Contemplation: January 24, 2020: Life in the Ocean

Contemplation: January 24, 2020: Life in the Ocean

Life in the Ocean

Our life is like an ocean. 

Can any ocean exist without waves? 

There are big waves, medium waves and small waves.  Situations are the waves that come into our life. 

Some waves come to carry things deep into the ocean, other waves toss things out. 

What do you choose to take from situations
and what do you toss out?

How do you handle others' success?

Do you justify others' success with some trivial reason and so, easily dismiss them to feel better about yourself?



Take Inspiration 

Instead of getting into feelings of jealousy, envy or resentment, be genuinely happy for other people. Appreciate all the work and the personal strengths that got them there. Rather than comparing yourself and focusing on how much better others are doing, take inspiration from them and be motivated to go for what you really want in life.

Quality Transformation

The easiest way to understand quality change is to consider the example of roses. These beautiful flowers, although nourished by smelly manure, do not take any of its odour (smell) or colour. They are truly like kings of gardens, in their pink, gold, red and white robes, filling the air with such a fragrance that people who come to the garden do not even notice the manure. The roots of the roses are able to transform (change) the manure to such an extent that the best is taken without any negative side effects. This is an example of quality change. The human world is like a garden. We are like a variety of flowers surrounded by lots of manure, that is, negativity in all its forms, such as ego, fear, anger, attachment, mistrust, etc. People who are quality transformers can accept all these negative things and use them for their personal growth without the negativity penetrating (entering) them; they do not get spoilt, or even touched by it. With understanding and the natural, loving detachment that comes from silence, they realise that the negative person, or situation, in front of them is the Universe's way of giving them an opportunity to create a tiny, silent miracle in their lives. Quality transformers become the spiritual roses in the Garden of Humanity: they display all their beauty and provide inspiration for all those who see them.

Quality transformers can be compared to the oyster. When a tiny foreign particle invades (enters) the oyster's home, it secretes a liquid that combines with the particle to finally create a pearl. The pearl can live in the oyster's home for the rest of the oyster's natural life without causing any disturbance.

In the same way, rather than react negatively to people and events, we can include them and mould with them. Through acceptance, our consciousness jumps to another level of perception (understanding) and we realise that what we might have previously regarded as a problem can, if handled correctly, be a means to develop our strengths and remove our weaknesses. Whether a situation is a problem or a gift depends on our perception. The choice is ours.

Soul Sustenance

Experiencing Spiritual Growth Through Group Interactions (Part 1)

Anyone who is inclined towards growing spiritually will sooner or later feel the need to taking up a particular spiritual path, which provides him/her with an assigned code of leading a spiritual life and helps him/her to incorporate it in his/her life. This also means becoming a part of a spiritual group or gathering or community and participating in spiritual study, practice like meditation or prayer and perform service along with the group. But, on the other hand, there are also many spiritually motivated people who are not very interested in groups and communities and keep a distance from them. They are of the opinion that it is easier to work it out alone by collecting information from other alternate sources by books, the internet, the television, videos, etc. and progress spiritually. But the relationship between spiritual growth and being a part of or participating in a group is clear.

For the isolated and solitary person, growth is limited, since the personality is not activated to the same extent as when it interacts with others. In relationships and in living together, the various forms of hidden ego and the different shades of the personality, positive as well as negative, are stimulated, creating the possibility of being more aware and conscious about them, bringing about greater growth and spiritual development. After all, one of the main objectives of spiritual development is achieving victory over the ego and becoming soul conscious, getting rid of the negative shades of the personality and further enhancing the positive traits and skills, so that they can be used for benefiting the self and others.

Tomorrow we shall explain the various powers that are required to experience success in groups, which as a result, get enhanced in group activities and interactions. 

Message for the day 

The one who loves is the one who gives.

Expression: True love is free from expectations. When you discover the love within you, you can continue to give. Whether the other person gives or not, true love enables you to give unselfishly.

Experience: Let today be for discovering and giving others the love within you. Make sure you do at least one act that shows your love towards anyone around you. Feel the love flowing from within to the ones around you.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: January 23, 2020: Energy

Contemplation: January 23, 2020: Energy

Energy

If you speak badly of others, the negative energy that you put out into the universe, will return to you. The same is true of positive energy.

