Man has no doubt mastered many ways of accumulating wealth and amassing fortune; yet happiness eludes him. Why? Because his conduct is not proper. For good conduct, virtues are most essential. A virtuous person can accomplish anything. A son lacking in virtues and a life without a meaningful goal are of no value. Without virtues, life ceases to have any meaning. Good conduct should be the real basis for life. However, modern man is totally lacking in character and virtues. No wonder both peace and happiness elude him.
Because of man's misconduct and immoral behaviour, there is pollution everywhere - in air, water, land and food. All the five elements have been severely contaminated, consequent to man's unbecoming behaviour. If man behaves properly, is pollution of the elements conceivable? It is all due to the extensive prevalence of immoral feelings and improper behaviour. It is the sharp decline of values like Love, Compassion, and Forbearance that is directly responsible for the widespread pollution that one sees today.
If you fill a coloured bottle with the water of Ganges, it would appear coloured. If the bottle is red, the water would seem red while if the bottle is blue the water too would appear blue. Where does the colour come from? From the water or the bottle? Ganges water is intrinsically pure; the colour is therefore due to the bottle holding the water. The human being is like a bottle. If evil thoughts dominate, the body indulges in bad actions; if good thoughts prevail, the body performs good actions. The body is not responsible for the actions; the thoughts that propel the body are. Bad feelings, bad thoughts and bad company provide the stimulus for bad actions.
If you constantly chant the name of God, the polluted atmosphere would automatically get purified. The Divine vibrations originating from the chant of the Divine Name mix with the atmosphere and spread everywhere, indeed throughout the world.
Give up bad company and join good company. Do good day in and day out. This is the way to sanctify human life. Although numerous opportunities exist for following the correct path, people miss them all and instead waste their time. People seem to revel in seeking bad company, even if they have to pay for it. Why do you have to go in search of bad thoughts and company? Instead, why don't you receive the good that is offered to you free and at no charge? It is a grave mistake to reject the good and accept only the bad.
Man is made up of the five elements, everyone of which is Divine in origin. They are all intrinsically sacred. If they are polluted today, man alone is responsible for that.
Enquire deeply into the meaning of five elements, and realize that you yourself are made up of them. Make every possible effort to venerate and revere the elements in a suitable manner. Your breath must always resonate to the chant of God's name. Always be singing His Glory.
-Sai Baba
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Affirmation Is a Power
The power of affirmation changes and remolds the putty-like substance that makes up the subconscious areas of the mind. For years we have repeated sayings and statements, attached meaning to them in our thoughts and through listening to ourselves speak. This has helped form our life as we know it today, for the subconscious brings into manifestation the impressions we put into it. Therefore, to change the subconscious pattern and increase the spinning velocity of it, we must remold with new ideas and new concepts its magnetic forces. This can be done through the power of affirmation.
Affirmation, when used in wisdom for spiritual reasons, is a power, and should be understood through meditation. Before beginning to work with an affirmation, we must understand completely from within what we are doing, being sure that when our subconscious has been remolded we can take the added responsibilities, the new adventures and challenges that will manifest as a result of breaking out of one force field and entering into another. Only when we face and accept fully the new effects of our effort should we proceed with an affirmation. First we must understand the nature of this power.
An affirmation is a series of positive words repeated time and time again in line with a visual concept. Such a statement can be repeated mentally or, preferably, verbally. Words in themselves, without a pictorial understanding, make a very poor affirmation. To choose the affirmation best suited to our needs, first we must realize what we do not want, and then we must take steps to change it, in the very same way we would discriminate in giving away or throwing away our possessions in order to purchase new ones. Whether one is dealing with home and possessions, thoughts and concepts, self-created inhibitions, or blocks and barriers of the subconscious, the principle is basically the same. If one feels, "I can't," he cannot. If he is always criticizing himself and lamenting over what he cannot do, then he has to reverse this pattern and change the flow of magnetic mental force, enliven its intensity by saying orally and feeling through all the pores of his body, "I can. I will. I am able to accomplish what I plan."
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_71.shtml
Affirmation, when used in wisdom for spiritual reasons, is a power, and should be understood through meditation. Before beginning to work with an affirmation, we must understand completely from within what we are doing, being sure that when our subconscious has been remolded we can take the added responsibilities, the new adventures and challenges that will manifest as a result of breaking out of one force field and entering into another. Only when we face and accept fully the new effects of our effort should we proceed with an affirmation. First we must understand the nature of this power.
