Osho narrates a Sufi parable:
A man was very worried because every night someone would enter his garden and destroy all the plants. He did everything that could be done to protect it. He posted guards all along the boundary, but never was anybody seen entering the garden at night. Yet, every morning, the garden would be trashed. The man did everything he could but nothing helped.
He then went to a Sufi master, in the hope that the master would be able to see things he and the guards could not. The master closed his eyes and said, "Do one thing. Fix the alarm on your clock for two o'clock in the night." The man said, "How is this going to help? My guards are continuously watching and patrolling around the house." The master said, "There is no need to argue. Just do what I say. Fix the alarm for two o'clock. Then come the next day and tell me what happened."
The man was unconvinced but he tried it. Two o'clock, when the alarm went off, he was awake. He was standing in his own garden, wreaking havoc on his plants. He was a somnambulist—a sleepwalker! In some way or the other, we all are somnambulists. We sow our seeds of misdeeds in the deep night of unconsciousness, and then we wonder why our lives are so miserable. We love others and soon we see that we are doing something else in the name of love. It isn't difficult to see if we use a little intelligence and a little awareness.
Osho says:
You love somebody, and then you start possessing him. Tares are entering your relationship. You love, and then you become jealous. Now weeds are growing. You love, and for trivial things you get angry. You love meaningless, petty things. Thus hate arises. Now the wheat is getting mixed with tares. When you love you feel happy. Every love starts with deep happiness, a celebration, and every love ends in deep sadness. The other day I was reading The Hollow Men, a poem by T S Eliot. The poem ends with these lines: "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper." Well, this is how everything ends. Your love, your meditation, your virtue. Not with a bang, but a whimper. But it need not be this way. If we wake up, we become alert. We need to shake ourselves up.
Osho gives us a method of mindfulness: Remain a watcher, remain a witness. Remember that. Remind yourself continuously. Sadness has come. It has happened to you; it is not you. The moment you remember this, suddenly you will see a distance arising between you and the sadness. It does not affect you any longer. When you lose awareness, it affects you; when you gain awareness, there is a distance. The more your awareness rises, the more the distance increases. A moment comes when you are so far away from your sadness that it is as if it's not there at all.
The same has to be done with happiness also. It will be difficult, because one wants to cling to happiness. But if you want to cling to happiness, you are sowing the seeds of unhappiness. That's how this parable is of tremendous significance. The master himself-in his sleep, in his unawareness-came to the field, the wheat field and sowed the seeds of weeds. In deep sleep! He was a somnambulist. In the morning he started asking, "Who has done this?"
You have been doing things to yourself. In the morning, when you wake up, you ask, "Who has done this?" And you start searching for the enemy. The enemy is within, the enemy is just your unconsciousness.
SWAMI CHAITANYA KEERTI
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Express your spiritual gifts
What does it mean to be comfortable in your own skin? It's about expressing yourself in a way you feel is the most appropriate.
When we think about expressing ourselves, we automatically think of the superficial ways. The way we dress. The way we wear our hair. The car we drive. If you wear jeans and a T-shirt one day and a business suit the next, what is it expressing about you? Is it that you are sophisticated one day and unsophisticated the next? Actually, your outer appearance expresses very little about who you truly are.
Instead, when we talk about expression, we should look at what's harder to change about ourselves. Our habits. The words we use. How we treat people. And, most importantly, how we express our spiritual gifts.
Ah, spiritual gifts. That elusive term. It's also known as your calling. But how do you express those properly? We could each have similar gifts, but decide to express them differently. For example, let's say that three women are trying to figure out the best way to express their calling of teaching. One woman might become a high school teacher. Another might teach English in a foreign country. While another woman might home school her own children. Who is expressing their spiritual gifts properly? All of them.
It is a personal decision.
You might say that the first two women are career women. Some women might look down on the woman who chose to be a stay-athome mom. But is this fair? Does that mean that the way she is expressing her spiritual gifts is any less fulfilling or any less valid? No, not at all. The concern about others judging us is often what stops us from getting comfortable in our own skin. What if our family doesn't like what we're doing? What if our friends think the path we're taking is weird?
Too many of us are embarrassed about what others will think of our spiritual journey. We end up sabotaging our own happiness. We are missing out on the great opportunities that will open up once we get comfortable in our own skin.
As you begin reflecting on your spiritual gifts it's great to keep track of your progress. You can do this throughout the day or at the end of the day. You could add your thoughts to a journal or record them on a microcassette recorder.
Here are three questions to ask yourself to begin the process of getting comfortable in your own skin: First: "Have i taken the time to identify my spiritual gifts?" Get in touch with those inklings, those glimpses of what your calling might be. For example: topics that you are continually drawn to, but you aren't sure why; what you do in your spare time that makes the day more enjoyable ; things that you do that make it easy to lose track of time when you're doing them.
