Contemplation: December 04, 2019: Plant Seeds

Contemplation: December 04, 2019: Plant Seeds

Plant Seeds

No matter what comes your way, keep planting good, right seeds for your ‘tomorrows’.

To admire is to imbibe their qualities. 

It is easy to admire someone. But, when I admire I also need to understand what makes the person so great. What are the qualities that he has in his life, or what qualities he has developed during the journey of his life. I need to make an effort to imbibe these qualities. Today I will think of one person whom I admire and see what I can learn from his life. I will then focus on imbibing at least one quality from him, into my own life. This will be the real tribute I pay to the person whom I admire. 

Love And Suffering (Part 3)

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

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

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

Soul Sustenance 

Is It Necessary To Renounce (Leave) Society To Experience A Spiritual Lifestyle?

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

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

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

Message for the day 

Become the one who is special by seeing only specialities. 

Checking: Throughout the day, among all the people you meet check if you are seeing any negative quality in them. Also check if you are seeing specialities in others or not. 

Practice: Each day tell yourself, "I am special and I only see the specialties in myself and others." Then practice seeing only the good qualities in others and you will become good too. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 03, 2019: Lost and Found

Contemplation: December 03, 2019: Lost and Found

Lost and Found

Being lost in thought, thinking about things to do, what's been done, what could have been done... is not only tiring but also a brilliant way to waste energy.  It diminishes your peacefulness and clouds your clarity.

Every time you become lost in thought it means exactly that - you are lost!  To find yourself, allow your mind to become quiet, to become utterly tranquil.

In the quiet depths of every being, there is a stillness that contains a deep inner peace and wisdom that can guide you in your life.

Worry not

Worrying leeches your vitality. It robs you of the energy needed to accomplish things.
Why not clear away the gloomy clouds of worries! 
Allow your mind to relax and bask in the eternal sunshine of the worry free mind.
Your mind will then be rested and rejuvenated - ready for life.

Love And Suffering (Part 2)

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

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

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance 

The Relationship Between Anger And Attachment (Part 2) 

Attachment is a negative attraction that we succumb to, inside our consciousness, regularly and it gives rise to ego, which in turn is the root cause of all suffering. Suffering, in turn, is experienced at an emotional level through the various different forms of anger. We need to realize this phenomenon very deeply because this happens many a times in each day of our lives inside our consciousness. Then we can see exactly from where our anger arises and we can correct it. 

So if we don't want to suffer from anger, the solution is simple - we don’t get attached to anything or anyone, to any expectation, any particular desired result. Sounds difficult at first, but the same solution can be put in a way that would seem easier to achieve, we don’t lose our spiritual identity or individuality in something we are not, in anything or anyone that is physical. That does not mean we shouldn't possess any material objects and not experience joy by using them. It also does not mean we start remaining aloof from people that we love. Nor does it mean we don't have goals and ambitions at the workplace etc. We do. But our relationship with them changes. Our relationship becomes one of detachment and not of attachment. And what is a relationship of detachment? Detachment means that we possess all of them but we are no longer dependent on any of them, for our peace, contentment and happiness. We choose to be peaceful, content and joyful irrespective of whether they are there with us or not. So when cars get banged into (which can happen at times) and when people close to us are harmed or insulted or they leave or are separated from us due to any other reason (which is also bound to happen) or when jobs are lost (which is inevitable), we don't react angrily and suffer as a result. We have realized everything in life comes and goes; everything is born and comes to an end. We also realize that every process taking place in life is unpredictable and not always controllable, and must end. Things do and will happen. We know this is a reality. Every time we get angry it means we are having an argument with this reality of life. 

Message for the day 

Become a jewel of contentment and you will become a bestower. 

Checking: During the day, check if you were always able to remain content whatever the situations you were faced with. Also see if you were able to be a giver in all the situations or if you were expecting something from others. 
Practice: At the end of each day, make a list of all that you have attained during the day. Your list could include even little things that made you happy. This practice helps you see what you are attaining and you will become a giver. 
In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 02, 2019: Good Wishes

Contemplation: December 02, 2019: Good Wishes

Good Wishes

Giving good wishes to others acts like sunlight, filtering into the dark corners of their mind and lightening their burdens.

To order whilst being seated on the seat is to ensure obedience. 

Before I expect obedience from others, I need to check if my own mind and sense organs are obedient. For this, I need to be seated on the seat of my own self-respect (of the qualities I have). Thus seated, like a king, when I order, I find that orders are obeyed. Today I will practice a point of self-respect. I will recognize and appreciate one quality in myself. I will remind myself of this quality, from time to time, throughout the day. If I find my mind wandering or my sense organs disobedient, I will give orders with the same consciousness of self-respect. Then, I will find positive results. 

