Being the Caretaker and not the Owner

A millionaire pays income tax with tears in his eyes. A Headmaster joyfully gives up the furniture and laboratory appliances of the school when he is transferred to another place. Why? Because the headmaster knows and believes that he is only the caretaker, and is not the owner. They are not attached to these articles, for they know that these belong to the Government.

So too, every one of you must feel that your family, your house, your fields, your car are all the Lord's property.

You are just a trustee and must be ready to give them up without murmur, at a moment's notice. Sacrifice does not mean that you should not attach value to things. You must indeed care for everything.

But remember, that all of them are transient and the joy they give is very trivial and temporary. Know their real worth, do not overestimate them and develop attachment to them.

Baba

 

When we are employed and have a job, we would never think that the business we work for is actually ours, but if we are the owner it is a different matter. 
My parents were the owner of their business and there was pride and attachment, but it didn't feel like that. We didn't know what it was, it was just somehow strange and once there was a precipice in the air, but without analyzing it we don't get aware that precipice means 'pride'.

After my mothers death there was an avalanche in the dream and is the same, without analyzing it we don't get to the insight that it is attachment. And even if I know that it is attachment, it still needs to be understood to be able to see it in the right context and that is a constant growing level of inner awareness.

We have seen and experienced it first in the mind and we need to analyze it to be able to see it in the light of the self.

There were difficulties to understand it right and it was not possible to talk freely to my parents, but it was all on the level of the mind. In following the inner master, we see that he is in dreams and insights and thinking it over we get a different feeling about it, we begin to understand how it really was and we have to fight to the end, it means it has to be analyzed until we are able to see it in the right light to be able to finish the game. 

Analyze the Defeat, become Heroes!

The whole world is very agitated and full of discontent, anxiety and fear; filled with petty faction and hatred. In order to calm and silence it, you must have enthusiasm and courage. When defeat and disappointment stare you in the face, you must not give way to weakness or despondency. Never condemn yourself as inferior or useless. Analyze the defeat and find out the reasons in order to avoid it the next time. You are not zeroes, you must become Heroes!

You should have the muscles of iron and nerves of steel. Then your resolution itself will generate the necessary confidence and you will win over the opposition.
For the crop of life, courage and confidence are the best pesticides and manure. Be like lions in the spiritual field, rule over the forest of senses and roam fearlessly with full faith in victory.
Baba (thought for the day)

 

How do be become heroes? Baba tells us here how we get over defeat and disappointment when they are staring in our face.

Analyze the defeat and find out the reasons in order to avoid it the next time.

That was just the missing point with that TM example I have mentioned before. When I got in touch over the Facebook with an old, so called TM-'friend' (yogis are our friends) and analyzed how I got into that TM Thing..., which didn't work well finally, he said he didn't understand it.
Because in his mind there should be no problem, just meditate. He thinks he knows how to become a heroe and not only that, but at the same time he thinks he is able by that to enlighten the world.
But it is very exhausting, if we try to analyze what went wrong and we notice that it is not possible, because we cannot understand it.
It is also frustrating to feel that we cannot understand it. The problem is, if the source got lost and without that we got aware of it, however that happened in our individual life, we cannot understand and analyse it. 
As the source has to do with relationships, if we cannot find that relationship level, the source gets lost and we don't even know why and that had happened with TM.

In analysing that disappointment we have to realize how the source got lost.

In yesterday's thought for the day we met again the three levels, listen, think it over and absorb.

What I am doing just now in writing is thinking it over, but first I read it or listened to it and now I try to reflect on the thoughs coming up in my mind about that very subject and that is of course, colored by my experience and my life.

Thinking it over is putting it into practice and action. Writing is therefore an action. If I would only listen to Baba's thought for the day, I would not be able to analyze it and to find the hidden meaning. It is always about truth and truth is hidden, therefore, if we don't delve into it, we will not get to that truth.

The Key of Spiritual Truth and Lessons from Discourses

The last day of a Saptaha (seven-day discourse) is called Samapthi. That word means, according to most people, the final function; but it has a more profound meaning too. Samapthi means the attainment (Aapthi) of the Samam (Divine or Brahman).
That is the final fruit of Shravana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana (Listening, Recapitulation and Assimilation) of key spiritual truths and lessons from discourses. In the worldly sense, it means the conclusion of a period of time. In the spiritual sense, it means transcending time!
The lesson that all spiritual discourses wish to convey is that you must give up your pursuit of sensory objects, if you seek lasting peace and joy.
Material wealth brings along with it, not only joy but grief as well. Accumulation of riches, multiplication of wants will lead only to alternation between joy and grief. Attachment is the root of both joy and grief. Detachment is the saviour.

 

In spring 96 we went to Baba and were fortunate enough to listen to his discourses he was holding at that time every day for a long period of time.

It was actually great to relax and to not be bothered by the crowd of people just listening to his voice and the words he said. But the real meaning of what was happening during those discourses is coming to me only now by this thought for the day.

It was about that final profound meaning in it. If Samapthi is the attainment of 'samam', Brahman. What does that mean to us in the West, we don't understand the expressions and have no feeling for it and to be able to get the meaning, we should have not only a notion, but a clear feeling about it.

Maybe I can describe it in remembering that beautiful time, listening to Baba's voice and recalling what happened on the experience level to get to the right conclusion.

 

Samapthi means the attainment (Aapthi) of the Samam (Divine or Brahman). That is the final fruit of Shravana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana (Listening, Recapitulation and Assimilation) of key spiritual truths and lessons from discourses. In the worldly sense, it means the conclusion of a period of time. In the spiritual sense, it means transcending time!

Contemplation of the Beauty of Nature

Spend your time in the contemplation of the beauties of Nature that are spread out before you in the earth and sky. Enjoy the green expanses of the crops, cool breezes that waft contentment and joy, the panorama of colored clouds, the music of the birds, etc.
Sing the glory of God as you walk in Nature, along the bunds of the fields and the banks of the canals.
Avoid polluting the air with vengeful boasts. Do not spend time in hateful talks when you see God has created such wonderful evidences of love! Living in these placid surroundings, you should not disturb the sky with your shouts and curses. Any seed needs water and manure to grow and yield a rich harvest.
So too, the tiny sapling of spiritual yearning for liberation from bondage also needs water and manure. Just a wise farmer will care for his crops dearly, you must take care of your habits to reap the harvest of liberation.
Baba

This thought for the day feels that close to my parent's, because he talks about nature. 

My mother was in constant contemplation of nature and it is like the sunny side of it and I got aware of it in writing a dairy and it felt like self-realization. But the other side, the shadow was also there.