Second: "How am i expressing my spiritual gifts?" Remember that there are many ways to express who you really are. You might try one way for a while and find that it isn't a good fit. If something isn't working, don't be afraid to make changes at a pace that is appropriate for you. Expression of your gifts is so personal. No one has the right to tell you that you are doing it right or wrong.
Third: "Am i genuinely happy with my personal and professional life right now, in this moment?" Are you just postponing your happiness until you accomplish your goals? Maybe you're even envious of what others have accomplished in their lives.
Happiness isn't in the accomplishment. It's in the journey. If your goal in life is to become rich, you might be so focused on your current financial state that you are missing out on the lessons to be learned in the journey.
If you are striving to express your spiritual gifts, life will seem almost effortless. You will meet the right people and find the right opportunities. That is where you will find your happiness.
I started out by mentioning the superficial ways we can express ourselves. What's so interesting is that when you are expressing your spiritual gifts, people will notice a change in your appearance.
They will start mentioning how much happier you look or that you look younger. They'll notice something different about you, but they won't be able to put their finger on it. You truly will be comfortable in your own skin - inside and out.
Leila Johnson
When we think about expressing ourselves, we automatically think of the superficial ways. The way we dress. The way we wear our hair. The car we drive. If you wear jeans and a T-shirt one day and a business suit the next, what is it expressing about you? Is it that you are sophisticated one day and unsophisticated the next? Actually, your outer appearance expresses very little about who you truly are.
Instead, when we talk about expression, we should look at what's harder to change about ourselves. Our habits. The words we use. How we treat people. And, most importantly, how we express our spiritual gifts.
Ah, spiritual gifts. That elusive term. It's also known as your calling. But how do you express those properly? We could each have similar gifts, but decide to express them differently. For example, let's say that three women are trying to figure out the best way to express their calling of teaching. One woman might become a high school teacher. Another might teach English in a foreign country. While another woman might home school her own children. Who is expressing their spiritual gifts properly? All of them.
It is a personal decision.
You might say that the first two women are career women. Some women might look down on the woman who chose to be a stay-athome mom. But is this fair? Does that mean that the way she is expressing her spiritual gifts is any less fulfilling or any less valid? No, not at all. The concern about others judging us is often what stops us from getting comfortable in our own skin. What if our family doesn't like what we're doing? What if our friends think the path we're taking is weird?
Too many of us are embarrassed about what others will think of our spiritual journey. We end up sabotaging our own happiness. We are missing out on the great opportunities that will open up once we get comfortable in our own skin.
As you begin reflecting on your spiritual gifts it's great to keep track of your progress. You can do this throughout the day or at the end of the day. You could add your thoughts to a journal or record them on a microcassette recorder.
Here are three questions to ask yourself to begin the process of getting comfortable in your own skin: First: "Have i taken the time to identify my spiritual gifts?" Get in touch with those inklings, those glimpses of what your calling might be. For example: topics that you are continually drawn to, but you aren't sure why; what you do in your spare time that makes the day more enjoyable ; things that you do that make it easy to lose track of time when you're doing them.
Second: "How am i expressing my spiritual gifts?" Remember that there are many ways to express who you really are. You might try one way for a while and find that it isn't a good fit. If something isn't working, don't be afraid to make changes at a pace that is appropriate for you. Expression of your gifts is so personal. No one has the right to tell you that you are doing it right or wrong.
Third: "Am i genuinely happy with my personal and professional life right now, in this moment?" Are you just postponing your happiness until you accomplish your goals? Maybe you're even envious of what others have accomplished in their lives.
Happiness isn't in the accomplishment. It's in the journey. If your goal in life is to become rich, you might be so focused on your current financial state that you are missing out on the lessons to be learned in the journey.
If you are striving to express your spiritual gifts, life will seem almost effortless. You will meet the right people and find the right opportunities. That is where you will find your happiness.
I started out by mentioning the superficial ways we can express ourselves. What's so interesting is that when you are expressing your spiritual gifts, people will notice a change in your appearance.
They will start mentioning how much happier you look or that you look younger. They'll notice something different about you, but they won't be able to put their finger on it. You truly will be comfortable in your own skin - inside and out.
Leila Johnson
It's all in your mind
How would you feel and act right now if you had everything you wanted? Well, let's just pause for a moment and visualise this: right now, see yourself acting as if you did have everything you wanted. See yourself acting in that way; capture the feeling of completeness and satisfaction that you would have. Luxuriate in that thought... What a wonderful feeling that is, and it is possible!
