Start Now what has to be Done Today

What is the use in planning a well when the house is on fire? Where is the time to dig now? When will water become available? When is the fire to be extinguished? It is an impossible task! If, at the very start, a well was ready, how helpful it would be on such critical occasions! Beginning to contemplate on God during the last moments is like beginning to dig the well when the house is on fire. Therefore equip yourself right now, by contemplating on God off and on, so that it will stand you in good stead when the end approaches. Start today the spiritual discipline that has to be done tomorrow! Start now what has to be done today! One doesn’t know what is in store the next moment; therefore there should be no delay in engaging in spiritual practices. For this physical stamina is also necessary, so the body has to be tended to, though over-tending causes damage. To the degree that is essential, the body should be looked after with great care.

Baba (thought for the day)

  

If we look at the four stages of consciousness, we know them by our own experience. There is waking, dream and deep sleep state. Nobody can tell us that it is not true, because we have the same experience.

In the waking state we know the senses and it is the mind leading into the senses, everything in the waking state is mind and we think that God is everywhere, but we don’t see him and therefore, people can put it in question and doubt it and it is possible that we live only on a mind and body level. 

If we experience it, everything changes and Baba tell us if we get the vision of God, what means the experience of God’s existence, everything will change.

If God is everywhere and we can get the experience, we will get aware that there is nothing without him and everything belongs to him.

Vision of God and not the Sight of Death

These days, people are content to visualize and experience evanescent worldly joys. People have no rest. Spending the nights in sleep and days in eating and drinking, they grow and grow, until, in old age, death pursues them. Then, they can’t decide where to go or what to do; all senses have weakened. No one and nothing can rescue them, so they end as obedient meat in the jaws of death! How sad it is that this human life, precious as an invaluable diamond that can’t be priced at all, has been cheapened to the standard of a worn-out worthless coin! There is no use repenting later without meditating on God or practicing some spiritual discipline to realize Him now. It is the right of the aspirant (sadhaka) to have the vision of God and not the sight of death (Yama-darshan)!
Baba (thought for the day)

After the four stages and reflecting on it and the surprise when we find when something in our life comes-up what we had forgotten or we were not yet aware about it and in a totally unexpected moment. 
In the dream it was about a caveman and it is a picture like a symbole for the mind to see a situation or a mind which is not flexible. But there was not only the cave, but ice and that was before in a dream. It had to do with ice and the last insight before we left long ago, that ice was now different, it just made something clear what had not been clear before. Inner images are like a mood we get by watching.

And Baba talks about that difference between the soul and the body, if we are in the body it will be Yama-Darshan and if we know that we are actually the soul it will be only divinty.  
It was ice and it felt kind of scary that it looked like that. We just think loud and try to get the meaning of it. But it was nevertheless strange to get aware of ice. 
If it is present now, it just makes that association in the mind between that and something else, it is reflecting what it was and it was insight and a cave only not yet mud, but only ice. Later it was a mud hole and if we translate that it was like clear as mud ... it tells us that there was nothing clear actually and above all nothing was understood, nothing at all. 

The Search of Self-Knowledge

They are, according to the Veda, four stages - the waking, dream, deep sleep, and the liberated stage (turiya). In the first stage, one is awake to the objective world and is oriented outward. Since one identifies with the gross body complex at this stage, the experiences are also gross. In the dream the self is in-faced. Reactions, responses, and experiences are all self-contained. They do not belong to the area outside of oneself. Next comes deep sleep (sushupti). This stage is free from even dreams. There is no feeling of either separation or identity, the particular or the universal, experiencer or experience. There is only the Atma, in which one has temporarily merged. In the fourth step (Turiya), the individual is no more so. It has attained the basic truth of life and of creation. Those who have reached this step no longer have concern with the individual self. These are four states one experiences, but they are also stages one has to go through in search of Self-Knowledge.

Baba (thought for the day)

Let’s look at that thought for the day. Here we can remember our meditation time as it is Veda, we recognize the same. It is based on the different states of consciousness we know, waking, dream and deep sleep state and the fourth state was called transcendental or just pure consciousness. 

With meditation we develop the fourth state of consciousness and it was explained to us as unlimited and non-changing, non-conceptual, pure consciousness, it is co-existing together with the three other states, as it is unlimited and never changing, we get aware of it also in the usually states we know in the waking, dream and deep sleep state and it gets transformed into cosmic consciousness, that is the waking state together with the non-changing awareness of pure being, the dream state was explained as God consciousness and the deep sleep state is Samadhi and unity consciousness.

