Women and Happiness

The women of a country should be happy, healthy and holy. Every woman has a very crucial role to play in their individual uplift and the uplift of their homes and societies around them. 

Young girls and women alike should learn the technique of mental calm, social harmony and contentment with their livelihood. They should also know that joy can be attained only through service to those in need and in distress without any expectation of the benefits that may follow from the kindness shared. They should learn to lay aside the egoism that poisons the service activities. Even those serving for years tend to extol and promote themselves as the founders of institutions and guardians of the poor and needy. The benefit and joy from any act of service is the act itself. The fruit of service is the removal of egoism, not its multiplication.

Baba (thought for the day)

Thinking of young girls first I remembered the school girls sitting nicely and for hours waiting during Baba Darshan. 

That is when Baba told her in the dream, that her father was not knowing what he was doing and destroying himself and if she would go back to him, he would destroy her too. Before he had asked her in the dream if she would like to go to his school, but we had not time and space to even reflect on it afterwards, it was just out of question. Without support and with a hostile father, who didn't know what he was doing, it was not possible to stay and we had no time and room to look at it. I had to go back and begin new, find work and I couldn't leave her alone with Baba, not if I had at least some time to spent with her until she got used to it.

That means she was growing up in the biggest city in our country and she is in competition with all the other pretty girls of this city, they all want to look as good as possible. The weekends she gets out at midnight and comes back in the morning, that is her type of service and that is what youngsters do here.

Grief is Illness and it has to be Cured

If only the culture which is based on the Vedas, and expounded in the Ramayana and the Bhagavatha, is practised with a true understanding of its value, people can ensure for themselves perpetual joy or bliss. The Vedas exhort: Sathyam Vada; Dharmam Chara (Speak the truth; practise righteousness). What is Sathyam and Dharmam? The Ramayana and the Bhagavatha reveal this knowledge through story and example so that anyone, however poor or illiterate they may be, can understand, practice it and benefit by it. 

Grief is the illness; it has to be cured. The medicine is prescribed in the Vedas; it is taught in the scriptures; it has to be discovered and taken in; then the experience of bliss will certainly follow. Of this, there is no doubt.

Baba (thought for the day)

That is the illness which has to be cured. The reason is carelessness and not living Baba's teaching. 

Westerners go to him, take advantage of it, feel good, because he is only love, go on cheating, abusing, lying in his name, to get their desires fulfilled, because they go to him with new age attitude that if we just wish, it will become true. 

It is practically based on a naive concept of wish fulfilling thinking which has no reality in it, based on level confusion and if it doesn't work as they tell it should, we will get the answer, 'can you blame me?' And if it doesn't work out for us and the family, they will tell, that is your karma, your mistake. 

They destroy your life and don't even get aware of it. That is my experience of American devotees going to Baba. 

I have met nothing more foolish than the new age ideas which think they just can wish and think about it and it will be there, not based on reality, the whole thing understood on the wrong level. 

This guy was swearing by everything what was holy to him that it was true and it was not so. 

That is Tamas, upside down, but it is still kind of a shock to realize how people live the opposite of what Baba is teaching and are not aware of it and still think they are Baba devotees. 

The Vedas and holy scriptures teach to rather die and sacrifice for someone else than to cheat, to hold up high other lives and low our own, to always be ready to give and to sacrifice. 

If we go and live Baba's ideal and meet others and find out later on that it was just taking advantage of it, makes everything turn into foolishness. He was thinking all desires will get fulfilled. But only until he had to do a self effort, afterwards he went to his sister's place and she should take care, as he was not able to do it ... 

He is about the worst example of devotee and perverted thinking. He was just taking advantage of it. 

The result is grief, and not healing grief, but it is causing grief.

So we went to Baba and instead of being healed of grief, we walked into it and the result - only grief.

The question is just how that had happened.

Reap the Harvest of Bliss

Even the best of doctors cannot save a person, when death calls.
Everyone has to necessarily respond to the call, whether they are a bride or bridegroom on a ceremonial seat or on a pilgrimage to a holy place. Death brooks no delay, death accepts no excuse. Tears do not move its heart, nor can threats keep it away. 

So plant the seed of any one of His thousand names that appeals to you, in the well-prepared soil of your heart. Let it sprout in the silence there. Water it with love and service to fellow beings; guard it against pests and cattle, which are the outward dragging emotions and passions. You can do this by erecting the fence of repetition of the divine name and meditation (japa and dhyana). Then, you can reap the harvest of bliss (Anandam).

Baba (thought for the day)

The main reason I joined the life music festival this weekend was to get rid of the negative energy which was in the air after talking to that person I had known long ago and who is working at one of those exit firms.
It was about death and it felt heavy and I had enough of it, because it always was in my thoughts again. I was sick of it and the best way to change the energy, if silent meditation doesn't help is to enjoy and dance together, at least in my experience. Of course, singing also could do it, but as I hardly slept the night before, I was just too tired to attend the meeting.

That were the reason I went to thoughts and going on such an event was a good way to change the mind. Anyhow as I didn't attend for a while, it was even for me a surprise, I just had enough of sitting at home and waiting for I don't know what ... and it was such a beautiful day, it would have just been a crime to stay indoors.
I am anyhow fed up of that waiting for I don't know what..., but actually that is not true and also just passion. We know we wait for the conclusion of a certain time period on the worldly level and on the spiritual level it will be the transcendence of time.
That is what we are waiting for, even if it feels sometimes like waiting for ... we don't know what. In reality we know why we are waiting and also we know for what, it is just difficult to describe and not possible for the mind to get it, because it goes beyond the mind. It is about transcendence of time.
As soon as possible can be now in two or in ten years ...

