It is precisely at this time that the Supreme Soul can relieve us from this burden.

Soul Sustenance

Self Empowerment 

Meditation, in practice, means to enter, and re-enter, the reservoir of peace inside us whenever we need to during the course of the day. This exercise increases self-control and prevents the explosions and reactions of anger that drain our strength. The easy method is not to expect but to accept: then tolerance and respect make our life far more comfortable.

There may be many shadows and pollutants inside us, but usually our pain is centered around these: I own, I need, I want, mine and I expect. If we learn to recognize the characteristics of such a consciousness, we are in a position to overcome difficult situations and thoughts before they overwhelm us. We simply have to remain awake, and that state of alertness stops these shadows from overpowering us and making us unconscious.

Our needs and wants are truly fulfilled in a healthy way by tuning in to the original resources of the soul, because their fulfillment is not dependent on anyone, or anything from outside. When we sustain ourselves from the inside, then our well-being is secure and progressive. As a result, when we express and show our original qualities of the self to others, whether it is peace, happiness or love, they naturally increase inside. The more we give unconditionally, the more we have. This miracle of 'quality being' is the result of natural purity, the original state of selflessness, which God always has and good meditators aspire to return to.

Message for the day

As is the consciousness, so are the thoughts, words and actions. 

Expression: To have the right consciousness means to identify oneself

with one's own

Experience: As I have a powerful consciousness and I am set firmly on this seat, no outside situation or person can disturb me or my internal state of mind. I am free from negative and waste and also from being ordinary. I am free from labouring and of having to fight with my thoughts in order to maintain the right thoughts. And I find that there is only speciality within. Others too are able to take benefit from this speciality. 

Contemplation: A Mother

Contemplation: A Mother

A Mother

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

Confidence

We need confidence in self to make accurate decisions. Confidence comes
from accepting the self as one is. Confident people know a mistake is
an opportunity to try in another way. Openness and flexibility is also
needed. This comes from confidence and self respect. It means I should
listen to others and not impose my views. The more you know, the less
you tend to speak.

Important Understandings On Reincarnation

(Cont. from yesterday)

5. Each time a soul leaves an old body and takes a new birth, it carries its sanskars from the old birth into the new one. Other sanskars that can be present in the new body (apart from the ones from the previous birth) are:
* sanskars from parents
* sanskars accumulated during the new birth e.g. from siblings (brothers or sisters) or from friends, also those picked up during education and more
* sanskars of will power (the ability to bring about changes in the self using will power)
* original sanskars of peace, love, purity, bliss, joy and power (the ones that were present in the soul when it first came down from the soul world into the physical world to play its part)

Out of these five types of sanskars, in each soul, the sanskarsthat are visible at different stages of life are varied e.g. in some soul, sanskarsmay be completely different from the ones the parents possess, because the sanskarsfrom the previous birth are more visible; in another soul, sanskars of will power may be intense, the soul may have brought about a lot of transformation in its personality since the time it was born; in a third soul sanskarsfrom parents and friends may be most visible; in another soul, practicing meditation, original sanskars may be more visible, etc.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Are You Dependent On The Look Of The Other?

We have to trust that, being ourselves, we will be well-received and loved by the world. If we are here, why have we been incarnated on Earth? To satisfy the look of the other or to bring what is unique and exceptional in us? We all have two eyes, a nose and a mouth but no face is the same. We are all a being of conscious energy, a soul, but each one has a colour, an art, a creativity and something different to contribute. Let us trust in

ourselves and use our talents to bring our difference.

You can be your best friend. Imagine that someone accompanies you in your life, values everything that you do and finds it to be great: what you do, what you say; you are the best; extraordinary; a shining being; a star. Now imagine that you have that person next to you day and night. How do you feel? On top form and you are fine. This happens in relationships. When someone loves you very much, they practically only think about you; they ring you, they send you text messages, maybe they write you letters or emails. You feel unique, special and loved. But this does not last forever and, nowadays, it lasts less and less.

