Contemplation: July 12, 2019: A Quiet Mind

Contemplation: July 12, 2019: A Quiet Mind

Uzbekistan marked the 1st International Day of Yoga on 21st June with great enthusiasm at the Bunyodkor Football Stadium in Tashkent.

A Quiet Mind

When the mind is quiet, its whole angle of vision changes. From pouncing on the problems, it begins to perceive the chances, the good things in life.

A personality of royalty lies in being constantly cheerful. 

When we see someone with positive qualities, even during negative situations, we really admire their positivity. It could be patience, wisdom or any other positive quality that comes across. But much more than that, it is the happiness or contentment that is visible in the form of a cheerful face. This is the true personality of royalty, that we too need to make an attempt to imbibe. Today I will smile at whatever happens. Even if something goes wrong, I will find something to learn from it or something positive and be happy for it. Even if I can't find it right away, I'll at least take the thought that this has happened for a reason, because I know whatever happens, happens for the best.

Tapping Guidance From The Supreme Intellect

There are many occasions in my day-to-day life when I am not sure as to what my next course of action should be in that particular situation. The intellect is the faculty inside the soul which normally takes all decisions for the soul. But sometimes the intellect is clouded by my own or others' sanskaras, beliefs, opinions, inclinations, assumptions, thoughts, actions, past experiences, etc.

In such a situation, I require the guidance of an entity who:

* is above the whole situation and is seeing it as a spectator or observer and is not a player in the situation,

* is the knower of the three aspects of time (the past, present and the future),

* can see the situation from all dimensions or perspectives,

* is beyond all influences and is impartial,

* is extremely pure and clear,

* knows me more than I know myself,

* knows my benefit and harm more than I know it myself,

* someone who is selfless and is concerned for my well being the most, etc.

No human entity can fulfill all these requirements.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Bringing Your Dreams Alive

Each one of us has dreams that we nourish right through our lives. Some are short-term dreams and some long term ones. Dreams keep changing as we progress through different phases of our life. Some are achieved, some are not. Some of us possess the ability to realize our dreams more than the rest. The most important and influential factor in this process is how much we believe in our dream and believe that it will be realized. Some of the factors that hamper this belief are:

* The influence of the past - the memories of our past failures, which sow seeds of doubt in our mind; as well as successes, which keep us in an illusionary consciousness and distance us from the present moment and our present actions. Also, sometimes we associate present temporary failures or ups and downs which may come in our way, with failures of the past.
* Lack of inner strength or power, when faced with obstacles in your path. Tendency to get dejected very easily and creating weak thoughts like we do not deserve it or we are not capable of it or are we not lucky enough or it is not in our destiny or maybe it is our negative past actions which are influencing our dream realization process adversely, etc.
* The opinions or comments of people surrounding you who sometimes, are not in tune with your consciousness and are not able to empathize with your purpose. Their comments easily de-focus you from your purpose.
* Lack of ability to mould or adjust during the dream realization journey. Any journey is always full of twists, turns and sudden changes. A rigid state of mind, which is not able to change its tactics as required, may make the path seem more difficult than it actually is.
* It is very good to dream but excessive attachment to the dream also may make the journey towards the dream stressful and bring down your self-belief at times.

Message for the day

To finish a weakness is to finish the last trace of it.

Projection: When I work to overcome any of my weaknesses, I feel that I have got rid of it. In spite of that, I find that I have got rid of my weakness only for sometime. In some situations, these weaknesses begin to emerge again and again.

Solution: When I work on a weakness I need to understand why that particular weakness is working within me. When I recognise the root cause of the weakness working within me, I can overcome it very easily. I then find that the weakness will not emerge again.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: July 11, 2019: Idea

Contemplation: July 11, 2019: Idea

Idea

Those who are fired with an enthusiastic idea and who allow it to take hold and dominate their thoughts find that new worlds open for them. As long as enthusiasm holds out, so will new opportunities.

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.

 Can Love And Freedom Co-Exist (Exist Together)?

Is it possible to love each other and be free at the same time? Yes. To reach this state in a relationship great wisdom is required. Most people love one another and tie one another down. Thus they lose their freedom. When freedom is lost, happiness goes away, and true wellbeing gives way to unhappiness. Often we look above all for love, a love we believe will change our life. We see it as the recognition of our inner value by another person. However, we trip over ourselves in looking for this love. Necessity is what motivates us and we try to satisfy it with an object or person who matches up to perfection. We have an immense emotional need for love, and the fear of remaining in a state of unsatisfied wanting. In our search to fill our need, we are prepared to deceive ourselves with unsuitable partners. Many people allow the love of another person to define their personality to such a point that, if they are rejected, they lose any sense of who they are and of the purpose they have in life. Often the relationship is colored, through one of the partners or both, by fear.

