Man always seeks happiness by trying to satisfy his desires. If a desire is fulfilled, he feels joyous and when it is not, he feels disheartened. But the trouble is, desire is a bonfire that burns with greater fury asking for more fuel every time. One desire leads to ten more; and man exhausts Himself in trying to fulfill his desires. He has to be turned back from this path of never-ending desire, to the path of inner contentment and joy.
-Sai Baba
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Bad karma
1. Bad karma creates diseases, accidents and even death. People must not blame life or others if bad karma hits them. Grace, which is a result of the contents of your Chalice, diminishes bad karma, protects you from many dangers, and prevents dark attacks.
2. Bad karma destroys your magnetism, your attractiveness. People begin to leave you alone. Your helpers and co-workers disappear. People reject you and ignore you.... Increase your magnetism with good deeds, and you pave the way for your prosperity and health.
3. Bad karma weakens your intelligence, your creativity, your insight and foresight.
4. Bad karma results in depression.
5. Bad karma prevents you from coming in contact with higher spheres, higher realities. Bad karma delays your liberation.
6. Bad karma prevents you from meeting your Inner Guide or your Master.
"King Akbar used to do very dangerous things. When once he was asked why he was risking his life, he replied, 'Nothing will happen to me if I am protected by God. If not, let it happen'."
-Torkom Saraydarian
New Dimensions in Healing
2. Bad karma destroys your magnetism, your attractiveness. People begin to leave you alone. Your helpers and co-workers disappear. People reject you and ignore you.... Increase your magnetism with good deeds, and you pave the way for your prosperity and health.
3. Bad karma weakens your intelligence, your creativity, your insight and foresight.
4. Bad karma results in depression.
5. Bad karma prevents you from coming in contact with higher spheres, higher realities. Bad karma delays your liberation.
6. Bad karma prevents you from meeting your Inner Guide or your Master.
"King Akbar used to do very dangerous things. When once he was asked why he was risking his life, he replied, 'Nothing will happen to me if I am protected by God. If not, let it happen'."
-Torkom Saraydarian
New Dimensions in Healing
Pure heart
A mother many times asked her son to bring her a sacred relic of the Buddha. But the youth kept forgetting her request. She said, 'I will die because of you if you do not bring a relic to me.' But the son set off to visit Lhasa and again forgot his mother's wish. A half-day's journey from his house, he recalled his mother's request. But where can one find sacred objects in the desert? There are none. But the traveler came upon the skull of a dog. He decided to take out a tooth and, folding it in yellow silk, he brought it to the house.
The old woman asked of him, 'Have you again forgotten my last request, my son?' He then gave her the dog's tooth wrapped in silk, saying, 'This is the tooth of the Buddha.'
And the mother put the tooth into her shrine, and performed before it the most sacred rites, directing all her worship to her holy-of-holies. And the miracle was accomplished. The tooth began to glow with a pure ray, and many miracles and sacred objects were manifested by it.
-Nicholas Roerich
The Heart of Asia
The old woman asked of him, 'Have you again forgotten my last request, my son?' He then gave her the dog's tooth wrapped in silk, saying, 'This is the tooth of the Buddha.'
And the mother put the tooth into her shrine, and performed before it the most sacred rites, directing all her worship to her holy-of-holies. And the miracle was accomplished. The tooth began to glow with a pure ray, and many miracles and sacred objects were manifested by it.
-Nicholas Roerich
The Heart of Asia
Friday, May 29, 2009
What to look for in each other
There will always be attraction and love between men and women, but until they learn how to think of each other and what to look for in each other, there will always be disappointment and suffering as well.
Initiatic Science teaches us to discover in every being the principle which animates him or her. A man must try to discover in the woman he loves the eternal feminine principle, the divine Mother. And because the divine Mother is so rich in colour, fragrance, form and movement, he will never exhaust these riches in his heart and soul. Conversely, a woman must learn to see the eternal masculine principle, the heavenly Father, in the man she loves, and in doing so she will commune with his wisdom, power and grandeur.
If you want to preserve your love, do not dwell on the woman or man you love, but go beyond this being, and seek the divine.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Initiatic Science teaches us to discover in every being the principle which animates him or her. A man must try to discover in the woman he loves the eternal feminine principle, the divine Mother. And because the divine Mother is so rich in colour, fragrance, form and movement, he will never exhaust these riches in his heart and soul. Conversely, a woman must learn to see the eternal masculine principle, the heavenly Father, in the man she loves, and in doing so she will commune with his wisdom, power and grandeur.
If you want to preserve your love, do not dwell on the woman or man you love, but go beyond this being, and seek the divine.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Will knowing where I was in my past life make it easier to follow the path? - Osho
The past exists nowhere. Many people write to me, "Give us methods so that we can remember our past lives." What are you going to do? Even if you remember that you were Alexander the Great or Cleopatra, how is that going to help in any way? It will create more complications. You are already in such a mess!
That's why nature closes the door every time you die. This is great compassion, otherwise you will be born mad. Remembering all your past lives you will be in such a state that it will be impossible for you to function at all, because your mother may have been your wife in the past life and in another life she may have been your daughter. Now, how to behave with her? -- as your mother, as your wife, as your daughter? You will get very confused!
There is no need to bother about the past. As you become aware, the first thing to disappear from your mind is the past, and the past is one third of the mind. It is the very base of the mind, the foundation. Once it disappears, then the whole building starts collapsing.
The second to go is tomorrow. When there is no yesterday you cannot conceive of tomorrow. Tomorrow is nothing but a projection of yesterday. You would like to live the joys of yesterday again tomorrow and you would like to avoid the miseries of yesterday; that's what your tomorrow is. If yesterday is gone, tomorrow is finished; soon it will disappear.
And when yesterdays are gone and tomorrows are gone, where is today? It exists between the two. If both the banks have disappeared, the river itself will disappear. If both the banks have disappeared, the bridge will disappear. Chunk by chunk in three pieces, time dissolves: first the past, then the future, and finally the present. Then you are left with no time, a state of timelessness. And this, Buddha says, is nirvana.
To experience timelessness is to experience deathlessness. To experience timelessness is to experience that which really is. It is neither past nor present nor future; it simply is. It cannot be confined to any compartment, into any category; it cannot be categorized. You simply experience each moment with tremendous peace and silence and joy. And each moment becomes so fragrant, so alive! Each moment becomes such a benediction that it is impossible to imagine it, it is impossible to describe it. One has to know it to know it; there is no other way. Nobody can explain it to you. It is not expressible, it is not explainable. It is the greatest mystery. When time disappears, mind disappears, what is left? That which is left, that vastness...that is your real being -- in Buddha's words, your non-being, your no-self.
Jesus will call it the kingdom of God ; that is a positive way of describing it. And Buddha calls it a state of cessation -- all has ceased. And with great gladness he knows that he has finished. He has woken from his sleep.
Enough for today
-Osho, excerpted from: The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Volume 12, Chapter 7
http://www.osho.com/magazine/haveataste/emotionalecology.cfm?Nr=1051
That's why nature closes the door every time you die. This is great compassion, otherwise you will be born mad. Remembering all your past lives you will be in such a state that it will be impossible for you to function at all, because your mother may have been your wife in the past life and in another life she may have been your daughter. Now, how to behave with her? -- as your mother, as your wife, as your daughter? You will get very confused!