An affirmation is a series of positive words repeated time and time again in line with a visual concept. Such a statement can be repeated mentally or, preferably, verbally. Words in themselves, without a pictorial understanding, make a very poor affirmation. To choose the affirmation best suited to our needs, first we must realize what we do not want, and then we must take steps to change it, in the very same way we would discriminate in giving away or throwing away our possessions in order to purchase new ones. Whether one is dealing with home and possessions, thoughts and concepts, self-created inhibitions, or blocks and barriers of the subconscious, the principle is basically the same. If one feels, "I can't," he cannot. If he is always criticizing himself and lamenting over what he cannot do, then he has to reverse this pattern and change the flow of magnetic mental force, enliven its intensity by saying orally and feeling through all the pores of his body, "I can. I will. I am able to accomplish what I plan."
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_71.shtml
The ability to be happy at other people's good fortune
Your ability to be happy at other people's good fortune is the criterion for how evolved you are. For, you must admit, it's usually difficult to be thrilled about other people's successes and happiness, especially if they succeed where you have failed. On the other hand, when you see them unhappy, it arouses kind thoughts and feelings, pity, compassion and the need to comfort them and help them. Yes, when others have accidents or serious illnesses and can no longer arouse envy in them, people naturally become more kind and understanding, without even having to try.
So you must study your reactions to other people's success and happiness. The day you are able to be sincerely pleased for them will be the proof that you have succeeded in detaching yourself from the astral and mental planes - your egocentric feelings and thoughts - and have been able to rise to the causal and buddhic planes where wisdom and love reign, which alone are capable of giving you true joy.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
So you must study your reactions to other people's success and happiness. The day you are able to be sincerely pleased for them will be the proof that you have succeeded in detaching yourself from the astral and mental planes - your egocentric feelings and thoughts - and have been able to rise to the causal and buddhic planes where wisdom and love reign, which alone are capable of giving you true joy.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
The play is His
The play is His
The role is His gift
The lines are written by Him
He directs, He decides the dress and decoration,
The gesture and the tone,
The entrance and the exit.
You have to act well to receive His approbation
When the curtain falls
Earn by your efficiency and enthusiasm
The right to play higher and higher roles
That is the meaning and purpose of life.
-Sai Baba
The role is His gift
The lines are written by Him
He directs, He decides the dress and decoration,
The gesture and the tone,
The entrance and the exit.
You have to act well to receive His approbation
When the curtain falls
Earn by your efficiency and enthusiasm
The right to play higher and higher roles
That is the meaning and purpose of life.
-Sai Baba
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Quality of food and building the inner, spiritual temple
With the food we take in each day, we are building our physical body, a body that must become the temple for the spirit. If the matter we absorb and use for this construction is not pure, it does not allow the spirit to enter us.
Those who eat meat, for example, must understand that all the animal cells they absorb are the building blocks for their body, and when they wish to carry out noble, generous deeds, these cells refuse to participate. The instinctive impulses that belong to the animal kingdom (fear, greed, cruelty, and so on) enter humans with the meat they eat, and when people want to develop their higher Self they encounter difficulties, because the animal cells do not conform to their ideal: these cells have a will of their own that conflicts with theirs and opposes the building of their inner, spiritual temple.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Those who eat meat, for example, must understand that all the animal cells they absorb are the building blocks for their body, and when they wish to carry out noble, generous deeds, these cells refuse to participate. The instinctive impulses that belong to the animal kingdom (fear, greed, cruelty, and so on) enter humans with the meat they eat, and when people want to develop their higher Self they encounter difficulties, because the animal cells do not conform to their ideal: these cells have a will of their own that conflicts with theirs and opposes the building of their inner, spiritual temple.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Young and old souls, and psychedelic experiences
There are young souls in this world, and there are old souls. The young soul shows you how you can't do something. The old soul shows you how you can. But a young soul can evolve in this very life in the same way that a weak, skinny man can go to a gym and become a husky bundle of muscle.
Spiritual unfoldment and the growth and development of the subtle nerve system are the same thing. Most of us are familiar with the structure of the body's muscles, but how many of you are familiar with your nerve fibers? The life force flows through you along these nerve channels in a degree directly proportionate to the condition of your mind. We call this actinic force or cosmic force. This actinic force flowing out into the muscle and skin structure produces prana, or magnetism. The magnetic force in nature we call odic force. Have you ever had somebody suddenly call you up and say, "Come on, let's go to a party," when you feel tired and lacking in energy, and suddenly your nervous system floods a new force through you, rejuvenating your magnetic response? This is an involuntary response, a subsuperconscious release of actinic force.