Health, Joy and the Treasure of Happiness

Often people seek health, not for its own sake, but to cure or prevent an illness. For illness means lots of grief, so everyone is after health, and health means joy. Truly speaking, everyone's native element is joy. When you are calm, you are naturally happy and you experience peace and contentment (Anandam, Prema and Shanthi). 

Just like a fish which is thrown out on the bank of the lake wriggles and struggles to enter the water again, every being is struggling to win calmness, peace, contentment and joy, every single day in their lives. Each and every one of you can win joy, only through your own efforts. Happiness is an inner treasure; the best way to win it is by practising detachment and discipline.

If you want to build a plan to live joyfully, you must first plan for Peace and Contentment as the essential building blocks.

Baba

 

Joy is still our nature also when we are sick, but when sick it is more difficult to experience it.

If we are in the mind we are thinking of the past expecting something better in the future. And it is a dream or an illusion, because it doesn't get better, it is just the mind.  

Listening yesterday to it that felt exactly like the experience I had with my father after his death. It hit as insight like a flash. You know how..., it feels like, 'that's it', for one moment everything is answered.

My father after his death came in my dream and wanted to show me something. He was at a dark place and he couldn't get out of it and the light was far away like a small star. I noticed that it was dark, but I still didn't get it why he couldn't get out of it, was it because of sickness or depression?
I didn't get the whole picture until yesterday. What he made me aware of is the reality of the mind.

And that how we get answers and understand our inner view as insight and cognition and not just a view without meaning. 

It is the picture of the mind.

There was a bridge built by mountaineering and work, but he was in the river bed and couldn't get out of it, that was sad, in the moment of death all that effort during his life was in vain.
The strong bridge he had built all his life was of no help in the river bed. It was just pain to see it and I remembered painfully how illusion was standing above his head when he planned to build a beautiful house in Spain and I didn't find a way to tell him and to warn him. When I wrote it to him much later it was already done and too late.

Witness and Transcendence of Time

There have been many manifestations of the Lord in Bharath. For teachers have to be present where schools are and where children eager to learn are found.

You cannot have the teachers in one place, and the school in another; the blackboard in one place and the bell in another. There are mica mines near Gudur; you cannot ask why they are not found near Peddhapuram. It is so, that is all.

So too in India, there is a rich mine of spirituality and so engineers have to come here to operate it, extract it and prepare it for use. That is the reason why more manifestations of the Lord appear here. The atmosphere here is also conducive for the practical application of new modes and methods of extraction and use for the benefit of all humanity.

Baba

 

Beautiful India, India is a rich mine of spirituality and the West can try and try to get it and they still don't get it.
There are more manifestations of the Lord. And what does he mean with the practical application of new modes and methods of extraction and use for the benefit of all humanity?

Baba is traditional, it is very old knowledge the 'Thou art That.

Today was beautiful weather and I decided to follow an email and to go to a weekend life concert, dynamic meditation for a change.

I have changed. Because some years ago going into dynamic meditation I was that focused on 'not this and not that', 'neti, neti', I couldn't let go. I had learned it was Baba in darshan and was in that time period and it had to come to a conclusion I guess.

I was scared to forget it again, that means I remembered it non-stop and went into that inner freedom, it is the best experience ever. And today I met more people than I have met in the last years all together. People I know from seeing, but I never was open for socializing.

I went and danced and that was the end of it, it was all about going beyond the mind and meditation only.

The Divine Spark will Vitalize us

Have faith in the Lord or the Divine Spark within you, it will vitalize you.

Some people bargain with God, they promise to give Him costly articles or their own hair if a certain illness is cured or a certain calamity is averted. Lord Venkateshwara or any other form of the Lord does not need your hair. Shaving off your hair indicates that you have lost the delusion that physical beauty alone counts. You take the effort to make yourself wilfully ugly and demonstrate that it is inner charm and harmony that really matters.

The hero is he who does not beg or cringe or flatter or fawn. He knows that the Lord knows best. If it is His will, He will grant food and raiment; if not, let His will prevail. That is the path of absolute surrender.

Baba

 

Life is the best teacher. And it is about inner view. It is not what we think it is. It is an illusion to think that inner view reflects on the level of the eye and our senses and that it just will be clear and all will be answered. Inner view is in our awareness, like getting aware of the difference between light and darkness.

With the inner view we get aware of the difference between Sathva, Rajas and Tamas. If we see something we think it is good in the inner view as the total opposite of good, we face the reality how we can make things look at the outside different than they really are, but we see it out of the inner view.

It is quite a challenge, it is the level of realization. We can also think it is a reason to celebrate that we are actually able to see that difference inside like that and that we can get aware of it.  

It is not about differences, it is about truth and it has to do with seeing and that is connected to light and colors.

If there is an ocean of light, there is also the opposite, the question is just how we get the experience of the ocean of light and how we get aware of the opposite.

It is the challenge to put inner seeing into words, what is kind of difficult, because it can lead to wrong conclusions and it can be misunderstood.  

If we take it as it comes and make the best out of it, we just go on no matter what obstacles are there, and if we still have to understand it, we have to go on, because that is meant with no matter what obstacles are there, even if it sounds strange that we go on, even if it doesn't make sense first, but we hope that it will make sense in the end.

Be in the World, yet Away from its Tentacles

Illusion (maya) envelops the good with the blemish of the bad. It makes evil glitter with the shine of the good. 

