Contemplation: April 17, 2019: Like the Diamond

Contemplation: April 17, 2019: Like the Diamond

Archduke Joseph diamond

Like the Diamond

Diamonds are a symbol of endurance;
they're born under intense heat and extreme pressure.

Just like the diamond, we too become resilient and radiant thanks to life's pressures.

"The only thing to fear is fear itself."

As we move toward different wars and calamities, do not fear...instead
have Faith that all things are working as they should. Do not judge
with mortal eyes the tragedies of war, for we do not know the higher
order of things evolving. Instead, pray for Wisdom and Swift
resolution of a war...a war we have no control over. The only thing we
can control however, is our thoughts and what we focus on in each
Precious Moment of our lives. So as the media bombards us with fear
and horror; let us focus on Peace, focus on Love, focus on God's Light
and might.

The Soul Journey

A common question asked by many is - "Do we go back to the soul world, the incorporeal world (non-physical world), the home of all souls, when we die?" When we understand and experience ourselves as souls, as un-destroyable, eternal beings, we realize that death is only a physical phenomenon.   At the death of the body, the soul enters another physical costume and a new chapter in its journey of life begins.    Depending on the soul's karma performed through the body, its new birth is likely to be somewhere in the company of those souls with whom it has been close in previous births.  It is quite a paradox that when a soul leaves a body, the relations which it has left, mourn over the loss of their loved one, and the new relations which it gets attached to celebrate with happiness, over an addition of a new-born entrant in their family.

The soul only leaves the home (the soul world) once in a unique, personal journey. This journey of the soul is not linear i.e. a straight line, with a beginning and an end. But, on the other hand, it is cyclic i.e. a circle, with neither a beginning, nor an end - although both leaving the soul world and going back to the soul world happen once each in every cycle.   This soul journey can be compared to actors who leave home to go to the theatre to play their parts.   They change costumes between scenes - they don't return home at the end of each scene, they return home when the play is finished, only to return the next day to repeat their part in the play. Each birth of the soul that it takes can be compared to a new scene of the play, which consists of many different scenes.

Soul Sustenance

Universal Concepts About The Supreme Being or God - Part 2

Just as a candle flame emerges from a point source and assumes an oval form, mystics and saints throughout the passage of time have had visions of God as a point of self-luminous light with an oval aura.

Most religions have images, idols or memorials, having one name or the other to represent God as light or as an oval shape.

Throughout India there are statues of an oval-shaped image. They are called Shivalingas, and are thought to represent the Creator Himself. The names of the temples of Shiva confirm this: Somnath, the Lord of Nectar; Vishwanath, The Lord of the Universe; Mukteshwara, the Lord of Liberation, etc..

In the Old Testament of the Bible, it is mentioned that Moses had a vision of light as a burning bush in the desert. Jesus also referred to God as light. In some Christian ceremonies, during the ceremonies, an ostensorio is held up. The ostensorio is a golden ball with many rays radiating from it. Perhaps this is a symbolic representation of God.

Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism called Him Ek Omkar, Nirakar, the one non-physical (bodiless) being or soul.

According to Islamic legend, when Adam left paradise he came to a low hill upon which he saw a shining white oval stone. Around this stone he circled seven times praising God. He then built the Kaaba. By the time of Abraham it needed to be rebuilt as a temple to honour the one God. The town of Mecca grew around this spot. This oval stone, later called Sang-e-aswad and now ‘blackened’ by the kisses of millions of sinners, so they say, is the only object of worship in the whole of Islam.

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day

Where there is faith, there is greatness.

Expression: To have faith means to recognize the positivity in the self, in others and in situations. It also means a deep connection with God. The one who has faith is able to bring out the greatness in everything and everyone. So such a person reveals his greatness wherever he is.

Experience: When I have unbroken faith, I have the understanding that everything that happens is for some good cause. So, I am satisfied with everything that happens in my life. So I am creative in my responses to the environment, which in turn, makes me truly great.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: April 16, 2019: Full of Drama

Contemplation: April 16, 2019: Full of Drama

A pod of 9 dolphins surfing a wave behind a stand-up paddle boarder - talk about an experience! Elouera Beach, Cronulla, Sydney, Australia

Full of Drama

Take life as it is, full of drama and adventure.  Experience the fun and the excitement, if not, it'll turn into melodrama!

