Remember the Highest Goal

When you do not discriminate the process and purpose of every act, and go ahead doing them with no understanding, you reduce them to a funny fossilized routine. Once even Prahlada observed, "Since it is difficult to destroy egotism, people take the easier option to offer dumb animals at the altar. Animal sacrifice is the manifestation of the quality of inertia (tamo guna); it is the path of bondage. Sacrifice of the animal of egotism is the purest sacrifice (satwic yajna) on the Godward path of liberation." Thus the highest goal (paramaartha) of the past is turned into the fool's goal (paaramaartha) of these days! Similarly every one of the ancient practices, which were once full of meaning has grown wild beyond recognition. It is now impossible to pluck the tree by the roots and plant a new one. So the existing tree must be trimmed and trained to grow straight. Always remember the highest goal and never dilute it into the lowest.

If we read the words only, what happens in our mind? We think we witness, witnessing means getting aware of what happens in our mind.
He explains here what happens if we do not discriminate. What happens if we do not discriminate, we are not aware of the process and purpose of every act.
The process and purpose of every act … Do we understand the process and purpose of every act? Do we know someone who does understand the process and purpose of every act?
If we don't understand it, we go ahead not understanding it and we reduce them to a funny fossilized routine.  

When you do not discriminate the process and purpose of every act, and go ahead doing them with no understanding, you reduce them to a funny fossilized routine.

Live in Bliss, when His Plans are going Through

You are not a despicable creature, born in slime or sin, to eke out a drab existence and be extinguished forever. You are immortal and eternal. So when the call comes, respond with your whole heart. The Principle of Divinity must be experienced, for it is beyond expressions and explanation. The richness, fullness and depth of that experience can never be communicated in words. You must feel that it is your highest destiny to attain that experience. You are a mixture of Deha and Deva - the mortal and the immortal. Liberation means stoppage of grief and acquisition of joy. All that you have to do is to place all your burdens on God. It makes you care-free and grief-free. Then you will take everything as a divine play of the Lord you love and live in bliss just as He is, when His plans are going through!

How do we know when the call comes, probably we do know or we think we do know and there is a difference between the two, one is only thinking that we know and the other is knowing it.

You are not a despicable creature, born in slime or sin, to eke out a drab existence and be extinguished forever. You are immortal and eternal. So when the call comes, respond with your whole heart.

Why should we be despicable creatures, even if we are in the ego we don’t think that, we just look for happiness on the wrong level and we think we are the body, because we don’t know, we are in the mind and the mind leads into the senses and we think that there is our happiness and even if he is telling us that it is not so, we know that lots of people go on seeing their happiness anyhow on the level of the senses. Not everybody going once to Swami will be able to realize the concept of illusion and the difference to truth.

You are not a despicable creature, born in slime or sin, to eke out a drab existence and be extinguished forever.

We get to that conclusion if we think we are the body, but frankly first we have to realize that we think we are the body, we think we are I and that this I is the body, due to wrong identification with the body and we don’t exactly are aware that this body is just slime and skin.  To know that we have to use already higher discrimination.

You are immortal and eternal. So when the call comes, respond with your whole heart.

Sacrilege and the Shadow

Truth (Satya) sustains the cosmos, virtue (Dharma) protects and promotes the peace of mankind. All activities must be infused with the ideals of Satya and Dharma. Dharma never suffers decline; only its practice declines. So divine incarnations take place to restore faith in Dharma, to revitalise its practice and to demonstrate that the practice of Dharma confers peace, joy and prosperity. If Dharma is ignored, it amounts to sacrilege, for Dharma is God and God is Righteousness (Dharma). People see God in a picture, an icon, or a plaster of Paris figurine but God really is most manifest in a righteous action (Dharma). One may spend enormous sums for pilgrimages and for rituals and ceremonies but that will not take them anywhere nearer to God. What profit can one earn in the spiritual field, if they adore God and at the same time, insult and injure their fellowmen?

The headache is not yet gone, it is not yet okay again. I don't remember I ever felt that sick like yesterday, I was on the point of leaving, it was at work and I was constantly afraid it would get worse instead of better and I could faint.

Truth sustains the cosmos. What is truth?
How to tell that we feel okay if we don't, but sometimes it seems just to get worse when we tell that we don't feel well.
Virtue, Dharma, right action protects and promotes the peace of mankind. The only thing that comes in my mind is that there was no peace, but arguing, insult and that it doesn't protect and promotes the peace of mankind, it was just a bad experience.

