Contemplation: October 20, 2019: Meditation

Contemplation: October 20, 2019: Meditation

Meditation

At the core of your being, you are deeply peaceful, immensely loving, infinitely wise and profoundly contented.

Lotus 

Rise above negativity, like the lotus flower. Rise above the muddy waters and grow into something more beautiful.

Yet at the same time, be fully grounded. Just as the muddy water sustains the lotus flower, in the same way, the gritty realities of life helps you to bloom and reach your potential.

So, don't just look at the muddy water; notice the beautiful lotus that grows out of it.

The Need For Meditation (Part 2) 

As explained yesterday, we regularly and quite easily slip into four main negative habits. So meditation is not only sitting in a quiet corner, and connecting with the self and the Supreme, at a couple of fixed times during the day, but it is also the way to gently remember and remind ourselves, many times in a day, that we as well as others, are souls or spiritual beings not physical beings, by detaching ourselves from actions and also while being involved in actions. These reminders given to the self over a period of time become natural and prevent us from succumbing to these four habits. Given below is a basic meditation, which you could use to remind yourself regularly during the day:

I have a body but this body is not me...
I have thoughts but these thoughts are not me ...
I have feelings but these feelings are not me ...
I have attitudes but these attitudes are not me ...
I have emotions but these emotions are not me ...
I have beliefs but these beliefs are not me ...
I perform many actions through my sense organs, but these sense organs are not me...
I play many roles but I am not my roles...
I experience joy or sorrow through my sense organs, but these experiences are not me ...
I am a soul - a being of energy, which is neither created nor can be destroyed, and my original and true nature is one of peace, love, joy and power...

Soul Sustenance 

Ending The Day In The Presence Of God (Part 1)

On a physical level, there is complete transparency in a parent-child relationship. When a child is born to a mother and father and the parents see the child for the first time, the child is completely bare. As the child grows in the canopy of the parents, the parents see and know everything about the child, not only in a physical way, but also the child’s personality or nature right from childhood. Sometimes, there are certain things about the child that even the child himself does not have an awareness of, but the parents are aware of the same. So, in short, there is nothing that the child can hide from the parents.

In the same way, the Supreme Being, who is a permanent resident of the soul world, has seen from that world, each soul right from the time when it was completely bare or bodiless residing in the soul world with Him, to the time when it took its first physical costume or body on earth and then changed many costumes in the process of birth and rebirth. He not only knows the soul’s original sanskaras, which were there in the soul in the soul world, but also each and every costume that the soul wore. He also knows every soul’s different relationships while wearing each and every costume; every thought, word or action created while wearing each and every costume and the different personality traits or sanskaras of the soul while wearing each and every costume. That is on an unlimited level. On a limited level, there is no doubt that the Supreme Soul who is the Supreme Parent of all human souls and is said to possess a thousand eyes; very well knows the mental, emotional and physical activity of the complete day of each soul. Thus, there is nothing that is hidden about the soul from this Parent.

(To be continued tomorrow...)

Message for the day 

Love makes all tasks easy.

Expression: Where there is love, there is interest for whatever I do. When my heart is in what I am doing, it seems very easy to do even the most difficult task. It is easy to have love for the task, when I understand its importance.

Experience: When I begin to love everything I do, understanding the significance of my contribution, I experience lightness. I find nothing difficult to perform and I naturally enjoy everything. No task seems like something difficult to do, but seems more like a game to be enjoyed.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: October 19, 2019: Failure

Contemplation: October 19, 2019: Failure

Samuel Reshevsky, age 8, defeating several chess masters at once in France, 1920

Failure

Failure doesn't mean - you'll never make it, it means - it will take a little longer.

To pass with honor is to enjoy the journey of life. 