There is no need to bother about the past. As you become aware, the first thing to disappear from your mind is the past, and the past is one third of the mind. It is the very base of the mind, the foundation. Once it disappears, then the whole building starts collapsing.
The second to go is tomorrow. When there is no yesterday you cannot conceive of tomorrow. Tomorrow is nothing but a projection of yesterday. You would like to live the joys of yesterday again tomorrow and you would like to avoid the miseries of yesterday; that's what your tomorrow is. If yesterday is gone, tomorrow is finished; soon it will disappear.
And when yesterdays are gone and tomorrows are gone, where is today? It exists between the two. If both the banks have disappeared, the river itself will disappear. If both the banks have disappeared, the bridge will disappear. Chunk by chunk in three pieces, time dissolves: first the past, then the future, and finally the present. Then you are left with no time, a state of timelessness. And this, Buddha says, is nirvana.
To experience timelessness is to experience deathlessness. To experience timelessness is to experience that which really is. It is neither past nor present nor future; it simply is. It cannot be confined to any compartment, into any category; it cannot be categorized. You simply experience each moment with tremendous peace and silence and joy. And each moment becomes so fragrant, so alive! Each moment becomes such a benediction that it is impossible to imagine it, it is impossible to describe it. One has to know it to know it; there is no other way. Nobody can explain it to you. It is not expressible, it is not explainable. It is the greatest mystery. When time disappears, mind disappears, what is left? That which is left, that vastness...that is your real being -- in Buddha's words, your non-being, your no-self.
Jesus will call it the kingdom of God ; that is a positive way of describing it. And Buddha calls it a state of cessation -- all has ceased. And with great gladness he knows that he has finished. He has woken from his sleep.
Enough for today
-Osho, excerpted from: The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Volume 12, Chapter 7
http://www.osho.com/magazine/haveataste/emotionalecology.cfm?Nr=1051
Respect and gratefulness
Respect for others is another way of expressing love. It not only releases your love, but it also releases the love of the one with whom you are interacting. We must not expect gratefulness from others, but we ourselves must show it; we must express it.
-Torkom Saraydarian
-Torkom Saraydarian
Twin-souls and the inviolability of marriage
Letters Of Helena Roerich II, 1939. If, however, one were to cite the most immutable cosmic truths that establish the inviolability of marriage, the majority would undoubtedly use these proclaimed truths to vindicate the violation of it. Thus, if one were to affirm to them that the sacredness and inviolability of marriage has as its basis the great truth about twin-souls, with an eased conscience they will at once start to look for that half which belongs to them, and without fail will find it at someone else's fireside.
There are not a few who explain all their infatuations as cosmic attractions. Is it possible to explain to these people that precisely the purity of their married life will bring them faster and closer to finding the kindred soul? If one were to tell them that during moral licentiousness twin-souls feel an especially sharp antagonism toward each other, they would not believe it and would become indignant. Whereas, only where there is purity of feeling are the most beautiful unions and best possibilities attainable. Owing to the moral degradation of contemporary humanity, a harmonious union is rarest of all, yet only then are the greatest achievements possible in all worlds.
There are not a few who explain all their infatuations as cosmic attractions. Is it possible to explain to these people that precisely the purity of their married life will bring them faster and closer to finding the kindred soul? If one were to tell them that during moral licentiousness twin-souls feel an especially sharp antagonism toward each other, they would not believe it and would become indignant. Whereas, only where there is purity of feeling are the most beautiful unions and best possibilities attainable. Owing to the moral degradation of contemporary humanity, a harmonious union is rarest of all, yet only then are the greatest achievements possible in all worlds.
Health is unity, illness is division
When you ask people in good heath how they are, they simply respond: 'Fine', and in fact there is nothing more to be said. But ask the same thing of someone whose health is precarious, and the stories are endless! From head to toe, so many parts of the body can become defective! And this leads to numerous complications with regard to eating, drinking, sleeping, breathing, walking and so on. So we can say that health is one, while illnesses are infinite in number, with new ones appearing all the time as a result of people's unreasonable lifestyles.
Our organs are designed to work together to maintain the unity we know as health and life. So you see, health is unity, life is unity, whereas illness or death is division, disintegration, dissipation. All our efforts must therefore lead us to unity, for it is here that we will find salvation.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Our organs are designed to work together to maintain the unity we know as health and life. So you see, health is unity, life is unity, whereas illness or death is division, disintegration, dissipation. All our efforts must therefore lead us to unity, for it is here that we will find salvation.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The legend is the true history
Brotherhood, 204. Gradually it will become known that the legend is the true history; then documents will be found. Each revelation confirms the fact that truth lives on and must be perceived.
Since myths live on, then too the history of the Brotherhood will acquire authenticity. It can be noted that information about the Brotherhood is especially suspected. Many circumstances are accepted quite easily, but the existence of the Brotherhood has a particularly striking effect. People are prepared to encounter an unknown hermit, but for some reason it is difficult for them to picture a society of such hermits.
There exists an order of truths which meets with special opposition. It is not difficult to understand who is against the concept of Brotherhood. These creatures know perfectly well about the existence of the Brotherhood, and they tremble lest this knowledge reach the people. But all is accomplished in due time. If people do not know, still they are beginning to have premonitions.
-Agni Yoga
Since myths live on, then too the history of the Brotherhood will acquire authenticity. It can be noted that information about the Brotherhood is especially suspected. Many circumstances are accepted quite easily, but the existence of the Brotherhood has a particularly striking effect. People are prepared to encounter an unknown hermit, but for some reason it is difficult for them to picture a society of such hermits.
There exists an order of truths which meets with special opposition. It is not difficult to understand who is against the concept of Brotherhood. These creatures know perfectly well about the existence of the Brotherhood, and they tremble lest this knowledge reach the people. But all is accomplished in due time. If people do not know, still they are beginning to have premonitions.
-Agni Yoga
Why is silence said to be golden?
The tongue is the armour of the heart; it guards one's life. Loud talk, long talk, wild talk, talk full of anger and hate - all these affect the human's health. They breed anger and hate in others; they wound, they excite, they enrage, they estrange.
Why is silence said to be golden? The silent human has the leisure and the chance to dive within and examine own faults and failings.
-Sai Baba
Why is silence said to be golden? The silent human has the leisure and the chance to dive within and examine own faults and failings.
-Sai Baba
True happiness is independent of circumstances
So many people are distressed to see their plans and wishes come to nothing! They want to start a family, for example, and have tried everything, but in vain. Instead of tormenting themselves and bothering others, they should ask themselves why this is so, and they will surely have an answer. Perhaps they are not suited to the life they have aspired to, and Providence has not only spared them some ordeals but has left them free for other activities.
We must always try to see the good in what Providence has reserved for us. But humans do not question themselves; in their opinion, things would have been better otherwise. This is why they are always unhappy, whether or not they are married or have children. Well, happiness does not depend on this or that situation in life but on a correct understanding of things. True happiness is independent of circumstances.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
We must always try to see the good in what Providence has reserved for us. But humans do not question themselves; in their opinion, things would have been better otherwise. This is why they are always unhappy, whether or not they are married or have children. Well, happiness does not depend on this or that situation in life but on a correct understanding of things. True happiness is independent of circumstances.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Keep your life uncomplicated - Yogananda
Happy are those who are wise enough to seek contentment by cultivating true joy and peace in a simple environment - a place that is neither a dreary waste nor a cultivated center of restlessness, driving, artificial living.
