Positive Energy and Divine Nectar

Embodiments of Love! There is no need to search for God anywhere, says the Bible. Today people are in search of God. Why do you search for Him when He is everywhere? You are God. All spiritual practices (sadhana) will go in vain if you do not know your true identity. Instead of asking others, “Who are you?” it is better to ask yourself, “Who am I?” “This is my book”, we say. Then who is this “I”? This feeling of “my” is illusion (maya). Know who you are. All this is matter, it is negative. You are the master of this material world. Master the mind and be a mastermind. Make every effort to know your true identity. To know this, you should first give up body attachment. People are heroes in doing experiments in the laboratory, but zeroes in experience. Instead, be heroes in the practical field.


In this thought for the day Swami calls people embodiments of love and the reason for it is not that all realized beings, but that potentially there is only love if there is only one and that one alone exists, there can be only love, but we have to get to the right conclusion.

Embodiments of Love! There is no need to search for God anywhere, says the Bible.

He is telling us to not search for God, also not as Christians as we are used to the concept of duality and we think God is in heaven and far away really.
We are it, there is no need to search for it, but we need to get to the right understanding of it and we should always be aware that we are able to get also to a wrong conclusion when we are in the mind.


Today people are in search of God. Why do you search for Him when He is everywhere? You are God.


That is the basic message and we don't look for God in heaven anymore, but he is in our own self. The question is still there how we get aware of it and how do we know and get the experience of it?
If he is present in the here and now, how do we get the experience and the answer is love, but we cannot just feel love if there is no love and by writing the focus is not on the feeling, but it is nevertheless there behind somewhere in the motivation is love and we mostly experience it with others.


All spiritual practices (sadhana) will go in vain if you do not know your true identity. Instead of asking others, “Who are you?” it is better to ask yourself, “Who am I?”

True Spiritual Practice lies in Controlling our Thoughts

 

Today everyone is troubled by worry and anxiety. There is not a moment when you are free from worries. “To be born is a worry, to live on earth is a worry; world is a cause of worry and death too is a reason of worry; entire childhood is a worry and so is old age; life is a worry, failure is a worry; all actions and difficulties cause worry; even happiness too is a mysterious worry”, says a Telugu poem! Body attachment is the primary cause of all anxieties. It is impossible to experience happiness without undergoing difficulties and worries. Pleasure is an interval between two pains. You undertake various activities, of which some are good and some bad. Your thought (sankalpa) is the root cause of this duality. Good thoughts lead to good actions and vice versa. You are the embodiment of resolutions and negations (sankalpas and vikalpas). True spiritual practice lies in controlling your thoughts and aberrations

We all know troubles and anxiety in our mind in the world we are living and we have out jobs and duties and it has a big influence. We started years ago before we went to Swami with regular mediation in the aim to purify the mind and that is the reason for it that we can control our thoughts and the mind and not the opposite way around, nobody who is not in a way in meditation is able to have control over the mind and with meditation we also got rid of stress and anxiety in the mind.

Today everyone is troubled by worry and anxiety. There is not a moment when you are free from worries. “To be born is a worry, to live on earth is a worry; world is a cause of worry and death too is a reason of worry; entire childhood is a worry and so is old age; life is a worry, failure is a worry; all actions and difficulties cause worry; even happiness too is a mysterious worry”, says a Telugu poem!

Formless Pure Divine Energy

So long as one has a form, it is quite natural that they think of that form; but since that form has to be forgotten some day or the other, it is good to concentrate on the formless supreme and give up attachment to a form. Vedanta teaches us the philosophy of detachment (vairagya) to help in this process of concentrating on the formless supreme power which is behind every form. It is inevitable that the soul (jiva) leaves the body. This body is like a water bubble on the surface of water. This water bubble is born out of water, lives on water, and survives on water, and finally it gets dissolved in water. To think that one is full of weakness is not correct. The correct attitude is to regard God as formless, without attributes. We should take it that God is present in us. That should be the right attitude.