So, the next time things get dramatic in your life, add the ingredient of humour and go from feeling heavy to being light.

Lighten up and you'll lighten up the situation; going from melodrama to enjoying the drama of life.

Wasteful Thoughts

By having the sanskars or personality of wasteful thoughts, you
increased the duration of a situation. When you have wasteful
thoughts, you understand that they are wasteful, but just as there is
great force of a river or an ocean, so the flow of wasteful thoughts
is so fast that they pull you. No matter how much you try to stop
them, they still continue to flow. You understand and you also think
that it is not right; you understand that it causes a great loss, but
you still continue to allow them to flow. What is the reason for this?
The lack of the power to transformation.

The Filtration Process In The Soul

The mind and its creation i.e. thoughts, in these times, in most people, are controlled by three main factors:
i. their habits or sanskaras
ii. their past experiences, and
iii. information which they are exposed to and which they imbibe.

The intellect is like a filter which has the function of discriminating, of judging the thoughts and deciding which ones to put into practice and which ones not to, basically filtering them. Presently the filter of the intellect has become weakened, confused and unsure; it has become blocked by many incorrect beliefs, due to which this filtration does not take place properly - as a result many wrong thoughts get converted into actions. A lot of times during the day, thoughts become actions so fast, that the filter of the intellect does not even come into play i.e. thoughts become actions bypassing the filter.

The beliefs that we have today are related to our cultural, physical, social, religious, political identity associated with our age, gender, occupation, wealth, role etc. of our body. Beliefs connected to materialism, to having rather than being, are living based on the perception of the sense organs, and not on the intuition and the wisdom of the spirit. There are beliefs that block you, or brake you, others break you, they bring about fears in you and a limited perception of reality and of yourself. However much you try to generate positive thoughts, if you do not change these beliefs, their influence on the intellect will be so strong that it is almost impossible to maintain a positive state of mind. Even if you experience it, it will be short-lived and temporary.

Soul Sustenance

Universal Concepts About The Supreme Being or God - Part 1

There are some universally accepted characteristics of God:

• He is the creator and the one who sustains and takes care of the entire world population.
• He is the Highest of Highest.
• He is the Supreme Father.
• He is non-physical.
• He is omnipotent (one with unlimited power).
• He is a living being.
• He is all-loving and possesses complete knowledge.
• He is unchangeable.
• He is one and He is light.
• He is perfect in values and morals.
• He is absolutely just.
• He is the Supreme Benefactor (the one who brings benefit to everyone).
• He is the savior of souls.
• He is the purifier.
• He is mysterious in His ways.

Even in those religions that believe in and worship many Gods, there is one God who stands above the others. Then there are other faiths who believe God to be one single Supreme Being. Traditions, sacred texts, monuments, sayings and rituals all over the world, point to the existence of and belief in one knowledgeful, all-powerful and merciful being or soul. That being is universally called out to and recognized as the remover of sorrow, the giver of happiness and the savior of the sinful.

(To be continued tomorrow …) 

Message for the day

To be a master means to win over habits

Expression: Normally habits rule over the person and there is the inability to be a master over them. But to be a master is not to get influenced negatively by the habits but to be a stronger influence. The one who is a master never reacts to situations, but is able to respond to situations positively. Such a person is free from negativity in words and actions.

Experience: When there is inner silence I am able to overcome the negative influence of my habits. Inner silence comes with an experience of positivity. With practice I experience detachment from the situations and am able to feel the inner powers,  which frees me from the negativity of the situation too. So there is victory over the habit.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: April 15, 2019: Real Renunciation

Contemplation: April 15, 2019: Real Renunciation

Real Renunciation

On the path mapped out by the true spiritual philosophers and pioneers, there is great emphasis placed on the idea and need for renunciation. It is seen as the way to enlightenment, and freedom from the attachments which we misuse as sources of limited happiness and contentment. Renunciation does not mean giving everything away, shaving our heads, saying farewell to family and friends and finding a Himalayan mountain top. It means seeing our attachments and dependencies, our weaknesses and our evasions, and consciously giving them up. There is no sense of loss. The material necessities still come to us, paradoxically more will come. And when we renounce our own weaknesses and dependencies, there is always a strength and a new freedom to be found hiding underneath. Renunciation is a pathway to a simpler life and a highway to spiritual freedom - one of spirit's deepest yearnings in 'the age of accumulation'. 