The Lord of Death

Yama (Lord of Death) is as omnipresent as Siva! Yama is associated with the body (deha); He cannot affect the individual soul (jiva). The body is the essential vehicle for the individual soul to understand its real nature. Still, who knows when it may become the target for the attention of Yama, the master of the body? Who knows when this body will get entrapped in the coils of Yama's ropes? The individual soul, burdened with this easily destructible body, must pay attention to this fact and be all-eager to merge in Siva! People usually procrastinate tasks - yesterday's tasks are delayed to today and today's tasks to tomorrow. But the tasks of spiritual discipline are not of such a nature. The minute that just elapsed is beyond your grasp; so too, the approaching minute is not yours! Only that individual soul which has this understanding engraved in its heart can merge in Siva.

Baba (thought for the day)

Yama is known as the Lord of death, he looks very scary and ugly and here Baba is telling us that the omnipresent reality of him is Lord Siva. If we die in the body there is not God, but Yama present, he takes care of all those who didn't make it and still think they are the body.

The body is the vehicle for the soul to understand the real nature of the soul, if we think we are the body, dust we are and we will be gone with the body and by the samskaras, tendencies in the mind we get reborn and a new body, so we can start again and try again.

Yama (Lord of Death) is as omnipresent as Siva! Yama is associated with the body (deha); He cannot affect the individual soul (jiva). The body is the essential vehicle for the individual soul to understand its real nature. Still, who knows when it may become the target for the attention of Yama, the master of the body?

The Supreme Wisdom is Atma reflected in the Objective World

The human body is a cover, a receptacle for the Atma. Elements like water and wind are intimately bound up with the body. Therefore, the Atma Principle, which is the core, is not cognized. People have lost awareness of this Principle, which is Truth. The Atma is in the body, but not of it. The Atma Principle, though active in the body, does not belong to the body. The ability of the eyes to see and the ears to hear are given by the Atma. The eyes and ears are sustained by the Omni-Consciousness, the Divine Principle. Your Soul (Divine Self) is the real ‘You’, the Will (Sankalpa). The elements (ether, wind, fire, water, and earth) that constitute the cosmos operate only as prompted by the supreme wisdom, which energizes them. The entire world of living beings - both fixed and moving are sustained by supreme wisdom. That supreme wisdom is Atma, the Brahman and the visible, objective world.

Baba (thought for the day)

‘I am That’ is the divine principle, there are three parts in it, subject, object and relationship and an all three levels it cannot be transcended. 

 The being level is usually what we know frist and best, because if we meditate we experience ‘pure being or pure consciousness’ and we know it is non-changing and not manifested, we know it is unlimited and not conceptual being.

Baba tells us that there is only ‘love’ and it is about ‘that’ only and it is the objective level of creation and what is left after we have all transcended, we cannot transcend ‘pure love’ and what else can we not transcend? Baba tells us, ‘I am I’, we cannot transcend the universal I, and it is present as first awakening in all beings.

The human body is a cover, a receptacle for the Atma.

And why the Atma is not cognized?

Elements like water and wind are intimately bound up with the body. Therefore, the Atma Principle, which is the core, is not cognized.

The Reflection in the Mirror of the Heart

Vikshepa is an affliction of the mind that consists of worldly distractions; various spiritual exercises (sadhanas) are undertaken to overcome it and realise the Divine. The sadhanas include meditation, concentration and performance of good deeds for achieving purity of mind. When one succeeds in overcoming Vikshepa, one is confronted with avarana (akin to a thick covering in which one is enveloped). This covering is known as maya (delusion). It envelops everything in the universe. The eyes with which one can see everything that is outside cannot see themselves. Likewise, Maya, which reveals the entire universe, cannot reveal the Divine. Because we are enveloped in Maya, we seek worldly pleasures and do not seek our own Divine essence. ‘Yaddhrushyam than-nashyathi - Whatever is perceptible, is perishable.’ In the pursuit of fleeting and impermanent pleasures, we are throwing away the permanent, the unchanging and the real elements in human life.

Baba (thought for the day) 

As it is about affliction of the mind and worldly distractions, it is actually a very important lesson in that thought for the day and we can ask what is the worldly distraction for us? If we are used to for us it seems normal. 

Vikshepa is an affliction of the mind that consists of worldly distractions; various spiritual exercises (sadhanas) are undertaken to overcome it and realise the Divine.

Here we have the name of the affliction – Vikshepa and it matters what type of affliction it is, because he talks about another one and it is a new challenge after the first one is done. We have the definition, worldly distractions in the mind and we have the remedy spiritual exercises (Sadhana) and not only one, but various. That can make it difficult if we don't know yet what Sadhana. 

