Expand your Sympathies, Serve Others

Just as the body is the house you live in, the world is the body of God. An ant biting the little finger of your foot is able to draw your attention to the spot, and you react to the pain, making an effort to remove the tiny enemy. You must similarly feel the pain, misery, or joy or elation, wherever it is evinced in the entire land; you must make an effort to protect the land from the enemy, however remote may be the place where the enemy has presented himself. Be kind with all your kin. Expand your sympathies, serve others who stand in need to the extent of your skill and resources. Do not fritter away your talents in profitless channels. Respect for the parents, who started you in life and brought you into this world which has enabled you to gather such a vast and varied treasure of experience, is the first lesson that Dharma teaches. Gratitude is the spring which feeds that respect.

Baba (thought for the day) 

I am reading the book, Homecoming from John Bradshaw. I read it before and I was always impressed by that inner child work and he uses a very spiritual way to explain it and we feel the spiritual background and he was a priest as well. He described the day before his ordination he left drunk all that behind him and he tells us in the book about the difficult times afterwards and how he felt and how he began that inner child work.

Years ago I did a workshop and we were groups of people talking to each other and all them seemed to have some sad stories and I still thought that my story was not that bad after all. I just wanted to know more about the inner child and believed that it was more interest and less about getting aware of that inner child, but it should end with a surprise I had not expected. 

During the whole time in the workshop I still thought that my life was okay and under control, whatever control, but I thought it was not that bad and I was looking for answers still on the experience and insight level, but somehow I noticed I couldn’t make myself clear and it was impossible to address insights and the dream stage and that was rather frustrating. 

The World the body of the Divine

Just as the body is the house you live in, the world is the body of God. An ant biting the little finger of your foot is able to draw your attention to the spot, and you react to the pain, making an effort to remove the tiny enemy. You must similarly feel the pain, misery, or joy or elation, wherever it is evinced in the entire land; you must make an effort to protect the land from the enemy, however remote may be the place where the enemy has presented himself. Be kind with all your kin. Expand your sympathies, serve others who stand in need to the extent of your skill and resources. Do not fritter away your talents in profitless channels. Respect for the parents, who started you in life and brought you into this world which has enabled you to gather such a vast and varied treasure of experience, is the first lesson that Dharma teaches. Gratitude is the spring which feeds that respect.

Baba

Here Baba calls the world with the body of God and he is the indweller. 

Everything is connected with each other. He asked us to feel the pain, misery or joy or elation as well and we should protect the land from the enemy, however remote may be the place where the enemy has presented himself. 

To be able to do that we need enough discrimination to know what and where the enemy is.

If we are kind with the enemy and not kind with our kin, we have definitely understood something wrong and we see our duty at a wrong place.

How do we expand our sympathies and serve others in need when we don’t know the difference between those in need and the enemy? If we have a lot of skills and resources we also should enjoy doing good to serve others in need and we should not focus on making the enemy stronger.

Do not fritter away your talents in profitless channels. Respect for the parents, who started you in life and brought you into this world which has enabled you to gather such a vast and varied treasure of experience, is the first lesson that Dharma teaches. Gratitude is the spring which feeds that respect.

Joy and the Heart filled with Ignorance

If a person is ill or if his mind is immersed in something else, the taste of food cannot be grasped. So also, if the heart is full of ignorance (tamas) or is wayward, no joy can be experienced even if one is engaged in remembrance of the Lord, devotional singing, recitation of the name, or meditation. The tongue will be sweet as long as there is sugar on it. Likewise, if the pillar of light called devotion continues to burn in the corridor of the heart, there will be no darkness. A bitter thing on the tongue makes the whole tongue bitter. Similarly when greed and anger enter the heart, the brightness disappears, darkness dominates the scene, and one becomes the target of countless griefs and losses. Therefore, those who aspire to attain the holy presence of the Lord must acquire certain habits, disciplines, and qualities. The usual ways of life won’t lead to God. They have to be somewhat modified by means of spiritual discipline.