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Change

To bring about a change within is to bring about a change outside too.
When there are challenging situations, the usual way is to react to
them and expect them to change because of these reactions. But the
only way to change these situations is to bring about a change within
the self. When there is the ability to do this, there is the ability
to use all the resources for this purpose. When I have the commitment
to bring about a change within myself, I am able to be confident and
courageous in all situations. There is neither fear nor the desire
for things to change according to my wish. I am willing to work on
the situation and change the situation.

Understanding What Is Time

We created the concept of time to measure our experience of the space between events. Time passes only because we experience change. What is change? Change is only a series of events. So time is our experience of the speed of events. This explains why time seems to be moving faster today, because both the speed and the number of events are increasing. And it seems even faster if we participate in those events. If the speed and number of events was less, we would experience time to be moving slowly, as it used to be a little earlier in the history of mankind.

Today, sitting in our living rooms and offices, electronic, print and other media allows us to observe hundreds of events from all over the world, every day. To observe them actively is to participate in them. If you want to slow time down, learn to be a detached observer of the thousands of events around you - participate or observe actively only when necessary. If you want to stop time, meditate and be in your original, timeless, eternal consciousness. Meditation is after all an art of shutting down your senses and slowing down. Today, we fear time, as a result we hear ourselves saying many a times, * Hurry up, time is running out! or * I hope to have more time tomorrow! or * I need to save time! Ultimately time, is our life: it cannot be saved or lost, but must be lived now. This is where your will-power is important - we can choose exactly how we spend our time at any moment.

Soul Sustenance

At Peace with Time - The Key To Relaxed Living (Part 4)

You choose whether, each morning, you want to get up and begin with watching television, reading the newspaper over a cup of tea, or you want to get up and meditate, listen to peaceful music, read a couple of pages of spiritual knowledge that inspire you and you begin the day with enthusiasm and by visualizing it positively: today will be a marvelous day, I shall enjoy it … yes!! Such meditative and spiritual practice will give you a feel of time being elastic. In such a consciousness, a minute will seem eternal i.e. time can seem to come to a standstill (if I am surrounded by a positive set of circumstances which are spiritually uplifting) or can seem an instant, i.e. I get a feeling of time passing very fast (if in a negative set of circumstances). Thus, I learn to be a creator of time; living in time without being a slave to it. True freedom lies in being content now. You can be content in the present moment by resolving the inner dialogue that generates stress and conflict in you. When you are content, enjoying yourself and having a good time, you don't realize how time passes. This means that, if we lived in a state of constant happiness, we wouldn't realize how time passes. Time would be at our service. We would be the rulers and controllers of time and not the other way round. 

Message for the day

To perceive the need to change is to bring about change for the better.

Expression: When something goes wrong, there is generally a feeling of being right. There is always a desire expressed to change the situation or the person. So there is no introspection, but only blame. Such words discourage others too as they are constantly made aware of their negativity.

Experience: When I am able to understand the importance of bringing about change for the better in every situation that I am faced with, I am able to recognize the message that the situation gives me. I am able to use the situation to better myself and gradually progress towards the vision of perfection that I have for myself.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: April 14, 2019: Heart Song

Contemplation: April 14, 2019: Heart Song

Heart Song

Everyone has a song in their heart. Everyone has a reason for being here and a season for making their highest, greatest most auspicious contribution. No one knows what that is or when that is for anyone else. Only our own heart knows what and when it is for us. Your heart wants to sing. Don’t die with your music still within you. There is a reason for everything and a purpose to your life. Too many fail to listen to the song in their heart and therefore fail to find their purpose and their part. What makes your soul sing and your heart dance? Actually you heart is your soul and you are both! Ask this one question of yourself but don’t be in a hurry to answer it. Live in the question for a day, a week, a month. Let it invite your heart to speak to you. And when you are absolutely sure what your heart is saying is true then begin to invoke the changes necessary in your life so that you live in alignment with your song. Be patient with this.

