Love - Listen and Think it Over

The quintessence of the scriptural texts is this: Realise that the awareness of Divine or Brahman cannot be won by the accumulation of wealth nor by giving away the riches. Nor can it be achieved by reading texts, rising to power, acquiring degrees and diplomas, or performing scriptural sacrifices and rituals. The body is an anthill, with the mind inside as a deep cavity. The mind has hidden in it the serpent named ignorance or nescience (a-jnana). The serpent cannot be killed by resorting to satisfaction-oriented works (kamya karma). Spiritual wisdom (jnana) is the only weapon that can kill it. To achieve spiritual wisdom, you must have 'Steady Faith'. Shraddhavan labhathe jnanam, states the scriptures. Meaning, that person alone, who has steady and unwavering faith, can certainly secure wisdom.

Did you think it over or just read it or not even that? Reading is not enough.

So what does he wants us to do if reading is not enough? If we look at this thought for the day and Baba's words and we just read it, how does it look? If we read it in our mind is pictured an anthill and inside a deep cavity and there is a serpent named ignorance, we take note of it and forget the picture on the spot again. We maybe even read that the serpent cannot be killed by resorting to satisfaction-oriented work and we wonder how to understand that? How can any work be done without going in direction of satisfaction? That is just reading and not listening and thinking it over.

We also read that spiritual wisdom is the only weapon that can kill the serpent and we wonder how we have to understand that wisdom.

And that we must have 'steady faith', and here we probably relax, everybody thinks he has study faith, so everything is fine, if we have study faith it will be there, even if we do not really understand what we just read.

That about study faith is stated in the scriptures and maybe we wonder what scriptures he talks about, it seems there are that many scriptures.

And now Baba makes it clear, meaning that person alone, who has steady and unwavering faith, can certainly secure wisdom. Everything understood after just reading it, we just hear steady and unwavering faith and that we will probably therefore one day secure wisdom. We think we know what to do, keep the faith unwavering and steady, the question is only how and that doesn't even come to our mind that our faith is probably not unwavering and steady and what we should or could do about it?

That was just reading it. It is all different if we listen and think it over to be able to absorb.

The quintessence of the scriptural texts is this: Realise that the awareness of Divine or Brahman cannot be won by the accumulation of wealth nor by giving away the riches. Nor can it be achieved by reading texts, rising to power, acquiring degrees and diplomas, or performing scriptural sacrifices and rituals. The body is an anthill, with the mind inside as a deep cavity. The mind has hidden in it the serpent named ignorance or nescience (a-jnana). The serpent cannot be killed by resorting to satisfaction-oriented works (kamya karma). Spiritual wisdom (jnana) is the only weapon that can kill it. To achieve spiritual wisdom, you must have 'Steady Faith'. Shraddhavan labhathe jnanam, states the scriptures. Meaning, that person alone, who has steady and unwavering faith, can certainly secure wisdom.

The quintessence is the essence, but what does it tell us? Here it is not about love, but about the awareness of the Divine or Brahman and that we are wrong in our mind if we think by accumulation of wealth or by giving away riches, it can be won.

So there is no reason to relax and think nothing has to be done, it is different if we are thinking it over, it is not enough to just be living our own life and all is done or even that he did it already for us and we probably even feel safe and okay because of the riches given away, no, he is telling us here that the quintessence of the scriptural text tell us, it doesn't work that way.

Now we have been listening and thinking it over and we can find some examples in our own life when and why it felt like that and we thought for some reason all was already done, but we know it was not done and we have to accept that truth.

Or we are reading texts, but after some time we don't even see the words anymore and we think only we are reading. Or we are rising to power, acquiring degrees and diplomas, with those qualifications we can earn a living and it is quite useful in the field or work or society. And people who claim to be spiritual they perform scriptural sacrifices and rituals, what is that? Performing sacrifices as it is written down or rituals, that is also technique, mechanical repetition of something is a ritual, therefore, that also doesn't work.

