Spiritual Listening and Divine Presence in the Heart

Many venture to describe the attributes of God and proclaim Him to be such and such; but these are but their own guesses and the reflections of their own predilections and preferences. Who can affirm that God is this or that? Who can affirm that God is not of this form or with this attribute? God is inscrutable. He cannot be realised in the outer objective world; He is in the very heart of every being. Gemstones have to be sought deep underground; they do not float mid-air. Seek God in the depths of yourself, not in tantalising, kaleidoscopic Nature. The body is granted to you for this high purpose; but you are now misusing it, like the person who cooked his daily food in the gem studded gold vase that came into his hands as an heirloom. Man extols God as omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent, but ignores His Presence in oneself!

We had a nice sat sang last night. For the study circle we were only a few people, but it was still the best. The text was so beautiful and we remembered even some text we had before about patience it was also that incredible just to listen. We were listening and in the study circle we do an effort to think it over and to see it in our own life. It is not a sharing of our problems, it is thinking over his words. 

Someone talked about a strange interview she had and they didn't understand it really and one guy he planned to go to Kerala and he called them in the interview and it felt also like that, real strange he mentioned that daughter she didn't have, but behind was the lady who had a daughter and she said, 'I have no daughter', so the lady behind said, it is my daughter. And so the interview went on and it felt total strange, but nevertheless totally like him, it took some heaviness away, so serious people, not in the sense of serene what is good, but heavy in the mind really, how it felt listening to it and it was just lightening up. If we listen to divine words we lighten up, the energy gets transformed into a different type of energy and that is just a wonderful experience. 

We had a weekend and talked about study circle and the problem is if we are in a circle we listen to everybody one after the other and we don't interrupt, we listen to everything, but sometimes also not to the right thing and by the time it was my turn I was already fighting my impatience and I said, study circle without listening to Swami's words is no study circle. But it went on they were talking about the weekends topics and that was about conflict management and we went on talking around not getting to the point really.  

And that was actually our subject, in the text was Swami and the right answer. So I focused on that text and the issue to get to the point in question and if we don't, we will not get a right conclusion, only nobody listened. When it is limited to the point in question, it doesn't expand and we can still enjoy the good experiences, only that conflict is limited. That is a great thing if we are able to do it, if we are even able to recognize that it is a conflict and we don't just think it has to be like that and it is part of it, what seems to be mostly the case and a wrong conclusion.  

"Conflicts happen, but they should be limited to the point in question, the subject of the conflict and not be extended to additional words and feelings. If the conflict is allowed to escalate, the anger will intensify, bitter feelings are coming up and a huge hatred it will evolve. On the other hand, the love begins at a single point, and when it is enabled it will spread until it has fulfilled the entire life of that. This is spiritual truth. If there is conflict and disharmony between two people, they leave it out and do not allow the conflict to continue to expand, then settle down in the long run both parties, and in their relationship can get harmony. The worst what can happen is when the conflict is indeed latent persist, but not continue to grow and no other people involve. "

Dedication to True Speech

Whoever one may be, in whatever condition, if one gives no room for dispiritedness, if one has no fear at all, and if one remembers the Lord with unshaken faith and without any ulterior motive, all suffering and sorrow will fall away. The Lord will never enquire at any time the caste to which you belong or the precepts or traditions that you follow. Devotion doesn't consist in wearing an ochre cloth, organising festivals, performing ritual sacrifices, shaving off the hair, carrying water pot or rod, matting the hair, etc. Instead, the characteristics of devotion are: a pure mind(anthah-karana), uninterrupted (whatever one may be doing) contemplation on God, the feeling that everything is the Lord's creation, and therefore a) non-attachment to sense objects; b) the embracement of all in equal love; and c) dedication to true speech.

How do we not give room for dispiritedness? 

Whoever one may be, in whatever condition, if one gives no room for dispiritedness, if one has no fear at all, and if one remembers the Lord with unshaken faith and without any ulterior motive, all suffering and sorrow will fall away.

If we think, relationship between the body and akasha (heart), we don't even get aware that it is about discrimination, but we do it and repeat it, because we want to fly, we have to get light and that is in the lightness of the cotton fiber (Patanjali sutra). 

On that level cannot be any dispiritedness, we go on doing the sutra, no question about it, we practice. It is not about fear and we don't have the problem with faith, we just do it, if we want to go beyond the mind there have to be all possibilities and without lightness we don't go beyond the mind.

That is why he is telling us that the Lord will never enquire at any time the caste to with we belong, of course not, we just have to get light and that happens also when we breathe in light and keep it in the heart and we breathe out darkness, that is Soham as he also explained Kundalini and as well the flying sutra with Prana, energy, we breathe in light and we keep it in the heart and we breathe out darkness. 

It is the same and therefore, we did it already and we know it. If there is no pure mind and uninterrupted it doesn't go beyond the mind, as he is telling here, no matter what if it is contemplation on God, the feeling that everything is God, it has to go beyond the mind and that is only possible if it is unlimited and that is why they think everything is God, but non-attachment to sense objects is the body level, we have to with a pure mind beyond the body.

