Sunday, September 29, 2013

In Blame Forgivness is not Possible

No manifestation of the Lord needs any publicity. What do you know about God? Is your faith unshakable?
You praise Him when things go well, and blame when things go wrong. Even before your devotion ripens, you strive to lead others, and plan for subscriptions and associations; all this is mere show which brings more spiritual loss than gain. When you start publicity you descend to the level of those who compete in collecting clientele, decrying others and extolling themselves.
Remember, where money is calculated, garnered and exhibited to demonstrate one's achievements, God will not be present.
God comes only where sincerity, faith and surrender are valued. Sing with yearning for Him. Hours of shouting do not count; a moment of concentrated prayer from the heart is enough to melt and move God.
Baba (thought for the day)
 
It was kind of special to get inside aware of how the Lord is present and tells us that it is the right level. It was about light only, it was a beautiful light blue and he said inside, if it is light blue you can go on. That was the only indication we had.  
 
No manifestation of the Lord needs any publicity. What do you know about God? Is your faith unshakable?
 
And Baba said in the interview, just think about God, but how do we think about God if we don't know the Lord?
I began to repeat my mantra or Soham to somehow be in touch with 'that', because I didn't know how to get otherwise in touch with the Lord and even less how to think of him, because he is bigger than the biggest and smaller than the smallest.
But I knew it had to do with the higher self and light.
It had been in my dream as an inner vision, quite some time ago and I was on the way and also with Baba to get answers, because I didn't understand, why it was possible that the higher self was reflected as white light in the dream as vision and it seemed very important, the most important thing we could think about and we had never heard of it before. It was white light and beauty and love.
What do we know about God?

God delights in Watching

" You must be the solution. It is that simple. You must be the solution.  
When I come to your planet, I am sitting in a human body, and a woman's body.  But the presence of My Self is so certain that I am unchanged.
Do you know what I do when I come here?   
Because this is what you must do in your life. When I come upon you, can you imagine how incredibly boring it must be for a being like myself to come to a planet like this and chit chat about 'Why won't you focus on God instead of problems'?  
Do you know why I am not bored?  Because in my experience of Me there is nothing I Love more than being me in the presence of anything and watching it squirm, or watching it grow, watching it die, watching it live, watching what My presence does to anything.   
That is what God does.  God brings the rain and watches what the rain gives to the flowers.  God brings laughter and watches what laughter does.  God brings everything, for God is everything it brings, and then delights in the watching."
Mafu 

We are the solution and that is what we need to get it, the awareness that we watch and it is not about that we like what we watch, but that we realize that we are just observing and we have to be able to get there. 
It needs that type of detached focus, but I warn you it will be hard to get there.
We are the solution.
It means in my own inner view, is not about what I am watching, but that we are watching, whatever that is, but we have to get there.
I don't like what I watch or I forget what we got.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Performing Duty without any Expectation of Results

The jeevi (individual soul) has come to this birth in order to reveal the splendour of the spark of Godhead which It is.
A rat is attracted by strong smelling cheap little stuff inside the trap; it neglects all other articles of food in the granary, and thus falls a prey to its own foolishness. Similarly people disregard and waste their life in the pursuit of mortal riches.
Be aware and alert. Live in the world but develop the skills to wonder and discriminate between the eternal and temporary. Learn to see through this drama and discover the Director behind the scenes, who is none else than God. You can easily develop these skills through devotion (Bhakthi), based on performing duty without any expectation of results (Nishkama Karma).
Baba (thought for the day)
 
How can we reveal the splendour of Godhead which we are?
Tonight in my dream it said that there is only one and one alone cleaning up here.
If we don't develop skills to wonder and discriminate between the eternal and temporary, how can we know who we are?
If someone tells, I am divine or even some think they are able to give Darshan, what I read some time ago, we should first think if we do the right work. Because how can we be the light, if we go in direction and the pursuit of mortal riches?   
How can we think of ourselves as being a light being and behave like that rat attracted by strong smelling cheap little stuff inside the trap and become like the rat prey of its own foolishness?   
Why does he tell us to be aware and alert?
 
