Contemplation: May 12, 2019: Love All

Contemplation: May 12, 2019: Love All

Love All

Love can never be exclusive. The sun does not choose to shine on some flowers in the garden and not others. Love is inclusive and has many faces - caring, listening, sharing from the heart, just accepting someone for what they are right now, are all acts of love, as long as you seek nothing in return. It all starts with acceptance of yourself - you're just fine as you are right now, warts and all. It's not that you will stay that way for ever - but you might, if you don't accept. The secret key to the greatest door called love is acceptance. First your self, then others (especially the ones you currently resist) and eventually ...all.

God, the Companion

Your love for God will make you experience His companionship in
everything you do. Where there is love there is never a moment of
loneliness. Thus you will be able to move forward with courage in all
the challenges that life brings. Think of one situation where you have
found yourself failing. Now think that God is with you to help you in
this situation. When you believe this, you will find that you'll get
the courage to accept and face the situation. Then you can also work
and bring about a change in the situation.

The Power To Discriminate

Meditation gives me a discriminating eye - an ability to discriminate between truth and falsehood. It does this by helping me maintain a consciousness that helps me rise above competing claims to truth - the different ideologies and opinions, reasons and analyses, justifications and stories related to a situation - which can be so confusing.

The image of discrimination is the jeweler, who, with the help of his eyeglass, sorts out real diamonds from false. Meditation opens my third eye, the eye of pure consciousness. When I look at the world through this eye, truth is not just an intellectual idea, but an experience of the heart. When I think and act in ways that maintain and deepen this experience of truth, I know I am moving in the right direction. Conversely, I discover that thoughts and behaviours that cloud or hide the experience of truth are coming from falsehood, no matter how much I or others may try to justify them. So, meditation gives me a reliable basis for discriminating the value in different courses of action: will this help me recover my truth, or take me further into falsehood? Will it maintain the flow of love, peace and happiness in my heart, or will it cause a blockage? Previously, I may have been easily swayed by other people's demands and opinions, or by illusory ways of thinking arising from my own negativity. Like a good lawyer, the intellect is very clever at arguing its case, regardless of where the truth may lie. But, when truth is experienced in and from the heart, there is no arguing with it. Deeply experienced truth clears my mind of irrelevancies created due to possessiveness, greed, desires and ego. As I learn to create pure, positive thoughts, and connect with the divine, it is as though a flow of clear, fragrant water gradually displaces the mud and rubbish in my intellect, enabling me to see reality or truth again.

Soul Sustenance

Maintaining Your Self-Esteem In Relationships

When a person is in love with another human, the marvelous thing about being in love is that it is a totally positive projection. There is a person who projects on to you all that is positive: you are marvelous, you are unique, you are indispensable, you are a treasure. That positive projection generates a euphoric state, of bliss, of wellbeing, whereby you are flying. You feel loved, cared for, needed and valued. That positive projection lasts for a time until, with the dependencies and expectations, the negative projection begins. "You should have called me, you should have told me, you should have come at this time, you should be more like this, you should be less like that, you should have done this or that."

With these expectations, demands and dependencies, that positive projection and flying state disappear. The other has started interfering in your personal space and the harmony that was there previously is lost. One needs to learn to have a positive vision of oneself. You are marvelous, you are unique; don't depend on them telling you so. This does not mean you need to feed your ego, but that you need to make the most positive emerge from within you. Resort to all your creative, positive, spiritual capacity, so that you do not depend on others having to project positive things onto you in order to feel good. On feeling good in an independent and autonomous way, you will be able to share with others peace, love and positivism. You won't be in the state of a victim but will be true rulers and controllers of your own life with solid self-esteem.

Message for the day

The one who is a giver, has attention constantly on giving fully.

Expression: When the system that I am working in doesn't let me give maximum benefit to the people around me or deprives them of their natural right, I tend to react negatively. I tend to become upset which doesn't help either of us in anyway.

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


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: May 11, 2019: Health Challenges

Contemplation: May 11, 2019: Health Challenges

Health Challenges

When you're facing a health challenge, whether it's flu or something more serious, give the body time to rest and recuperate.