The biggest help for the self is to forgive. 

When I carry negative experiences, I am not able help myself be light, easy and natural. There is a feeling of bondage and discomfort. But, when I learn the art of forgiveness, I am able to free myself from this bondage. I experience inner freedom and lightness and I am able to make the right judgment too, in future interactions. Today I will forgive someone whom I was not able to forgive all this while. I will not forgive because he needs forgiveness, but because I want to be free. Forgiveness is possible when I understand that everyone has a unique role to play on this world stage. I cannot expect another person to act or behave or think
like me, because his role is different and unique.

The Concept Of Letting Go (Part 3)

An example of how the pleasure turns into desire, the desire into need, the need into habit, habit into dependence and finally the dependence into an addiction process (explained yesterday) takes place can be seen in some smokers. The smoker, little by little, liked smoking, then desired to smoke, then needed to smoke; he/she created the habit of smoking, it turned into a dependence and finally into an addiction. It began because he liked it but it ended up generating that addiction.

We live disconnected from ourselves, with a lot of unnecessary dependencies and needs. When you think that you need to smoke, you believe something that is not true. What does it mean that you need to smoke? Negative effects of smoking on the body are well known; we already breathe in enough pollution from cars and we do not need to breath in more unnecessary smoke. However, the person who smokes believes that it is a need and, while they believe it, they don't realize, or if they do realize, they don't want to accept that it is an unnecessary dependence.

This process can happen in many other cases: emotional, mental and physical dependencies and addictions towards people, objects and ideas. When we are hooked we lose emotional, mental and intellectual control over our inner selves and in our awareness. The solution is in knowing how to let go.

Soul Sustenance

The After Effects Of  Anger

If realized deeply, it’s alright to conclude that anger destroys. If it doesn't destroy our physical body (that too it manages to do in the long term), it definitely destroys our capacity to be creative. And after all the very purpose of our life – is to be creative. So in short, anger deviates us from reaching our very purpose of life. Anger is never every good for health – mental or physical; never ever positive or empowering and never ever allowable or justified. Many authors of self development books, philosophers, psychologists and experts on the human nature have argued that anger is a natural, biological and psychological response which is an integral part of human sanskara and life. While this can be respected as a point of view, it is not at all true.

From a spiritual perspective, which means a view based on the absolute truth because the word spiritual means that which is the truth, anger is never ever natural or beneficial. While we are all used to getting angry, each one of us to different extents; on a little introspection, we will realize that it drains us out and is counter-productive. Anger is an absolutely unwanted emotion if we want to live a peaceful, contented and blissful life. It totally destroys the ability to create meaningful and deep relationships based on trust and respect and brings the efficiency of our actions, performed at the workplace, at home or anywhere else, down. If we believe in the necessity of anger, we need to stop for a while and reflect deeply and see if we can see how it is a huge obstacle to our own contentment and fulfillment, and how it negatively influences the contentment and fulfillment of those around us.

Message for the day 

You will continue to progress when you finish carelessness.

Expression: Check if you are satisfied with the progress you are making and see if you could do anything to improve it. Also check if your own carelessness is preventing you from moving forward quickly.

Experience: Take a thought of an aim that you have to fulfill within a certain period of time. Each day strengthen remind yourself of it and tell yourself that you only have to work towards this aim, whether others are doing it or not. When you look at others you tend to become slack too. So finish carelessness and continue to move forward.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: January 22, 2020: Name & Fame

Contemplation: January 22, 2020: Name & Fame

The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. They became widely regarded as the foremost and most influential act of the rock era.

Name & Fame

Mistakes, Failures & Rejections

are the part of progress & growth.

Nobody ever achieved anything worthwhile

without facing these three things.

Is Physical Relaxation The Road To Peace? 

It’s a common notion to think of peace as being closely related to the beauty of nature - the play of waves on a beach, the blowing of wind through a forest, the soaring and swooping of gulls; in short, anything away from the rush and hurry of the city. Alternatively we associate peace with some physical form of relaxation like headphones plugged into soothing music, a hot bath after a hard day, a brisk walk in the park, etc. In meditation we realize peace to be our very essence (nature); we realize very quickly, trying to extract peace from the world around us or even from some physical sensations in our own bodies gives us only a temporary experience of it.