Be aware and alert. Live in the world but develop the skills to wonder and discriminate between the eternal and temporary. Learn to see through this drama and discover the Director behind the scenes, who is none else than God. You can easily develop these skills through devotion (Bhakthi), based on performing duty without any expectation of results (Nishkama Karma).
 
How do we discriminate between the eternal and temporary and learn to see through his drama and how do we discover the director behind the scene?
Listen, think it over and absorb.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Friday, September 20, 2013

Listen more, Listen to your Path

God is an incredible thing.  For you are God.  Listen more, you know, to your Path. Listen more to your Way. The quotes from the great Masters, they are not meant to be followed. They are meant to inspire you and remind you of your freedom to your Path. 
You are a Christed One. You are Ordained. For your birth, just as the butterfly is once a crawling, and then it is a flying, so you are ordained naturally. The Path of a butterfly, it is not taught. The Path of a Christed One cannot be taught. Meditate, and Pray, and Chant to fall in Love, with You. Dance, and laugh, and sing to your crazy music, to fall in Love with that feeling of You.  And give that to your world. Give it freely. Give it, and give it, and give it, and give it, and you will never find the enemy. For you have the access forever to Love, and you will forever be Loved. "
Mafu

This daily quote tells us a lot about listening. It is more than just listening to words, it is listening to our path. It is not only listening to one, but it is listening to all the great masters. How do we listen to our own way and by that get aware of it? We listen to your own way and we should listen to the quotes of the great masters. 

They are meant to inspire you and remind you of your freedom to your Path.

Baba was in my inner view during that time in the ashram and it was an inside personal interview, he mentioned those interviews, but as we were not used to listen, it was not possible to realize it. He had opened the door to the interview room, there was a golden light and he was all in white. He asked, why I was so old and not yet married and he said, don't worry I will take care of it. For Indian standards I was very old, in the West we see it a bit different, but it felt good to know that he cared, even though I must have understood it all wrong.

Baba tells, without enthusiasm, courage, devotion, energy, readiness and sincerity can nothing be achieved. 

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Joy is in Doing, not in the Result

Your duty (Karma) has to be done righteously (in dharma). Those dominated by ignorance (Thamas) do their duty solely for the sake of the fruits thereof and they resort to all sorts of subterfuges in order to gain the results they desire. For this category of people, the end justifies the means. 
Those dominated by passion (Rajas) are proud and pompous, and boast that they are the doers, the benefactors and the experiencers. Those dominated by qualities of calm serenity (Sathwa) do their duties regardless of the fruits thereof and leave the result to the Lord. They will not worry whether it leads to success or failure, ever conscious of their duties and never of their rights. As a matter of fact, there is more joy in the actual doing, than in the result that accrues. This attitude must be the experience of every true seeker.
Baba (thought for the day)
 
If we listen carefully to Baba's words, what is needed to understand it, he tells us, if we are fruit directed or work for a result, we are dominated by ignorance (Tamas). We do the duty only for the sake to gain the result we desire. 
It means to understand it we have to think about the difference between Tamas, darkness, ignorance and Rajas, movement, activity and passion and Sathva, light, purity and knowledge. 
Your duty (Karma) has to be done righteously (in dharma). Those dominated by ignorance (Thamas) do their duty solely for the sake of the fruits thereof and they resort to all sorts of subterfuges in order to gain the results they desire. For this category of people, the end justifies the means.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Remove the Thorn with another Thorn

Treading the Spiritual Path (Sadhana) is very essential because the effects of karma have to be removed by karma alone, as a thorn can be removed only by another thorn. You cannot remove a thorn by a knife, or a hammer or even a sword.
The knowledge that the world is unreal was spread by great saints and noble souls, who realised the Divine. But great saints like Shankaracharya persisted in activity in the unreal world, through the establishments of mutts, writing of books and participating in difficult debates. This is to illustrate that you cannot desist from doing karma. However, you must take care that it is saturated with love and promotes the welfare of the world. Soak yourself in Love and purify your thoughts and deeds with Love, then the Lord Himself will awaken your higher consciousness!
Baba (thought for the day)
 