To free ourselves of the tendency to depend, we should have a strong heart, without any selfishness; a heart that has nothing to hide and that, as a result, is free and without fear; a heart that does not hold on to closed beliefs, to old negative experiences; a heart that has good feelings and is free of bitterness; a heart filled with the true values of peace, love, freedom and solidarity - which as a result is stronger and fuller.

Soul Sustenance

Taming (Conquering) The Mind

In ancient times, the mind was understood to be extremely difficult to control. It was said to be like the wind: you could never catch it, or hold it - it went where it wished and no human being could become its master. In other instances, it was said that the mind was like an elephant: extremely powerful but equally gentle and patient, able to do a lot of work for its master. However, when an elephant turns wild, its gentleness and patience completely disappear and it destroys and damages everything in its path. When the mind is under stress, it resembles a wild elephant; it has no control and cannot be controlled.

Taming the mind is regarded as a great art requiring time, attention, practice and, above all, a sincerity of heart where individuals truly want to change their way of thinking. To relax, to be positive, to be peaceful and kind all require a change in our thought patterns and this can only happen when we look deeply within. However hard they try, other people cannot change us; we must have personal realization and the desire to make changes through our own effort. Permanent and positive change cannot be imposed from outside; it is something that we choose.  

Message for the day

The best positivity is to have good wishes for the self.

Projection: When I recognize someone's mistake I do make effort to have good wishes for him, but when I make a mistake I am not able to have good wishes for myself in the same way. I identify myself with that weakness so much that I am not able to have positive feelings for myself.

Solution: Whatever happens, even if I make mistakes, I should not leave having good wishes for myself. I need to only have attention to learn from my mistakes and to maintain my own positive state of feeling for myself. When I do this I will be able to progress with ease.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: July 10, 2019: Thoughts

Contemplation: July 10, 2019: Thoughts

Thoughts

When you sow a thought you reap an action, when you sow an action you reap a habit, when you sow a habit you reap a character and when you sow a character you reap a destiny. Thoughts are like seeds. You cannot sow the seed of one plant and get another: thistles will never produce daffodils! When your thoughts are positive, powerful and constructive, your life will reflect this.

'Getting away from it all'  is something we all love to do. 

Why wait for the holidays! Whenever you need it, make time over the weekend for your very own retreat at home.

Create a sanctuary. Drop the distractions.

Take the phone off the hook. Listen to soothing music. Simply enjoy the solitude and some unstructured time.

You can even use this time to review recent events, create new dreams or retreat into your inner space to renovate the soul.

Resolving The Inner Identity Crisis (cont.)

In yesterday's message we had explained how the confusions, complications and problems that exist in our world today and the state of human relationships all over the world, are simply a reflection of our lack of inner clarity about who we are, what we are and where we are heading i.e. a lack of true self-identity. So how do we resolve this internal and external turmoil? There is an original, beautiful self, with characteristics of peace, love and happiness that exists within each one of us, the self from which we have been distanced since a very long time. This is a center full of the spiritual resources of all virtues and powers. Reaching it is a journey of only one second and no distance. By identifying with this inner center, a center which is imperishable, unchangeable, constant and even eternal, my self identity becomes strong and stable, as compared to many false identities based on external realities like position, wealth and material possessions which are all perishable and subject to various ups and downs even in one single day, and if we over identify with them, we are bound to experience constant pain and discontentment.

This process of true self-identification is not a renunciation or avoidance of the way the outer world is but it is a healing process for your inner world. It is an internal correction process of identification, whereby you rediscover your true self as a complete being full of positive emotions that you always were and you start identifying with it, doing which very easily helps you let go of the wrong identifications. This process is commonly called meditation, the foundation of which is spiritual wisdom. Once this inner work is done, the outer world starts taking the shape of a reflection of that. Resolving the identity crisis first changes the way our internal and external world looks to us, as a result changing the way it works.

