I have come to Reform You

I have come to reform you. I will not leave you until I do that. Even if you get away before I do that, do not think you can escape Me, I will hold on to you. I am not worried if you leave Sai, for I am not anxious that there should be a huge gathering here and a big following around Me. Who invited all of you here? Without any printed invitation, thousands are coming to Sai. But, of one thing, be assured. Whether you come to Me or not, you are all Mine. This Sai Mata (Mother of all) has the love of a thousand mothers towards Her children; that is why I do so much lalana (fondling) and so much palana (protecting). If I appear to be angry, remember, it is only love in another form that I use to evince my disappointment when you do not shape up in line with my guidance.

He is talking about reformation and we know form listening to his words that Sathva is the path, Rajas needs to be transformed and Tamas has to be given up, if he tells that he came to refrom us we could conclude that our life is mostly in Rajas and not in Sathva. The transformation has to be there to get us into Sathva, purity, we are not on the spiritual path if our life is in Rajas mostly and not in Sathva, but who knows the difference? I wonder sometimes if everybody asked ever that question about the three Gunas, but we find it as well in the Gita, only sathva is the path. 

I have come to reform you. I will not leave you until I do that. 

It is the task of a spiritual master who is only in sathva guna, a sathva body to transform our life into sathva, if it is a spiritual master based on truth it is sathvic. 
As the path is sathic only, we have to be transformed, otherwise, we cannot be on the spiritual path. It has something to do with natural law and there is a basic difference between the three gunas, we have to understand. Activity is mostly based on Rajas, passion and we lack the calm silent insights of the sathva guna. As long as it is Rajas it can be transformed, when it is about Tamo Guna, we have to give it up and if we don't see it in our own life we don't know why we have to give it up as we cannot understand it so more or less we have to make the experience of it to be able to know that difference between Rajas, passion and Tamas, inertia.  

He is telling us that we cannot escape him, because we are with him and we are on the spiritual path if we want to escape, we have to stop being on the spiritual path. 

Even if you get away before I do that, do not think you can escape Me, I will hold on to you. I am not worried if you leave Sai, for I am not anxious that there should be a huge gathering here and a big following around Me. 

Giving up the little 'I' is Renunciation

Giving up the little 'I' is the true meaning of renunciation (Tyaga). Tyaga does not mean running away from the hearth and home into the jungle. It means sublimating every thought, word and deed as an offering to God and saturating all acts with Divine intent. This is the best spiritual practice to cultivate selfless love. Love gives for ever, it never asks another to give. Shower it, and you will be showered in return. Selfless love thrives on renunciation, they are inseparable. The essential reality of a human being rejects the ego as a blemish. When you sincerely investigate into the question, "Who am I", you will find that everyone is included in 'I', and your love will expand limitlessly. Ego should not be allowed to express itself freely, as it smothers the spring of love. God is love, so all things created by God are filled with love.

How do we give up the little I? Swami tells us here that giving up the little 'I' is the true meaning of renunciation. This is information, we know the little 'I' is the ego. It is as well body consciousness and in that sense natural, we get it without that we have to do something about it.

Swami corrects the meaning that we have to run away to the jungle to renounce. 

He gives the answer in the third sentence, it means sublimating every thought, word and deed as an offering to the divine and all acts with divine intent and it is about cultivating selfless love. 

Be Joyful, Smiling and Enthusiastic

Above all, it is best that the Sadhaka under all circumstances should be joyful, smiling and enthusiastic. Even more than Bhakthi and Jnana (Devotion and Wisdom), this pure attitude is desirable. Those who have acquired it deserve to reach the goal first. This quality of joy at all times is the fruit of the good done in past births. When a person is ever worried, depressed and doubting, he can never attain bliss, whatever spiritual practices or sadhana (spiritual exercise) one may undertake. The first task of a spiritual aspirant is the cultivation of enthusiasm. Through that enthusiasm, he can derive any variety of Ananda. Never get inflated when you are praised; never get deflated when you are blamed. Be a spiritual lion, regardless of both. One must analyse and correct one's faults on his own; this is most important.