Why thinking it over?
Reading the words of Baba is like, okay – noticed, we hear it, we listen and we think we act accordingly.
But when we begin to write about it, there is something in the mind coming up as memory and we follow it, it is related to a feeling it begins to reflect on it, things we looked at before, things in the insight, the inner view folling the thoughts, feelings, memories, it is inner view, it is in the memory of it and it also has to do with the dreams we had of Baba. It is about experiences and whatever comes up in the mind when we think it over and related it to the way Baba tells us it is and he always has another way of making us again aware of it.
We are not only listening, we also have to reflect on it in the light of our insights and experience and when it is seen it in the light of the own self-experience the feeling is coming up and we begins to think it over and it is a level of reflection, it is in the inner view, not only in my memory.

Truth (Satya) sustains the cosmos, virtue (Dharma) protects and promotes the peace of mankind. All activities must be infused with the ideals of Satya and Dharma.

We are All One, We Have to Realize It

I have come to reform you; I won't leave you until I do that. Even if you get away before I do that, don't think you can escape Me; I will hold on to you. I am not worried if you leave Me, for I am not anxious that there should be a huge gathering! Who gave hand-written invitation to everyone present here? People come, on their own, in thousands - you attach yourselves to Me! I am unattached. I am attached only to the task. But be assured of one thing. Whether you come to Me or not, you are all in Me. I have the love of a thousand mothers. I love each one of you and protect you always. Whenever I appear to be angry, remember, it is only love in another form. I do not have even an iota of anger in Me. I express My disappointment when you do not shape up as I expect.

How do we get into the text? We can ask ourselves, what it means to me being reformed and think about it and maybe I will get aware that I have never really thought about it and what does it mean when Swami is telling that to us, how does it change for me?

Is it a promise that he will not leave us until he reformed us? Is it comforting or no if we think it over? That is how we get closer to our feelings and thoughts and he is telling us even if we go away even before he did it, there is no way we can escape. How do we feel about it, good or rather not good?

In Prasanthi listening to Baba’s words is rather comforting and it feels good.

We can ask ourselves how it feels to hear that he is not worried that we leave him and he doesn’t care if there is a big gathering and as we know it was always big. It was not important to him that so many came to see him, he was not attached to them.

I have come to reform you; I won't leave you until I do that. Even if you get away before I do that, don't think you can escape Me; I will hold on to you. I am not worried if you leave Me, for I am not anxious that there should be a huge gathering! Who gave hand-written invitation to everyone present here? People come, on their own, in thousands - you attach yourselves to Me! I am unattached. I am attached only to the task.

The Outlines of Dharma, Right Action

Beautiful fields and groves run wild with neglect and soon become unrecognizable bushland and thorny jungle; fine trees are hewn by greedy men and the shape of the landscape is changed. With the passage of time, people get accustomed to the new state of things. This has happened to Dharma also. Misunderstood by incompetent intelligence, unbridled emotion and impure reasoning, the scriptures have been grossly diluted and their glory has suffered grievously. Just as the raindrops from the clear blue sky get colored and contaminated when they fall on the soil, the unsullied message of the ancient rishis, the example of their shining deeds, and the bright untarnished urges behind their actions are all turned into ugly caricatures of the original grandeur, by uncultured interpreters and scholars. Hence, every one of you must acquaint yourselves with the outlines of Dharma, expounded in the Vedas, Sastras and the Puranas.

After a great evening in the center and everything seemed to remember out time we had spent with Swami in Prasanthi Nilayam, it was like present still in the morning in waking up and it was a good feeling. But we will go two together next February to India and I join, because it is better two than alone and I wouldn't go alone anymore and she just booked the flight for both of us and it is something we can look forward to.  

We feel Baba's presence if we practice what he is teaching. Now after he has left the body that is very important, before we just could take the airplane and fly to India and be in his presence, but now if we want to recharge the batteries, we have to practice what he told us for so many years. 

As we know from our Darshan with him that his presence takes away all those pains and sorrows and illusions we took with us to him. I had more than once someone arriving in the ashram and she was telling me that she needs to see Swami and she know he will give her an interview and in my thoughts I just said, settle down first, relax, go to Darshan and we will see, but usually I didn't say anything, because there was too much stress and strain in the air, but whoever that was arriving full loaded with a heavy mind, usually after a Darshan it was gone. His presence was enough to take it away. 

The Experience of Oneness

"Sacrifice ignorance (ajnana) and ego (ahamkara) at the altar of wisdom (Jnana), and install righteousness(Dharma) therein" - this is the message of the scriptures. Every single unselfish act, which prepares the ground for the merging of the Soul with the Over-Soul, which broadens the vision towards the Divinity immanent everywhere, is a righteous act. Each such act is a tiny stream that swells the river of holiness rushing towards the sea of knowledge of Divinity. Your acts and activities are all rituals in the worship of the Paramatma that pervades the Universe. Whatever is done in an attitude of dedication and surrender is a component of the Dharma, which leads to Realisation. The strategy of the ancient Bharathiya (Indian) way of life is directed towards the sanctification of every moment and every word, thought and deed as a step towards realising the Divine. 