If we talk about meditation and we have some meditation practice, we know what we are purifying the mind and one of the most important insights about Sadhana is that it is for the purification of the mind only. That is the aim of it. If we do spiritual exercise we do it to heal or normalize our afflicted mind and how is that done, by purification.

Obstacles in the Mind

Vikshepa is an affliction of the mind that consists of worldly distractions; various spiritual exercises (sadhanas) are undertaken to overcome it and realize the Divine. The sadhanas include meditation, concentration and performance of good deeds for achieving purity of
mind. When one succeeds in overcoming Vikshepa, one is confronted with avarana (akin to a thick covering in which one is enveloped). This covering is known as maya (delusion). It envelops everything in the universe. The eyes with which one can see everything that is outside cannot see themselves. Likewise, Maya, which reveals the entire universe, cannot reveal the Divine. Because we are enveloped in Maya, we seek worldly pleasures and do not seek our own Divine essence. 'Yaddhrushyam than-nashyathi - Whatever is perceptible, is perishable.' In the pursuit of fleeting and impermanent pleasures, we are throwing away the permanent, the unchanging and the real elements
in human life.
Baba (thought for the day)

This is again about obstacles, but it is more about the affliction of the mind. And it is telling us that we have to overcome Vikshepa and I got a text about yoga sutras, where it is explained what makes it easier.
There is never arguing about it if we focus on the higher self. If some things seem not okay, we wait for the insight, what is present in the mirror of the heart and it is reflected in that mirror and in listening to his words we get the right conclusion about it.

The Path of Love and Patience

The world is a scriptural text. Time is a great preacher. There is no greater teacher than your heart. God is the greatest friend. With full faith in these four entities, lead your life on this earth. Prema (love) is the natural possession of every human being. It is the fruit of the tree of life. There are certain impediments to taste a fruit. You first have to remove the skin and the rind covering the pulp inside and also cast off the seed. The fruit of love is covered by the thick skin of ego. You have to peel off this skin of 'mine' and 'thine'. Then only you can taste the sweet juice. That is why the Vedas describe God as Raso Vai Saḥ (Supreme Sweet Essence). So develop pure love, and through it establish unity with the Divine. The path of love is the shortest and the fastest road to realize the Divine.

Baba (thought for the day)

I have actually problems to be patient after all we have experienced in the past and so on. 

As pure love is actually the universe and ‘that’ what cannot be transcended, if it is about love only, we should experience it first.

In my opinion it is one of the reasons many people I know and new we never see in the Sai center, they keep distance and it is Baba who said it because they have not yet made the experience of ‘pure love’, but also when it is just mood making and superficial and people trying to show love, that is really the worst of all and I cannot take it as well, because it is not real and not true.

Lots of people seem to talk of love and they mean what they think love is, but that is not ‘pure love’, it is not based on character and right action and truth and understanding peace, it is just the idea of a feeling of love that is attracting us, but that is not ‘pure or divine love’.

World, Time, Heart and Friend

The world is a scriptural text. Time is a great preacher. There is no greater teacher than your heart. God is the greatest friend. With full faith in these four entities, lead your life on this earth. Prema (love) is the natural possession of every human being. It is the fruit of the tree of life. There are certain impediments to taste a fruit. You first have to remove the skin and the rind covering the pulp inside and also cast off the seed. The fruit of love is covered by the thick skin of ego. You have to peel off this skin of 'mine' and 'thine'. Then only you can taste the sweet juice. That is why the Vedas describe God as Raso Vai Saḥ (Supreme Sweet Essence). So develop pure love, and through it establish unity with the Divine. The path of love is the shortest and the fastest road to realize the Divine.

Baba (thought for the day)

The place of God and the role of God and certain texts seem more important than others and we should remember it always to get the message right. And that text is very important and we get aware of it why if we look at it sentence after sentence.

First sentence, we have to get aware that the world is a scriptural text and how do we get aware of it?  

We have to know the scriptures good enough to be able to connect what happens in the world or in our life to see it in the light of the scriptures.

And we have to listen to Baba, because he will tell us when it is the case and why.

(It is not about our idea what God is ... and what God does, but it is the greatest friend who makes us aware of it that the world is the scriptural text. If there is a 'gift', that is the gift - that he is the greatest friend making us aware of it. Years ago I wondered why we had in the Bhagavad-Gita a war situation and I thought religion had to do with 'love' even though the Christ had been crucified what is also war, for sure not peace and non-violence.

