Things get Mirrored and Produce Images

Desire and bondage to the objects desired and the plans to secure them are attributes of the individualized selves, not of the Self or Atma resident in the body. The sense of me and mine and the emotions of lust and anger originate in the body-mind complex. Only when this complex is conquered and outgrown can true virtue emanate and manifest. The sense of 'doer' and 'enjoyer', of 'agentship', might appear to affect the Atma, but they are not part of the genuine nature of the Atma. Things get mirrored and produce images, but the mirror is not tarnished or even affected thereby. It remains as clear as it was. So too, a virtuous person might be subjected to some contaminating activities due to a backlog of acts in previous lives, but they cannot obstruct the person's present nature or activities. The virtuous person has these genuine, basic attributes: purity, serenity, joy and is ever cheerful.

Yesterday was an amazing Bhajan and we had some good visitor's singers and they are always. The study circle to me more like a brain storming, we all put our ideas in it and in the end we let it be like it was.  

Desire and bondage to the objects desired and the plans to secure them are attributes of the individualized selves, not of the Self or Atma resident in the body.

Constant Practice

Spiritual practices should be done consistently with an ever expanding heart full of devotion and spiritual wisdom. There is no distinction between devotion to God (bhakthi) and spiritual wisdom (jnana). Just as materialization (sa-guna) becomes formless (nir-guna), devotion becomes spiritual wisdom. I don't agree that dedicated action (karma), devotion, and spiritual wisdom are separate. Dedicated activity is devotion and devotion is spiritual wisdom. So too, the individual soul (jiva), the Atma, and the Supreme Lord (Parameswara) are not separate; they are one and the same. Therefore, every single deed of yours must be full of the spirit of selfless service (seva), divine love (prema), and spiritual wisdom (jnana). Your life's activities must be saturated with dedicated action, devotion to God (bhakthi), and spiritual wisdom. This is verily the yoga of the Supreme (Purushothama-yoga).

I like to remember the good times we had in Prasanthi with Baba and waiting for him in Darshan.

Before I went to him, I had been a TM-teacher and when I went to him, my boyfriend was also with TM and I didn't wanted to do it wrong, so I asked him about it.

I had strange dreams or insights and he felt like a friend and therefore, I asked him in my first interview about it and I said, my friend is now in New Delhi with the Maharishi and I am here and that is a problem. And he asked, 'who is your friend, is your friend the Maharishi or is your friend with the Maharishi?' and I didn't know or I had the feeling afterwards to understand nothing at all anymore. I thought the boyfriend was the friend and that I had a feeling of friendship because they yogi was behind it and yogis are our friends, that made sense, but understanding it was something else.

Listen to it and Think it Over

People commit the great fault of identifying themselves with the body. They accumulate a variety of things for the upkeep and comfort of the body, even when the body becomes weak and decrepit with age! Can death be postponed? When Yama's (God of death) warrant comes, all must depart. Position, pride, and power - all vanish before death. Knowing this, strive day and night, with purity of body, mind and spirit, to realize the Higher Self. The body must be preserved as a vehicle for this service. But remember, you are not this body; this body cannot be you! Until the realization of the purpose for which the human body is given, it is your duty to watch over it vigilantly and protect it from injury and disablement. Just as woolen clothes help withstand the rigor of the cold gales during winter and are discarded in summer, the material body is no longer essential when the cold gales of material life don't affect you.

Baba (thought for the day)

If we listen to Baba's words carefully, what we always should do, we find that he is telling us in the first sentence that people commit the great fault of identifying themselves with the body.

We should notice that it is a great fault and therefore, we have to think it over to be able to understand it and it is possible to understand it if we know how.

People commit the great fault of identifying themselves with the body.  

Result and Karma

For every being, life is a series of acceptances and rejections, of joy and grief, benefits and losses. Take everything that happens to you as gifts of grace. Of course, you must act with all the skill and devotion you are capable of. And you must do your duties with as much sincerity as you worship God. Then, leave the result to the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-merciful Lord. Why do you hold yourself responsible for the results? He prompted it, He got it done through you; He will give whatever result He feels He must! Can you store gold in a gold box? No! You store it in a steel or iron safe almirah, isn’t it? So too, understand that the gift of joy comes packed in the rind of grief. Do not pray to God to give you only joy; that will be foolish. Pray for the fortitude to realize that grief and joy are but two sides of the same coin.
Baba 

We had been moving in January, because the building we had been living in so far is getting a new elevator and our place got too small, by next months all people have to somehow move out and go to another place. But it was lots of work and it was good to throw away lots of stuff and to clean out things.

And you must do your duties with as much sincerity as you worship God. Then, leave the result to the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-merciful Lord. Why do you hold yourself responsible for the results? He prompted it, He got it done through you; He will give whatever result He feels He must!