Discriminate to the best of your capacity and develop your capacity to discriminate. Struggle to win, that is the best that you can do. Your conscience knows well the source of joy and happiness. It will prod you towards the right path. You must take it as your guide and not disobey it, every time it contradicts your whim or fancy. 

There is no need for you to retire into a forest or a cave to know your inner Truth and to conquer your lower nature. As a matter of fact, you have no choice to exercise your vices there, so the victory achieved there may not be genuine or lasting. Be in the world, yet away from its tentacles. This is the victory for which you deserve congratulations.

SSB

Illusion is easier to understand see out of the extreme example of the past two days. In our today's so called modern thinking and especially in my country we have 'exit firms', sick people go the way of legalized suicide to end their lives and it is called dying with dignity. 

That guy I knew from ten years ago, when he went into health care education and I was impressed at his age, he was already about fourty.
I asked him therefore, if he had finished it and he said yes, but for some reason he had lost the job and now he worked occasionally and in that moment he mentioned one of those 'exit' places, but he said it was dying care and to me that sounded like completly different. 

Illusion (maya) envelops the good with the blemish of the bad. It makes evil glitter with the shine of the good. 

ABC, Always be Careful - the Dark of Night

You may be sitting on a soft cushioned sofa in a safe, air-conditioned room, but your heart may be burning with unspeakable anxiety, distress and fear. 

The body is akin to the cart and the mind is the horse. Now people give first place to the cart. The body and its needs are given more importance. This is incorrect. 

The sages have known the mine of bliss in the human heart, and have discovered methods to develop and excavate it. They have clearly spelt out that if Mother Earth (Bhoo-Matha), one's physical mother (Nija-Matha), the sacred cow (Go-Matha) and Mother Scriptures (Veda Matha) are revered, nourished and fostered and used as best as they should, then happiness is certain and liberation is assured.

SSB

We can say that we are sitting on a soft cushioned sofa in a safe room, but the heart may be burning with anxiety, distress and fear.

The last night felt also not okay and the reason was not as aware as the day before, it felt like I hardly slept at all. 

To get aware of the inner view and to see that a person we know and we believed to be spiritual, has death above the head, that is kind of awkward. It needs some thinking over it to understand it right. It was yesterday all day on my mind and it is still present today. 

The mind could get to all kinds of wrong conclusions. 

He mentioned that he did take care of dying people, but for me it was understood on a spiritual level as caring of someone who is dying or as hospital care.

But the reality of what it really was hit somehow at night in the inner view and it was not only one person but many and it was not about caring and comforting someone dying, but cutting short their life span. 

There are courses we can do to assisting dying people and some devotees do it as seva, it is possible to do it on a job base. 

I didn't ask him what he did, because I thought it was that type of care of dying. 

As I know now it was a wrong conclusion and at night in the dream the reality of his work was reflected with the right conclusion.

A guru takes care that we get to the right conclusion.

The Smile of Victory and the Lions

Why are you put-off when you see wrong?

Why are you provoked to react or respond when you see evil? Remember, evil has in it the potential to become good and good has in it the liability to turn evil! There is no fire without a wisp of smoke; there is no smoke, without a spark of fire. No one is fully wicked, fully infallible or fully perfect. Take the world as it is, never expect it to conform to your needs or standards. The treasure that is undoubtedly the most precious in the universe is the quality of equanimity and unruffled-ness (shantham). Practise this and make it your natural reaction. The Goddess of Victory smiles only on the heroic, those who make lions of themselves; those resilient, brave and self-confident warriors. If you secure the Grace of the Lord, then you will be reinforced with so much strength, that you can carry out even the most difficult tasks.

SSB

 

I have met an old friend, who works in health care and he is assisting dying in one of those exit places.

I was glad that we met and talked, but at night in the inner view it didn't look good at all. It felt very scary, it was about violent death and above his head was death in person in black with a reaper.

That is not the kind of inner view which gives us peace of mind. And if he would not have said that he works for one of those places, where we can exit life because we don't find it anymore okay to be alive, if we have reason enough and they call that dying with dignity. 

At least in the inner view it had not much to do with dignity, but with violence and death was above his head, how awful, how awkward. 

That was not a very comforting feeling. If he would not have said that he worked for one of those places, it would have been even more scary, because I would probably think that death will come and get him soon. But it was not about him, what was in the air is the group, many people died like that. 
And at the same time it was violent death, that means killing, if consciously or not, that is how it felt.

Sublimate the Three Gunas

Human beings are a mixture of Divinity, Demon and Human (Daiva, danava and manava).

The wickedness of the ogre can be overcome by the quality of mercy and charity (daya), sympathy and empathy. Pride can be overcome through self-control (dama), detachment, and renunciation; Egoism can be overcome by following the code of conduct (dharma) prescribed by the impartial sages, and by channelizing your instincts and impulses into fruitful action.

When these three Gunas are thus sublimated, Manava (human) is transformed into Madhava (God).

Make the best use of your Guru. Acquire from Him the skills for winning peace of mind and bliss (shanti and santosha), the Grace of God, the lessons of spiritual practice (Sadhana), and the fruits of good and holy company (sathsang); do not fritter away your energy and time, seeking sensory satisfaction in ungodly company.

SSB

 

The time when Baba was leaving the body I was in Prasanthi Nilayam and felt during the whole time nothing but scared. It was not on the level of a happy and joyful time we had experienced in the ashram before. It was heavy and first I wanted to leave and go sightseeing to just get away, as others did, but there was a kind of energy and I knew I had to stay.

It was that sad that I felt constantly scared. 

