Contemplation: February 18, 2019: Plant the Seed of Peace

Contemplation: February 18, 2019: Plant the Seed of Peace

Plant the Seed of Peace

As our thought so is our consciousness, and as is our consciousness so is our life. Let your first thought of the day simply be peaceful. Plant this seed. Water it with attention and you will gather the calm.

  

Fly High

Just as the bird has to find the courage to let go of the branch in
order to fly, so we also must let go of our branches if we are to know
the exhilaration of soaring to the highest potential of our life. The
branches we hold to are our inner attachments - our beliefs, ideas and
memories. And then there are the outer attachments - people,
possessions, positions and privileges are a few. But as long as we hold
on to them we will live in fear (of letting go and loss) and we will
never be free. And just watch those birds, by letting go of one branch
they are able to spend the rest of their life alighting on a million
other branches, and they enjoy the view from each. Are you flying and
soaring in your life, or are you stuck on one branch, cursing others as
they fly past. Go on, try it ...let go!

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Cleaning Up The Cupboards Of Your Mind

When you are capable of relaxing, controlling your thought patterns and concentrating, you can reach deeper and more subtle states of meditation from which you connect with your inner potential for peace and purest love (the positive) and on the other hand, you clean out unnecessary memories (the negative). You reach the spiritual power that allows you to transform habits that are not very healthy and the beliefs that sustain them. Out of love and peace you can purify and clear the turbulent (rough) waters that there are at times in the subconscious.

When you meditate, you review whether there is something that has influenced you and you clean it out, so that only the highest, the most positive, the most beautiful, remains inside you and comes out of you. Meditation and reflection help you to clean out the register that, from the subconscious, brings about inadequate thoughts and uncontrolled emotions. Cleansing (cleaning up) in depth requires a clear purpose, being prepared to let go of the past; cleansing the wounds and pain accumulated in the store of your inner being; facing the present with dignity, with wisdom and visualizing, with confidence and trust, a future full of positivity.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Do Love And Suffering Go Hand-In-Hand (Part 3)?

When there is too much pain we cannot lean back into our true power and experience our energy of love. Only the power of pure love, unconditional love or love of God, can help us to get rid of the suppressed pain inside the subconscious. When you live through a situation that causes pain in you, you have to love yourself, stabilize yourself and enter into silence. Observe that pain without being afraid of it. Observe it to let go of it and understand what it is that it brings about in you.

The answer, generally, is connected with others: * He/she doesn't love me anymore and that's why I feel pain, * Things are not like they were before, * The company of this loved one doesn't give me the benefits it was giving me before.

If a person loved you and now has stopped loving you, does that make you feel pain? Or is it your own expectation and your desire for that person to keep on valuing you or loving you like before that trap you in pain? Is it that you don't accept change? The truth is, we bring on suffering ourselves. If you don't want to make yourself suffer, starting from now you do not have to bear any more suffering. Nobody can wound you or can cause you pain, except if you allow it. So how do you allow it? By being a vacuum that sucks in everything of the other, the good and the bad, and you suffer. It is expectations from our loved one that make us vulnerable to the experience of suffering. 

Message for the day

To have the spirit of sharing is to be constantly happy.

Expression: There are lots of resources in each one's life that can be shared with others. The more there is the consciousness of giving there is the ability to give and share these inner resources with others. New treasures are discovered and used for the benefit of all and also for the self.

Experience: There is constant satisfaction in my life when there is the spirit of giving. There are no expectations from others, but only an awareness of what I have. Life becomes more and more satisfactory and I feel richer for having given unconditionally. There are also constant good wishes that I receive from others.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: February 17, 2019: Create Vision

Contemplation: February 17, 2019: 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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Recharge!

Each day we all need to recharge our spiritual battery, otherwise the
light of our consciousness becomes dim, thoughts become fuzzy, and
decisions are impregnated with doubt. Power is available inside and
outside. Inside us we have a spiritual centre, at the core of our
consciousness, pure radiant spiritual light. This is what we are.
However it is now blocked by our attachments, the record of all our
life experiences and many learned beliefs and perceptions. Outside us
we have the sun of spirit, the source, invisible to our physical eyes
but only one second away when we are able to quieten and focus our
mind. Meditation connects us to both sources of power - that's why
meditation is the way to access the real vitamins and the minerals that
spirit craves. The vitamin of pure love and the minerals of truth and
wisdom. Take time to empower yourself today. Sit quietly and connect
your mind to each source and allow yourself to recharge and renew.
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The Significance Of The Power Of Thought In Meditation

Meditation is not a process of emptying the mind of thought. In meditation I use the natural power of the soul - the power to create thoughts, as a take-off point (or as a spring-board) to finally experience the consciousness of the true self. In meditation, I climb a ladder of well-prepared, positive and spiritual thoughts and eventually climb beyond the ladder into the pure experience of what I really am. Pondering over these pure and real thoughts can occupy the soul for long periods of time.