As well as medical care, nourish the mind with positive thoughts; keep your head calm and your heart happy. 
This will help the body's healing process.

Unselfish love

The one way to change others is to deal with them with love. When you
have love for others, you will have good wishes for them. Your desire
to change them will then be for their good and not for your own
selfishness. Others will quickly respond to your unselfish love and
you'll find them changing. Think of one person you want to bring about
a change in. Before you think of changing that person let there be a
lot of love for that person in your mind. Also make sure the change
you want in the other person is for his own good and not for your own
selfish reason.

To Complement And Not To Compete (cont.)

We all have a place within this beautiful embroidery of life; let us know it, enjoy it, express it as our right, but never overdo it because we feel our role or position is more advanced, or better than others. Sometimes, when there is a sense of personal or collective emptiness, there is the need to be recognized, which creates attachment to your own talents, role or virtues.

We have to learn to complement rather than compete. Nature works on the principle of complementarity. This can be seen with the seasons, day and night, the continual cyclical process of birth, growth, maturity, decay, death and rebirth. Even our bodies work on this principle. Look at the face! Each face has two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears, all in the right position and functioning in an appropriate way. Which of these is more important? Would you say the eyes are more important, so you would prefer to have three eyes and no nose? Or would you say the nose is more important, so you would prefer to have three noses and no ears? We cannot think like this because it is absurd and illogical. Each feature has equal value and when we recognize the equal value of all things, then we stop being illogical - comparing, competing, feeling superior or inferior, or striving to be what we are not. In a society that functions, can everyone be a doctor, an engineer or a farmer? Everyone has different talents and positions because different tasks have to be fulfilled if the whole society is to run well. If we examine life carefully, we realize that the recognition of this principle of complementarity is the basis of creating a peaceful and happy coexistence, because the vision of equality respects and honors the differences.

Soul Sustenance

Self Empowerment

To fill your self with a quality or power, which you feel you do not have or one, which is lacking inside you, try the following exercise. Suppose you feel that you lack contentment (satisfaction). To increase this quality inside you, sit comfortably in a pleasant room with your eyes open.

Withdraw (remove) energy mentally from everything around you – turn your attention inward. You might think of how a tortoise withdraws into its shell to detach itself from the outside world, but carrying the experience of the world with it inside its shelter.

Create a point of consciousness. Focus on the centre of your forehead. Think of this point as a bright star, a sparkling jewel, a flame or a being of light. This will radiate positive energy, making you feel good about yourself.

Affirm (strengthen) this positive energy through positive thoughts and images about yourself such as * I am a contented soul, I shower everyone whom I meet with the quality of contentment, * I am a jewel of contentment, or * I am the child of the Supreme Soul, the Ocean of Contentment.

Focus your energy on contentment, and let this become the object of your meditation. As you focus, you will give contentment life, turning a thought into a feeling.

Experience this feeling by giving your conscious attention to it.

During the entire day, you could visualize yourself performing each action in the canopy (shelter) of the Ocean of Contentment.

Now perform this exercise for different virtues like cheerfulness, courage, humility (egolessness), tolerance, forgiveness, determination, etc. especially for the ones you think are lacking inside you. For the qualities already existing inside you, you could use this exercise to strengthen those features of your personality and bring them more into your actions and interactions. 

Message for the day

To live in the present is to be free from the influence of the past.

Expression: Many times the past keeps coming back again and again in the mind, influencing the present too. The present is lost in thinking about the past. So there can be nothing done to enjoy the present. All words and actions then are totally coloured by the past. Instead the one who is able to free himself from the influence of the past is able to move positively towards the future.

Experience: To be free from the influence of the past it is important to have a powerful consciousness of the present. To be able to be free from the influence of the past is to forget the past. Because there is the understanding that it is gone. Also there is no worry about the future. When I am able to learn to live in the present I am able to discover how full it is of peaceful moments.