Already when we arrived we made a detour and it took a long time to get there, it was in the midst of night. The ashram was closed and tired from the flight, I went into a hotel room, I just had to sleep and it was in front of the big hall.

I had not been there for about eight years and it felt that different to the ashram I had been used to, it never felt normal and okay.

It was like arriving on a place I didn't know and somehow it didn't feel okay. Everything felt scary, that whole situation. Baba was in my dream and said, he would get me out of that in about a week time and that if I would not go to Bhajans I would miss it.

Therefore, I had to get up and went. It felt that depressing I didn't want to get up and go out of the door. It felt even scary to walk to the ashram door. It felt like strange people around, I had never felt that strange before and I was scared to ask for the room, we were donors and I also felt scared of people. And when I asked for the room, they didn't give me the room, because I was a single lady. That had made sense until now, but in this moment it didn't make sense, because of being scared of everything and also the people I would have to share the room with. It was kind of upside down. Because there was constantly that feeling of being scared in the air, I couldn't possibly be in a dormitory with eight women. So I staid in the hotel and it was every day difficult to walk to the ashram just to get inside.

Lost Taste, too Bitter to be Enjoyable

For you to relish the dish (pappu) it must have enough salt (uppu). But if you add a little extra, it spoils the dish. So too, life becomes very difficult to bear, if you have too much of desire. Limit your desires to your capacity and even among them, have only those that will grant you lasting joy. 

Do not run after fashion and public approval and strain your resources beyond repair. Also stick to your own code of conduct (Dharma) that regulates your life or the stage you have reached. Do not place your needs and joy first. Consider the joy of others as more important than your own. Respect elders and cultivate cordiality between brothers and sisters, teachers and students, employers and employees. Respect the culture of your land and bring honour to the land you were born in and live in. Nourish your parents, revere them. If you do so, the Lord of the Universe will guard you against harm.

SSB (thought for the day)

My ex eats nearly saltless, whatever reason. 

The time I knew him he liked the opposite, as spicy as possible. That is how it feels, life has lost its taste, too much waiting, too many obstacles and nobody cares.

When we didn't feel good in the past I went to Baba and felt better again. 

I never asked for material stuff like others did, because I had to get answers or I had to understand the conclusion of a time period. I was waiting and waiting and it went on waiting, that was the feeling of it and desires had anyhow no place, because I focused on the higher self. 

I knew it was possible to get the experience. Yogananda Paramahansa confirmed it in his book 'Autobiography of a Yogi' that it was possible and that was discrimination first, being certain that it is possible. That is discrimination, if we know that the higher self is there and, therefore, I went on waiting.

The only focus was to get that experience and it had to be experienced in my life, therefore, I kept the focus, but it felt very uncertain, I even stopped to read books, to watch TV, to be sure I would be focused only on 'that'. And third it means we have to go on no matter what obstacles are there.

Clean the Mind every Day with Meditation

The attachment to sensual objects and to the pleasure they give is like the soot that sticks to the inside of the chimney and dims the light. Clean the chimney by namasmarana (repetition of the Lord's name) every day and the flame will shine for you and others. 

Also do good deeds and be in good company. Proper atmosphere is very essential for the development of a spiritual aspirant. 

That is why spiritual seekers in the past left their homes and lived in the hermitages maintained by the sages. This is akin to keeping a pot of water immersed in water. That way, the water in the pot will then not be lost through evaporation. Therefore be careful, that the success you have won in the promotion of virtue, in the conquest of baneful habits and in the assumption of regular disciplines, are not frittered away by trite company, loose talk, cynical criticism or lackadaisical effort.

Baba (thought for the day)

If we repeat a mantra every day, we get more relaxed, experience silence and that is cleaning the mind. 

And it gets easier to analyze, right, if we see it with more inner distance, whatever, it should be easier to understand and especially if it is about higher knowledge. 

The proper atmosphere is more kind of a problem, because we live in a normal social environment, no ashram and no spiritual community. That seems to me sometimes too heavy.
As it is very important for spiritual aspirants to be in the right company, I sometimes just don't get it. In the ashram we were together, but it was not the same coming back and my family was gone, they went to Spain. 

I had always the feeling that there were only empty houses left, coming back here and I didn't know what I should do in that environment. 

It had to do with the family, but it was not clear why and it had to do with TM and that was also not clear why and it had to do with all the rest and that is still not clear.

The Light in the Dark of Night

In the dark night, the Moon can be seen through its own light only. The Lord is all Love, so He can be seen only through Love.

He is Sathyam and Nithyam (Truth and Eternal), and is beyond all falsehood (Mithya).

When the dust settles upon the glass of the lantern, it dims its light. Attachment to sensual objects and to the pleasure they give (Vyamoha) is the soot that dims the light of love in your heart. Remove the delusion and the fact that you have become old or diseased, or that you are weak and debilitated. Do not count the years and grieve over advancing age and shudder like cowards afraid of death. Remember, despondency is hell, elation is heaven. Have always some work to do and do it so well that it grants you joy!

Baba (thought for the day)
 

Have always some work to do and do it so well that it grants you joy.
That is probably the work I do here, just to keep busy. In the beginning it didn't make sense at all. But in the mean time I got that many insights by doing it, that there is no question about the value, it is great to listen, think it over and absorb.
It has to be seen in our own experience, our own life and that is only possible if we think it over and as he said yesterday, analyze it. It took me some time to go through all that stuff coming up in the mind as soon as we have to face the fact that we should think it over, there is some resistance also, we don't want to do it, I guess because we don't know if we understand it. 
I began with the last sentence, with the conclusion. But how does it feel, if we look first at the beginning of that thought for the day?