By thinking it over, we get aware of it. 

Baba is inside the parents and by establishing that inside relations to our inner master, who is connected to our parents, the memories of the childhood in my parent's house are also present. 

It feels that close to the insight present during the time I had been still living in my parent's house. And that was the time when I got aware of the background self-realization, it was in the air. During writing my diary I got aware of the presence of that beauty in nature and also do to the discipline of my parents and I guess that resulted in the first feeling of self-realization. We have to see it as a gift of divinity to get that opportunity of self-realization. And whatever we do, we give some of it back to our divine parents.  

As my parents worked with nature, my mother was constantly contemplating about the beauty of nature and they liked to live on beautiful places as well, house and garden where their focus and hobby.
She said we should listen to the sound of the crops in the cool breeze, she liked the rustle of the wind and if there was a picked flower somewhere, she put it always in a small vase in the kitchen's window sill in reverence for nature. That beauty and love in nature was always present in her, she loved nature.
And when writing my diary that was in the air. It felt like the soul, the spirit and it was great and beautiful. 

But for me getting aware that it was about self-realization, it became a challenge of knowing the reality of it and knowing the right path how we get to self-realization. 

Five Minutes of Anger can Damage five Generations of Relationship

Set right your habits, purify your conduct and cleanse your behavior. Even one bad habit can destroy all health, happiness, charm and joy. Control yourself and do not yield to the temptations of friends or social conventions and become prey to bad habits. The body is the temple of the Lord. Keep it in good and strong condition.

Also be aware that it can be damaged from qualities such as anger, hatred and greed, or from sloth, sleep and inactivity. When you get angry and/or violent with anyone, quietly repeat the Name of the Lord to save you from your anger. Drink a glass of cold water, or lie down in a bed until the fit of fury passes through. When you are angry, you abuse another and the other person does the same, so tempers rise and heat is generated which causes lasting injury. Five minutes of anger can damage five generations of relationship, so be careful.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

In a study circle we take a spiritual theme, like in this thought for the day, it is about the influence of bad habits and we express what comes to our mind in respect to that issue and seen in our own experience.
On the path to self-realization we follow the inner master, the lessons are in our family, in our life and in our past. It is the same principle, first we just watch, but that is inertia and dull, it is Tamas, we have to think it over and put it into practice to be able to go beyond passion and Rajas to reach finally the level of Sathva. It needs action to become insight and to be understood on that higher level. 
Therefore, I recall the all that what comes up with the word 'anger' and we will see if we get in the end to the right conclusion?
To get to the right insight means not that it is bad, it is just as it is, a mirror and an effort to get the lesson. If five minutes of anger can damage five generations of relationship and we know that there had been anger, we should be careful. There is no other means, but our own experience and our own life to prove how it was in our situation and how many relationship were damaged by five minutes of anger ...     
 

With spiritual practice or meditation we set good habits. It felt very good to meditate regularly and I liked the change in my life, not only on the friend level, what was not real, but on the good habit level. 
What disturbed in my family that were often kind of 'feelings present' and it was not possible to find the reason for it.

We could not talk and if we tried we were cut short or something of that kind.

The adults were held up high and the children were not taken serious and as soon as we began to become adults it got more and more difficult. I  just would have liked to know why and with following the inner master, it is coming up in the inner view, but getting aware of it we can only by thinking it over again. 

The Holy Farmers and the Nourishing Harvest

Truly speaking, the farmers are holy ones, for they bend under the weight of the service they do. With hands raised in prayer, they toil night and day, converting dust and dirt into nourishing harvest of grain for all people to feed on.

Similarly, the Lord will be very pleased with the harvest of virtues, for it also truly sustains the world. Embark on this holy task from today and make the fruits of your efforts very sacred! Worry and grief will always be there – something or the other from the past, present or future will bother you whether you are awake or asleep. Do not give up your worldly duties, but do them with the Name of the Lord on your lips, inviting the grace of God with gratitude. Then worry and grief will vanish and you will have peace! Also do not involve yourself in the affairs of others and get so entangled that you cannot extricate yourself.

Baba 

 

We grew up in love for nature, but we got used to the city, somehow strange, but that is how it worked out. If we compare ourselves to farmers and we have to take care of the harvest of virtues, because it also truly sustains the world...

 

Do good, be good, see good, that is the way to God. (Baba)

 

What does make the fruits of our efforts sacred? In reality I should live a much more material life and people think that I was stupid to always go for higher values. As he tells us to leave the result to him only, we will see one day if that harvest is really that good, because on the worldly level it doesn't look like that at all.

I am not a person spending all my time in prayer, I meditate and I loved to dance, but both was for me meditation and therefore, sacred.  

 

Worry and grief will always be there – something or the other from the past, present or future will bother you whether you are awake or asleep. Do not give up your worldly duties, but do them with the Name of the Lord on your lips, inviting the grace of God with gratitude. Then worry and grief will vanish and you will have peace!

Evolve to your own Code of Conduct

There is no use in asking a doctor to advise you about the plans for the building you propose to raise, nor is it wise to ask an engineer to assuage the pain. Go to the proper Guru and learn from him the cardinal principles to guide your lives. Take time to understand, internalize and practice – what is your code of conduct, what does it allow, what does it condemn, why should it be followed?

You must evolve your own code of conduct (Athma Dharma) centred on the Divine, appropriate to your situation, which is based on the firm belief on the omnipresence and omnipotence of the Divine Self which pervades the entire Universe.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

This weekend was sunny and in the city was a festival with fireworks. There were lots of people and parties, also around the lake. I just mixed with them, remembering the nice times in the past when we were still dancing enjoying the loud music, the people dancing, mixing with the crowd and after the firework the party went on. Finally I went on my way back, got some Asian snack and eating it not thinking of anything bad, as soon as I finished I got sick. My first thought was that I had to throw up, the second, how awful, because all over were people.

But finally I sat down on a step and was gone and fainted into nothingness. The next thing I knew was a nice police lady who asked how I felt. I don't know how long I had been gone.

I sat up and I needed some more moment, I just had to sit and wait a bit longer. After I had convinced them that I could take care of myself again and that it was not too bad, they left. Some people around had called them, there were scared and it was nice to talk to her. Somehow I got back, on the edge of getting sick again, but somehow it took me all day to recover. 

When the Soul Shines in its own Divinity

Liberation is attained when the Soul shines in its own divinity. 

Liberation is not a nation or a suburb in paradise where aristocratic residents secure good sites. 