Baba

More we think about it more we get aware of it why he said it, ‘we and he is I’. 

First it is about ‘you and I are we’, and the dream stage is not that easy to understand in thinking it over we get a feeling for it.

We experienced how to go beyond the mind in singing. At a certain moment it was clear when it was in the mind and from that moment on it felt like boredom in the mind and it took care of it that we kept our focus on going beyond the mind.
In the dream stage was the ‘I am that’, it means there is no difference we are all the same, it was also in Darshan. During the time Baba left the body during bhajans was that same ‘I am that’ in the air and it was above a devotee, but it was like the intellect needed just that mirror and it switched to all. It had been present first during Darshan in Ooty above Baba in the air and in the dream as we need another person to get aware of the mirror, both the same ‘I am that’ in the dream stage and as that lady was also the same ‘I am that’, it expanded to all, it was clear that all are the same ‘I am that’ and as it is said in the Bible, ‘I am the – I am that’. There is only one, the same it is in the Bible.

The Experience of the All-Pervading Divine Self

God is All-pervading (Sarvavyapi). He loves His devotees (Bhakta-Vatsala). Make your heart the Seat of the Lord. Soil which has veins of mica is valuable, but that which has veins of gold is even more precious. The soil is valued according to the preciousness of the metal in its fold. So too, hearts are evaluated by its contents. Keep God in your hearts; then they will become precious possessions. If God is implanted in the heart, you will see only God everywhere. For, Sarvam Brahmamayam (All is Divine) is a fact. Resolve this day to engage only in virtuous deeds, good thoughts and good company. Let your mind dwell on elevating thoughts. Do not waste a single moment of your waking time in vain boasting or idle gossip or demeaning recreations. While life persists, do good things, speak softly and sweetly, never injure or insult another, serve those in need and keep the image of God ever before the mind's eye.

Baba (thought for the day)

After the great evening with Baba's presence during the program in our Sai center I read just the first sentence letting it go down, settling inside in my mind and still only thinking, 'yes, God is all-pervading and how do we experience it.

That is for us the main thing, that is for us the question if we are happy or not. That is for us the question if we feel good or irritated, like something would be missing. That is on my mind remember last night still, seeing Baba giving Darshan as he had been years ago and admiring the beauty and love.

God is All-pervading (Sarvavyapi). 

That is all the associations coming up in my mind when reading that first sentence, only the first sentence, I still fell Baba's presence due to that Bhajan last night and it is a great feeling, there is joy, there is even bliss, but we have been that long living in his presence that it feels just normal and everything else when he is not present makes we feel restless and not normal.

He loves His devotees (Bhakta-Vatsala). 

The Evil just about Everywhere

Lord Krishna incarnated to destroy evil in a handful of individuals. But now, the evil qualities are not identifiable in a small group of people. They are widespread everywhere. The scorpion has poison only in its tail; the cobra only in its fangs; but people have poison all over them! They have it in their eyes, their tongues, their mind, their intelligence, their gait, their brain – just about everywhere. You may ask, "Oh! When will this poison be counteracted and destroyed?" When the Lord enters your heart, that is the very objective He will accomplish. Offer unto the Lord, the 'flower of your heart' (Hrudaya Pushpam), after cleansing it thoroughly of the dust and pests (desire, anger, envy, doubt, etc.) that infest it. Without effort, can there be victory in any field? Can you become a high ranking official without the appropriate qualifications of scholarship, talent, experience and wisdom? So persevere and succeed! 

Baba (thought for the day)

What does Baba tell us here, that Lord Krishna just incarnated to destroy the evil in a handful individual. It was another time. Lord Krishna incarnated in the Dwapara Yuga and Baba said as much as I remember that evil was in the same family. And Rama was in the Treta Yuga.

In the Kali Yuga, in our Yuga, it seems the evil is in the same body.