In the dark night, the Moon can be seen through its own light only. The Lord is all Love, so He can be seen only through Love.

It was in the dark of night that the inner reflection was present as light in my dream, many years ago, but that doesn't matter on that level. And it was love and it felt very beautiful. The higher self was reflected as light, beauty and love. As soon as I remembered it, the feeling changed, because now I can see it in the light of my own life and experience.

Understanding Motives and Actions in a deep Manner

A thirsty passenger asked the water carrier at an up-country railway station in India whether the leather bag in which they were serving water was clean. The reply the passenger received was, "As regards cleanliness, all I can say is that the bag which contains the water is cleaner than the bag which takes it in!"

This statement conveys an important lesson. You must care more for the cleanliness of your mind and intellect than that of the external body. Instead of criticising others and finding fault with the actions of others, subject yourself to vigilant scrutiny.
Understand your motives and actions in a deep manner and invest time in correcting your own faults. Do not be like the dancer who blamed the drummer for the wrong steps.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

We have to see the motives and actions in a deeper manner and invest time in correction our own faults.

To get there we need to analyze it and find right answers. But first this words felt like a challenge, because I had to think it over. It is probably always like that, but this time I got aware of it. And after thinking it over, it looks different again, but I am also very tired.

But if we meditate regularly we take care of the mind. And if we don't, the mind takes care of us. It seemed to me without meditation it was not possible to get free of the past impressions in the mind. 

After I began with dynamic meditation for a while I didn't do anymore silent sitting meditation and as I am in a job and the HR-manager likes to boss people around, she was kind of intimidating, if I wanted or not. I tried to ignore or to accept it, but both ways didn't work. 

It is a job commitment, therefore, it is loading. It felt upsetting and therefore, one day I began to meditate again, at least in the morning. 
Since my mind is not anymore thinking about the HR-person. But coming back from work I often feel that tired that it feels like a rather sick mind state and it takes time to get normal again and to recover from it. I don't think I enjoy it very much.

But meditation helps to get distance and to clean the mind of past impressions.

Being the Caretaker and not the Owner

A millionaire pays income tax with tears in his eyes. A Headmaster joyfully gives up the furniture and laboratory appliances of the school when he is transferred to another place. Why? Because the headmaster knows and believes that he is only the caretaker, and is not the owner. They are not attached to these articles, for they know that these belong to the Government.

So too, every one of you must feel that your family, your house, your fields, your car are all the Lord's property.

You are just a trustee and must be ready to give them up without murmur, at a moment's notice. Sacrifice does not mean that you should not attach value to things. You must indeed care for everything.

But remember, that all of them are transient and the joy they give is very trivial and temporary. Know their real worth, do not overestimate them and develop attachment to them.

Baba

 

When we are employed and have a job, we would never think that the business we work for is actually ours, but if we are the owner it is a different matter. 
My parents were the owner of their business and there was pride and attachment, but it didn't feel like that. We didn't know what it was, it was just somehow strange and once there was a precipice in the air, but without analyzing it we don't get aware that precipice means 'pride'.

After my mothers death there was an avalanche in the dream and is the same, without analyzing it we don't get to the insight that it is attachment. And even if I know that it is attachment, it still needs to be understood to be able to see it in the right context and that is a constant growing level of inner awareness.

We have seen and experienced it first in the mind and we need to analyze it to be able to see it in the light of the self.

There were difficulties to understand it right and it was not possible to talk freely to my parents, but it was all on the level of the mind. In following the inner master, we see that he is in dreams and insights and thinking it over we get a different feeling about it, we begin to understand how it really was and we have to fight to the end, it means it has to be analyzed until we are able to see it in the right light to be able to finish the game. 

Analyze the Defeat, become Heroes!

The whole world is very agitated and full of discontent, anxiety and fear; filled with petty faction and hatred. In order to calm and silence it, you must have enthusiasm and courage. When defeat and disappointment stare you in the face, you must not give way to weakness or despondency. Never condemn yourself as inferior or useless. Analyze the defeat and find out the reasons in order to avoid it the next time. You are not zeroes, you must become Heroes!

You should have the muscles of iron and nerves of steel. Then your resolution itself will generate the necessary confidence and you will win over the opposition.
For the crop of life, courage and confidence are the best pesticides and manure. Be like lions in the spiritual field, rule over the forest of senses and roam fearlessly with full faith in victory.
Baba (thought for the day)

 

How do be become heroes? Baba tells us here how we get over defeat and disappointment when they are staring in our face.

Analyze the defeat and find out the reasons in order to avoid it the next time.

That was just the missing point with that TM example I have mentioned before. When I got in touch over the Facebook with an old, so called TM-'friend' (yogis are our friends) and analyzed how I got into that TM Thing..., which didn't work well finally, he said he didn't understand it.
Because in his mind there should be no problem, just meditate. He thinks he knows how to become a heroe and not only that, but at the same time he thinks he is able by that to enlighten the world.
But it is very exhausting, if we try to analyze what went wrong and we notice that it is not possible, because we cannot understand it.
It is also frustrating to feel that we cannot understand it. The problem is, if the source got lost and without that we got aware of it, however that happened in our individual life, we cannot understand and analyse it. 
As the source has to do with relationships, if we cannot find that relationship level, the source gets lost and we don't even know why and that had happened with TM.

In analysing that disappointment we have to realize how the source got lost.

In yesterday's thought for the day we met again the three levels, listen, think it over and absorb.