Liberation is the condition of one who has shed delusion. Shed delusion, then grief will be destroyed and joy established. Removal of Grief (Dukha-Nivrithi) and Attainment of Bliss (Ananda-Prapthi), happen at the same time. Your mind is the villain, its other name is desire! When you pull out all the yarn from a piece of cloth, there is no cloth. So too, pull out all the desires from the mind; the mind disappears and you attain freedom! 

Grief and joy are the obverse and reverse of the same experience. Joy is when grief ends, grief is when joy ends. Just as you must set the table for two when you invite a blind person for dinner (the blind person and his/her companion), so too, grief and joy are inseparable.

Baba (thought for the day)

Last night we had a talk about discipline and it is kind of a hot topics, but it ended well, even though it seemed kind of a miracle to me first, but I guess it depends the knowledge and it was somehow great. Whatever it was, but it felt like blissful ...

Behind that self-discipline which is required to get to sathva is also a loaded tensed energy. Listening and thinking we understand it is just the first step and the second is to think it over and to get aware that what we first thought as all understood is not that and it is a challenge and there is movement and energy and Rajas, it is passion and hot and only afterwards we get to the experience of 'that' and Sathva, we get to the light and the reflection of 'that'.
It is about: Who am I? And it is about the answer: 'I am that'.
'From darkness to light'.
 

It was a great experience last night, but today it felt kind of up and down, probably because I enjoyed it last night. Usually I don't do that. I go into something else or I write and I don't just enjoy of it felt that right to be in that environment, I got upset where I was, because it just doesn't feel right. 

After our study circle it felt peaceful like Prasanthi when people were sitting and waiting for Bhajans or Baba Darshan, it was great. 

We had a lively study circle and in the end it was about 'you and I' and that we are 'we' and is He and that is the circle. That was great, because in that moment he was present, it was real in that instant.

It felt that quiet and peaceful alive as it did in Prasanthi, when people were waiting for Darshan and we were all in Baba's presence. 

It was a great conclusion and it was based on the thought for the day, if we just listen it is Tamas, dull and dark and we have to move into the light. But the question was, how we are doing that. In just staying dull and not doing anything? In not responding and refusing to communicate or thinking it is all done anyhow, what is delusion? We have to integrate it ourselves and that means we have to think it over. 

And that was the point about self-control and that we cannot just talk out our mind, because in thinking it over passion is coming up. And someone was feeling it that passion and not happy about it that we talked about a circle and discipline and self-control and that is just what is happening. The people who are used to the study circle and participate always they took it easy, we are laughing and sharing and having a good time.

And after going round and round in the circle, we finally got to that conclusion, you - all the people present and whoever and I are We and we is He. He is the circle. 

It was great how it felt. That was incredible to feel that peaceful and awake inner presence of Baba in the midst of the group. We have to get that experience, there is no other way.

Transform the Impulses which agitate the Mind

Real Bliss (Ananda) can be won only by means of the transformation of the impulses which agitate the mind. It is not to be found in wealth. Many often think that the rich people are happy. Ask Me, I shall reveal to you that they are full of grief, for they come to Me in large numbers for relief. A strong physique will not give anyone any peace, nor does scholarship, asceticism or rituals. 

Only constant dwelling on the Name of the Lord gives that Unshakeable Peace, unaffected by the ups and downs of life. You can call someone a Dheera (hero), if they truly take to the Name of the Lord. Keep the Form of your favorite Lord in your mind. Live always in the presence of that form-filled Name, ever vigilant in your mind. Then your life will become one continuous worship of the Lord.

Baba (thought for the day)

How do we transform the impulses which agitate the mind? And what is bliss?

We have to find it in out own self, but how do we do that? 

The process is easy, we close the eyes and begin to meditate, it means we watch the breath for a little while until we notice that it gets finer and that with each inhale it is 'So' and with each outhale it is 'Ham'. We just go on easily watching the breath. 

If there are thoughts coming, we don't get disturbed by it, we just go on watching the breath effortlessly. If we notice that we are in thoughts and not anymore with the breath. Just go effortlessly back to the breath, watch and when it gets finer get aware that it tells Soham... and that about twenty minutes. 

After twenty minutes we stop watching the breath and take some time to allow the mind to get outward again. During meditation our focus it directed inside, therefore, we should not just jump out of it, but allow the mind to change direction. Important is that we do it every day, twenty minutes morning and evening.

We should just see that we do it and if we don't have time, we can shortcut it and count it as meditation. Important is to get used to it. That is what we can do in direction of inner peace. 

Only constant dwelling on the Name of the Lord gives that Unshakeable Peace, unaffected by the ups and downs of life.

We had an interview with Baba and he said, that all mantras are okay and he said So - inhale, Ham- exhale and that it means 'I am that' or 'I am Divine' or 'I am Shiva'. 

It is important to constantly dwelling on the name of the Lord, 'Soham', or whatever mantra, we are used to meditate with. Mantras are sounds, they have only a positive influence on our being and help us to realize, who we are. 

Enjoy the Circle

There is no need to fight against the fundamental delusion of body attachment with overwhelming force and argument.

Delusion will disappear, if you just sit quietly for one minute and analyse for yourself your own experience with this transient world.

Jnana (Wisdom) is not Apraptha-prapthi, something that is acquired from somewhere, like the gift of money from a donor to a person who did not have it.

Wisdom is Praptha-Prapthi! It is like forgetting about the ten-rupee note that you kept in a book you were reading. You then lent that book to someone and later asked him for a ten-rupee loan. He just gave it to you from the book, which is your own money. Similarly the Guru brings out the treasure of wisdom, from your very own hridaya pustaka - book of your heart!

Baba (thought for the day)
 

Do you know what Praptha-Prapthi means? My delusion will disappear when I understand it ... and that takes certainly more than a minute.

But that much I understand, that wisdom is different from worldly things and that you give back to me, what I gave you before - by hazard? Why do I ask for that loan?

Conclusion, the Guru brings me a treasure which was already mine and it was always there in my own book of the heart, but why did I ask for it?

Because I was not aware of it?

There is no need to fight against the fundamental delusion of body attachment, not with force and arguments, but certainly with discrimination.
 

Delusion will disappear, if you just sit quietly for one minute and analyse for yourself your own experience with this transient world.
 

The body can go on without self-knowledge, only our own self will not be happy and feel empty, if self-awareness is not there. And it seems the body can even appear as a prison to the divine.

No need to fight against it, but ... delusion will only disappear if we sit quietly and analyse ... and now we have words we do not understand the meaning and that minute can last a long time... 

Delusion will only disappear, if there is discrimination and if we cannot understand the expressions, how will we be able to understand the meaning and how will we be able to discriminate, if we do not understand it?