Those who keep their life uncomplicated, and do not depend on material conditions for their happiness, possess more than the rich and powerful, who want for happiness amid material plenty and are friendless among self- seeking friends; who are lonely even in a crowd, and joyless amid false pleasures.
-Yogananda
Those who keep their life uncomplicated, and do not depend on material conditions for their happiness, possess more than the rich and powerful, who want for happiness amid material plenty and are friendless among self- seeking friends; who are lonely even in a crowd, and joyless amid false pleasures.
-Yogananda
Transformation
How do you begin to see the need for change? The first step is observation. When you see that you are not so beautiful, then you have a chance to make yourself beautiful. When you see you are hurting and harming others, then you have a chance to develop harmlessness. When you see that you are often not righteous but instead you gossip, slander and are full of malice, then you have a chance to develop righteousness in your thoughts, judgements, and actions. When you discover that you are often sad, depressed, irritable, angry, then you have a chance to develop joy. When you see that you are acting under the slavery of your prejudices, traditions, fanaticism, vanity, ego, superstition, and ignorance, then you have a chance to develop freedom.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Transformation – Methods for the Transformation of Life
-Torkom Saraydarian
Transformation – Methods for the Transformation of Life
The gunas are strongly influenced by food and life style
God is not separate from you; in fact, He resides in you. He manifests when you are virtuous and have the right tendencies and attitudes. The gunas or tendencies of a person are strongly influenced by food and life style. If these are such as to promote body-consciousness, then the six deadly enemies, kama (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (attachment), mada (pride), and matsarya (jealousy), overwhelm the person. If one rises above the body to the level of the heart, then the divine qualities of prema (love), daya (compassion), sahana (patience), and sahanubhuti (empathy) all manifest in the person.
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, May 22, 2000
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, May 22, 2000
Monday, May 25, 2009
Gratitude
Gratitude is the moment of recollection of all the moments in which you enjoyed Beauty, Goodness, Truth, protection, food, sunshine, and other blessings of life. Gratitude is the moment when you turn your face toward greater light, greater labor, greater sacrifice. Gratitude is the moment when you share all that you have with those in need of it.
-Torkom Saraydarian
The Spring of Prosperity
-Torkom Saraydarian
The Spring of Prosperity
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Action with Love
Action with Love is Right Conduct.
Speak with Love and it becomes Truth.
Thinking with Love results in Peace.
Understanding with Love leads to non-violence.
-Sai Baba
Speak with Love and it becomes Truth.
Thinking with Love results in Peace.
Understanding with Love leads to non-violence.
-Sai Baba
Friday, May 22, 2009
Reform yourself first
This world is very crooked. It is like the tail of a dog. As soon as you take away your hands it will again become crooked. So many yogis, teachers, saints and prophets came into this world and preached. Still it is crooked; it is in the same state. Therefore, do not bother much about reforming this crooked world. This can never be done. Reform yourself first, then the whole world can be reformed. How can you help the world when you yourself are weak and ignorant. It will be like a blind man leading another blind man. Both must fall into a deep abyss.
-Swami Sivananda
-Swami Sivananda
The true lover is that one that simply craves to love
To co-exist in the aura of peace, one must learn to adjust to the needs of another. When two individuals walk towards each other, sacrificing a little more with each step, meeting midway between the two poles of stubbornness, that I call an even compromise. When one refuses to make even the slightest attempt to take one step towards the peaceful resolution, inflating himself with the impure air of pride, determined to keep himself bound to the pole of absolute selfishness, that one, I call a pitiful loser. When one leaves all his possessions, breaks every sweet attachment, strangles each one of his desires, bends with sweet humbleness - feeling no shame in stripping each layer of his own dignity and pride, compassionately, selflessly, only giving, treading the path of sharp edged glass, ignoring his pain and blood, only to reach the one to whom he has willingly given away his endearing heart, that one, has recognized and realized the true form of the one God, and I will call that one as My lover. Yes! The true lover is that one that simply craves to love!
But one, today, grudgingly compromises and rarely sacrifices, for he fears to loosen the grip of control that has actually, in trueness, merely suffocated the relationship. The Lord, My dears, is that one that lives only to please His devotees - the king is that one that rules only to save his subjects - the master is that one that can humbly repay each act of service of his servant, then tell Me, My dears, who is truly the slave and who is the true owner? He who bends his head has lent Me his worries, has sent Me the bouquet of faith and has ended the race of hopeless power by withdrawing himself from any competition. No joy can be attained in slandering another into defeat - true victory lies in uplifting each one's defeat and accepting them into the winning army. The one that blows the trumpet of his own victory will, one day, encounter the scorn of self-humiliation.
Know, O child, that in making simple adjustments with another's needs, you have only made a little more space for Me in your selfish hearts. By sharing your space of life, you have given Me the hope of entry. By purposefully breaking your rigidness, you have welcomed the sweetness of My softness. Let each adjustment begin with the acceptance of your own faults. Make room, My dears, for another's weakness. The faults in another must not awaken your own. Do not let another's frustration become the source of your irritability. Let another's annoying habits pass you by - let not another's ill temper ever touch your breath of peace. The one that has hattered himself with the burdens of his worries, needs the glue of your forbearance to put him back together. Remember that your forgiveness of his rude behavior will eliminate the very spark of any future friction. The one that has offered the strength of his shoulders, must bear the wetness of all tears. True love, my dears, is drenching yourselves in another's sorrows, keeping them in the comfort of your hopeful smiles and compassionate radiance.
All is possible, when you have made the ultimate effort. It is easy, My dears, once you have learned to break yourselves, only to link yourselves to another heart.
-Sai Baba
Source : LIVING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD (Volume 1/Part II)
But one, today, grudgingly compromises and rarely sacrifices, for he fears to loosen the grip of control that has actually, in trueness, merely suffocated the relationship. The Lord, My dears, is that one that lives only to please His devotees - the king is that one that rules only to save his subjects - the master is that one that can humbly repay each act of service of his servant, then tell Me, My dears, who is truly the slave and who is the true owner? He who bends his head has lent Me his worries, has sent Me the bouquet of faith and has ended the race of hopeless power by withdrawing himself from any competition. No joy can be attained in slandering another into defeat - true victory lies in uplifting each one's defeat and accepting them into the winning army. The one that blows the trumpet of his own victory will, one day, encounter the scorn of self-humiliation.
Know, O child, that in making simple adjustments with another's needs, you have only made a little more space for Me in your selfish hearts. By sharing your space of life, you have given Me the hope of entry. By purposefully breaking your rigidness, you have welcomed the sweetness of My softness. Let each adjustment begin with the acceptance of your own faults. Make room, My dears, for another's weakness. The faults in another must not awaken your own. Do not let another's frustration become the source of your irritability. Let another's annoying habits pass you by - let not another's ill temper ever touch your breath of peace. The one that has hattered himself with the burdens of his worries, needs the glue of your forbearance to put him back together. Remember that your forgiveness of his rude behavior will eliminate the very spark of any future friction. The one that has offered the strength of his shoulders, must bear the wetness of all tears. True love, my dears, is drenching yourselves in another's sorrows, keeping them in the comfort of your hopeful smiles and compassionate radiance.