I had translated that story of Shankara and it was amazing and uplifting and he went into all those difficult debates and always out of it as the best.
To see it as an example how we have to go on doing activity in the unreal world, I hear today also for the first time. That is why we are writing, trying to understand it and we have to do Karma, it means action, but it should be right action, saturated with love. 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Distribute Love from One to All

Intellectual scholarship is not very essential for a spiritual aspirant. Develop bliss not by merely mastering difficult scriptures but by cultivating love which begins in your very own home and family, and spreads to all creatures in the Universe.
Put down the sharp edged weapon that seeks to analyse and chop the arguments of the opponent, cutting the other's point of view to pieces. Take the delicacy of love and distribute it to one and all; win over recalcitrant hearts and give joy to all.
That is the path of love, along which I shall lead you and guide you. God knows your name, your degrees, profession, status and past, and reveals Himself to you many times, only to satisfy you and give you a glimpse of His love, so that you can mix it with a little of your own and make your life joyful.
Baba (thought for the day)
 
Develop bliss by cultivating love in our own home and family. It sounds easy if it would not be difficult. 
Maybe it is only in the beginning difficult, we remember that the Devas and the Assuras (demons) were churning the milk ocean of the universe and first was not nectar, but poison emerging from it and Lord Shiva was drinking that poison. Therefore, I guess in the beginning we just have to go through that stage of poison, whatever, we don't lose hope at least we did our best, we hope, even if that beginning stage never seems to end.
Love and the cultivation of it. 

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Love-Incarnate, will Reveal Himself

The Dual or Non-dual approach to Divinity (Dwaitha or Adwaitha) are not distinct; they are stages of mental transformation. The fruit is the same; the sun and soil make it ripen through the intermediate stages of raw, tender and mature fruit. The day you realise that the Lord's address is as specified in the Gita: "Ishwarah sarva bhutanam, hriddese, Arjuna Thishthati (O Arjuna, the Lord is in the heart of every being)", that day you would have truly attained Him! 
To realize the Lord in every being, you must cultivate love and drive out the bats of hate, envy and malice that infest the dark caverns of your heart. Let the light of Love illumine your thoughts, your words, your activities, your movements and your judgements. When you are transmuted into love in this manner, the Lord, who is Love-Incarnate, will reveal Himself to you.
Baba (thought for the day)

In fact in my experience total non-dualism is not understood at all, at least not here. 
Dwaita or duality is the first step to get to the experience of oneness. In our every day life we live in multiplicity and we first have to get to the concept of duality to be able to merge and therefore, he calls it here the same.
If we do not have had an experience of unity experience, we don't know what it is.
The mind cannot grasp it, because it is the experience of the heart. 
I wonder what I imagined when I met in the ashram a so called devotee who said I belonged to him. 
Today knowing that it was the wrong answer and it had nothing to do with him at all, I wonder how he could just stand there and tell me, he knew, because that it the way he could take advantage of it. 
But I know what I hoped for and that feels kind of funny. I hoped for a friend or a man, whatever. 
I hoped for someone who would try to get the answers with me, I had to get, because I had to get answers. 