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Insight

Just as appearances in life are deceiving, so what we see in within
ourselves during our meditation can also be deceiving. While we have
two eyes to observe the world around us, we have a third eye through
which we can see our inner world of beliefs, experiences, memories,
traits and tendencies. This is the eye of the intellect which is
designed to give us insight (sight inwards). It is a vital aspect of
our consciousness which we need in order to understand ourselves and
others. This insight alone reminds us we are responsible for
everything we think, feel and do, and that we have the power to choose
how we experience and respond to life around us. To someone with a
victim mindset this one insight represents liberation. As meditation
sharpens the focus of our inner eye, a thousand other insights are
possible and enlightenment is never far.

Projection Of Mental Energies In Relationships

Sometimes in relationships, you believe that the other person is hurting you because they do not meet your desires, but in such cases how can you know if it is really true? Let's go a step ahead; does the belief that they are going to hurt you influence the situation until in the end it happens? Perhaps they won't hurt you. Your belief that the other is going to hurt you is not so powerful that it will necessarily affect the other person. But it affects you yourself. They may not hurt you at all finally, but you will end up hurt, you will become emotionally ill, even psychically ill sometimes. The symptoms will begin to show themselves and you will say: "Did you see? I feel hurt, I keep telling you so." So your belief caused you to get hurt and not the other.

The other person isn't you. In relationships, a moment comes when you don't know if it is their fault or yours, if it is their responsibility or yours, if that person has caused the irritation inside you, or if it was you, if that person began the argument or it was you, if they created the conflict or if it was you, because we project (throw) our energies onto each other. All of this drives us to frustration. A lot of power, negative or positive, is needed for a person to be able to influence others with their consciousness, it is easier to influence ourselves. This is a basic principle of human relationships, which we don't understand. We don't understand, and the reason is that we don't see ourselves, because we are always looking at the other, putting the responsibility onto them, blaming them, criticizing them.

Soul Sustenance

At Peace with Time - The Key To Relaxed Living (Part 3)

To live at peace with time is to live it with peace, trust and determination. It is different to living it out of conflict and forcing things. In order to live true freedom of being, we have to make friends with time and stop living stressed in time. We have to trust. Trust that you will arrive on time, that you will do it on time and, if not, that a particular problem will be solved. Don't let time be a stress factor. When we live stressed because of time, we lose the best of life. We stop living what is essential and important, and we get lost in the details: I have to go here, I have to finish this, I have to call up someone, and endless amounts of 'I have tos' that consume our mental energy and make us get lost in the details of the trivial (ordinary). As well, in hurrying, we lose quality. You can do everything, but without losing what is essential; do it with love, with care, with interest, with enthusiasm, with motivation and with focus. That way every small action that you take will have a greater impact, will be more fulfilling and will bear a more positive fruit.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

 

Message for the day

To have the ability to listen is to learn

Expression: When there is the ability to listen there is the ability to understand others and what they are saying. So the one who listens is able to learn from every situation and each and every person whom he comes across. So what he does and what he speaks is much more effective.

Experience: When I understand that I am a student for my entire life, I am able to be open to learning. So I am able to listen whole-heartedly. Then, instead of only putting across what I have to say, I am able to pay attention to what others are saying too. I am thus able to enrich myself with new treasures constantly.

 

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: April 13, 2019: Be an Alchemist

Contemplation: April 13, 2019: Be an Alchemist

Be an Alchemist

Like an alchemist, transform something worthless into something precious.  The key to alchemy is in your perception.

Look for the limitless possibilities that surround you. 
See the innate value of everything and turn lead into gold.

Focus on the pure gold within each one.  You may have to overlook the visible lead to seek the hidden gold!

Self Reflection

One of the unique attributes of human consciousness is the ability to
self reflect. Our capacity to reflect on what we thought, felt and did
allows us to learn from the past, change the present and create the
future we want. In meditation we realize we are not our minds, it is a
tool. The mind is like a screen and we can put anything on the screen
i.e. thoughts, images, ideas, concepts. This is where our creativity
begins to take shape. Unfortunately most of us do not learn to self
reflect, but lose ourselves in what is on our mind. This is what leads
to negative emotion where emotion is defined as 'agitation of mind'.
Meditation is the perfect way to learn not to identify and therefore
not lose ourselves in what we put on our mental screen. Only then can
we maintain inner calm and stability, develop our creativity and
consciously check the quality of our own creation.

