Contemplation: January 03, 2020: Inner Calm

Contemplation: January 03, 2020: Inner Calm

Inner Calm

Inner Calm remains when I am present in the moment and at the same time receptive to my relationship with others.

True cooperation is to have good wishes for even the one who harms. 

Everyone needs the cooperation of good wishes to overcome their weaknesses. Good wishes makes them realise their own true worth and empower them to bring about a change. So, even for the one who harms, I need to have a feeling of mercy and good wishes and not hatred. This will help them at every step. Today I will think of one person who has not been good to me. I will work on my thoughts in such a way that I will have good wishes for this person. I will do something to have a thought of good wish for this person. The little help that I offer in this way, will return back to me too in the form of good wishes and blessings.

Choosing Peace Over Anger

Making the choice of peace is a simple choice, which lies in the hands of each one of us, at every moment right through the day, every day. A lot of people would choose a world, the world out there, made of peace but spend most of their time remaining peaceless in their own inner world, and then in their next door world, i.e. in their personal interactions. A lot of us would prefer a life of peace and we try to shape up such a life, only to be influenced by the old belief about how it's absolutely fine to get angry once in a while, without which it's difficult to get things done. We also get influenced by those people around us who continue to get angry for the shallowest of reasons. These people could be either at home, at the workplace, in the friend circle, the world at large or people who do not matter too much to us but whom we encounter every day - at the vegetable market, on the highway, or even in the movies for that matter! Unaware of the root causes of their anger, all these people around us will find a thousand ways to justify it, and will keep continuing with the habit in their lives. Their emotional un-clarity is so deep and addiction to the emotion of anger is so powerful that they will probably laugh at the idea that anger is a negative emotion and is form of weakness or suffering. They will, on the other hand, say that peace is timidity and a form of weakness or suffering. So, if you do choose peace over anger in your life then you are also choosing to be in a state of power and becoming free from suffering as a result. However, after having made that choice, to experience it in every moment of your life, it is necessary to rediscover where your peace is located inside you, it's true nature or essence, how to access it through meditation and finally how to use it or apply it in your daily life. 

Soul Sustenance

God’s Three Roles In The World Drama (cont.)

God As A Destroyer 

There are many mythological stories all over the world about a revengeful God, destroying whole armies who dared to stand in the way of His chosen ones. The Mahabharata  in India depicts the same, where Lord Krishna helped the Pandavas defeat the Kauravas, because Pandavas had love, devotion and respect for Lord Krishna and Kauravas did not. We have even gone to war, praising the righteousness of our causes and counting on God's support. Somehow the heart rejects the idea of a violent God who is a destroyer of life. He is the destroyer of evil (and not of life) and the creator of virtue.

The story of the Mahabharata. is obviously symbolic. It can be applied to the present moment in the World Drama, when the Supreme Father, the Incorporeal (non-physical) Father is with us and is helping us in our war. Our war is not a physical one, our enemies our not our brothers, but our own weaknesses. The weapons (shastras), which are shown in the Mahabharata in the physical form, are actually the weapons of knowledge and spiritual power acquired through meditation; with which we are able to bring down our enemies, our vices and shortcomings e.g. the discus (chakra) has a spiritual significance. It is shown in a physical form but is actually a discus of self-realization (swadarshan chakra). Swa. + darshan means self-realization. Self-realization is achieved when one receives spiritual knowledge. The Supreme Father possesses this discus, which he gives to us, along with other weapons (shastras). We, the chosen ones, the true followers of God, make our path easier for us through His powerful guidance. We leave suffering behind and make the journey to the other side - to a promised elevated world.Our former captors (those who had imprisoned us), our weaknesses, try to follow us in the elevated future but are destroyed completely with God's help.

Message for the day 

Humility comes from an open and clean heart.

Projection: Humility needs a good home to dwell in. When the mind is filled with negative feelings or biased ideas towards anyone, we cannot use humility. So we need to fill our mind with positive thoughts towards everyone.

Solution: If I have negative thoughts towards anyone, I need to make an attempt to remove them. I need to tell myself that what I don't like about a person is just one particular aspect and not the person himself. In this way I will be able to change my own attitude and also will help the other person also to bring about change.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: January 02, 2020: Push Yourself

Contemplation: January 02, 2020: Push Yourself

Jonathan, the 182-year-old tortoise at the home of the St Helena governor

Push Yourself

To move ahead, make a point of stretching your mental muscles.  Did you ever notice, the tortoise only moves ahead because he sticks his neck out?

