Peace, Joy and Inner Fulfillment

The entire Universe is suffused with Divinity. Since your mind is steeped in Prakruthi (worldly objects) you are not able to see Paramatma (Divine). Just as when you focus your attention at a necklace, you shut your eyes to what it is made of, similarly as long as you look at the world with a materialistic attitude, Divinity shuts itself off from us. Once you gaze at the world with a divine attitude you see only Divinity. Who are the thieves that steal from every human being their peace and joy? They are the thieves of desire, pride, greed, infatuation, anger and jealousy, who rob a man of all his riches. But the worst of all thieves who inflicts the worst damage is matsarya (envy). We must win over our internal enemies and turn our gaze to Divinity who pervades the entire Universe.

What is touching to me in reading Baba’s words is first that he talks about the universe, no matter how we hink our personal divinity is, he is telling us the Universe if full of it. 

So we actually should be possible to make that experience, but how do we get the universal experience of it? We have to get the right insights. 

It is also called the expansion of the heart or the expansion of consciousness. 

If we don’t have that experience, we cannot imagine it, but we probably would like to know how to make the experience that the whole universe is nothing but love.

Since your mind is steeped in Prakruthi (worldly objects) you are not able to see Paramatma (Divine).

Thieves of Peace and Joy

There are three stages of sadhana (spiritual practice). They are concentration, contemplation and meditation. Concentration entails fixing your gaze on one form. Contemplation occurs when you are able to perceive the form within you, even in its absence. Meditation means when, as a result of this exercise, this form is permanently imprinted in your heart. If you continue to meditate in this manner, the form will constantly be fixed in your heart. You should not confine your spiritual practices only to concentration and contemplation. While it is true that these are the first steps in your spiritual practices, you must progress further; you must transform concentration to contemplation, and then contemplation into meditation. When you carry this out, you will continue to visualize the form of God at all times. The ancient rishis (seers) adopted this form of meditation. That is why God manifested before them whenever they wished, talked to them and fulfilled their desires.

Concentration is the focus on the mantra and the repetition of it and meditation is the state beyond the mind. Concentration is therefore fixing our gaze on one form and name, in every name is the form.

Contemplation occurs when you are able to perceive the form within you, even in its absence.

Contemplation is when we are able to perceive the from within us, even in its absence. Do we understand it or do we have to practice first to understand it? 

He is the man who comes in our dream to awake us, he is absent in the form and he is present in the dream and he is in the heart.

The insights seem to be part of contemplation.

Meditation means when, as a result of this exercise, this form is permanently imprinted in your heart. If you continue to meditate in this manner, the form will constantly be fixed in your heart.

If that form is permanently imprinted in our heart, we continue to meditate in this manner and we are constantly in touch with him inside.

You should not confine your spiritual practices only to concentration and contemplation. While it is true that these are the first steps in your spiritual practices, you must progress further; you must transform concentration to contemplation, and then contemplation into meditation.

Think it over Again and Again

The entire Universe is suffused with Divinity. Since your mind is steeped in Prakruthi (worldly objects) you are not able to see Paramatma (Divine). Just as when you focus your attention at a necklace, you shut your eyes to what it is made of, similarly as long as you look at the world with a materialistic attitude, Divinity shuts itself off from us. Once you gaze at the world with a divine attitude you see only Divinity. Who are the thieves that steal from every human being their peace and joy? They are the thieves of desire, pride, greed, infatuation, anger and jealousy, who rob a man of all his riches. But the worst of all thieves who inflicts the worst damage is matsarya (envy). We must win over our internal enemies and turn our gaze to Divinity who pervades the entire Universe.

Baba (thought for the day)

In this thought for the day Baba talks about the entire universe suffused with divinity and if we focus on the world, divinity will shut itself off from us. 

The difficulty is, the mind cannot get it.

The whole universe is everything around us and it’s huge, but when Baba is telling us he is God, we have a person in front of us and only love and if it is about the universe, there is nobody. He is an entity in a body and the universe not. 