Love And Suffering (Part 1)

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

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

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance 

The Relationship Between Anger And Attachment (Part 1) 

Most of us logically understand that all forms of anger are worthlessness emotions, but when we enter into the field of practical actions, we tend to argue that there are some situations where the weapon of anger has to be used and where it is justified or allowable. When someone tries to harm me personally, like giving sorrow to a friend or loved one, send a complaint about my work to the higher ups in the office or simply insult me or bang into my car at the street crossing for that matter, it would seem that our anger is justified, on such occasions. But the basic principle is the same in all these cases. We are, in our own mind, trying to control and change what we cannot change - the past or other people or events.

In all the above cases above we suffer a lot when these things that are close to us are changed or lost. So why does that happen? It is because we keep all these things too close to us or in other words we are over attached to them. When someone tries to bring me down at the workplace, or in other words tries to harm my position in the office and I suffer because of the same, it is because I identify with my role in the office, I think I am the role. When someone bangs into my car, the emotion of anger emerges inside me, because I identify with the car, I think I am the car! This is the deepest mistake. It is the deepest cause of the negative suffering called anger. We are not aware of this of course, but if we were to take a moment and see what we do in our minds, we would see we emerge the image of our role or our car on the screen of our mind. We have then gone into that image in our mind, and we have lost our spiritual identity or individuality in that image. In effect we have identified completely with the role or the car or are too attached to them. So if the role or the car is harmed in any way, it feels like it is happening to us and, as a result, we become disturbed or angry.

(To be continued tomorrow…) 

Message for the day 

Use the power of your thought and you will find negative situations changing into positive.

Checking: When things are going wrong, check what kind of thoughts you are having - are your thoughts positive in spite of the negative situation or are they negative. The more you have negative thoughts, the situation will only worsen.

Practice: When things are going wrong, take a thought that it is not the thing itself that is going wrong but it is your perception that makes it look negative. Also remind yourself that you have the power to transform negative into positive. When your thought changes,  the situation changes too.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 01, 2019: Say 'I'm Sorry' and mean it

Contemplation: December 01, 2019: Say 'I'm Sorry' and mean it

Say 'I'm Sorry' and mean it

Is simply saying 'sorry' enough?
To make your apology sincere and authentic:
Make a commitment to change yourself and resolve the issue for the future;
Have a determined thought, 'I am not going to do this again'.

True Independence

Liberate yourself from the bondages of the mind. It is wasteful thoughts that won’t allow you to attain true freedom. 

True Independence is to be, in dependence of only GOD.

A Spiritual Perspective Of True Love

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

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

Soul Sustenance 

Detached Observation – A Spiritual Skill 

Detachment is the basis of our ability to be positive and affectionate with others while we interact with them. This is what is known as commitment and the relationship of detachment and it begins with what is known as a spiritual skill: the skill of being a detached observer.

On needs to be a detached observer in two dimensions: one within and one outside:
The inner art of detached observation is the ability of separating ourselves from our own thoughts, emotions, attitudes and behavior. On the external level, the art of detached observation is the art of being witness to the scenes that take place around us. While we detach ourselves and observe how the game of life develops, without being active participants, we are able to see the "big picture" with greater clarity. That makes it easier to see clearly what role we have to play and where our contribution lies. We are creators, and our thoughts, emotions and attitudes are our own work.

In reality, detached observation is the first step towards personal strengthening. If we don't manage to detach ourselves from our thoughts and emotions, they will turn into our owners and will consume our energy.

For the practice of meditation it is essential that you act as a witness of everything you think and feel, and, once some time has passed, you will find that the practice simultaneously frees you and offers power. 

Message for the day 

The one who does not wait for others to change to bring a change in the self is the one who really brings benefit to others. 

Checking: Think of all the things you would like to change but are not able to. Now ask yourself why you are not able to bring about a change - is it because you are waiting for others to change before you change yourself. 

Practice: Take any one thing that you would like to change and tell yourself, “I will change and seeing me the others will change too. I am the leader who inspires others to change, I will not wait for others." 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 26, 2019: CONTROL YOUR ANGER

Contemplation: December 26, 2019: CONTROL YOUR ANGER  

Mount  Pinatubo - Eruption in the PHILIPPINES, 1991

CONTROL YOUR ANGER

Then you will be able to: 

  - respond rather than react

  - be assertive rather than aggressive

  - know when to stand up for yourself and when to step back. 

The art of giving happiness lies in being happy. 

If I am not happy with something or someone and I am not able to resolve it, I will not be able to give happiness to others too. If I am bringing about a change in myself for someone and am not happy about it, I will not be able to make a difference. Whatever I do for others, I need to do it with happiness. Today I will make a small change in myself or my life style for giving happiness to someone important in my life. This could be something that they have always been expecting, but it need not be anything big. But, while I am making this change, I need to first ensure I am not bothered or am not feeling heavy about it. When I do it with love, it will give me power and positivity.