The nervous system in a young soul is, shall we say, immature. The many, many incarnational experiences of the old soul have instilled in the subtle nervous system a strength of fiber, a spiritual maturation. Therefore, the older soul entering into meditation can sustain the force and unfoldment that one meditation carries over into another. This process is a steady building, an opening up, until finally, in a contemplative moment of cosmic consciousness, one opens to Self Realization, beyond the experience of the mind, and is able to sustain it because the nerve structure is very powerful.
So, this is the unfortunate aspect of psychedelic experience as I see it. It is especially damaging to the young soul and leads the older soul off track. If the individual taking LSD or some other psychotropic drug is an old soul, it has perhaps awakened him so that he is able to face the new situation of his consciousness with intelligence. But the reaction inhibits further spiritual unfoldments because lower chakras are wrenched open, causing severe mood swings. In the case of the young soul, he has not yet developed the nerve fiber to adjust to the awakening, to the intensity of the psychedelic experience, and his mind very often "turns off."
I have interviewed seekers who have had a few psychedelic experiences and have come through them more vibrant, more alive, and more ready to face the challenges of a new world. I have met others who only stand and look at you blankly, who have lost their desire, even their self-respect. They have lost, shall we say, the structure through which their mind force previously flowed, and it has not been replaced.
What happens to a Hindu yogi when he enters a superconscious state of bliss in which his mind opens up, turns to light, and he sees the world revolving below the state of his suspended consciousness? He has arrived at this state through many years of practice in concentration, meditation and contemplation, many years of building strong nerve fiber. But in a momentary high on LSD or any other powerful psychedelic, such as mushrooms, peyote, ecstasy or DMT, the nerve structure is strained, in a sense which we can best describe as abnormal, to allow the individual to reach this exalted consciousness. Coming out of it, the result is often a kind of shock in which the person has a great difficulty in readjusting to any kind of normal routine. Because these drugs are illegal, the consciousness of fear also has been awakened within the seeker. Fear is the first step down into the lower worlds of darkness. The next is anger.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_79.shtml
Spiritual unfoldment and the growth and development of the subtle nerve system are the same thing. Most of us are familiar with the structure of the body's muscles, but how many of you are familiar with your nerve fibers? The life force flows through you along these nerve channels in a degree directly proportionate to the condition of your mind. We call this actinic force or cosmic force. This actinic force flowing out into the muscle and skin structure produces prana, or magnetism. The magnetic force in nature we call odic force. Have you ever had somebody suddenly call you up and say, "Come on, let's go to a party," when you feel tired and lacking in energy, and suddenly your nervous system floods a new force through you, rejuvenating your magnetic response? This is an involuntary response, a subsuperconscious release of actinic force.
The nervous system in a young soul is, shall we say, immature. The many, many incarnational experiences of the old soul have instilled in the subtle nervous system a strength of fiber, a spiritual maturation. Therefore, the older soul entering into meditation can sustain the force and unfoldment that one meditation carries over into another. This process is a steady building, an opening up, until finally, in a contemplative moment of cosmic consciousness, one opens to Self Realization, beyond the experience of the mind, and is able to sustain it because the nerve structure is very powerful.
So, this is the unfortunate aspect of psychedelic experience as I see it. It is especially damaging to the young soul and leads the older soul off track. If the individual taking LSD or some other psychotropic drug is an old soul, it has perhaps awakened him so that he is able to face the new situation of his consciousness with intelligence. But the reaction inhibits further spiritual unfoldments because lower chakras are wrenched open, causing severe mood swings. In the case of the young soul, he has not yet developed the nerve fiber to adjust to the awakening, to the intensity of the psychedelic experience, and his mind very often "turns off."
I have interviewed seekers who have had a few psychedelic experiences and have come through them more vibrant, more alive, and more ready to face the challenges of a new world. I have met others who only stand and look at you blankly, who have lost their desire, even their self-respect. They have lost, shall we say, the structure through which their mind force previously flowed, and it has not been replaced.