He is love and we experience that love in him, but if the entire universe is love, why we don’t experience that love, there should be only love. I remember the time in his presence I went back to Zurich and wondered why in his presence was only love and in our world we don’t even know that it exists.

All those questions coming up in just reading the first sentence, hopefully he will tell us later on why. 

And how do we get an answer to all those questions coming up already in the first sentence? We have to go on listening, he will tell us, but maybe not today, but maybe tomorrow. 

Om Tat Sat - and our life

God is not found separately in a temple or in an ashram. Truth is God. Love is God. Dharma is God. When you worship God by following these principles, He will manifest Himself then and there. Do not doubt this. Love God wholeheartedly. Pray to God and make friends with Him. You can achieve anything if you have God as your friend. Learn today to fill your heart with love and adorn your hand with the ornament of sacrifice. Sacrifice is the jewel for the hands. Truth is the necklace one should wear. You must develop the habit of adorning these jewels. Develop divine love and foster peace in the country. Pray with a broad feeling: Loka samastha sukhino bhavantu (May the whole world be happy)! Start every day with this prayer. Then, you will lead a blissful and peaceful life which is full of enthusiasm. Love God and make friendship with Him, and you are bound to be successful in all your endeavors.

Baba

God is not found separately in a temple or in an ashram.

The first sentence in that thought for the day I didn't mention really. If we don't find it in a temple or in an ashram, were do we find him? In our own heart, it is the temple of God. 

And what he is telling us if we worship God and believe in him wherever we are, he will be then and there. That was for me the higher self in the dream. It had the nature of God and it felt also like that. The nature of God is as Baba said not long ago, existence, luminescence, attractiveness (asthi, bhathi, priyam).

Expansion of the Heart

God is not found separately in a temple or in an ashram. Truth is God. Love is God. Dharma is God. When you worship God by following these principles, He will manifest Himself then and there. Do not doubt this. Love God wholeheartedly. Pray to God and make friends with Him. You can achieve anything if you have God as your friend. Learn today to fill your heart with love and adorn your hand with the ornament of sacrifice. Sacrifice is the jewel for the hands. Truth is the necklace one should wear. You must develop the habit of adorning these jewels. Develop divine love and foster peace in the country. Pray with a broad feeling: Loka samastha sukhino bhavantu (May the whole world be happy)! Start every day with this prayer. Then, you will lead a blissful and peaceful life which is full of enthusiasm. Love God and make friendship with Him, and you are bound to be successful in all your endeavors.

Reading Baba's words I feel like in Prasanthi, there is the mandir and we sit in Darshan or sitting in a big crowd listening to him perfectly happy to just sit and listen and looking at him who is telling us,

'God is not found separately in a temple or in an ashram. Truth is God. Love is God. Dharma is God.

Put it into Practice

The scriptures are as affectionate to us as a mother. They teach lessons as a mother to her children, in conformity with the level of intelligence and according to the needs of time and circumstance. A mother of two children gives the healthy one every item of food for which it clamours, but she takes great care not to overfeed the sick child and gives it only items that can restore it soon to good health. Can we accuse her of being partial to one and prejudiced against the other in conferring love? The scriptures also draw the attention of those who know the secret of work (karma) to its innate value. Karma can improve life and set its ideals aright. Everyone must be instructed on how to transform work into beneficial activity. Yet, work is not all.

Baba (thought for the day)

Can we tell that knowledge is practiced if people do not listen to Baba? The knowledge is there, but if we do not think it over, we do not practice and as Baba is telling us here, it is like food that is not digested.

We might do some devotional songs, what feels good on the heart level, but if there is no knowledge and we don't listen to Baba, we do not understand what we are signing, we just sing, everybody can just sing.

The Nature of God

When the moon is just a little arc in the sky and one desires to see it, a person indicates it by pointing a finger towards it. Or, when one desires to look at a particular star, a person says, "There, just above that branch of this tree." The moon is far away, and the star is much farther. At the moment it could be seen just above the branch, but that is only a temporary location. Soon, the location changes. The finger can no longer be correct, for the star or moon moves across the sky. But the genuine characteristic never undergoes change. The form may suffer change; the name may change; times may change; and the space it occupies may change. But the core of Truth will not change. That core is denoted as existence, luminescence, and attractiveness (asthi, bhathi, priyam) in Vedantic texts. The above three together are the nature of God. On these as the basis, forms are constructed by the mind, and names for the forms follow.