First Spiritual Practice

If your minds revel in external objects and in purposeless observation and criticism of the outside world, how then can it be trained to be steadfast? Ask yourself this question: ‘Great souls (mahatmas) and sages were also people like me. If they could attain perfection, so can I if I follow their method. What profit do I get spending my time in discovering the faults and weakness of others?’ Thus the first spiritual practice (sadhana) is to search for the faults and weaknesses within yourself, and to strive to correct them and become perfect. The unceasing toil of each succeeding day has as its aim and justification this consummation: to make one’s last days sweet and pleasant. But each day also has its evening. If the day is spent in good deeds, then the evening blesses us with deep sleep, invigorating refreshing sleep, the sleep which is said to be akin to samadhi.

If we summarize what we thought over, we recognize that Baba is talking about the mind and it makes the mind in us react. 

If the mind is strong we will react on the mind level. If we don’t listen to him, we listen to our mind and it sounds kind of like that probably: 'But I revel in external objects and in purposeless observation and criticism of the outside world, how can I be steadfast? 

The ‘I’ is not the mind, but we hear anyhow that I do it and the mind thinks, if I don’t talk and keep silence I don’t do all that.

That is a mind conclusion and a mind reaction, it is mind resistance and that strong that it is not possible to listen and it is the mind telling; only love and all is done.

With other words, we do not listen.

It is impossible to go beyond the mind and the body and the negative reaction in the mind if we do not listen.

What profit do I get spending my time in discovering the faults and weakness of others?’

Death and Immortality

We must clearly understand the meaning of ‘death’ and ‘immortality’. We regard death as synonymous with all kinds of strength in the body being lost. In other words, death is the ebbing away of the life force from the body. If the life force remains in the body forever, we regard that situation as immortality. This is incorrect. To be able to completely identify oneself with the aspect of God and completely forget the aspect of the body is true immortality. If at all times we are totally immersed only in the thought of the body and its comforts, and forget the aspect of Atma, that is death. It is only when we are able to clearly recognize the connection between birth and death that the sacred desire for securing immortality will sprout in us. There is birth and death for the body, but there is no birth or death for the Atma. To be able to understand this eternity of the Atma is the real meaning of attaining immortality.

How do we understand clearly the meaning of death and immortality?

We regard death as synonymous with all kinds of strength in the body lost. How do we see it in our own life? 

If we don’t feel well, we are sometimes telling, ‘I feel like dead, it means no strength. Or not long ago I said that the relationship with my ex was like dead, he didn’t respond and he didn’t question it, and he just ignored or avoided it. 

There was no life in that relationship and that is why it felt like dead and Baba said, ‘no more husband, nothing left but an empty Western shoe.’ 

That way we can see it in our own life.

Character is Power

As all objects and individuals, rites and activities are transitory, they suffer from decay and destruction. They can at best help the cleansing of the mind. Activity (karma) cannot liberate one from the basic ignorance or award the awareness of the reality as Brahman. Be conscious of this limitation in order to win the right of inquiry into the mystery of the Brahman, the source and core of the cosmos. The one who devotes life to earn the knowledge of the Atma must possess holy virtues and good character. Character is power. No knowledge is higher than a virtuous character. For the person who has dedicated one's years to the acquisition of higher learning, ever good character is an indispensable qualification. Every religion emphasizes the same need; virtuous character is the very foundation of spiritual life. Those who lead lives on these lines can never come to harm. They will be endowed with sacred merit.

Baba (thought for the day)

Whatever is transitory suffers from decay and destruction. What we can do with the transitory is cleansing the mind, what we know from TM, it was the same teaching. That is why we meditated to clean the mind. Focus on the mantra is called concentration, and meditation is the state beyond the mind in silence, between is a small line and that is the contemplation on 'insights' or the teaching.

So therefore, activity cannot liberate one from ignorance or get us into the awareness of the reality of Brahman or 'Atma Vidya'.

Be conscious of this limitation in order to win the right of inquiry into the mystery of the Brahman, the source and core of the cosmos.

Sweet and Cool

A bubble is born out of water, made up of water, and it ultimately mixes with water and disappears. Man is like a bubble and Narayana (God) is like the water source. Man is born out of Narayana, is made up of Him and ultimately merges with Him. This is the simple and elemental truth. The jiva (individual) has three aspects: one is the spiritual, the other is the material, and the third is something connected with daily life. These three aspects resemble the deep sleep state, the waking state and the dreaming state. Just as the waves are created out of water and are contained in water, so also the worldly life is contained in the spiritual life. Sweetness and coolness are qualities of water. These qualities are also noticed in the waves and in the foam. Similarly Sat, Chit and Ananda (Being, Awareness and Bliss) are three attributes which may be noticed in an individual. Through the individual, they show up in the worldly life and thus demonstrate the spiritual aspect present in every individual.