The Universe is Suffused with Love

Everything is suffused with love (Prema). So we can unhesitatingly declare that the Supreme Lord is the form of love (prema-swarupa). In all living things, love manifests itself in various forms and is known through many names such as love for offspring, affection, devotion to God, desire (vaatsalya, anuraaga, bhakthi, ishtam) etc., based on the direction in which it is channelised. But whatever the form, the essence is the same. On the basis of this knowledge and experience, it is clear that the supreme Lord is the inner Atma of all created things (Sarva-butha-antar-atma). That which teaches the highest knowledge of this unity is known as nondualism (a-dvaitha); that which teaches the principle of the lover and the Loved is known as dualism (dvaita); that which teaches about all three, love, lover, and loved — or nature (prakriti), individual (jiva), and Brahman— is known as qualified nondualism (visishta-advaita). But these three are one.

Baba (thought for the day)

If we transcend the mind, what is left is 'pure being', non-conceptual state of just being, we breathe it in and out, but it has no substance. And if we transcend not just a state of being, but a relationship which is eternal between us and the Lord, what is left is just 'pure love' and that means there is nothing but 'pure love' and not only 'thin air' – being.

Do you know what I mean? Thus we meditate and find ourselves after all in an ocean of love. We cannot transcend it anymore; there is nothing else but 'love'.

That is what Baba is telling us in that thought for the day. As there is nothing else but love, we can declare that the supreme Lord is the form of love. Imagine you get aware that there is a 'state' of love; the whole universe is filled with it, nothing but love. That was the reality we experienced in Prasanthi in his presence, after a while there was nothing but love. We breathe in love and we breathe out love.

It is a state of being, it cannot be transcended and that is why it is final, it is unlimited that means it feels the whole universe and it is non-changeable and that means it is all there is.

It is in Baba's words, it is here when you read it. That is why ceiling of desires, we let go of everything to just fill our life with love. We talk here only about the essence and it is in different forms, but the essence is only non-changeable and transcendental, not just awareness, but love and if it is awareness it is the awareness of love.

On the basis of this knowledge and experience, it is clear that the supreme Lord is the inner Atma of all created things (Sarva-butha-antar-atma). That which teaches the highest knowledge of this unity is known as nondualism (a-dvaitha); that which teaches the principle of the lover and the Loved is known as dualism (dvaita); that which teaches about all three, love, lover, and loved — or nature (prakriti), individual (jiva), and Brahman— is known as qualified nondualism (visishta-advaita). But these three are one.

The Old, Good Qualities Gone

Where have your good old human qualities gone? Truth, tolerance, morality, discipline - when would you accept them? Arise, awake! Establish the Kingdom Divine (Rama-Rajya), resplendent with mansions of truth, right conduct, and peace. Remember and learn from the rule of divine personages, and their characteristics. Quench the burning flames of ignorance, peacelessness, injustice, and envy with the waters of love, forbearance, and truth. Love your fellow brethren. Develop the feeling of mutuality. Sweep away all jealousy and anger. All of you must realize your own faults and understand that there is no use in searching for faults in others. It is a mere waste of time; it also breeds quarrels. So give up that trait. If you miss this opportunity, when will you ever do it? Don’t yield to dejection, but put an end to all the unrighteousness activities of your past. Repent sincerely and tread the path of prayer to God and doing good deeds, and develop brotherly love.

Baba (thought for the day)

Our mind usually thinks the Baba talks with everybody else only not with us, but that is wrong. Baba is talking to us, the people sitting in front of him and we are part of it.

Where have your good old human qualities gone? Truth, tolerance, morality, discipline - when would you accept them? Arise, awake!

We think we accept them and if we would, it would never have happened. 

Baba is telling us, where are our good old human qualities gone? We think we are special because we are with him and in that moment we are not in our old good human quality anymore, but we are developing the imaginative faculty of the mind thinking that we are something special and we are not better than beasts. 

Actually, the insight of the man who is in our dream to awake us was this time the road leading to a big house and this road was made of big stones, the stones which had been put in our way, people thinking they are special because he is love, yes, because of his love and not because of our love we think we were special, but his love is our love. 

Either it is our love or no love. He said, ‘love is my form, truth is my breath, bliss is my food’. 

Selfless Service and Reverence to Nature

Service through Reverence to Nature

The human being is deriving innumerable debts from Nature and enjoying the amenities provided by Nature in various ways. But what is the gratitude the human is showing to Nature? What gratitude is he or she offering to the Divine? The human is forgetting the Divine who is the provider of everything. That is the reason for a person becoming prey to various difficulties and calamities. While we are receiving countless gifts from Providence, we are offering nothing in re­turn to Nature or God. This shows how unnatural and heartless is the behavior of the human be­ing. When we are enjoined to return good for evil how unbecoming it is to fail even to return good for good. We are not learning the great lessons Nature is teaching us. The foremost lesson is do­ing service with no expectation of return.