Power to Choose                    (...continued)

With whom does the choice to make your decisions lie? Are you going to be dominated by your fears and others. negatively powerful influences, which paralyze your judgment power and confuse you sometimes or are you going to exercise your choice? When someone dominates you, they control you and make you feel irritated, frustrated and weak; they satisfy their own ego like that by controlling you and bringing you under their influence. You need to decide if you are comfortable being a victim of the other by being the one who satisfies the egos of others. It is not a very healthy attitude, on their part, but it happens in many relationships and we fall prey to that, because of a lack of spiritual power. Get back your personal ruling and controlling power and do not be afraid to be free and responsible for your choices. From today on, promise yourself that you will not allow your husband or wife, or children, or your friend, or mother-in-law, or your office colleague, anybody for that matter, influence the power of choice, the power to decide, that you possess. In the end, that way they will be happier; perhaps not at first, because a power game is created. Your personal freedom will lead to a healthier relationship, in the long run. Its fine to take an opinion or a viewpoint or support from someone, but there is a fine line between that and being controlled by someone, which we, many a times cross, and become a victim.

You are free when you take responsibility for what you are and how you feel. In meditation you can realize everything that has influenced you and know how to clear it, so that only the highest, the most positive influence you. This depends on each one of us. In our present society, there are many influencing factors, from the most negative, violent, corrupt and mediocre, to the purest, highest and most spiritual. It depends on each one what you want to consume and allow to be influenced by.

Effort To Manipulate The Law Of Action

Human laws can be adjusted, manipulated and even ignored by some, but no one can do the same with the Law of Karma. On the physical level, there is no time interval between an action and its reaction. If I throw an object in the air, it falls back immediately with the same force. With the Law of Karma, however, there can be a delay between the action and its result or fruit. The seeds of certain actions (negative or positive) bring immediate fruit. Others can take years or even many births to bear fruit. If I eat too much ice-cream, I will see the result or karmic effect of the negative karma of greed within a space of ten-fifteen minutes in the form of a headache or after two days in the form of a cold and flu. This is an e.g. in which we realize the working of the Law of Karma, we realize clearly the cause and its effect, but on a subtle level, when we see the effects of actions, we do not realize that the cause may have actually been in a previous life. There is a total connection between the cause and the effect.

When we analyze a natural calamity such as a major earthquake that uproots buildings and trees, overturns vehicles and kills thousands of people. The physical cause may be tectonic activity associated with faults inside the earth's surface but at the same time, we realize that such a calamity could have its roots in a process initiated by human beings a few hours, days or months ago - an e.g. being testing of nuclear weapons. On a personal level, I can say that there is nothing which happens to me for which I am not responsible. Whether I remember what I did to make it happen or not, whether I realize it or choose to ignore it, I am ultimately responsible.

Soul Sustenance

God’s Three Roles In The World Drama (cont.)

God As A Sustainer 

We need to understand God’s role clearly as a sustainer. We have to understand the difference between physical and spiritual sustenance. We may think that God is the sustainer in the sense that He gives us our goods, wealth, health, food, water, air and so on. If that were so, why should He give more of these things to some and not to others? Why do poverty, starvation and disease exist if God is a sustainer and provider of all in the physical sense?

Whatever I do or do not possess I have earned for myself. It is not God who pays us our salaries. Whatever fruits I earn are the results of my own efforts. As a spiritual sustainer, He fills us with His power and virtues like peace, bliss, purity and happiness. He also shares with us spiritual knowledge and bestows his love and blessings on us, all of which help us in our spiritual effort, so that we can transform (change) ourselves and does not provide us with food and wealth.

(To be continued tomorrow.)

Message for the day 

Humility enables people to realize their mistakes and correct themselves.

Projection: Real humility results in so much power of truth that we don't need to say anything at all in words. The very power of our inner state of being will make the other person realize the error of their ways.

Solution: While giving directions or corrections to someone, I need to check my own attitude, reminding myself of the humility within and only then say what I have to say. With humility my words will be for their benefit and this will enable them to learn. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: January 01, 2020: Sense & Sensibility

Contemplation: January 01, 2020: Sense & Sensibility

Sense & Sensibility

Common sense is to know the difference between being sensible and being sensitive.  Understand with your heart but protect your feelings.