If we have to sacrifice ignorance and ego at the altar of wisdom, we also have to consider that righteousness, right action and therefore Dharma is without ignorance and without ego. If there is wisdom, ignorance and ego are not, and if there is ignorance and ego, there is no wisdom.

It is the message of the scriptures, the message of Veda, the old holy traditions. If he refers to the scriptures it is like we do to science, it is the authority and always true and in the scriptures it is in many ways confirmed by great masters and it cannot be mistaken. The Atmic principle is in the scriptures, it is therefore always the same, what is good news for us, it doesn't change and Swami is the embodiment of it, the living truth of that reality.

 "Sacrifice ignorance (ajnana) and ego (ahamkara) at the altar of wisdom (Jnana), and install righteousness(Dharma) therein" - this is the message of the scriptures.

Every single unselfish act, which prepares the ground for the merging of the Soul with the Over-Soul, which broadens the vision towards the Divinity immanent everywhere, is a righteous act.

We Learn from the Experience Only

The Gurus (preceptors) of the past taught only from experience; they loved their pupils and sought to correct their faults and failings, that is how their students lead happy and useful lives. When the pupils finally left the Guru's home, he exhorted them to follow two guidelines (Sutras) which were as essential for life as the two eyes (netras) - Speak the truth; Walk on the path of righteousness (Satyam vada, Dharmam chara). The Guru had the faith that the pupil (shishya) would take the advice to heart, for he himself was the living proof of their value and validity. The Guru always takes great care to remove from the heart of the pupil the weeds of evil habits and tendencies, and implant therein the seeds of love. He insists on spiritual discipline (sadhana) for purifying the pupils' minds and to render them strong enough to overcome temptations of all kinds. Virtue and character alone marks a truly educated person.

How were the old Gurus in the past traditions in that so holy culture where everything seems to turn around God only? 

The Gurus (preceptors) of the past taught only from experience; they loved their pupils and sought to correct their faults and failings, that is how their students lead happy and useful lives.

We know that masters like the great Shankaracharya had a few disciples only and how do we understand such a school if it is taught only by experience? 

Teacher is God and what does that exactly mean? If we identify inside with the teacher the wisdom flows in that inner view in a relationship of inner oneness and in the heart, the teaching is from heart to heart and in the mirror of consciousness and the inner view. 

It needs a certain way of focus of the student to get to that inner oneness with his master and an example was Drona, he was a great teacher and the teacher of Arjuna and he was asked by someone else to be his teacher and he had his reasons why he refused to be his teacher, but he went and made a picture out of clay from Drona and thus revering him as his Guru he got all the knowledge and skills he wanted to get. He was worshipping his master and it is said that he became even stronger than Arjuna just by worship. That was for me always the best example of the power of devotion and how we can get self-knowledge and higher wisdom with a spiritual master. 

Drona the teacher became to know of it, he asked that student for his thumb and he gave it to him, that way he made sure he couldn't use his skills the wrong way as he was not on the side of the friends, but the enemies. It was about great archery skills, without his right thumb he couldn't fight and use the weapons he got in such a way.

Step by Step and It Makes Sense

Step by step, you reach the end of the road. One act followed by another leads to a good habit. Listening, over and over you get prodded into action. Resolve to act, to engage only with good company, to read only elevating books, and to form the habit of remembering the Lord's Name (Namasmarana), then ignorance will vanish automatically. The Divine Bliss that will well up within you with the contemplation of the Ananda Swarupa (Bliss Personified) will drive out all grief and all worry. Develop bliss and joy, then evil impulses and tendencies will vanish, for they will not get any foothold in the heart. Move forward towards the Light and the shadow falls behind; you move away from it and you have to follow your own shadow. Go every moment one step nearer to the Lord, and then the shadow maya (illusion) will fall back and will not delude you at all. Be steady, be resolved. 

If we follow an insight and he said he is the insight and he is the following step and if we think over his words, it is also part of his and as he said 'use my words', it is also him, nevertheless, I am writing, but as an instrument only, what matters is his presence in the insight and what will come out by that following step. 

If we listen to his words it does make sense. His words is every divine word, it is Veda, it is in the scriptures and it is in his speeches. 

Step by step we will reach the end of the road? 

Do we know the end of the road?
No, we probably don't know the end of the road or we have already had the experience of it. 

That is the type of experience we should think over, we might not have an experience, but by doing we remember there is something, there is a thought, a memory of that step by step and if it was back in time, it is just a memory, but it was experience and now in the light of his words it does make sense. If we think it over, after thinking it over the words can change the meaning. 

It is like by thinking it over again and again we get there, we have a different feeling for it, we remember what happened in our life and it does make sense, that is the value of thinking it over and that is how it does make sense.
We have to think it over. 