The difficulty is that if you depend on the look of the other to feel fine, sometimes you will be fine if the person looking at you does it well, but if not, you won't be fine. How do you look at yourself? This unconditional friend that loves you so much and that supports you is what you have inside. You can be your best friend. This gives you security and trust. If someone else likes you or doesn't like you and criticizes you, you won't collapse within because to be fine you do not depend on the look of the other.

Message for the day

The way to be rid of waste thoughts is to maintain a powerful thought.

Expression: When the intellect is accomplished with powerful thoughts, waste thoughts cannot enter. Only when the intellect remains empty that there is place for waste thoughts to enter. To be busy with elevated thoughts is to keep the mind free from waste. All it needs is to turn on the switch of one powerful thought, then wastage finishes. This is just like a switch which brings light and finishes darkness. Then there is no wastage in words and actions too.

Experience: When I make the practice of keeping a single elevated thought in my intellect, I am able to be free from the bondage of wastage. I find that a lot of time and energy of mine is saved. Even when there is an external situation of conflict, chaos and confusion, there is no internal chaos and there is only power in my thoughts. So I make decisions easily

Contemplation: Anger

Contemplation: Anger

    

The Eruption of Reventador Volcano, Ecuador

Anger

To be controlled by anger is to repress the soul's original qualities of tolerance and love.

Thoughts

Thoughts are the seeds that create our destiny. If there is the same

thought as before, there is no newness and there cannot be anything new

attained. If things have to change, effort needs to be put in at the

level of the thought first. Such thoughts will naturally inspire and

motivate to make the best use of the available resources. When I begin

to create new elevated thoughts in challenging times, I am able to be

happy and peaceful. I don't have questions related to the situations

but I am able to find the solutions in my mind. This inner peace

naturally creates a peaceful environment around me.

Important Understandings On Reincarnation

1. The soul has a separate identity from any of the bodies it adopts.

2. The various lives or births of a soul are like different episodes of a television serial, all different, yet connected with each other.

3. The human soul does not take a birth/body of any animal species, just as a lemon seed does not grow into a mango tree. The human soul always takes a human body e.g. if the soul of a cow was to take the birth of a human, wouldn't it carry sanskars of performing all actions like a cow into its human birth - how would it then function through the human body.

4. The cycle of action and reaction is never-ending. The soul must continue to play its entire role until all it has received the fruits for all its actions. This may require more than one body.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

The Energy Of Faith

What we believe becomes reality. It has been said that faith can move mountains. The highest mountains are our negative thoughts, feelings and ideas, which block our capacity to rise beyond our limits.

Faith is the energy of understanding that enables us to realize anything is possible even if it is not visible in front of our eyes.

The success that comes from faith is closely linked with 'letting go'. It is only when we let go of what we are used to, or what we have learnt to depend on, that new perceptions and new possibilities will present themselves to us. All that is needed are a few basic facts and then we can take action. When we drive a car, do we insist on knowing how the engine works in detail before driving it? Do we know the mechanical details of a lift before we use it? Most people are only aware of the basic functions and this is all they need to carry out the action. However, they

do have the faith that the car has been correctly constructed to do its job safely and that by pressing a few buttons the lift will raise them to wherever it is they want to go. In the modern life-style, there is a tendency to over-think, to want to control and direct every outcome, but such a life lacks spontaneity and simplicity.

Although we do need a framework, it must be flexible enough to allow space for the unexpected, the unpredictable and the great surprise. Such a space is the window through which the light of innovation can enter. When life is over-planned, we become cemented in, unable to grow, or flow, into new horizons. Faith allows us to realize that optimum results can happen without always having to structure or plan. Such faith is the basis for new vision and allows us to reach beyond our limits; because we believe we are more than what meets the eye. Such faith is the inspirational energy of every pioneer in whatever field.

Message for the day

To recognise one's own fortune is to be constantly happy.

Expression: When there is an awareness of one's own fortune, there are no expectations from people and situations. Due to this I am able to recognise and use my own resources for my own benefit and also for the benefit of others. One's happiness also spreads out to the others and they too become happy.

Experience: When I recognise constantly my own fortune, I am able to make the best use of it. I constantly remain content and am able to move forward with happiness. I never become upset with the various unexpected situations that come my way, but am able to see them as test papers that will help me move on to the next step. So I never get tired of continuing to put in effort.