Once we start meditating, we start to see physical relaxation as an escape from tension and not a solution for it; and the beautiful scenes of nature now no longer as sources radiating permanent peace. But in fact it is their mere absence of conflict, their harmony of colours, forms and sounds, which appeal to us. There is something in each of us, which cries out to be free from conflict. We discover that "small voice" or need is only our true nature demanding to be recognized. We realize that neither the body nor nature can give the peace that the soul was longing for, but it has to be tapped from within. Having found it, it remains constant, whether in the city or countryside, in comfort or discomfort. In the midst of noise and confusion, peace is really our own.

The Concept Of Letting Go (Part 2)

Another example (we had explained one yesterday) of how dependencies trap us, is that of the monkey; you can trap a monkey by giving it a jar with peanuts in it. The monkey puts its hand in the jar to get the peanuts. On having its hand full of peanuts it can't get it out of the jar, so it has got trapped. To free itself the only thing it has to do is let go of the peanuts and that way it will be able to take its hand out. That is how we are at times; we don't let go and we stay trapped in situations, in people, in the past.

Along the way, we will find a lot of jars with peanuts in and branches to settle down on - many scenes that will attract us and please us. The dependency begins, almost without our realizing, when we begin to feel the desire to be in these situations. The pleasure turns into desire, the desire turns into need and the need turns into habit, then to dependence and finally into an addiction. It is fine to enjoy the branches, but let us keep awake and alert - conscious of our freedom - in order not to fall into dependence; enjoying the branch or jar without it trapping us.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Ruling The Kingdom Of The Mind (Part 3) 

Rulers have ruled over different territories all across the globe since thousands of years. There was a time when rulers headed the complete world, a time when there was no trace of sorrow or hatred or injustice or disharmony in their kingdom. We know these rulers as devis and devtas or also gods and goddesses today. What was the secret of their success? They possessed, apart from the skills to rule, all the powers to succeed. So what is the secret of success for the spiritual king, which is me? I enhance my spiritual powers and make them a part of my personality trait set. How? The examples of thought suggestions which we explained in yesterday’s message – their practice. Thought suggestions coloured with the seven primary virtues – peace, love, joy, purity, bliss, power and truth. We have explained four virtue types in yesterday’s message. Our readers could give a thought to the remaining three.

These virtue coloured thoughts, when repeatedly brought into my conscious canvas everyday, seep inside me and colour my sub-conscious canvas, which then fills me, the spiritual king’s personality, with those seven virtues. Virtues in turn cause the creation and increase of spiritual powers inside me which in turn makes me mighty or strong, a king with the eight primary spiritual powers - the power to withdraw, the power to pack up, the power to tolerate, the power to accommodate, the power to face, the power to discriminate, the power to judge and the power to co-operate. Such a power-filled king is then obeyed by his ministers - the thoughts, feelings and emotions and his people - the attitudes, expressions, words and actions and all of them learn to respond to the outsiders i.e. external situations, in tune with their king’s personality i.e. in tune with the seven primary virtues and the eight primary powers. As the king, so his ministers. As the ministers, so his people – resulting in a harmony, love and joy filled atmosphere in the complete kingdom. Such an order filled kingdom is a kingdom of high self esteem, and is respected by other spiritual kings it associates with everyday because the kings who come in close connection with such a kingdom experience these virtues and powers from the kingdom and its people i.e. my complete self.


Message for the day 

Be seated on the seat of an observer and you'll be able to enjoy the games of the situations that come your way.

Expression: When something goes wrong, check if you are able to discriminate and take the right decisions. The more you are caught up in the situation, the more difficult it gets to take the right decision.

Experience: Each day practice looking at and appreciating the variety that life brings. Remind yourself that life would not be so interesting without this variety. Practice looking at all the situations in this way and you'll find yourself stable.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: January 21, 2020: See Light

Contemplation: January 21, 2020: See Light

See Light

We decrease the darkness in others when we see their brightness. Each of us is filled with weaknesses and flaws, however I can choose to see the light in everyone. When I make this my practice it helps others experience their own light. Today let me decrease the darkness in the world by 

seeing light. 