Baba is telling us here that we are born out of water, made up of water and ultimately mix again with water and disappear, not earth, but water.

Yesterday someone sent me a text she had found in the internet, exercises about important Baba quotes and it seemed that difficult, in reading about it it was clear after a few sentences that nobody would be able to do that.

It was not thought over and it was not okay. It felt like just waste of time and it is depressing. We can never do that and more over it said that it was for cleaning the heart and every Bhajan and every meditation is cleaning the heart and singing devotional songs is a great way of cleaning the heart.

I read only few quotes and had enough of it.

Why so many do that, it means not using his words, but they use their own words to explain him and that is impossible. How can we explain him, he has to explain himself and we are just the listener.

Three Methods of Learning

There are three methods of learning namely sravana (listening), manana (constant contemplation) and nididhyasana (to assimilate). Truly, what you have listened to cannot be easily grasped and assimilated just by listening. You have to do some manana or think it over again and again and then absorb what you have listened to. This is nididhyasana. If you do all three then only can you enjoy the fruits of what you have listened to. Will your hunger be relieved merely by looking at what has been cooked? Even if you just eat what has been cooked, will you be able to derive the necessary strength from the nourishment? Only if you digest the food that you have eaten, can you get the nourishment. As cooking, eating and then digesting are three essential processes to get the ultimate result, so also, sravana, manana, and nididhyasana must follow one another in that order, only then can you acquire some aspects of the Atma Vidya.

So that is actually what is happening in writing, it is part of that process of learning. The first is sravana (listening), the second is manana, constant contemplation or seeing it in our own life and nididhyasana, means to assimilate.

Listen, think it over, absorb.

He is explaining nicely here how we have to do manana or think it over again and again and that is just what is happening if we think it over again and again, it sometimes seems always the same, but it changes the aspect and in time it begins to make more sense. 

We have to think it over again and again and then absorb what we have been listening to.

And how is it done?

Baba was once in my dream and asked, 'I am hungry and you?' And in this thought for the day I find the answer. 

Get the Power back

Today, though in outward appearance people are human, in inner impulse they are sub-human and demonic; the one who has no charity or sacrifice (dana) is called a Danava (demon). Divine (Deva) and demon (Danava) are both present in the human make-up and now the devil rules the roost! Therefore people have lost their glow, power and splendour! Every one of you must strive and win it again by spiritual practices (Sadhana). So make yourselves pure by incessant striving. Remain convinced that the world can give you only fleeting joy; grief is but the obverse of joy. Strive now, from this very moment and develop full and everlasting happiness. Be true to yourself. Be bold and focused on your goal; be sincere in your practices from today, for time is rushing like a swift torrent.

Baba (thought for the day)

We are in the moving stress. A week ago we moved to a new place, my daughter got sick again and it was more or less upto me the rest and in the meantime I am tired and exhausted. 

And of course, there is no help and why should there be any help, they just talk about it to feel good, making themselves feel good as it seems, but when it comes about the situation that we should do something, there is noone. It made me already get upset years ago when we came here and as I got into that situation with my ex who claimed to be a Baba devotee as well and in the end it felt just like being bullshitted by that guy, we came here and it didn't feel like any spiritual presence at all.   

Sweet and Devoted to the Universal and That

People resort to vows and rites, hoping to ward off the evil that stars may bring about! But no effort is made to win the grace of God. Let the pomp and the paraphernalia of worship not be merely superficial, if they are, they will not confer lasting benefits; at best, they prevent you from using that much of time and money in harmful ways! It is the 'why' of these rites that matters, not so much the 'how'. The 'why' has to be the realization of the reality of the individual, which is also the reality of the Universal! So be devoted to the Universal; be eager to become 'That'. When you pray to God for a job, or a son, or a prize, you are devoted, not to God, but to the job, to the son or to the prize. Pray to God for God; because it is your nature to love. Expand your Self, take in all! Grow in Love.

Baba (thought for the day)

How do we win the grace of God?
Baba said that God's grace is a tank and we have to know how to connect that tank.
We need three things, the tank of God's grace is always there and we need water taps and a connection between the water taps and the grace of God and that is pure love. How do we make the experience of that 'pure love'?
We have to understand peace and we have to accept right action and if we accept the path of right action, we have to accept truth and if we have those three things, truth, right action and peace, we can make the experience of pure love.