Just passing through a situation is nothing great. Even the most difficult situation has to end some day. But the one who makes effort and is prepared beforehand, passes through the situation with his head held high. It is like traveling in air conditioned class, that means I am comfortable. The journey is as important as the destination. Today I will sail through the day with the right consciousness. In all that happens through the day, I will keep my mind happy and comfortable. Even if things go wrong, I will not let anything go wrong inside. I will resolve what comes my way and if I can't, just for today I will make sure I'll postpone worrying about it for tomorrow.

The Need For Meditation (Part 1)

As with anything else, the more we practice meditation, the more we feel the benefit of what we are doing. We do need to practice meditation regularly because the habits of:

i. identifying with our physical form,

ii. succumbing to mental and emotional negativity (in the form of waste and negative thoughts) along with negativity in words and actions,

iii. becoming attached to the physical as well as the non-physical, and

iv. being dependent upon the experience of physical stimulation of any sort (from e.g. food, movies, people, sports etc.) for happiness are extremely deep.

These habits have deepened over a period of many many births, because of repeating them regularly, due to a lack of spiritual awareness. As a result, in the present moment also we regularly and quite easily slip into these four habits.

(To be continued tomorrow...)

Soul Sustenance 

Radiating Positive And Powerful Energy

You will notice many people in your life who are very much in need of love but they attract the opposite energy. This is because the negative energy of lack of love for the self and low self esteem which they continuously radiate causes them to attract that same negative energy from others. In the same way, there are many people who are very much in need of success but they attract failure repeatedly. Failure is directly related to the quality of energy we radiate i.e. how positive and powerful our expectations of success are. Once we set the goals that we wish to reach, we need to be careful that we move towards our aim without creating the negative energy of fear inside our consciousness. Failure appears when we make an effort to achieve those goals and we damage the result or attract failure without us desiring so, simply because of our fears of failure. Even then, if at that step we feel that we have failed, we need to have a positive and constructive attitude.

We need to emerge the power to face and power of acceptance inside us. That way our creative energies will flow and we will carry on going forward without the failure (whether real or only perceived by us to be real but actually not real) becoming an obstacle in our path from doing so. Although at that time it may seem as though we have missed an opportunity or that some openings have closed for us, have faith and be fearless. If we are fearless and radiate positive and powerful energy, other possibilities will open up. We have this deep rooted belief that our fear will keep us safe, and we treat it like a comfort zone, a red signal that tells us that we should stop. Creating a time every day to do something that you fear, helps you to re-condition yourself internally to begin to see the fear as a green signal and to develop inner courage, so that you can move towards your goal of success. Each day, do what you fear and the fear will soon be removed.

Message for the day 

Understanding brings happiness.

Expression: Happiness lies in understanding the secret of whatever is happening. When one is able ot remain happy in this way, he is able to spread this happiness to those around too, influencing the lives of all.

Experience: When I am able to remain happy under all circumstances, I am able to be free from the influence of others' negativity. Instead I will be able to become a major source of positive influence to those around me.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: October 18, 2019: Rethink your Thinking

Contemplation: October 18, 2019: Rethink your Thinking

Rethink your Thinking

To get different results in life, we have to rethink our thinking.  This is not just a matter of positive thinking; it's about reconnecting to our well-being.  We then recapture our vitality and resilience and have greater capacity to change the way we think.

Respect

When I learn to respect myself, other people will respect me. How can
I develop respect for myself? By keeping my mind positive and
encouraging myself to grow and change for the better. Demanding
respect because of my position or background is simply arrogance. On
the other hand, listening with humility and valuing other people's
advise naturally earns me respect. I get back exactly what I give out.

The Lamp Of Hope

You create the future basing yourself on what you think, feel and do in the present. If you act according to your values, it is easy for you to trust in your destiny. That strengthens your hope that all will go well, and, if it doesn't, you know and trust your inner resources or treasures to be able to deal with things and change. That trust feeds the enthusiasm, the motor energy that, along with motivation and passion, helps us to advance.

When you lose courage and you feel weak, when you feel insecure and do not see with clarity where to go towards, hope lights the way for you to carry on going forward. If you fall, get up again and carry on looking ahead. Don't look back. Don't let your past be a burden that is too heavy and prevents you from advancing. Focus your vision on your objective and on all your potential to achieve it.