A Sadhaka is a student, someone who is practicing Sadhana, meditation or some other spiritual discipline. 

From March 20th we should be every day in contemplation and focus on some quotes we got and this is one of them, we got 40 quotes. 

He is telling us that we should be at all time and under all circumstances joyful, smiling and enthusiastic, that is important. 

It is good what he said about enthusiasm, too often we listen only to talks about sickness and it is not that uplifting. 

If we don't develop enthusiasm and we are not aware of it, that it is even more important that Bhakti and Jnana.

If we correct the Defective Vision, we can experience Divine Oneness in all Things

Love is Divine. Love all, impart your love even to those who lack love. Love is like a mariner's compass. Wherever you may keep it, it points the way to God. In every action in daily life manifest your love. Divinity will emerge from that love. This is the easiest path to God-realisation. But why aren't people taking to it? This is because they are obsessed with misconception relating to the means of experiencing God. They regard God as some remote entity attainable only by arduous spiritual practices. God is everywhere. There is no need to search for God. All that you see is a manifestation of the Divine. All the human beings you see are forms of the Divine. Correct your defective vision and you will experience God in all things. Speak lovingly, act lovingly, think with love and do every action with a love-filled heart.

In thinking it over we try to get a feeling for it, it is not just finding it beautiful and then we forget about, but get in an inner relationship with the words of Swami. He is telling us, listen, think it over and absorb, But it not just listening, he also said that we have to see it in our own life to be able to understand it. How do we see it in our own life? We just think it over and remember our experiences in our own life. 

From 'I' to 'We' to 'He'

The whole world and the objects therein are interrelated by the bond of love. It is love that binds the human race together. The world cannot exist without love. God is love and resides in the heart of every one. Love is the natural possession of every human being. Love is the fruit of the tree of life. There are certain impediments to overcome before you enjoy the tasty fruit. First you must remove the skin and rind covering the pulp inside, and also cast off the seed. Similarly the fruit of love is also covered by the thick skin of ego. You must peel off this skin of 'mine and thine'. You can then taste the sweet fruit and its nutritious juice. With pure love, you must establish unity with the Divine. The path of love is the straightforward road to realise the Divine. Vedas describe God as, "Raso Vai Saha" – the Supreme Sweet Essence. Endeavour to progress in this journey of life from 'I' to 'We' to 'He'.

How can we make the experience of that bond of love? If the whole world is interrelated by the bond of love, how can we realize it? He is always telling the truth, but we don't have the experience of it. I was meditating regularly already for some time and I got a book, in that book about Sai Baba was some vibuthi and I put it on my tongue, my meditation was not great at that time and too many problems with the people around me. The experience was about God in the heart, there was a feeling in that vibuthi and it went directly towards the heart and it was love and it felt like it intensified and there was a tiny small form in the heart and it was God. From that moment on there was like a voice singing in the heart and it said, 'God exists' and it was such a joy and great to think one day I would be there.

The whole world and the objects therein are interrelated by the bond of love. It is love that binds the human race together. The world cannot exist without love. God is love and resides in the heart of every one. Love is the natural possession of every human being. Love is the fruit of the tree of life. There are certain impediments to overcome before you enjoy the tasty fruit.  

Difference between Inward and Outward Path

The scriptures have declared that it is difficult to acquire a human body. Human life is the highest among all living beings in creation. With all these endowments if people lack jnana (wisdom), they are no better than an animal. It is wisdom that distinguishes man from other animals. In spite of possessing a human body with its sacred capacities, people pursue wrong paths and indulge in misdeeds, thereby degrading their precious heritage. One who ought to dedicate oneself to the pursuit of the Divine - Nivritti marga (the inward path) and experience bliss, makes oneself a slave of the senses and wastes one's life in the pursuit of the external - Pravritti marga (the outward path). All efforts are directed towards the cultivation of sensual pleasures instead of aiming at realisation of the power of the Spirit within. It is this preoccupation with the mundane that is at the root of all the insecurity and unhappiness experienced by man.

