Contemplation: Virtues and Specialties

Contemplation:  Virtues and Specialties

Virtues and Specialities

If I listen to even the slightest defamation of anyone, I lose some spirituality.  I lose some value if I start interacting on the basis of what I have heard about them.  Let me see only virtues and specialities.

'To-do list'

When the mind is idle it may wander from one thought to another. If you want to stop your mind thinking unnecessarily, think useful and constructive thoughts.

You're thinking anyway, so you may as well keep the mind busy with the right thoughts.

Make a schedule for your mind. Just like a 'to-do list', create a 'to-think list'!

Experiencing A Spiritual Lifestyle Without Renouncing Society

A good meditator is one who has a mental link or union with the internal self and the Supreme Soul or God who is the source of all goodness. This, along with an understanding of the laws of action or the laws of karma, which govern the behavior of souls, means that one does not have to renounce or leave society in order to achieve enlightenment. Rather, the soul filled with spiritual illumination faces society directly with understanding and the generosity to serve it and to elevate (improve) it.

The soul becomes elevated not by the renunciation of responsibilities or worldly duties but by a renunciation of the negativity that exists within the role being played by it in society. A good meditator does not try to escape social obligations (duties) but rather purifies those duties by becoming filled with light, love, peace and happiness. The stage of self-awareness and God-communication injects a subtle richness into one's life-patterns.

There are those who believe that the elevated state is beyond society and its duties. They find a quiet spot in the jungle or an ashram and contemplate (think about) deeper things. There are others who are stuck in the quicksand of their problems, and believe that those who leave society and take up a spiritual lifestyle are saints. However, holiness and virtue are qualities attained in one's life situations, not in running away from them. The elevated state is not merely a matter of elevated thoughts (which can be experienced in a sanyas), but elevated actions also, for the benefit of the self and the world. We are what we do and not so much what we imagine ourselves to be.

Soul Sustenance

Overcoming Fears Connected With Negative Past Experiences 

Some of our fears arise due to the situations we have lived through; for example, if you are driving a car and you have an accident. Then you take some time to drive again, because the memory of the accident awakens the fear of having another one or reliving the one you had. The person that has never had a car accident gets in the car with confidence, because they do not have that scene recorded, since they haven't lived through it.

There are fears that we carry within us that are not of the present. Something happened to us in the dark and we are now afraid of the dark. Fears in relationships: you opened your heart, you fell in love and, after a time, you experienced pain, you felt hurt, misunderstood, manipulated, deceived or mistreated, and now you no longer open your heart for anything; it is closed off with the shields that you yourself have created. To overcome this kind of fear due to experiences you have lived through, you have to come to terms with your past and accept it fully. You cannot change your past; lamenting the past doesn't help you; complaining about the past doesn't benefit you. Those shields brought about by fears do not disappear unless you do a deep cleansing. Begin to heal your experience of the past. Part of the past is healed with forgiveness. Without forgiving, you cannot forget.

(To be continued tomorrow …) 


Message for the day 

To be free from bondage means to be able to fly.

Projection: Sometimes we find that we are not able to progress as much as we should. We also find that we are not able to be light in all circumstances. At such times we might blame the situation and just stop making effort, as we cannot see the real cause for our lack of progress.

Solution: We need to understand that the lack of progress that we are experiencing is not because of the situation itself but because of our own weakness that is like a bondage. When we recognise this fact, we will be able to know the right method to overcome our own weakness so that we will then be able to fly forward.

Contemplation: Create Vision

Contemplation: Create Vision

Create Vision

Never believe anyone who says we cannot change. Vision is one of the secrets of personal transformation. We are all artists, our mind is the arena of creation and vision is what we are constantly creating. What is your vision of yourself today - patient, relaxed, positive or tense, tight and negative? What do you prefer? So be creative - what does patience look like, feel like, what are you doing that is different when you are patient and you are expressing your power to ....wait? Always start with vision not action. See it and you will be it. Be it and you will do it. This is how we create our own life.  
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Anger

Anger can be likened to a bull in a china shop. In the process of expressing its own truth, it destroys all the goodness that may still be around. Then the question arises: would it have been better to live with the minor untruth than to cause such extensive damage?
Anger is a vice which, in its gross form, will directly and instantly cause great harm to the self and others.
Sometimes we use the vice of anger for the sake of truth or what we believe to be right. We use it to justify the fact that someone else has lied or stolen or worse. However, anger in itself is wrong and thus it can never be justified. Two wrongs do not make a right. And someone else's wrong does not give me the permission to commit an even greater violence.
Anger will finish only when we begin to understand the real damage it causes.