Whatever happens, keep the lamp of hope lit. You can. You will achieve it. Change will become reality. You will free yourself from the shadows of fears, blockages and the other limitations that weaken you.

Live each situation as an opportunity. Learn from criticism and failures. On living life as a constant opportunity for personal growth and learning, you keep hope always alive.

Give yourself moments of silence on beginning each day, during the day and on finishing the day, to connect with your inner self. That way your awareness stays awake, the lamp of your hope, your motivation and your values remains lit.

Soul Sustenance 

Natural Qualities and Acquired Qualities

When we look at ourselves from outside we can only see the surface of what we have become. We can't see or perhaps cannot even imagine the inner core (center), which, like in the example of the coconut, is the only part that really can nourish us and give us energy. The shell (in the case of the coconut) serves as a protection but we certainly can't eat it.

In our case, the core (center) consists of natural or inner qualities such as peace, love, power, truth, happiness and so on. The shell is the ego which consists of features or personality characteristics we have acquired through the journey of our lives such as experiences, abilities, memories, learning, habits and beliefs – in short, all that we are referring to when we say: 'I am so-and-so, from such-and-such family or organization or city'.

While we are limited to these acquired characteristics, our true qualities remain inaccessible. Through deep reflection and meditation we can break the shell and activate our inner qualities from which our values or principles are born.

Message for the day 

Creativity comes when there is happiness.

Expression: Happiness touches the heart and enables the creativity to come from within. The one who is happy doesn't wait for the right opportunity to be creative, but uses each moment as a chance for using creativity - for bringing newness.

Experience: When I am happy I am able to enjoy and make the best use of each and every moment of my life. I will want to do something new, unique and different. So I also have the satisfaction of having done my best.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: October 17, 2019: Detachment

Contemplation: October 17, 2019: Detachment

Detachment
Detachment is being close to what you most want to be free from and using it to make you grow.

Patience

Patience is a virtue and a power too. Patience tells us that the
journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and that we get
over there one step at a time. Patience teaches us not to rush.
Knowing that there is a reason and a season for everything it enables
us to smile at the challenges, realizing that there is an answer to
every problem. And, even though we cannot see it, yet there is
awareness that within every crisis lies an opportunity.

The Art Of Forgetting In Relationships

Sometimes, someone says something in two minutes that makes you feel really bad - they said it in two minutes but it is still there inside the register of your mind two months or even two years later. How could they! Who do they think they are! Something happened in two minutes and you remember it, you repeat it again in your mind and in your words during interactions with others. You keep replaying the scene repeatedly in your mind. Just like an action replay of a cricket match, you see the replays from different angles and judge the scene in many different and negative ways and come to different conclusions, most of which are negative in nature. With this you strengthen that experience in your mental register. Memories and the experiences associated with the memories replayed continuously in the conscious mind enter your sub-conscious, so that even after a long period of time you remember what they said to you. The other person unburdened themselves and forgot it straightaway.

It's like your neighbour who takes out rubbish, throws it outside his house, into your compound and forgets about it and you allow that rubbish to remain there, without thinking of getting it cleaned. Someone throws a few words at you and they forget, but not only do you not forget but you repeat them in your mind to such a point that at times these action replays do not even let you sleep. We need to learn the art of forgetting memories that generate shadows of hurt or pain in our present. The past has already gone and what you have now is the present moment.