In the most basic stage of Rajyoga meditation, first comes the realization: I am a soul, the energy of consciousness made up of a mind, an intellect and a collection of sanskars. My eyes, ears, nose, mouth are just the organs, which when used correctly, help me, the soul, enjoy life. I now possess the knowledge that will free me from my cage. I have the key, spiritual knowledge is the key - I am a soul, a being of light, 'a bird' which has the power to fly freely. Knowing this, I am not bound by physical laws. I can detach and fly at the speed of a thought, to the soul world, where I can easily experience my original state. I must realize that it is impossible to have peace of mind if I cannot detach from the body. I must look upon all my family members, friends, colleagues, also as souls which have come from the soul world. We are all fellow souls.

Soul Sustenance

Do Love And Suffering Go Hand-In-Hand (Part 2)?

We have the inner belief that love, worry, fear and suffering go together. It is difficult to transform (change) fear until we eliminate that belief. You are love and you need to share that love. Life is a sharing of love, it is loving the body, loving oneself, loving others, loving God, loving nature, loving work. That energy of love in the end purifies us and helps us to go forward. But while the belief exists that love has to be linked to fear and suffering, we will be blocked and will put a brake to the flow of pure love. In the name of love, we worry, we suffer and we are afraid. Instead of helping from a place of freedom in love, we help out of worry and fear, and in doing so we stifle, control, depend, and the other person feels their inner freedom restricted. We do not let them be.

If we review our personal life and see the moments when we have experienced most pain in our lives, we realize that it is with the people we have most loved, and that have most loved us that we have suffered most. We experience pain in a relationship of love, where there is possession, control, submission and dependence. Other times the pain is caused by a loss that generates an inner emptiness. That person filled me, they gave me wholeness, they were the reason for my existence and now they have either left me or they have gone. In the second case, we wouldn't say that they "have died", but rather that they have gone to another level of existence i.e. the soul has taken a new physical costume.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Message for the day

The one who follows the right method gets easy success.

Expression: When there is a clear aim of what has to be done and how one has to go about doing it, then there is accuracy in all words and actions. Whatever effort is put in is according to the system and is naturally accurate. So when there is accuracy in all that is done, the fruit of that is also right.

Experience: When I have been following the right method for whatever I have to do, I am able to remain happy for the effort that I have put in. I am also able to be patient and wait for the fruit of my effort to come at its own time. I am never in a hurry, so I always experience success whatever the outcome of the task may be.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: February 16, 2019: Going Deep

Contemplation: February 16, 2019: Going Deep

Walters Group Towers, a wonderful engineering

Going Deep

Just as the highest tower needs a deep foundation, so too our higher thinking is based on going deep within.

Happiness

Happiness is the art of living, the purpose of our existence. Happiness
is the true index of quality of life. Without happiness, life is dry
and meaningless. With happiness, life immediately becomes fulfilling
and wonderful. Happiness is an infectious feeling that immediately
lifts the sagging spirits of people. Happy people keep themselves happy
because they know the little ways to appreciate themselves and to see
the humour and magic in each moment.

Fulfilling The Criteria Of Positivity (cont.)

In yesterday's message we defined positivity and negativity from a spiritual perspective. Further elaborating, negativity hides my truth, and causes me to take incorrect steps during the day, without realizing, hurting myself and others yet not knowing how or why. At the level of non-physical spiritual vibrations, we are all connected with each other, as a result of which if I help others to come close to the experience of truth, a state in which the other is an embodiment of the virtues of peace, love, joy, purity and power (as defined yesterday), I will also help myself: whereas if I bring others down into a state of falsehood, the opposite, that will also bring me down. Whenever I give another soul an experience of any of these virtues, the virtue first flows through me and then touches the other. As a result there is an increase in the virtue inside me first and then the other is benefited.