There has to be an effort in direction of Sathva. Only Sathva knows truth. If we are on the level of passion, Rajas, we have to realize that it is passion and if we get aware of it that it is passion, we are in Sathva again and Tamas, ignorance, has to be avoided by all means to get to that experience of pure love and the grace of God.

So be devoted to the Universal; be eager to become 'That'. When you pray to God for a job, or a son, or a prize, you are devoted, not to God, but to the job, to the son or to the prize. Pray to God for God; because it is your nature to love. Expand your Self, take in all! Grow in Love.

Enjoy - Meditation - Pleasure

It is creditable if a human behaves as a human being. It is laudable if they behave as God, that they really are! But to behave as a demon or as a beast is despicable indeed! For, people were long born a mineral, died a mineral; then they promoted themselves to be born as a tree and died as a tree. Subsequently they got promoted as an animal, and finally rose to the status of a human being. This rise from one scale to another has been acknowledged by science and spiritual experience. Now alas, they are born as human and die as human. It is a greater shame if they slide into a beast or a beastly ogre. Praise is due, only if they rise to the divine status. That is real fulfilment of one's destiny. Therefore resolve today to avoid contact with vices, develop attachment to virtues, and transmute your heart into an altar for your beloved.

Baba (thought for the day)

In our last study circle someone mentioned that he doesn't think we need to be aware that it is about truth, right action and peace and only then will be there 'pure love'. We get to that idea because we relate love to a feeling. There was no opportunity to talk about it, because another person began to disturbed on another level and we had to take care of that and the focus was interrupted.  

In the insight he said, 'use my words'.

In his words is truth and in our words is mind. If we use his words, we get to the insights, because we use truth. There is no difference of height. There is another difference, the difference of insights, not of height, the difference of inner view.

Baba has no mind, no clouds, there is sunshine and his words are talking about inner vision and truth. We have to understand that the level of insights is more developed in Baba's consciousness than in ours and why, the obstacle are in the mind. He has no mind. The mind is like the clouds overshadowing the sunlight. For him there is only sunlight.

If he is in the insight on the podium high above everybody like sitting on a stage and the people all were on a lower level, it is like he is acting God, that was on the mind level and just the reflection of people thinking he is higher and they are only people.

We cannot get there if we see differences. We have to go inside. The mind sees differences and that is the illusion. We are in the outer sense perception or we see it in the inner view, that is not the same, not higher and lower, but inner and outer.  If we use his words, as he is a realized master, it is the light we share and we get out of the mind.

Pure Love and Using His Words

Listening to expositions by a speaker who has had the thrill of genuine experience is a blessing. The speaker’s face will blossom with joy; their eyes will shed tears of exhilaration at the very contemplation of the Lord’s glory. Listeners will easily catch that inspiration and experience the joy themselves as tears stream down their eyes. When an infant smiles, everyone around the infant also smiles in unison. So too the words of those who are saturated with devotion to God will saturate the hearts of the listeners too. Through that process of listening, a dirt-laden heart will be transformed into a clean and illumined heart which shines with genuine light and love. To the foul odors of sense-pursuits, keenness to listen to the glories of God is a valuable disinfectant, besides being in itself so full of sweet fragrance. Listening will effectively cleanse your heart.

In the study circle is not a speaker, but the sharing of thoughts and experiences.

I never went to the study circle before, because it felt boring. We had to talk a certain time and the next person was talking and I didn’t feel okay in the circle, I was scared of it and I didn’t get any answers or I was scared to expose myself to the others. So I was nervous usually when it was my turn to talk and that spoilt it.
It was the same with singing, as I never get to the experience I had with group meditation I had before, I didn’t want to sing. It didn’t feel good and it felt disturbing that we had to go over those fears to not remember the sound when it was my turn.
I refused to do it, because I didn’t want to think during all Bhajans, now it will be my turn. I cannot enjoy it that way, but if I just repeat the Bhajans and I don’t have to lead it feels okay and we can enjoy it.

A Christmas Wish

Jesus sacrificed His life and poured out His blood to instill Love and Compassion in the heart of man, so that you are happy when others are happy and sad when others are sad. Let Me call upon you today, to give up, in honor of this holy occasion, two evils from your mind: self-praise and talking scandal! Give them up! Instead adopt one habit: the habit of loving service to the distressed. If you spend all your time and energy in worldly comfort and sensual delight, you are disgracing this human existence. Do not spend your life in just enjoying food; eat as much as is necessary for living. Maintain your body as temple where God resides. Keep it clean, fresh and fragrant by developing compassion and love; Let holy thoughts, words and deeds emerge from you. Do not demean it by using it for low, trivial and unholy tasks.

Wherever you are, make this resolution today!

Baba (thought for the day)

Wishing you a merry Christmas and a fulfilling Holiday Season.