What he explains is that the evil qualities cannot be identified in a small group of people as they have widespread everywhere.

The scorpion has poison only in its tail; the cobra only in its fangs; but people have poison all over them! They have it in their eyes, their tongues, their mind, their intelligence, their gait, their brain – just about everywhere. You may ask, "Oh! When will this poison be counteracted and destroyed?" When the Lord enters your heart, that is the very objective He will accomplish. Offer unto the Lord, the 'flower of your heart' (Hrudaya Pushpam),after cleansing it thoroughly of the dust and pests (desire, anger, envy, doubt, etc.) that infest it. Without effort, can there be victory in any field? Can you become a high ranking official without the appropriate qualifications of scholarship, talent, experience and wisdom? So persevere and succeed! 

It is not possible to know the evil in someone, as it is everywhere.

The Devotee, the Formless Supreme and the Form

Explaining the characteristics of a devotee, Rama said to Narada, “Whoever with discrimination and renunciation (viveka and vairagya), and humility and wisdom (vinaya and vijnana) is aware of the knowledge of Reality, whoever is always immersed in the contemplation of My play (leela), whoever dwells on My name at all times and under all conditions, and whoever sheds tears of love whenever the Lord’s name is heard from any lip — these are My genuine devotees.” When the infant grows up into an adult, the mother won’t pay so much attention to its safety. The Lord doesn’t pay much attention to the wise one (jnani). For the jnani, their own strength is enough. Therefore, until one can rely on one’s own strength, one must be an infant in the Lord’s hands, as a devotee of the form, right? No one can become a devotee of the Formless Supreme (Nirguna bhaktha) without having been a devotee of the form (Saguna bhakta). 

Baba (thought for the day)

Baba is explaining the characteristics of a devotee and it is Rama who said it to Narada. We are in the time of Rama and Narada Muni was a wandering sage.

Explaining the characteristics of a devotee, Rama said to Narada, “Whoever with discrimination and renunciation (viveka and vairagya), and humility and wisdom (vinaya and vijnana) is aware of the knowledge of Reality, whoever is always immersed in the contemplation of My play (leela), whoever dwells on My name at all times and under all conditions, and whoever sheds tears of love whenever the Lord’s name is heard from any lip — these are My genuine devotees.”

It is a different time, the characteristics of a devotee has not changed, hasn’t it if we use those old stories as examples for our devotees in the present. Baba said, first discrimination, second seeing it in our own life, third going on no matter what obstacles are there, that is contemplation.

We have to be aware of the knowledge of reality with discrimination, renunciation (is going inside on the level of dream stage and not outside in the mind) humility and wisdom (no ego and using our intelligence) whoever is always immersed in the contemplation of My play (leela), listening to his words, seeing it in our life …

It is still about being aware of the knowledge of reality and where else can we find it than in his words?

Ego and a Rude Shock

Egoism is the most dangerous illusion that has to be exploded and destroyed. Even Arjuna had it! One day, after the battle when Krishna brought the chariot back to camp, he wanted that like all charioteers, Krishna should get down first! The Master must get down later, after the charioteer opened the door for him, isn’t it? Krishna refused, and insisted that Arjuna should alight before He Himself did. At last, Krishna won. Arjuna got down and then as soon as Krishna left His seat and touched the ground, the chariot went up in flames! If only Krishna had got down first! The fact was that the various fiery arrows that had the power of burning the chariot had hit the target, but due to the presence of Krishna, their powers could not manifest themselves. Seeing this Arjuna was humbled; his egoism received a rude shock. He realised that every action of the Lord was full of significance.

Baba (thought for the day)

If our dear Lord tells us we have to destroy the dangerous illusion and the faults within because the result is a faulty vision, we have to listen to him. If we think that he will give all the nice things for sense-gratification we are in the mind and it is the fault within.

He doesn’t give it to us for sense-enjoyment, he gives it to us to get aware of him and he is not the ego and if we get to the wrong conclusion that it is all about gifts for pleasure of the mind we are not on the level of meditation, but the level of the senses.