Why it is that difficult? It would be all easy, if we would understand it, but we do not understand it, therefore, it is not easy.

What happens is something else and that part is in our own mind.

There is a process, it means:
 Listening, thinking over and absorb. (Tamas, Rajas and Sathva)
We have to face our own mind (nature).

The Avalanche, the Whirlpool and the Precipice

 

If we get aware of the man who comes in our dreams to wake us and have had the experience of Baba dreams, we somehow get alert and watch inside what happens and it is nearly to expect that we understand it not that right in the beginning, because we know, dreams cannot be understood on the mind level, we have to look at it a different way to get to the right answer.
That inner view reflects what is present, it is closer to truth than the mind ever can be. To know the difference between mind and what we think it is or what it should be that it arranges the mind and our lifestyle to be able to understand the reality of reflection ... that are two different levels of awareness.

One assumes to be right and to not have to look at anything at all, but what is already there and the other knows, only 'He' knows and therefore, we have to go on searching for it, if ever answered it will be by his grace only. There is no other way we can get that level of insight or knowledge out of the higher self, but to go on and practice until we will be able to understand it right. And we know, if we don't put it into practice - we will never know. And that part in us asks, how can I do the best to put it into practice?

 

I had that experience of the avalanche and the precipice and as it seems also the whirlpool and I don't care about making the experience of the 'vulcano', because we know what it does to the environment and that it results in a catastrophe.

Love in Action, Listening only is Dull

It is only through action that devotion can be deepened. Action cleanses the mind and makes it fit for spiritual knowledge. Merely listening to noble thoughts (sravanam) is a tamasic act. Recapitulation (manana) is Rajasic and complete assimilation (nidhidhyasana) is Sathvic.

When you are simply listening, quietly receiving without reflecting or responding, you are dull (tamasic). When you turn the thought over in your mind, attempting to assimilate it, then you are active (rajasic), and when you are sunk in the sweetness of experience, you enjoy pure exultation (sathwic).

That Nidhidhyasana is the fruit of devotion. To overcome obstacles in the spiritual path, you must have both, Sadhana and Sankalpa – Self-effort and Divine Grace.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

How often I wondered silently why we think his words are clear and after thinking it over or reflecting on it here in the blog, I get to the surprising conclusion that the result is different from what I first thought.
It is not only like that in our dreams and with interviews, the mind gets to a wrong conclusion, but it is like that in general.
Baba doesn't talk on a mind level ever. He always reflects the Atman and that means for us, we have to go to those three above mentioned levels to get there.
Often we think it is all clear and no question and understood, but that is very deceiving.
In this thought for the day he tells us why not. It cannot be that easy and without any effort. How should we understand Baba's words right, if we don't do any effort to put it into practice and to know truth. 
He is rooted in truth, we just don't know the difference between 'I am that' the level of truth and the mind. He explains that merely listening is tamasic (darkness and dull).
It is on three levels, listening, think it over and absorb.

From Darkness to Light - Discrimination First - to Universal Love

Arjuna's dejection was a case of finely disguised egoism. He was a hero until he came to the battlefield and became a coward. It was all about 'I and Mine'; "I will go to hell, I would rather beg, I will not fight my uncle, my Guru, my cousin, etc." 'I and mine' are two poison fangs; they have to be removed to make you harmless.

Krishna counselled Arjuna: "You are not killing, so don't be conceited, they are deathless; the death sentence on their bodies has already been pronounced and you are merely executing God's will!"

Krishna made Arjuna aware of himself and removed his delusions. Arjuna realized that he was but an instrument in the hands of the Lord.

You too must learn from that lesson, for otherwise, there will be no end to your misery. Always pray Thamaso maa jyothirgamaya - Lead me from darkness to light. Egoism is darkness (thamas); Surrender (Sharanagathi) is light.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

I remember that he explained that Arjuna was feeling bad, because of his noble feelings, nobody likes to fight against family and friends and teachers... Yogis are our friends, parents and teacher are on the level of God, nobody would just do his duty if it means to kill them... without second thoughts.

But it is about hidden ego and wrong identification. We have to get aware of the wrong identification, the hidden ego, because it is hidden.

We cannot get aware of it if we don't question it and in the Bhagavad Gita the hidden ego comes up. 

What Krishna tells him in his teaching is that he is not the doer, that he cannot control that war, it is not Arjuna's mistake, but the others, they began with the war and he has to fight to not be seen as coward.

(If we meet someone who kills and tells us that he had to and that God told him that they were sentenced to death by him, and that he doesn't kill, we will end up in a mental institution and prison and be criminals.)

We can therefore not take that literally, but we have to translate it, we have to understand it right.

 

You too must learn from that lesson, for otherwise, there will be no end to your misery. Always pray Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya - Lead me from darkness to light. Egoism is darkness (tamas); Surrender (Sharanagathi) is light.

   

But to be able to learn from the lesson we first have to understand it, and do we understand it? 

Humility is all that counts - Surrender ...

The gods once imagined that they were able to get victory over the demons because of their own prowess. When they were celebrating the victory, a deity appeared before them and cast a blade of grass on the ground. It asked Agni (God of fire) to burn it; but he could not. It challenged Vayu (God of Air) to lift it, but he could not. It provoked Varuna (God of Water) to wet it, but, in spite of his best efforts, he could not. Then when their pride had been pricked, the deity taught them the Brahma Vidya (science of Brahman), which reveals the inner source of all strength.

This is no ordinary story; Agni is the presiding deity of vaak (speech) and so it tells us that speech has to be humble, that it derives its power only from the basic Universal Principle. Vaayu is prana (the vital air). Humility in behaviour and practice are all that count, especially in Sadhana.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

This is the basic reality we have to realize in our life, the real power behind, he is the knower and it is not I and I guess that is the difficulty of the know how.

If even the gods thought that they were able to get victory over the demons because of their own prowess..., how about us?

We don't even know that we imagine that we can do it, we just do it and what we find afterwards is that it didn't work, but we go on repeating the same mistake over and over. We should think that we learn by experience, but it is not like that.

Most people go on searching for happiness on the wrong level or they are that distracted in their mind and focus on ephemeral things that they never get aware that it is a dead end and that it leads nowhere, because it is an illusion.

What is an illusion? And what is the science of Brahman, Brahma Vidya? How can we know the source of all strength it reveals to us if we don't know what we are talking about?

How do we Grow Spiritually?

Medicine is useless for the dead as well as the sturdy. Those endowed with devotion are already marching on their path. There is no use in speaking to those who have no devotion in them; it is a sheer waste of time. 