(Baba)

That is part of the text for the study circle. Baba is talking about gifts we are receiving from providence and we are offering nothing in return to Nature or God. 

But the question is not only to see it as a gift, but also how we return the gift. 

What is the gift we offer back to Mother Nature? If it is meditation or Sadhana; it is also giving back the gift we get from nature or God.  

We are enjoined to return good for evil how unbecoming it is to fail even to return good for good. We are not learning the great lessons Nature is teaching us. The foremost lesson is do­ing service with no expectation of return.

Confirmed by the Scriptures

Every living being starts on food and yearns slowly to reach the peak of spiritual bliss. Let all your efforts and undertakings be directed to the acquisition of spiritual bliss. The Taithiriya Upanishad clearly elucidates spiritual bliss as the urge for birth, growth, decay, and death. It calls out that all are born in spiritual bliss, will live for it, and will die in order to attain it. However how can Brahman be spiritual bliss (ananda)? Scriptures clarify, 'Om ithyekaaksharam Brahman - Om, the one imperishable letter is Brahman.' It is also said, Atma (Divine Self in individual) is Brahman (Divine). Therefore the three terms Atma, Brahman, and Om are all indistinguishably the same. The Scriptures (Brahma Sutras) reveal that the outer universe, which has Divine (Brahman) as the base and the inner universe are identical and cannot be differentiated.

Baba (thought for the day)

What are we doing to reach the peak of spiritual bliss?

How do we see all our undertakings to be directed to the acquisition of spiritual bliss? Thus Baba talks about Veda, the Taithiriya Upanishad and that it clearly elucidates spiritual bliss as the urge for birth, growth and decay, and death.

What do you like in those words and what do maybe like less? 

First we should be aware that Baba refers to the scriptures, it is telling us indirectly that the scriptures are the authority and always are and he is the embodiment of Veda, he is the scriptures. When people in the West listen only to 'love' and they eve think it is only thing interesting, we get such strange statements like from that guy who had to replace me in the study circle during the time we moved our apartment, and someone was participating who talked about Veda and without listening to him, what is a must during the study circle, he said, 'nobody is interested in that'.

Therefore, we should be very clear about one thing, Baba talks about Veda and the scriptures.

Veda means knowledge and it is contained in it about all knowledge we can know about the ancient scriptures. If we are in a study circle and we study Baba's words and he is Veda, the knowledge of the divine only in a body, it is very stupid of the person who does the study circle to answer, 'nobody is interested in that'.

First it is judgmental and we shouldn't do that in a study circle, we should listen and let it be, we don't judge and even less if we should actually take care of it, that the others don't judge. It means the person he addressed is still new and someone told me that he is scared now.

Meditation and No Birth and No Death

When you face hardships and struggle in life, cling and hold on to the Lord. To instill courage in an infant, its mother persuades it to walk a few steps and turn, but she won’t allow it to fall. If it totters and is about to lose balance, she hurries behind and catches it! The Lord too has His eyes fixed on each individual (jivi). He has in His hand the string of the kite, which is humanity! Sometimes He may pull it, and at other times He may loosen the grip! Whatever He does, be confident and carefree, for it is He who holds the string of your life. That solid faith will fill you with the essence of love (prema-rasa). The string is the bond of love and grace and every individual (kite) is thus bound to the Lord. All you must do is to walk the path so that the bond of love and grace is strong. 

Baba (thought for the day)

If we look at the higher self and only love and beauty and light as we know it from Baba, it has nothing to do with struggle and hardship. But Baba is telling us here that clinging to the Lord he will be there.

Now that is what we did when we said always, he will know a way and he did after all. But there is another aspect to it. If we meditate with Soham as So inhale and it is light as Baba also said and Ham exhale darkness, we get a relationship to our own higher self in the breath and in such a meditation it is reflected as ‘I am that’.

The Lord too has His eyes fixed on each individual (jivi). He has in His hand the string of the kite, which is humanity! Sometimes He may pull it, and at other times He may loosen the grip! Whatever He does, be confident and carefree, for it is He who holds the string of your life.