Soul Sustenance

Injustices And Suffering In The World – Applying The Law of Karma (Part 2)

An understanding of the laws of action reminds us that whatever we give we get, and whatever we get is the result of what we have given. When we apply this understanding into our awareness while we watch apparent injustices in the world, it reduces our outrage, lessening our pain. It's not that we sit passively and allow people to bring about suffering upon others, but it helps us to see that the greatest or highest contribution that we can make, to both the victim and the sinner, is to help them remember who they are and help them rise above their anger and fear towards each other. Only in this way can we help them to liberate themselves from an exchange of energy that has perhaps been going on for centuries.

But before we can effectively do this for others, it is necessary to try and do it for ourselves. Instead of taking the law into our own hands (the desire for revenge and justice), we can benefit everyone around us by first understanding and living ourselves according to the invisible laws of cause and effect which define all human relationships. Sometimes this is referred to as 'practice what you preach', and it often requires moments of reflection before action in order to judge the consequences of any path of action. This capacity to stop, reflect and consider, in a state of mental calm and with clear intellect, is an essential characteristic of all effective leaders. It is also what makes us all potential leaders in life, every day, who can bring about world transformation through self transformation.

Message for the day

The one who listens is the one who is listened to.

Projection: When I say something I usually expect people to follow my suggestions. Yet I sometimes find that my words are not so effective. I either find that I need to use lot more words than necessary or others don't listen to me at all.

Solution: I need to be able to listen to others as much as or even more than what I tell them. When I listen I am able to take in new ideas and learn. Also, only when I am able to have the openness to learn will others learn from whatever I say.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: July 09, 2019: Gentleness

Contemplation: July 09, 2019: Gentleness

Dolphins at Monkey Mia, Australia

Gentleness

Gentleness is not a lack of strength but a great power that doesn't force or disturb.

The one who keeps their destination in focus will be successful. 

As we travel toward our destination, it’s easy to get distracted. We sometimes become so busy thinking about little things that affect our lives that we lose focus and stop moving forward.

First I need to clarify my goal, then think about how I’m going to work toward it. When situations arise to distract me I need to remind myself that they are only sideshows; they are not important. Instead, to find success, I need to keep my energies focused on my destination.

Resolving The Inner Identity Crisis

At the present moment in human history, almost every individual has lost the awareness of its real or true self. This has happened very gradually as each individual has progressed in its journey of birth-rebirth and has kept on attaching itself to various different things and as a result losing its sense of self in things that it is not i.e. identifying with things that it is not. In a way it can be said that this took the self far away from itself. This personal, internal identity crisis has led to a universal, external identity crisis, which has resulted in an emotional crisis resulting in peacelessness and sorrow in our inner world as well as in the outer world. 

This inner identity crisis is the root cause of the multitude of deformed emotions that exist inside us like anger, ego, lust, fear, comparison with others, greed, hatred, low self esteem, dependencies etc. all of which have brought us and keep on bringing us pain. We explain this with an example - suppose you have just constructed a new apartment. While making it and once its ready and you are using it, you have become excessively attached to it i.e. you have started identifying with it. Due to this false identification, the first emotion that gets created inside you is ego. If someone were to criticize the apartment even slightly, you would react immediately with anger. You constantly fear any sort of harm to the apartment. You even compare it with apartments that others possess. You also start looking down at people whose apartment is not as good as yours i.e. you create emotions of hatred for them. If something negative were to happen it, it affects your mental state immediately i.e. your happiness has become dependent on the material possession. Your temporary success along with the recognition that it brings you from others leads to the desire of more success of a similar type i.e. possess some more things - bigger and better, which is nothing but greed etc. The seed of all these incorrect emotions is my over-identification with this newly acquired possession. All of these wouldn't exist inside me, if my relationship with was one of detachment with it. In this way, we identify with various objects and people in the whole day, which leads to the creation of such emotions inside us.       

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Injustices And Suffering In The World – Applying The Law of Karma (Part 1)

We are presently living in a closely connected world where everyone knows what everyone else is doing, as they are doing it. Each day brings scenes and images, through the media, in front of us, of many apparent injustices and suffering of individuals or groups of individuals. Whether it's in the office, or in the market or on the television news, we hear and see reports of people suffering tremendous pain and sorrow at the hands of others. At these moments, our sense of injustice is stimulated and it becomes easy to rise in outrage against the sinners. In the process we ourselves suffer from our own self-created anger and perhaps hate. This process then becomes a habit and an inner pattern we begin to repeat, not only when we encounter scenes of global peacelessness, but the moment someone in the family or at office does something similar. A panic button is pressed and we react with the same pattern.