Today Swami talks about the body and we know it very well and that we should have the correct attitude to see God as formless and that is good for meditation.
It is the first thing we get aware of when we are born, our body and it is quite natural that we think we are that body and if someone would tell us something else, we would just wonder about it. We have only that body, so why should we not be identified with it and think, wow, that is I.

So long as one has a form, it is quite natural that they think of that form; but since that form has to be forgotten some day or the other, it is good to concentrate on the formless supreme and give up attachment to a form.


As we get aware that we have to die, in the West we usually try first to forget about it and most people like to think live and lets live as long as possible and enjoy life as long as we can.
There is only one problem, it seems not that enjoyable and natural to get to the conclusion if there wouldn't be any pain or suffering, we would enjoy it more and if we listen to Swami and Veda we get to the conclusion that it is not quite right. 


Vedanta teaches us the philosophy of detachment (vairagya) to help in this process of concentrating on the formless supreme power which is behind every form.

Purify the Heart

Every day is a sacred day when you chant the name of God, yearn for His proximity and experience the bliss of His grace within you. The supreme quality of Emperor Bali is his spirit of surrender and sacrifice. Emperor Bali surrendered himself totally to the divine. Under his reign, all the subjects were happy and led godly lives. Saddened by the thought of having to go away from his people, he told them, "Dear people! I cannot be without you and you cannot be without me. Every year I shall appear before you and give you joy." Onam is the day on which Bali fulfills his promise. People wake up early in the morning, take a bath, wear new dresses and worship God, and partake a feast to mark the Onam celebration. What is the significance of wearing new clothes (Vasthra)? Vasthra also means ‘heart’. Wearing new clothes (Vasthra) signifies purifying the heart. God dwells in a pure heart.

For the study circle it is like singing or meditating, listening to Swami’s words creates good energy and purification of the heart field, sathva, it is pure energy.
It is not the same just sitting together as it seems often practised in sharing something, whatever it is what we want to share, if we call it experiences or even human values, it is another word for socializing. 
If we don’t have the one-pointed focus on the words of a self-realized authority, the energy will not be uplifted and in the name of study circle all kinds of things are done, only not sitting together and studying Swami’s words. 
The circle is only a circle if he is in it, a circle is another word for holy, it is whole and that is only present if we have him in it and not the mind. 
If we are in the mind we have many types of half circles, but it is never a circle. To make it a circle we have to study his words and put him in the center of it what means one-pointed focus on his words and by that what is purified is the ideal and the field of the heart.
In that thought for the day he talks about Onam and the tradition of it, the background. We experience with Swami what people experience with emperor Bali, in that story is a reflection.

Every day is a sacred day when you chant the name of God, yearn for His proximity and experience the bliss of His grace within you.

One with the Cosmic Spirit

So long as a person is immersed in body attachment, all types of hardships and misery will haunt. Body attachment is the root cause of thoughts (sankalpas). Hence Lord Krishna exhorted people to give up body attachment. The key derivation from this statement is that every being should experience unity in diversity. Without an individual (vyashti), there cannot be a society (samashti). Without a society, there is no creation (srishti). So all these are connected, and we must first clearly recognise the role of an individual (vyashti). Only then can we understand the principle of samashti, which will in turn lead to the understanding of srishti. One who understands srishti becomes one with paramesthi (God).Vyashti symbolises the individual whereas Samashti stands for God. So long as vyashti identifies themselves with the body, they lead a very ordinary life. Shed the body attachment, then you will find that the individual soul is indeed one with the Cosmic Spirit.

We had a study circle and someone else was doing it and she was good. Our text was from the study help we got and that are selected quotes of Swami and when studying it we get ot a certain insight about his message, it is a great text and also the questions at the end of each chapter are great as they know what they are doing and why those questions and not others are asked. We talked about love only, but one passage it was mentioned that someone afflicted with ego is unable to have compassion and a danger for society.