The body is an anthill, with the mind inside as a deep cavity. The mind has hidden in it the serpent named ignorance or nescience (a-jnana). The serpent cannot be killed by resorting to satisfaction-oriented works (kamya karma). Spiritual wisdom (jnana) is the only weapon that can kill it. To achieve spiritual wisdom, you must have 'Steady Faith'. Shraddhavan labhathe jnanam, states the scriptures. Meaning, that person alone, who has steady and unwavering faith, can certainly secure wisdom.

With rituals we make the cavity deeper in the anthill body, meaning the serpent can hide better. Now we think it over, we do not just listen or read, we think.

We get aware that a deep cavity can even get deeper if we are not careful and if we think with ritual worship or technique we can do it, we give the serpent more room to hide, because we think it is all done, nothing to do anymore, when in reality we go on digging an even deeper cavity, so that we cannot see the serpent anymore.

It means we don't know any more what we are doing. In thinking everything is done that way and it is not, we go on digging a deeper cavity. In reality we just make that cavity such that we cannot see the serpent anymore and we make it for the serpent easy to hide. We think it is gone and we won and we know how, but in reality nothing has changed, only our perception, we can just not see it anymore and our stupidity increases and not our intelligence.

The serpent named ignorance or nescience (a-jnana) is even more controlling our acts, our thoughts, our life than before, it is subconscious, it means we are no more aware of it.

And if it cannot be killed by resorting to satisfaction-oriented works. What is satisfaction-oriented works?

About everything we do. We don't do it if we do not get something from that work, usually. If we are only singing it is also satisfaction-oriented work only in direction of devotional songs.

Now we are thinking it over and we did the same in the study circle yesterday and it was great until that one said that it is so different and that is not what Baba wants. Of course, she knows what Baba wants.

We are thinking it over and it cannot be that this is not allowed in the study circle, because that doesn't make sense. The study circle has the purpose of thinking it over and to absorb, if that is not allowed, nothing is happening. We talked about it afterwards how boring it can be if people don't dare to ask questions and that it ends with a feeling that we didn't get enough into it. And if we go around in the circle we have to write the questions down, because by the time we are around we have forgotten it.

So will have to find the answer again resorting to scriptures. We always have to resort to the scriptures to know right from wrong or good from bad.  

As Baba told us to get to 'pure love' we have to have three things; truth, right action and peace. Satisfaction-oriented work is not accepting right action.

Satisfaction-oriented work is going into it for our own satisfaction. That is why it is important how Baba tells it. He tells us we have to accept right action; it is not satisfaction oriented work. And he is telling us we have to accept truth, it is certainly not something we do, but something we have to accept.

Therefore, we have to find that truth again and when she said, you can do it but keep to the rules, it sounds like she knows, even though, she has not been here for three times and she has maybe once or twice done a study circle herself and she has no authority to tell me I can do it, it is not her place to talk like that. And she resorts not to the scriptures, but to her feeling how it should be done, always the same way boring as she remembers it what is again mind. That is habit and habit is the deep cavity in the anthill and the serpent of ignorance is hiding in that cavity.

Do you see, now we are thinking it over and it is not the same as just reading it?

Spiritual wisdom (jnana) is the only weapon that can kill it. To achieve spiritual wisdom, you must have 'Steady Faith'. Shraddhavan labhathe jnanam, states the scriptures. Meaning, that person alone, who has steady and unwavering faith, can certainly secure wisdom.

Spiritual wisdom is no wisdom if we think we know it and expect it to be in the mind. Spiritual wisdom is aware that we have to resort to the scriptures and when she is telling the way Baba want's it, she thinks she knows how it has to be and what does she really know, that she is established and that she is not flexible anymore? For us it is an opportunity to look at guidelines again and getting more into it and find a way to ask questions, because we have someone now who asks question and it got much more lively.  As long as we stay with the text, it is fine, if we begin to criticize the circle it is something else and she said she didn't, but she did nevertheless.

We were talking about the text and the questions and it was no problem, it was flowing and smooth and relaxed and everybody enjoyed it.

But it is not the first time that we notice that hidden frustration in her and what is worse, it is anger. It makes itself air like that. Just singing and non-stop playing violin and thinking we have done everything for Baba is not wisdom.