The first is the waking stage and in that stage we are with the help of the senses directed outwards into the senses and that is not meditation.

Meditation is directing the attention inside and we go with the help of the mantra inside and not outside, also the dream stage is in-faced and always self-contained, it is not the same stage, we cannot get answers in the dream with the mind.

If we fight in the dream a tiger, we cannot go on the waking stage and take a gun to shoot the tiger, we have to shoot the tiger with a dream gun.

But if we try with the mind to understand the waking stage and we get into mind conclusions, we do exactly that, we try with the waking gun to shoot the tiger we had met in the dream stage and that doesn’t work.

We are on a wrong level. 

On the waking stage we listen to our own mind and we listen to the senses, in the dream stage we listen to Baba’s words and that is why we have to listen, to contemplate about it to be able to absorb. Baba is in his words on both stages, the waking stage where he is talking and the dream stage which is reflected as Atma.

The Illusion has to be Destroyed

Egoism is the most dangerous illusion that has to be exploded and destroyed. Even Arjuna had it! One day, after the battle when Krishna brought the chariot back to camp, he wanted that like all charioteers, Krishna should get down first! The Master must get down later, after the charioteer opened the door for him, isn’t it? Krishna refused, and insisted that Arjuna should alight before He Himself did. At last, Krishna won. Arjuna got down and then as soon as Krishna left His seat and touched the ground, the chariot went up in flames! If only Krishna had got down first! The fact was that the various fiery arrows that had the power of burning the chariot had hit the target, but due to the presence of Krishna, their powers could not manifest themselves. Seeing this Arjuna was humbled; his egoism received a rude shock. He realised that every action of the Lord was full of significance.

The purpose of listening to Baba’s words is to think it over to be able to absorb. We can think we listen and we don’t listen, we just read it. How do we know the difference between listening and just reading it?

Egoism is the most dangerous illusion that has to be exploded and destroyed.

We remember our own ego and why it is illusion and maybe we don’t know it yet really and think that we will know hopefully in future. If that feeling is present, we project it into the future instead of listening now and ‘past and future’ are in the mind, present is Atman, knowing that we should stay in the present and not think we will understand it sometime in the future. Or we feel we are not sure what he means with egotism and why it is the most dangerous illusion and why and how it has to be exploded and destroyed?

Is exploded the right translation, would it not make more sense if we translate it explored, understood and destroyed? Or does it have to do with the picture in that story and Baba tells exploded because the chariot explodes afterwards?

Even Arjuna had it! One day, after the battle when Krishna brought the chariot back to camp, he wanted that like all charioteers, Krishna should get down first! The Master must get down later, after the charioteer opened the door for him, isn’t it?

Truth, Right Action, Peace and Pure Love

Those devoted to the Lord are full of love; they always stand by righteousness (dharma); they speak the truth; their hearts melt with mercy; they are devoid of wrong; they avoid sin; their nature is well-founded; they will renounce everything gladly; they eat in moderation; they are engaged in doing good to others; they have no selfishness; they aren't worried by doubts. They won't lend their ears to flattery but are eager to listen to the praise of the good nature of others. They have beautiful, strong, and holy character. True spiritual aspirants will endeavor to acquire the above qualities and possess a good character. Anyone who is engaged in repetition of the name (japa), penance (tapas), and sacred vows (vrata), anyone who has self-control (samyama) and discipline (niyama), anyone who has faith, patience, comradeship, kindness, and joy as well as unalloyed love (prema) towards the Lord — such a person is very dear to Me.

Listen, think it over and absorb. How do we get into listening and what is the difference to only reading it?

How do we get into listening? Often I read just the first sentence and I begin to listen.

Those devoted to the Lord are full of love; they always stand by righteousness (dharma); they speak the truth; their hearts melt with mercy; they are devoid of wrong; they avoid sin; their nature is well-founded; they will renounce everything gladly; they eat in moderation; they are engaged in doing good to others; they have no selfishness; they aren't worried by doubts.