The Power to Choose

It is extremely important to realize that, in any situation, you have the power to choose whether your response in that situation will be passive or pro-active, positive or negative, indifferent or attentive etc. You choose what action you take and how you feel. But do you exercise your power of choice all the time? You need to check which factors influence your decision making and push you either in one direction or the other? There are many factors that control and limit your power to make the right, and more importantly, free choices. These factors primarily include influences of people that dominate your ways of thinking, your beliefs, your attitudes, even your complete personality. You are also limited by the influence of your own fears, attachments, desires, biases or other negative and waste thoughts, which result in a lack of focus.

There are a lot of people who are not used to thinking for themselves or even prefer being a “yes” man, going along with what others think and say, without having an opinion of their own. Also as you pass through your childhood and teenage life and enter adulthood, you acquire many preconceived ideas or beliefs from your family and social and cultural environment; that is why you assume inside that some things or people are always positive and others are always negative when, in fact, that’s not necessarily true. This directly affects the type of decisions you make, each time there is a requirement for one. In any particular situation, courage, wisdom, high self-esteem and focus is required to sit down calmly and make an assessment about the possible choices before you, and then finally make the right decision. The more you practice relaxation, positive thinking and meditation, the more you rise above all the negatively influencing factors mentioned above , the more you experience the positive qualities and powers mentioned above and exercise your power of choice accurately and with confidence.

(to be continued tomorrow)

The Soul World Or Incorporeal World

The Soul World, which is the sixth element, is filled with golden-red, divine light (experienced during meditation). Over there, the conscient (living entities), the souls, have neither bodies of matter nor bodies of light. There exists neither thought, word nor action; just complete stillness, silence and peace. Just as this world occupies a tiny part of this physical universe, so too the souls occupy just a tiny portion of this infinite world. This is the highest region, the original home of souls and the Supreme Soul, God. This is the region which human beings, irrespective of culture or religion, have tried to reach in thoughts, prayers, etc. It is called by various names in various religions - Heaven, Nirvana, Shantidham, Paramdham, Brahmand, etc. Before I came to this earth, I was there with all other souls, brothers. The experience of complete and utter peace, purity and silence is there in my sweet home. There the soul is untouched by matter. Souls reside there as star-like points of light. They remain dormant, with their roles in the physical world latent (hidden) within them. The roles emerge when they the souls appear on earth, the world stage.

The souls stay in the soul world in well-defined groups. They descend onto this earth in a certain chronological order, according to the quality of sanskaras. At the apex of this configuration of souls is the Supreme Soul, whom the other souls call God, Allah, Jehovah, etc. Beneath him the souls are positioned number wise according to their degree of similarity to the Supreme. Depending on the quality and the part the soul has to play, it emerges in the human world, taking the body of a developing baby in a mother's womb. It then continues through the cycle of birth and rebirth according to the role that it has. When the parts are over, souls again return to this world of light, peace, liberation and complete purity. The deep rest the soul has had in the home has such an effect on it that even though it forgets the details about that world, there is always a desire to search for that peace and silence when it becomes lost and confused in the world of matter. In that supreme region only, souls remain in their completely original, natural state, which can be experienced through Rajyoga meditation.

Soul Sustenance

God’s Three Roles In The World Drama

God As A Creator 

Logic tells us that spiritual and material energy in the form of souls and matter didn't just suddenly appear out of nothing. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy can't be either created or destroyed. Matter itself is a form of condensed energy. Souls are also conscious points of energy. Both are uncreated and therefore eternal. The Second Law shows us that energy, when in use, moves from a potential state, in which energy is available, to a spent state in which it is no longer available. Putting both laws together we have what appears to be a system in which the basic components have neither beginning nor end. They move towards a state of energy exhaustion (entropy). If time were linear (a straight line) and there were no external intervention, then over an unimaginably long period of time the universe would just fizzle out.

Fortunately for both the souls and the elements of matter, there is one supreme energy source which is external to the process of entropy (unaffected by the process) and thereby retains its original potency or power. When things reach a certain stage of weakness and chaos, the Supreme Soul plays out His role of re-energizing the souls. The recuperation (recovery) to their original state, in turn, has a direct effect on matter. It also comes back to its own original state of perfection. If, as has been shown above, God's presence, power and knowledge are purely spiritual, then creation has to be a spiritual act and not a physical one. Creation can be understood as the regeneration or reshaping of what is already there and not one of creating something physical or non-physical out of nothing. God recharges the souls' spent spiritual energy.

(To be continued tomorrow .)

Message for the day 

True humility comes from self-respect.