We establish an inner relationship with that thinking over of Swami's words and we remember something and it happened in our life and maybe it is twenty years ago and it was exactly that and it makes sense, it is growing in remembering it, it is growing in doing and seeing it in our own life and it makes sense.

If we realize it and remember it in the past and it was forgotten and by thinking it over it comes up again and what didn't make sense before, after thinking it over and looking at his words it does make sense. 

Freedom and Liberation

 Some of you may think, "How can Dharma, which sets limits on thoughts and words, and regulates and controls, make a person free?" Freedom is the name that you give to a certain type of bondage. Genuine freedom is obtained only when delusion is absent, when there is no identification with the body and senses, and no servitude to the objective world. People who have escaped from this servitude and achieved freedom in the genuine sense are very few in number. Bondage lies in every act done with the consciousness of the body as the Self, for one is then the plaything of the senses. Only those who have escaped this fate are free; this 'freedom' is the ideal stage to which Dharma leads. With this stage constantly in mind, if you are engaged in the activity of living, then you will become a liberated person (mukta-purusha) in this very life.

He calls it a certain type of bondage; like that 'engagement' is it that certain type of bondage or just engaged in the business of life?

I noticed that the closest to freedom was during dancing remembering that I am 'not that and not this', not the body and not all the thoughts related to the body, that was the type of freedom we felt and it went beyond it by negation and in the end it merged with the rhythm and the music and that is an elevating experience, because of the joy in that freedom and when shared with others dancers it was love.

Bondage is every act done with the consciousness of the body as the self, that was very clear during dancing, when we are constantly remembering that we are not that, we don't give the senses power and we take our attention away from it.
We constantly remember and try not to forget that everything that is conceptual is related to the body and therefore considered, 'not that'. If we make a good habit out of that practice, we realize that actually about everything is 'not that' and only what we cannot see and what is beyond the senses is real and therefore, we cannot think about it or it is already again a concept and not that. It is what is left after we take everything away, a state of pure being.

Towards the Light and Follow the Shadow

Step by step, you reach the end of the road. One act followed by another leads to a good habit. Listening, over and over you get prodded into action. Resolve to act, to engage only with good company, to read only elevating books, and to form the habit of remembering the Lord's Name (Namasmarana), then ignorance will vanish automatically. The Divine Bliss that will well up within you with the contemplation of the Ananda Swarupa (Bliss Personified) will drive out all grief and all worry. Develop bliss and joy, then evil impulses and tendencies will vanish, for they will not get any foothold in the heart. Move forward towards the Light and the shadow falls behind; you move away from it and you have to follow your own shadow. Go every moment one step nearer to the Lord, and then the shadow maya (illusion) will fall back and will not delude you at all. Be steady, be resolved. 

There is a lot of information in every sentence. If we just read it we feel that it is beautiful, but we do not get deep in the meaning of the wisdom.

We talked about oneness of thought, word and deed and it also came up that it is not clear and it was also on my mind already for some time.

Step by step is a way of telling us that it needs patience and there is an end of the road and when he came in the dream and said that the self is waiting, it comes back to that 'waiting state' and we heard that word often during Darshan and we knew we had to wait, but to understand it is still a different thing. 

We knew with our meditation practice that there is the path and the goal and the higher self is in the goal, we have to prepare the ground for the soul to merge with the over-soul. 

Step by step, you reach the end of the road. One act followed by another leads to a good habit. Listening, over and over you get prodded into action. Resolve to act, to engage only with good company, to read only elevating books, and to form the habit of remembering the Lord's Name (Namasmarana), then ignorance will vanish automatically.

Impure Reasoning and the Lost Wisdom

Beautiful fields and groves run wild with neglect and soon become unrecognizable bushland and thorny jungle; fine trees are hewn by greedy men and the shape of the landscape is changed. With the passage of time, people get accustomed to the new state of things. This has happened to Dharma also. Misunderstood by incompetent intelligence, unbridled emotion and impure reasoning, the scriptures have been grossly diluted and their glory has suffered grievously. Just as the raindrops from the clear blue sky get colored and contaminated when they fall on the soil, the unsullied message of the ancient rishis, the example of their shining deeds, and the bright untarnished urges behind their actions are all turned into ugly caricatures of the original grandeur, by uncultured interpreters and scholars. Hence, every one of you must acquaint yourselves with the outlines of Dharma, expounded in the Vedas, Sastras and the Puranas. 

These words are just beautiful. We can see the fields and how they run wild with neglect if we don't go on cultivating them. We can see how it changes in no time into unrecognizable bushland and thorny jungle. 

But Swami is not only talking about culture here or what happens with neglect, he is telling us that greedy people cut fine trees and have influences the shape of landscape, what he is telling us is that  it is greed behind it and greed is the evil doer. If we drive through Spain it is inside a desert, only the coast is green and actually beautiful.  I was shocked when I saw how it looks really the first time and the desert is growing and we can hardly believe it that there had been once forest.