Soul Sustenance 

Meditation For Personality Transformation (Part 2)

Decide on a habit that you want to change e.g. impatience. We will focus this meditation on changing impatience. You can apply it to other habits also:

I relax and prepare to look inwards…
I am aware of the unwanted habit of becoming impatient...
As I sit in meditation, I relax my body.
I become the observer of my own thoughts and feelings...
Realizing my true identity as soul – a subtle point of light situated at the center of my forehead, just above my eyebrows, I remember my real nature is one of calmness, peace and power...
I focus on the power of peace, inviting it in and welcoming it into my thoughts and feelings from deep within.... enjoying the calm contentment which it brings...
On the screen of my mind, I begin to visualize patience...
I see myself in a situation where I normally become impatient…
I now see myself as being completely full with the virtue of patience...
I shape my feelings around the idea and image of patience.... unhurried and relaxed... calm and watchful...
If necessary, I can wait... forever.... with patience
I am free of the desire for certain outcomes...
I see how I respond with patience...
I see the effect of my patience in others within the situation...
I now know how I will speak with patience, walk with patience and act patiently in the real life situations...
I maintain this peace, which generates serenity and patience in me…


Message for the day 

To pay attention to every act is to be a hero.

Expression: A hero actor is one who has great attention for every act of his. He makes sure that none of his words or actions are ordinary or waste. He ensures perfection in everything he does. This naturally brings the best out of him.

Experience: Since I pay constant attention to everything I do, I find that I am able to give my best. I am then satisfied with whatever is happening since I know what I do is not as important as how well I do it.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: October 16, 2019: Perfect

Contemplation: October 16, 2019: Perfect

Perfect 

Practice makes you perfect, so be careful what you practice!

Understanding

To have the right discrimination is to save time. When we find someone

doing something wrong, we immediately start giving corrections and

directions. Yet we find that the other person is not in a position to

listen to us. In the process of explaining to others we find our time

getting wasted. When we give directions to others we have to first see

if they will understand what we are trying to say. We need to

understand the other person before we speak. Then our words will make

their full impact on others.

Taking Charge Of Your Responses

In relationships with your loved ones, when looking at the other, sometimes positive emotions are generated and sometimes negative. On the one hand, joy, love and happiness is generated on being with them; but then attachment, dependency and expectations are generated. In such situations, you are more focused on others and are always looking at the other person's behavior, you stop seeing yourself and being aware of your reactions and taking the responsibility for the responses that you create. You get frustrated when the other person does not meet your expectations. As you depend on them, if they don't act as you would like, if they don't reach home or call you at the time you would like; all this frustrates you. You radiate this energy to the other: "they are not doing what they should be doing," and so you feel frustrated and discontented. 

All the while that you hold the other one responsible for your frustration, you are not in charge of your own reactions, because you have given power to the other to dominate your emotional world. It is there that you lose your freedom. You lose your freedom because you give to the other, in the name of love, power over your own moods. You allow the other's energy to enter your inner world and cause inside you frustration, bad moods, irritation, sorrow and a mental and emotional dependence where you are constantly thinking about where they are, what they have to do, what they have to say, where they have to go, and all this consumes a lot of your mental energy. Wanting to control the other and the frustration that it brings with it uses up a lot of emotional energy.

Soul Sustenance 

Meditation For Personality Transformation (Part 1) 

At the heart of every human being or soul there is a spiritual energy, pure, of peace, love, truth and happiness without dependence. Being aware and experiencing this energy provides you with the inner strength necessary for change. Meditation is the method of access in order to allow that energy to come to the surface of your consciousness and in your mind in order to color your thoughts and feelings. In a way very similar to that of a volcano whose melted lava, hot, flows from the centre of the Earth to the surface, we, on meditating, can create volcanoes of power (which emerge in our conscious minds) required for personality transformation. 

You can do an exercise, a meditation whereby you choose a habit or sanskar that you don't want, and you will replace it with a characteristic that you would like to incorporate, like a thread, into the cloth of your personality. For example, replace impatience with patience. 

Tomorrow we shall explain a meditation with this theme: changing a habit or sanskar. 

Message for the day 

To consider problems to be a game is to move forward with lightness. 

Expression: Even when the most difficult problem comes my way, I am able to give my best when I understand the significance of whatever is happening. Because I never experience being subservient to the problem, I am always a master. 