Think Creatively 

The method to bring about a permanent change is to bring about newness
in thinking. To bring about a permanent change for the better means
getting the mind trained to new ways of looking at the same situation.
Only with this new understanding will there be a new response. Trying
to bring about change in a superficial way will not bring about a long-
lasting change. When we train our mind to think creatively we are able
to keep our mind busy. In this way we are able to free it from
thinking negative and waste. Also we find ourselves enjoying every
scene that comes in front of us.

The Concept Of Letting Go (Part 1)

We have to dare to be free. Why? Because fear prevents us from taking the decisions that lead us to live and feel our full freedom. We should dare to let go because dependencies trap us. Let us look at a story that shows us what happens.

It is the story of a bird that, after having flown for a long time, leans on the branch of a tree to rest. While resting, it finds the wellbeing of staying there until, little by little, it gets the idea that its life is on the branch. When a day arrives on which it asks itself why it doesn't carry on flying, it says - Oh, this branch is stuck to me and I can't fly! The bird blames the branch. In reality, the bird has got stuck to the branch. It has the capacity and the wings to fly but its perception is clouded. It no longer sees its purpose with clarity or its potential to reach it. The freedom of the bird is in its wings but it has got stuck onto the branch. That is the reality that it has created for itself.

The freedom of a human being is in his or her awareness. But when their awareness has got stuck onto the branch (the object of their attachment) and they begin to blame the branch for their impossibility to free themselves, then they are trapped. When our awareness is clouded and we are clinging on, we do not see with clarity and neither do we exercise our freedom and let go.

(To be continued tomorrow ...)

Soul Sustenance

Ruling The Kingdom Of The Mind (Part 2)

“Am I a weak king or a mighty (strong) one?” This is a question that each one of us needs to ask ourselves at the end of each day. Every night, call upon your ministers – the thoughts, feelings and emotions in your kingdom court and have a heart-to-heart conversation with them regarding the kingdom and its people, which are your attitudes, expressions, words and actions. A court is also held to check the daily report of the behavior of the ministers. As the ministers of a kingdom, so its people (as mentioned above). To keep the kingdom in order, an able (talented) king will train the ministers and its people to react correctly to topsy-turvy situations which the kingdom is exposed to every day, which causes instability in the kingdom. This ability is the power of the king in action.

To train the ministers to respond correctly, a powerful king will, at the start of the day and at regular intervals in the day, give thoughts of power to the mind such as – I am an ocean of success or I possess the all powerful driving force of motivation or I can destroy obstacles that try to obstruct my path coupled with thoughts of peace such as - I shall not react angrily, but maintain my calm or I shall not look at others’ actions but keep my focus on my stable stage or I shall keep a relationship of outer detachment to external situations as well as inner detachment to internal pressures coupled with thoughts of love such as – I am an overflowing source of good wishes or I will be forgetful of others' mistakes or I shall absorb others' virtues and fill others with virtues coupled with thoughts of joy such as I will remain light and give others the same experience or I shall spread the wings of enthusiasm and fly high or I shall gift a smile and a greeting to everyone. These types of thought suggestions will in turn positively influence the feelings and emotions, the ministers of my kingdom and my attitudes, expressions, words and actions, the people of my kingdom. How? We shall explain that in tomorrow’s message.

Message for the day

You will be constantly successful when you have faith and intoxication.

Expression: At the end of each day check if you are finding yourself enjoying everything that you are doing throughout the day. Check if you are having the intoxication of being successful in spite of the seeming failures.

Experience: Each day start the day with the practice of being the successful one. Also continue to maintain this intoxication throughout the day. Then you'll find that you are happy with yourself and others will find you successful too.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: January 20, 2020: Spiritual Development

Contemplation: January 20, 2020: Spiritual Development

Spiritual Development

Although the path of spiritual development is a private and
personal inner affair, its purpose is to transform me so I
live and work in complete harmony with others – the family
of humanity. Today let me balance a fast personal speed of
transformation with the patience and tolerance to walk with 

others while transforming. 