The trees are a water reservoir and if we cut the trees, the water is gone, so not only the trees are gone, but also the water and who benefits of that greed?

Nobody, not the country and not the rest of the world and the guys who actually did it long ago in greed are gone and dead for a long time, only the Karma must be still alive as they contribute to such imbalance of nature. In the end they will get only poorer and not what they think they get with greed in the end effect it gets poor, a desert and imbalanced, that is not oky for mother nature and as Baba explains here, incompetent intelligence and unbridled emotion is the reason for it.

What Swami is telling us here with those beautiful examples that greed is harmful and not only in that life, but it goes beyond this life, it is not in harmony with nature and also not

with mother nature and there is no self-control.

Live in Bliss just as He Is

You are not a despicable creature, born in slime or sin, to eke out a drab existence and be extinguished forever. You are immortal and eternal. So when the call comes, respond with your whole heart. The Principle of Divinity must be experienced, for it is beyond expressions and explanation. The richness, fullness and depth of that experience can never be communicated in words. You must feel that it is your highest destiny to attain that experience. You are a mixture of Deha and Deva - the mortal and the immortal. Liberation means stoppage of grief and acquisition of joy. All that you have to do is to place all your burdens on God. It makes you care-free and grief-free. Then you will take everything as a divine play of the Lord you love and live in bliss just as He is, when His plans are going through!

Sometimes when translating Baba’s words it is very strong. I guess I was even dreamt about it last night and in my memories I felt like in Prasanthi Nilayam as it was in the earlier days and I loved that air in the ashram and around the mandir and we waited for him and felt his presence.

To awake with that feeling of his presence is great, he is the ocean and when he is present, we go in that direction of merging of the soul with the over-soul and often when it does happen, we don’t even know why and how.

In his words he is present and sometimes that powerful. I had last night a feeling of being sick and it was a headache and this morning it was more like a shower of nectar by feeling his divine presence.

We should find a way to always merge the soul with the over-soul and if we don’t reach that, I guess that is when my headache begins or something like that. 

As he said in the thought for the day yesterday, every action, every word, every thought should go in that direction, the direction of the higher self only and it will swell to a great divine river flowing together to God-realization and if we listen to Baba’s words, as it is really in his words.

Merging of the Soul with the Over-Soul

"Sacrifice ignorance (ajnana) and ego (ahamkara) at the altar of wisdom (Jnana), and install righteousness(Dharma) therein" - this is the message of the scriptures. Every single unselfish act, which prepares the ground for the merging of the Soul with the Over-Soul, which broadens the vision towards the Divinity immanent everywhere, is a righteous act. Each such act is a tiny stream that swells the river of holiness rushing towards the sea of knowledge of Divinity. Your acts and activities are all rituals in the worship of the Paramatma that pervades the Universe. Whatever is done in an attitude of dedication and surrender is a component of the Dharma, which leads to Realisation. The strategy of the ancient Bharathiya (Indian) way of life is directed towards the sanctification of every moment and every word, thought and deed as a step towards realising the Divine. 

If we have to sacrifice ignorance and ego at the altar of wisdom, we can conclude that righteousness and Dharma is without ignorance and without ego. 

If there is wisdom, we have no ignorance and ego and if there is ignorance and ego, there is no wisdom.

Baba calls that the message of the scriptures, the message of Veda, a very old message and always true. He refers to the scriptures as we do to science, it is the authority for it and what is in the scriptures is in many ways confirmed by holy masters and seers, the ancient Rishis and it tells us what is true and that there cannot be a mistake.

The Atmic principle is in the scriptures, it is always the same for any master who is teaching it and Swami is the embodiment of it.

 "Sacrifice ignorance (ajnana) and ego (ahamkara) at the altar of wisdom (Jnana), and install righteousness(Dharma) therein" - this is the message of the scriptures.

Every single unselfish act, which prepares the ground for the merging of the Soul with the Over-Soul, which broadens the vision towards the Divinity immanent everywhere, is a righteous act.

Time Waste is Life Waste

You are wasting a lot of time in meaningless pursuits. Time wasted is life wasted. Our ancients never wasted even a minute. They considered God as the embodiment of time and extolled Him thus: Kalaya Namah, Kala Kalaaya Namah, Kalaateetaya Namah, Kalaniyamitaya Namah (Salutations to the Embodiment of Time, to the One who conquered time, to the One who transcends time and to the One who ordains time). Why have you forgotten the truth that time is verily God? You eagerly await a Sunday thinking that you can relax and enjoy. In fact, you should feel sad that you are wasting time without doing any work on a Sunday. You have to utilise your time in a proper way. If you do not have any work, undertake social service. Help your fellowmen. Life becomes meaningful only when you make proper use of time.