All is possible, when you have made the ultimate effort. It is easy, My dears, once you have learned to break yourselves, only to link yourselves to another heart.
-Sai Baba
Source : LIVING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD (Volume 1/Part II)
Rejecting the idea of a spiritual master
More and more people systematically reject the idea of a spiritual master on the grounds that charlatans and sharks can pass themselves off as gurus. But what odd reasoning! Do these people stop listening to music because some musicians compose awful sounds? Do they no longer visit museums because certain artists paint carelessly? Do they no longer read books because some authors write nonsense? Why then this lack of logic?
The truth is that to listen to music, to seek out works of art or to read books is quite easy, whereas to undertake the path of the spiritual life, to accept a discipline and to act with disinterestedness requires great time and effort. Then are not all these people, who find every excuse to refuse the light of a true guide and to make no effort, simply lazy?
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
The truth is that to listen to music, to seek out works of art or to read books is quite easy, whereas to undertake the path of the spiritual life, to accept a discipline and to act with disinterestedness requires great time and effort. Then are not all these people, who find every excuse to refuse the light of a true guide and to make no effort, simply lazy?
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Drawing out the disease
Inexperienced physicians try to drive a disease inward in order even temporarily to evade dangerous symptoms-thus are established hotbeds of maladies. But the experienced physician tries to draw out the germ of the disease in order to eradicate it in good time. The same method ought to be applied in all sicknesses. It is better that a crisis be lived through than that a destructive collapse seize the whole organism. It is possible to live through a crisis, and such shock may call new forces into life. Whereas disintegration and rot but infect all the surroundings. Thus, let us understand it in forty ways.
-Agni Yoga, Brotherhood, 172
-Agni Yoga, Brotherhood, 172
What is Love? - Torkom Saraydarian
Love is not only a giving, but also a rejecting act; not only a going out, but also a withdrawal; not only an allowing act, but also a preventing act. It is not only gentle and sweet; but highly disciplinary.
-Torkom Saraydarian
The Flame of Beauty, Culture, Love and Joy
-Torkom Saraydarian
The Flame of Beauty, Culture, Love and Joy
Success in business
Success is not dependent on physical things. It comes from subjective realms. Your motivation must be right, and, if you start that way, you will see how rich you would be and how you will be able to enjoy it. The principle spirit of creating a business is ''How can I help people?'' Business is your expression of your will-to-help people. And through helping people you help yourself to continue to help others. How can you reap if you do not sow?
-Torkom Saraydarian
Dynamics of Success
-Torkom Saraydarian
Dynamics of Success
Anger
Anger, My child, is selfish -
Place all else before you,
and anger is bound to drown,
leaving afloat your sacrifice and tolerance.
Anger, My dear, is the terrible state of confusion,
then tell Me, how can it resolve anything?
Anger can never humiliate another,
for it will always make you much smaller
than the one it attempts to victimize.
-Sai Baba
Place all else before you,
and anger is bound to drown,
leaving afloat your sacrifice and tolerance.
Anger, My dear, is the terrible state of confusion,
then tell Me, how can it resolve anything?
Anger can never humiliate another,
for it will always make you much smaller
than the one it attempts to victimize.
-Sai Baba
Listening
When a man whose marriage was in trouble sought his advice, the Master said, "You must learn to listen to your wife."
The man took this advice to heart and returned after a month to say that he had learned to listen to every word his wife was saying.
Said the Master with a smile, "Now go home and listen to every word she isn't saying."
-Anthony de Mello, SJ
The man took this advice to heart and returned after a month to say that he had learned to listen to every word his wife was saying.
Said the Master with a smile, "Now go home and listen to every word she isn't saying."
-Anthony de Mello, SJ
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
A spiritual master is like a mountain guide
A spiritual master can be compared to a mountain guide who must lead his party, connected to each other by ropes, to the summit. It is a heavy responsibility and requires a great deal of discipline. During the climb, the guide must not stop on the path and turn to chat with those he is leading, or smile at them or slap them on the shoulder as a friendly gesture; he must fix his sights on the goal to be reached and head straight for it.
Since the spiritual life is like the ascent of a high peak, neither should the disciples of a master ask him to turn towards them. Their salvation depends on this, because if he turns around in order to please them, he will miss his footing and the entire party will fall.
On the plains, that is to say in everyday life, it is different, but when we are climbing a mountain, the rules are hard and fast. What is more, the disciples must ask heaven to help their master keep his attention on the ascent, so that he may lead the entire party to the top. Yes, this is what disciples must pray for, instead of trying everything possible to attract their master's attention, because if they succeed in doing so, everyone will suffer. You see, disciples do not yet know how to treat their master.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Since the spiritual life is like the ascent of a high peak, neither should the disciples of a master ask him to turn towards them. Their salvation depends on this, because if he turns around in order to please them, he will miss his footing and the entire party will fall.
On the plains, that is to say in everyday life, it is different, but when we are climbing a mountain, the rules are hard and fast. What is more, the disciples must ask heaven to help their master keep his attention on the ascent, so that he may lead the entire party to the top. Yes, this is what disciples must pray for, instead of trying everything possible to attract their master's attention, because if they succeed in doing so, everyone will suffer. You see, disciples do not yet know how to treat their master.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Socrates and spiritual purity
It is not easy for all people to recognize the Truth about God. Socrates was condemned to death for turning the minds of the youth away from worldly concerns to spiritual matters. Socrates preferred to end his life by drinking poison received from the hands of his disciples rather than die at the jailor's hands. This means that more value was attached to spiritual purity than to the physical life.
-Sai Baba
-Sai Baba
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Reacting according to likes and dislikes
By behaving according to your likes and dislikes, you do nothing but feed the conflicts around you and flounder in the lower layers of the astral plane. Do not believe, as so many do, that your reactions of like and dislike are based on your intuition about others. No, the origin of these attractions and repulsions is physical, biological, and in no way spiritual.
People have certain elements in the structure of their physical body or face which have either an affinity for elements in your own biological structure or an aversion to them. This is why you feel attracted or repelled by others. And if you take the trouble to reflect and to study the matter, you may very well discover serious flaws in people you like a great deal and, conversely, great qualities in certain people you dislike.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
People have certain elements in the structure of their physical body or face which have either an affinity for elements in your own biological structure or an aversion to them. This is why you feel attracted or repelled by others. And if you take the trouble to reflect and to study the matter, you may very well discover serious flaws in people you like a great deal and, conversely, great qualities in certain people you dislike.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
You in me - and I in you
The bird with you - the wings with me.
The foot with you - the way with me.
The eye with you - the form with me.
The thing with you - the dream with me.
The world with you - so we are bound.
So we begin - and so we end.
You in me - and I in you.
-Sai Baba
The eye with you - the form with me.
The thing with you - the dream with me.
The world with you - so we are bound.
So we begin - and so we end.
You in me - and I in you.
-Sai Baba
Seeking happiness in an imaginary future
If you're not 100 percent happy in the present moment of Now, then you'll unconsciously create reasons for you to seek happiness out of some imaginary future where you can, hopefully, become satisfied, sanctified or made more whole.
However, if you believe that true happiness is just around the corner for you, you'll always be noticing more corners.
- Chuck Hillig
However, if you believe that true happiness is just around the corner for you, you'll always be noticing more corners.