What I am doing just now in writing is thinking it over, but first I read it or listened to it and now I try to reflect on the thoughs coming up in my mind about that very subject and that is of course, colored by my experience and my life.

Thinking it over is putting it into practice and action. Writing is therefore an action. If I would only listen to Baba's thought for the day, I would not be able to analyze it and to find the hidden meaning. It is always about truth and truth is hidden, therefore, if we don't delve into it, we will not get to that truth.

The Key of Spiritual Truth and Lessons from Discourses

The last day of a Saptaha (seven-day discourse) is called Samapthi. That word means, according to most people, the final function; but it has a more profound meaning too. Samapthi means the attainment (Aapthi) of the Samam (Divine or Brahman).
That is the final fruit of Shravana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana (Listening, Recapitulation and Assimilation) of key spiritual truths and lessons from discourses. In the worldly sense, it means the conclusion of a period of time. In the spiritual sense, it means transcending time!
The lesson that all spiritual discourses wish to convey is that you must give up your pursuit of sensory objects, if you seek lasting peace and joy.
Material wealth brings along with it, not only joy but grief as well. Accumulation of riches, multiplication of wants will lead only to alternation between joy and grief. Attachment is the root of both joy and grief. Detachment is the saviour.

 

In spring 96 we went to Baba and were fortunate enough to listen to his discourses he was holding at that time every day for a long period of time.

It was actually great to relax and to not be bothered by the crowd of people just listening to his voice and the words he said. But the real meaning of what was happening during those discourses is coming to me only now by this thought for the day.

It was about that final profound meaning in it. If Samapthi is the attainment of 'samam', Brahman. What does that mean to us in the West, we don't understand the expressions and have no feeling for it and to be able to get the meaning, we should have not only a notion, but a clear feeling about it.

Maybe I can describe it in remembering that beautiful time, listening to Baba's voice and recalling what happened on the experience level to get to the right conclusion.

 

Samapthi means the attainment (Aapthi) of the Samam (Divine or Brahman). That is the final fruit of Shravana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana (Listening, Recapitulation and Assimilation) of key spiritual truths and lessons from discourses. In the worldly sense, it means the conclusion of a period of time. In the spiritual sense, it means transcending time!

Contemplation of the Beauty of Nature

Spend your time in the contemplation of the beauties of Nature that are spread out before you in the earth and sky. Enjoy the green expanses of the crops, cool breezes that waft contentment and joy, the panorama of colored clouds, the music of the birds, etc.
Sing the glory of God as you walk in Nature, along the bunds of the fields and the banks of the canals.
Avoid polluting the air with vengeful boasts. Do not spend time in hateful talks when you see God has created such wonderful evidences of love! Living in these placid surroundings, you should not disturb the sky with your shouts and curses. Any seed needs water and manure to grow and yield a rich harvest.
So too, the tiny sapling of spiritual yearning for liberation from bondage also needs water and manure. Just a wise farmer will care for his crops dearly, you must take care of your habits to reap the harvest of liberation.
Baba

This thought for the day feels that close to my parent's, because he talks about nature. 

My mother was in constant contemplation of nature and it is like the sunny side of it and I got aware of it in writing a dairy and it felt like self-realization. But the other side, the shadow was also there.

By thinking it over, we get aware of it. 

Baba is inside the parents and by establishing that inside relations to our inner master, who is connected to our parents, the memories of the childhood in my parent's house are also present. 

It feels that close to the insight present during the time I had been still living in my parent's house. And that was the time when I got aware of the background self-realization, it was in the air. During writing my diary I got aware of the presence of that beauty in nature and also do to the discipline of my parents and I guess that resulted in the first feeling of self-realization. We have to see it as a gift of divinity to get that opportunity of self-realization. And whatever we do, we give some of it back to our divine parents.  

As my parents worked with nature, my mother was constantly contemplating about the beauty of nature and they liked to live on beautiful places as well, house and garden where their focus and hobby.
She said we should listen to the sound of the crops in the cool breeze, she liked the rustle of the wind and if there was a picked flower somewhere, she put it always in a small vase in the kitchen's window sill in reverence for nature. That beauty and love in nature was always present in her, she loved nature.
And when writing my diary that was in the air. It felt like the soul, the spirit and it was great and beautiful. 

But for me getting aware that it was about self-realization, it became a challenge of knowing the reality of it and knowing the right path how we get to self-realization. 

Five Minutes of Anger can Damage five Generations of Relationship

Set right your habits, purify your conduct and cleanse your behavior. Even one bad habit can destroy all health, happiness, charm and joy. Control yourself and do not yield to the temptations of friends or social conventions and become prey to bad habits. The body is the temple of the Lord. Keep it in good and strong condition.

Also be aware that it can be damaged from qualities such as anger, hatred and greed, or from sloth, sleep and inactivity. When you get angry and/or violent with anyone, quietly repeat the Name of the Lord to save you from your anger. Drink a glass of cold water, or lie down in a bed until the fit of fury passes through. When you are angry, you abuse another and the other person does the same, so tempers rise and heat is generated which causes lasting injury. Five minutes of anger can damage five generations of relationship, so be careful.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

In a study circle we take a spiritual theme, like in this thought for the day, it is about the influence of bad habits and we express what comes to our mind in respect to that issue and seen in our own experience.
On the path to self-realization we follow the inner master, the lessons are in our family, in our life and in our past. It is the same principle, first we just watch, but that is inertia and dull, it is Tamas, we have to think it over and put it into practice to be able to go beyond passion and Rajas to reach finally the level of Sathva. It needs action to become insight and to be understood on that higher level. 
Therefore, I recall the all that what comes up with the word 'anger' and we will see if we get in the end to the right conclusion?
To get to the right insight means not that it is bad, it is just as it is, a mirror and an effort to get the lesson. If five minutes of anger can damage five generations of relationship and we know that there had been anger, we should be careful. There is no other means, but our own experience and our own life to prove how it was in our situation and how many relationship were damaged by five minutes of anger ...     
 