The Search For Happiness And A Beautiful Relationship

Throughout history, human beings have desired and searched for two things, happiness and a perfect loveful and beautiful relationship.   It is interesting to realize that you cannot search for what, you have not already had or known. In other words, we search for these two things because inside us we have a deep subconscious memory of the original, perfect and eternal relationship with our Friend, Guide and Parent, the One remembered as God, Allah, Ishwar, etc.   It is only when we restore our relationship with this Being is that we can experience true happiness or bliss.   Bliss is the highest form of spiritual happiness we can experience.  It is experienced only when we are free of all attachment, when we no longer identify wrongly with anything physical and when our inner mental state is not dependent on anything or anyone.

At its highest level and in its purest state, our relationship with God is non-dependent and unconditional, and therefore blissful.   Deep within the soul, there is a memory of the bliss of this perfect union and it is this memory that inspires us to search for the perfect relationship, for the perfect happiness.   However, instead of seeking it at the spiritual level, we seek at the level of personality and body.   We search in those around us for the perfect partner - our soul mate. It is not incorrect to have worldly relationships, but there needs to be a deep realization inside each one of us that our true soul mate, is the One with whom we can have an ever-lasting, eternal relationship, the One with whom we have the deepest eternal bond (over a period of many births), the One from whom we will experience everlasting, eternal, unconditional attainments.

Soul Sustenance

Stepping Inside … (cont.)

When we learn to become silent we become more compassionate (generous) in our outlook and start accepting others for who they are.

The more we are able to accept, the sooner we find that there is harmony (peacefulness) in our relationships. We start saving energy, sparing or reducing our thoughts and our words. This is accompanied by more patience, tolerance, flexibility, easiness and lightness. Silence teaches us the art of living. Silence can be misused to isolate oneself and go into loneliness, but true, positive silence gives us a balance between our inner and outer worlds. Having explored our inner self we collect our positive energy, become aware of our qualities, and then very naturally these are expressed externally. We move our concentration to the inner self and then to the external world. Then we go inwards again. It is a circular movement. As we go into silence, we recharge our inner energies, become one with the self, heal our self, relax and release our self from negativity. There are so many benefits by simply stepping inside to meet our true self. As we draw out our internal riches and resources, what do we do with them? We share them and give them out and in doing this we receive and we learn.

Message for the day
Knowledge and faith bring the ability to be positive

Projection: Whenever things don't happen according to what we expect we begin to look at everything negatively. We are caught up with the negativity to such an extent that we are not able to find anything that might be positive in it.

Solution: We need to understand and develop the faith that behind everything seemingly negative there is something positive. It is up to us whether we want to see positive in negative or negative in positive and be influenced accordingly.

Contemplation: Good Feelings

Contemplation:  Good Feelings

Good Feelings

Good feelings for others are like ointments that heal wounds and re-establish friendships and relationships. Good feelings are generated in the mind, are transmitted through your attitude and are reflected in your eyes and smile. Smiling opens the heart and a glance can make miracles happen.

Ego

Ego is one of those vices which some would class as 'good to have'; it allows one to be 'positioned' and 'noticed', and 'respected' even.

However the thing with ego, specifically subtle forms of ego, is that it sits you on a false seat. Then when the truth reveals itself, which it will, there will be realisation and pain. And also the shame of knowing that everyone but you always knew.

Unlike any other vice, ego cripples the intellect's ability to discern. Ego adopts a form based on a speciality - on whatever is good within the self - and so disguises itself in that. It attracts the soul and it deludes it so that it is difficult for the self to recognise that this is ego.

Like salt mixed in sugar, it is not obvious and not everyone would know. However the moment it is tasted and experienced the truth is revealed. Its character and taste cannot remain hidden and salt can never be sweet! Everyone will be able to taste it except you. For the self it is something that has to be realised.

Watch out for that attractive form of ego!


Imbibing Or Absorbing Spiritual Knowledge

The first step into experience, particularly the meditation experience, is knowledge. What does it mean to 'know'? Knowing involves four steps, which ultimately give the meditator the experience of realization:

The first step of knowing is information. With information, our intellect opens to new ideas and opinions.