But let's first ask ourselves how do we manifest prosperity? It is a fact that prosperity begins in mind. First as an idea, and then it comes into form. Thoughts are things and your thoughts create your reality. This, then, is absolutely true and in exact correlation with having enormous wealth and prosperity in your life. You can only have things that are in harmony with your thoughts. The great spiritual truth in regard to our wealth and prosperity is that God is the source and substance of your supply and people are merely channels! Well, it's true on this human plane that it is people who hire us for our jobs, give us our paychecks, our bonuses and the like, but it is God that is the one true source.
When you are aware of this wonderful spiritual truth and incorporate that into your consciousness, you will begin to stop holding onto people, jobs and things so tenaciously and fearfully because they actually represent only one of many, many channels available to us. Stop giving your power away to these people and things and affirm, "This or something better." Ease up. When we meditate and pray for more wealth and abundance in our lives, we don't necessarily know where it's going to come from and we don't need to know.
To get more prosperity in your life you should affirm that you are prosperous. For those of you who are not familiar with affirmations or why they are important to your success, just think of them as positive statements that we can use to change our mind, belief system, attitudes and actions and therefore get the results we want.
A fabulous affirmation for prosperity would be: "By day and by night, i am being prospered in all my ways!" Another great affirmation is, "I am now, in the process of attracting greater abundance, prosperity and success into my life in everything i am undertaking!"
Each one of us has the gift of free will or the freedom to think whatever thoughts we choose to concentrate on most throughout each day. Ask yourself right now what thoughts are you concentrating on right now? Are you thinking about prosperity and success in your life or are you thinking about lack and limitation? Your environment and your feelings will let you know exactly what you are thinking because they are an exact replica of your thoughts and beliefs. It's true that no one can think of prosperity all day long and we are all in agreement there.
As Emerson said, "A man is what he thinks about all day long." Your primary thoughts, the ones you concentrate on most, will be what you will see in the people you attract to you as well as in your life circumstances. One of the most popular sayings is 'change your thoughts and change your life,' but, of course, Rome wasn't built in a day! It will take time to replace your habitual thoughts that are negative to more positive ones, but you can do it!
Domenic Polifrone once said if we wanted a new car that we needed to go down to the showroom and test drive it. He said it didn't matter if we didn't have one penny in the bank. Just go down to that showroom, get behind the wheel of that car and test drive it! Get a few brochures to keep. See and feel yourself driving and owning this beautiful, new car. Get into the consciousness of "i am prosperity and i am in the process of buying and owning this beautiful, new car!" Try it. This experiment works! Your mind is one of your most prized possessions. It has been said that you are the architect of your life.
Ask yourself right now what kind of life are you building for yourself ? A magnificent life or a limited life? Everything that has been available to everyone is also available to you. There is a wonderful quote which underscores this fact. He said, "No one is superior to what you might become!"
Start knowing that the potentiality of one is the potentiality of all. If anybody has wealth you can have wealth; if anybody has a beautiful home, you can have a beautiful home. Life is a state of consciousness. "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." Change your consciousness and change your world.
Jane Abram
But let's first ask ourselves how do we manifest prosperity? It is a fact that prosperity begins in mind. First as an idea, and then it comes into form. Thoughts are things and your thoughts create your reality. This, then, is absolutely true and in exact correlation with having enormous wealth and prosperity in your life. You can only have things that are in harmony with your thoughts. The great spiritual truth in regard to our wealth and prosperity is that God is the source and substance of your supply and people are merely channels! Well, it's true on this human plane that it is people who hire us for our jobs, give us our paychecks, our bonuses and the like, but it is God that is the one true source.
When you are aware of this wonderful spiritual truth and incorporate that into your consciousness, you will begin to stop holding onto people, jobs and things so tenaciously and fearfully because they actually represent only one of many, many channels available to us. Stop giving your power away to these people and things and affirm, "This or something better." Ease up. When we meditate and pray for more wealth and abundance in our lives, we don't necessarily know where it's going to come from and we don't need to know.
To get more prosperity in your life you should affirm that you are prosperous. For those of you who are not familiar with affirmations or why they are important to your success, just think of them as positive statements that we can use to change our mind, belief system, attitudes and actions and therefore get the results we want.
A fabulous affirmation for prosperity would be: "By day and by night, i am being prospered in all my ways!" Another great affirmation is, "I am now, in the process of attracting greater abundance, prosperity and success into my life in everything i am undertaking!"
Each one of us has the gift of free will or the freedom to think whatever thoughts we choose to concentrate on most throughout each day. Ask yourself right now what thoughts are you concentrating on right now? Are you thinking about prosperity and success in your life or are you thinking about lack and limitation? Your environment and your feelings will let you know exactly what you are thinking because they are an exact replica of your thoughts and beliefs. It's true that no one can think of prosperity all day long and we are all in agreement there.
As Emerson said, "A man is what he thinks about all day long." Your primary thoughts, the ones you concentrate on most, will be what you will see in the people you attract to you as well as in your life circumstances. One of the most popular sayings is 'change your thoughts and change your life,' but, of course, Rome wasn't built in a day! It will take time to replace your habitual thoughts that are negative to more positive ones, but you can do it!
