Man has been enslaved by money. People live a superficial, hollow, artificial life. This is indeed a great pity. One should seek to possess only as much money as is most essential for his living.
The quantity of riches one must own can be compared to the shoes one wears; if too small, they cause pain; if too big, they are a hindrance while walking. Money too has to be with us only just enough for a life of physical and mental comfort. When we have more, it breeds pride, sloth and contempt for others.
In pursuit of money, man descends to the level of the beast.
Money is of the nature of manure. Piled up in one place, it pollutes the air. Spread it wide, scatter it over fields - it rewards you with a bumper harvest. So too, when money is spent in all the four quarters for promoting good works, it yields contentment and happiness in plenty. But today, such deeds of renunciation and holy thoughts are absent.
We pride ourselves today as being 'modern'. Does modernism involve giving up morality and justice? Or, allowing the senses to run amok? Or, blindly running after countless desires? No. Modernism means self-control and self-confidence.
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, July 17, 1981
Supermundane I, 55. Urusvati knows how to bring joy. This quality is contained in the disciplined will. The realization of joy grows through conviction, not through the acquisition of things. There is no condition that cannot be turned into joy. When We speak repeatedly about joy We evoke it as a great reality. One cannot imagine Our Abode without joy. The most tense battles are filled with joy. Without it there is no action. To elucidate the meaning and value of joy is to resolve a great physiological principle.
The ignorant connect the sensation of joy with a healthy digestion or with success in life, but joy is greater than health and success. It can also exist amidst sickness and humiliation. Such a feeling is developed not only through many incarnations but also from a wisely spent sojourn in the Subtle World.
People encumber themselves with objects not only on Earth, but also in the Subtle World, where each unnecessary object will become a heavy load. Equally intolerable is unrestrained, foolish creativeness in the Subtle World. There one can create so much ugliness that it will follow one through all lives. Joy cannot be born when dirty tails are dragged along. Joy is about the future and cannot live in the past.
It should be understood that We wish to explain joy as something creative and inspired. Joy is a reliable magnet. We want people to know where their panacea is. They can conduct a better and higher communion in joy. They will find a firm co-worker in joy. They will wish that the world might live in joy.
We can affirm that despondency will not cross the threshold of Our Abode, for joy lives there. Let people remember that no one can deprive them of their joy. Even a machine works better when it is used with joy. Decidedly, everything can be set right and improved, and nothing can close the way to perfectment.
For Us it is a festival when We see that Our co-workers have understood the shield of joy.
-Agni Yoga
In reality, none of our possessions and none of the beings we are attached to belong to us indefinitely. We are constantly at risk of losing them, and when we do lose them we must call upon all those forces within us that are able to help us endure the loss. These forces are found in light, disinterested love, humility and sacrifice. So why not seek them immediately and consciously?
It's difficult, when everything is going well, to convince humans they should concentrate on what is essential in order to prepare themselves for the ordeals to come. For they will come, that is certain; no one is spared. So do not wait for poverty, illness or misfortune to arrive before you seek spiritual direction. If you are already well armed, not only will you overcome them, you will also be strengthened by them.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
You are born again and again, seeing, doing and experiencing what you have already seen, done, and experienced. You should realise that you are born not to be born again. You should see and experience that by which your life will find fulfillment.
Once you have experienced the Atma, you do not need to experience anything else. That is the oneness of Atmic principle. In order to experience this eternal principle, you should give up body attachment and understand the truth that the Atma in you is the same as the one in others.
-Sai Baba
It is legitimate in ordinary life for human beings to express and defend their opinions, even very eccentric ones. Yes, as long as people have no knowledge of the eternal truths of initiatic Science, it is important for them to assert themselves, to question and challenge each other. By crossing swords and making sparks fly, they may end up closer to the truth.
But once you have entered an initiatic school where you are taught the great cosmic laws, it is no longer appropriate to argue and impose your personal views. In society, differences and confrontations are fine: it is necessary to have lots of thinkers, investigators and critics who analyse, theorize and debate. Once you have discovered the truths of initiatic Science, however, you must no longer waste time in debate. Strive only to put these truths into practice.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Brotherhood, 529. Habit is second nature-a wise proverb indicating to what an extent habit dominates man. Precisely, habits render a man immobile and unreceptive. One can suppress habits, but it is not easy to eradicate them. People are continually encountered who boast of their victory over habits. But observe the daily routine of such victors, and you will find them slaves of habit. They have become so imbued with habits that they do not even feel the weight of such a yoke. It is especially tragic when a man is convinced that he is free, whereas he is really shackled in the fetters of his habits. It is most difficult to cure a sick man who denies his illness. Each one can name such incurable ones among people known to him. Yet in order to assimilate the concept of Brotherhood, mastery of existing habits is indispensable. Under habits We have in mind not the service for good, but the petty habits of selfhood.