What happens to a Hindu yogi when he enters a superconscious state of bliss in which his mind opens up, turns to light, and he sees the world revolving below the state of his suspended consciousness? He has arrived at this state through many years of practice in concentration, meditation and contemplation, many years of building strong nerve fiber. But in a momentary high on LSD or any other powerful psychedelic, such as mushrooms, peyote, ecstasy or DMT, the nerve structure is strained, in a sense which we can best describe as abnormal, to allow the individual to reach this exalted consciousness. Coming out of it, the result is often a kind of shock in which the person has a great difficulty in readjusting to any kind of normal routine. Because these drugs are illegal, the consciousness of fear also has been awakened within the seeker. Fear is the first step down into the lower worlds of darkness. The next is anger.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_79.shtml
Angels
Many people wonder whether angels really exist. Yes, they exist. They are immortal creatures made from such pure, subtle matter that nothing can reach them. They live in light and perfect joy, and they know everything except suffering. For suffering has a hold only over matter that is not absolutely pure. And an angel cannot suffer, because it is absolutely pure.
There are no angels on the physical plane; you will meet them only where the higher regions of the astral plane begin. At the boundary between the lower and higher astral planes there extends an intermediate zone where beings who work to rid themselves of all impurities live. They are still susceptible to torment from negative influences on the lower astral and physical planes, but the moment they cross this zone they become like angels.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
There are no angels on the physical plane; you will meet them only where the higher regions of the astral plane begin. At the boundary between the lower and higher astral planes there extends an intermediate zone where beings who work to rid themselves of all impurities live. They are still susceptible to torment from negative influences on the lower astral and physical planes, but the moment they cross this zone they become like angels.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Human birth is gifted to serve others
Human birth is gifted to serve others, not just to eat, drink, sleep and make merry. The best way to love God is to love all and serve all. Man's foremost duty is to serve his fellow men and make them happy.
-Sai Baba
-Sai Baba
Devoured by the minotaur
Because the materialist philosophy is based on the only knowledge that human beings can obtain via their five senses - the knowledge of matter - it is not a true philosophy but one of appearances. Appearances are obviously real, but they do not show us all of reality, and we shouldn't be taken in by them.
Appearances act as a starting point for further reflection. They can be compared to Ariadne's thread, which we must follow if we are to find our way back through the labyrinth and out finally into the open air, into the light of the spirit.
We need to work with appearances but not stop there. Those who allow themselves to be seduced by appearances face spiritual death and are devoured by the minotaur.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Appearances act as a starting point for further reflection. They can be compared to Ariadne's thread, which we must follow if we are to find our way back through the labyrinth and out finally into the open air, into the light of the spirit.
We need to work with appearances but not stop there. Those who allow themselves to be seduced by appearances face spiritual death and are devoured by the minotaur.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Monday, August 17, 2009
What a sin to kill innocent animals and eat them
You take this meat eating. Many people have to kill the animals because of your non-vegetarianism. You are responsible for the death of those animals. They are killed because you eat them. This is a sin. What a sin to kill innocent animals and eat them.
-Sai Baba
-Sai Baba
Saturday, August 15, 2009
If you want to help your friends, don't be receptive to their negative states
Even if people who are miserable can take some comfort in the thought of not being alone in their suffering, telling them when they are in tears that you understand and share their sadness is not enough to really help them. And instead of adopting the same long face as they do, you should do the opposite and nurture within yourself such great faith and so much joy that these neutralize their pain.
You have friends you want to help. Don't be receptive to their negative states, but go inside yourself to meditate on joy, and then return to shower it on them.
You say it's impossible not to share in your friends' suffering, nor to show them you're doing it. No, if you love your friends, give thanks to heaven and earth, and project yourself all the way to the throne of God. Then, all the luminous beings in the invisible world will part to let you through, saying, 'Let's allow this person to come up, because they carry an irresistible love in their heart, and we must help them to make this love a reality.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
You have friends you want to help. Don't be receptive to their negative states, but go inside yourself to meditate on joy, and then return to shower it on them.
You say it's impossible not to share in your friends' suffering, nor to show them you're doing it. No, if you love your friends, give thanks to heaven and earth, and project yourself all the way to the throne of God. Then, all the luminous beings in the invisible world will part to let you through, saying, 'Let's allow this person to come up, because they carry an irresistible love in their heart, and we must help them to make this love a reality.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Psychedelic experiences and yoga
Chemical Consciousness
In the early '60s I became conscious that more and more of the people who came to me for counseling wanted to talk over aspects of their experience in higher states of the mind, states of the mind that had been opened through psychedelic experience. Their interest was in relating these experiences to yoga and the consciousness attained through meditation. These people were highly enthusiastic about their new world, for it seemed like sort of a canned meditation, something they could get very quickly without entering into the sometimes tedious yoga training that may take years to open the individual to the within of himself. People all over the nation now are becoming awakened to the world within.