Listen, think it over absorb, that is spiritual Tapas, spiritual work that is what Baba is telling us.

We have to listen to the 'insights', they are like stepping stones in our inner view to get to the inner vision, which is about his message and understanding his words.

We have to use discrimination and in seeing it in our own life in the inner vision, as Baba also said, if we see our life with insights in the inner vision, attachment slides away.

We all have to get detached. If we follow the stepping stones of the insights and see it in our own life we get to the 'inner vision' and whatever the stepping stones, in the end only the inner vision matters and his message.

In that way we can get to an experience of inner peace, as he is the insights and the following step.

It is about that experience of pure love.

Love - Listen and Think it Over

The quintessence of the scriptural texts is this: Realise that the awareness of Divine or Brahman cannot be won by the accumulation of wealth nor by giving away the riches. Nor can it be achieved by reading texts, rising to power, acquiring degrees and diplomas, or performing scriptural sacrifices and rituals. The body is an anthill, with the mind inside as a deep cavity. The mind has hidden in it the serpent named ignorance or nescience (a-jnana). The serpent cannot be killed by resorting to satisfaction-oriented works (kamya karma). Spiritual wisdom (jnana) is the only weapon that can kill it. To achieve spiritual wisdom, you must have 'Steady Faith'. Shraddhavan labhathe jnanam, states the scriptures. Meaning, that person alone, who has steady and unwavering faith, can certainly secure wisdom.

Did you think it over or just read it or not even that? Reading is not enough.

So what does he wants us to do if reading is not enough? If we look at this thought for the day and Baba's words and we just read it, how does it look? If we read it in our mind is pictured an anthill and inside a deep cavity and there is a serpent named ignorance, we take note of it and forget the picture on the spot again. We maybe even read that the serpent cannot be killed by resorting to satisfaction-oriented work and we wonder how to understand that? How can any work be done without going in direction of satisfaction? That is just reading and not listening and thinking it over.

We also read that spiritual wisdom is the only weapon that can kill the serpent and we wonder how we have to understand that wisdom.

And that we must have 'steady faith', and here we probably relax, everybody thinks he has study faith, so everything is fine, if we have study faith it will be there, even if we do not really understand what we just read.

That about study faith is stated in the scriptures and maybe we wonder what scriptures he talks about, it seems there are that many scriptures.

And now Baba makes it clear, meaning that person alone, who has steady and unwavering faith, can certainly secure wisdom. Everything understood after just reading it, we just hear steady and unwavering faith and that we will probably therefore one day secure wisdom. We think we know what to do, keep the faith unwavering and steady, the question is only how and that doesn't even come to our mind that our faith is probably not unwavering and steady and what we should or could do about it?

That was just reading it. It is all different if we listen and think it over to be able to absorb.

Attachment and False Knowledge

People have forgotten their real nature and believe that they are the body, the senses, etc. When these (instruments) crave for objective pleasures, people ignorantly convince themselves that this pleasure is wanted by them! Under this mistaken notion, they seek to fulfill the cravings. They delude themselves that they can secure bliss (ananda) by catering to the body and senses. However they are rewarded with disillusionment, defeat and disaster, and reap pleasure and pain. Though the objective world appears real, one must be aware that it is deluding us. As a result, one has to give up the yearning for deriving pleasure from the objects that appear and attract, both here and hereafter. The false knowledge (a-jnana) can be destroyed only when one knows the Atma (the Divine Self) principle. When the false knowledge disappears, the sorrow produced by one’s involvement in the ups and downs of the world of change (samsara) also gets destroyed. 

This truth we have to accept it is a must. Only when false knowledge disappears, the sorrow gets destroyed and how is that sorrow produced? It is by our involvement in the ups and downs of the world of change. 

And that is why we have to see it in our own life and accept truth, because without getting aware in our own life we don't get aware of the involvement in the ups and downs of the world of change, we are trapped in it and it is false knowledge. We have to find the reason for false knowledge and on that level we can only solve it with the divine principle of Atma, the 'I am that'. 

The false knowledge (a-jnana) can be destroyed only when one knows the Atma (the Divine Self) principle. When the false knowledge disappears, the sorrow produced by one’s involvement in the ups and downs of the world of change (samsara) also gets destroyed.

Joy and Sorrow

Sorrow affects you because you feel you deserved joy and did not acquire it; but there is one impartial distributor of joy and sorrow, who gives you what you need, rather than what you desire. You may need the tonic of tragedy to set you on the road to recovery. The Compassionate One, the eternal all-knowing God, He knows best. Welcome the tragedy and fight your way through, with the armor of the remembrance of the Divine. As all rivers hurry towards the sea, let all your imaginings wend their way to God. The play is His; the role is His gift; the lines are written by Him; He decides the dress and decoration, the gesture and the tone, the entrance and the exit. You have to act well your part and when the curtain falls receive His approbation. By your efficiency and enthusiasm earn the right to play higher and higher roles - that is the meaning and purpose of life.
(Thought for the day)

How do we see that or think it over in our life to be able to absorb the truth in Baba's words.