Devoted to the Lord we read and first we think about yesterday, what was it, about faults within and we had to get to the conclusion that without being aware of the faults within, the wrong identification with the body is ongoing and we see that in the three Gunas, and in such a mind state we are not full of love.

Why do we stand by righteousness, because without ‘right action’ there is no ‘pure love’ and why we speak the truth? Without accepting truth there is no ‘pure love’. If we have to accept truth and accept right action and understand peace before we can experience ‘pure love’, the devotee has to go for it, no matter what. Right action is right action and not wrong action to make it right we have to know the difference from untruth to truth and it means we have to get aware of the faults within.

The Fault Within

If you wear blue eyeglasses, you see only blue, even though Nature is resplendent with many colours. If the world appears to you as full of differences, that is due to the fault within you. If all appears as one love, that too is only your love. The feeling within is the root cause. When you have faults within, the world appears faulty. When there is no knowledge of fault in yourself, no fault can be found even by search, for you wouldn't know which are the faults. Now the question may arise whether the Lord Himself has faults as He also searches for faults. No, the Lord searches only for goodness. He won't examine the wealth, family, caste, status, or gender. He sees only the righteousness (sadbhava). He considers those endowed with such righteousness as deserving His grace, whoever they are, whatever they are. Therefore, develop goodness. Live and act in joy and love. These two are sufficient; with them, salvation can be attained without fail.

Baba (thought for the day)

Today we have to get aware of the faults within and that the world appears faulty if we have faults within. 

 

If you wear blue eyeglasses, you see only blue, even though Nature is resplendent with many colours. If the world appears to you as full of differences, that is due to the fault within you.

It is depending to the glasses we are wearing. If it was in the insight that I had been let down by the family and he took only advantage of it, getting the insight it also changes the color, it is not only blue, but something else and only if we get aware of the fault in the mind, we can get aware of the faulty vision. In thinking over Baba's words and seeing it in our life the insights get deepened and it develops in the inner view. 

Baba tells us he is the man who comes in our dream to awake us and he said in the dream that he is the insight and he is the following step. 

From Untruth to Truth

You must proceed ever towards strength (balam); you must not take to untruth, wickedness, crookedness - all of which denote a fundamental fatal trait of cowardice and weakness (Balaheenam). Weakness is born of accepting as true a lower image of yourself than you truly are. You believe you are the husk, but you really are the kernel. This is a key fact. All your spiritual practices must be directed to the removal of the husk and the revelation of the kernel. So long as you say, “I am”, there is bound to be fear, but once you say and feel, “Aham Brahmasmi” (I am Divine), you get infinite strength. The influence of the Divine is so subtle and strong that while you are contemplating on Him, all traces of envy and greed will disappear from your mind. The pure love the cowherds (Gopis) had for Lord Krishna is a great example. This is the characteristic of Divine Incarnations at all times.

Baba (thought for the day)

 After the strength of the elephant yesterday and it means always seeing the good only, today Baba mentions the reason for weakness. Balarama is Krishna’s brother and he was known as the one who is very strong. And I remember how I read the Krishna books and I enjoyed it and it came alive in Baba during the Darshan there was a blue light around him and in the night in the dream I danced with Krishna.

And what does make us weak, if we take to untruth, wickedness, crookedness, all of which denote a fundamental fatal trait of cowardice and weakness.

On the level of Atma is no arguing possible, it is only possible on the mind level.

Weakness is born of accepting as true a lower image of yourself than you truly are. You believe you are the husk, but you really are the kernel. This is a key fact.

It is illusion if we accept the false as true, we see happiness on the wrong place, we don’t see who we really are, but what we are not. In other words, we live in the body and think it is all there is and we know everything, because everybody has a body, what is a wrong conclusion.