It is Our custom to test those who are approaching the Brotherhood on liberation from habits. Such testings must be unexpected. It is best to begin with small habits. Man is often concerned with defending them more than anything else. They are considered to be natural qualities, like birthmarks. Yet the newly born have no habits. Atavism, the family, and school foster the growth of habits. In any case, a routine habit is an enemy of evolution.
-Agni Yoga
One day an acorn said to an old oak: 'My heart is full of love, and I am going off to do good in the world.' The old oak shook his head and replied: 'Don't be in such a hurry. Go down into the earth for a bit and develop yourself. When you are a beautiful tree, you will shelter birds, you will feed the animals of the forest, you will provide shade for people and inspire painters.' 'You are old and tired,' said the acorn. 'You understand nothing of youthful enthusiasm. Farewell, I'm leaving.' He stood proudly at the side of the road, ready to leave, when a pig passing by saw him and had him for lunch!
This is what happens to young people who are presumptuous and imagine they can change the world without having studied and prepared themselves: they are eaten up by the first pig that comes along. They must understand that we can only help others according to our abilities and knowledge, and that this demands humility above all else.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
It is a fact that negative emotions wear out our body, and worries separative and selfish thinking cloud our minds. Meditation releases light upon these three levels, and we start to regenerate our vehicles and radiate vitality, peace, and serenity. Meditation makes you more able in your daily duties and works because it increases your right judgment, sharpens your power of observation, increases your control over your body, quickens your actions and makes them more accurate.
Meditation gradually cleanses you of your glamors to such a degree that you are no longer the slave of your emotions and their effects. Because of this you do not leak energy, you waste no time, and you do your work better and in shorter time.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Every object in the world has got certain unique qualities. The quality that is the vital essence of the object reveals its Dharma. For instance, it is the basic quality of fire to burn - burning is its Dharma. When the fire loses its capacity to burn, it ceases to be fire and becomes mere charcoal. Sweetness is the inherent quality of sugar. A rose flower has the natural quality of exuding fragrance.
In the same manner, for man, the quality of Ananda (bliss) that flows from his heart is his inherent Dharma. But man today, for the sake of external achievements, forgets this inherent nature.
For all, whether they are educated or not, there is one common Dharma: They should extend to others the same honour and regard which they expect others to show towards them so that they may feel happy. We should not do to others anything which if others do to us will cause pain and unhappiness to us.
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, March 26, 1988
Depending on the circumstances, pride and humility are considered either qualities or faults. What are they really? From the spiritual point of view, you could say pride makes humans poorer, while humility makes them richer. Yes, just look at the attitude of proud people: they puff themselves up and are full of themselves, whereas humble people make themselves empty, and it is precisely this emptiness that attracts fullness. For wherever a vacuum occurs, a force rushes in to fill it.
You have to be humble to attract the Lord, for he cannot visit where the containers are already full: in order for him to enter, you have to have made yourself empty. If you say, 'My God, I am foolish and you are wisdom, I am poor and you are wealth, I am weak and you are strength', you are creating an empty space within yourself, which the Lord will hurry to fill. Whereas, if you boast about your virtues and your abilities, you will never receive a visit from the Lord; he will say to you, 'Well, since you're so pleased with yourself, stay as you are, you don't need me.'
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
As soon as we start on the path to enlightenment, we begin to wonder about our own personal life, and that becomes very important to us even to the point where sometimes it could make an aspirant rather selfish, because he becomes more interested in himself, his own personal life, than people around him.
This is one of the things on the path that really should be avoided, and again, a complete change of perspective is needed. We have to change our perspective and begin to realize that beautiful body of the soul which has been growing through the many, many lifetimes that we have spent on the Earth. It's an indestructible body, and each lifetime it grows a little bit stronger in its inner nerve system. That is called the soul, or the psyche.
This body has been in existence for some thousand years or more on this planet, through the reincarnation process, and it is rather mature when the individual asks for the realization of the Self. It has lived so many lifetimes and gone through so many different experiences that in its maturity it wants its last experience on this Earth, that of Self Realization.
So, therefore, our individual existence, our individual life, should be identified with the immortal body, not with the physical body, not with the emotional body, not with the intellectual body, not with the astral body, which of course, is the instinctive-intellectual body, but with the body of the soul that has come along and had one body after another. It's come along on the physical plane and had a physical body. Then it was overshadowed by an astral body. Then it was overshadowed by another physical body. Then it was overshadowed by an astral body. Then it was overshadowed by a physical body. And the layers went onto the body of the soul--the instinctive, the intellectual, the physical. And now, in its maturity, the layers are coming off again.
We drop off the intellect. We drop off the instinctive actions and reactions. The only thing we want to keep is the physical body and the body of the soul. And that is the path that we are on. And when this begins to happen, when the beautiful, refined body of light and the physical body merge as one, we see light all the way through the physical body, right into the feet, into the hands, through the head, through the torso, through the spine. We're just walking in a sea of light.