In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: May 10, 2019: Smile Back

Contemplation: May 10, 2019: Smile Back

Smile Back

A smiley person is one whose heart seems to radiate through their teeth. ..
And when they smile, it's almost impossible not to smile back....
So even if you don't feel like it, smile anyway.  It'll make you feel better.
And when you smile, chances are, the person receiving your smile will smile back, and you'll feel even better.

Love & Forgiveness

It is only when you have love for yourself that you can forgive
yourself. Love gives you the power to forgive. Just as you find it
easy to forgive a person you love, when you have love for yourself you
can forgive yourself too. It is only then can you find yourself
learning and progressing without making yourself heavy. When you find
yourself making a mistake, remind yourself that if you have to
progress you have to forgive yourself. Learn from your mistake in such
a way that you never repeat it and forgive yourself. Then you'll be
able to move forward with lightness.

To Complement And Not To Compete

Harmony, well-being and the fulfillment of individual purpose are only possible when our consciousness is universal or inclusive (taking everyone into consideration) in the sense that we can recognize and appreciate the purpose and necessity of all things in life and, therefore, give them the space to express their basic right to be. When people, either on an individual or collective level are no longer universal or they are exclusive (no longer taking everyone into consideration), that is, when the foundation of their identity is based on ego and superiority, then harmony, peace and certainly love are lost both in the individual and in society.   Individuals, societies, nations, religions and politics all do not remain universal when they are gifted a particular specialty, talent or position. While it is healthy and necessary to value who you are, it becomes most unhealthy and violent to become attached to your special qualities, making others feel inferior because they do not possess those same qualities. The reason for conflict, on any level, is nearly always this sense of right to dominate or suppress others because we feel we are better in one way or another. Unfortunately, in modern society, the idea of outdoing others in order to prove the value of the person, or idea, has overtaken the basic principle of life, which is complementarity. When we learn to complement rather than compete, there will be peace and, above all, self-respect. Self-respect means to recognize myself as I am and thus fulfill my purpose without injury to, or comparison with, others.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Transforming The Other’s Anger

In meditation, when I connect with God, I absorb His spiritual love and peace, which causes my own original qualities, which are present in me, the soul, in my pure state when I begin the playing of roles through physical bodies on the world stage, to come to the forefront or to the surface, to emerge in the conscious from the sub-conscious. As a result, now, where previously there would have been conflict, I have a greater capacity to remain peaceful when another person behaves in an unpleasant way with me. I have the power to stay mentally and emotionally stable when someone provokes or insults me. This power is enormously valuable in life, enabling me to cool heated situations, and even remove another person's anger altogether.

Instead of focusing on the anger on a person's face, I focus my attention to the non-physical, star-like being or soul within the person, which was peaceful and loveful in its original, pure state. This increases my tolerance and acceptance power. Also, through my meditation, I am actively aware of the spiritual bond all human beings share, as souls who have a common home of peace, the incorporeal (non-physical) home, from where all of souls come and a common connection with the One Supreme Father, the Supreme Soul. Through this knowledge, I connect with the goodness in the other soul and my love for the soul is maintained. I realize that this goodness is a deeper reality than the anger. The truth is that if I can hold this soul-conscious vision steady for long enough, I radiate positive energy to the other soul, which works like magic and awakens the goodness within the other person. Then, my tolerance bears fruit and peace really does prevail between the two of us.

Message for the day

To bring in light is to finish darkness.

Expression: Usually when there is any negativity seen, there is a lot of attention paid to it. All the positivity remains hidden and only the negativity is highlighted. So the one who is caught up with a negative attitude colours all his words and actions too with this negativity and will naturally create a world of negativity for himself.

Experience: When I am able to see the positivity even in both positive situations and negative situations, I am able to influence others with my positivity. Others' negativity will not influence me in a negative way, but I will be able to remain powerful in all situations. I will experience inner growth constantly.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: May 09, 2019: Mind Matters

Contemplation: May 09, 2019: Mind Matters

Mind Matters

The most important part of you is your mind (not your brain - the brain is the hardware and the mind creates the software). Care for your mind, make friends with it, always feed it healthy food, engage it in positive activity, exercise it with knowledge and wisdom. Like a garden returns fragrance and beauty according to the care invested, so your mind will repay you with thoughts, ideas and visions of great beauty when tended and invested with care. Your mind is not made of matter but it does matter what you give it and what you create with it. Where your mind goes, you go. What your mind creates becomes your destiny.