The best spiritual discipline is to strengthen your inward vision. - Baba

In today's thought for the day Baba mentions the scriptures and how difficult it is to acquire a human body and we should make the best use of it. 
If people lack wisdom or knowledge, we are not better than an animal. It is the wisdom that distinguishes man from the animal.

Work Done for the Divine Aspect

The kind of work which the wise do may appear to be the same as that done by an ordinary person. Although in appearance they may be the same, yet the result will be different in both. The work done by an unwise person is always accompanied by a feeling on one's part that he or she is doing work for one's own benefit. This kind of work is mixed up with ego; the feeling of selfish benefit will also lead to trouble and sorrow. The kind of work which a wise man does always carries a feeling which makes him identical with the divine aspect; he is aware that he is doing in the name and on behalf of God. He thinks that God is really doing the work, and that he is only an instrument. This will always give a good result and grant satisfaction to all.

What is mentioned here is the difference between work done by an ordinary person or the work done by the wise and the appearance level it may seem the same, but the result will be different. 

The question is still if we know the difference?

When is it for our own benefit and when not? 

If we see it as expanding consciousness even if there is no benefit it is still beneficial only in a different sense. 

Actually, when we look at the type of answers and reflections coming back in a study circle, we think that people don't know that difference and have rather difficulties with that kind of discrimination. 

The work with the wise man does carry the feeling that makes him identical with the divine aspect, he is doing it for God. 

God is doing the work and he is the instrument. 

Sat or not Sat that is the Question

Company of the pious (Satsanga) leads you to gradually withdraw from entangling worldly activities. When a bit of cold coal is placed in the midst of glowing cinders and when the fire is fanned, the coal too glows with fire. Fire of Wisdom (Jnana agni) operates similarly. Individual effort and Divine Grace are both interdependent. Without effort, there will be no conferment of grace; without grace there can be no taste in the effort. To win that precious Grace from the Lord, all you need is only faith and virtues. You need not praise Him to win His favour. Praise feeds the fire of egoism and fogs genuine faith. God does not like mere external verbal praise and offerings of kind. He is yours and you are His. The entire mankind is God's family. Knock with faith: the doors of Grace will open. Open your door! The Sun's rays waiting outside will flow silently in and flood your room with light.

It is great getting aware of it that the company of the pious, the Satsanga, leads us gradually withdraw from entangling in worldly activities.
It was said that before, the main thing is the satsang. the good company and we know by the man coming in our dreams to awaken that it is Swami and not the mind, it is the only place the mind cannot manipulate it when it is in the dream stage, but we can misunderstand it. 

The 4 F’s: Follow the Master. Fight to the End. Finish the Game

You should make your own conscience secure, and you should have confidence in yourself. Your conscience is your guide and it should dictate your behavior. Either for the good or for the bad, it is your conscience that is responsible. The guilt in you causes the bad; the strength and confidence in you should, therefore, do such things which will promote your confidence in your own self. That is why I have repeatedly told you, that you should follow the four F’s. “Follow the Master” and that is your conscience. The second thing is to “Face the devil”. The third is “Fight to the end”. Then you should “Finish the game”. If you remember all these four injunctions such that they are resounding every moment in you, there can be nothing more sacred than this in your life.  

Today was the question about a Satsang. 

It all began when someone said I should not blame him, but he was just the person to be blamed as he made me go into distance, I didn't want to be part of it,  something terrible had happened in the past. As I got an email from him, I used the moment to answer and to bring the issue up.

I made him responsible for it and why, there was a dream afterwards and it was kind of terrible. We know it is the master coming in our dreams to awaken and we listen to it and we get used those types of dreams and the man coming in our dream to awaken said that he was because of that reason in the wheelchair.

Baba had been in the wheelchair, but probably nobody knows really why, but that is what it said in the dream stage.

The dream stage is a dream, it cannot be interpreted by the mind as it is a dream, if we use the mind it will always be wrong.