To listen, think it over and absorb or to reflect on Baba’s words has nothing to do with arguing.

The Great Mistake

By carrying a bundle of sandalwood, can a donkey become an elephant? The donkey will sense the difference in weight but not the scent! On the other hand, the elephant disregards the weight and inhales the sweet scent. So too, the spiritual aspirant, or devotee will take in only the pure truth, the pure essence of good activities, of godliness and scriptures. On the other hand, one who goes on arguing for the sake of mere scholarship, learning, and disputation will know only the weight of logic, missing the scent of truth! Love (prema) is the most effective instrument for constantly remembering the Lord. Keeping that instrument safe and strong needs the power of discrimination (Viveka). Many in the world utilize their vast learning in disputation to prove their superiority; this is a great mistake. If they really were so learned, they would silently experience the core, the pure Divine.

Here we have the example of the donkey and an elephant and Baba talks about arguing.

The donkey feels the difference in weight but not the scent and to the elephant the weight doesn't matter, he enjoys the scent.

He compares it with a spiritual aspirant of devotee who takes in only the truth, the pure essence of good activities, godliness and scriptures. It reminds me at the strength of an elephant, the sutra we had with TM and the Darshan when it was in the air as, 'you have the strength of an elephant', I guess for me that was rather confusing, because I sat in the rows in Darshan and I was waiting and I had to get answers and didn't know what it meant and why it was in the air, I thought it had to do with TM, but I didn't understand the Darshan. I didn't feel that strength really.

Self-Realization

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

Why is there a good feeling, because it is temporary merging like it was after the Darshan with Baba. It is like Darshan, only this time we listen to his words and he is the word, first was the word and the word is with God and God is the word. 

We feel it afterwards, it is like with meditation, we take it as it comes and it is present afterwards. Even if it is temporary, it is still present and we should know the difference between the waking stage and the dream stage and the deep sleep state in our own experience. It is not only about the states of conciousness, we can merge also when we are actually awake and that happens quite often during singing, the fourth stage we know from the Darshan that is his reality, never changing and always the same.

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.

A Good Feeling and the Self-Contained Dream Stage

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 

There is nothing greater than listening to Baba and why?

Let’s look at it together. Why not everybody makes that experience? Because we think we know already? What do we know and what do we not know?

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.

What is there we cannot understand? 

Veda, do we not understand the word Veda, the oldest holy scriptures and we could never get it if we would read it, after all it is much too much and we would just read it, to make Veda come alive we are with a master, he is the embodiment of Veda and what is the message today of Veda?
He is telling us according to Veda there are four stages, the waking, dream, deep sleep and the liberated stage (turiya).

We know the waking stage, we experience it in the waking state of consciousness, but Baba talks here about waking stage and not the level of consciousness and he goes on explaining it.

We know that we have dreams, even if we don’t know the dream stage, we think we know and we know in deep sleep we just sleep, no dream, no notion of anything, just deep sleep and all that is based on our experience, therefore, we can conclude that Veda is the wisdom of life.

The Master and the Mind

The Master comes to save not one good person from illusion, but the whole of mankind. He assumes a Form that people can love, appreciate and revere. He gives joy and courage by speaking your language. The only blemish that comes in between your mind and the Master is illusion. Illusion is like a fierce dog that will not allow anyone to approach the Master. You can manage to bypass it by calling out to the Master loudly so that He Himself comes down and accompanies you to His home. That is to say, you must win the Lord’s Grace to attain His proximity (Saameepyam). Illusion is the Lord’s pet, so it will not harm you if the Lord orders it to desist from harming you. So just as you give the goldsmith a broken or a dented ornament and receive a fine jewel back, entrust your mind to the Lord. It certainly needs repair, if not complete reconstruction.

Baba (thought for the day)

If the master comes to save not one good person from illusion, but the whole of mankind, how can he be happy when seven million people are only in the waking stage of experience and therefore, in illusion? 