If we are wasting lots of time in meaningless pursuits, what we are avoid if we can or we try to not do it. As he explains here, time wasted is life wasted and time is God.

He told me four times in the interview room to wait and once in the dream, but only now I understand why waiting and why the self is waiting and it was always difficult to wait and it is a long time ago he told me to 'wait' in such a way that I will never forget it.
The first time when I was just observing, watching or better waiting for the inner self to appear, I didn’t know how it would be, but I knew it would be there if I just waited and Swami had to repeat it that many times to just get the importance of the ‘waiting’ in my mind, even thought it is what he always said, ‘wait, wait, wait’.

Waiting on body, mind and Atma level, waiting on the body level, on the level of the others and on the overall good level.

Yesterday he explained our duty or Dharma and we can get aware of Dharma only if we see all three levels, it has to be good for the individual, for the society and for the world or ‘universe’. 
The oneness of thought, word and deed what makes the difference between being truthful or a swindler. If we don’t practice we should not talk about it. That is what makes a fraud and why in the end Swami was in that person present with vampire teeth and with a very long nose. No word of that guy was about oneness between thought, word and deed.

When I was waiting for the higher self to appear, I decided to not change anything in my job or my profession until it would change from the inside, because the higher self had to be there. I didn’t think that the experience of the watcher would be that difficult to understand and that oneness of thought, word and deed was not that easy.

I kept my thoughts on ‘waiting’ for the higher self, I had experienced it before and in due time it had to be there, but it had been there in family and it was not there anymore afterwards because someone had stepped into my way, as he explained it yesterday and it is a good way to see and to explain it, therefore it was disturbed.

Watch Your Step

Whoever subdues egoism, conquers selfish desires, destroy one’s bestial feelings and impulses, and gives up the natural tendency to regard the body as the Self, is surely on the path of Dharma; they know that the goal of Dharma is the merging of the wave in the sea! In all worldly activities, you should be careful not to offend propriety, or the canons of good nature; you should not play false to the promptings of the Inner Voice, you should be prepared at all times to respect the appropriate dictates of conscience; you should watch your steps to see whether you are in someone else's way; you must be ever vigilant to discover the Truth behind all this scintillating variety. This is your duty, your Dharma. The blazing fire of Jnana, which convinces you that all this is Brahman (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma) will consume into ashes all traces of your egoism, and worldly attachment.

That is actually a very strong message in that thought for the day.

I had to send the study circle away and finally I did it just mentioning that it is the same we had before and we hope we are back from the summer vacation and I send the thought for the day and that is how I had to translate it. 

First I mentioned only the last sentence, but then I noticed how powerful it was and as I had already twice a comment about Baba’s words actually, I translated it finally. 

It is about a principle and a principle can never be changed no matter how much we try to interpret it, we have to see it in our own life and we have to go on no matter what obstacles are there. 

They send me the text of the pope to send it around but nobody is listening to Swami's words, I got that upset. 

Whoever subdues egoism, conquers selfish desires, destroy one’s bestial feelings and impulses, and gives up the natural tendency to regard the body as the Self, is surely on the path of Dharma; they know that the goal of Dharma is the merging of the wave in the sea!

The BLazing Fire of Jnana (Wisdom)

Whoever subdues egoism, conquers selfish desires, destroy one’s bestial feelings and impulses, and gives up the natural tendency to regard the body as the Self, is surely on the path of Dharma; they know that the goal of Dharma is the merging of the wave in the sea! In all worldly activities, you should be careful not to offend propriety, or the canons of good nature; you should not play false to the promptings of the Inner Voice, you should be prepared at all times to respect the appropriate dictates of conscience; you should watch your steps to see whether you are in someone else's way; you must be ever vigilant to discover the Truth behind all this scintillating variety. This is your duty, your Dharma. The blazing fire of Jnana, which convinces you that all this is Brahman (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma) will consume into ashes all traces of your egoism, and worldly attachment.

If I would have known as we do now and we know we can tell it with Swami's words, we would have said, 'step out of my way!', but it would have changed nothing and we would still have to go on against an obstacle which seemed that huge and it created more obstacles and it came into being at the same time when the first experience of self-realization was present.  

The meaning of propriety is similar to decency and in following the inner view and the canons of good nature, is going on in right behavior and not that of a dog like he described miserliness.

It makes us aware of something important. It is possible to play false to the prompting of the inner voice, we can understand it on the wrong level and get to a not right conclusion.

The inner view began before but it got stronger with dreams with the neighbor, he was living in too close to my parent's house and Swami said, 'follow the master, fight to the end, finish the game'. 