In the entire day, my words and actions may be numbered, but my thoughts are in thousands. My mind works, even when I sleep, even though I am not active physically at that time. The quality of my thoughts at that time is largely influenced by the quality of my thoughts, words and actions during the day. So I need to be aware throughout the day as to how much is each thought, word and action of mine fulfilling the criteria of positivity i.e. bringing me and others closer to a state of truth. The more my thoughts, words and actions do so; the result is an increase in an experience of inner and outer lightness in the self and a similar experience from me to those who come into my contact or whom I interact with.

Soul Sustenance

Do Love And Suffering Go Hand-In-Hand (Part 1)?

There are two things that touch or move us in life: pain and pleasure. Both create addiction. We feel pain in the body, and sometimes it is even emotional. But suffering arises in the mind. The suffering in the mind arises from thinking negatively towards the self, towards others, looking at them with a vision or attitude that causes grief, sorrow and suffering. Both extremes, pain and pleasure, can create addiction. On creating addiction it can start to form part of someone's identity. Later if one tries to stop the addiction of pain or suffering, it can almost feel like a threat towards the self, and towards one's own identity as one perceives it, because suffering is identified with. It is too hard to see oneself as no longer suffering.

An e.g. in this regard is that of a mother, with three children, who was undergoing a meditation course at one of the Brahma Kumaris centers. Her daughter had learned to meditate and became very happy and joyful. Seeing her happiness the mother came to learn to meditate. With a few sessions she felt much more at peace and had very good experiences, but all of a sudden she decided to stop the meditation practice and leave the course because she was starting experiencing a positive detachment, which she perceived as negative. Now, she was no longer feeling afraid of what might happen to her children. The meditation was awakening in her a love free from fears, but it brought on in her an inner clash of beliefs between the old and new beliefs. Her old belief was that to love someone is to suffer about them or create pain related to them.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Message for the day

To switch on the power of awareness is to be free from being mood off.

Expression: To be mood off means to find excuses and reasons to feel negative - to have negative thoughts for the self or for the others. But if there is a strong powerful awareness in the mind, a positive thought about the self, there will not be a chance for a negative thought to enter the mind. So there will never be any reason to be mood off.

Experience: When I am able to maintain a single powerful thought, I am able to remain happy and content. I am not dependent on the external situations for the internal state of mind. Nor do I make external situations as an excuse to further weaken my own thoughts. So there is constantly a feeling of positivity under all circumstances.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Happy Valentine's Day ! Tips for Nurturing Loving Relationships

Happy  Valentine's  Day ! 

Just as a kite flies high, held only by a string, our intellect can rise to the heights of wisdom,
pulled only by the thread of Spiritual Love.

I  AM Love -     Realize love is what you ARE and that  ‘love never dies’ ! 

    - BK Mike George  - 

We seek it here, we seek it there, we look for love everywhere!  We expect it to come to us, usually through another person. All our conditioning says it is something that happens to us. The mythology of our fables, legends and modern day entertainment industries say it is something we 'fall into'. And yet...and yet real love cannot be acquired, possessed or accumulated. It cannot be known when we think it comes from outside ourselves. The ultimate paradox is we are it.   We ARE love. Each one of us is a source of love that has forgotten that 'love is what I AM'.  Say it now "I AM love".  Doesn't feel right does it? That's because it’s been so long since we knew and experienced ourselves in this true way.  And yet we all know that the deepest trust and the purest love is known and experienced only when we give it, not take it.  

As we give love in whatever way is appropriate, we are the ones to experience it first, on the way out. Falling in love is impossible. It is only infatuation, obsession with an external object which appears to fill a gap in ourselves. As soon as the object or person is remembered when they are not present and when they do not need to be remembered, it is simply attachment which, if sustained, will become a dependency. And attachment and dependency are not love.  But you already know that...don't you?  


What Is True Love?  -  A Spiritual Perspective - 

Emotional love can flower into true love when the fire of emotions cools down and is substituted by a wiser and more mature relationship. True love needs a fresh and renewing atmosphere, without fears. When you feel spiritually full, you feel flowing over with pleasure, happiness, well being, and that state helps you to accept the one whom you love as they are, because from your fullness you give and share and you don't need or expect anything from the other. While you need something that you want the other to satisfy, you will have expectations and the fear that those needs might not be satisfied, and you will get frustrated more easily. When you feel like a being of peace, a being of love, a tranquil being, a being that is spiritually full and satisfied, your relationship with others is a relationship of sharing on a level on which fear is not generated. You are not asking for or taking anything from the other. An elevated sharing of love, of happiness, of knowledge, of wisdom takes place, in which you do not generate a dependency on the other. 