There are many, who are conscious of the Higher Power and are feebly desirous of contacting it, but are wavering and unsteady. They are either ignorant of the path and its benefits or are afraid of the consequences – my message is for such half-apathetic devotees. 

First learn the art of living in the midst of all kinds of people, so you neither grieve nor make others grieve. Make the best use of the opportunities you are gifted with to acquire wisdom, and derive and spread joy. Learn from the saints, the eternal wisdom and profit from it. Then, spread noble thoughts and good impulses and grow spiritually.

I didn't sleep last night, either it was too hot or something felt not quite right. My daughter was outdoors and after she came back I fell asleep, but I as I had to go to work, it was only about one and a half hour left before I had to get up again. It feel like walking on cotton or like being drunk and that will go on all day today ...

 There is no use in speaking to those who have no devotion in them; it is a sheer waste of time. 

I have enough experience about that, even thought we had met in the ashram. When I noticed that everything I said was just like talking to a wall, it was not only waste of time, energy and resources, money. 

Nothing came back but stupid answers. I went to Baba being a TM-teacher and therefore, in my first interview that came up. Baba asked me what I wanted. I tried to explain, because I had a boyfriend and he was the national leader and I said that my friend was with Maharishi and I was him and that was my problem. 

Baba asked who is your friend, is your friend with Maharishi or is Maharishi your friend? To that very moment I thought I spoke about the boyfriend and I wanted to do the best for the relationship and noticed, I was on another level. Yogis are our friends and the question was, why he seemed to be a friend, if he was no friend and why I tried to do the best for a relationship which was not really based on friendship?

Mind Impressions from Past Deeds Sublimated

The mood and behavior of people in cinema halls, marriage halls, exhibitions or while watching a game is very different from that of a spiritual gathering!

The mood during entertainment is very different as the crowd there are moved by totally different impulses. However, in a gathering devoted to the needs of the spirit, what is expected is calm, reverential and eager attention, prayerful silence. Silence is most needed in all spiritual gatherings where deeper spiritual disciplines are discussed.

Only the eye and the ear need function, the tongue has no business to wag. Everyone then will be able to receive completely, the gift of love and grace.

Learn to make the best of life, this chance offered to you to sublimate your instincts, impulses and impressions on the mind from past deeds (Vasanas) and rise higher and higher in the moral and spiritual plane.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

What does it actually mean that we are able to sublimate the mind impressions of past deeds?
The difference between the mood of the crowd during entertainment is due to different impulses.
However, if the gathering is devoted to the needs of the spirit, it has to be different and calm, reverential and with silence. Silence has to prevail because the deeper spiritual disciplines are discussed.
We have some people here they have a family consciousness and it is directed into outer activity and passion.
Because they want to feel good in family, they come in the center and talk loud, expecting everybody to share that with them, as in their mind all belong to the same family. Often it seems to be whatever is in their mind. 

It is always kind of a challenge to integrate it and to be able to take it. It is a level of socializing instead of devotion and it seems rather to destroys the others enthusiasm and motivation.

After Baba left the body, I went on every meeting just to participate and following his inner guide, challenging it, that he will inside respond to it.
Some compensate and some are eager and loud just to make everybody hear that they are present and to be noticed by others it seems they get even louder, because they think love makes other available for them to feel good.

 

The first thing our new center leader had to face when she began were some who always have problems, calling her constantly asking for advice. She had to stop it, because they were just taking advantage of it that she was a center leader, expecting her to solve their problems.

Kind of the same level I had met with my ex and I was not aware of it. 

Baba said in the dream sometimes last year that it was 'passion, I should stay alone'. That was the reflection of all those meeting I had attended and I always came back with headache. Now I attend only what feels okay to me.

It easily becomes passion if we are directed on outer activity.
I always wondered why I came back with headache and told myself that it cannot be, that spiritual gatherings lead instead to good feeling and bliss or whatever, maybe love to headache only, but I had constantly headache and was glad to leave and be alone again. I guess that was answered by his dream when he said, 'it is passion, stay alone'. If I manage to stay alone in myself in the midst of the gathering, it is okay and I go, but if that it not possible, because some people enforce themselves on us and think we have to be as they think it is right, then I don't go, because that will lead to discussions and passion. 

Getting aware of the Inner Voice

You may wonder, 'How is it that the Atma is present in all?' When you meditate in solitude on this question, a permanent, unchanging sound arises from the mind.

All objects manifest the power of the atom. Every object is composed of atoms. It is the nature of atoms to combine and to separate.

But in all human beings there is one unchanging and indivisible divine entity, the Inner Voice. The body undergoes change from infancy to old age, but the Inner Voice remains unchanged.
People experience three different states of consciousness in the waking, dreaming and deep sleep states. But the Inner Voice has no change in the gross or subtle states of the body.
What is that Voice? It is the divine Inner Voice issuing from the Atma-tatwa (Atma Principle). It is continually declaring: 'I, I, I..' - 'Aham, Aham, Aham'. This is the Truth that is subtler and more fundamental than the atom.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

The principle of Atman is present in all as 'I' and in meditation I got aware of a wonderful melody coming out of the heart of all hearts. That was that level of the unchanging sound, it was that beautiful.

I had to listen to it and follow it, but it was projected into TM and that was wrong again, too easy answered, to fast it lead to a wrong conclusion, because it was about an unchanging sound, but it was not arising from the mind, it was arising from the heart of all hearts and that is Baba, divinity. 

It was not 'easy' to understand the inner Voice, and when they told us it was all easy, it enforce the easy mind conclusions and that is all not right.

Even if the inner voice is the same and unchanged, if we don't get aware of its reality, we can get to a wrong conclusion still, because it is not all the same. 

But following the inner master we get in direction of getting closer to that unchanged voice.

Parents are God and following the inner voice we also meet the parents. But Baba said in the inner view that they let me down, therefore, I guess it was not possible with them to realize the self, it would have been surprising.

Not long ago they were both present as dolls with strange faces in the inner view, it was a reflection of caricatures.

That reflection mirrors the reality of their state of mind and what I have to face in them.

It is not the reality of Atman and self-realization, but dolls, it means mind directed, not self directed and not Atman directed.

That would also have been surprising, because if it would be Atman, why would they have let us down?

But I guess seeing the reflection of the object of their state of mind means that I don't have to think about it anymore, it is done.
It was the same with the TM-leader, he is an actor and that answers all questions, there is no more question. In my parents is the reflection of dolls and that also answers questions.