Become Aware of the 'One'

It is an arduous process for people to become aware of the ‘One’ that is their core. The gross body is the product of the food consumed. But within, there is a subtler force, an inner vibration named vital air (prana).The mind (manas) within is subtler still, and deeper and subtler than the mind is the intellect (vijnana). Beyond the intellect, people have in them the subtlest sheath of spiritual bliss (ananda). When one delves into this region of spiritual bliss, the reality, the Brahman or the One can be experienced. That awareness is indeed the most desirable. In the Taittiriya Upanishad, while teaching his son Bhrigu the Brahman phenomenon, Varuna says, “Son! Brahman cannot be seen through the eyes. Know that Brahman is that which enables the eyes to see and the ears to hear. He can be known only through extreme yearning in a cleansed mind and concentrated thought. No other means can help.”
Baba (thought for the day)

These words of Baba can be seen as the continuation of yesterday’s thoughts and here he calls it an arduous process for people to become aware of the 'One' that is our core. 
It can be experienced and we have to get the experience of the One in our own higher self and as he is explaining us here that awareness is the most desirable. 
We can only tell it in our own light and our own experience and sometimes we have to go back to other experiences to explain it, but nevertheless, we will get to the right conclusion and the insight of I am I after all. 
I always go back into the past experiences seeing it in my own life first so that it finally does make sense, sense for me and the one who is reading it. If it doesn't make sense to me, it will not make sense to the reader and at the beginning there were a lot of insights and experiences, but they didn't make sense because I didn't know how to see it in my own life. Only after I began to see it in my own life it began to makes sense. And every thought of the day brings us in a different way of seeing it again, but we see it again and again to finally know exactly that is it and we are sure about it and it has been absorbed in our own self as part of our own self. 

Merge in that Vision - the One

In Taittiriya Upanishad, Varuna directed his son Bhrigu to enter upon spiritual exercises that would ultimately reveal the Truth. Brighu, with full faith in his father’s words, immersed himself in concentrated spiritual practices. When he returned and declared what he had come to know, that food was Brahman, his father told him that his answer was not right. So Brighu continued the spiritual practices and came back with deeper answers, that Prana or vital air is Brahman, then the Mind, and later that the Intellect (Vijnana) is. But each time he was sent back by his father to search deeper. After undergoing a fifth course of spiritual practices, he became aware that spiritual bliss (ananda) was Brahman. Brighu stayed in the bliss of that awareness and never needed to consult his father again. The father then, himself sought Bhrigu, and congratulated him and said, “Son! You have merged in that vision.” Every being must march on to the goal, from food to bliss. 

Baba (thought for the day)

The Upanishads is about the scriptures and we know he is telling us always to refer to the scriptures if it is about right or wrong or good and bad, so let’s listen …  and think it over, and we will see what we can absorb.

The story is about Bhrigu and he is the son and he gets a spiritual training. He had to find truth or it had to reveal the truth. What does that tell us?

Truth is not just there and understood and done, but we have to do exercises to reveal the truth. So how much exercise?

In the study circle we had points of view and little discipline, but somehow it worked out with focus on Baba’s words, after all smiling and happy, only I had to think it over because it felt too much like developing only the imaginative faculty of the mind and I had difficulties to take that. 

Brighu, with full faith in his father’s words, immersed himself in concentrated spiritual practices. When he returned and declared what he had come to know, that food was Brahman, his father told him that his answer was not right.

Where Bliss is, there is God

God is wisdom. God dwells in all beings. God is known by various names and of these, the greatest and the most fitting is Satchitananda. Sat means that which remains unchanged in all the three periods of time – the past, the present, and the future. Strict adherence to Truth would enable you to experience Sat. Chit means total awareness or complete knowledge; it is that which enables one to experience Divinity in all its aspects. Once Sat and Chit are experienced, Ananda or bliss would follow automatically. The human body is temporary; the pleasure that it can give also is fleeting. It is meaningless to seek eternal bliss by way of instruments that are impermanent. The body only gives temporary, bodily pleasure, and the mind can at best give only mental satisfaction for a little while. Therefore you must seek that which is permanent - Bliss. God is Truth, God is Bliss. Hence seek God and live in Bliss.

Baba (thought for the day)

God is wisdom and as Baba said in our interview, ‚'where God is there is bliss'. And he goes on and tells us, 'God dwells in all beings.'

That are Baba's words and he informs us that God has various names, but the greatest and most fitting is 'Sat-chit-ananda'.

Imagine being in a study circle and now everybody should say something about it.

Why do you think 'sat-chit-ananda' is the greatest of the divine names?

We read his words and what is happening in our mind, we think maybe, 'God is wisdom, we just think, wisdom … do we know it?