- Chuck Hillig
Friday, May 15, 2009
Using thought to cure
You can use your thought to act on your physical body and cure certain disorders and deficiencies, but of course this requires considerable preliminary work because the cells of your body will not obey you unless you have learnt self-mastery. Your cells must see you as a leader, a master, before they submit to your commands.
It has often been remarked upon how yogis, in the forests of India, are able to meditate for hours without the wildcats that roam the area doing them any harm. This is because the animals sense that these yogis are beings who have self-possession, true strength,and they respect them. Every creature has been inscribed with a sense of spiritual hierarchy. Even wildcats are capable of sensing your degree of evolution, and so your cells all the more so. They are like tiny intelligent animals, and if you want to assert yourself before them you must begin by bringing your thoughts and feelings under control.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
It has often been remarked upon how yogis, in the forests of India, are able to meditate for hours without the wildcats that roam the area doing them any harm. This is because the animals sense that these yogis are beings who have self-possession, true strength,and they respect them. Every creature has been inscribed with a sense of spiritual hierarchy. Even wildcats are capable of sensing your degree of evolution, and so your cells all the more so. They are like tiny intelligent animals, and if you want to assert yourself before them you must begin by bringing your thoughts and feelings under control.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Accept disgrace willingly
Accept disgrace willingly. Accept misfortune as the human condition.
What do you mean by "Accept disgrace willingly"? Accept being unimportant. Do not be concerned with loss or gain. This is called "accepting disgrace willingly."
What do you mean by "Accept misfortune as the human condition"? Misfortune comes from having a body. Without a body, how could there be misfortune?
Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to care for all things. Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.
- Lao-Tzu
What do you mean by "Accept disgrace willingly"? Accept being unimportant. Do not be concerned with loss or gain. This is called "accepting disgrace willingly."
What do you mean by "Accept misfortune as the human condition"? Misfortune comes from having a body. Without a body, how could there be misfortune?
Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to care for all things. Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.
- Lao-Tzu
Sri Yukteswar discussion with Yogananda
Sri Yukteswar: "Mukunda (Yogananda's boyhood name), why don't you get an astrological armlet?"
Yogananda: "Should I, Master? I don't believe in astrology."
Sri Yukteswar: "It is never a question of belief; the only scientific attitude one can take on any subject is whether it is true. The law of gravitation worked as efficiently before Newton as after him. The cosmos would be fairly chaotic if its laws could not operate without the sanction of human belief."
Yogananda: "Should I, Master? I don't believe in astrology."
Sri Yukteswar: "It is never a question of belief; the only scientific attitude one can take on any subject is whether it is true. The law of gravitation worked as efficiently before Newton as after him. The cosmos would be fairly chaotic if its laws could not operate without the sanction of human belief."
Do not pay more attention to the outside world than necessary
Do not pay more attention to the outside world than necessary; concentrate more on the inner springs of joy. In a car, the wheels that are underneath are the outer wheels. If you pay more attention to the steering wheel, that will guide the outer wheels as well. The driver of the car is inside. So too, you must care more for the inner motivator. If you are master of your feelings and impulses, you can be anywhere, engaged in any profession and you will surely have peace.
- Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 5, Ch 4, May 22, 1965
- Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 5, Ch 4, May 22, 1965
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
First learn to be a servant
Every one wants to command, and no one wants to obey; and this owing to the absence of that wonderful brahmacharya system of yore. First, LEARN TO OBEY. The command will come by itself. Always first learn to be a servant, and then you will be fit to be a master.
-Vivekanda
-Vivekanda
Complacency in relationships
Session 1489: The reason that individuals generate complacency many times in association with intimate relationships is that they incorporate these beliefs that they may explore the relationship only to a point, that eventually you shall have explored in intimacy with another individual to the end, so to speak, and that there is no more to explore — which in actuality is quite ludicrous. For, look to yourself and how you may be exploring yourself and discovering new elements and new factors and new abilities within yourself. Every individual incorporates this vastness, the same as yourself.
-Elias
-Elias
One in a million
Every man and every living being aspires to attain peace and happiness. People pursue various paths to experience the everlasting bliss. Everyone aspires to know the objective of life. But they are not able to succeed in their endeavor. One in a million will persist with strong determination and will not give up till he realises the goal. Ordinary mortals will not make any efforts in this direction as they think it is something beyond their reach. They spend their lives in the pursuit of physical and ephemeral pleasures. They are under the delusion that food, raiment and shelter are the three main objectives of human life. They fail to realise that there is a higher purpose in life than this.
-Sai Baba
-Sai Baba
Sexual intercourse and humanity's movement through the chakras
ON THE LASTING OBLIGATIONS AND FEELINGS AFTER INTERCOURSE
"... essentially, the action of having intercourse with another creates a karmic tie which last approximately nine months to one year, and the entities involved will continue feeling a type of energy or obligation to each other during that time...it takes approximately nine months to one year to overcome such feelings or obligation. That as the relationship intensifies or when this is stronger, these feelings will last longer and the obligations and ties become greater."
ONE CAN LOSE IDENTITY THROUGH MANY SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS
This Awareness indicates that souls in coming together intimately, tend to share energies and merge energies from each other. Thus, when entities engage in activities of intimate and sexual nature, the entities or the souls of the entities tend to take on certain frequencies or vibrations of each other, and in so doing, take on karma from each other and the individuality becomes less distinct, more fused between the entities, so that each of the entities involved in such intimate relationship become less defined as their original souls and more melding or merging of the two parties.
Entities who engage in vast sexual encounters with many different entities begin to lose their own identities because they take on so many vibrations of so many others that become part of themselves and redefine them. It is likened unto taken a color or being a color, yellow for example, and having intimate relationship with blue, and finding oneself as having turned green, then accepting brown, purple, red, orange and a dozen other colors, the entity becomes a confusion of all these colors molded into one that is very little like the original color.
The self, the yellow, is no longer recognizable, because the entity has had so many influences from so many others that his or her vibration or frequency is totally colored over by all of the others that have become part of the entity's frequency or magnetic center.
This Awareness indicates in this manner, souls can be altered through their experiences to become something other than what they started out to be and this is that which is known as karma from the excessive intimate relationship. This Awareness indicates it is not so much that this destroys one's soul, but it colors one's soul with the vibrations of so many other souls commingling with one.
Thus, an entity in having close intimate relationships should be very selective as to what vibrations he or she wants commingling with his or her soul. (Revelation of Awareness 96-14 Issue No. 474)
HUMANITY'S MOVEMENT THROUGH THE CHAKRAS
"The present time of humanity as expressing itself in the thyroid, as that time of communication. The next step in humanity will be that wherein entities experience mind over matter; the will, the pineal, which is capable of affecting massive changes in material levels through expressing of mind. Following this will be the time wherein humanity becomes thoroughly capable of responding and experiencing through the pituitary, the doorway to the Divine. ...eventually, the pineal and pituitary merge, the bride and bridegroom, and the Second Coming of that known as Christ Consciousness can appear to every eye, to every individual in the mass of humanity."
ON BEHAVIOR AND THE CONDITION OF ONE'S CHAKRAS
This Awareness indicates that the entity whose chakras are open to the pineal may be considered as those who are among the powerful and the wise, for that is how they see themselves. They develop strong personal wills to pursue what they wish...(and) ... generally consider themselves to be quite right in whatever they do.