Only the One Companion

When we are in the elevated company of the One God, no bad company
will influence us. Sometimes when we are working for our self-
development we sometimes wish for support or understanding from others
which we don't always get. We actually look for a role model, whom we
could follow or who could be an inspiration for us. When we don't find
anyone like that we tend to get disheartened and continue to justify
ourselves for not bringing any change in ourselves. The solution lies
in becoming a role model and a source of support for others instead of
expecting others to do so. For this, we need to pay extra attention to
the kind of company we keep. Under all circumstances, if we keep God
as our companion we will not be influenced by any other company,
however strong they might be. We will then be able to bring about
change in ourselves.

Understanding The Mechanism Of The Virtue Of Peace (Part 3)

To experience the eternal peace of the soul world, I do the simple exercise explained yesterday and then go a step further. Having created the thought about myself that I am a sparkling star-like energy at the centre of the forehead, just above the eyebrows, visualized it and as a result experienced it, now my objective is visualizing my star like form in the soul world. With this objective in mind, I now create a simple thought that I the star-like energy will make a short journey to the soul world and back. So I create simple thoughts and visualize alongside that I, the soul am leaving my physical body and flying outside. Then I, see my star like form, slowly fly past the ceiling of the room I am in and see myself suspended in the sky (night sky makes the visualization more easy). I see myself as a point of radiant light high above many many buildings and lights. This is similar to what one would see from an aeroplane window while landing or taking off. I then see my light form going higher, past the atmosphere and going past a sea of stars and a few planets and the moon.  I then take this visualization further and see myself entering the soul world, a region of soft orange-red light (this is similar to how it looks like at dusk). This region is multidimensional and unlimited in size or expanse. I see my star-like form suspended in this region, radiating rays of peace in all directions. I also see other white/golden star-like souls just like me in the same region. I spend some time in this region, in this experience. In this region my thoughts stop completely and I am only visualizing.

This is the eternal peace experienced whilst visualizing the spiritual self in the soul world. The peace experienced in this exercise is greater than in the exercise mentioned yesterday. Thus the sanskara of peace created in the soul in this exercise is deeper. After a few minutes of this experience, I see myself descending in the physical body in exactly the same way as I flew to the soul world. This is just a visualization exercise or experience and the soul does not actually leave the body and go anywhere. The two practical exercises explained in yesterday's and today's message can be used to experience the two types of peace mentioned. At one time, you can choose to either experience both types or only the first one. You can start with a few minutes and increase the time gradually. Continuous practice will create stronger sanskaras of peace and take you closer to your original state of peace. 

Soul Sustenance

Ruling The Kingdom Of The Mind (Part 1)

Have you ever looked inside the inner kingdom of your mind where your thoughts, feelings and emotions are your ministers? Is it a kingdom of law or anarchy (lawlessness)? Do you ever wonder – “Ah, I wish there would be more order and less chaos in my kingdom!” So what stops you from creating a kingdom of law and order? Is it external situations or is it your internal reactions to these situations? Just for one day, perform this little exercise, check that out of the tens of thousands of thoughts and feelings you create in a day, how many are your own creation and how many are responses to external events. If they are your own positive creation or if they are responses to events, but correct ones, then be proud that your ministers are obeying you. Do you realize that the time when these thoughts and feelings are the wrong type of reactions on your part and not your original correct creations, is the time when these ministers are wicked and disobeying you.

A kingdom where the ministers disobey the king (that is you) repeatedly, is a kingdom, the atmosphere of which is lacking in harmony, love and joy, which in our case is our mind. It is a kingdom which is not respected by its people, who work under the ministers of thoughts and feelings, the people being your attitudes, expressions, words and actions, who further disintegrate and go their incorrect way following the orders of their seniors – the thoughts, feelings and emotions. It is a kingdom where the king has to bow down in front of the outsiders, the neighbours, which in this case is the external situations and other spiritual kings like me, involved in these situations. Also, it is a kingdom which is lacking in stability and susceptible (vulnerable) to attacks by the neighbours repeatedly.