Around the same time, we had a seminar in San Diego attended by many seekers and LSD users. It seemed to us that the LSD people are almost like a new race, a race of people that have been reborn in bodies that already existed. Those who use psychedelics are different in many respects from those who have had no psychedelic experience. Their feelings are different. Their relationships are different. They are closer to some people, but at the same time they have created a gap between themselves and society. It is a gap of loneliness, because the breach between the inner consciousness and the external world has become so great that they have only themselves to depend upon. The degree of success of this dependence is another story, which brings us into the subject of yoga. We cannot say that the psychedelic experience in itself is either good or bad. It is enough to say that it is an experience that has occurred to thousands of people.
These ideas I am sharing with you are not so much for the psychedelic people as for those who have not had the psychedelic experience. I do not encourage you to go through it. Rather, I would encourage you to continue with the slower process of yoga. But I want to awaken you to the fact that there is this new group of people living with us. Their approach to life is entirely different from the one which you may have. Their perception generally is entirely different. Some of these people can look into your mind and even read your thoughts. Those who have not had psychedelic experiences will have to learn to adjust to the psychedelic consciousness. Likewise, those who use these drugs, if they ever stop, will have to learn to adjust their thinking again to the normal conscious-plane way of doing things.
I believe that the gap which has been created between "turned on people" and "turned off people" can best be bridged through meditation, gaining control of the mind so that the individual can become master of himself. When you become master of yourself, you truly stand alone in completeness, not in loneliness. In doing so, you are able to bring forth knowledge and wisdom from yourself through the process of meditation, through being able to sit down and think through a problem, ultimately seeing it in full, superconscious perspective and bring forth an answer, a workable answer filled with life. Meditation is a dynamic process. It is much more than just sitting around and waiting. It creates a highly individualistic type of mind.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_78.shtml
In the early '60s I became conscious that more and more of the people who came to me for counseling wanted to talk over aspects of their experience in higher states of the mind, states of the mind that had been opened through psychedelic experience. Their interest was in relating these experiences to yoga and the consciousness attained through meditation. These people were highly enthusiastic about their new world, for it seemed like sort of a canned meditation, something they could get very quickly without entering into the sometimes tedious yoga training that may take years to open the individual to the within of himself. People all over the nation now are becoming awakened to the world within.
Around the same time, we had a seminar in San Diego attended by many seekers and LSD users. It seemed to us that the LSD people are almost like a new race, a race of people that have been reborn in bodies that already existed. Those who use psychedelics are different in many respects from those who have had no psychedelic experience. Their feelings are different. Their relationships are different. They are closer to some people, but at the same time they have created a gap between themselves and society. It is a gap of loneliness, because the breach between the inner consciousness and the external world has become so great that they have only themselves to depend upon. The degree of success of this dependence is another story, which brings us into the subject of yoga. We cannot say that the psychedelic experience in itself is either good or bad. It is enough to say that it is an experience that has occurred to thousands of people.
These ideas I am sharing with you are not so much for the psychedelic people as for those who have not had the psychedelic experience. I do not encourage you to go through it. Rather, I would encourage you to continue with the slower process of yoga. But I want to awaken you to the fact that there is this new group of people living with us. Their approach to life is entirely different from the one which you may have. Their perception generally is entirely different. Some of these people can look into your mind and even read your thoughts. Those who have not had psychedelic experiences will have to learn to adjust to the psychedelic consciousness. Likewise, those who use these drugs, if they ever stop, will have to learn to adjust their thinking again to the normal conscious-plane way of doing things.
I believe that the gap which has been created between "turned on people" and "turned off people" can best be bridged through meditation, gaining control of the mind so that the individual can become master of himself. When you become master of yourself, you truly stand alone in completeness, not in loneliness. In doing so, you are able to bring forth knowledge and wisdom from yourself through the process of meditation, through being able to sit down and think through a problem, ultimately seeing it in full, superconscious perspective and bring forth an answer, a workable answer filled with life. Meditation is a dynamic process. It is much more than just sitting around and waiting. It creates a highly individualistic type of mind.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_78.shtml
The essence of saintliness
The essence of saintliness is total acceptance of the present moment, harmony with things as they happen. A saint does not want things to be different from what they are; he knows that, considering all factors, they are unavoidable. He is friendly with the inevitable and, therefore, does not suffer. Pain he may know, but it does not shatter him. If he can, he does the needful to restore the lost balance - or lets things take their course.