With spiritual practice or meditation we set good habits. It felt very good to meditate regularly and I liked the change in my life, not only on the friend level, what was not real, but on the good habit level. 
What disturbed in my family that were often kind of 'feelings present' and it was not possible to find the reason for it.

We could not talk and if we tried we were cut short or something of that kind.

The adults were held up high and the children were not taken serious and as soon as we began to become adults it got more and more difficult. I  just would have liked to know why and with following the inner master, it is coming up in the inner view, but getting aware of it we can only by thinking it over again. 

The Holy Farmers and the Nourishing Harvest

Truly speaking, the farmers are holy ones, for they bend under the weight of the service they do. With hands raised in prayer, they toil night and day, converting dust and dirt into nourishing harvest of grain for all people to feed on.

Similarly, the Lord will be very pleased with the harvest of virtues, for it also truly sustains the world. Embark on this holy task from today and make the fruits of your efforts very sacred! Worry and grief will always be there – something or the other from the past, present or future will bother you whether you are awake or asleep. Do not give up your worldly duties, but do them with the Name of the Lord on your lips, inviting the grace of God with gratitude. Then worry and grief will vanish and you will have peace! Also do not involve yourself in the affairs of others and get so entangled that you cannot extricate yourself.

Baba 

 

We grew up in love for nature, but we got used to the city, somehow strange, but that is how it worked out. If we compare ourselves to farmers and we have to take care of the harvest of virtues, because it also truly sustains the world...

 

Do good, be good, see good, that is the way to God. (Baba)

 

What does make the fruits of our efforts sacred? In reality I should live a much more material life and people think that I was stupid to always go for higher values. As he tells us to leave the result to him only, we will see one day if that harvest is really that good, because on the worldly level it doesn't look like that at all.

I am not a person spending all my time in prayer, I meditate and I loved to dance, but both was for me meditation and therefore, sacred.  

 

Worry and grief will always be there – something or the other from the past, present or future will bother you whether you are awake or asleep. Do not give up your worldly duties, but do them with the Name of the Lord on your lips, inviting the grace of God with gratitude. Then worry and grief will vanish and you will have peace!

Evolve to your own Code of Conduct

There is no use in asking a doctor to advise you about the plans for the building you propose to raise, nor is it wise to ask an engineer to assuage the pain. Go to the proper Guru and learn from him the cardinal principles to guide your lives. Take time to understand, internalize and practice – what is your code of conduct, what does it allow, what does it condemn, why should it be followed?

You must evolve your own code of conduct (Athma Dharma) centred on the Divine, appropriate to your situation, which is based on the firm belief on the omnipresence and omnipotence of the Divine Self which pervades the entire Universe.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

This weekend was sunny and in the city was a festival with fireworks. There were lots of people and parties, also around the lake. I just mixed with them, remembering the nice times in the past when we were still dancing enjoying the loud music, the people dancing, mixing with the crowd and after the firework the party went on. Finally I went on my way back, got some Asian snack and eating it not thinking of anything bad, as soon as I finished I got sick. My first thought was that I had to throw up, the second, how awful, because all over were people.

But finally I sat down on a step and was gone and fainted into nothingness. The next thing I knew was a nice police lady who asked how I felt. I don't know how long I had been gone.

I sat up and I needed some more moment, I just had to sit and wait a bit longer. After I had convinced them that I could take care of myself again and that it was not too bad, they left. Some people around had called them, there were scared and it was nice to talk to her. Somehow I got back, on the edge of getting sick again, but somehow it took me all day to recover. 

When the Soul Shines in its own Divinity

Liberation is attained when the Soul shines in its own divinity. 

Liberation is not a nation or a suburb in paradise where aristocratic residents secure good sites. 

Liberation is the condition of one who has shed delusion. Shed delusion, then grief will be destroyed and joy established. Removal of Grief (Dukha-Nivrithi) and Attainment of Bliss (Ananda-Prapthi), happen at the same time. Your mind is the villain, its other name is desire! When you pull out all the yarn from a piece of cloth, there is no cloth. So too, pull out all the desires from the mind; the mind disappears and you attain freedom! 

Grief and joy are the obverse and reverse of the same experience. Joy is when grief ends, grief is when joy ends. Just as you must set the table for two when you invite a blind person for dinner (the blind person and his/her companion), so too, grief and joy are inseparable.

Baba (thought for the day)

Last night we had a talk about discipline and it is kind of a hot topics, but it ended well, even though it seemed kind of a miracle to me first, but I guess it depends the knowledge and it was somehow great. Whatever it was, but it felt like blissful ...

Behind that self-discipline which is required to get to sathva is also a loaded tensed energy. Listening and thinking we understand it is just the first step and the second is to think it over and to get aware that what we first thought as all understood is not that and it is a challenge and there is movement and energy and Rajas, it is passion and hot and only afterwards we get to the experience of 'that' and Sathva, we get to the light and the reflection of 'that'.
It is about: Who am I? And it is about the answer: 'I am that'.
'From darkness to light'.
 

It was a great experience last night, but today it felt kind of up and down, probably because I enjoyed it last night. Usually I don't do that. I go into something else or I write and I don't just enjoy of it felt that right to be in that environment, I got upset where I was, because it just doesn't feel right. 