If there is something I don't feel okay with or I don't understand it yet, I just have to think about their doll faces and it gets clear why, I guess.

The inner Voice goes beyond birth and death and it comes from the principle of Atman, the 'I am that' and it reflects, it is cognition.

We are the Knowledge, the higher Self and the Wisdom

When the senses are brought under control by the mind, the mind itself ceases to function; it disappears as it were. Then man experiences a profound silence. 

That stillness resulting from the absence of the mind is true Knowledge (Jnana). This knowledge cannot be acquired by intellectual ability or mental agility, nor by following an example. It is sui generis. 

Consider the ashes which cover a burning charcoal or the moss which covers a sheet of water. The ashes have come from the charcoal. The moss has originated from the water. 

The cataract that dims the vision of the eye, wherefrom has it come? From the eye itself! When the screen that blinds the vision is removed, the true Self will be seen in its real form. Atma Jnana is not obtainable through books, preceptors or even Paramatma (the Supreme Self). You are yourself the Paramatma, the Jnana, the Atma.

To see stillness and silence as 'real knowledge' is quite unusual. And to be able to experience the absence of the mind we should use meditation. The flow of thoughts never stops if we don't know how to make it stop. 

And the experience of 'sui generis' was present in the higher self. 

The focus on that only, life felt like a new birth, it was kind of surprising because outside everything went on as it was before, but inside everything changed and was new at the same time. 

In my family they didn't get it, they didn't noticed the change or a bit, when coming back from Paris and they all began with TM, but it was not about TM. 

But the memory of my parents is back, that means not as I had experienced it, but more the whole feeling of it, how it was in that parent's house and as I had experienced as child. It began to feel different after being a teenager. 

There had been self-realization in the air, I was writing a diary and I had no notion why, if with family or with writing or with whatever... It was also beautiful and motivating. 

It made me go for it, even thought I couldn't find it afterwards anymore and I didn't know where to look for it. It seemed like more we tried to find it, less we  could actually find it.  

But it is nice to see the parents in that light and to realize that self-realization had to do with them. 

It needed decision and willpower to go in that direction. After I couldn't find it anymore, I wanted to experience it no matter what. As it was not possible to talk about it, we kept silence and that helped. That silent place seems to be real knowledge. 

I decided to not change anything in my life until it would be changed from inside by the self itself. 

And that changed my life, even if it took some time and until now I remembered always that waiting time, but when getting aware of the father and the parent's house, I get aware of the power behind. 

In going for something I had no idea when it would be there or if at all, I had to give up wanting or worrying or planning, I had to just let go and take whatever would be there later on and all that in the purpose to get out of the mind and to find an experience of stillness. And it needed patience and perseverance, but one day it was there, and no matter the obstacles coming up, I had to go on. It was about observing to find truth and that was always hidden, so it went on waiting and more obstacles. But when the self reflected in the dream as a very bright, very strong light in my inner view, it was about truth. That was it. 

I couldn't tell why it was there, why it reflected as white light, but it was amazing. The vision felt like dream, but it was not really, because I was awake only the body slept. There was nothing but beauty and love. 

Follow his Advice and then Watch the Result

When you go to a doctor, you must take the medicine that he prescribes and follow his advice and instructions. There is no use blaming him if you default. How can the doctor cure you if you do not take medicines or follow the diet restrictions and regulate your intake according to his advice? 

Similarly, follow My advice and then watch the result. 

Also remember, it is a sign of foolishness to brood over mishaps and mistakes once committed, and punish oneself by refusing to take food and so on. What good is it to ill-treat the body to correct the mind? Even as you deal with your own faults strictly, you should pardon that of others. Do not misunderstand their motives and scandalize them; perhaps their motives might be as noble as yours or their action might be due to ignorance, rather than wickedness or mischief.

Baba (thought for the day)

We have to take the medicine prescribed by him and follow his advice and instructions and that means, follow the master, fight to the end and finish the game. 

If we do that, we automatically will be confronted with the past and stuff coming up in our mind, we have to deal with. 

His advice is; follow the master, fight to the end and finish the game. 

The first question was, how to follow the inner master, because he was not present and holding our hand and telling us what to do. How do we know it is the inner master? That was the first question. 

How would I know? That is how we began to discriminate, it was not possible to know without discrimination. 

I began to notice that there were things in the past I didn't understand and it looked different in the light of the master and I began to follow him in questioning it. There was lots of issues with the family and also my mother. I didn't get the answer I wanted from my mother and I didn't know how to handle my own reaction.

She avoided to answer and that was disturbing. I noticed that I asked and I asked again and I still didn't get an answer, finally I wrote her the question in a letter, it was after my father had died. 

When my father died, he was afterwards in my dream and said he had to show me something. He was at a very dark place and he couldn't get out of it, the light was far away like a small star and I wanted to know from her, because she was with him living in Spain, why I had that dream? 

After she came back from Spain we met more often with the family and I told everybody about the dream with the father, there were no big reactions. But I wanted to know it from her side, because she was with him together in Spain and she didn't answer. 

Delusion is Extremely Difficult to Understand

All investigations associated with the mind are delusions of various sorts. They are subjective. All that people do - seeing, hearing, experiencing and doing, are all mental delusions caused by association with the body. The mind cannot keep still even for a moment, without thinking about something or the other. Hence the mind is dependent on the body. All that the mind experiences, relates to the world that is made of the five elements. The mind sees the world through the eyes, hears through the ears. The mind has no form of its own; it is Maya (delusion). It is desire. It is Nature. It is ignorance (Avidya). Delusion is its very nature. It is extremely difficult to understand the pure and immutable Divine Soul (Atma) through an instrument subject to delusions.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

I guess you think there is no need to question it, because he calls it delusions of various sorts and that it is all in association with the body only, that seems clear doesn't it, if it is just delusion, why do we even think about it?

But his Lila is different and it doesn't tell us, don't think about it. He was in meditation and said, think about it. He said 'engaged' and he didn't tell there is no use to think about it, because it is all mind only. It is a different level of our consciousness and to tell that we are he and that we or 'us' is 'He', is again a different level of consciousness and afterwards he is in the dream not as 'us' or as 'he', he is in the inner view as 'I' and do you think that is easy to understand?

First, why 'us', where are you that he tells us?
You don't even care, so what about 'us', do I care about 'us'?
But he does want us to get aware of it. It is all subjective, yes it is pure subjectivity, but it is still about us or 'we' and he tells in the inner view 'I'.  

The mind cannot keep still and it depends the body and we go through the up and downs of the body. But we need to inquire to make the difference between 'us' and 'He' and 'I'.
The question is finally, 'who am I?'

