Discrimination helps to Overcome Sorrow

You hear some good news and a little later, you hear some sad news. Sometime after that you hear harsh and abusive words. Your ears heard all words of praise and blame alike. But when happy news was told, your heart felt elated, and it shrunk when sad news was heard. The same heart got enraged when the ears heard harsh words and was filled with joy when it heard words of praise! The ears by themselves are incapable of any reaction; they merely transmit the message. Thus the senses by themselves are not conscious, they are inconscient (Jada). Then how can the operations of these senses and the experiences resulting from them be deemed as Truth or Reality (Sathya)? Understand clearly that as the senses are unreliable, the reactions produced by them are also equally unreliable. If you enquire along these lines, you will develop discrimination and can easily overcome sorrow.

Baba (thought for the day)

In these words and the meaning of it we get deeper if we think it over and how can we do it? Maybe we are not at all interested in it first or sometimes I get impatient, because we do not understand it just like that but in thinking it over. Listen, think it over and absorb. (Baba)

First reading it I was seeing my first impression and it was in one sentence and like that we began already trying to put it in our life, that means we take what comes up in the mind and try to understand it and writing about it helps, because first there was no inclination in my mind to go deeper into it, but when we begin to see it in our life we get another connection to the words and by writing about it we get deeper into it, until it began to get clear that it is about discrimination and that is when my mind was hooked, because that is always challenging and interesting.

The question is what is coming up in the mind in seeing it in our own life? That is called Tapas: First discrimination; second seeing it in our own life; third going on no matter what obstacles are there. Tapas is spiritual work and we can ask, why is it spiritual work and how do we get to the right conclusion?

These words begin to grow on me because it is about discrimination, so it is directly related to Tapas and we will see how we get to the right conclusion.

So first reading it, even if we didn’t feel like thinking it over only when realizing that it was something we always found interesting, it got my attention and that is how we get into it. After reading just the first sentence what came in my head was that there is a big difference to remember the Darshan with Swami and the joy we experienced or when we remember things which are less enjoyable.

Listen and Practice, we are not the Doer

In the Solar System the Earth is a miniscule entity. Asia is small in comparison to the Earth. Within Asia, India is just one country and within India, the district of Anantapur is still smaller; and Prasanthi Nilayam within Anantapur is tinier in comparison. Within Prasanthi Nilayam, you perhaps stay in one room. Then, why should you have an ego that is bigger than the Universe in its totality? This is totally an act of delusion, arising from ignorance. In fact, a great scholar, devotee and role model on the path of spirituality from ancient yore, Bhartruhari stated, "Out of ignorance I behaved like an elephant in rut thinking that there is no one superior to me. Because of the Divine Vision of sages and their teachings, I learnt the truth. Just as a disease can be cured by taking appropriate medicine, the fickle mind can be subdued by the Darshan and the teachings of sages and scholars."

A spiritual master leads us to the right conclusion and that can be tricky sometimes as it seems. In my experience we got everywhere, but to get to the right conclusion is not that easy.

I had been in a relationship with someone who behaved just like that like an elephant thinking that there is no superior of him, just like that. We were in a relationship even and that was not funny.

I was just meditating and always constantly in my meditation, that means I went never far away enough to start all over again. In that time I didn't talk much to others, I guess that is why one day in the interview room he asked questions. When it was about meditation we always knew the answer, but when it was about that wisdom, we had to begin to ask the right questions. Above all it was about, who am I? Where do we come from? Where do we go and how long are we going to be here?

Buddha and the Unity of Creation

Buddha experienced the unity of all creation. There was total transformation in Him once He attained the vision of ekatma (oneness of the atma). He realised that all worldly relations were false. He transcended body consciousness. That is why he earned the appellation Buddha (the enlightened one). Man should use his buddhi (intellect) to understand this principle of unity. Buddhi is of two types: the buddhi that sees diversity in unity is worldly intelligence. You should develop adhyatmic buddhi (spiritual intelligence) in order to realise the underlying unity of all creation. It gives you the experience of the atmic principle which is the same in the entire creation. Buddha attained the vision of the atma. Truly speaking, Buddha is not just one individual. All of you are Buddhas. You will see unity everywhere once you understand this truth.

Baba (thought for the day)

Here Baba tells us why we should get to that insight of ekatma, 'oneness' of the atma, with other words, 'I am the One. It is the conclusion of the inner view by getting that insight that there is only 'One' and that 'I' in all of us is the manifestation of the 'One' only.

How do we get to that insight? 'I am the One', it is him telling that, it is possible if we follow him. It is in our inner view, the insight, in our dream we follow the man in our dreams who is there to awake us.

He is able in our dreams to awaken us and we get to that insight if we follow the inner master, fight to the end and finish the game.

Following needs trust, it is like sitting in a small boat sometimes in the waves of the ocean and we go up and down and try to understand it, but it is in vain, our understanding is yet just getting there and we go on in the first type of the buddhi hoping the in the end it will make sense after all.

Buddhi is of two types: the buddhi that sees diversity in unity is worldly intelligence. You should develop adhyatmic buddhi (spiritual intelligence) in order to realise the underlying unity of all creation. It gives you the experience of the atmic principle which is the same in the entire creation.