...the entity whose chakras are open to the pituitary is no longer interested in being right or powerful but is concerned about being able to respond from moment to moment, to whatever needs response. ...the entity whose chakras are open to the thyroid may find himself unable to accomplish anything, but may talk about the accomplishment. The entity is concerned about communication and social expressions and communicates to others what he or she feels. This entity is not especially concerned with responding or with power, but rather with conveying information.
...the entity whose chakras are open to the thymus or heart chakra is generally concerned with ego, pride and giving affection to others, and with the show of self. ...this entity finds this as his or her highest form of expression.
...the entity whose chakras are open to the adrenaline may find himself or herself involved in competition and battling to out-to others. This may be physical or otherwise. ...the entity whose chakras are open to the lyden may find himself or herself concerned with fantasies, illusions.
...the entity whose gonads are overactive and open may become extremely obsessed. This Awareness indicates that the degree of openness affects the entity. That as these chakras open and close often in response to astrological influences. ...these chakras open and close often in response to diet. The chakras open and close often to ideas, and sensual expressions or feedback.
...much of an entity's behavior is regulated by the general condition of one's chakras. That for some entities, certain chakras seldom open, or open only slightly, because the entity is unfamiliar with such aptitudes or levels of consciousness. ...there are some entities whose entire life is within their head and their chakras beneath the head are inactive. There are others whose lives are centered around the lower chakras, concerned with gratification, security, power, or prestige. ... there are others whose expressions are a mixture, and move up and down the chakras.
This Awareness indicates that therefore, entities may understand that even in terms of the development of an individual, things change from moment to moment: attitudes change, values change, feelings change outside stimulus may change and one may have fixed, firm, righteous values at one time, only to find that six months later their values change."
ON ACCEPTING THE CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS
"This Awareness indicates that it is for each entity to accept this Christ Consciousness, this clear light, this all-good, all loving presence by the faith that is available to you if you but open yourself and accept its presence as part of your being. This Awareness suggests this best occurs wherein entities give themselves to the crystal pure, virgin born clear light of truth, the Christ Consciousness,"
(From the Revelations of Awareness newsletters with Paul Shockley as the interpreter)
http://home.iae.nl/users/lightnet/creator/sexualintercourse.htm
"... essentially, the action of having intercourse with another creates a karmic tie which last approximately nine months to one year, and the entities involved will continue feeling a type of energy or obligation to each other during that time...it takes approximately nine months to one year to overcome such feelings or obligation. That as the relationship intensifies or when this is stronger, these feelings will last longer and the obligations and ties become greater."
ONE CAN LOSE IDENTITY THROUGH MANY SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS
This Awareness indicates that souls in coming together intimately, tend to share energies and merge energies from each other. Thus, when entities engage in activities of intimate and sexual nature, the entities or the souls of the entities tend to take on certain frequencies or vibrations of each other, and in so doing, take on karma from each other and the individuality becomes less distinct, more fused between the entities, so that each of the entities involved in such intimate relationship become less defined as their original souls and more melding or merging of the two parties.
Entities who engage in vast sexual encounters with many different entities begin to lose their own identities because they take on so many vibrations of so many others that become part of themselves and redefine them. It is likened unto taken a color or being a color, yellow for example, and having intimate relationship with blue, and finding oneself as having turned green, then accepting brown, purple, red, orange and a dozen other colors, the entity becomes a confusion of all these colors molded into one that is very little like the original color.
The self, the yellow, is no longer recognizable, because the entity has had so many influences from so many others that his or her vibration or frequency is totally colored over by all of the others that have become part of the entity's frequency or magnetic center.
This Awareness indicates in this manner, souls can be altered through their experiences to become something other than what they started out to be and this is that which is known as karma from the excessive intimate relationship. This Awareness indicates it is not so much that this destroys one's soul, but it colors one's soul with the vibrations of so many other souls commingling with one.
Thus, an entity in having close intimate relationships should be very selective as to what vibrations he or she wants commingling with his or her soul. (Revelation of Awareness 96-14 Issue No. 474)
HUMANITY'S MOVEMENT THROUGH THE CHAKRAS
"The present time of humanity as expressing itself in the thyroid, as that time of communication. The next step in humanity will be that wherein entities experience mind over matter; the will, the pineal, which is capable of affecting massive changes in material levels through expressing of mind. Following this will be the time wherein humanity becomes thoroughly capable of responding and experiencing through the pituitary, the doorway to the Divine. ...eventually, the pineal and pituitary merge, the bride and bridegroom, and the Second Coming of that known as Christ Consciousness can appear to every eye, to every individual in the mass of humanity."
ON BEHAVIOR AND THE CONDITION OF ONE'S CHAKRAS
This Awareness indicates that the entity whose chakras are open to the pineal may be considered as those who are among the powerful and the wise, for that is how they see themselves. They develop strong personal wills to pursue what they wish...(and) ... generally consider themselves to be quite right in whatever they do.
...the entity whose chakras are open to the pituitary is no longer interested in being right or powerful but is concerned about being able to respond from moment to moment, to whatever needs response. ...the entity whose chakras are open to the thyroid may find himself unable to accomplish anything, but may talk about the accomplishment. The entity is concerned about communication and social expressions and communicates to others what he or she feels. This entity is not especially concerned with responding or with power, but rather with conveying information.
...the entity whose chakras are open to the thymus or heart chakra is generally concerned with ego, pride and giving affection to others, and with the show of self. ...this entity finds this as his or her highest form of expression.
...the entity whose chakras are open to the adrenaline may find himself or herself involved in competition and battling to out-to others. This may be physical or otherwise. ...the entity whose chakras are open to the lyden may find himself or herself concerned with fantasies, illusions.
...the entity whose gonads are overactive and open may become extremely obsessed. This Awareness indicates that the degree of openness affects the entity. That as these chakras open and close often in response to astrological influences. ...these chakras open and close often in response to diet. The chakras open and close often to ideas, and sensual expressions or feedback.
...much of an entity's behavior is regulated by the general condition of one's chakras. That for some entities, certain chakras seldom open, or open only slightly, because the entity is unfamiliar with such aptitudes or levels of consciousness. ...there are some entities whose entire life is within their head and their chakras beneath the head are inactive. There are others whose lives are centered around the lower chakras, concerned with gratification, security, power, or prestige. ... there are others whose expressions are a mixture, and move up and down the chakras.
This Awareness indicates that therefore, entities may understand that even in terms of the development of an individual, things change from moment to moment: attitudes change, values change, feelings change outside stimulus may change and one may have fixed, firm, righteous values at one time, only to find that six months later their values change."
ON ACCEPTING THE CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS
"This Awareness indicates that it is for each entity to accept this Christ Consciousness, this clear light, this all-good, all loving presence by the faith that is available to you if you but open yourself and accept its presence as part of your being. This Awareness suggests this best occurs wherein entities give themselves to the crystal pure, virgin born clear light of truth, the Christ Consciousness,"
(From the Revelations of Awareness newsletters with Paul Shockley as the interpreter)
http://home.iae.nl/users/lightnet/creator/sexualintercourse.htm
Contentment - Sai Baba
How can man become 'dear' to God? The Gita emphasizes two qualifications: Samthushtah Sathatham (ever contented) and Dhruda nischayah (with firm resolve). He has to be contented and cheerful always, without regard for the changing tides of fortune. It should not be a pose, a passing phase, an artificial, superficial show. The contentment has to be deeply rooted in the heart manifested in and through every thought and act.