Love Your Work

If something is difficult, it means there is no love. Where there is
love, even a task as difficult and big as a mountain becomes as easy
and light as cotton. Love makes work easier and lighter. Today is the
day to love your work. Whatever you are doing, remember that you love
your work. Experiment with one thing that you have been finding it
difficult to do with a reminder to yourself that you love it and that
is the reason you are doing it.

The Location Of The Soul Inside The Body

The soul has the following basic functions to perform:

* to give life to the body and to maintain life inside it,
* to express and experience its role through the body, and
* to receive the rewards or fruits of past actions performed in previous births, through the body.

These functions are controlled and monitored by the soul via the nervous and hormonal systems from a particular point in the area of the brain which contains the thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary and pineal glands. This region is known as the seat of the soul, or the third eye. The connection between the physical (body) and the non-physical (soul) is by the medium of thought energy. Many religions and philosophies place great importance on the third eye, or eye of the mind. When viewed from the front, this region appears to be between and slightly above the line of the eyebrows. It's for this reason that Hindus use a tilak, a dot in red or sandalwood paste in the middle of the forehead. Christians also make the sign of the cross in this region. Even when one makes a mistake or expresses tiredness it's to this region that we put the hands in the gestures of self-dismay or exhaustion. After all the soul subconsciously knows that it makes the mistakes and not the body. When people are concentrating deeply in thought it is this area of the forehead where creases or lines are formed on the skin.

Soul Sustenance

The Two Dimensions Of Being A Detached Observer

There are two dimensions of being a detached observer - the inner dimension and the outer one.

Let us look at the inner dimension of detached observation. It is the ability or the technique to stand back from or observe in a detached way our own thoughts, feelings, emotions, attitudes and behavior. We are creators and our thoughts, feelings, emotions and attitudes are our creation. In fact, this is the first step to becoming a ruler of the self and making the self powerful. If we fail to detach from our thoughts and emotions then they will be our masters, they will go out of control and will, as a result, leak away or waste our energy. Practice simply being the witness of whatever you are thinking and feeling. This is an important aspect of any good spiritual practice and after a while you will find it an experience that both, frees you and empowers you.

The external dimension of detached observation is the technique of being a witness to or an observer of the scenes, of the world around us. As we stand back and watch the scenes of life being played, on the world stage around us, without being actively involved, we can see the 'big picture' more clearly. This makes it easier to judge clearly what is the most suitable contribution that we can make and the most suitable role we can play - through our thoughts, words and actions.

Message for the day

To make the aim and qualification equal is to bring perfection.

Expression: To have an aim that is high is to naturally bring about the desire to do the best in everything. But also important is to make effort to bring about those qualifications that are needed to fulfill this aim. So the one who has the desire to make the aim and qualifications equal is the one who is able to bring beauty to every action.

Experience: When I am able to make constant effort to bring in those qualities that are necessary for my aim I am able to bring perfection. I am able to experience the satisfaction of bringing a lot of change in a short time. I experience constant progress as I continue to make effort to move on towards my aim.

In Spiritual Service,

Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: May 08, 2019: That Gift Called 'Faith'

Contemplation: May 08, 2019: That Gift Called 'Faith'

That Gift Called 'Faith'

When I am continuously being battered by the storms of life, and my very spirit is ebbing away, then all I need to do is hang onto that gift called 'Faith', that one support which will weather the storms. Faith does not depend on a clever head, only belief: belief in the self and the strength that lies within. Faith is the seed of victory and the foundation of making the impossible possible.