This inner light is so beautiful. All day long my head has been filled with light. It feels that if I were to reach up and put both hands around the top of my head, there wouldn't be a head there. It feels like there is nothing there. It just goes on and on and on into endless space, as I look back up within the head. When I look into the back of my neck, I see an array of, they look like, wires, and these, of course, are the nerve currents that run through the spinal cord. They're all bright and active and scintillating, drawing energy from the central source of energy. And, of course, if you looked into the central source of energy, what would you see? You would see light coming out of nothing. That's what it looks like, light coming out of nothing.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_8.shtml
"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." The kingdom of God represents the highest ideal to which a human being can aspire. When you place yourself in the service of this ideal, you attract all blessings.
Everything you may wish for, apart from the kingdom of God and his justice, in other words, apart from light, love, generosity and brotherhood, can only weigh you down, make you poorer and make your life more and more difficult. Perhaps after tasting certain pleasures or achieving personal success you will feel satisfied for a few moments, but you will soon tire of it, and you may even have to pay dearly for that moment of satisfaction. That is why these words of Jesus: 'Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well' are said to be the absolute quintessence of initiatic Science.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Re-examine all you have been told in school
or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever
insults your own soul; and your very flesh
shall be a great poem.
- Walt Whitman
Man ruins himself by greed and lust, worry and fear; he falls an easy prey to his insatiable thirst for a happy life. He does not know the source and spring of happiness, which lies within himself; he believes he can get it in plenty and quietly by running after the mirage of fashion or fancy, excitement or entertainment. He thinks that floating on the roaring, raging torrent of the world will help; but that only gives him un-bearable tossing and nausea.
Man is born for high destiny as the inheritor of a rich heritage. He should not fritter his days in low pursuits and vulgar vanities. His destiny is to know the truth and live in it and for it. The truth alone can make man free, glad and bold. If he is not prompted by this high purpose, life is a waste; a mere tossing on the waves, for the sea of life is never calm.
-Sai Baba
Radio, television and newspapers all make such a fuss over material success! But why give so much importance to the successful, the wealthy, the business tycoons? I’m not suggesting they are not interesting, but such an emphasis on their success makes others who are less fortunate feel inferior and unworthy of attention. This inevitably leads to their jealousy, resentment and hostility, and what problems for society!
Nor is this good for those who have been placed on a pedestal. They are convinced they have made it to the top and are invincible, when a fall is always possible. If humans were shown that it is more important for them to exploit their inner riches, society would be much better off.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
It is not a big problem or a laudable achievement to feed the little stomach and find a few feet of space to sleep. One can manage to live until the call of death releases one from bondage to the body; the greater problem is how to live like a hero, as master of the inner enemies - lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and hate; how to train the mind, how to listen to the dictates of the Intelligence rather than the senses, and accept Dharma and Brahman (Righteousness and the Absolute Reality) as the two guide-lines of life.
-Sai Baba
With love there is no painful reaction; love only brings a reaction of bliss; if it does not, it is not love; it is mistaking something else for love.
When you have succeeded in loving your husband, your wife, your children, the whole world, the universe, in such a manner that there is no reaction of pain or jealousy, no selfish feeling, then you are in a fit state to be unattached.
-Swami Vivekananda
The Lord is the supreme poet, the first cause, the sovereign ruler, subtler than the tiniest particle, the support of all, inconceivable, bright as the sun, beyond darkness. Remembering him in this way at the time of death, through devotion and the power of meditation, with your mind completely stilled and your concentration fixed in the center of the spiritual awareness between the eyebrows, you will realize the supreme Lord.
-Bhagavad Gita 8:9-10
Those who have received the gift of a beautiful voice should know they possess a great treasure, thanks to which they can work wonders. But singers are often like spoilt children; they don't consider how valuable their talent is, and, most importantly, they don't reflect on the best way to use it. 'Which is what?' you will ask. To wrest humans from their mediocre, petty preoccupations, and inspire in them the wish to embrace a new life, dedicated to beauty and light. And then the names of these singers will be recorded in the book of life. It will be noted: they have opened hearts, enlightened minds and saved souls from tribulation and death.
All activity born of a disinterested idea and placed in the service of a divine cause possesses the seed of immortality. Those who are conscious of this law acquire true wealth, for winning a soul to the light is higher than anything else.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
The disciple must do regular meditation. Meditation is accumulative. Through meditation, you create a sphere of magnetic light around your head and around the place where you are sitting for meditation. This magnetic sphere attracts higher inspiration and devas who bring spiritual impressions to you from greater centers. The sphere of energy in the room attracts benevolent devas and this sphere turns into a source of energy, peace, and inspiration.
If you do not keep your meditation regular, this sphere of light around your head and in the room dissipates and vanishes. Then you must build it again when you restart your regular meditation. Also, Higher Beings may lose interest in you because of your instability and lack of persistence.
-Torkom Saraydarian