Sheeple and the Power of the Watch Dog

All of you are already spiritual aspirants (Sadhakas) or bound to be one soon!

It is said, Moksha lies in the sukshma - Liberation can be achieved by subtle means.

Few important steps for you: Treat others in the same way, you would like them to treat you. Never brood over the past; when grief overpowers you, do not recollect similar incidents from your past to add to your grief. Recollect, rather, incidents when you were happy!

Draw consolation and strength from them. Raise yourself above the surging waters of sorrow.

Women are called 'weak' because they yield to anger and sorrow much more easily than men; so I would ask them to take extra pains to overcome these two. Namasmarana (chanting the Lord's name) is the best antidote for this and if you take it up, the Lord will come to your rescue and instill the faith that everything is God's Will and teach that you have no right to exult or despair.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

I had two husbands, one was the so called 'friend' of the other. He said I should not worry, he had a job, money, his boss retired and he too, and that he would start to work with him again the day he will again go into business.

That was in Baba's presence and we talked constantly about truth, because Sathya means truth and I thought it was a Baba Lila and after some time, it was clear, there was no friend, there was no job, there was no money, he was not in pension, he was just out of job.

He just had made it look like that in the light of his VIP boss, because it looked and felt good in that light, nothing but mind and ego.

If I would tell 'he is holy and richt and whatever' and I see myself in the light of him, it would be the same, it means 'I am that' as well.

 

After a nervous breakdown Baba called us back to him, his dreams said that I had to go back to him to make peace with him. Whatever, we left and had a beautiful time, but before we left the ashram  already troubles with him, peace was gone before we even left. 

 

Before Baba left the body he was present inside in dreams and it was perfect timing to be in his presence during the time he left the body. I didn't get the room, even though we were donors, what made lots of hurt feeling come up and Baba said in the dream that he only took advantage of it and that he doesn't know what he is doing and that I should send him the bill.
That is not exactly not thinking of the past, but having to deal with it to understand it.

I had a Baba interview with another person and he had asked her who I was, to whom I belonged and what our relationship was. It felt strange to me, because I had to translate and he talked about me. 

Just afterwards I met that guy, and he said he was the friend of a VIP, that made him look good and more interesting, who he was in the light of that, 'show me your friends and I tell you who you are'.   

We need a Diamond to cut a Diamond

To know the Indweller (Kshetrajna) you have to acquire the Supreme Knowledge (Jnana). This transcends every other kind of knowledge which is related to the physical and the phenomenal.

No one can understand the Divine Self (Atma) through worldly knowledge. You need a diamond to cut a diamond. To understand the Divine Soul (Atma), you have to acquire Knowledge of the Spirit (Atmajnana).

All the knowledge gathered by the analysis of physical objects or through the senses is only a form of ignorance.

It has three elements: What is known, what is to be known and who is the knower.

These three are aspects of the mind. Only that is Jnana which is known when the mind is eliminated. Atma and Jnana are one, though called by different names. True Awareness is Jnana.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

The indweller is very secret and therefore, it needs supreme knowledge. How do we get that knowledge if it transcends every kind of knowledge related to the physical and phenomenal?

We have to transcend it, every knowledge, whatever we call our business and think on that transcendental level it is all the same and only transcendence, it means there is just a common understanding level, but it is not the higher self, we cannot see that level of transcendence equal to the higher self.

No one can understand the Divine Self (Atma) through worldly knowledge.
 

There is a relationship, the higher self is the level of 'He', the inner husband and we are all considered to be feminine if God is the husband. The higher self is a reflection in our consciousness and Atman reacts, reflects and resounds.

It was there in the dream and as Baba said, he is the man in the dream who comes to wake us, it means he was present as the higher self, a bright light, but that had to be realized inside and was present as reflection in consciousness and as 'I am that' in Baba. It is 'He', but not in the form, but only light, only reflection.

The Husk of Delusion (Maya)

The life principle (Jeevathathwa) is like the grain covered in the husk of delusion (Maya), as that rice is enveloped in the paddy. The husk (Maya) has to be removed. The grain (Jeevathathwa) has to be boiled and made soft and assimilated so that it might add to health and strength. 

The softened rice can be compared to the Supreme Soul (Paramathma). The mind should be employed in this process. It has to be fixed in the Truth (Sathya) and the Ever-lasting (Nithya). To remove the husk, Discrimination (Viveka) is an effective instrument. Develop the power of discrimination and find out, which is beneficial, and which is not. Seek the light always – be full of confidence and zest. 

Never yield to despair, for it has never produced any results!

Baba (thought for the day)

We have the husk and the grain and how do we separate the husk from the grain? 

I write down what is coming up in my mind, whatever is present and try to relate it to the thought for the day.

Often in study circles we here that it is about love only or truth or both, and everything is right, but what is clear is that in a study circle we are not finding faults with others. 

We have a theme and we share thoughts, it is not a discussion and if it is okay we can share thoughts in the end, but if not, it is better not.

That happened last time, I was not aware that the person who wanted to do the study circle didn't know the guide lines. I thought she knew, because she is someone who is always singing Bhajans, but she didn't and in no time we had someone who was finding faults.

If we look at it in the light of that thought for the day, we have on one side the husk and on the other the grain.

If in a study circle we have a discussion instead of sharing, we have a problem and we have to separate the husk from the grain to find the reason, to get to the right conclusion, because the problem was projected on the surface level of the mind. It was like, something is wrong, but the people bringing it up and searching faults are usually not those who are aware that it should not be like that, because the once who know just keep quite and watch and talk only when necessary.

It is about discrimination and finding truth, that is Baba, it means in a practical sense, here it is not about a philosophical truth, but we have to get to the right conclusion.

The Instrument and the Monkey Mind

This microphone before Me, must have been made by someone, is it not? The creator is not visible or known to you presently, but you have no doubts of this person's existence. 

Besides, you are confident that this person understands and knows fully well all the components, characteristics, features and effective functioning of this microphone. So too, there must be a Creator for this Universe and He must be know all about it. 

This Universe is composed of the five elements, and He is their Manipulator, fully aware of their subtle characteristics and properties. That Creator is your Indweller (Kshetrajna), who knows His Field (Kshethra). Hold on to Him and live your lives; you will not slip. Build your activities on that basis, your career will not cave in. You will develop courage and faith in yourself and in your destiny.

Baba (thought for the day)

Here it is about being an instrument and the reality that we have to discriminate between the real and unreal, the relative existence, the instrument and the Creator of the universe which is using that like the microphone, but he cannot be seen on the level of the senses, he can only be experienced in dreams, inner view, visions etc. and is often just called as 'that', because every name is related to a form and 'that' is the principle.