True love

True love is free from expectations. When you discover the love within
you, you can continue to give. Whether the other person gives or not,
true love enables you to give unselfishly. Let today be the day for
discovering and giving others the love within you. Make sure you do at
least one act that shows your love towards anyone around you. Feel the
love flowing from within to the ones around you.

Fulfilling Desires By Changing Your Belief System (cont.)

We have been holding a lot of incorrect beliefs as to what can lead us to back to our eternal and original state (these states were discussed in yesterday's message) and many of our actions are based on these beliefs. We have mentioned a few examples of incorrect beliefs below. There are many more, which you could reflect on.

Lust and attachment increases love in a relationship.

Anger is necessary for success in relationships and is important for getting work done and gaining respect. It provides a mental upsurge of energy.

Greed attracts physical prosperity and brings happiness.

Ego is power; a person with no ego is generally timid or submissive.

Worry prepares us for the worst, worrying for someone close is expressing our love for them.

Being emotional and crying for our loved ones in bad times, is expressing love for them. Being emotional and crying in good times is expressing and experiencing joy. 

Gossiping increases social bonding and gives one an experience of joy.

Jealousy inspires us to do better and achieve more.

The Supreme Teacher changes our belief system and not only makes us aware of these incorrect beliefs but reconditions us by incorporating correct beliefs inside us so that we start performing karmas or actions based on them and start progressing towards our eternal and original state.

Soul Sustenance

Discover Your Inner Mentor (Guide) – A Meditation

If you can become your own mentor (guide), a mentor that you would always have liked to have, then you will experience life as an exciting adventure. What would happen if you had someone in your life that walked with you each step of your way, loved you unconditionally and supported you without putting conditions, even when you were wrong? What would happen if you felt absolutely safe, secure, cared for and loved? Would you be more willing to accept the challenges that life brings forth in front of you? Would you take on your life with greater responsibility and confidence?

Your internal mentor is a part of you and is always present, always kind, always loves you, is always there for you. If you still haven't met it, take a moment to guide yourself through this meditation exercise:

1. Relax your body and allow yourself to be fully present, here, reading these words, listening to the sounds around you, feeling what you feel. Read slowly!

2. Now send love to each part of your body: your feet, your lungs, your back, your face, your eyes, your nose, until you feel the love from your feet to your head.

3. Now send love to each thought that appears on the screen of your mind, visualize how your energy is concentrated at the inner part of the centre of your forehead. See the screen of your mind, and try to make each thought that you generate full of the energy of love that is slowly invading you. The energy of love is present in each thought that appears in your mind.
Love what you yourself create: each thought.

4. By practicing the above exercise, you emerge sanskars inside yourself of giving unconditional love and support to your own self. This is a way to awaken your inner mentor. As you practice spending time with yourself in this way, you will start to see that your insecurity and your fears begin to disappear and new possibilities open up in front of you. 

Message for the day

To appreciate variety is to harmonize.

Expression: When there is recognition that each human being is unique with his own unique set of capabilities, there is the ability to respect him for what he is. Then all attempts are made to harmonize with him instead of trying to make him just like oneself. So energy is channelized in the right direction and one becomes an inspiration for others too.

Experience: To appreciate variety means to see the beauty and specialities of each and every individual. It means to appreciate the natural positive qualities in everyone and learn to blend my own qualities with theirs. This gives me the satisfaction of the beauty of relationships, because there are no expectations and no disappointments.



In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: May 07, 2019: Life's Curveballs

Contemplation: May 07, 2019: Life's Curveballs

Clayton Kershaw’s devastating curveballs

Life's Curveballs

When life throws you a curve ball, are you ready for the unexpected?

Take a deep breath and adapt to the new reality.  Be brave enough to think on your feet and rethink your strategy.

Catch the ball, drop it; or find a way to get over, under or around it!  Keep your momentum to keep pace with life's curveballs.

Victory

We normally attribute success to the resources available, or the help
of the people around. But in spite of our best efforts, we sometimes
find ourselves failing. We then tend to blame it on luck or on some
negative situation. Our victory is not so much based on what we have,
but it is more based on what we do with what we have. When we believe
that we can win, we will be able to use all the available resources to
ensure our victory. And so we will also be able to get the best help
from the people around us too.