Going Back To My Original Nature (Personality)

Our present personalities are basically the combined habits of this lifetime (birth), built on the combined habits of previous lifetimes (births), all of which have left their mark (sometimes deep and sometimes not so deep) on our consciousness.  It may well be that habits such as becoming angry, upset, anxious, stressed, sorrowful or scared, have been with us for so long that, they feel a natural part of our inner world, so natural that when someone says our true nature is not anger but peace, not fear but love, not aggression but acceptance, not anxiety but calm, it does not feel right.  And even if it did feel right for a moment, we have become so attached to our old habitual moods, emotions and behaviors that we do not really want to change. It may even be the case that we have become so weak that we need help to change. It seems much easier to stay the way we are. 

As we begin to meditate and develop our spiritual practice, our views on the above subject will fluctuate. When that does happen, imagine you are having a conversation with yourself and teaching yourself.  Give yourself permission to be peaceful by nature, full of love and joy by nature, naturally content by nature, wherever you are and in whatever you do.  After a while, you won't need to give yourself permission and you will find these states of being are there within you quite naturally at every moment.   They are our original and eternal nature.   Everything else is acquired or learned.  In so many ways introduction to spirituality, like many other approaches to inner awakening, is as much about unlearning (the acquired beliefs) as it is about learning (new beliefs).

Soul Sustenance

At Peace with Time - The Key To Relaxed Living (Part 2)

Not only is your strength reduced by the way that you live the past and project onto the future, but also how you live in this moment. When, for example, you oppose the present and have resistances, these consume your energy and cause you stress. If you accept the present you can flow flexibly without wasting your energy. Accepting does not mean submitting yourself or feeling a victim of what is happening now. From acceptance, you confront and transform. If we learn to live the dimensions of time in a healthy way we will keep up our vitality, we will heal the past and we will feel at peace with it. Accepting the present and trusting in the future helps us to be well.

Accepting the present means stopping comparing yourself with others; you want what the other has, their money, their talents, their beauty, their personality, their achievements, their virtues, etc. So, instead of being grateful for what you have and accepting yourself as you are, you try to have and be like the other. In this way, you are never satisfied. The dissatisfaction causes you a constant unhappiness that reduces your vitality. When you feel happy and satisfied your energy flows more easily. The most important thing that you should do in this moment is to feel content. Next, what is the most important thing? To be content. Therefore, the priority, and what is essential, is that whatever happens in the moment, the most important thing is to be content. So, tell your mind, "Oh, mind, be quiet and don't think so much. Oh, mind, kindly trust that everything is and will be fine." Give your mind the basic instructions and the key thoughts with which to be content. Don't let your own mind create the thoughts that trap you. It is we ourselves who create our emotional cages.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

Message for the day

To make the effort to take and give good wishes is to constantly experience contentment.

Expression: Whatever the kinds of personality of the person, if there is this one aim of taking and giving good wishes, there is positivity in every interaction. Attention is paid to make every word and action full of positivity. Words spoken only give happiness to others and give some kind of support to the other person to be better than what he is.

Experience: When I understand the importance of having good wishes for all, I am able to receive good wishes from others too. I am able to be free from the influence of the negativity of the situations and people. So I constantly experience inner happiness and contentment, even if I don't get something outwardly.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: April 12, 2019: Despite Distractions

Contemplation: April 12, 2019: Despite Distractions

Despite Distractions

Distractions are everywhere.  No matter how much we try,
it's almost impossible to get rid of all the distractions. How about this: focus despite distractions! Here are a few tips:

- Have music in the background.  Music can tune out the
  distractions around you & keep you engaged & motivated.
- Be energized.  Have enough sleep & stay hydrated.  The more
  energy you have, the less likely you are to get distracted.
- Set email times.  Schedule specific times to check & respond
    to emails.