After our study circle it felt peaceful like Prasanthi when people were sitting and waiting for Bhajans or Baba Darshan, it was great. 

We had a lively study circle and in the end it was about 'you and I' and that we are 'we' and is He and that is the circle. That was great, because in that moment he was present, it was real in that instant.

It felt that quiet and peaceful alive as it did in Prasanthi, when people were waiting for Darshan and we were all in Baba's presence. 

It was a great conclusion and it was based on the thought for the day, if we just listen it is Tamas, dull and dark and we have to move into the light. But the question was, how we are doing that. In just staying dull and not doing anything? In not responding and refusing to communicate or thinking it is all done anyhow, what is delusion? We have to integrate it ourselves and that means we have to think it over. 

And that was the point about self-control and that we cannot just talk out our mind, because in thinking it over passion is coming up. And someone was feeling it that passion and not happy about it that we talked about a circle and discipline and self-control and that is just what is happening. The people who are used to the study circle and participate always they took it easy, we are laughing and sharing and having a good time.

And after going round and round in the circle, we finally got to that conclusion, you - all the people present and whoever and I are We and we is He. He is the circle. 

It was great how it felt. That was incredible to feel that peaceful and awake inner presence of Baba in the midst of the group. We have to get that experience, there is no other way.

Transform the Impulses which agitate the Mind

Real Bliss (Ananda) can be won only by means of the transformation of the impulses which agitate the mind. It is not to be found in wealth. Many often think that the rich people are happy. Ask Me, I shall reveal to you that they are full of grief, for they come to Me in large numbers for relief. A strong physique will not give anyone any peace, nor does scholarship, asceticism or rituals. 

Only constant dwelling on the Name of the Lord gives that Unshakeable Peace, unaffected by the ups and downs of life. You can call someone a Dheera (hero), if they truly take to the Name of the Lord. Keep the Form of your favorite Lord in your mind. Live always in the presence of that form-filled Name, ever vigilant in your mind. Then your life will become one continuous worship of the Lord.

Baba (thought for the day)

How do we transform the impulses which agitate the mind? And what is bliss?

We have to find it in out own self, but how do we do that? 

The process is easy, we close the eyes and begin to meditate, it means we watch the breath for a little while until we notice that it gets finer and that with each inhale it is 'So' and with each outhale it is 'Ham'. We just go on easily watching the breath. 

If there are thoughts coming, we don't get disturbed by it, we just go on watching the breath effortlessly. If we notice that we are in thoughts and not anymore with the breath. Just go effortlessly back to the breath, watch and when it gets finer get aware that it tells Soham... and that about twenty minutes. 

After twenty minutes we stop watching the breath and take some time to allow the mind to get outward again. During meditation our focus it directed inside, therefore, we should not just jump out of it, but allow the mind to change direction. Important is that we do it every day, twenty minutes morning and evening.

We should just see that we do it and if we don't have time, we can shortcut it and count it as meditation. Important is to get used to it. That is what we can do in direction of inner peace. 

Only constant dwelling on the Name of the Lord gives that Unshakeable Peace, unaffected by the ups and downs of life.

We had an interview with Baba and he said, that all mantras are okay and he said So - inhale, Ham- exhale and that it means 'I am that' or 'I am Divine' or 'I am Shiva'. 

It is important to constantly dwelling on the name of the Lord, 'Soham', or whatever mantra, we are used to meditate with. Mantras are sounds, they have only a positive influence on our being and help us to realize, who we are. 

Enjoy the Circle

There is no need to fight against the fundamental delusion of body attachment with overwhelming force and argument.

Delusion will disappear, if you just sit quietly for one minute and analyse for yourself your own experience with this transient world.

Jnana (Wisdom) is not Apraptha-prapthi, something that is acquired from somewhere, like the gift of money from a donor to a person who did not have it.

Wisdom is Praptha-Prapthi! It is like forgetting about the ten-rupee note that you kept in a book you were reading. You then lent that book to someone and later asked him for a ten-rupee loan. He just gave it to you from the book, which is your own money. Similarly the Guru brings out the treasure of wisdom, from your very own hridaya pustaka - book of your heart!

Baba (thought for the day)
 

Do you know what Praptha-Prapthi means? My delusion will disappear when I understand it ... and that takes certainly more than a minute.

But that much I understand, that wisdom is different from worldly things and that you give back to me, what I gave you before - by hazard? Why do I ask for that loan?

Conclusion, the Guru brings me a treasure which was already mine and it was always there in my own book of the heart, but why did I ask for it?

Because I was not aware of it?

There is no need to fight against the fundamental delusion of body attachment, not with force and arguments, but certainly with discrimination.
 

Delusion will disappear, if you just sit quietly for one minute and analyse for yourself your own experience with this transient world.
 

The body can go on without self-knowledge, only our own self will not be happy and feel empty, if self-awareness is not there. And it seems the body can even appear as a prison to the divine.

No need to fight against it, but ... delusion will only disappear if we sit quietly and analyse ... and now we have words we do not understand the meaning and that minute can last a long time... 

Delusion will only disappear, if there is discrimination and if we cannot understand the expressions, how will we be able to understand the meaning and how will we be able to discriminate, if we do not understand it?

Why it is that difficult? It would be all easy, if we would understand it, but we do not understand it, therefore, it is not easy.

What happens is something else and that part is in our own mind.

There is a process, it means:
 Listening, thinking over and absorb. (Tamas, Rajas and Sathva)
We have to face our own mind (nature).