The Teaching is not a supermarket

People approach the Teaching as if it were a supermarket from which they can buy all that they need for their stomachs and bodies. But the Teaching is given to cause radioactivity and decentralization of self-interest and to make people learn the science of sacrificial service.

As long as one approaches the Teaching as if it were a supermarket, he will not profit spiritually from it, although he can use whatever he collects from the supermarket to entertain himself and others and thus waste the treasury of the Teaching. Wasting the Teaching can produce sad consequences due to the following reasons:

a. You lose your magnetism.

b. You turn into a hypocrite.

c. You exploit people for your own pleasure.

d. You blind your inner eye and inner ear.

e. You accumulate heavy karma.

f. You fall into isolation.

g. You are born into unfortunate circumstances in your next incarnation.

Just as people like to collect items of interest for their home, they also tend to collect ideas and information from the Teaching to be added to their mental collections, whereas the Teaching is only to be used for the actualization of their higher potentials and to cause transformation in their life.

The Teaching must be approached also with the intent to learn the following:

• How to love
• How to lose self-interest
• How to serve
• How to increase joy and freedom
• How to liberate people

........

The Teaching is not a supermarket but a center for transfiguration and mastery. As yet, most of the places of worship are not centers where people can learn how to renounce their glamors, illusions, maya, ego, and vanity, or learn how to step on the not-self. They are not yet centers where people enter the path of discipleship. Places of worship are usually places of emotional entertainment and abodes of personal "security". Some of them are mainly occupied with easing the path of glamor for others or occupied with taking advantage of others through psychic glamors and manipulative techniques. Many still refuse those people who point out their wounds and mistakes; they are still absorbed in the material world for most of their life.

It seems very strange that most people use the Teaching like some sort of personal medication. They "take" the Teaching because, after they hear uplifting lectures and read a spiritual book or two or have a good meditation, they experience the following:

• They feel very good.
• They enjoy life more.
• Their house is in better shape.
• They can make more money.
• Their family loves them more.

These results are good, but the goals of the Teaching extend beyond a person's personal pleasures and comforts, beyond his business and his home. We seldom hear people telling us that they love the Teaching because of any of the following reasons:

1. Their field of service to others improves.

2. Their viewpoints change.

3. Larger fields of labor open to them, and they have become extremely busy serving in them.

4. They experience self-forgetfulness and have begun to understand the meaning of self sacrifice.

5. They see greater light in people and see the efforts that others are making to make this world a better place.

6. They are taking many risks to be of service to the Teaching.

7. They are realizing their weaknesses and glamors and see how these prevent them from becoming a better servant to humanity.

These seven points signal a sincere approach to the Teaching, indicating that a person is beginning to understand the Teaching. It is important to serve the Teaching instead of making the Teaching serve us.

...............

The Teaching is the Law - the Dharma. It embodies the living fire given to humanity for regeneration and transformation. Every act which distorts the Teaching and causes harm to the Teacher is an unforgivable slander against the Source of Light.

Christ once said, "...but whosoever speaks against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come." The Holy Spirit is the Source of the pure Teaching, the Source of Light given to humanity for regeneration and transformation.

The Teaching is the Ageless Wisdom given throughout the ages by this Source through Great Ones in different words and experiences and according to the level of those to whom it is given. Those who are touched by this spark of light will see the pure Teaching passing like a beam of light through all wisdoms and religions given to humanity. It is this beam of light that must be discovered. It is found only through tolerance, inclusiveness, love, compassion, and through a life lived for the good of all.

-Torkom Saraydarian

The Ageless Wisdom

Light is the matter of creation

It is light that informs us of fire's presence. Yes, for light is the vestment of fire. And, insofar as all forms of clothing are material, we can say that light is actually matter. Above, in the sublime regions, light represents matter and fire represents spirit. This is why it is said that God, who is the primordial fire, created light first and then used light to create the world. Before light there was fire, and light is therefore the matter of creation.

You may be wondering whether it's possible for fire to exist without light. Yes, the original fire, the non-manifest fire is not luminous. In order for fire to be accompanied by light, it has to manifest.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

In God’s creation, there is nothing like sorrow

In God’s creation, there is nothing like sorrow. Whatever God does is for the welfare of humanity. Some people feel depressed and wail as to why God gave them troubles and sorrows. But, sorrows and difficulties are our own making. God does not differentiate or cause trouble to anyone. Sorrows and difficulties are only your feelings. Everything in God’s creation is meant to provide happiness and convenience to the living beings.