Baba

What a beautiful picture in that thought for the day and the problems we have in the center we can explain just like that. The finger is pointing at the moon and it is above the branch of this tree, it is a temporary location and so it is with agreement we had once ten or even twenty years ago in the center and the finger is still pointing at that place, but the moon has moved away long time ago, only the finger not it is still pointing at the same place.

The study circle is very important, because it has the aim to listen to Baba’s words and to think it over and it seems there is someone, she is a passionate violin player and she makes always music, but that is not the same as thinking over Baba’s words and listening to him.

I guess it feels like she did the study circle in the same way practicing only during the circle telling her thoughts not in listening to Baba’s words really and sharing it with others, but in responding to the circle. So when we were sharing insights, she said she could not tell anything anymore and she felt that negative, but she was that used to her way of doing it that she thought she was right and we had to be wrong, what put everything upside down.

It is like a feeling that we don’t understand the world anymore, she didn’t enjoy to listen to Baba’s words, she was on an all different place like not part of the circle, but somewhere else and that was again the case in the last circle.

Baba tells us, ‘without enthusiasm, courage, devotion, energy, readiness and sincerity nothing can be achieved’.

He Who Realizes the Divine becomes Divine

The Divine is the base, and also the superstructure. The beads are many, but the interconnecting, integrating string of the rosary is one. So also for the entire world of living beings; God, the permanent, omnipresent Parabrahman, is the base. The scriptures proclaim, "He who realises Divine verily becomes Divine (Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavathi)". The bubble born of water floats in it and bursts to become one with it. All the visible objective worlds are like bubbles emanating from the vast ocean of Divinity, Brahman. They are on the water and are sustained by water. How else can they arise and exist? Finally, they merge and disappear in water itself. For their origination, subsistence, and mergence, they depend only on water. Water is the basis; bubbles are delusive forms of the same imposed on it.

The Divine is the base, and also the superstructure.

What does Baba mean with the base and superstructure?  If we read the first sentence, we get the idea of it, but we are not really able to answer, probably we know he talks about Atman as it is always about Atman, but do we know Atman enough to be able to tell what it is? If we feel that we are not sure, we are able to not even go on reading it, because we cannot answer it.

But there is a way to answer it. We take the second sentence.

The beads are many, but the interconnecting, integrating string of the rosary is one.

 He compares it with the beads and the string is only one. We can look for other examples like God is one, people are many. Gold is one, golden jewelry or coins are many. Heart is one, lovers are many or love is one, lovers are many etc.

So also for the entire world of living beings; God, the permanent, omnipresent Parabrahman, is the base.

You and I become We - Cultivation of Feelings

When you perform an activity (kriya) as an offering to the Lord, your own good, what is good for others, and the highest good (swartha, parartha, and paramaartha) all merge! First, you and I become we. Next we and He becomes One. The individual soul, the ‘I’ (jiva) should accomplish identity first with the creation (prakriti) and then with the Supreme Divine (Paramatma). This indeed is the significance of the mantra Om Tat Sat (which connects the identity of the individual with the Universal Brahman). ‘He’ and ‘I’ are always there; the spiritual practice (sadhana) is always there too. Just as the sun is inseparable and is never apart from its rays, under no circumstances should any aspirant part with one’s sadhana. It is only then they can be said to be one with Om. (Prema Vahini)

  

 Baba is telling us here that we merge; all merge when it is good for all.

First, you and I become we. Next we and He becomes One.

There is no He if there is no We. And if there is only ‘I’ as he said no more husband nothing left but an empty Western shoe, there has to be someone and he took care of it that there is someone else.

We don’t exactly know why just an empty shoe, but he is one, no doubt about that or two shoes in the insight, old, brown and worn out, used old Western shoes.