What to do he had been always a disturbance, but as my family ignored it I thought also it was nothing, even if it disturbed very much really. He left everything open or there was even a promise and he walked out of it without further notice, without even telling something, one day he was gone and it was not possible to talk the matter over. In fact, he let me believe that he would come back one day. There was no way to address the matter later has he was together with another lady from the same village, I knew her from seeing, but I didn't know her really. She became a school teacher and he said one day that he wanted to get married with a school teacher and when they were seen together, he was gone. 

I didn't get it that it was manipulation and in purpose everything was left open and there was no possibility from my side to end it properly. 

The dreams were all about that and it was no question of write or wrong, only a question of address it. As it had been omitted and ignored and it was manipulation if we addressed it and looked at it the manipulation became obvious. As my whole family said that there was nothing, based in my mother who was too ashamed of it to acknowledge it I guess, I also thought there was nothing. 

Knowing One's True Self

In spite of education and intelligence, a foolish person will not know one’s true Self, and an evil minded person will not give up wicked qualities. Modern education leads only to argumentation, not to true wisdom. What is the use of acquiring worldly education if it cannot lead you to immortality? Acquire that knowledge which will make you immortal. Modern education can help you only to eke out a livelihood. It is meant for a living and not for life. In fact, it is responsible for the present decline of morality in society. In olden days, people gave topmost priority to truth and righteousness. They considered divine love as their very life. The women of Bharat sacrificed their lives for the sake of truth. Women should develop the wealth of virtues and also safeguard the honor of their husbands and families. Both men and women should have good character. Without good character, all your learning will prove futile.

Baba (thought for the day)

Last night during mediation, the mantra was constantly in my head, I had to meditate and I went over that divine Lila in my thoughts and I followed it and looked at it in that light and how I came to know my own true self, it was in the dream stage and I was about twenty-five only and how everything began to go in that direction afterwards. That first experience of self-realization during writing a diary and I was about seventeen I also still remember and how it began to get difficult afterwards and how I came to Swami and he made us aware from the inside that the neighbor was responsible. It seemed that feeling of self-realization was not possible anymore because of him and that is how I began to question it and nothing seemed to help and it went on as before and I began to write him asking him to stop it whatever that was and to end it and he didn't listen. 

In the insight, in the dream he was a blind man not knowing where he went with his blind man's stick groping in the dark and how it was finally clear that he was responsible. A few months later we got the news that he died and in the inner view was, 'whoever digs a pit to others, will himself fall into it'.

And my family, the parent’s house and what Swami said, being let down by them. They were ignoring the situation or not able to see it, it was easier to put the blame on me than looking for truth.

That fight going on in the insights for the right answer, following the inner master and not knowing what the inner master really was until it was done and it was about how to get the idea that someone would to something like that, based on control and loss of control as it seems. All that came up with Swami and fighting to the end means going on no matter what obstacles are there, just going on and how it looks today like a fight to find the right answer and why it was not possible to feel that feeling of self-realization anymore, as I had it would and looking at the responsible people involved and how it looks now.

In spite of education and intelligence, a foolish person will not one’s true Self, and an evil minded person will not give up wicked qualities. Modern education leads only to argumentation, not to true wisdom.

Real Happiness and True Wealth

The happiness that one derives from virtues is far superior to the happiness that we get from the possession of wealth. Unfortunately the educated youth are striving for wealth, physical strength and friendship. But all these have little value without the wealth of character. For men or women, character is the foundation. If one lacks character, one becomes feeble in all other respects. People of those days strove for noble character. They were prepared to give up their very lives for a righteous cause. Women strived to uphold the honor of their husbands. The strength of an individual lies in one's character, not in the wealth one earns. One should be prepared to face any hardship to lead a virtuous life. The country is in dire straits due to the absence of men and women of character. Materialistic wealth is not what we need today. We need to earn the wealth of virtues.

Baba (thought for the day)

Today's thought for the day is about a happiness superior to the happiness that we get from the possession of wealth. Can we feel it that there is a happiness beyond it that is better than the possession of wealth or can we not feel it? 

He is telling us that educated youth is striving for wealth, physical strength and friendship. 

That we know, don't we, but why he is telling us that it is unfortunate?

With meditation we learnt that the tendency of nature goes towards more and more happiness no matter what and we just looked at it as natural.

Unfortunately there is little value to it, without the wealth of character. 

That is the difference, there has to be character. Character is more important than wealth.

Dharma right action and duty we experience on three levels, it has to be good for oneself and good for the others and the above all good.

If character is the foundation, we are ready to sacrifice our individual interest for the benefit of the group or family and the overall good and it will lead to peace and World Peace. 

Right action therefore results in peace and not right action doesn't result in peace.