What we forget in both global and local contexts, is the history and geography of karma. Every scene and situation has a variety of related causes in both time (history) and space (geography) e.g. emotions of hatred and revenge amongst various countries and religions (in different parts of the world) and the actions connected with these emotions has underlying hidden causes, related to the Law of Karma (Law of Cause and Effect) which go back sometimes to hundreds of years – X is doing something with Y because Y had done something similar with X sometime in the past, but in different physical costumes, sometimes quite some time back in history – this is the reason, we often fail to take these causes into consideration when viewing these negative scenes and situations, because we see the situations with a limited perspective of present physical costumes and circumstances.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Message for the day

The one who is constantly a giver experiences constant happiness.

Projection: Happiness is usually associated with acquiring. When I get something I am happy and when I am deprived of something I lose my happiness. So happiness is always short-lived depending totally on what I get.

Solution: True joy lies in recognizing and giving what people want. I constantly need to have one aim, let no one go away from me empty-handed. When I have this aim I'll able to give something which will give me long lasting happiness.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: July 08, 2019: Create

Contemplation: July 08, 2019: Create

 The hills of Salzburg, Austria, are alive with the Sound of Music-Julie Andrews 

Create 

Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

  

How Difficult are YOUR Conversations?

Difficult relationships usually mean difficult conversations. Sometime focusing on enhancing the conversational dynamics can help the relationships be a little less difficult.

'How dare they speak to me like that!'...is a thought that becomes a memory of a ‘bad feeling’, that becomes a fear that it may happen again, that becomes a mental and emotional obstacle, that almost ensures you will have a difficult conversation in the future!

Conversations become difficult for different reasons. But the root cause always lies within us not them! It’s really just a statement to our self that we need to learn more about our self and why we are making things difficult in the first place. But it’s not easy to see that the other person is never the problem, regardless of what they say or do. But if we can say to our self, ‘now what is this person, this conversation, this scene we are both in, trying to teach me’, we may find that we can come away from the interaction with some moments of personal enlightenment and access to a deeper strength within our self. It’s just that we may have to do that in retrospect at first!

relax7

Creating Positive Habits

To overcome a negative habit, we have to ensure that the intellect is strong and stable enough to lead the mind with knowledge and comprehension. In this way, transformation is more deep and lasting, creates satisfaction and fullness, and greatly improves our self-esteem. Our mind, which is under the influence of an old program, must be left in no doubt that "I", the original personality, no longer wants to go down that old road. We must have the strong determination to create a new thought pattern; this will also be recorded on our memory bank.  This new register will help us to avoid taking up the old habits the next time something similar happens. For a period of time the two thought patterns, the old and the new, will exist alongside each other. To achieve a long-lasting transformation, we should not suppress our mind and immediately eliminate all the habits or tendencies to which the mind has become accustomed to. If we do this, the mind will begin to cry and make a fuss, and finally, the moment we lower our guard and stop paying attention, the old habits will emerge again and drag our mind towards automatic thoughts and actions so that, almost without us realizing, we are once again immersed in our old way of thinking and doing.

We have an alternative: creating thoughts of a greater quality that emerge from a new conscience. In this way, thanks to these positive thoughts, full of love, harmony and creativity, the mind will start to cleanse itself, replacing the old habits and negative tendencies in a totally natural way. The positive thought that preceded the positive action is still conscious, but the more we repeat the positive action the less conscious we are of the thought that created it. The time comes when we don't know why we are doing whatever we are doing: it has become a positive habit.

Soul Sustenance

Meditation And Physical Health

The state of the body is a result of the state of the soul not only because of past karmas (actions performed in this and previous births) but because of its present state also.

For example, when the emotion of fear passes through the mind, the endocrine system starts pumping adrenalin through the body to prepare it for a surge of energy. It is easy to note the cause-effect relationship between fear (cause) and adrenalin (effect). In the same way all of the mental ups and downs cause resulting secretions throughout the body. Internal rage is accompanied by heavy breathing, fast heart-beats, red face and so on. This relationship between body and soul is the reason most physical diseases arise from a psychological or mental origin. There is no doubt that any lessening of harmful secretions by reducing the emotional causes will bring about sound and lasting health. Health and order in the soul (mind) bring health and order in the body.