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day

You can transform yourself when you have true realisation within your heart.

Expression: When you have a problem in your relationship with someone, ask yourself if you are realising your own mistake in it. Also check if you really understand why the other person is behaving in the way he does. When you understand this you can change yourself instead of expecting the other one to change.

Experience: Each day, remind yourself that you are confident and sure of yourself and whatever the problems may be, they are just like exam papers, which come to test you. When you do this you will have no complaint but can easily transform yourself and move ahead.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: January 19, 2020: Art of Spiritual Intelligence

Contemplation: January 19, 2020: Art of Spiritual Intelligence 

Art of Spiritual Intelligence 

Think before you think. Each thought is the energy of my being. As I have thoughts, I am spending myself. To ensure that I spend myself well, I can think carefully about what I will think. To notice what I am thinking and to choose the thoughts I will invest in, is the art of spiritual intelligence. Today let me choose only high quality thoughts.

Perfection

Perfection comes when there is positivity in thoughts. When we are
faced with any weakness of ours, we usually think about it so much
that it is totally blown out of proportion and it seems bigger than it
actually is. This leads to negative thinking, which in turn doesn't
let us work on improving ourselves. We will then just remain the way
we are, not being able to bring about progress. What we need to do in
order to win over our weakness is to change our focus. Instead of
thinking about the weakness, we only need to think, "I am not perfect
yet, but I am working towards it and I am slowly improving." With such
positive thoughts, our negativity will finish.

Understanding The Mechanism Of The Virtue Of Peace (Part 2)

Yesterday we have explained how the virtue of peace works in human souls through the cycle of life. In today's message we explain (with reference to yesterday's message) how we can experience our original state of peace experienced during the initial phases of the birth-rebirth cycle. Tomorrow we shall explain how we can experience the eternal peace of the soul world. To have both these experiences, the basic principle that I need to remember is that to experience peace, I need to concentrate on it - concentration means creating thoughts about it and visualizing it at the same time. Secondly to access peace, I need to separate myself from my body and surroundings. So how do I bring these two principles in practice?

The first chapter of the Rajyoga meditation course as taught by the Brahma Kumaris in each of its centers states a simple fact and makes me realize it that I am not this body but I am an eternal soul, a non-physical star like spiritual energy, situated at the centre of the forehead, just above the eyebrows, the original nature of which is peace. The body is my vehicle. Now, to experience the peace experienced during the initial phases of the birth-rebirth cycle, my mind picks the above fact or wisdom from my intellect, which is a reservoir of spiritual knowledge and where the above fact is stored. Then, my intellect, which possesses the decision making ability judges the thought as to whether it is a right or wrong one. If my intellect is convinced about the fact, it judges the thought as right. Next, I take this process further. Along with creating this thought I visualize this thought on the screen of my mind i.e. see my star-like white/golden light form just above the eyebrows radiating white/golden rays of peace  in all directions. I do this exercise for a few minutes. This exercise then leads me to an experience of peace, as a result of which a sanskara of peace is created. This is the peace experienced whilst visualizing the spiritual self inside the body - it is the peace experienced in the initial phases of the birth-rebirth cycle. 

Soul Sustenance

Rising Above Limits

From the moment the soul has occupied the physical body, it has been living a life completely surrounded and absolutely controlled by limits. The domination of these limits has been increasing as it has taken body after body. Not just physical limits such as of gender or power, money or material possessions, but of time – the time I spend with my children, the time it takes me to finish a particular task, the time my friendship lasts, the time it takes me to drive to the office, etc.

The beauty of meditation is that it detaches me from the consciousness of the body and as a result I rise above these physical limits and limits of time. I experience the pure and very importantly, free and independent consciousness of the soul. I step out of the boundaries of both space and time. I begin to feel my own eternity, in which I simply am, without a beginning or an end. I existed before the formation of the body and I shall exist after it has returned to dust. This awareness of my eternal (with no beginning or end) identity is powerful, because it removes the fear of death. With that goes away a lot of the ego-driven, pressure filled behavior, the desperate need to make a mark through my profession or material objects which I own or in my relationships. This is the behavior in which I indulge when there isn't the realization of my eternal identity.