Attachments and dependencies, fears and insecurity, block our experience of love, of peace, serenity, freedom, happiness. When you have a feeling of love that takes you to a state of joy, to wholeness, but then you attach yourself to the object of your love, be it a person, or a property, automatically the feeling changes into fear: you fear to lose the object of your love and, instead of feeling wholeness and enjoyment, you feel fear. Over time that attachment turns into a dependency and you start to become inwardly empty: that is, your energy level goes down. Love in its purest form is a like a spring that pours forth for the benefit of others. Learn the art of loving, being free and allowing to be. Pure, true, love is an unconditional love that flows freely. Do not cling (hold on to). Love does not cling. 

“When you like a flower, you just pluck it.  But when you love a flower, you water it daily…”  -  Buddha


Nurturing Loving Relationships   -  Tips from BK Shivani  -

They are different from us, not wrong ...

1. People’s habits and sankars can be different from ours. We can see only through the filter of our sanskar, and we feel our perspective is right.
2. The other person’s perspective is different from us, let us not label it is wrong. What is right for us may not feel right to them. They are different from us, not wrong.
3. When we create a thought that someone is wrong, we are disrespecting them. When we understand that they are different, we respect them and their perspective.
4. When we accept the difference, then they also accept our sanskar. We respect each other and are open to understanding the       other perspective and may be even ready to change ours.

Do not make choices just to please people and get their appreciation ...

1. When we become dependent on people’s approval for taking our decisions in life then we may take decisions which are not comfortable for us.
2. Different souls because of different past and present sanskars will always have different opinions in the same situation. It is not possible to get everyone’s approval on any choice we make.
3. If needed take advice and opinions from family and friends before taking a decision. But do not make choices to please people and get their appreciation.
4. The original qualities of the soul radiate when it is calm and stable. When we keep getting affected by other’s opinion, we will remain disturbed and this blocks our energy of love.

Two souls cannot have the same sanskars ....

1. If we copy the unpleasant behaviour of others, we block our beautiful qualities. Let us radiate our qualities in interaction with them.
2. Each soul has been on a long journey, creating different sanskars in each birth. Two souls cannot have the same sanskars. Let us not expect people to have the same qualities as us.
3. When we do something for someone, let us not feel that we are doing it for THEM. If we have negative thoughts of unwillingness, neither we nor they will be happy. We are doing it because this relationship and their happiness is important to us.
4. Sometimes people may not behave the way we want, let us consciously shift our mind to all their past pleasant behaviours. This enables us to see them in a positive perspective and then respond to the present situation in the right manner.

Last but not least .....

One of the most significant areas of importance in any human's life is that of relationships. Someone with very good, close, harmonious and loveful relationships with loved ones, friends, colleagues, etc. is normally considered very fortunate or lucky. But of all relationships, the first and most basic one is the one I have with myself. So, how good, close or deep is my relationship with myself? How well do I know myself? Am I my own friend? If I think over the last week or fortnight, how many of my reactions were unexpected or uncontrolled or basically not the right ones? How many reactions left me confused, sad, unenthusiastic, peaceless, depressed, negative in any other way or in short uncomfortable? If there have been several such situations, it is an indication that there are still things deep within me that I do not know.
Normally a friend is someone whose company I enjoy, for whom there is love and from whom there is some benefit. As in any worldly relationship, without knowing a particular person to the core I can never have a deep relationship with that person. As the phrase 'spiritual knowledge' implies, it is the knowledge of the spirit or the self. Only by knowing myself completely and having a good relationship with the self, can I channelize my inner potential that I have within myself - just as water from a river, when properly channelized, provides water for various purposes.

In any worldly relationship, if enough time and attention is not given to it and it is not nourished, it gets affected negatively.  In the same way, though it's obvious that I have to spend a large chunk of each day involved in situations arising from my duties, routine activities, responsibilities and worldly relationships; my relationship with myself should also be given enough time and attention, so that it does not suffer. If I am not careful about that, my worldly life may use up my energy completely and discharge my inner battery. I need to find times in the day when I give time to my relationship with the self and recharge myself. The peace and happiness I long for internally will be obtained by having a good, positive relationship with the self.