The second step of knowing is knowledge, when we begin to reflect and think on the ideas and views that we have listened to. At this point, we often have to select only a few of the ideas we have heard, as it is not always possible to reflect (think) on all the information that is fed to us. In order to deepen our understanding, we reflect on the information and sometimes discuss our findings and thoughts with others.

The third step of knowing is when we move from thinking to doing, that is, from knowledge to wisdom. Wisdom is gained when we commit ourselves to 'doing'. Knowledge translated into our everyday behaviour is called wisdom, which, in turn, is called quality life. A life of quality is where personal values are not only realised but also lived and experienced through our practical actions.

Doing, or practice, naturally brings us to the fourth and final step of knowing, which is called truth.

Soul Sustenance

Stepping Inside …

One aspect of meditation is that it teaches us to face life from the inside.
It takes us to that point of stillness where we find the strength to change and heal the inner self. In that silence, we are able to find perspective and insight. In a deep state of introspection, we clearly observe our thoughts, seeing our true motives and intentions behind our words and actions; when we understand that our intentions are perhaps not quite right, then we are in a position to say to ourselves, 'Hold on a minute!' When we use silence to check our thoughts at that level, then we begin to realize that many of the things we are thinking about are not really worth thinking about. At this point, we become spiritually economical, which in fact leads us to becoming very generous. A lot of precious energy is lost, both mentally and emotionally, on wasteful and negative thinking. Ninety-five percent of our time is wasted on thinking about others; we go on and on with a string of expectations from others, which becomes like a hammer of demand on other people's heads. Take a combination of expectations and demand, and what does it equal? Conflict!

When we learn to become silent and to reflect on our inner self, we start feeling satisfied with what we find inside, expectations from others gradually come down and there is a deep sense of contentment. 

(To be continued tomorrow …) 


Message for the day

The one who is a special flower keeps spreading the fragrance of virtues.

Projection: Being in situations that are not always positive it seems very difficult for us to be positive. As is our environment and the situations, we find, so are our own responses, too. That is, we find ourselves reacting negatively in a negative situation and positively in a positive situation.

Solution: We need to remind ourselves that we are a special flower with our own specialities. The more we remind ouselves of these specialities, the more we are able to spread the sweetness of this fragrance to all - whatever the situations may be.

Contemplation:Bring Light

Contemplation: Bring Light

There is some darkness in most human minds today, so there is a darkness component in most scenes and situations. Why else is there so much unhappiness and sorrow in the world? So how much value can be given to someone who is able to bring light and lightness to a place or a moment, where others have brought their dark? Like a crown of sparkling jewels, their presence and their words are priceless. It may only be a gentle smile of comfort, an attitude of genuine interest, some words which diffuse an awkward moment. Those who stay light in spirit while others weave their dark are both illuminated and illuminators. Watch out for such a moment today where you may illuminate. Make that moment momentous!

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Understanding The Difference Between Control And Influence

The moment we become upset with someone in our family or at work it
means we are trying to control them. And the moment others sense we
are trying to control them, they distance themselves from us, and that
reduces our ability to influence them in that situation. This in turn
kills our effectiveness at getting things done through others, and
leaves us frustrated and stressed, wondering why the world does not
behave the way we want it to. This finally turns into the a very
important realization - the more we try to control, the less influence
we will have, whereas the less we attempt to control others, the more
influence we will have.

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 

Are You Directing Your Inner Orchestra Well (Part 2)?

You can direct your orchestra well, which means that you can:

• Achieve what you want.
• Reach where you want.
• Be who you are.
• Stop being who you are not.
• Feel what you want to feel.
• Stop feeling what you do not want to feel.
• Be. You can be in your space.
• Do. You can do what gives meaning to your life.
• You can stop doing what lowers you, is ordinary and you do not want to do.
• You can reach excellence by crossing inner mental barriers.
• Let go of that which you have clung on to.
• Free yourself and fly.

If you believe that you can, you can. You have to harmonize your inner voices. Listen to those that allow you power, strengthen you and accompany you. Silence the voices that suppress you, judge you badly and limit you. 

Message for the day 

To be an inspiration to many is to be a hero actor.

Projection: When we see negativity in others, we usually think and speak about it. We then take no inspiration to think and act positive. The more the attention is drawn towards negativity, our actions will become negative too.