Projection: When we are full and in our state of self-respect, we will be able to remain humble in all situations. When there is no self-respect, any comments or criticism hurts the ego and we tend to lose our humility.

Solution: When I find myself getting affected by criticism, I need to check whether I am sure of what I'm doing. Let me look within myself and see what specialties I have that I can use in my daily life. So when I increase my own confidence in this way and do everything with this confidence, I'll be humble. 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 31, 2019: The Dawn of a New Year

Contemplation: December 31, 2019:  The Dawn of a New Year 

The Dawn of a New Year

To make good use of what you have and to let go of what you do 

not use is to live in a contented way.

The dawn of a new year is a time for new possibilities.

Let go of the past and give birth to new possibilities.

Wishing one and all a Wonderful and promising New Year

A well-nourished heart is automatically giving and full of grace. We can nourish our hearts with the energy of positive thoughts and pure feelings. When we realize we are eternal souls, beings of consciousness rather than Matter, and that our original nature is benevolent and wise, the heart grows full. When we remember, with love, that we are the offspring of an eternal Parent, a source of eternal truth, the heart overflows. This is the greatest gift we can offer to each other and the world in the year ahead.

The Benefits Of Togetherness Over Isolation

Nowadays, there are more and more people who are choosing to live alone. Perhaps the reason for that are experiences in the past of pain, peacelessness, rejection, disappointment or failure when living together, in a relationship or even more than one relationship. As a result, the preference for living alone sets inside them. Perhaps, it is their alternative search for peace, happiness and success that leads them to make this decision. Also, the belief that if you live alone, you are free and you can do what you want, when you want and without having to explain yourself to anyone. But are we, as human beings, basically by nature, meant to live together or to live alone? Each human being has the need to belong and provide that feeling to others. You can belong to a family, a group of friends, a bunch of close school or college students, some office colleagues, a club, a community, a religious group etc. The mere presence of others; the participation, communication and collaboration with others; the assistance provided to others and received from them and the sharing of positive energy with others in a group; inspires and challenges us and others immensely. The same can happen, if we are staying alone, but to a limited extent. Greater inner spiritual empowerment takes place inside those who live and work together, not those who distance themselves from others. In a group, we broaden our limits and make our heart bigger when we do things for others that we wouldn't do for ourselves.

Each human being is a source of love for others. It is a basic human nature to love and be loved, which is not possible unless there is some kind of unity or mutual belonging. Distancing or isolating oneself implies an absence of love, neither given or shared, neither received.

Soul Sustenance 

A Message For The New Year 

Happy New Year !!! a greeting exchanged Every Year on 1st Jan.
But are we really happy and has the year been new.

As we begin the New Year with powerful greetings and blessings for all our family and friends,
Let us take a moment to greet ourselves. To promise ourselves a year full of Love, Peace and Happiness.

Let us leave behind what we don't need to carry ...
Hurt, Sadness, Pain, Fear and Regrets, because we have a choice and the power.

Let us take a moment to reflect on one of our most common beliefs - * It's not me, it's them.
An illusion that someone else is responsible for what we think, feel and do, making ourselves a slave to that person or that situation.

Let us release this belief and allow the truth to emerge and establish itself within our consciousness.
The truth is always simple, * It's not them, it's me. Always.
We have a choice in our every response. We can maintain a calm, positive, stable response regardless of what happens around us.

Let's remember the mantra to change our life from being a slave to being a master -
* It's not what others say or do to me that makes me feel this way, it's what I do with what they say that makes me feel this way.
Now choose how you would like to feel.

As we start making our choices, this year will be truly New and Happy. 

Message for the day 

The way to accumulate the account of blessings is to remain content and make others content.

Checking: While you are doing something, check if there is any limited desire for name or fame. The instant fruit of the service that you do is that you are happy, it is not what you get later that is important. So check how much you are experiencing this fruit and remaining content.

Practice: Whatever you are doing for yourself or for others throughout the day, make sure that you are enjoying it. When you start enjoying what you are doing you'll stop expecting anything thereby you can remain content.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 30, 2019: Manage Stress

Contemplation: December 30, 2019: Manage Stress

Manage Stress

Manage your stress by:

• delegating
• planning without having unrealistic expectations
• giving yourself "me time" to relax
• allowing space for life to just happen 

Taking Charge of Your Responses in Close Relationships 

In relationships, 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 also 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.