Monday, September 9, 2013

Disperse the Clouds in Training the Mind

The Sun is up in the sky during the day. It is the passing clouds that hide it from your vision sometimes, is it not?
Similarly, the sensory world is the cloud that hides the Divine (Atma), ever shining in the firmament of your heart. The same mind that gathers the clouds also has the capability to disperse them in an instant! The wind gathers the clouds from all quarters and renders the sky dark. Sometimes, in a few moments, the same wind can change the direction and send the clouds in a scurry to wherever they came from! Then, the Sun becomes visible. So your mind is all powerful. Train it to disperse the clouds, not to gather them. Every aspirant must accomplish this training of their minds by following rigorous and systematic discipline.
Baba (thought for the day)
 
The metaphor of the sun is the light of the higher self and the clouds are related to everything passing by. Mind is all what is relative, what has not lasting value and it is about desires, because they have no lasting value and that includes thoughts of money and riches and rich friends. It is hiding the sun from our vision, if we focus on that, we cannot see the sun.
The sun is the higher self and everything else is passing by. It is the screen. Without that light we are not be able to see anything. 
Everything around us is the sensory world and we cannot see the Divine, it is what we don't see. We can see it shine in the heart, but only if we live focused on the heart qualities and not the mind.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Doubt leads to Perdition, Spiritual Ruin

There are two very important statements in the Bhagavad Gita, which you must take to heart and profit from: Shraddhavan Labhate Jnanam (The one steady in faith gains wisdom and liberation) and Samshayaathma Vinashyathi (Doubt leads to perdition, spiritual ruin). Dwell on these axioms and practice the spiritual disciplines of repetition of the Lord's name and meditation on His form. Gopis of Brindavan yearned for the Lord with purity in their hearts and attained union with Him. 
You too must fill your mind with His beautiful form and contemplate on the glory of the Lord. Then you can attain Divinity.This is the pursuit that is worthy, not the pursuit of fame, nor the friendship of the famous.
Baba (thought for the day)

Steady faith gains wisdom and liberation. Doubt leads to perdition, spiritual ruin. 
To practice that and to inside aware of it, that was quite some work. 
Yesterday we had a relaxed study circle and finally I enjoyed it very much. 
As had as it seems to get aware that my worldly family is not on the right level, and it was kind of painful to get aware of it, I looked at our circle in the light of, 'here are my real brothers and sisters'. 
It means spiritual level. 
It was great and it is always different, but this morning waking up was like new born. I woke up this morning in joy. It felt great, like something very great had happened and it reminded me when we woke up and went to Baba's Darshan and how simple and beautiful my life felt at that time and how we were waiting for Baba and sitting in the rows and finally when he was standing there looking at us before he came to see people, taking here or there a letter or he gave some vibuthi to someone and all were streching out their hands and wanted als some. 
And after Darshan I sat usually there and waited until Bhajans began, during that time I was mostly in meditation and only after Bhajans I went for breakfast. Or we went to have a coke or an ice cream and usually we met others at that place, we sat and talked and enjoyed being in the ashram. It was such a beautiful time. 

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

It Lies in the Vision you Command


In the present times, it is impossible to find virtuous people or virtues holding sway over people's minds. People have lost the fear of a fall and become worse than animals. 
During previous centuries, Rajput women immolated themselves rather than fall into the hands of wicked foes. When Hanuman offered to take Sita back to Rama, the virtue of Sita would not allow her to accept the offer. She said that it would best suit her husband's fame if he himself avenges the wrong and rescues her. Hanuman's taking her, would be a repetition of what Ravana did, for he too stole her secretly while Rama was away. She did not consider her immediate relief as more important than the implications of that step to her virtue and her husband's fair name. It all lies in the vision that you command, that you have equipped yourselves with.
Baba (thought for the day)
 
Now virtue issue was a real challenge in my life. I was writing a diary and it felt like self realization and what was required was self-control. At that time I was sixteen. 
I was very sure that I wanted that. And I hoped to find a way to keep that direction and I was hoping I would be able to write. 
That was during the time I waited for the neighbor and we went for long walks together, is was mixed between adventure and attraction, but we had ideals. For me it was a question if that relationship could be seen as serious or not. That fact that there was a feeling of self-realization made it holy and sacred. 
And while I was still hoping that it would go on, something changed. He told me that he wanted to marry a school teacher, probably he knew her already or had understood that she was a and I don't know if he knew her already, but she lived in the same village, only three years older. Until then my life seemed quite normal and okay, but he left from one day to the next and was never seen again, but he still was in the neighborhood. What seemed to be just a nice relationship and friendship until then, was gone. 
That is when nightmares began and I didn't know why, but I stopped writing my diary. 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Be warned! Do not run after Devious Desires