Fulfilling Desires By Changing Your Belief  System

One most important characteristic that differentiates the Supreme Soul from human souls is that the Supreme Soul is the only entity that exists in this World Drama that is completely desire-less and remains that way eternally. If we were to make a list of desires that human beings have, we would name a lot many and various different types of desires. Whatever karma or action any soul performs at different points in the World Drama, whether positive or even negative, pure or even impure, they are all performed to fulfill these different types of desires. But when seen from a spiritual perspective, whatever the external form of the desire may be, the internal desire is always very simple - to go back to its eternal (or inert) state of peace or original state of peace, love, joy and power. The eternal or inert state of each soul is the state in which it exists before it begins its journey of birth and rebirth, when it resides in the soul world and the original state of each soul is the state in which it exists when it has just begun its journey of birth and rebirth i.e. at the beginning of the birth-rebirth cycle. Even negative karmas based on the personality traits of anger, greed, ego, lust, etc. may externally seem to be filled with violence or impurity, but internally, each time any soul performs such karmas, all it desires is a return to its eternal and original state (we shall explain this in tomorrow's message). But it does not realize how these karmas take the soul away and not close to these states.

This is where the role of the Supreme Soul comes in. The Supreme Soul is completely desire-less and possesses the capability, knowledge and power to fulfill these desires of the soul. Being the Supreme Teacher, He guides and teaches us what are the right karmas or actions that can help us fulfill our desires and take us closer to our eternal and original state and which actions, take us away from it. Also He is the only one who can teach us how to connect with Him so that these desires are fulfilled, because he is the Ocean of all the qualities that exist inside us in our eternal and original state and connecting with Him fills us with these qualities. The connection and the right actions, both, are vital for our progress.

(To be continued tomorrow...)

Soul Sustenance

Going Beyond False Identifications

The more I identify with the physical factors of my life, the more I become a prisoner to my destiny or the various up and downs of my life. E.g. if my self-respect is attached to my beautiful new car, how will I feel about myself when the car becomes old and its beauty and shine reduce? Or if I my car is stolen or gets immensely damaged in a road accident? Then, I shall find myself in an identity crisis. The same will be true if my business or job is everything to me. If one day, I am in a good financial state and I enjoy a very respectable and dominant position, and the next day I find myself in a dispute in my profession and I suddenly lose all of that, and nobody wants to know me, I will feel as if I have lost my soul and have almost died. The problem is sometimes so great that people do, literally, lose their desire to live. It happens, too, in relationships, when your partner leaves you either due to a separation, a divorce or even death - a partner in whom you have invested all your love and emotions. Or if my identity is tied to my back balance or property, and suddenly I am broke.

All of these are actually false identifications, and the crazy part of living this way is that I can never be satisfied, even if I succeed in maintaining my false identity. These kind of false identifications do not keep me placed stably on my seat of self-respect and either bring about an inferiority complex or a superiority complex - both of which are false, so both bring insecurity. Even while I am externally successful, having my identity based on that success means I am a slave to them. I've handed over my self-esteem to them. I become addicted to it. 

Message for the day

The method to stay in constant enthusiasm and to keep others enthusiastic is to see specialties in others.

Projection: Many times while I am sincerely working towards my task, I find myself losing my enthusiasm. I also might find people not very happy with me or my work. I do make an attempt to understand their feelings but fail to do so Such negative responses further reduce my enthusiasm.

Solution: I need to develop the art of looking at specialties in people. The more I am able to see their positive qualities, the more I am able to relate to them with that specialty. This encourages the other person further to use that specialty. This will naturally keep me constantly enthusiastic.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: May 06, 2019: Overcome Overwhelm

Contemplation: May 06, 2019: Overcome Overwhelm

Bruce Irons is an American regularfoot professional surfer from Hanalei, Kauai

Overcome Overwhelm

When you keep thinking about having too much to do in
too little time, you can end up feeling overwhelmed. 
Overwhelm clouds the mind, drains the energy and, as a result, not much gets done.