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, 2nd Aug 1986
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, 2nd Aug 1986
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Intuitive women and mothers
It is not necessary for a woman to have a child to be or feel as a mother. MOTHERHOOD IS NOT A BIOLOGICAL FUNCTION. MOTHERHOOD IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL, SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. Motherhood is the power to present right conditions to make virtues grow, to cause great works to be accomplished, to make creativity bloom and to make the race of man survive in progressive unfoldment and beauty.
In the heart of each woman, one can see a mother. She may be a woman who gave birth to a mighty movement, or inspired great men to perform heroic deeds; or she herself performed heroic acts, or conceived visions for the advancement of all humanity; or she became a mother of art and beauty.
One of the supreme duties of a woman is to be an ideal mother, but when the children have grown to need less care from the mother, the mother must step into the world of politics, education, communication, arts, sciences, religion, and economics. She can bring great beauty, wisdom, and experience into these fields, or she can continue her studies along specialized lines.
The most important labor for a woman is to raise her focus of consciousness from her emotional nature to her intuitional nature without creating a gap between them.
The emotional world of a woman is full of attachments when she develops her mind at the expense of her intuition. These attachments make her translate the world around her through her own feelings and thoughts. She projects her feelings on all phenomena around her. This makes her self-centered, demanding, self-conscious, and even rejectful of others. She senses the viewpoints of others and understands them, but rejects the persons.
If she succeeds in raising her focus of consciousness from the emotional to the intuitional plane, the attachments break, and a spirit of inclusiveness and universalism dawns in her consciousness. This is the natural path for a woman. She gives out all that she collected, all that she was serving to make her feel separate. Now in the process of giving things she feels inclusive and universal.
When a woman is stuck in her emotional attachments and does not have intuitive flashes, she becomes a victim of man. She is not only exploited, but also exploits. Millions of women are manipulated by man, who uses his lower mind to misuse women for his own advantage. If a woman is stuck in her emotional nature, she has a strong tendency to depend on the man who has mind.
When the woman develops her mind, she has a tendency to take revenge on the man in many forms. Her liberation is not through her mind but through her intuition. An intuitive woman is highly spiritual, progressive, free, and inclusive.
An emotional woman is the slave of her attachments. She is religious, but she is fanatic and separative. She leaves religions when she develops her mind, and she becomes spiritual when she becomes active in the intuitional light.
Man attacks the emotions of woman to conquer her. Woman attacks the instincts, urges and drives of the physical nature of man to enslave him.
An intuitive woman is not caught in these games. She has a great task. Her task is to save her child and to make him grow healthy and beautiful. HER CHILD IS HUMANITY. Her glory is the CULTURE of her child.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Woman, Torch of the Future
In the heart of each woman, one can see a mother. She may be a woman who gave birth to a mighty movement, or inspired great men to perform heroic deeds; or she herself performed heroic acts, or conceived visions for the advancement of all humanity; or she became a mother of art and beauty.
One of the supreme duties of a woman is to be an ideal mother, but when the children have grown to need less care from the mother, the mother must step into the world of politics, education, communication, arts, sciences, religion, and economics. She can bring great beauty, wisdom, and experience into these fields, or she can continue her studies along specialized lines.
The most important labor for a woman is to raise her focus of consciousness from her emotional nature to her intuitional nature without creating a gap between them.
The emotional world of a woman is full of attachments when she develops her mind at the expense of her intuition. These attachments make her translate the world around her through her own feelings and thoughts. She projects her feelings on all phenomena around her. This makes her self-centered, demanding, self-conscious, and even rejectful of others. She senses the viewpoints of others and understands them, but rejects the persons.
If she succeeds in raising her focus of consciousness from the emotional to the intuitional plane, the attachments break, and a spirit of inclusiveness and universalism dawns in her consciousness. This is the natural path for a woman. She gives out all that she collected, all that she was serving to make her feel separate. Now in the process of giving things she feels inclusive and universal.
When a woman is stuck in her emotional attachments and does not have intuitive flashes, she becomes a victim of man. She is not only exploited, but also exploits. Millions of women are manipulated by man, who uses his lower mind to misuse women for his own advantage. If a woman is stuck in her emotional nature, she has a strong tendency to depend on the man who has mind.
When the woman develops her mind, she has a tendency to take revenge on the man in many forms. Her liberation is not through her mind but through her intuition. An intuitive woman is highly spiritual, progressive, free, and inclusive.
An emotional woman is the slave of her attachments. She is religious, but she is fanatic and separative. She leaves religions when she develops her mind, and she becomes spiritual when she becomes active in the intuitional light.
Man attacks the emotions of woman to conquer her. Woman attacks the instincts, urges and drives of the physical nature of man to enslave him.
An intuitive woman is not caught in these games. She has a great task. Her task is to save her child and to make him grow healthy and beautiful. HER CHILD IS HUMANITY. Her glory is the CULTURE of her child.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Woman, Torch of the Future
"If you are to live, words must die"
"What is it you seek?" asked the Master of a scholar who came to him for guidance.
"Life," was the reply.
Said the Master, "If you are to live, words must die."
When asked later what he meant, he said, "You are lost and forlorn because you dwell in a world of words. You feed on words, you are satisfied with words when what you need is substance. A menu will not satisfy your hunger. A formula will not slake your thirst."
-Anthony de Mello, SJ
"Life," was the reply.
Said the Master, "If you are to live, words must die."
When asked later what he meant, he said, "You are lost and forlorn because you dwell in a world of words. You feed on words, you are satisfied with words when what you need is substance. A menu will not satisfy your hunger. A formula will not slake your thirst."
-Anthony de Mello, SJ
Commitment to the spiritual path
If you feel, day after day, that you are in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing, then I would say you are a being who is fully committed to the spiritual path.
If, day after day, you feel you don't know whether you are in the right place or not, and things are always "happening to you," that you are like a little boat on the great ocean of life being tossed around, here and there, then you should look within yourself and find out where you stand on the scale of life itself. What are your basic beliefs? What are your basic commitments? Ask yourself.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_350.shtml
If, day after day, you feel you don't know whether you are in the right place or not, and things are always "happening to you," that you are like a little boat on the great ocean of life being tossed around, here and there, then you should look within yourself and find out where you stand on the scale of life itself. What are your basic beliefs? What are your basic commitments? Ask yourself.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_350.shtml
Calamity, danger, death cannot be avoided for all the time
Calamity, danger, death cannot be avoided for all the time; they are inevitable factors of life; you have to learn to live bravely with them. This can be accomplished only by uninterrupted prayer.
-Sai Baba
-Sai Baba
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Do we need a physical body to unfold spiritually?
If evolution continues on the astral and other inner planes, and is in some ways more advanced in these realms, then do we need a physical body at all to unfold spiritually? Is it perhaps an unnecessary burden of flesh? According to classical yoga precepts, you must have a physical body in order to attain nirvikalpa samadhi--the highest realization of God, the Absolute. This is due to the fact that on the refined inner planes only three or four of the higher chakras are activated; the others are dormant. For nirvikalpa samadhi, all seven chakras, as well as the three major energy currents, have to be functioning to sustain enough kundalini force to burst through to the Self. The very same instinctive forces and fluids which generate material involvement, uncomplimentary karma and the body itself, when transmuted, are the impetus that propels awareness beyond the ramification of mind into the timeless, spaceless, formless Truth--Siva.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_349.shtml
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_349.shtml
Service will lead to your becoming ideal leaders
Understand the deep significance of service; it will lead to your becoming ideal leaders, who are in great need today, all over the world. You fulfill yourselves, by sharing; you empty yourselves by grabbing.