Contemplation: February 15, 2019: Determination

Contemplation: February 15, 2019: Determination

Determination

Determination brings the strength to continue, the steadiness to succeed, and the wisdom to slip past difficulties undisturbed.

See their Specialties

Sometimes people are not able to use their specialties. But even at
such times if we have the ability to see their specialties, we will
have the ability to give courage and enthusiasm to them. We can
provide them with such an environment that allows their own growth. So
whatever the circumstances may be, there is progress. When we are able
to see the positive aspect of others, we can keep our mind free from a
major portion of negativity. The potential of our thoughts can be used
fully for our own inner progress and we can therefore make a
contribution for the others too. This earns us blessings and good
wishes from others, which further enhances our own progress.

Fulfilling The Criteria Of Positivity

What is the best way to define positivity? What, for you, is a positive thought, word or action? We could define positivity as something which leads me as well as others towards to a state of truth. A state of truth for me as well as any and every soul is a state in which it is an embodiment of the virtues of peace, love, joy, purity and power i.e. a state in which these virtues exist inside the soul to the fullest extent. As a result, in this state of truth everything that flows out of the soul or everything that it radiates or every thought, feeling, word or action that it creates, speaks or performs, is filled with these qualities. This state of truth is the original state of every soul.

All these qualities are connected with each other. One quality attracts the remaining qualities towards itself automatically. So, when I, through any medium, bring myself and others, whom I interact with, close to this state, to whatever extent, then that is positivity. If my thought, word or action takes me and others away from this state of truth, then that is the opposite i.e. negativity.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Understanding the Mind and Its Functioning

The mind is a faculty of the soul, the main function of which is to produce thoughts. The thoughts we create are energy. In one day we produce an average of thirty to forty thousand thoughts. How much energy does this represent? What do we do with it?

The mind works constantly, even when we are sleeping. We cannot separate ourselves from it, it is our inseparable companion. If you study your mind you will see that, as well as thinking, it imagines, remembers, dreams, associates, desires and even produces your feelings.

If you think about some incident that made you unhappy ten years ago, you will feel that unhappiness again, perhaps even more deeply than before. If you think of something that made you happy, you will also feel that happiness when you repeat the event in your mind.

If you create positive thoughts about yourself, you will feel good and your self-esteem will be strengthened, and if you create negative thoughts, you will feel depressed, with low self-esteem. The mind opens up the way to the self. By creating the right type of thoughts you can open up your inner potential again, and rediscover that as people we are full of positive qualities.

Message for the day

To be free from desires is to have the experience of attainment.

Expression: The more there are desires, the more it becomes difficult to appreciate what is there and what is attained. Life becomes a constant struggle for attaining something else. One desire is fulfilled and before it can be appreciated all energies are focused on the fulfillment of ten other desires.

Experience: When I continue to run after desires, I am not able to have the experience of having attained anything. Running for desires is like running after the shadow, I can never get it. But when I turn my back on it, it runs after me. If I am free from desires, I am rich because I am content with whatever little I have and I am happy putting in effort to be better with that little.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: February 14, 2019: All We Need Is Love

Contemplation: February 14, 2019: All We Need Is Love

Happy Valentine’s Day

All We Need Is Love

Everyone looks outside for everything, including love. Love is all that everyone wants. Their purpose in life is love; to love someone, to be loved, to love their car, to love their dog, to love their garden etc. But all these types of love are perishable and are destined to fade away. The love we really want is within us all the time. When we feel love, where is the love coming from? It is within us, that’s because we are love. So I need to sit in silence and get to know myself again, because when I get to know my true self I will find out that I am love. I don’t need to look for it outside. I have an imperishable supply of the sweetest love possible within me.

Good Wishes

Although we speak with a lot of logic and make the other person
understand what we mean to say, we sometimes find that they are not as
effective as they should be. Sometimes our words are also misunderstood
and misinterpreted. So there are a lot of conflicts that rise because
of this and spoil relationships with others. What we say is of course
important, but much more important is how we say it and with what
feeling. We need to keep ourselves free from any kind of attitude, when
we have to say something to someone. This can happen when we have good wishes for others and thus we find that our words are effective.