Learn How to Drive; Get the Battery Recharged

No one is outside the Love of the Lord. The eighteen-year old boy is asked by the mother to go into the kitchen, take a plate and serve himself rice and curry and eat. The mother is not callous or unkind; she knows the capacity of the boy and treats him as he ought to be treated. For another son she accompanies to the kitchen, sits by his side and serves food to him. But she seats the third son on her lap and feeds with many a song in order to make the process pleasant for the child. Do not think that the mother is partial; no, she is only making use of her knowledge of the capacity of her children to make them progress. That is the nature of maternal love.

Here Swami is talking about maternal love. And I am writing to keep my spirits up and it keeps me busy as there is nothing else to do and if I would just sit here waiting I would get tired. I usually think over Baba's thought for the day as and that keeps me going and awake.

That thought for the day about mothering is not really much to tell, it means the mother knows best and divinity is like a mother.

Mothering teaches us to listen and to be patient. 

The words yesterday were different. When I began to write and it was about recharging the battery of the car, I began to get a feeling about it. If we don't use the car, it will not charge itself. 

With my ex we didn't use the car as it seems and even if I was still meditating twice a day and I was listening to spiritual uplifting tapes constantly, it seems the car was not used and therefore, the battery didn't recharge itself. How do we have to use the car and drive it so that the battery gets recharged?

As you said, we can only deal with the hand we are dealt with, if we use that example here and know that the car had to drive to get the battery recharged, we can see it in a different manner. Some years ago we went to Swami and came back with the battery recharged and it is like that, we have actually no choice but to drive that car, otherwise the battery will not be recharged.  

Never yield to indolence or despair. Suffer loss and grief gladly, for they help to toughen your personality. The diamond is found amidst rocks; you will have to blast through the vein to get gold. Follow the strict regimen that the doctor enforces in order to make the medicine yield the best result.

The Diamond is found amidst Rocks

Never yield to indolence or despair. Suffer loss and grief gladly, for they help to toughen your personality. The diamond is found amidst rocks; you will have to blast through the vein to get gold. Follow the strict regimen that the doctor enforces in order to make the medicine yield the best result. The battery of your ‘car’ is charged when you come to Puttaparthi or when you go to some other holy place. Or at least that should be the aim of the pilgrimage. Charge the battery of your spiritual effort and then, after you return home, do not keep the car idle. If you do, the battery will run down; take the car around and keep it going; then the battery will charge itself. So also, if you do not continue the holy company, the good attitude, bhajans, and remembering God’s Name as part of your life, all this charging will turn into a waste.

We have to accept loss and grief gladly as it toughens our personality, so my attitude was after all not that wrong, the problems was only that I didn’t know why it felt not right in that environment of my parent’s house, something was constantly disturbing and it came up with Swami and the insights and today it is clear why it felt disturbed and it was ignored by the family but the disturbance gone or seen as it should have been, the feeling of it is also different.

Are you ready to accept all that grief and loss gladly?  

The Inspiration, the Aim and the End

Prema (pure love) is filial piety when directed towards parents, companionship when it flows towards friends, love when it is felt towards the partner, respect when it is expressed to elders, and affection when you are drawn towards children. Bhakthi (devotion) affects your acts in three forms: first, you do some acts consciously in order to express your love or give shape to the Premathat animates you; second, you do acts as dedicated offerings to enhance the glory of the Lord, in a spirit of worshipful humility, as if you are offering at His feet all that you are and all that you are capable of; and third you do acts which are full of Prema towards all, as part of your mere existence, automatically, without any tinge of violence upsetting the perfume of the act. One dedicated act leads on to all activity being dedicated; the Aananda you experience makes you feel tThat your effort has been worthwhile. That is the end, the aim and the inspiration.

How do we get that experience of ‘pure love’? If we don't have the experience of it, we don't know it. As pure love is basic, the source of all love, it is the original form, as it cannot be transcended. It is eternal, non-changing and unlimited. 

The word piety I don’t know really, parents I saw as God, because it was easier than to find faults with them. 

They had to be God, that was their initial role like that ‘pure love’ is the basic state of love, even if manifested we have all different forms of it.

Friends that was present when ‘yogis are our friends’ and it was one of the best experiences and the worst, when instead of ‘courage, enthusiasm and joy’ there was only animosity and petty quarreling on a certain time and the leader was not there. 

The way Swami describes it, it was due to lack of ‘courage, enthusiasm and joy’, but as they thought they were invincible as well, they probably thought that everyting was okay and they were not humble and careful, but arrogant and careless and it turned into the opposite. 

In thinking over the divine words we get aware of it, how it had been and reading alone is not enough, it needs to be thought over to get the deeper meaning in it.

Respect to elders and people who are above like boss that is kind of normal and affection towards children is a daily experience if we have children.

Prema (pure love) is filial piety when directed towards parents, companionship when it flows towards friends, love when it is felt towards the partner, respect when it is expressed to elders, and affection when you are drawn towards children.