And he tells, 'God dwells in all beings' and we think, all being, how good he is also in me. God has various names and forms … okay... that is still somehow understood and the most fitting is Sat-chit-ananda, and the mind goes, what's that?'

Someone who has never thought over Baba's words has maybe a vague idea about it or some notions hidden in the mind because he said it before, but what is sat-chit-ananda really? Why is it the greatest of all names?

If we would be thinking it over and put it into practice it would not feel that theoretical and far away only.

If we study and we have to deal with new concepts, we have to study it and get a feeling for it, we think it over and by doing it again we are able to absorb finally and after when we have to pass a test, we either know it or we don't know it and if we don't pass the test, we have to repeat it again. After some time we will have a very clear notion about it.

Born of Joy - a Life in Ananda

Everyone wants to be happy. Such a desire is natural and it springs from the fact that your true nature is bliss. Bliss is God but somehow people don’t get that! You are born of joy (ananda), the basis of your life is ananda, and your goal must also be ananda. Truly speaking, it is not difficult to know what the basis and goal of life should be. Prahlada got it! He realized that God is Omnipresent and saw unity in diversity. He clearly perceived Narayana to be the substratum of everything in creation and happily surrendered to Him. His father Hiranyakasipu was just the opposite. He saw diversity in unity and became deluded by the multiplicity of forms in Creation, each with its own name. Clearly understand that you originate from God, that your life’s undercurrent is God, and your final destination also is God. Bliss should be the goal in your life, and seek it in all earnestness.

Baba (thought for the day)

Everyone wants to be happy, that is why we meditate to purify our mind and by that we realize that happiness in our own self. We learnt that life is going in direction of more and more happiness and in general in direction of more and more and we used that tendency of the mind to transcend our thoughts and the mind. It was a good thing to do and we got inside in touch with divinity in the heart and went to Baba. Before we knew that our meditation mattered, that were our office hours and we initiated people into meditation, if more people meditated the effect on consciousness was better and we had a duty and we thought we would to that all our life and after we went to India, we were in his presence and came back and here everything what had mattered before was gone. Now it didn’t matter anymore to meditate, but just he mattered and so we sat in his Darshan and tried to go on with that change from being ‘engaged’ in purification of the mind knowing if we want to be happy, we have to purify the mind to sitting in his Darshan and making the experience that only he mattered.

Deep Rooted Impressions

People are so deeply involved in their lives that sometimes the span of 24 hours appears too short for a day. Drinking, eating, reading, walking, sitting, hating, dreaming, boasting, praising, weeping, laughing, craving, hoping — these fill up your day. All these activities are intimately attached to the mind. Thus your life is a collection of inborn desires (samskaras), which impacts your character. The events and activities that transpired in your life, both good and bad, that you may have forgotten through other subsequent events – did leave a residual trace of their consequences in your mind. When you try to recall the day’s events at bed-time, you remember a few – not everything. When such is the case with the happenings of a single day, what shall be said of the events in life of several months or years? When your end nears, you will remember only very few deep-rooted impressions. Hence, disciplined striving throughout the life is essential for a joyful consummation.
Baba (thought for the day) 

Let's look at it and try to get the insight. 
It means we are that busy, we have not enough time in 24 hours and everything is attached to the mind only, so how do we go beyond the mind and get aware of the inborn desires in the mind that impact our character?

People are so deeply involved in their lives that sometimes the span of 24 hours appears too short for a day. Drinking, eating, reading, walking, sitting, hating, dreaming, boasting, praising, weeping, laughing, craving, hoping — these fill up your day. All these activities are intimately attached to the mind. Thus your life is a collection of inborn desires (samskaras), which impacts your character.

Business and Business of Life

A merchant calculates the debit and credit at the end of a week or month or year, and draws up the balance sheet to arrive at one figure — their earnings. So too, in the business of life, the end may result in some earnings, after the receipts and disbursements are tallied. At the point of death, if one yearns to cater to the tongue, it is proof that throughout their life, the tongue has been the master. Thus, of the inborn desires (samskaras) in life, some are stronger than the rest and stand out to the last. Life is like that; this lesson must be learnt and digested well. The net result of all this living and toiling is whatever comes to memory at the last moment of life. Therefore, direct the current of life towards the acquisition of the mental tendency (samskara) that you want to have during the last moment. Fix your attention upon it, day and night.

Baba (thought for the day)

Baba is using the example of business and business of lift, only it is not the same, because business is in the mind and business of life to be able to direct the current of life towards the acquisition of the mental tendency we want to have during the last moment of our life, we have to have our attention upon it and that is also like a Sadhana or spiritual focus or like a workout, on the mind level. 