Experience: When I understand that problems are just a game, I am able to play whatever part I have to, externally. But internally I will experience lightness knowing that this is the part I have to play. It would be easy to understand the significance of the part that I am playing and remain happy. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: October 15, 2019: Lotus Life

Contemplation: October 15, 2019: Lotus Life

Lotus: Artist : Duong Quoc Dinh

Lotus Life

The lotus is a symbol of purity.  With roots in the mud, the flower remains above the dirty water.  Live a lotus life.  Be in the world, but unaffected by any negativity.

A Diamond

The sparkle of a true diamond reveals itself. Whenever we make a
positive contribution, we expect those around us to recognize and
appreciate it. But there are occasions where we do not receive such
recognition and we then feel disheartened which in turn doesn't let us
give our best in all we do. Whenever we find ourselves expecting
people to appreciate us, we need to remind ourselves that the diamond
doesn't need to speak about it's own sparkle but is recognized because
of its speciality. We, too, need to discover our own speciality and
work with it.

A Spiritual Perspective Of Near Death Experiences (Part 7)

Conclusion

The experience shared in Saturday's message in which we feel the Supreme Being's love in the soul world is a very powerful and overwhelming one. The soul doesn't actually leave the body. It is only a visualization exercise, a journey through levels of consciousness; we simple change our consciousness from one of the physical world to one of the non-physical or soul world.

On the physical level, the memory of our physical home and our childhood experiences in this birth is always within our sub conscious mind right till the end of our lifetime. Sometimes we go back to see the place where we were brought up and played as children. We re-experience the special feelings and important moments. On the spiritual level, the call of our spiritual home and our original state of consciousness is always there in our sub conscious mind in every birth. For every soul in the world there is a spiritual home (where the soul stayed before it came on the earth) and a spiritual Father that calls us to return. For every soul in the world there was a spiritual childhood in the company of the Supreme Father in the soul world - filled with joy, purity, love and bliss. It is a place of pure peace and contentment, a dimension beyond time and space. It is a journey of no distance and it takes only one second to experience it through the medium of meditation!

Soul Sustenance 

Practical Positive Response Training To The Mind (Part 3)

In last two days’ messages, we have explained the process of restoring positivity in the mind when faced with a negative situation, where the most common response is a negative one but the mind can be trained to respond in a different way, in a positive way. Today we explain this process with an example.

e.g. You have just had a major argument with your spouse and have lost your temper. At that time, not only your mind but your physical body also feels uncomfortable - it is in a state of complete stress. You feel your blood pressure has suddenly shot up, your heart is beating fast, you feel uncomfortable in the stomach, your hands are shaking, your face and eyes are red. On top of that, you also feel sad. You have behaved like this many times before and you know the results of responding in this way. The relationship has been scarred and you have worsened a situation. This could have been avoided. There is sorrow, guilt, low self esteem and hopelessness over your loss of control. Also, there is a fear regarding your future, not necessarily a long term one, because things will get sorted out sooner or later, but a short term uncertainty does exist, especially regarding what your spouse's response will be in the next few hours or days. In this state of mental and physical helplessness or desperation, anger may come again either projected towards yourself or towards your partner, which will be followed by the same effects, worsening your state further. In this moment of lack of spiritual wisdom, you remind yourself of the simple wisdom that you are in fact a soul. Even while you are still caught up in the turmoil of the negative situation, using your intellect, you consciously emerge inside yourself, your true awareness of being a sparkling point of peaceful light situated just above the eyes, at the center of the forehead. You not only become aware but you also use the intellect to visualize your true, peaceful, spiritual and star-like form clearly. In that moment, you are able to tap into the reservoir of peace that is present deep inside your being. You calm your mind by holding on to this awareness for a few minutes. You feel - you know - that you are peace. As this experience grows, it has a soothing effect on your whole physical system. Gradually, stability and peace are restored to your body as well as your mind. 

Message for the day 

Words filled with good wishes bring change in others.

Expression: When there are good wishes combined with the words that I speak, there is love. Whatever is spoken with love has its effect on others. Such words are free from all kind of negativity, so they naturally have a lot of power. Only such powerful words can bring about a change in others.