How did that happen? It was about a study circle and that person arrived and thought he had to find faults and I was not even sure about it. But it got difficult beyond words, it went on the whole evening as the program was not yet finished, it was just the beginning of it.

No matter what was the reason for his attitude, if he had a reason or not, it was not the right place and not the right time and the other people were already sitting there and had to listen to it. It was in the presence of the circle. 

It is difficult if we have the feeling we talk on one level and the other person is somewhere else really.

We try to make sense, but the other doesn't get it. We try to find words, but no matter what we tell it is wrong or he doesn't get it of he sees something else in it.

The Beneficial and the Pleasant

People today suffer intensely from the fever of the senses and try the quack remedies of recreations, pleasures, vacations, picnics, banquets, dances, etc. only to find that the fever abates but returns after an interval – it does not subside. All the varieties in taste, colour, smell of the various food delicacies, when you consider fairly and squarely, are a mere drug to cure the illness of hunger. All the drinks that people have invented are but drugs to alleviate the illness of thirst. What you term luxury (bhoga) today, is a thing that drags people into excitement and insane pursuits. A fever will go away only when the hidden virus is rendered ineffective. So too, the virus or illness of your mind will die only when the rays of wisdom (Jnana) falls upon it. Discern and always try to prefer the beneficial (hitha) to the pleasant (priya), for the pleasant might lead you down the sliding path into the bottomless pit.

We know it from meditation, we sit down, close the eyes and take a mantra and get refreshed with meditation. 

If we practice every day, it is no more about taking a break, it is part of the day like cleaning teeth, we sit up and meditate for about a half an hour.

What does Swami tell us exactly with those words? 
Suffering the fever of the senses we think it is normal. Whatever we do with the remedies of pleasures, we will just find that the fever returns after an interval and it does not subside, but it doesn't feel like a fever rather like something refreshing. 

So Swami doesn't talk about a time out, he talks about a mental conditioning that turned into sickness and we have to look at it like a fever, but we should not forget that this seems for us normal and not sick, after a certain time we just go for the same pleasure or urge for vacation or dance again to get that break and to feel refreshed and if we do it with mediation, it takes care of it every morning that we start new again, but I guess that is not the same, meditation is the remedy for that sickness. 

People today suffer intensely from the fever of the senses and try the quack remedies of recreations, pleasures, vacations, picnics, banquets, dances, etc. only to find that the fever abates but returns after an interval – it does not subside. All the varieties in taste, colour, smell of the various food delicacies, when you consider fairly and squarely, are a mere drug to cure the illness of hunger. All the drinks that people have invented are but drugs to alleviate the illness of thirst. 

Inner Concentration vs. Outer Distraction

Of the 24 hours in a day, use six for earning and spending, six for contemplation of God, six for sleep and six for service to others. Most of you don't even have five minutes to truly contemplate on the Lord, and you are not ashamed. What a tragedy! Ponder over your present condition (sthiti), the direction you are heading (gathi), your capabilities (shakthi) and your inclinations and tendencies (mathi). Then enter upon the path of spiritual practice, step by step, so you approach the goal steadily and swiftly, day by day. Indian culture advises the control of the senses, not catering to them. The car is driven by means of a wheel which is inside it, so that when the inner steering wheel is turned, the outer wheels move. Trying to move the outer-wheels alone is a sign of ignorance! Inner concentration must be developed in preference to outer distraction. Cultivate quietness, simplicity, and humility, instead of noise, complexity and conceit.

Meditation is part of the six hours contemplation. 
We are back from New York and I am still tired. Writing takes time as well, but six hours seems a lot for people with a job and a normal life style, we are not living in an ashram here and our focus is not uphold and controlled by a strict ashram routine. We live in the world and society and we have to work without the nice comforting upholding and sathvic ashram structure in India and that is an all different reality, but usually after being here for some months as I meditated always morning and evening regularly when returning to the ashram I had the feeling I never left, only at that time I didn't understand it, the feeling was not the same, even if the focus was the same as it seems.   

Of the 24 hours in a day, use six for earning and spending, six for contemplation of God, six for sleep and six for service to others. Most of you don't even have five minutes to truly contemplate on the Lord, and you are not ashamed. What a tragedy! 