It is kind of sad that we have those study circles for I don’t know how long in the meantime and there is one lady she is always participating, but she doesn’t get it. 

Ways of Duty and Dharma

Shankaracharya, in the fifth century A.D., travelled by foot from Kerala to Kashi, Badri, Kashmir, Kedarnath, Kailash, Puri, Sringeri, etc! And he lived only until the age of thirty-two! Imagine the tremendous amount of work that he did - writing, expounding, propagating, establishing, organising, inspiring, teaching - all in about fourteen or fifteen years of active life! Activity is the verysine qua non of life. Be active, welcome activity - that is the message that God gives man at birth. The breath teaches you Soham all the time, 'so' when it goes in and 'ham,' when it is exhaled. Choose that activity which is conducive to your spiritual progress, judging yourself the stage in which you are at present. There is no high and low, in the activity. The eye must see, the ear must hear, and the hand must hold. That is their duty (Dharma). So also each of you must conduct yourself, according to your own Dharma and progress spiritually.

After the beautiful picture about the sky and the stars in the sky and the moon and the sun in the heart and the clouds in Swami's thought for the day yesterday, today we go back to the incredible holy tradition of India and he talks about Shakaracharya. He was very exceptional and very holy and I translated once a book and I did that in the time I was here working as I had no much to do really in waiting to go back to Swami.

Shankaracharya, in the fifth century A.D., travelled by foot from Kerala to Kashi, Badri, Kashmir, Kedarnath, Kailash, Puri, Sringeri, etc! And he lived only until the age of thirty-two! Imagine the tremendous amount of work that he did - writing, expounding, propagating, establishing, organising, inspiring, teaching - all in about fourteen or fifteen years of active life.

The Ball and the Impure Heart

If we take a ball and pitch it on a hard ground, it will rebound to the extent determined by how hard we hit the ball on the ground. If we pitch this ball on a soft muddy ground instead of a hard surface, it will not rebound, but will get trapped and stuck in the mud. Similarly, if the pure aspect of Divinity hits a sacred heart, it rebounds. On the other hand, if we have a muddy and impure heart, even when Divinity impinges on this heart it gets stuck and entangled. Therefore, purity of one's mind and an exemplary life are essential. Truth and honesty are to be regarded as our two eyes. Instead, if these eyes are inflicted with the disease of selfishness, then we cannot have a pure and clean heart. Young people should have purity of mind. They should take great care to protect truth and honesty.

This is a good example if we use it for meditation the field of the heart and what happens when it is not pure. The field of the heart is not just pure, we live in the world and it is a mixture between sathva, rajas and tamas and also Swami never tells us that the heart is pure, he tells us to develop pure love. We have to purify the heart to have a sathvic field. He always tells us to purify the heart. 
But some think it is enough and done if we replace bad qualities with good qualities, so they talk about what is bad to find what is good and stay at the surface of a code of conduct and they have even extended the human values to over a hundred in reminding all what they could and should do.

Last time in the study circle we talked about good and we had guests and the lady was sitting at my side and when one person went elaborate into doing good, she said, 'what is good' and I said to her that was the same question in my mind. 

Who is telling us what is good and what is bad? The same thing we see as bad can in a different situation just be necessary and good and if we would think we have to behave good, we would avoid the challenge and not do it right and that is not good, but in that situation it would be bad. 

It is relative what is good and bad and it depends on the situation and it is just common sense really.

Happiness is Union with God

The Vedas teach us that our heart is like a sky and in the sky of our heart, mind is the Moon, eyes and intelligence are like the Sun. In the sky of your heart, treat your thoughts as passing clouds. If in the sky of our heart, there are millions of names of the Lord shining like the stars, and your mind shining like the moon, then you are well-positioned to achieve happiness. Happiness is union with God. Train your minds to be like the full moon and cleanse your hearts. Lord Krishna desires that you keep your mind pure and accept truth and honesty as your foundational life principles. Our own conduct is responsible for the decay or the ageing of our body. Our desires drive our behavior. Do not live in the world to merely fulfill your desires. Pain and pleasure are like passing clouds which move about in our heart. So treat them as such and nothing more.