In the waking stage we don’t know the difference between illusion and reality, because we have no experience of it and as he said yesterday, it changes only when we get the experience of the existence of the divine.

The blemish between us and the master is illusion.

The example is that illusion is like a fierce dog that it will not allow anyone to approach the master.

We can call out to the master loudly and bypass it, but we have to win the Lord’s Grace to attain his proximity.
Do you remember that part, when Baba said that God’s grace is like a tank of love and it needs the tube to connect the devotee with that tank of Grace of god and the devotees look like water tubes, but if there is no connection, the water will not flow, it means the grace of God will not be there. The connection for the devotee to get divine grace is ‘pure love’.

Illusion is the Lord’s pet, so it will not harm you if the Lord orders it to desist from harming you. So just as you give the goldsmith a broken or a dented ornament and receive a fine jewel back, entrust your mind to the Lord. It certainly needs repair, if not complete reconstruction.

The Counselor Ego and the Fools

Inclinations (vasanas) won’t disappear as long as one’s heart is full of the illusion of egotism, even if one is immersed in many heart-purifying spiritual disciplines. Such people, if they want to get rid of the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, must worship the Lord. One whose heart is ruled by the group of six passions can have only ego as counselor! Those who have such a counselor are worse than foolish, however great they claim to be as pundits, aspirants, or renunciants. People experience joy and misery through the ear. Therefore avoiding the cruel arrows of hard words, one should use sweet, pleasant and soft ones — and with that softness, add the sweetness of truth. Making the word soft by adding falsehood only clears the way for more misery. A person who has become a spiritual aspirant should use very soft, sweet, true, and pleasant words. Such a person can be recognized by their good qualities.

Baba (thought for the day)

Do you hear what Baba is telling us? Let's think it over in the end we will for sure hear it. 

Inclinations (vasanas) won’t disappear as long as one’s heart is full of the illusion of egotism, even if one is immersed in many heart-purifying spiritual disciplines.

How can we not understand what he is telling us? 

How can we ignore it? It is possible to not hear it if we don’t know what he means with inclinations in the mind, vasanas, that sounds maybe for some like having a certain taste, like some people like better curry and others more sweets. 

And it is also possible to not know what he means with illusion and egotism and those people will think, the other, but that is not for me, I am too good to have that illusion of egotism, I am such a good devotee. And what else will they think?

The Clock and Four Stages of Experience

The minute hand of the clock is the individual soul. It goes round and round - the hour hand does move, silently and slowly, with dignity. The hour hand is the Supreme Soul. Once in an hour, these two meet, but the individual soul does not get that consummation fixed forever. It loses the precious chance, and so has to go round and round again. Liberation happens when the two merges and there is just one. Like the silkworm that spins from out of itself the cocoon that proves to be its tomb, people spin from out of their own mind, the cage in which they get trapped. Assign your mind the task of serving the Lord and it will grow tame. Give your mind to the Lord. Forget the past and don’t worry about errors in future. Bring to memory only those things that are worth remembering and assiduously follow your spiritual practices. You will achieve spiritual progress.

Baba (thought for the day)

If the devotion is only on the waking state level, how do we know? We have to look at the reality of the dream stage and if we know the difference, we also know when it is the reflection of the waking stage and when it is dream stage and it does make sense the way it is reflected in the inner view or dream.
The waking state is outside, the dream stage is inside and the deep sleep state is no difference at all, but only temporary merging.

We will see if we get it in thinking it over ...

As Baba said yesterday, we have to start contemplating on divinity now. Now is important, because one day it will be too late. It takes time to dig a well and he explained to us the four different stages of consciousness and we know it already from meditation, but if we remember that we were talking about seven states of consciousness and Veda and Baba talks about four stages of consciousness and for types of experiences, we have to understand the difference as well and he doesn’t explain it the same way, but nevertheless it is the same.
We find the explanation with seven states of consciousness also in the Patanjali sutras.
But how do we have to look at it to understand it?

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?