What questions to ask? What are moments to remember when we felt joy and thought we deserved more joy and we did not acquire it?  

So Baba explains that the distributor of joy and sorrow, gives us what we need, rather than what we desire.

Developping inner Vision

Mere reading of spiritual texts is not enough. You may master all the commentaries and you may be able to argue and discuss with great scholars about these texts; but without attempting to practise what they teach, it is a waste of time. I never approve of book-learning; practice is what I evaluate. When you come out of the examination hall you know whether you will pass or not, is it not? For you can yourself judge whether you have answered well or not. So too in sadhana (spiritual effort) or in conduct or in practice, each of you can judge and ascertain the success or failure that is in store. The moon is reflected in a pot, provided it has water; so too the Lord can be clearly seen in your heart, provided you have the water of Love (Prema). When you don't see the Lord reflected in your heart, do not say that there is no Lord; it only means that there is no Love within you.

SSB

During the Hare Krishna experience we were reading verses of the Bhagavad Gity by heart and we read from the scriptures or the master that three verses are enough to be able to preach. 
If we don't practice, it is a waste of time.

The routine of cooking and preparing food for Krishna, was all about purity and constantly changing and taking showers and eating a lot. But there was still something permanent in it and divinity is not changing, otherwise, it is the mind and not divine.

That felt good, based on such principles and it felt okay, but the identity was Hare Krishnas, as soon that was gone, it was not there anymore.

I still went in direction to truth, I hoped to find inside with TM-meditation in the silence of the heart. I was looking for a way inside and that is why I began with TM to be still in a spiritual identity.

When we left the Hare Krishnas that identity was lost and it was not attractive, whatever the attraction. It felt like too much problems left, whatever that was, money problems and other problems.  

The attraction was gone, but because of the Hare Krishnas, as long as we lived in that identity everything seemed okay, no differences, we were part of it. We were just part of the momevemt, whatever we did. But as soon as we left another side came up, the mind reality in society or the field, if there was no proper profession it was just lick attracting lots of problems, whatever that was. To not lose the spiritual identity I went on with TM.

It was not attractive also to just be part of that society, in a fact, we liked that Hare Krishna environment, only not the cooking and eating and the constantly taking showers.

Listen, Think it over, Absorb

The Kaivalya Upanishad declares: "Not by means of works, not by means of human power, not by means of wealth, but by renunciation alone can immortality be attained." The 'works' referred to are rituals like sacrifices, vows, charities, donations, pilgrimages, etc. Through such activities, one cannot achieve liberation; that is to say, one cannot get rid of the veil of ignorance. 'Human power' means acquisition of positions of authority, of skill and intelligence which can manipulate people and things, of fame and supremacy, of personal charm, of health and happiness, or of a large family with many children - these cannot confer liberation. The works mentioned above and the acquisition referred to can succeed only when one has 'wealth'. But the Upanishad announces that spiritual wisdom is not related to riches. So liberation cannot be earned by means of wealth. Renunciation alone can confer immortality.

(Thought for the day)

Do we understand that thought for the day? Understanding in the sense of getting Baba's insight and seeing it in our own life. 

Baba's words are about truth and insights and we have to read it a very different way. I guess we just read it and think we understand it or if we don't, we think we will understand it later. But listen, think it over and absorb - is a different meaning.

If we read it and think that we understand it, we are in the mind.

It is a mind conclusion, because we just think we know, it has nothing to do with right or wrong or good and bad or truth and untruth. 

But when we listen to Baba we see it all differently, because we know that it is the mind only getting to that conclusion that it does understand and as he told us in a thought for the day just some time ago, we have to resort to scriptures if we want to know the difference between good and bad, and if that is the case for good and bad, we also have to do the same with right and wrong. 
If we just read it and think that we understand it or maybe we will understand it later, we are in the mind and it is illusion. 

When This Truth Dawns ...

To discriminate between good and bad, one must resort to scriptures. The Vedas emerged from the Divine Himself and were ‘heard’ by sages attuned to the voice of the Divine, who in turn, taught them to their disciples. This process of imparting the Vedas and the wisdom enshrined in them has continued through many generations of Gurus and disciples until now. The Upanishads, the Brahma Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita contain the very essence of the Vedas. Hence these are designated as ‘three fundamental texts (Prasthana traya)’ of the science of spirituality. Acquisition of higher knowledge alone can fulfill the main purpose of human life; it makes one aware that one is not the inert non-sentient body but an embodiment of being-awareness-bliss. When this truth dawns and is experienced, you are freed from the fog of ignorance and are liberated, in this very life.