Solution: Whatever the situation we are in, we need to make effort to change our own actions and turn them to positive. We will then be free from looking at the negativity in others and our actions will become positive.

Contemplation:Total Faith

Contemplation:Total Faith

Total Faith

Have total faith that whatever is happening is good, and remain carefree.

The method to get help is to take the first step of courage.

When I set out to achieve something, I usually expect help from
situations or people, but am not always able to get it. Then I tend to
become disheartened and sometimes tend to give up the task altogether.
The right way to get help is to first take a step forward even in the
most negative situations. With courage and faith when I start in
whatever little way I can, I find the help coming to me. Then I will
neither stop nor give up with the little setbacks that I am faced
with.

Spiritual Vision

In a state of high self-regard, the awareness of oneself as a spiritual being or soul performing pure action, brings the awareness that other beings are also souls performing actions through their bodies. When there is this vision or drishti; this way of seeing another person as a spiritual being, when the attitude of soul-to-soul is maintained, then there is true communication and pure interaction and the desired state of peace, and purity occurs automatically. If you achieve a state in which you are naturally peaceful, pure and happy by being soul conscious, you can be sitting anywhere and, because the thought vibrations radiating from you, the soul, are of such high quality, other beings are necessarily receiving your positive energy.

Soul Sustenance

Are You Directing Your Inner Orchestra Well (Part 1)?

Our inner orchestra is made up of different music instruments – the different instruments are: our memories, desires, tendencies, mind, beliefs, emotions, feelings, fears, intuition, judgements, creativity, our imagination...

When you direct your inner orchestra well, you can remain unaffected by external influences without succumbing to them. When the orchestra directs you, you dance from one side to another without a clear direction and with a music that is not very harmonious or sweet; it is noisy and you suffer. Who is the director of this orchestra? You. Who are you? You – the consciousness, you - the soul, you – the being. When your consciousness is in charge, you make the orchestra play according to the inner voice of your being, according to your purest intentions and values. You can. You simply have to be awake, alert and attentive. If the director of the orchestra closes his eyes for a few moments and covers up his ears, what happens to the orchestra? You have to keep the eyes of your inner spiritual vision open; what is called the third eye. And listen with your heart, not with your physical heart but with the heart of your being. If your orchestra rules over you, and you - the director - are stiff, without flexibility, asleep, un-sympathetic, you will not be able to achieve your dreams or arrive at the destiny that you would like to reach. And, to make things worse, when your orchestra dominates you, you are more vulnerable to being dominated by the orchestra of others. Or you will allow someone else to direct your inner orchestra. This is the ideal road on which to get trapped and suffer. Is this what you want?

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Message for the day 

To be humble is to be a source of happiness to all around.

Projection: Sometimes we find that we don't mean to be negative to others but people seem to be displeased with us. When there is any kind of sorrow experienced or if others are experiencing any negative feelings, it means we are not working with our inner humility.

Solution: We need to develop regard for all around us. When we work with this regard there will be humility within us. This naturally enables others to experience happiness. To the extent that even in the most negative situations others will experience happiness.

Contemplation: Dance In Happiness

Contemplation: Dance In Happiness

Dance In Happiness

The easy way to remain happy is to remain constantly light. Pure thoughts are light and waste thoughts are heavy. Therefore, keep your intellect busy with pure thoughts and you will become light and continue to dance in happiness.

Few words are required when thoughts are positive.

I sometimes find myself using a lot of words to convey what I feel or
to give explanations to others. Yet I sometimes find that others are
not convinced with my words. I am then at a loss about what is to be
done. Positive thoughts actually reach out to others and create the
right environment. All I need to do is to create an atmosphere of
positivity by maintaining my own positive thoughts. Then I will not
have to use so many words to prove my point or to convince others. 

Meditation And Health

Each original quality of the self or soul is specially required for nourishing and empowering one human body system. The quality of peace is responsible for taking care of the respiratory system, joy for the gastrointestinal system, love for the circulatory system, bliss for the endocrine system, knowledge for the brain and nervous system, purity for the immune system and the five senses and power for the muscular and skeletal systems.

Each one of us has at least one body system, which is most prone to disease. When our mind is under the influence of stressful emotions, there is a decrease in the flow, from the soul to this body system, of that quality which is required by it for its nourishment, which leads to the development of disease in this system over a period of time e.g. when an individual with a weak respiratory system is in a negative state of mind, there is a decrease in the flow of the quality of peace to the respiratory system which in turn can lead to a disorder like asthma.