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Imagine the magnificent creature you aspire to become
There are qualities and virtues which you particularly long to have. Well, concentrate on them, and try to imagine the magnificent creature you aspire to become. You will feel your inner strength, confidence and joy intensify as a foretaste of the transformations that will eventually take place in you.
Many of you will say: 'But we see only too well how we are, and our imagination isn't going to change anything.' Keep thinking this way, and you will surely never change!
Spiritualists understand the power of thought and know how effective it can be. In their meditations they imagine themselves in the light, manifesting all the divine qualities. By thus preparing the way, thought brings them closer to their intended goal.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Many of you will say: 'But we see only too well how we are, and our imagination isn't going to change anything.' Keep thinking this way, and you will surely never change!
Spiritualists understand the power of thought and know how effective it can be. In their meditations they imagine themselves in the light, manifesting all the divine qualities. By thus preparing the way, thought brings them closer to their intended goal.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Friday, August 14, 2009
Living Two-Thirds Within
Living two-thirds within oneself and one-third in the external world--how do we do it? As soon as we live within ourselves, we become conscious of all of our various secret thoughts, all of our various emotions, that we would just as soon be without. Therefore, we distract ourselves and endeavor to live two-thirds in the external world and only one-third within ourselves. As aspirants on the path, you have to live your life two-thirds within yourself. When you are conscious of the thoughts that you don't want to think, the emotions that you don't want to feel, go deep within where they don't exist. Take awareness to the central source of energy, right within the spine itself. Feel that energy flowing through the body, moving the muscles, enlivening the cells. Then you are two-thirds within yourself, and the world looks bright and cheery all the time; the sun is always shining. Immediately, when we begin to identify totally with our thoughts as being reality, then we begin to make mistakes. We're living two-thirds in the external world.
How to strike the balance? Regulate the breath throughout the day. Keep the spine always straight. Always sit up straight. As soon as the spine is bent, awareness is externalized. We're living two-thirds in the external area of the mind and only one-third in. As soon as the spine is straight, our awareness is internalized. We're living two-thirds within and only one-third out.
What's the biggest barrier? Fear. Afraid of our secret thoughts. Afraid of our secret feelings. What's the biggest escape from fear? Go to the center, where energy exists, the energy that moves the life through the body. The simplest way is move your spine back and forth. Feel the power that moves that spine. Feel the power that moves that spine back and forth. Feel that energy going out through the physical body. Open your eyes and look at the world again, and you'll see it bright and shiny. You're two-thirds in and one-third out in awareness. You're balanced.
"Be renewed by a change of your mind." Be renewed by releasing awareness from one area of the vast universe of the mind, drawing it back into its source and, releasing it again, sending it to another of the vast areas of the mind.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_32.shtml
How to strike the balance? Regulate the breath throughout the day. Keep the spine always straight. Always sit up straight. As soon as the spine is bent, awareness is externalized. We're living two-thirds in the external area of the mind and only one-third in. As soon as the spine is straight, our awareness is internalized. We're living two-thirds within and only one-third out.
What's the biggest barrier? Fear. Afraid of our secret thoughts. Afraid of our secret feelings. What's the biggest escape from fear? Go to the center, where energy exists, the energy that moves the life through the body. The simplest way is move your spine back and forth. Feel the power that moves that spine. Feel the power that moves that spine back and forth. Feel that energy going out through the physical body. Open your eyes and look at the world again, and you'll see it bright and shiny. You're two-thirds in and one-third out in awareness. You're balanced.
"Be renewed by a change of your mind." Be renewed by releasing awareness from one area of the vast universe of the mind, drawing it back into its source and, releasing it again, sending it to another of the vast areas of the mind.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_32.shtml
Saturday, August 08, 2009
You don't have to do anything to heal the body and mind
"The Healer Within"
Actually, you don't have to do anything to heal the body and mind. If you don't interfere, the body and mind will heal themselves.
There is a healer within everybody. We don't have to do anything to get the positive things. When we stop doing the negative things, the good happens by itself.
We disturb and drain the body and mind too much. We waste so much energy-overdoing, oversleeping, overeating, over-talking. That drains you completely, so you lose your immunity.