Baba (thought for the day)

Baba is telling us we must resort to scriptures and where are the scriptures in the West? 

Maharishi was teaching the same thing.

If you google ‘Apaurusheya Bhashia’ there are lots of Maharishi pages. What is the consequence of that truth.

We know we have to accept truth. Now we have two levels, one is what he tells us and Baba’s words and what is in the scriptures and on the other hand we have our own wisdom and insights and finding truth in it is realization.

How do we get to insights?

If we take the scripture or Baba’s words and see in the light of our own life and in the light of our insights, the insight in the scriptures will come alive.

To discriminate between good and bad, one must resort to scriptures. The Vedas emerged from the Divine Himself and were ‘heard’ by sages attuned to the voice of the Divine, who in turn, taught them to their disciples. This process of imparting the Vedas and the wisdom enshrined in them has continued through many generations of Gurus and disciples until now.

Are we able without the scripture to discriminate between good and bad, if we read his words we get to the conclusion that we are not. Why are we not able to discriminate between good and bad? Because we are in the mind. We are always in the mind. It is the truth in the scriptures which gets us beyond the mind in accepting that truth (that is a must) and it doesn’t work without it, and if we have accepted that path of truth, we also have to accept the path of right action and only if we accept the path of right action we are able to understand peace and only if there is peace, there will be the experience of ‘pure love’.

Inner Vision and Attachment slides Away

People suffer because they have all kinds of unreasonable desires and they pine to fulfill them and they fail. They attach too much value to the objective world. It is only when attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief. If you look upon Nature and all created objects with the insight derived from the Inner Vision, then attachment will slide away, though effort will remain; you will also see everything much clearer and with a glow suffused with Divinity and splendor. Close your external eyes and open your inner eyes - What a grand picture of essential unity you get? Attachment to Nature has limits, but the attachment you develop to the Lord when your inner eye opens, has no limit. Enjoy that reality, not this false picture.

Baba

We had study circle last night. It was the highlight. We had great questions and listening to Baba's words we first went around the circle and afterwards we were just like sitting together talking about it and enjoying. 

Baba explains if we want to make the experience of pure love, we have to understand peace and if we want to understand peace, we have to accept the path of right action and if we accept the path of right action, we have to accept the path of truth. 

That kept us busy and in the circle. 

We always got back to it that we have to accept truth, whatever the truth and if it is not okay, to accept the path of right action means we have to act accordingly. 

In thinking it over we get to the right insight. 

Reading is not Enough, Spiritual Effort

Mere reading of spiritual texts is not enough. You may master all the commentaries and you may be able to argue and discuss with great scholars about these texts; but without attempting to practice what they teach, it is a waste of time. I never approve of book-learning; practice is what I evaluate. When you come out of the examination hall you know whether you will pass or not, is it not? For you can yourself judge whether you have answered well or not. So too in sadhana (spiritual effort) or in conduct or in practice, each of you can judge and ascertain the success or failure that is in store. The moon is reflected in a pot, provided it has water; so too the Lord can be clearly seen in your heart, provided you have the water of Love (Prema). When you don't see the Lord reflected in your heart, do not say that there is no Lord; it only means that there is no Love within you.

(thought for the day)

What is Baba telling us with these words?

Mere reading of spiritual texts is not enough. You may master all the commentaries and you may be able to argue and discuss with great scholars about these texts; but without attempting to practice what they teach, it is a waste of time.

We have to practice and he takes care of it that we practice? 
If we just read his words it is not enough and mastering or learning by heart or discussing it is a waste of time. So what exactly are we doing, as he said, we close the external eyes and open up the inner eye to the inner vision and if we see it in the inner view it is different and as he said attachment will slide away.

There had been a beautiful pirate in the inner view and the big hand reaching in the sand on the shore and the ship sailing into the sunshine of the ocean and love is the wind in the sails. Our heart has to go out for that beautiful picture in the inner view, like a great adventure journey instead of being just in the external idea of it.

What is the conclusion of the pirates of the Caribbean? 

After all the path of the pirate seems better and more right action than living in a sick society of stupid conventions, where the dress has to be that tight that she faints because she doesn’t get enough air.