The Lord will never enquire at any time the caste to which you belong or the precepts or traditions that you follow. Devotion doesn't consist in wearing an ochre cloth, organising festivals, performing ritual sacrifices, shaving off the hair, carrying water pot or rod, matting the hair, etc. Instead, the characteristics of devotion are: a pure mind (anthah-karana), uninterrupted (whatever one may be doing) contemplation on God, the feeling that everything is the Lord's creation, and therefore a) non-attachment to sense objects; b) the embracement of all in equal love; and c) dedication to true speech.

A new Beginning and the Beginner's Mind

Ugadi is the beginning of a New Year. You have celebrated many Ugadis, but have you given up your bad qualities? Do not limit the celebration of Ugadi to merely putting on new clothes and partaking of delicious food. Today you may wear a new shirt, but how long will it remain new? Our life is like a newspaper. Once you have finished reading a newspaper, do you like to read the same newspaper again and again? You have been given this birth, and you have gone through varied experiences of pleasure and pain. Pray to God to take you across this ocean of life and death, and grant you liberation. True Ugadi is the day when you give up bad qualities, fill your heart with love, and take to the path of sacrifice. Stop criticizing others. Respect even those who hate you. Hatred is a bad quality. It will ruin you. Hence get rid of this evil. Love everyone.

The beginning of New Year and he reminds us that we have celebrated many New Years and talks about giving up bad qualities. 

What are bad qualities? Sathva is new in the beginning and a good quality. We should feel it and understand the Gunas, the tendencies of nature, sathva, rajas and tamas. We could call it as he said yesterday dedication to true speech with natural law. 

It is the understanding of the tendencies of nature in every word. What is new is in that sense good, what is old is not good, but that is of course generalized. If we don't want to generalize it we have to look at it in ever situation again and see if it is true or not true, but that is basically the common understanding level in the vedic culture. 

How can we be dedicated to true speech, we have to consider the difference between sathva, rajas and tamas and we have to listen to the self-realized authorities, because they mastered it, it means it is always right and never not right.

In a new year everything starts new and have we given up the bad qualities? 

As it is new we begin celebration with new cloths, that is the same idea, it just has to be new and we enjoy good food, maybe we wear a new shirt, but tomorrow it is not new anymore.

The same is our life if we see it out of a view that knows sathva, rajas and tamas. It is like a news paper, what today is new is tomorrow no more. We read the newspaper only today and we put it away on the pile of old paper.

 Ugadi is the beginning of a New Year. You have celebrated many Ugadis, but have you given up your bad qualities? Do not limit the celebration of Ugadi to merely putting on new clothes and partaking of delicious food. Today you may wear a new shirt, but how long will it remain new? Our life is like a newspaper. Once you have finished reading a newspaper, do you like to read the same newspaper again and again?

The Origin of Pride, Ignorance and the Feeling of Duality

What is the origin of pride? Is it knowledge? No! It is ignorance. What is the cause of ignorance? It is the feeling of duality. Where did duality originate? From attachment and hatred (Raga and Dwesha). What is the origin of these two? They are the products of circumstances. How did circumstances come about? Through Karma (past deeds). What is the cause of Karma? Birth! Thus be clear that birth is the cause of all sorrow. Only by seeking freedom from birth that you can free oneself from sorrow. The opportunity of a human birth must be used for realizing this supreme goal. The duty of parents is to set children on the right path from their early years. They should not hesitate to correct them and even punish them when the children take to wrong ways. The best way parents can show their love for their children is to do everything necessary to lead them on the righteous path.

In these words is the origin of bad qualities explained and it can make us aware of our own life experience in a different way. 

What is the origin of pride? Is it knowledge? No! It is ignorance.

If we listen, really listen, we hear that it is a duality 'feeling', not a thought. The question is how that feeling of duality comes into being. It is a feeling and it is that feeling that gets us into not right conclusions. 

We don't know that we don't know, we don't question it, we go ahead thinking we know and the origin is the feeling of duality? 

How does it feel? We don't like to feel such feelings like hatred and attachment. Attachment we are probably not aware of and hatred is something else.  

It is a new explanation of Swami, as often a surprising was of getting aware of it when thinking it over. 

He often mentioned identification with the body. We don't know how it feels to be identified with the body, it is the 'I' level and we are it and if we think we know, we are wrong. How is identification with the body on the feeling level? 

We cannot know as long as we don't know the opposite, we don't know how it is to not be identified with the body. Swami is making us aware of it in Darshan, the sight of truth, or what we experience in Darshan as the reflection of it as he is beyond the mind and the body feeling.

What is the cause of ignorance? It is the feeling of duality. Where did duality originate? From attachment and hatred (Raga and Dwesha). What is the origin of these two? They are the products of circumstances.