He makes you and I become ‘we’. What is ‘we’? A relationship or just a ‘we’?

If we take it just as a ‘we’, we get to the conclusion that only if there is a ‘we’, there will be ‘he’. To make we and He one, we have to go on to be ‘we’.

‘You and I’ are We and we is He. That is what he said and it was an insight after he left the body. In the insight, (dream) there was a deep dip and we went down that dip and there was only little water left and it went up again and on the way up he dropped the body and it fell into  dust and it went further up and on top was Krishna and his brother. There was not only Krishna after he dropped the body, but ‘we’ it was Krishna with his brother or brother in law, Arjuna.

Not only one, not only Krishna, not only Baba, but ‘we’ to be ‘he’, two people actually, that is why I repeated it again and again, it was kind of triggering me as well, I mean, I only got aware of the importance of that ‘we’ after he left the body.

If we come with the Avatar it is just because of that reason, he doesn’t come alone, he is incarnating with some souls near and dear to him. To be able to get the message that God and devotee are One, there are not two only one, but there are two first to become one. It is not possible to become one if there are not two first.

The individual soul, the ‘I’ (jiva) should accomplish identity first with the creation (prakriti) and then with the Supreme Divine (Paramatma). This indeed is the significance of the mantra Om Tat Sat (which connects the identity of the individual with the Universal Brahman).

The Devil in the Mirror

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

Why are Baba’s words that important to us and full of wisdom?

What is happening when reading his thoughts?

It was already a great insight when he was talking about the pratibimba, such a great insight that I never forgot the expression, pratibimba. It felt like those syllables pra-ti-bim-ba would contain everything what matters to be a right answer to us, to fulfill all our desires and to tell us, it is just about ‘that’ and nothing else and if you know ‘that’, you know everything and there is nothing else to know.

A magic word – pra-ti-bim-ba, but it is easier if we call it only ‘that’, but the short word ‘that’ is really reduced to one thing only, in the pra-ti-bim-ba can by anything mirrored as image, it is the image and that would just be the process of it or the essence and that is ‘pure love’. But we have three words and we have to look at each word separate to get to the ‘insight’ of ‘I am that’.

We have to analyze it. Like with that dress yesterday. It looked white and golden and it was blue and black and a million people wondered about it and why it looked that different.

‘I am that’ is telling us that we are something, but it doesn’t tell us what. It is the principle and we have to ask first the right question, ‘who am I?’ – The answer is, ‘I am that’. Or Baba said in the interview room about Soham, the mantra with the breath, so – inhale, ham – exhale, the meaning is ‘I am that’ or ‘I am God’ or ‘I am Shiva’.  If we transcend the relative objective world we get in a state of transcendental awareness or pure being. What is a Samadhi? Sama means even and buddhi is the intellect, it means an even intellect or with other words equanimity.

If we are in that state of pure being, we just are, without thoughts, without feeling for time and space and when thoughts are coming back, we are in the mind again.

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

Things get Mirrored and Produce Images

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

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

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

Constant Practice

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

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

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

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

Listen to it and Think it Over

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

Baba (thought for the day)

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

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

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

Result and Karma

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

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

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

First Spiritual Practice

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

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

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

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

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

With other words, we do not listen.

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

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

Death and Immortality

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

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

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

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

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

That way we can see it in our own life.

Character is Power

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

Baba (thought for the day)

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

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

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

Sweet and Cool

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

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

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

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

I read only few quotes and had enough of it.

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

Three Methods of Learning

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

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

Listen, think it over, absorb.

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

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

And how is it done?

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

Get the Power back

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

Baba (thought for the day)

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

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

Sweet and Devoted to the Universal and That

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

Baba (thought for the day)

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

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

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

Enjoy - Meditation - Pleasure

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

Baba (thought for the day)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pure Love and Using His Words

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

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

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

A Christmas Wish

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

Wherever you are, make this resolution today!

Baba (thought for the day)

Wishing you a merry Christmas and a fulfilling Holiday Season.

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

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

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

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

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

It is about that experience of pure love.

Love - Listen and Think it Over

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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