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

Shedding Off The Attachment To A Positive Past (Part 2)

Excessive attachment to a glorious past is a subtle shade of the negative emotion of ego which colors my present perception of external events and which affects my present actions and responses, as a result of which not only present but my future is also affected. As I hold on to it, my creativity is reduced and I do everything with a limited perspective, not letting myself grow and shape up a glorious present and future. There are some people whose goal is to achieve something so great in their lives so as to ensure they will gain recognition and respect by others in time to come. This is again a subtle shade of attachment and ego.

But shedding off this type of attachment is not easy and first requires the realization that this attachment is incorrect and damaging. The next step is sitting in silence and becoming aware of how you lose your identity in a story of past thoughts, feelings, emotions, attitudes and actions and then disassociating or detaching yourself from that story. You do not need to suppress or deny or fight with this story; otherwise its memory gets stronger and more overpowering. You just need to simply see and realize deeply that your past is just a record of a particular set of actions, which you committed at a particular point of time, it is a series of images of previous events that you witnessed and that you were a part of, all of which have left a record in your memory, and in the memories of others, but they are not what you are. This type of practice of disassociation with spiritual understanding fades the excessive memory of the story in your consciousness over a short period of time and these actions then cease to influence you in any way in the present. Here we are talking about an influence, which we have for long deceived ourselves into believing to be a positive one, but which in reality is not.

Message for the day

The one who is the master is the one who creates positive thoughts under all circumstances.

Expression: The one who is the master of himself is always able to create the right kind of thoughts according to the circumstance. Never is there the dependency on situations or people for the right kind of responses. Since there is mastery over thoughts, there is also mastery over all words spoken and everything done.

Experience: When I am able to be a master of myself, I am able to constantly create positive thoughts. I am in touch with the inner resources and I am able to make use of these resources in a timely way. I never get confused or pressurized with outside situations, but am able to be in control in all situations.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: February 13, 2019: First Change

Contemplation: February 13, 2019: First Change

First Change

There is no greater teacher than one's own practical example. To be really benevolent therefore means that I must first change, then I have the power, the knowledge and the experience of thinking and doing for the ultimate benefit of all.

Spiritual Maturity

As we mature spiritually there is less need to have our self-respect
bolstered by praise and special attention. As our thought processes
become more compassionate and less self obsessed, we feel increasingly
satisfied with ourselves and our lives. We relate to people more easily
and feel no need to draw attention to our successes or complain about
our problems.

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

Shedding Off The Attachment To A Positive Past (Part 1)

A very powerful mis-identification (incorrect identification) that each one of us indulges in, to different extents, is identifying with our positive or glorious actions of the past. This identification is so strong that almost every day it comes to the surface of our consciousness when we switch on the movie of this story of these actions on the screen of our minds. By rehearsing this story repeatedly we love experiencing the same emotions and feelings that we felt at that time, emotions that we had enjoyed very much. We not only re-experience that pleasure but we also love to share the pleasure by persuading others to see that movie by broadcasting that movie in front of whoever we come across. This is normally done in the form of words by speaking about our professional or personal achievements, our educational qualifications, our experiences, actions for which we gained recognition, our history, etc., all a thing of the past. But this is not talking about the real self, this is just a story, thus it is a false identification with something we are not. Every time we indulge in this type of identification, we strengthen the incorrect belief that we are talking about our self. We believe the past is us. This is the incorrect identification.

If someone were to ask us to describe ourselves in a few words, instead of talking with humility about our spiritual self, our virtues, powers, strengths, etc., which is the real self, we quickly mention all of the above features of our past, thinking this will give the other an impression of our credibility. Even when we communicate with people over email or some other mediums, we are quick to mention all these things in our signature, etc. believing this is our story and portraying that we are in love with it and other people should identify us with this story as we do and love us for the same. To remember and identify with any memory of action that we created yesterday is to identify with what we do. And we are not what we do.

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day

To be committed towards one's own progress is to help others to move forward.

Expression: The one who is committed towards his own self-progress, is free from criticizing others when he sees them make mistakes. Having realized what is wrong, such a person makes corrections immediately. He is able to realize his own mistake in a second and take the chance for self-improvement. This naturally gives the ability to help others also to bring about a change for the better.

Experience: Since I am committed to my own self-progress, I am able to become stronger and stronger with each passing situation. I find that I become a source of inspiration for those around, as I continue to learn from all that happens. I don't put people down for their mistakes, but am able to give them the help to be better.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

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