The workout and fitness of the body is not the same as the mind. If we want to acquire the mental tendencies and not only muscles and body fitness during the last moments of our life, we have to go beyond the mind.

It is actually a body workout, but we don't acquire muscles and good health and shape on the body level, but also good mental tendencies and that is how we complete it.

Only body is just on body level, if we focus on the acquisition of the mental tendencies we make it whole, we work with body and mind in focusing on the mind. 

 If we get aware of the tendencies in the mind, we actually make a whole body and soul workout. 

We are working with the body, but we are also in the watcher and work with the mind. We can only work with the mind if we are able to go beyond the mind.

We should make a fitness training that includes body mind and soul and the last part is about acquiring character, the byproduct of self-control.

The Lesson must be Learnt and Digested

A merchant calculates the debit and credit at the end of a week or month or year, and draws up the balance sheet to arrive at one figure — their earnings. So too, in the business of life, the end may result in some earnings, after the receipts and disbursements are tallied. At the point of death, if one yearns to cater to the tongue, it is proof that throughout their life, the tongue has been the master. Thus, of the inborn desires (samskaras) in life, some are stronger than the rest and stand out to the last. Life is like that; this lesson must be learnt and digested well. The net result of all this living and toiling is whatever comes to memory at the last moment of life. Therefore, direct the current of life towards the acquisition of the mental tendency (samskara) that you want to have during the last moment. Fix your attention upon it, day and night.

Baba (thought for the day)

The thought for the day is just enough words of Baba to think it over, not too little and not too much. Here Baba compares business of life with business and he explains the samskaras, inborn desires or tendencies in our mind and some are stronger than the rest and stand out. We have to learn the lesson of business of life and he is telling us that the lesson has to be learnt and digested well.

But how do we know when a lesson is learnt and when it is digested?

If we look in the mirror we see our own reflection, but for that we have to have a mirror and Baba takes care that we have such a mirror.

The net result will come to memory at the last moment of life. If we think only of business that will be there at the last moment and if we think of business of life if we are lucky, divinity will be there at the last moment.

Business is the calculating value, but business of life has to do with Karma, it is not the same, one is in the mind, the other goes beyond the mind - if we do it right.

Therefore, direct the current of life towards the acquisition of the mental tendency (samskara) that you want to have during the last moment. Fix your attention upon it, day and night.

The Insight of 'I am I'

When Prahlada's father, Hiranyakasipu drew him near and fondly asked the boy to repeat what he had learnt from his teacher, Prahlada replied, "I learned the secret essence of all learning." The father was glad and asked him, "Tell me the essential thing that you have mastered." Prahlada said, "Father! He who illumines everything, He who finally absorbs everything with Himself, is the One, Lord Narayana. Having Him always in mind and experiencing the bliss thereof awards fulfillment to all." He further said, "Father! You conquered the entire world, but you failed to conquer your senses. How then can you receive grace from Narayana? These material skills and worldly achievements are hollow possessions. The knowledge and experience of the One Divine (Brahma-vidya), that alone is worthy to be pursued," said the child prodigy. 

Baba (thought for the day)

Prahlada’s father, Hiranyakasipu, was a scholar and a big and powerful demon, he was that powerful that God in the form of a lion had to come down and destroy him. His wife when pregnant lived with a sage in an ashram and the son was therefore a devotee and when he went to school the father expected a different knowledge and not what Prahlada is answering here. If we would listen how the story is going on Baba would tell us that the father got very enraged listening to that and he wanted to get rid of the son in many different attempts to kill him afterwards. He began to fight God in the boy and finally God came down and killed him.

Prahlada replied, "I learned the secret essence of all learning." The father was glad and asked him, "Tell me the essential thing that you have mastered." Prahlada said, "Father! He who illumines everything, He who finally absorbs everything with Himself, is the One, Lord Narayana. Having Him always in mind and experiencing the bliss thereof awards fulfillment to all."

This is the same message we find in Baba’s words.
Prahlada tells the father that it is about the essence and that he learned about the secret essence and the father was still glad and asked him to specify. And Prahlada answered, the one who illumines everything, he who absorbs everything within himself, the one only, being aware of that one always in our mind and experiencing the bliss thereof awards the fulfillment to all.

He further said, "Father! You conquered the entire world, but you failed to conquer your senses. How then can you receive grace from Narayana? These material skills and worldly achievements are hollow possessions. The knowledge and experience of the One Divine (Brahma-vidya), that alone is worthy to be pursued," said the child prodigy.