Keep the Dehi within in View

God is love and He is pleased with the pure hearted who love Him 100%. Make every effort to experience the indweller (Dehi) within the body (deha). The Dehi (Divine Soul) within you is immortal with no birth or death. Don’t forget that you are alive due to His Grace. You must necessarily do your bit to take care of your body without being attached to it. Always keep in view the Dehi within, connect with Him and discharge your duties. At the end of every day or every meeting, pray, “May all the beings in all the Worlds be happy” (Samasta Loka Sukhino Bhavanthu). Realize that the individual peace depends on the peace of those around you. Therefore always pray for the wellbeing and peace of everyone in the Universe. (Baba)

God is love and Baba is the prove of that love and the divine existence. If we get aware in the study circle of the principle of non-argumentative exchange, it is about love, but from time to time it is always again put in question, it causes friction, troubles and energy, we can avoid it or we can act against it or we can use it in a positive way and that is the skill of it. If we avoid it and do not talk to others anymore, what lots of people seem to do, we don’t put it into practice and we have not many usually sticking to it. If we go into arguments against it - that is the worst we can do, because it goes against the principle of non-argumentative exchange.

We can call it ignorance, but it happens always because the principle is not understood. A principle doesn’t change and we cannot interpret a principle, because it doesn’t change, if we argue about it, we turn it upside down, we cannot argue about it. The principle is light, if we argue about it, it is darkness and ignorance and that is the principle of Tamas if we tell that we do it even for Baba that we argue about it because we think we will get a benefit from it, that is the height of ignorance. We put the principle of non-argumentative exchange upside down and that is Tamas.

Watering the Plant with the Water of Love

To cultivate a piece of land, the farmer works really long and hard. First, he has to soften the entire piece of land. He must then plough it, sow the seeds and water it regularly. After that, the crop has to grow to a certain stage, and to aid that, he needs to use fertilizers and remove the weeds at regular intervals. Only after all this, will he be able to bring home the food grains. That is exactly what we have to do with our hearts too. The heart is like a piece of land to be cultivated, and we must cultivate it with utmost care and concern. It must be watered with the water of love. Using the plough of enquiry, you must plough it and sow the seed of the Name of God, and then guard it very vigilantly using the fence of caution and care. You must protect it with egolessness, then you will receive the fruit of love. (Baba)

How do we cultivate the piece of land? Our study circle didn’t happen because it was a holiday and there had been no people, so we had no study circle and afterwards we had an unpleasant talk with one of the members who only knew everything better and gave a negative feedback instead of a being a constructive help. I was surprised, I didn’t expect that from his side.

If I see it in the above mentioned metaphor of the farmer, it would be about removing the weeds and to make sure that the plant will grow we again remind to respect the principle and that is non-argumentative exchange.

I used that opportunity in sending the guidelines not only to him but to everybody, because it is not only about one plant, it is about the whole field and that felt great, because it felt like Baba’s presence and that feels usually joyful and by that we get aware of the wisdom in it.  

The negative insights and dreams seem to be like the fertilizer we use, it is nourishing the plant and the soil, farmers use still cow dung to fertilize the fields, we use the shadow of our life, all that what causes shock and shame and a mind hole we can use to fertilize our own plant of love in our heart.

The shadow is that what is not present in the inner view as good, but the catastrophe, the darkness and what smells awful. It is what we have to face in the inner view or getting aware of the abandoned inner child and if we are able to do so, it makes us stronger.

Cultivation of the Hearts and Self-Control

To cultivate a piece of land, the farmer works really long and hard. First, he has to soften the entire piece of land. He must then plough it, sow the seeds and water it regularly. After that, the crop has to grow to a certain stage, and to aid that, he needs to use fertilizers and remove the weeds at regular intervals. Only after all this, will he be able to bring home the food grains. That is exactly what we have to do with our hearts too. The heart is like a piece of land to be cultivated, and we must cultivate it with utmost care and concern. It must be watered with the water of love.

Using the plough of enquiry, you must plough it and sow the seed of the Name of God, and then guard it very vigilantly using the fence of caution and care. You must protect it with egolessness, then you will receive the fruit of love.

Baba (thought for the day)

Is that an interpretation of Baba's words if we think it over and see it in our own life?

Yesterday a frustrated guy after Bhajans began to argue with me about the study circle. He was not like others melting in love and full of joy, he said that I was interpreting Baba.

I didn't understand what he was talking about and as I had always in interview to translate for Baba I never had a bad feeling about it anyhow and it is kind of interpreting what he said, as I had to translate it, that means interpreting, the question is only if we are able to do it or not.

He thinks that study circle should be a discussion. But as we have clear guidelines about it and after all he was just expressing his frustration, I tried to understand his point, only there was no point of it, just arguing.

Anyhow there was no study circle, we had a holiday and there were no people and that guy was kind of trying to blackmail me in telling that he should not participate if it was not possible to discuss matters.

I told him that I will mail him the guidelines of the study circle and as he has special wishes and he wants it if possible in English, I will send it in English, I googled it and got some general guidelines and even in English. He is thinking on his level of arguing that it would be possible to help others and to tell others what to do and I told him how he could possibly tell others and help others and he said that he sees it in their face and I didn't agree.

I just told him that the level of arguing and discussion we were talking just now was no level for a study circle and that we would never get into deepness of the wisdom and our own experience if we would be on that level.