Of course there are other factors which give rise to health problems - pollution, unhealthy life-style, lack of exercise, wrong diet etc. Through Raja Yoga meditation (taught by the Brahma Kumaris) and its connected positive lifestyle and through a pure vegetarian diet, ill-health can be minimized. The removal of stress and tension has to be one of the most important advantages for a person who practices Rajyoga meditation.

Message for the day

My words are effective when they are spoken with good wishes.

Projection: Although I speak with a lot of logic and make the other person understand what I mean to say, I sometimes find that they are not as effective as they should be. Sometimes my words are also misunderstood and misinterpreted.

Solution: What I say is not important, but how and with what feeling I say is more important. I need to keep myself free from any kind of attitude, when I have to say something to someone. Thus I find that my words are filled with good wishes and are effective too.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: July 07, 2019: Acceptance & Appreciation

Contemplation: July 07, 2019: Acceptance & Appreciation

Acceptance & Appreciation

Acceptance is the secret of contentment.

Appreciation is the secret of happiness.

Let your voice be heard

Ever wondered how you're able to hear the sound of the triangle amongst the many instruments in the orchestra?

Just because the instrument itself may appear tiny and insignificant in comparison to a cello, tuba, or a kettle drum, there is nothing that stops the clear, pure 'voice' of the triangle from being heard!

So, the next time you start comparing yourself to others, stop! Reinforce your self confidence and let your voice be heard.

Reaching The Destination Of Peace On Time (cont.)

In yesterday's message, we had mentioned the main type of distractions that you might face in your journey to the destination of peace. The secret of not getting affected by each of these distractions is very simple - do not interact with any of them on a subtle level by giving them your mental energy of attention, but avoid them, detach yourself from them, just observe them and let them go, remaining completely focused on reaching your destination.

Imagine you are driving to your office on the highway and you are very late. There are a large number of different vehicles which you pass, either travelling in the same direction as you are or coming at you from the opposite side. You are even familiar with a lot of these people sitting inside these vehicles, because you see them every day, but you don't even spare a second to glance at them because if you did you would lose your focus and be delayed, you would fail to reach your destination, your office in this case, on time. Meditation is exactly like this. Just as you cannot empty the highway full of vehicles, because you are in a hurry to reach office, you cannot empty the highway of your consciousness of all thoughts, emotions, beliefs, worries, opinions, desires, memories etc. some of which are even very familiar to you, just because you want to get to the destination of your inner peace.  Let all of these, like the vehicles, come and go, but all you have to do is avoid them and focus on reaching your destination on time. It's as if, by the way you are driving, your body language, in this case the subtle energy of your determined thought, word has spread through the highway of your consciousness that you will not be sparing a second to even glance at any one of these on your way. If with a momentary loss of self-awareness, you do start giving attention to them, and you get lost in one of them, remind yourself subconsciously, "I am on my way back to the destination of peace, peace that I am." This will help you regain your focus and before you know it, you will realize you have arrived; you will experience your destination i.e. the peace within, and will completely believe that you are that. And it will be the most blissful experience that you have felt in a very long time.

Soul Sustenance

Resolving The Inner Identity Crisis (Part 2)

In yesterday’s message we had explained how the confusions, complications and problems that exist in our world today and the state of human relationships all over the world, are simply a reflection of our lack of inner clarity about who we are, what we are and where we are heading i.e. a lack of true self-identity. So how do we resolve this internal and external turmoil? There is an original, beautiful self, with characteristics of peace, love and happiness that exists within each one of us, the self from which we have been distanced since a very long time. This is a center full of the spiritual resources of all virtues and powers. Reaching it is a journey of only one second and no distance. By identifying with this inner center, a center which is imperishable, unchangeable, constant and even eternal, my self identity becomes strong and stable, as compared to many false identities based on external realities like position, wealth and material possessions which are all perishable and subject to various ups and downs even in one single day, and if we over identify with them, we are bound to experience constant pain and discontentment.

This process of true self-identification is not a renunciation or avoidance of the way the outer world is but it is a healing process for your inner world. It is an internal correction process of identification, whereby you rediscover your true self as a complete being full of positive emotions that you always were and you start identifying with it, doing which very easily helps you let go of the wrong identifications. This process is commonly called meditation, the foundation of which is spiritual wisdom. Once this inner work is done, the outer world starts taking the shape of a reflection of that. Resolving the identity crisis first changes the way our internal and external world looks to us, as a result changing the way it works.

Message for the day

The method to serve is to become an embodiment of power.

