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. 

There is a feeling for me it was like seeing my grand-parents when I went to Swami the first time and it was a good feeling of going home to my grand-parents what has something to do with cultural values and tradition and human values and going home and I liked that feeling, but afterwards the feeling was gone after I came back from the ashram, there was nothing of the sort and I was working in an office and wondered what I did there, it was that bad, that I really nearly didn't unpack my suitcase, I just went on and worked for some months and I went back to Swami, therefore, it seems kind or incredible that now after I had met with the family it was actually present and what is present, is not that feeling of what am I doing here and I don't know, but the quality of cultural values we know established with Swami and the feeling of the grand-parents and home, probably my feeling of home was not with my parents, but with my grand-parents.

I felt not home with my parents, so my home feels like the grand-parents. 

It we don't listen to Swami's words it doesn't make sense and lots of things only make sense after we listen to Swami's words. Because we listen to Swami's words when remembering something for example like 'step by step' we see the connection and we look at it differently and what before didn't make sense, now it does make sense. If we see it in the light of Swami's words it does make sense.

One act following another act that will be a routine and it will create a good habit.
Do you have lots of good habits? What are your good habits? After the study circle when we want to finish I usually ask if someone would still like to say something and if they go on talking I let them talk until they have said what they want to say to not frustrate them.

Step by step, you reach the end of the road. One act followed by another leads to a good habit.

The way I understand it here Swami it telling us by listening it over and over we have created a good habit and it gets prodded into action.
What is it what gets prodded into action?
It cannot be the habit, but it has to be the truth in his words by listening over and over we get aware of it of we have to accept it and in time we know it and we see what needs to be done.

It depends on our good habit of listening to it over and over again that it gets prodded into action and all those people not doing it, will not prod it into action. They don't listen, they think they know, that is why they look old-fashioned, they think they know Swami and it is about tradition and holding up traditional values. 

We have a picture or a vision and we have to follow the insight, he is the insight and the following step and are you ready for it. We should always be ready.

Without enthusiasm, courage, devotion, energy, readiness and sincerity, nothing can be achieved. (Baba)

In thinking over Swami's words and the thought for the day it feels like a good habit? Meditation is a good habit, TV is not such a good habit and it gets less my daughter not being here, before when she came in  through the door after work, she put the TV on, that was her age and I knew it would pass, but I had to live with it. She said now they don't have time to watch. They enjoy each other's company.

  

Listening, over and over you get prodded into action.

Do we over and over again listen to it? When will it be prodded into action? Or did we with the blog already prod it into action?
With other words, did you listen over and over again until it needed to be action or not yet?
If yes, what is that action? What do you think it is or it should be?

If we look at Swami's next sentence we ask ourselves, are we resolved to act or not and if we are, we have to engage to only good company, it matter to be in good company.

If we listen to Swami's words over and over again and we are resolved to act, we need good company otherwise it will not be a good experience and we don't want a bad experience.

When are we resolved to act or have we not been listening enough yet that it will be plodded into action?
It depends on listening, if we listen over and over again it will form a good habit and it will be prodded into action and that means there is something to do and not the feeling that we can to nothing …, we have to do it, he will not do it, he is just there telling us to do it, but we have to do it in our body, otherwise, nothing is done, he has no body anymore.

We are his body, we are the instruments.
He is the doer because we listen to him and we formed somehow that good habit, he is the doer, because he told us to do so and we are his instruments and we do it because, he told us to do it.

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.

In that sentence he is telling us how to get rid of ignorance. If we do what he is telling us here, we can be sure that ignorance will vanish.
Do you think we actually are doing what he is telling us here to do?

If we don't do it and listen over and over again to get it to a good habit what will be prodded into action and we have to go for good company, if we don't do it, there will not by any bliss.
Who is doing it, listening over and over again, are we listening or am I doing it alone and for myself only? 

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.

It means we have to listen over and over again, create a good habit and it will be prodded into action and there will be divine bliss. Do you like that?
What do you think? Did we listen over and over again enough or we still have to go on listening over and over to get there?
What are we doing when we act we move forward towards the light and the shadow falls behind. Are you aware of the shadow?
Do you have any idea what it means to follow the shadow? How do you follow the shadow?

And we get every moment one step nearer to the Lord.
We can go a step nearer to the Lord, we do it for example in participating to the study circle and by following the inner master we actually follow the shadow, he makes all that come up what needs to be looked at, what needs to be seen as 'illusion' or shadow only. As long as we see for example the pain for real, we have the pain and we have the feeling in the mind that it is real, it goes away only when we realize it is just an illusion. What will happen Swami explains lovingly to us, the illusion, the shadow will fall back and will not delude us at all. To be able to make that experience we have to be steady and resolved.

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. 

It is the work we do, we listen to his words over and over and it does make sense, why we listen and we should get able that it gets prodded into action, so when have you listened to be able to act?

That is the question and what I am waiting for. 

If we don't listen, we don't hear it and that is the dilemma of people not listening, they think they know Swami, but they are not able to listen and they just don't hear it, but they nevertheless think they know Swami, but they don't.

Which type of devotee are we, those thinking we know even if we don't know and we don't follow the shadow and by that we don't get aware of illusion or are we true spiritual aspirants and we listen and if it needs more listening we go on listening over and over again, as he is telling us steady and resolved. If we are listening, it will be prodded into action.
What type of devotee would we like to be?