That is what I have been repeatedly emphasizing. Whether you are in sorrow or enjoying happiness, always think that everything is for your own good. One has to develop a firm conviction that whatever God does is for one’s own good and not for putting one to trouble.

-Sai Baba Divine

Discourse on 17th October'2004

Psychic and physical pollution

Scientists are joining forces worldwide to alert public opinion to the risks run by humanity as a result of their pollution of the air, the water and the earth. But does anyone stop to consider that asphyxiating fumes, gas escapes and toxic products spread in the psychic world too?

Many present-day illnesses are due not only to the pollution of air, water and food but to psychic pollution. If the psychic atmosphere we are immersed in were not so polluted, it would be easy to neutralize all external poisons. The ill is first and foremost inside.

When you feel strong inside and in harmony with yourself and others, it's as if currents of energy were running through you, throwing off impurities - even on the physical plane - and your organism succeeds in defending itself better.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

If you insist on wages, you become a servant

People pray to God to relieve them from pain, grief and loss to confer on them wealth, health and strength; but, if you develop an intimate attachment to Him and make Him yours, He will manage to give you all that you need.

Do not demean the relationship into bargaining; give me this, then I shall give you this in exchange. If you insist on wages, you become a servant. Become His own. He is provider for the idler, the insane, the shirker; can he not provide for you?

-Sai Baba

Source: SAI VEDA, P-21.

Whatever you love, you are

If you want money more than anything,
you'll be bought and sold.

If you have a greed for food,
you'll be a loaf of bread.

This is a subtle truth:
whatever you love, you are.

- Rumi

Value of the intellect to the detriment of the heart

There are many highly educated people in the world with highly trained intellects, and that's good. But that is not what will save humanity; quite the opposite, for it is not the nature of the intellect to display kindness, patience or generosity. On the contrary, those who have a highly developed intellect often try to deceive others, to control them, exploit and enslave them.

Look at how all these highly gifted intellectuals behave, how often they become critical, scornful and wily. You will say, 'Oh, that's because they are ill-natured.' No, the fault lies with the education they received, which places value on the intellect to the detriment of the heart and so reinforces people's lower nature. They are given weapons without being given the ideal of improving themselves, and then, of course, they use these to satisfy their most basic appetites. When will these 'educators' decide to give people knowledge that will allow them to work on controlling their lower nature?

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

We think that the enemies of light are so powerful that they are running the whole show

We sometimes think that the enemies of light, the dark forces, and evil are so powerful that they are running the whole show. When this impression is given, it creates inertia, disappointment, and hopelessness in us.

Actually, the contrary is true. It is Divine consciousness, Cosmic consciousness which has ultimate power over everything.

There is a great angelic organization which fights against the dark forces. This organization consists of millions and millions of beings, both on earth and in the heavens. Specifically for our planet, it is very significant that the army of the Forces of Light are under the command of Christ.

As the dark forces try to attack a person, a family, or a nation, angelic forces are ever ready to give help. They come to your assistance once you shift yourself toward their direction and create some kind of contact with the Forces of Light. Knowing about this creates a kind of balance in our consciousness.

-Torkom Saraydarian

Battling Dark Forces, p.51

Man must know that, which if known, all else is known

Man has become artificial, crooked, twisted out of his normal shape. He has left behind the simple natured ways and made his mind a lumber - room for ideas, worries, anxieties and terrors. He can live on very much less, with much greater joy for himself and others. If only he remembers that he is a treasure chest with the Divine spark in it, he will be more loving and useful.

There must be a Divine purpose in life. Man must know the way to attain God, must be led and guided to attain him, must be educated to rid himself of distractions on the path, must know that, which if known, all else is known. The rest is all secondary, incidental and unnecessary.

-Sai Baba

Source: Sai Veda (SathyaSai Advises Inspires Vivifies Educates Dispels All doubts)

Creating a harmonic ambience

The atmosphere, the ambience in which people find themselves, is an important factor in bringing out either their good or their bad side. This is why you must immerse yourself as often as possible in an ambience of peace, harmony and light. Of course, its effects often last no longer than the time you're immersed in it, but at least for a few moments your lower nature is reduced to silence, while your higher nature expands. And by dint of repeating this experience, your higher nature will one day predominate.