The mind over-thinks and that leads to anxiety, worry, fear. Learn to relax. That is the yogic way, nature's way. Not to overindulge in anything. That way, you can heal yourself well.
-Swami Satchidananda
Actually, you don't have to do anything to heal the body and mind. If you don't interfere, the body and mind will heal themselves.
There is a healer within everybody. We don't have to do anything to get the positive things. When we stop doing the negative things, the good happens by itself.
We disturb and drain the body and mind too much. We waste so much energy-overdoing, oversleeping, overeating, over-talking. That drains you completely, so you lose your immunity.
The mind over-thinks and that leads to anxiety, worry, fear. Learn to relax. That is the yogic way, nature's way. Not to overindulge in anything. That way, you can heal yourself well.
-Swami Satchidananda
The self is not made to be loved; the self is made to love
Sometimes we find satisfaction in self-pity. The reason is that it is our nature to find satisfaction in love; and when we are confined to ourselves we begin to love ourselves, and then self-pity arises because we feel our limitation.
But the love of self always brings dissatisfaction, for the self is not made to be loved; the self is made to love.
The first condition to love is to forget oneself.
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
But the love of self always brings dissatisfaction, for the self is not made to be loved; the self is made to love.
The first condition to love is to forget oneself.
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
When you are relaxed your weaknesses diminish
Be earnest and sincere at every point of your spiritual quest.
Do not worry about the appearance of being good.
Accept yourself first then only others will find the strength to understand you.
When you are relaxed automatically your weaknesses will also diminish.
-Sai Baba
Sri Sathya Sai Chalisa
Do not worry about the appearance of being good.
Accept yourself first then only others will find the strength to understand you.
When you are relaxed automatically your weaknesses will also diminish.
-Sai Baba
Sri Sathya Sai Chalisa
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Plants are the first to bring life to inert matter
In order to bring movement to the motionless matter of stones, God created plants. Plants are intelligent entities, but their soul floats a long, long way from them in space. So we cannot communicate with them as we do with animals, or as we do to an even greater extent with humans, who are inhabited by an individual soul.
The first ray of God's love is manifested through plants. Plants are the first to bring life to inert matter, and they speak to it like this: 'Oh you creatures that live in stones, you have been there for billions of years, and you think you have been abandoned. But God thinks of you, and little by little you'll get back on the path of light again. It's a long way, but you will make it one day.' And they continue to work on the matter of the mineral kingdom, making it more supple and moist. Then along come the animals to continue this work of refinement. And then humans. This is how matter is enlivened, enriched and illuminated.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
The first ray of God's love is manifested through plants. Plants are the first to bring life to inert matter, and they speak to it like this: 'Oh you creatures that live in stones, you have been there for billions of years, and you think you have been abandoned. But God thinks of you, and little by little you'll get back on the path of light again. It's a long way, but you will make it one day.' And they continue to work on the matter of the mineral kingdom, making it more supple and moist. Then along come the animals to continue this work of refinement. And then humans. This is how matter is enlivened, enriched and illuminated.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
When the spirit prevails over the mind and the body
The body, the mind and the Aathma (soul) - all three are involved in the human entity. They are inextricably interdependent. When they become disparate, life loses its meaning.
When the body is subject to the mind and the mind is controlled by the soul, life finds fulfillment. When the body alone is predominant, the human descends to the level of the animal. When the mind prevails over the body and the sensory organs, the human level is attained. When the spirit prevails over the mind and the body, Divinity is realized.
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, September 28, 1984
When the body is subject to the mind and the mind is controlled by the soul, life finds fulfillment. When the body alone is predominant, the human descends to the level of the animal. When the mind prevails over the body and the sensory organs, the human level is attained. When the spirit prevails over the mind and the body, Divinity is realized.
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, September 28, 1984
Ageing
Our physical body is made of matter, and, because matter is subject to time, it wears out, decays and disintegrates. This is what we call ageing, and it's not very pleasant when we notice the evidence - the wrinkles, the white hair, the rheumatism and so on. But we are not just a physical body, and if it's in the natural order of things for the body to age we're not forced to age inwardly with it! So there's nothing much to worry about!
People who get so upset by the signs of ageing they notice in the mirror every day are generally already old inside. Instead of being concerned with maintaining what's warm and alive inside them - their heart - they identify with their body, with matter. But it is their heart, not their body, that determines whether they are young or old, and if their heart ages it's because they allow it to.