Emotions

Every emotion you have ever experienced began as a thought. Your
dominant thoughts are programmed into the unconscious mind and become locked into the nervous system. Think confident thoughts, and you feel confident. Think angry thoughts and you feel angry. It is simply not
true that emotions happen to us in a random and uncontrolled way; we
create them by choosing our thoughts. Top sports stars are very well
aware of this. They know that if they allow their emotions to run
amok, they will disempower themselves and ultimately concede the
match. They are among the most adept at using their thoughts to manage
their emotional states.

The Energy Of Faith

What we believe becomes reality. It has been said that faith can move mountains. The highest mountains are our negative thoughts, feelings and ideas, which block our capacity to rise beyond our limits.

Faith is the energy of understanding that enables us to realize anything is possible even if it is not visible in front of our eyes.

The success that comes from faith is closely linked with 'letting go'. It is only when we let go of what we are used to, or what we have learnt to depend on, that new perceptions and new possibilities will present themselves to us.

All that is needed are a few basic facts and then we can take action. When we drive a car, do we insist on knowing how the engine works in detail before driving it? Do we know the mechanical details of a lift before we use it? Most people are only aware of the basic functions and this is all they need to carry out the action. However, they do have the faith that the car has been correctly constructed to do its job safely and that by pressing a few buttons the lift will raise them to wherever it is they want to go. In the modern life-style, there is a tendency to over-think, to want to control and direct every outcome, but such a life lacks spontaneity and simplicity.

Although we do need a framework, it must be flexible enough to allow space for the unexpected, the unpredictable and the great surprise. Such a space is the window through which the light of innovation can enter. When life is over-planned, we become cemented in, unable to grow, or flow, into new horizons. Faith allows us to realize that optimum results can happen without always having to structure or plan. Such faith is the basis for new vision and allows us to reach beyond our limits; because we believe we are more than what meets the eye. Such faith is the inspirational energy of every pioneer in whatever field.

Soul Sustenance

At Peace with Time - The Key To Relaxed Living (Part 1)
To live in freedom you have to live at peace (harmony) with time; live the dimension of time as a creator of time and not a slave of time; live without being either a prisoner or victim of time. To live at peace with time is to live in harmony with nature, beginning with your inner nature. When you plant a sapling today, you cannot accelerate the process so that the next day you have a tree. When it is summer, you cannot make the earth revolve around the sun quicker or slower for winter to arrive before or later. Everything has its rhythm in nature. We have distanced ourselves from the natural rhythm and our accelerated mind exercises pressure, creates stress and causes anxiety. We plan the future, we are stuck in the past and the present escapes us.

Many worries have to do with how we live time: the past, the present and the future. Worrying about what might happen (future), when the moment has not yet come for it to happen, takes away from us the necessary energy to deal with it when it finally arrives. Living in memories drains our energy; the past already happened and no longer exists, except in our memory. We feed memories, not realizing that emerging the memory in our mind distracts us from the present and weakens us. It is like being a plug that connects to a socket with no current passing through. We lose our energy. We want to relive an experience that already happened, and in the end we feel disappointed, feeling a mental and emotional waste.
(To be continued tomorrow …)

Message for the day

The one way of finishing waste thinking is to find a solution.

Expression: When there is something negative that happens the mind tends to create a lot of waste and negative thoughts. At such a time there is no clear understanding of what is to be done and so there is difficulty in being positive at such a time. But once the problem is identified and the right solution found, i.e., the right explanation is given, there is no more waste thoughts, words or actions.

Experience: When I am able to find the right solution at each step, whenever even negative situations happen, I am able to remain happy and content. I am not worried about the problem at hand but I know instead that this problem has come to increase my own inner strength and capability. Thus I am able to maintain my inner positivity under all circumstances.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

https://astudypoint.blogspot.com/

Contemplation: April 11, 2019: Surrender Gracefully

Contemplation: April 11, 2019: Surrender Gracefully

Surrender Gracefully

We are surrounded by graceful surrender. The geese surrender to the first autumn chills, and think of flying south. The flower surrenders to the night and shuts up shop as the setting sun surrenders to the horizon of another day. A mother surrenders to the needs of her baby, and the child surrenders to the wisdom of the father. These kinds of surrender are sweet and natural. They are graceful movements in a dance to the subtle symphony of life. While we may find moments to surrender to such grace and beauty, if we are not careful, we also tend to allow ourselves to surrender to our appetites, to envy, to greed and then to self centred lifestyles in which we serve only ourselves. No grace there - only the disgrace of self-inflicted slavery. Whatever we surrender our minds to, will eventually shape our character and define the quality of our life. Be careful what you surrender your mind to, even if it's only for a day, or an hour.