Improving The Quality Of My Actions (Part 4)

Karma as spiritual service of others
Service of others can be seen on a very basic level as physical charity but the real service is to uplift the souls of others by inspiring them to re-claim their state of self-respect. There is the old saying that if I give others chapattis, I feed them for a day. If I teach them how to cook chapattis, I feed them for life. In a spiritual way, this refers to the fact that instead of merely performing a positive karma like the donation of money, food, clothes, etc. if one can show others the understanding of karma and how it works and also teach them the ultimate, pure karma of coming closer to the Supreme on a spiritual level, they can make efforts to change their negative karmic situation and bring happiness, peace and positivity back in their lives. When there is a change at the mental and emotional level, then changes will begin to show at the physical level too. Over a period of time, due to understanding spiritual knowledge (as a result of which the soul starts performing positive actions) and a deep connection with the Supreme (due to which negative actions or sins performed in the past are burned up), the karmic situation of the soul, which has been served, starts improving.

Soul Sustenance 

Taking The Path of Spirituality (Part 2)

Religion also tends to encourage us to have faith, to pray and perhaps beg to an entity to whom we are not worthy enough or high enough to look face-to-face with. On the other hand, spirituality would have us believe nothing blindly and never reduces our own basic but now suppressed value or divinity. Spirituality is a path of high self esteem. The spiritual approach to God is one of remaining in that self esteem and cultivating a relationship that is as real, direct and as dynamic as we might have with a member of our family, a friend or a companion. Even worldly relationships work best when the people involved in the relationships maintain their self esteem. It means that personal experience is the only real proof of God's presence in our life.

While religion would tend to encourage the strict following of a set of recorded beliefs, which have been declared by religions or religious organizations, spirituality would say, "You must not believe me when I say it is raining outside — go and see for yourself. Here, I'll show you the way, but you must go and see and touch the rain for yourself." Spirituality would not encourage blind faith in an historical set of other people's beliefs, but would encourage the cultivation of an enlightened faith based on one’s own personal experience. God, as the Supreme Father, does not want to be worshiped; He only wants to see His loved ones, His children awakened from their self-imposed spiritual sleep – that is what spirituality does – wake us up!

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day 

Instead of thinking of the situation, think of your own stage. 

Expression: When you find yourself questioning the things that are happening in your life, ask yourself if your own stage is good. The situation might be bad, but check if your own stage is good and if you have the power to face the situation. 

Experience: The reason for losing the stage in a negative situation is because of negative thoughts. In order to finish such negative thoughts, remind yourself that you are learning from the things that are happening so that you can improve your own stage. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: November 30, 2019: Determination

Contemplation: November 30, 2019: Determination

Artemisia, the first lady navigator, the commander of Acheamenid navy (Persian)

Determination

Determination is an unbroken line, a backbone. 

Without determination life becomes scattered. 

Determination makes you sit up straight and love everything.

The Practice of Meditation

The root of all needs and expectations is an unfulfilled spiritual desire. 

Satisfy your spiritual desires through the practice of meditation and you'll be able to interact successfully with anyone.

No longer needy, you will enter into relationships simply to share and enjoy.

There'll be no strings attached in the way you give of yourself; your love will be unconditional.

The Physical And The Non-Physical

In life many happenings cannot be explained only in material or physical terms. At certain points of crisis (negative) or inspiration (positive), there are deep emotional and spiritual experiences which separate us from the world around. We look inwards at such times; we look into religious or philosophical books, into rituals or symbols, in order to understand these experiences.

We are subject to a continuous commentary on life around us from our own thoughts, feelings and deductions.  These faculties of thinking and forming ideas, desiring and deciding (and all the different aspects which constitute our individual personality) are non-physical, yet nevertheless real - we cannot deny their existence. Indeed, anything perceivable to us comes from two sources; that which is detected by the physical senses and that which arises from impressions recorded on these subtle (non-physical) faculties (mentioned above). The things that we can see, taste, hear, smell and feel, as well as the body itself are formed of matter. But the subtle faculties of mind, intellect and personality make up what we call "consciousness".

Soul Sustenance 

Spiritual Vision

A simple definition of spiritual vision is that I see the best in others. A parameter of proving to myself that I have a spiritual vision and I am seeing the best in others is that I naturally thank and praise rather than criticize those with whom I interact at home or at the workplace on a daily basis – even though I may see obvious negative characteristics in them and experience negative behavior from them. Keep a daily chart of the three points, for three people close to you, below for one week. Every night, fill this chart up for the day that’s just gone by.

1. Name of person and relationship
2. How did I thank or praise him/her?
3. What was this person's response?

Remember that although you may be constantly positive with others, constantly seeing their original spiritual qualities, it may take time for your positive energy to transform them and for them to start transmitting positive energy back to you and start behaving positively with you. At the end of the week, check what benefits did you and others experience from this exercise. 

Message for the day 

Become a true well-wisher who transforms others' attitude with your good wishes.

Checking: In your interactions throughout the day, check if your feelings towards someone are negative. Also check if you are expecting someone to change his or her attitude or behaviour.

Practice: Tell yourself each day, "Just as a powerful bulb when switched on transforms darkness into light in a second, there's so much power in my good wishes that they can transform others' negative attitude into positive in one second." 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/