Crossing the Ocean with Eyes Shut

Enter upon that task of Sadhana from now on; that is the lesson you must learn here. Otherwise yatra (pilgrimage) leads only to the accumulation of patra (objects and souvenirs). Devotion is something sweet, soothing, refreshing and restoring. It must confer patience and fortitude. The devotee will not be perturbed if another is blessed with more grace. The devotee is humble and bides one's time, knowing that there is a higher power that knows more and that it is just and impartial. In the light of that knowledge, the devotees will communicate their troubles and problems only to their Lord; they will not humiliate themselves by talking about them to all and sundry, for what can a man, who is as helpless as another, do to relieve them? It is only those who have that implicit faith in God, who will deign to communicate only with the Lord and none else, who deserve Amrita (nectar of immortality).

(Baba, thought for the day)

 . 

How do we listen to it, in ignoring it or in not understanding it?

If he asks us to enter upon the task of Sadhana from now on, meditation, from now on and that this is the lesson we have to learn here and now. Please tell me, why we are not on the spot beginning with that mediation and why not? Don't we know enough English or is it our mind obstructing it. I guess it is the mind and the mind is louder in our conscious being than our heart. 
And he is going on and he is telling us why.

Otherwise yatra (pilgrimage) leads only to the accumulation of patra (objects and souvenirs).

Inner Vision and Tapas

People suffer because they have all kinds of unreasonable desires and they pine to fulfil them and they fail. They attach too much value to the objective world. It is only when attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief. If you look upon Nature and all created objects with the insight derived from the Inner Vision, then attachment will slide away, though effort will remain; you will also see everything much clearer and with a glow suffused with Divinity and splendor. Close your external eyes and open your inner eyes - What a grand picture of essential unity you get? Attachment to Nature has limits, but the attachment you develop to the Lord when your inner eye opens, has no limit. Enjoy that reality, not this false picture.
(thought for the day)

How do Baba devotees read Baba's words?

People suffer because they have all kinds of unreasonable desires and they pine to fulfil them and they fail. They attach too much value to the objective world. It is only when attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief.

When he tells us that people suffer of all kinds of unreasonable desires, what are for you unreasonable desires? We have to think it over. If we don't know, are you doing it like me before thinking, not now, one day I will know?

But that will not change if we do not enquire and that 'day' will just not come, because we do not the work required to get there. So what is not understood by devotees avoiding listening to Baba's words, they don't know that we have to see it in our own life first. Only if we see it in our own life we get the meaning of Baba's words.

The principle of Tapas (spiritual work) is first discrimination, second seeing it in our own life, third going on no matter what obstacles are there. That is spiritual work. How do we get into that spiritual work? We have to discriminate, see it in our own life and go on no matter what obstacles are there.  

Why people do not hear that?

It is not enough to read Baba's words and to read that we suffer because there are all kinds of unreasonable desires and that others pine to fulfill them and ail, it is not enough to think I will understand it 'tomorrow', whenever I will be understood. That doesn't work, because if we do not Tapas, spiritual work today, we will also not understand it tomorrow.

Most of devotees sing Bhajans and even after many years of Bhajan singing they still don't understand what Tapas means. If so far we have understood the first sentence, we see that there is the reason for failure, what is an important word in the US and also that they pine to fulfill unreasonable desires, it means not normal or reasonable desires and it is the reason that they are suffering.

There is a lot of information in that one sentence of Baba. Now we get to the second sentence.

They attach too much value to the objective world. It is only when attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief.

Pictures of Unity

People suffer because they have all kinds of unreasonable desires and they pine to fulfill them and they fail. They attach too much value to the objective world. It is only when attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief. If you look upon Nature and all created objects with the insight derived from the Inner Vision, then attachment will slide away, though effort will remain; you will also see everything much clearer and with a glow suffused with Divinity and splendor. Close your external eyes and open your inner eyes - What a grand picture of essential unity you get? Attachment to Nature has limits, but the attachment you develop to the Lord when your inner eye opens, has no limit. Enjoy that reality, not this false picture.

(Thought for the day)

First I read that thought for the day and it didn’t tell me anything, so I was thinking it over in writing it down. I would probably not have the patience to think it over if I would not write about it. The question is how do we open our inner eyes?

Or how do we see the different to our outer eyes? 

People suffer because they have all kinds of  desires and they pine to fulfill them and they fail. They attach too much value to the objective world. It is only when attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief.

It is failure on all levels if we go for unreasonable desires and try to fulfill or impose them. He came with the expectation to Baba that his unreasonable desires, which were a dream only, would be fulfilled and he imposed it on us. 

And Baba tells us why; it is because he attaches too much value to the objective world. And suffering, pain increases if the attachment to the world increases.

The newest insight on that level is about ‘belonging’, it is the level of divinity and Krishna and therefore, the insight ‘we belong together’.

If you look upon Nature and all created objects with the insight derived from the Inner Vision, then attachment will slide away, though effort will remain; you will also see everything much clearer and with a glow suffused with Divinity and splendor.