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God

“God”. It is a loaded word which, for many people seems
incomprehensible. This is unfortunate because there are so many
personal experiences of direct encounters with the One who is the
purest source of truth and love. If we attempt, as some do, to make
our approach to the Source easier by making it an impersonal one, we
deny ourselves the essential richness and nourishment of a personal
relationship. When the meditator practices meditation with purely
spiritual intentions they are aiming to enhance their own level of
enlightenment and create a state of being that is open to receiving
directly the light and love of the spiritual parent whom we all share.
Contrary to some popular beliefs it does not take many lifetimes to
master. However, it is an extremely personal and spiritually intimate
relationship where the energy of God is directly felt.

Controlling Your Emotions

There are five essential steps to emotional control and mastery. Although the complete process will finally happen in a few seconds in real life, it is essential for our learning to break it down and see what is required at every step.

Step One - Awareness
This simply means being aware of the emergence of the subtlest (finest) of emotions, which, if left unchecked, will grow into important disturbances. For example irritation leads to frustration leads to anger leads to rage.

Step Two - Acknowledge
Which means taking responsibility for the emotion by understanding and acknowledging that I am the creator of the emotion, not someone or something else.

Step three - Acceptance
Fully accept the presence of the emotion without resisting (opposing) it in any way. If it is resisted it simply becomes stronger, or is suppressed for another day.

Step Four - Ascend
This is the moment of full detachment from both the emotion and the inner source of emotion. In the process of detached observation the emotion is losing its power. And it is only through detached observation that the emotion will begin to dissolve.

Step Five - Attune
This means returning our attention to the very centre of ourselves where our inner peace and power are to be found. This is the purpose of meditation.

Soul Sustenance

Identify The Filters In Your Life

Like different types and different colour filters on a physical level; on a spiritual level, there are many different types of filters that work in our lives e.g. the jealousy filter, hatred filter, attachment filter, fear filter, greed filter, etc. and many more. Due to these filters, we do not see people and things as they are, but as we are, because the filters are our own self-created ones. If we want to see people and things as they are, we need to check which filters are working most in our lives. Each one of us has different filters working to different extents, depending on our personality e.g. someone might have the jealousy filter working more regularly as compared to the fear filter in his/her life.

Because of these filters, everything that we see is not only coloured by the colour of the filter we are using at that time, but our look is also biased as we choose what to see, what to give more importance, what to be affected by more, what to let through the filter etc. and what not to. We have and form a deceptive vision of the things and people that surround us inside our minds. And the longer this deformed vision lasts, the more we will convince ourself that that is the true image of the world, because our filters continue to process new data depending on what they see that make the image stronger. This reinforcing of the incorrect image builds up our database of incorrect beliefs based on different filters and makes them stronger and stronger as we go through our life journey. Beliefs are fixed ways of looking at reality. Thus, the world that we perceive is no longer the real world, but a world created by our own mind. So in a way we become deaf and blind on a spiritual level towards the world. To heal this deafness and blindness, we do not have to remove each filter one after the other, which may become a difficult task; but we have to discover the pure, original internal self and start seeing everything without the filters, based on the pure-self point of view. As a result of that, gradually our incorrect beliefs start dissolving and correct beliefs start setting in based on our clean unfiltered view.



Message for the day

To be free is to be free even from the bondage of things. 

Expression: The one who is dependent on the presence of a particular thing to succeed in a task is also under the bondage of that thing. Such a person will not be able to put in effort to his full capability since he is always thinking of what is lacking. On the other hand the one who tries to find a way to do the task at hand even when there is nothing available is the one who finds new resources. He is then able to use these resources too for accomplishing the task.

Experience: When I am thinking more about what is to be done rather than thinking about what is lacking, I am able to be content with what I have. I am able to appreciate every small thing that is present in my life that I could use for my own benefit and that of others. I am able to work for what I want to achieve without being caught up only with the desires.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

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