Do not behave in such a way that people are wary of you. Be open, without harmful eyes, lascivious ears, false tongue, foul minds and pernicious hands. Your eyes give you away easily; look upon all without the guilt of lust or scandal; speak to all with love blooming out of adoration; let your hands give, never take what is not yours. Treat the distressed, the diseased, the old, the helpless, the child, with great respect and intelligent consideration.
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, 7th Jan 1971
Do not behave in such a way that people are wary of you. Be open, without harmful eyes, lascivious ears, false tongue, foul minds and pernicious hands. Your eyes give you away easily; look upon all without the guilt of lust or scandal; speak to all with love blooming out of adoration; let your hands give, never take what is not yours. Treat the distressed, the diseased, the old, the helpless, the child, with great respect and intelligent consideration.
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, 7th Jan 1971
Neutralizing psychic poisons
You know the story of king Mithras, who was afraid of being poisoned by members of his entourage and so sought to immunize himself by progressive exposure to poisons. It's true that you can make yourself physically immune to poisons, but is it that necessary? In all probability, none of you run any risk of being poisoned, whereas each day you are all exposed to psychic poisons, and if you don't know how to respond to these you will succumb. So you must practise digesting all the poisons that stupid or wicked people may pour over you on the astral plane.
It was these poisons Jesus referred to when he said: 'Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely.' Then, whatever happens, rejoice, and heaven will rejoice on your account: you will have passed the test with flying colours.
A true disciple of Christ is one who knows how to neutralize the filth they receive, without uttering a word against God or man. And if they give way to a gesture of irritation, rebellion or revenge, they ought at least to look at themselves and say, 'This time I failed, but in future I'll try to transform my anger and impatience into gentleness, love and kindness.'
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
It was these poisons Jesus referred to when he said: 'Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely.' Then, whatever happens, rejoice, and heaven will rejoice on your account: you will have passed the test with flying colours.
A true disciple of Christ is one who knows how to neutralize the filth they receive, without uttering a word against God or man. And if they give way to a gesture of irritation, rebellion or revenge, they ought at least to look at themselves and say, 'This time I failed, but in future I'll try to transform my anger and impatience into gentleness, love and kindness.'
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Practice moderation in speech
Silence is the only language of the realized. Practice moderation in speech. That will help you in many ways. It will develop Prema (love), for most misunderstandings and factions arise out of carelessly spoken words. When the foot slips, the wound can be healed; but when the tongue slips, the wound it causes in the heart of another will fester for life.
The tongue is liable to four big errors: uttering falsehood, scandalizing, finding fault with others, and excessive speech. All these have to be avoided if there is to be Shanthi (peace) for the individual as well as for society.
-Sai Baba
The tongue is liable to four big errors: uttering falsehood, scandalizing, finding fault with others, and excessive speech. All these have to be avoided if there is to be Shanthi (peace) for the individual as well as for society.
-Sai Baba
Kama (Lust) - Paramahansa Yogananda
In the name and guise of fulfilling one's needs, ego lures man to continuous seeking of self-satisfaction, resulting in suffering and vexation. What would content the soul is forgotten, and the ego goes on endlessly trying to satisfy its insatiable desires. Kama (lust) is therefore the compelling desire to indulge in sensory temptations. Coercive materialistic desire is the instigator of man's wrong thoughts and actions. Interacting with the other forces that obstruct man's divine nature-influencing as well as being influenced by them-lustful desire is the consummate enemy. The perfect exemplay is Duryodhana, whose unwillingness to part with even an inch of sensory territory or pleasure was the cause of the war of Kurukshetra. Only little by little, with fierce determination in battle, could the Pandavas win back their kingdom.
Kama, or lustful desire, supported by the other Kaurava forces, can corrupt the sensory instruments of man to expression of their basest instincts. It is taught in the Hindu Scriptures that under the strong influence of kama, sane learned men act like asses, monkeys, goats, and swine.
Lust applies to the abuse of any or all the sensory in the pursuit of pleasure or gratification. Through the sense of sight man may lust after material objects; through the sense of hearing, he craves the sweet, slow poison of flattery, and vibratory sounds as of voices and music that rouse his material nature; through the lustful pleasure of smell he is enticed toward wrong envirnments and actions; lust for food and drinks cause him to please his taste at the expense of health; through the sense of touch he lusts after inordinate physical comfort and abuses the creative sex impulse. Lust also seeks gratification in wealth, status, power, domination- all that satisfies the "I, me, mine" in the egotistical man. Lustful desire is egotism, the lowest rung of the ladder of human character evolution. By the forces of its insatiable passion, kama loves to destroy one's happiness, health, brain power, clarity of thought, memory and discriminative judgement.
-Paramahansa Yogananda
God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita
Kama, or lustful desire, supported by the other Kaurava forces, can corrupt the sensory instruments of man to expression of their basest instincts. It is taught in the Hindu Scriptures that under the strong influence of kama, sane learned men act like asses, monkeys, goats, and swine.
Lust applies to the abuse of any or all the sensory in the pursuit of pleasure or gratification. Through the sense of sight man may lust after material objects; through the sense of hearing, he craves the sweet, slow poison of flattery, and vibratory sounds as of voices and music that rouse his material nature; through the lustful pleasure of smell he is enticed toward wrong envirnments and actions; lust for food and drinks cause him to please his taste at the expense of health; through the sense of touch he lusts after inordinate physical comfort and abuses the creative sex impulse. Lust also seeks gratification in wealth, status, power, domination- all that satisfies the "I, me, mine" in the egotistical man. Lustful desire is egotism, the lowest rung of the ladder of human character evolution. By the forces of its insatiable passion, kama loves to destroy one's happiness, health, brain power, clarity of thought, memory and discriminative judgement.
-Paramahansa Yogananda
God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita
Monday, May 04, 2009
Comfort, ease and the pursuit of pleasure introduce disease in man
There are always new things to learn, new efforts to be made. This is what keeps us young and alive. Today, in spite of immense advances in medicine, diseases unknown in the past are appearing in industrialized and prosperous countries. Why is this? And why do so many people suffer from depression, anxiety and other nervous disorders? Because even if they work, people always consider a life of comfort, ease and pleasure as their ideal. But this programme for a life of ease is inscribed nowhere in nature.
Comfort, ease and the pursuit of pleasure introduce the germs of disease in man and destroy his very life. His cells grow lazy and no longer eliminate impurities. They become toxic, and his organism loses its capacity for resistance. Be wary of comfort, ease and a life of pleasure; rid your mind of this ideal, for in reality it is the bearer of death.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Comfort, ease and the pursuit of pleasure introduce the germs of disease in man and destroy his very life. His cells grow lazy and no longer eliminate impurities. They become toxic, and his organism loses its capacity for resistance. Be wary of comfort, ease and a life of pleasure; rid your mind of this ideal, for in reality it is the bearer of death.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
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