 

Hold on to Him and live your lives; you will not slip. Build your activities on that basis, your career will not cave in. You will develop courage and faith in yourself and in your destiny.

What does he mean with; 'you will not slip'. If we slip in not holding on to him, we can also slip in not holding on to him properly and not being aware of it. The Indweller knows his field, the inner master. 

 

I think how great that he knows, if only I would know too, but that is another problem. He not I, he knows and not I. How to I get to that?

He knows and I don't know?

That is discrimination. He is the eternal being and 'I' think I am the body, identified with the form and if I think I am the doer I get the result of the action, if we know that he is the doer, he takes the result. 

To see things in the light of the self seems above all to take time. 'As soon as possible can be now, in two or in ten years'.

What can we do to get there? It needs honesty and courage to face it, otherwise, we don't get it. On that level we cannot cheat our own self, the reflection is based on truth.
And it is not a spoken language, but inner view, insights and visions and there was a time I thought it would be great and afterwards it was only about getting aware of it, the mind is always a problem.

Whatever is in our mind directed outward, there is a chance, that we don't get it and slip or just forget about it, or we think we know already and do not inquire enough and that means we slip again.

Enslaved by the Mind and the Senses

Every being is a pilgrim towards Dharmakshetra (Righteous land), which is also the abode of peace. But, on the way, he or she is led into the by-lanes and alleys of objective pleasure by the senses, to which the person becomes a slave. People are eager to know about all kinds of trivialities like the details of others' lives, other places, etc., but they have no keenness to know their own origin. 

People are deeply sunk in ignorance about their source and substance, their goals and destiny. You are the inheritor of unlimited wealth and fortune, yet you feel like a poor man (pauper). Remove this boundary of ego within your mind – you will then recognize the vastness of yourself.

Baba (thought for the day)

We are all on the path, some more, some less. We have to know our origin. 

For I don't know how many years I always got the feedback inside in the inner view, cut off. But it didn't tell me cut off from what, but now I know, it was the source.

How can we get cut off the source? One reason was TM, I went on a course and that TM-teacher inspired me to go on in that direction. I thought it was the right thing to do and I wanted to initiate people into meditation with him together, but he went to La Réunion and I first did the Siddhis course and after the TTC, all in one breath nearly, but it took anyhow much more time than I thought it should. 

During the time on TTC (teacher's training course) I realized that I had not been informed that it was all learnt by heart and secret, therefore, it should have been in French. The secrecy was protecting him, because I couldn't tell it was his mistake, it was TM, because he was not allowed to tell, but he should have said it anyhow. 

That is how the source got lost.

It was the secrecy policy. It was not possible to tell him, 'why you didn't tell and if I did in purpose not tell, he had a valid reason to answer, 'I should not tell, secrecy is the TM policy', he could hide behind it. 

That is how the relationship got lost. 

Divine Love and Truth and being an Instrument

You are all the indestructible Divine Self, Believe Me! Nothing need discourage you. In dreams you suffer so much - loss of money, fire, food, insult, etc., but you are not affected at all. When these things happen during the waking stage, you feel afflicted.

It is not the real you that suffers all that. Give up the delusion that you are this physical entity and you become really free. Develop Truth and Love.

Everything will be added to you, unasked. Man and God (Nara and Narayana) are the two wires - the positive and the negative, that combine to bring electricity through. Man (Nara) will become the instrument of God (Narayana), if you have acquired the two qualities, Divine Love and Truth.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

The indestructible higher self was reflected in the dream as brilliant white light. It is beyond the body, a transcendental entity. It reflects as pure white light and it is like the light of the moon, a reflection of the sun. Because it is beyond the body, it is for us all the same reflection, we are all 'that'. 

Like in the example of Hanuman, Baba mentioned in yesterday's thought for the day, the light, the color is 'He' and nothing else. Our higher self is the reflection of the ocean of light.

When we look at the moon we can see a planet or we can see a reflection of the light of the sun.

The devotee sees the reflection of the light.

That light is present as inner view in meditation and in dreams and the light reflects exactly what it outside. If we are on a spiritual level, it is white light or it is gold and silver 'light', that is the reflection inside and not the material level.

If the light reflects the material level of gold and silver, once it was in the inner view, there was a big house and it was out of gold, but the sky was black. 

If we are in divinity and the ocean of light, everything is light, there is a golden light, not just a golden house and a black sky.

The inside reflection does reflect the reality of what is present and nothing else, it is about truth. Nobody has to tell us, the observer reflects in the mirror of the heart the present reality. Atman reacts, reflects and resounds.

Someone who has experienced that mirror of the higher self, has to realize the reflection in that mirror, we have to get aware of it and understand it right. If he is the man coming in our dreams to wake us, we have to watch and inquire to be able to understand it. It is discrimination needed to get to the right answer. 

The Reflection of the Divine Light

While in the forest, Rama was once reclining with His head on the lap of Sugriva and the monkey leaders were around Him. The moon was shining overhead in full glory, but there was the tell-tale spot which marred the fullness of the effulgence. Rama asked each one of them what the spot indicated. Each one gave a different explanation. The reflection of the sea, one said, a deep pit, said another; a mountain range said a third. It was Hanuman's turn – He said, "It is Your reflection I see on the moon, Your colour, nothing else!" That was a simple example of his devotion. Everywhere, every time, in every person, he only saw Lord Rama. One must dedicate all tasks as offerings to the Lord. Never deviate from that attitude. Hanuman was such a devotee; Rama was the very life-breath for him.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

I like that thought for the day, not because it is easy to understand and not because it is clear, but because it is about reflection.

Since a few years, since Baba's Lila began which said inside in meditation - engaged - it is all about reflection.

What is reflection?

The sun is the light, the moon is the reflection of that light. Divinity is the light, we are the reflection of that light. The divine is the 'Thou art That' and it is reflected on the individual level of our consciousness as 'I am That'.

In the reality of 'engaged' or being engaged in service to him, we get aware of being the same, we have a duty. You said you have a duty, we are the same 'I am that', we have a duty. The reflection is about inner seeing. If you have a duty, I have a duty as well. Therefore, we have a duty and 'we' is 'He'.

In Prashanti during the Bhajanas there was that 'I am that' above a devotee, I never had even spoken to her, I didn't know her by name, I know her only from seeing her, but above her was the 'I am that' and as I had realized in my meditation, because he had said, 'engaged', because of that, knowing 'we are that' as well, it expanded to 'all are that'. It is realization.