Experience: When I speak with love and good wishes, I find that I am light, knowing that I have no selfishness in whatever I have said. The others too are able to immediately correct themselves. This also enables me to gain good wishes for having taken them a step forward.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: October 14, 2019: Useful Things

Contemplation: October 14, 2019: Useful Things

Useful Things

Remember only useful things and there will be no need to even think about forgetting anything painful.

Anger

When you're angry with someone, rather than letting your anger expand to everything they've ever done or failed to do, take a moment to look at the bigger picture and NOT just the small details.

Understand it's YOU who is creating the anger, not someone else. So, get clear about why you're feeling angry.

Remind yourself: anger is temporary but the relationship with the person you're angry with is permanent.

Try to break out of anger safely. Curb your anger by taking slow deep breaths - sometimes this is all it takes to 'cool off'.

A Spiritual Perspective Of Near Death Experiences (Part 6)

Experiencing The Supreme Soul

Read over the following words slowly and silently. Using the power of visualization, aim to experience them in your mind:

I focus on myself, a soul, a golden star like point of light........
I reside between the eyebrows, in the middle of the forehead........
I radiate golden rays of peace, purity and love in all directions........
In this awareness of I the soul, with the power of my mind I can travel beyond the limits of my physical senses........
I visualize myself gradually going beyond this physical body........
I, the sparkling star like energy, fly into the night sky........
I see myself floating above a vast ocean of buildings and lights........
Slowly I rise higher and higher to enter space........
I am surrounded by millions of stars and planets........
Slowly I see myself flying beyond the physical world of five elements........
I, the golden star, full of peace, enter another dimension, a soft golden-red light world........
A world of sweet silence and peace,........
full of peaceful light stretching far far away........
I feel pure warmth here, surrounded by light........
I the being of light sparkle in this element........
I am free of all tensions, extremely light.........
This is where I belong,
This is my home........
I recognize this place........
I had forgotten it, but now I have rediscovered it........
In front of me there is a brilliant point of light just like myself........
I come closer and closer to this Supreme Being of Light........
The Supreme Soul radiates golden rays of the light of unlimited peace in all directions........
He is an Ocean of peace........
I feel the waves of peace passing over me, I absorb the light of sweet peace........
I bathe under the shower of golden peaceful light........
All burdens are being washed away........
It is so soothing, calming and relaxing........

Spend a few minutes in this positive experience and then gradually come downwards to take your seat back in the physical body.

(To be continued on Monday ...)

Soul Sustenance 

Practical Positive Response Training To The Mind (Part 2)

If I believe that I am just the physical body and that my thoughts are simply results of chemical and electrical processes in the brain, and not something I can consciously control, I let go of the key of taking charge of what is going on inside my mind. In meditation, my intellect recognizes and realizes that my thoughts are my own creation, of me the soul and not the body and that I, the soul, using the intellect, which is also a part of the soul, can make choices about them.

When I realize that my natural state is to be the master of my mind and not to be dictated by it or dictated by the brain, I start taking charge of what is going on inside. When I practice being a master of my mind repeatedly by practicing meditation regularly, the new habit of creating only positive thoughts settles inside me and my habit of responding negatively with a negative state of mind to negative situations, begins to change over a period of time. I start responding positively even to negative situations. So, meditation is a major transformation process of the habit of thinking negatively, which then has positive results on my personality and behavior.

Tomorrow we shall further clarify the process which has been explained in today’s and yesterday’s message, with an example.

Message for the day 

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

Expression: With regards to what I want to achieve, my thoughts are usually high. I then speak about my high plans to others too. But to bring my plans into action it takes a long time and by then I find that they have lost their intensity.

Experience: I need to remind myself that if I don't implement my thoughts immediately, I will never do it. I also need to check if the thoughts that I have are practical. I need to then plan and speak about it according to my checking. Then I find that my thoughts and plans are not wasted away, but become practical.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/