In order not to age, you must conserve your love for people and things and never lose your curiosity or interest in the rich, abundant life that's all around you."
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
People who get so upset by the signs of ageing they notice in the mirror every day are generally already old inside. Instead of being concerned with maintaining what's warm and alive inside them - their heart - they identify with their body, with matter. But it is their heart, not their body, that determines whether they are young or old, and if their heart ages it's because they allow it to.
In order not to age, you must conserve your love for people and things and never lose your curiosity or interest in the rich, abundant life that's all around you."
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Proper vision
For transforming one's life, the first requisite is proper vision. This means that one should avoid seeing what is undesirable. Having been bestowed with the great gift of vision, one should strive to see only that which is sacred and pure.
What man sees is like seeds sown in the heart. The heart determines the nature of one's thoughts. The thoughts influence one's life. Evil scenes give rise to evil thoughts. Good scenes evoke good thoughts. When sacred scenes are implanted in the heart, there will be no room for bad feelings or thoughts to grow in it.
-Sai Baba
What man sees is like seeds sown in the heart. The heart determines the nature of one's thoughts. The thoughts influence one's life. Evil scenes give rise to evil thoughts. Good scenes evoke good thoughts. When sacred scenes are implanted in the heart, there will be no room for bad feelings or thoughts to grow in it.
-Sai Baba
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Work vs activity
There is a difference between work and mere activity. All nature works. Work is nature, nature is work. On the other hand, activity is based on desire and fear, on longing to possess and enjoy, on fear of pain and annihilation. Work is by the whole for the whole, activity is by oneself for oneself.
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
When you harm yourself you also harm humanity
Although they are obviously unaware of it, many people become real enemies of humanity because of the deplorable way they live. And if you try to make them understand this, they retort, 'But what do you mean? The way I live is my own business, I'm free, I'm only harming myself'.
Well, no, the fact is, when they go out and about and come into contact with other people they darken and poison the atmosphere, and their emanations also create disorder in others.
You must understand that, for evil as well as for good, there are no barriers between yourself and others. When you harm yourself you also harm the whole of humanity, for evil spreads in waves. And the same is true for good. So, when you purify yourself and when you seek light, all of humanity and even the entire universe benefit from it.
Try to understand that, and you will feel you have no choice but to find the best direction for your life.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Well, no, the fact is, when they go out and about and come into contact with other people they darken and poison the atmosphere, and their emanations also create disorder in others.
You must understand that, for evil as well as for good, there are no barriers between yourself and others. When you harm yourself you also harm the whole of humanity, for evil spreads in waves. And the same is true for good. So, when you purify yourself and when you seek light, all of humanity and even the entire universe benefit from it.
Try to understand that, and you will feel you have no choice but to find the best direction for your life.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Adore Him so long as you have breath
God is all-powerful, God is everywhere, and God is all knowing. To adore such a formidable limitless Principle, Man spends a few minutes out of the 24 hours, and uses a minute idol or image or picture! It is indeed ridiculous, it is practically futile.
Adore Him so long as you have breath, so long as you are conscious. Have no other thought than God, no other aim than knowing His Command, no other activity than translating that command into action. That is what is meant by Surrender. Render yourself unto Him.
- Sai Baba
Adore Him so long as you have breath, so long as you are conscious. Have no other thought than God, no other aim than knowing His Command, no other activity than translating that command into action. That is what is meant by Surrender. Render yourself unto Him.
- Sai Baba
Solar religion
A religion is only true in so far as it resembles the solar religion. And the religion that Jesus brought was a solar religion, whatever Christians may say; they have not yet understood his teaching correctly. Yes, when Jesus says, for example, 'Be perfect. as your heavenly Father is perfect', how can we have any idea what divine perfection is like? Only by taking the sun as a model.
In order to become truly perfect, we should not even take saints or initiates as models, only the sun. Of course, initiates will give you the example of great virtues, but they know they are nothing compared to the sun. That is why they express themselves with humility; they defer to the sun as their example, for they know that whatever they may do, their light, warmth and life cannot compare to the light, warmth and life of the sun.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
In order to become truly perfect, we should not even take saints or initiates as models, only the sun. Of course, initiates will give you the example of great virtues, but they know they are nothing compared to the sun. That is why they express themselves with humility; they defer to the sun as their example, for they know that whatever they may do, their light, warmth and life cannot compare to the light, warmth and life of the sun.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)