Projection: Service to others is usually understood as bringing benefit to others through what I do. I have love for such service and make an attempt to do it too. But sometimes busy in such service, I find that my own self-progress is left behind.

Solution: I need to pay attention for my own self-progress by learning from everything that happens. I thus find myself improving and filling myself with power. This power spreads around and shows the right path to others, just like a lighthouse and others continue to take benefit from me.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: July 06, 2019: Give

Contemplation: July 06, 2019: Give

Artist: Alvaro Arteaga,  Profesor Universidad Diego Portales, Vina del Mar, Chile 

Give

Give to others from the heart and in turn many things will come to you.

The ability to bring out strength is to be constantly powerful. 

We normally get to a state of mind, according to the situation. But, we can take inspiration from examples like the incense stick which is full of fragrance, and spreads only that. Also is the example of the candle/lamp. It is fully of light so that is what it radiates. So it is important to connect to my strengths at all times, so that I can give what I have at all times. Today I will remember a positive quality that I have. I will remind myself of this at least 10 times or as many times as I can. And while I do that, whatever the challenge may be I'll believe in my own strengths and continue to use them.

Reaching The Destination Of Peace On Time

The objective of meditation has always been reaching the destination of inner peace. The process of meditation is like a journey to that destination, which many human souls have undertaken since thousands of years. After a life and in fact many lifetimes of indulging in habits of anger, fear, ego, sorrow, jealousy, hatred, greed etc. all of which blocked our access to this inner pure emotion and made us believe that these are normal emotions, believing completely that our true nature is peaceful, which is an experience opposite to all these; might seem difficult at first. Only our own experience can lead to a change in our deeply held beliefs, which then makes it easy for us to incorporate peace as an integral part of our personality.

As you dive into you own consciousness, with the objective of searching for and reaching your subtle destination of inner peace, you will encounter some distractions in your journey. Some of the most important of such distractions include:

* thoughts in the form of negative memories of the past; over-thinking about the present scenes and day-to-day actions in your life; desires, worries and unnecessary thinking related to the future, waste thinking about the natures and actions of people whom we come into contact with the most, etc.

* the inner, subtle voices of the many incorrect beliefs, which we have picked up from people by whom we have been surrounded since we were small;

* thoughts and emotions related to deep habits of identifying with and getting attached to things we are not, like the physical body, material possessions, people, our role in society, money, places, opinions or viewpoints, hobbies or interests etc.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Resolving the Inner Identity Crisis (Part 1)

At the present moment in human history, almost every individual has lost the awareness of its real or true self. This has happened very gradually as each individual has progressed in its journey of birth-rebirth and has kept on attaching itself to various different things and as a result losing its sense of self in things that it is not i.e. identifying with things that it is not. In a way it can be said that this took the self far away from itself. This personal, internal identity crisis has led to a universal, external identity crisis, which has resulted in an emotional crisis resulting in peacelessness and sorrow in our inner world as well as in the outer world.

This inner identity crisis is the root cause of the multitude of deformed emotions that exist inside us like anger, ego, lust, fear, comparison with others, greed, hatred, low self esteem, dependencies etc. all of which have brought us and keep on bringing us pain. We explain this with an example – suppose you have just constructed a new apartment. While making it and once its ready and you are using it, you have become excessively attached to it i.e. you have started identifying with it. Due to this false identification, the first emotion that gets created inside you is ego. If someone were to criticize the apartment even slightly, you would react immediately with anger. You constantly fear any sort of harm to the apartment. You even compare it with apartments that others possess. You also start looking down at people whose apartment is not as good as yours i.e. you create emotions of hatred for them. If something negative were to happen it, it affects your mental state immediately i.e. your happiness has become dependent on the material possession. Your temporary success along with the recognition that it brings you from others leads to the desire of more success of a similar type i.e. possess some more things - bigger and better, which is nothing but greed etc. The seed of all these incorrect emotions is my over-identification with this newly acquired possession. All of these wouldn’t exist inside me, if my relationship with was one of detachment with it. In this way, we identify with various objects and people in the whole day, which leads to the creation of such emotions inside us.

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day

To be experienced means never to be deceived by anything.

Projection: It is normally understood that to be experienced means to gain expertise in something, or to become a master in a particular field. Such a person, who is an expert in one field might find himself totally impractical in daily situations.

Solution: Life has so many things to teach me through the various situations. I need to keep learning from all that happens. Then I'll never be surprised or cheated by any unexpected events, but will be prepared because of being experienced.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

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