Ocean of Love

If you attach yourself to the Lord through the path of love (prema), it will be possible to realise Him. God’s love is like an infinite and endless ocean. Simply because God’s love is infinite and endless, you cannot carry all of it with you. What you can carry with you will depend on the size of the pot you take. So the first thing to do is to enlarge the size of your pot, and this can be done through spiritual practice (sadhana). The first step in Sadhana, is respect for your mother. The devotion towards the mother should be such that you recognise the great love and affection with which your mother has brought you up. You must return gratitude to your mother in the form of love or bhakti. The mother will also showbhakti in the form of vatsalya (affection of mother for child), in return to the love of the child.

In listening to his words we get actually away from the form as that is for some people as it seems still a big issue. Here Swami talks about the path of love and if we attach ourselves to the Lord through the past of love we will be able to get God realization. But the next sentence he talks already about the infinite ocean and that is beyond the form and the question for us is how much of it we can put our own vessel. And he explains how it is done, be spiritual practise, Sadhana, that is not only meditation, but all spiritual practises.

But how are we getting away from the form. That is actually easy if we know how to listen. If we listen to his words, we get with his words aways from the form and on an universal and infinite level. If people tell they have a problem with the form, it is not right. They don’t have a problem with the form, the have a problem with listening. If they would listen to his words, there would not be any problem with the form.

If you attach yourself to the Lord through the path of love (prema), it will be possible to realize Him.

The Secret of being Happy in our Daily Life‏

The basic quality of devotion is the yearning for realizing oneness with the Divine. - Baba


Look at a piece of cloth. Truly it is a bundle of threads; and if you examine it more carefully, you will say that it is just cotton. The first stage is cotton, second stage is thread, and the final stage is the cloth. What would you do if you do not like that cloth? You remove the threads one by one and the cloth disappears! In the same manner, your mind does not have any specific form. It is simply a bundle of desires. These desires themselves come from the thoughts of your mind which can be compared to the cotton. Thus in this analogy the three stages are the cotton or the thoughts, the thread or the desires, and finally the desires constitute the mind which is the cloth. So you must try to diminish these desires as far as possible. Desires are like heavy luggage in the journey of your life. Less luggage, more comfort for you!

If we ask about the basic quality as oneness, what does it mean in our practical everyday life?
There is only one and we have to be at the side of that oneness and not on the side of all what is not real and doesn't exist, what is called illusion. We need to discriminate. Oneness actually knows no second, but we live in the world and there everything has two sides, therefore, to be able to be one we have to use discrimination.
In the West if we hold up the ideal of argumentation and the right of it, with other words we use our critical mind trained already in schools to be argumentative, we talk in the spiritual sense about an obstacles. And why an obstacle? It doesn't allow us to realize the underlying oneness. It is based on duality.
If we don't use right discrimination and we don't know how to get to a right conclusion, we look at oneness and call in a kind of confused and stupid way everything God as we had a meeting where we talked about everything and never got to the point, it seems he didn't know how. What was said was in other words that the satsang was also the divine behind and it made the question come up, what is he talking about as he didn't get to the point. If it is not a right conclusion, it is not right no matter how we look at it. It was just the confused notion of oneness and we all had to listen to it.

Love contains all other Human Values

Embodiments of Love! Vijaya Dasami marks the conclusion (samapti) of the sacred Navaratri festival. Samapti confers prapti (deservedness) in every possible way. Today I bless you with the deservedness to develop selfless love. Love contains all the other human values like truth, right conduct, non-violence and peace. Whatever you do, do it with Love. Your heart is like a big tank, and senses are like taps. Fill your heart with the water of Love. Then you will experience Divine Love through all your senses. Undertake good actions from this moment. Let everybody be happy. The essence of all scriptures is: “Help ever, Hurt never.” Do not hurt even an insect, for God is present in every being. Surrender to the Lord and say, “I am Yours,” and live up to it with strong faith. God will protect you at all times and under all circumstances. I bless you to have noble feelings, join good company, give-up vices and attain Divinity.