Soul Sustenance 

Carrying Forward Of Special Talents

Everything that an individual does i.e. a soul does using the medium of the physical body is registered in the soul as a sanskara. Sanskars, therefore, are the foundation of our present personalities and all our special talents and inclinations. There have been many famous personalities including artists, musicians, engineers, sportsmen, etc. who, before attaining phenomenal success in their respective fields, displayed amazing talents related to their respective field at a very young age. When and where could they have mastered these talents so well? It's obvious that amazing masteries at a very young age are not inherited from our parents. These talents have been developed and brought into practice in previous births, as a result of which sanskaras of the talents are created inside the soul. These sanskaras are then carried into the next births, and are brought into actions in the new births.

A more common day-to-day example is the following: A child is born into a family of doctors where, from the beginning, all efforts are made to mould and prepare him to become a doctor, according to family tradition. However, from an early age, the child shows strong tendencies to become an actor, starts to take part extensively in theatre activities at school and the talent starts manifesting itself. This example demonstrates that the characteristics a soul carries from previous experiences of previous births will take it in a specific direction despite attempts made by the family on the contrary. So in short, genius is experience. Some think that it's a gift or talent, but it is the fruit of long experience of many lives. Some are older souls than others i.e. they have been present on the world stage since a longer period of time and have covered a journey of more number of births and so know more. This kind of unlimited, broad vision of life provides us answers to many questions.

Message for the day 

Happiness increases when given to others.

Projection: We usually expect others to give happiness to us. We rarely ever think of giving happiness to others. We don't usually get what we expect because the other person is also expecting the same from us.

Solution: Whatever the kind of person we only have to make sure that we continue to give happiness to others without any expectations. For this we have to increase our own treasure of happiness by continuing to be happy under all circumstances.

Contemplation: No Problem

Contemplation: No Problem

No Problem

Solutions are never necessary because there are no problems, only our perception makes it seem so, and only our minds make our perceptions seem real. If there is a problem it is our perception. That is hard to see in a world that celebrates and rewards the finding and solving of ‘the problem’. When you decide that you will no longer perceive the problem, you will see only the facts or a situation. Facts are just facts and any and every situation can always be improved, unless it is in the past, then it’s just a memory, and memories are never a problem, are they? If you can cancel from the patterns of your perceptions, the very idea of ‘problem’ then you will not only be a positive thinker and a positive proactive actor, you will be a leader.

  

To have equality in thought, word and action is to be successful.

With regards to what I want to achieve, my thoughts are usually high.
I then speak about my high plans to others too. But to bring my plans
into action it takes a long time and by then I find that they have
lost their intensity. I need to remind myself that if I don't
implement my thoughts immediately, I will never do it. I also need to
check if the thoughts that I have are practical. I need to then plan
and speak about it according to my checking. Then I find that my
thoughts and plans are not wasted away, but become practical.

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.

Soul Sustenance 

Inculcating Powers Through Rajyoga Meditation - The Power To Withdraw (Part 2)

When I am too open to the world around me, it's as though the arrows of negativity that fly around can easily penetrate my being, so that I lose my power. What others say and do quickly affects me, and I become reactive. This causes a build-up of stress, and eventually burnout, which makes me feel my only option, is to retire from situations altogether, which is not always possible.

I don't want to react; I want to act with concern and reason and effectiveness. When I develop the habit of making a momentary withdrawal in situations of danger, I'm better able to achieve this. Turning within, I'm able to remember my link with the divine, the link of love, the link that fills me with peace and wisdom and good wishes. It's like an exercise: going inwards i.e. connecting with the self, then upwards towards the Supreme and then outwards (in the field of karma). Doing this repeatedly through the day as a discipline as well as at times of danger, I'll keep moving forward with stability and strength.

In order to maintain this power, I have to put a high value on introversion. If I'm too extrovert, I'll become caught up in external circumstances, and won't have power to withdraw available to me at the moment of need.

Message for the day 

The one who is royal plays with the jewels of knowledge.

Projection: Throughout the day several times we find ourselves performing such actions or speaking such words that hurt others. Such behavior actually reflects the fact that we are playing with stones instead of jewels.

Solution: Real jewels are such words and actions that are filled with knowledge or truth. Knowledge gives us understanding which brings sweetness in our words and accuracy in our actions and this is real royalty.