When overwhelm happens, remind yourself: I don't have to live in a state of overwhelm.  Overcome overwhelm by rethinking: I have exactly the right amount of time to do what there is to do.

Appreciation

When I appreciate the Higher Power, the truth, myself as well as other
human beings then, in effect I have made the commitment to
transforming my life. Appreciating others, appreciating nature,
appreciating my fortune, the blessings of circumstances, the value in
the lessons of life (especially those that appear to be painful and of
loss) is the result of understanding the secrets of this eternal drama
of life. Appreciate what you see now and that becomes an eternal
moment; disapprove of it and you kill it. Appreciate each second in
this way, and then your life will be filled with unlimited moments of
beauty and love.

The Relationship Between My Conscience And Intellect

To act from a state of truth, it is important to realize the relationship between my intellect and conscience and what role these two play in experiencing this state of truth in my thoughts, words and actions. The quality of my thoughts, words and actions is based on the quality of my intellect and conscience. There are three different stages of the intellect conscience relationship.

* The first stage is one in which my conscience and my intellect, both are so pure and transparent that whatever is right and true is naturally brought into my thoughts, words and actions and nothing negative or impure manages to enter into my thoughts, words and actions. 

* The second stage is one in which my conscience acknowledges that which is the truth, but the intellect does not have the strength to be able to bring the truth into practical. The conscience tells me one thing, but my intellect pulls me elsewhere, and it overpowers me. I do what I know I shouldn't.

* The third stage is one in which my conscience is not clean enough or aware enough to acknowledge the truth so the question of it influencing the intellect to bring the truth into practical does not arise. As a result my intellect, which is not at all backed by the conscience in this state, takes complete control of me. I do what I shouldn't and I am not even aware of it. 

When my intellect overpowers my conscience repeatedly, my conscience loses its influence on my intellect. As a result the conscience keeps weakening until its voice is stifled or silenced. As a result of that, I can then no longer discriminate between truth and falsehood. I will feel that there are no fixed ways of defining right and wrong, that each has their own judgment or definition of truth and falsehood. True spiritual knowledge, which gets stored in the intellect, and the experience of meditation, which purifies the intellect as well as my conscience, both together, make me aware of the definition as well as give me an experience of what is the truth and what is false, what is right and what is wrong. As a result of that, I am able to maintain the first stage of the intellect conscience relationship very easily in my day-to-day actions.

Soul Sustenance

Absorbing Spiritual Light - Part 3

Continuing from yesterday’s message, we should not keep the vices bottled up inside us like prisoners. Prisoners are always plotting to escape. If we change them into our friends they can help us. For example, the energy required to be stubborn is almost the same as that required to be determined except that one is positive and the other negative. The soul learns to transfer such energy. Anger becomes tolerance. Greed can be transformed into contentment. Arrogance, or the respect for false identity, can become self-respect. Attachment can be changed into pure love.

The more I inculcate the Supreme Soul or God’s virtues, the closer I feel to Him, but if I allow inner disturbances due to any vice, my high stage is grounded. All the power stored up until that moment will leak away. I must recognize that I really do not like being body-conscious. As I wish for higher experiences I choose to live the life of a meditator with purity in thought, word and action. Obstructions come within and without, but through my connection with God I am drawing so much power so as to remain unaffected. This needs soul-consciousness. So in discarding the rubbish of the vices I have gathered over many births, I become my original form and maintain it through my closeness or companionship with God.

Message for the day

True detachment gives a chance for others to grow.

Expression: Where there is detachment there is the ability to let go. There is also an equal amount of love, but along with it is the ability to give others an opportunity to be themselves. One's own attitude or expectations don't colour the perception and others get a chance to express themselves easily and naturally.

Experience: When I am detached, I am also loving. I am able to watch with inner happiness all that life brings into each one's lives. Neither do I take over other peoples' lives and feel disappointed when things go wrong, nor do I leave them to their fate. I am able to see their inner capabilities and get each one to become self-reliant.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

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