Some people consider that toning down their lower nature is a sign of weakness; they feel much better giving vent to their aggressive instincts and their desire to dominate - in letting their wild animals out, in fact! But then these wild animals cause a lot of damage and devour their children, in other words their good thoughts and feelings that are not yet firm and strong. So these wild animals need to be restrained a little, and this is what the disciples of an initiatic school seek to do, thanks to the harmonious ambience they strive to create.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Does hell really exist? Is there a Satan?

There is no eternal hell, nor is there a Satan. However, there are hellish states of mind and woeful births for those who think and act wrongfully--temporary tormenting conditions that lift the fiery forces within. Aum.

Hell, termed Naraka, is the lower astral realm of the seven chakras below the muladhara. It is a place of fire and heat, anguish and dismay, of confusion, despair and depression. Here anger, jealousy, argument, mental conflict and tormenting moods plague the mind. Access to hell is brought about by our own thoughts, words, deeds and emotions--suppressed, antagonistic feelings that court demons and their aggressive forces. Hell is not eternal. Nor is there a Satan who tempts man and opposes God's power, though there are devilish beings called asuras, immature souls caught in the abyss of deception and hurtfulness. We do not have to die to suffer the Naraka regions, for hellish states of mind are also experienced in the physical world. If we do die in a hellish state of consciousness--burdened by unresolved hatred, remorse, resentment, fear and distorted patterns of thought--we arrive in Naraka fully equipped to join others in this temporary astral purgatory. The Vedas say, "Sunless and demonic, verily, are those worlds, and enveloped in blinding darkness, to which all those people who are enemies of their own souls go after death." Aum Namah Sivaya.

-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_363.shtml

Discrimination

Discrimination is an essential part of your approach to the Teaching. In choosing reading material for example, you may wonder how you can know whether or not a book contains a fantastic Teaching without reading it. The answer is that when you have a sense of discrimination, you "smell" it before you read it. A dog smells a piece of meat to find out whether or not it is rotten and will not eat it if it is. If he ate the meat without smelling it first, he would poison himself and it would be too late for him to find out that it was spoiled. Similarly, by reading a "rotten" book, you have already polluted your consciousness. A sense of discrimination saves you from reading the book.

If your sense of discrimination is not very active, read a sentence or a paragraph and then toss the material away if your intuition tells you not to read it at all. You must develop the sense of discrimination or intuition. Do you drink a cup of liquid to find out what it is? First you smell it. Then you may dip your finger in the cup and taste just a little. Or you may send it off for analysis, and so on. Before you read a book, you must know who the author is and what kind of life he has lived, what his philosophy is, what religion he practices, and what are his goals in life. All of this information can tell you whether or not to read his book.

A person once brought me a book with a fantastic cover. I knew the author was a man who used various drugs and encouraged others to do the same, so I said, "I don't like to read books written by this author." The person replied, "Well, you are a prejudiced and narrow-minded fanatic." I told him, "Even with such accusations, you cannot make read that book." Years later the person became a drug user. When he finally saw his own destruction, he searched for help from various organizations. Eventually, after losing his job and his wife, he came to me and said, "You know, it was that book which ruined my life." "You are a fanatic," I said to him, reminding him of what he had said to me in the past. "Well, he said, "I withdraw my accusations; you were right." But he realized this only after a great tragedy.

Discrimination saves your life. Try to develop the sense of discrimination by all possible means. Purify your nature, and your sense of discrimination will grow and unfold.

Beware of those who advise the use of drugs in conjunction with the Teaching and meditation.

Beware of those who think that life is a joke, a purposeless drama or comedy.

Beware of those who are "prophets," "sages," or the "incarnations of Great Ones."

Beware of those who use you for their own separative policies and who manipulate you and use your resources to climb to higher positions.

Beware of those who praise you, flatter you, or bribe you. They will lead you into an undisciplined life.

The Ageless Wisdom never encourages showing off. It encourages humility, simplicity, and inner work - inner transformation.

-Torkom Saraydarian

The Ageless Wisdom, p.31,32