Today the thought for the day begins with Veda and what Veda is teaching. It is about Veda, even if we have had someone in the study circle when Veda was mentioned he answered, 'who is interested in that'? We should better keep silent and don't answer than to say something stupid it like that as we talk constantly about Veda, it is someone who doesn't listen and has not relationship to the words of Swami and the wisdom in those words.  

Here Swami is telling us what the Vedas teach and it is a beautiful picture. 

The heart is the sky and in the sky of the heart we have a mind and it is the moon, our eyes and the intelligence is the sun in the heart.

We have our own universe in the heart with a moon, with a sun and a sky and lots of stars and we find the reflection of it in the dream stage and we could think that the world of the heart reflects the language the man coming in our heart to awaken uses in the purpose to awake us from the inside. 

In that sense Swami is teaching us here the language of the man coming in our dreams to awaken, it is not just a picture if it is like that in the Veda. 

If we watch our heart and are alert and see the mind only as the moon in the sky of the heart, when in reality we think we are the mind outside in our everyday life in the world, it seems to be the same in the heart, but it is not really the same as in the world. 

How do we watch the heart that close if we don't meditate, that is kind of impossible. We need to have silence in the mind to be able to see that sky in the heart that clear and beautiful and with love and if we don't meditate, we don't see anything, the heart is dark and black and nothing to see really when we are living in the mind only, mind is world. 

The Vedas teach us that our heart is like a sky and in the sky of our heart, mind is the Moon, eyes and intelligence are like the Sun. In the sky of your heart, treat your thoughts as passing clouds. If in the sky of our heart, there are millions of names of the Lord shining like the stars, and your mind shining like the moon, then you are well-positioned to achieve happiness.

Constant Integrated Awareness

 

To experience divine love there is no need to practice any kind of meditation, worship or rituals. Selfless love (Prema) can be obtained only by complete absorption in spirituality. It was for this reason that Sri Krishna declared in the Gita: "Surrender unto Me, transcending all rules (Sarva Dharman Parityajya)". Likewise, Jesus also declared: "I am the Path." Buddha, conveying the same meaning, declared, "Surrender everything" (Sarvam Sharanam Gachchami). These statements clearly convey that the essence of all religions, the root of all scriptures, the goal of all virtues, is the experience of spiritual oneness and unity (Sarvatmika Bhavam). The Gopikas exemplified such a spirit of surrender and oneness. Gopikas symbolise thoughts. Radha symbolises the combination of all thoughts in the mind. So all our thoughts, desires and aspirations and our mind should merge in Krishna, represented by Prajna in a human being. Constant Integrated Awareness (Prajna) of the Divine is the significance of the Vedantic declaration, 'Prajnanam Brahma.' 

This thought for the day is not easy if we think it over. 

What does it mean to be absorbed in spirituality or as Swami said, just think about God. For me it meant I began to watch and by watching I was sure that God was there or the higher self and it would be there if we just watched.

And we know it goes to the far end, as it cannot go further it will turn around and he tells us as well what it means in our experience, it goes that far that we cannot take it anymore and then only it turns around, with other words, we experience our limitations and what we are able to take.

Just thinking about God meant for me that he was all what is good and of course, God is love.  

To experience divine love there is no need to practice any kind of meditation, worship or rituals. Selfless love (Prema) can be obtained only by complete absorption in spirituality. It was for this reason that Sri Krishna declared in the Gita: "Surrender unto Me, transcending all rules (Sarva Dharman Parityajya)". Likewise, Jesus also declared: "I am the Path." Buddha, conveying the same meaning, declared, "Surrender everything" (Sarvam Sharanam Gachchami).