Be careful to not engage yourself in Iccha Krishi (the cultivation of wants and desires).
This is a never ending process of sowing and reaping, you will never reach contentment. For, one desire, when satisfied will fan the thirst for ten more. Be warned! Do not run after devious desires or crooked satisfactions. All roads leading to the realm of the senses are tortuous and blind.
Only the road that leads to God is straight. Cultivate straightforwardness (Neethi) in your every act. That will reveal the Divine in due course. It will also enable you to overcome your three Gunas (Rajas, Sathwa and Tamo). Just as you grind chilly, salt and tamarind to get a tasty dish, you must grind all the three Gunas so that the taste of Ananda (bliss) emerges.
Baba

If we cultivate wants and desires, it feels all familiar to read it, that was the level I had met with my ex and unaware of it.
I talked about truth and thought that the ideal mattered a lot and he would help me to find that or we would do it together, but I guess that was all not possible, because I was not aware of the background and that is abuse and violence in my family.
We had met in the ashram and he agreed to everything, because it had to look ideal as he only took advantage of it, what Baba said in the inner view.

How to get Unaffected and to Bliss

It is the internal bliss that should matter to any person, not the external, sensory, objective and the worldly temporary joys.
If you can develop the inner poise or equilibrium that is undisturbed by the ups and downs every day presents to you, that is a sure sign of real success! Everyday is similar to the previous days, with the rising and setting of the Sun and the waxing and the waning of the Moon. However, when 365 days are over, we call it a New Year and give it a new name and number. The Sun and the Moon mark ascend and descend of the day. They are however, unaffected by the name or the number for the day or the year. Be like the Sun and the Moon.
Do not care about the new name or the number, but do care about your duties, your inner poise and bliss derived from within yourself!
Baba (thought for the day)
 
We can develop the inner poise or equilibrium only and get undisturbed by the ups and downs every day if we know what this is all about.
Once Baba asked me how I felt and I said, 'fine, Swami' and he answered, that is not true and because I looked at him surprised, he said 'up and down, up and down' and he told me that I had a naughty mind.
I tried in vain to get beyond the ups and downs, even though I meditated always more and more.
In the mean time I know that it is not possible to keep that level of equilibrium and undisturbed being, if we are not aware of what happens to us.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Property and Fame are but for a Fleeting Moment

An old grandfather of seventy was asked by his seven-year old grandchild, "Grandpa! How old are you?" and the old man replied, "Two!" The child was struck with wonder and looked a picture of doubt. The old man replied, "I have spent only the last two years in the company of the Lord, until then I was plunged in the marshland of pleasure seeking." 
Only the years that you have lived with the Lord have to be counted as life, the rest are not worth counting. Know that all this wealth, property and fame are but for a fleeting moment. Develop attachment for the Lord, who will be with you wherever you go.
Baba (thought for the day)
 
How do we spend in company of the Lord? Are you constantly in meditation repeating a mantra in your thoughts, what is actually not possible? 
After my first interview with Sai Baba and after he said that TM was not the right path and that I should only think about God, I wondered how to think always about God and I tried to never forget the OM. My first reaction was, I repeated the mantra in my thoughts, but of course, that didn't work.
Even if we meditate with Soham, the sound of the mantra is OM and that is what remains during deep sleep if we wake up in consciousness. Always thinking of God means we have to wake up in our consciousness, it is not on thought level. 
If we are constantly with the Lord we live in the present.
We have to discriminate between passing by values and reality which is always the same. The present is always present, we are constantly living in the present every moment new. If we think about the past and go for future projects we are not in the present, but in the mind. 
Past and future go together and reflect the state of duality, unity or total non-duality is a state of presence.
If we live in that state, our past is just a reflection and our future we don't know, we just do the best now.