Maintaining Your Self Esteem In Relationships

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

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

Soul Sustenance 

Becoming Responsible For My Destiny (Part 2)

Factors like any particular person, a group of people, the government, nature, even God, etc. cannot be held responsible for what has happened t0 me in my life, up to this moment. It is my and my responsibility alone. Equally, what my future holds depends on me to a very large extent. Rather, whatever I choose to do at this moment is already creating my destiny for tomorrow. I shouldn't forget that the only real time I have for creating my future is the present, now.

Karma teaches me that at every step, I am the creator of my own little world, the creator of my future circumstances. I also am the creator of the environment immediately around me. On a bigger level I am a co-creator or partner, together with God, of a positive future of the world, of the world of tomorrow, of the world of peace, love and happiness. So my responsibility and my ability to influence the future is not restricted to my life alone.

That I can create the future of my choice - of love, peace and happiness, for myself and others, can appear as unreasonable optimism. It's just being realistic. What I create is what is going to happen. If I choose to transmit love and peace in my interactions with others today, I create relationships, in the present and for the future, based on those qualities. 

Message for the day 

Set your mind on the seat of stability and you will never become upset. 

Expression: In all that you do throughout the day, check if you are able to stabilise your mind wherever and in whatever thought you want at the right moment. If you are not able to you will find yourself getting upset. 

Experience: Each morning create a positive thought for yourself. For example, tell yourself "I am the one who is in control of my mind and I can set it the way I want to." Now practice focusing on this one thought. Stabilise in this thought for sometime. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: December 29, 2019: Forming an Opinion

Contemplation: December 29, 2019: Forming an Opinion

Forming an Opinion

Pause before you let your assumptions spin out of control, try being less fast to jump to conclusions and judge people or situations. Why not challenge your assumptions by checking out the full story first and then forming an opinion!

As is our attitude towards others, so is the quality of interactions. 

Our attitude towards others influences our interaction with them. A negative attitude towards another person not only makes me behave negatively. It also makes the other person use that quality again and again when in interaction with us. We actually become a reminder to the other person about his own negativity. For example, if I continue to believe that someone is lazy and we keep expressing that, that person will only remember their laziness when they see us, and use it too. Today I will remind one person of some quality that I see in him. I will praise or use this quality of the person at least 3 times. Thus, I will be able to become a reminder for them, of their own specialty. This will encourage them to use this quality at least when they are interacting with us.

Meditation And Health

Each original quality of the self or soul is specially required for nourishing and empowering one human body system. The quality of peace is responsible for taking care of the respiratory system, joy for the gastrointestinal system, love for the circulatory system, bliss for the endocrine system, knowledge for the brain and nervous system, purity for the immune system and the five senses and power for the muscular and skeletal systems.

Each one of us has at least one body system, which is most prone to disease. When our mind is under the influence of stressful emotions, there is a decrease in the flow, from the soul to this body system, of that quality which is required by it for its nourishment, which leads to the development of disease in this system over a period of time e.g. when an individual with a weak respiratory system is in a negative state of mind, there is a decrease in the flow of the quality of peace to the respiratory system which in turn can lead to a disorder like asthma.

Soul Sustenance 

Becoming Responsible For My Destiny (Part 1)

These are examples of some of the inner questions that emerge in our minds from time to time:

* Why is she rich and successful and I am not? * Why did he behave in that way with me; I've always behaved well with him. * Why does that one have easy success in life and the other, however hard he tries, fails at every step? * Why is he nice natured but is born blind and the other ill natured but has no health problems at all? * Why does she suffer so much? * She is so sweet, but yet everyone disrespects her. * Why did that child die at such a young age? She was so innocent. * Why did I get married to such a person? * Why am I here? * How is that student in my class so intelligent?

There are lot more questions like these that trouble us. In the case of sorrows, it is seen more than the sorrow, it is the question - why this sorrow exists in my life that troubles us. Why? What? How? When? Even so, they all have only one answer: karma.

I don't need to go into minute details of each situation. If I see that nothing can happen without having had a justified cause in my past or in that of others, life becomes much easier to face, with responsibility and the power of courage.

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day 

You can always be successful when there is a desire to serve others. 

Expression: At the end of each day, check if you have done anything for others. Also check if there is any consciousness of 'I' in all the things that you do for others. When there is even the slightest trace of a desire for benefit for yourself you cannot experience either contentment or success. 

Experience: Each day take up at least one thing that would bring benefit to others, irrespective of whether it will get you anything or not. When you serve with no selfishness you will find yourself succeeding in all you do. 


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/