I, the soul, become aware of a continuity to my existence. Very importantly, I am also able to have the feeling of a place that is my eternal home, a place of rest, of peace, of complete stillness and silence. It is my place from where I began my journey. I exist in that home, and I come from that home to play my role on Earth, and I return there when my role is completed. This realization makes me internally full, fearless and content.

Message for the day 

Become free from obstacles by finishing wasteful questions.

Expression: When something negative happens, check what your thoughts are. Are you searching for the reason for the negative situation to occur in order to learn from it or are you just asking questions and complaining about your situation?

Experience: Each day think of anything that has not happened right and make the practice of seeing what good could have come out of such a situation. In this way you'll not waste your own time or that of others since you don't ask why. You'll thereby free from obstacles.


Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: January 18, 2020: Weathering Storms

Contemplation: January 18, 2020: Weathering Storms

Weathering Storms

Storms don’t leave a mark on the ocean. Although situations may
arise, when I hold a consciousness as vast as the ocean they leave no mark on me. When I immerse myself in the ocean of peace and love everyday through meditation I grow my inner capacity to weather storms. They come but they no longer drown me. Today let me sit in silence and experience an inner ocean of peace.

Forgive and Forget 

The method to bring about change is forgiveness. Forgiveness means to have good wishes, cooperation, love, respect and faith. This becomes like a blessing for the one who needs to bring about change.  Words spoken will then be powerful and easy.  This will naturally bring faith in the other person in order to bring about natural transformation. When we give only correction we forget to forgive. But when we first forgive we are able to remain cool and easy. We are also able to forget the intensity of the mistake.  So when we forgive and forget in this way, our forgiveness itself becomes a correction for the other person.

Understanding The Mechanism Of The Virtue Of Peace (Part 1)

Each and every human soul's original trait or characteristic is peace. Before each soul comes down on the earth to take its first physical body, the soul is in a state of complete peace, residing in the soul world. In the soul world, the two faculties of the soul - the mind and intellect are complete inactive or dormant and the third faculty, the sanskara or spiritual personality is only that of eternal peace and purity and no other virtue like happiness, love or knowledge. The mind is completely silent, not creating a single thought or emotion or feeling nor possessing an attitude. The intellect which possesses the power to discriminate right thoughts, words or actions from the wrong ones does not exercise its power because there are no thoughts, words or actions in the soul world, so there is nothing there to discriminate. The sanskaras (as mentioned above) are also inactive to a certain extent - there are no thoughts, feelings, emotions, attitudes, words or actions to be created or processed, which would be based on the sanskaras or personality.

When the soul first takes a physical body on the world stage, it creates thoughts and feelings which are few in number and they are only positive and its words and actions are also limited and completely positive. Its discrimination power is active and completely accurate and its sanskaras or personality come into an active mode (sanskaras other than peace also become active) but only for a positive purpose to create positive thoughts, words or actions. As a result of this, the soul experiences immense peace, but the extent of the peace is lesser than that of in the soul world, where it is completely still and experiences dead silence or peace. It is never peaceless though at this stage. As the soul starts coming into the process of birth and rebirth, it starts losing its energy slowly; its mind, intellect and sanskaras start functioning negatively or incorrectly, it begins to succumb to the vices, leading to the creation of thoughts, words and actions, which are not only large in number but they are mostly waste or negative in nature. As a result, the soul gradually begins to lose its peace, which it experienced in the soul world (eternal peace) and at the start of its journey on the physical world and starts becoming peaceless.

Tomorrow we shall explain how we can return to our original state of peace.

Soul Sustenance

Is It Possible To Manipulate The Law Of Karma?

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.
 

Message for the day 

When there is love for others, they automatically become cooperative.

Expression: When you are involved in any task with others, ask yourself if you are able to give and get the cooperation from them. If you are not able to, check the reason for not getting their cooperation.

Experience: In any task that involve others, see that you begin the task with good feelings for each and everyone involved in the task. Have the faith that the task is for common benefit and everyone is going to learn something from it and is going to contribute to it. Then you'll find others cooperating with you.


 In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

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