We were talking about the text, she was talking about something else and I told her that we should all focus on the text and that our text is about love and answering the questions and not talk about something else. So she said it was no critics, but it was. She just doesn't know the difference between input and supporting the circle and critics. It was even a very clear critics afterwards telling me that I can do it but in the rules.

So she thinks she know how it has to be done, that is the serpent in the cavity of the body hiding. And we all don't know or we don't do it as it should be done or I don't lead it the way it should be done etc. Telling us that it is no critics is stupid. It is a circle and seven people and not just me.

Of course, it was critics and after she went to the person asking questions and telling him that it was not about him? About whom was it if it was not about him?

He was the one who asked questions. They are just not used to get answers and we just repeated Baba and what we had in the study circle before and the last time and if we are listening to Baba we get answers.  We had to make clear that we should talk only about the text and what Baba said about it. It is okay to ask questions and we think it over together, she had a problem with it, because she was not used to it.

We have to resort to scriptures and we have to think it over, but we can see that the study circle is challenging and it was also boring if they keep in the circle going round and around, afraid to ask questions, because they don't know how to listen and if there is no listening, there cannot be any answers. Baba tells us the answers if we are listening.

Baba is the spiritual wisdom that can kill the serpent of ignorance and if we use his words, we get there.  

To achieve spiritual wisdom, you must have 'Steady Faith'. Shraddhavan labhathe jnanam, states the scriptures. Meaning, that person alone, who has steady and unwavering faith, can certainly secure wisdom.

And he resorts again to the scriptures if we want to have steady faith. We should listen, we have to listen. Does he tell us to have in our mind steady faith? No, he is telling us what is stated in the scriptures.

Only that person alone, with that type of steady and unwavering faith, can certainly secure wisdom and for that reason we have to resort to the scriptures and what she is doing is rather too much from the Christmas plays, devotional singing, playing an instrument, Ayurveda courses, what is about getting a diploma and Veda chanting, everything with music, probably too much loaded emotionally as it is constantly into music and she feels often angry. It was also in the air yesterday, it was anger what made her tell it under the pretext that she knew how to do it, what felt rather like Tamas and upside down.

With TM it was kind of easy, we sat down and meditated with people and they calmed down and afterwards we watched a Maharishi tape and that changed the mind.

Here we have to go through it in resorting to scriptures, we have to listen to Baba's words, what Baba said to not be taken in by the frustrated or angry mind state, it can be anything hidden in the mind, it just has to make itself air.

That is why Baba said, it is passion, stay alone, the same person, there are two, also her husband is like that emotional always speaking out their hearts like it would be in family and no self-control, no watching what they are telling.

I usually keep distance to whatever they are doing, because it ends usually like that. It was like that during the rehearsal of the theater years ago and it has hardly changed, it is still the same sick feeling in the air.

For me it was like, 'that cannot be true, what does that have to do with Swami?'

And even someone else was upset talking about so many people with cars and she had to carry the bags from the Christmas rehearsal home with the bus.

But she didn't ask, she didn't say a word about it and expects people to read her thoughts.

And I had to go to work today and I had enough about that mind stuff for one evening, I couldn't take more. She should have asked if someone can help her to carry the bags, but she didn't ask.

In her is not much wisdom about communication and culture. She is often angry and upset and by that upsetting everybody and not expressing herself on a verbal level, but on an emotional level, what means stress pure.

So we have a few like that in Rajas, passion, not only one or two.

Most of them don't know meditation and they don't do any other Sadhana, but singing Bhajans once a week and it seems somehow emotionally loaded and the others keep distance.  

The Indian devotees are different. They keep calm and distant in the background and they also enjoy it more than the others it seems and in them is more love and we can see it.

I went first through it, but I had always headache, until it was Baba who said, 'it is Rajas, stay alone' and it is still Rajas and I still stay alone, if possible.

This morning was love in the air and is good, no matter what. The study circle was good anyhow otherwise, there would not be any love, and it would be great if it would be felt for the other as well. Only for that lady in Rajas, I don't think it is possible and it feels like when Baba was in Kodai and that means we feel Baba's presence still now.