Here Baba talks about the human values and about the conclusion of the sacred Navaratri festival. Listening to his words we have to get to a right and not wrong conclusion, therefore, the conclusion is important. And Sampti and prapti have to do with deserving it and the way it is done to get to a right conclusion.

With other words, we have to be careful to understand it right, to get to correct understanding and such a festival and the way it is done shows us the way. It is for sure sathvic, what we don’t know always about all our activities and often we just cannot know. By listening to the words of a self-realized authority we get a feeling for it and if we don’t do that, we can be quite sure that in the conclusion is in the mind and not the atma. In another thought for the day Swami said that we cannot know right from wrong or good from bad without listening. In the relative field we always have two sides and it depends the situation, what is good at one time can be bad in another situation, therefore, when we listen to him and inquire about it we get aware of it and it should make us careful to do the right thing and to go in direction of correct understanding and to not trust our mind.

We live in the mind since we are born and we count on it and we are not used to it to think that it is not real, that it is based on illusion and that it is not right. The Western ideal is the opposite, with science it seem we got also the right of argumenting to get right and with the path of sathva we cannot argue and get right, we have to learn to listen and accept truth, if we accept truth there is no more argument.

Embodiments of Love! Vijaya Dasami marks the conclusion(samapti) of the sacred Navaratri festival. Samapti confers prapti (deservedness) in every possible way. Today I bless you with the deservedness to develop selfless love.

Positive Energy and Divine Nectar

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


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

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

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


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


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


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

True Spiritual Practice lies in Controlling our Thoughts

 

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

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

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

Formless Pure Divine Energy

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

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

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


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


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

Purify the Heart

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

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

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

One with the Cosmic Spirit

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

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

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

Ways of Duty and Dharma

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

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

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

The Ball and the Impure Heart

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

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

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

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

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

Happiness is Union with God

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Constant Integrated Awareness

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Being Recognized as a Devotee

It is not enough if you claim to be a devotee of the Lord. The Lord must recognise you as a devotee. Only then does one's devotion acquire value. Bhagavatam and other scriptures demonstrate how this kind of dedicated life can be led by any person who wishes to be devoted to the Lord. No one should feel that it is beyond his or her capacity to surrender themselves completely to the Lord. If there is firm determination, this can be accomplished. It is only through earnest endeavour that Divine wisdom can be got (Shraddhavan Labhate Jnanam). Today the world is afflicted with the epidemic of egoism (Ahamkara). There is really no basis for this kind of self-conceit. It is born of ignorance. It has to be totally eradicated. If everyone realises that the body has been given for the pursuit of righteousness and acts on that basis, they will most certainly realise the Divine.

What to do if it is not enough to be a devotee of the Lord? It can bring up some other questions and we ask ourselves, what is a devotee really and how do we know if we are one or not? It can feel heavy to face those questions and maybe we just don't feel like it.

Why should we always think about it? 

We don't even understand his words and what about asking always questions? Knowing myself I would just like to think sometimes, not again, I don't feel like it just now. We don't even know why we went to him what about being that?

In our countries people are not convinced that there is something like a Lord and what about being a devotee of that Lord, nobody asks that question really, but we have to because we try to listen to his words. 

All that is present in the first sentence only and we have not yet even started the second one.

It is not enough if you claim to be a devotee of the Lord. The Lord must recognise you as a devotee.

In the second sentence we get to the point.

He has to recognize us as devotees, who - the Lord. After I went beyond the first obstacle in my mind that I don't want to think about it or that we live on a place where people question the reality of the Lord and now how to be a devotee or even how to be recongized by him as one and we don't want to be bothered about it, now we have to face another reality, he has to recognize us as devotees. 

If we don't want to think of the first sentence, how do we take care of the second one? We either just read it anyhow maybe we will get it somehow or later or we don't think about it at all and forget it on the spot again or the mind gets in a blackout and we find a lot of excuses why we don't listen. 

Only then does one's devotion acquire value.