Domenic Polifrone once said if we wanted a new car that we needed to go down to the showroom and test drive it. He said it didn't matter if we didn't have one penny in the bank. Just go down to that showroom, get behind the wheel of that car and test drive it! Get a few brochures to keep. See and feel yourself driving and owning this beautiful, new car. Get into the consciousness of "i am prosperity and i am in the process of buying and owning this beautiful, new car!" Try it. This experiment works! Your mind is one of your most prized possessions. It has been said that you are the architect of your life.
Ask yourself right now what kind of life are you building for yourself ? A magnificent life or a limited life? Everything that has been available to everyone is also available to you. There is a wonderful quote which underscores this fact. He said, "No one is superior to what you might become!"
Start knowing that the potentiality of one is the potentiality of all. If anybody has wealth you can have wealth; if anybody has a beautiful home, you can have a beautiful home. Life is a state of consciousness. "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." Change your consciousness and change your world.
Jane Abram
Stop seeking, you will find your God!
All around us, we come across people who are running towards God. Or who they think God is!
They spend so much time and effort in seeking God in all kinds of places. Often, after they believe they have found Him in one place of worship, they will again begin their search in some other new place. They become professional seekers. Even those who deny God, the atheists, are seekers. They too are seeking their own version of God!
In reality, seekers do not ever truly find God. This is because in the inner world, the logic is very different. The process of seeking is not the same as in the material world, where things exist in separate physical forms. In the spiritual realm, God is not at the end of a journey, He is not the achievement — He is just in the Awareness.
God is already in each one of us, only we have lost the sensitivity to know His presence! When God is all around us, and inside us — it means that we cannot run towards Him, for in which direction shall we choose to run? He is everywhere! This is the Awareness we need to have to reach God.
This is in fact true of all goals. Goals are not reached by frantically running towards them. That makes us tense and creates barriers in the quest.
The path should be the quest, not the destination. If we move towards the destination without expectations, if we work towards goals with no attachments to failure or success, we will find that we become far more productive. We would then work with no stress at all, completely focused on the journey, the process, and the present.
To work in the present in our daily life we need to trust life itself; we need to trust existence or God. This abiding trust in existence is actually the path to God. But we spoil this path by judging all events against goals set by our minds. When we sincerely make efforts, immersing ourselves in trust, whatever happens will be good for us. This is what I mean by saying that you actually achieve your goals when you stop running towards them.
PARAMAHAMSA SRI NITHYANANDA
They spend so much time and effort in seeking God in all kinds of places. Often, after they believe they have found Him in one place of worship, they will again begin their search in some other new place. They become professional seekers. Even those who deny God, the atheists, are seekers. They too are seeking their own version of God!
In reality, seekers do not ever truly find God. This is because in the inner world, the logic is very different. The process of seeking is not the same as in the material world, where things exist in separate physical forms. In the spiritual realm, God is not at the end of a journey, He is not the achievement — He is just in the Awareness.
God is already in each one of us, only we have lost the sensitivity to know His presence! When God is all around us, and inside us — it means that we cannot run towards Him, for in which direction shall we choose to run? He is everywhere! This is the Awareness we need to have to reach God.
This is in fact true of all goals. Goals are not reached by frantically running towards them. That makes us tense and creates barriers in the quest.
The path should be the quest, not the destination. If we move towards the destination without expectations, if we work towards goals with no attachments to failure or success, we will find that we become far more productive. We would then work with no stress at all, completely focused on the journey, the process, and the present.
To work in the present in our daily life we need to trust life itself; we need to trust existence or God. This abiding trust in existence is actually the path to God. But we spoil this path by judging all events against goals set by our minds. When we sincerely make efforts, immersing ourselves in trust, whatever happens will be good for us. This is what I mean by saying that you actually achieve your goals when you stop running towards them.
PARAMAHAMSA SRI NITHYANANDA
Spirituality is a letting go
Firstly, spiritualism is not the right term for spirituality. As traditionally used, it refers to mediums, psychics, spirits, contact with the dead and everything that has to do with the spooky world of the occult. Spirituality, on the other hand, is an understanding of consciousness that allows you to experience everything in its contextual and relational nature. It is to have a religious experience without being religious. It is to experience your non-local self, your transpersonal self.
Since the infinite being is infinite by definition, it expresses itself through maximum diversity. To a spiritual person, nothing human is foreign. In other words, the measure of your enlightenment is the degree to which you are comfortable with contradiction, paradox, and ambiguity. The nature of reality is that nothing can be put on pause. Change is the only change. There is nothing to pursue in a constantly evolving universe. Spirituality is a letting go, in which you join the ecstatic evolutionary impulse of the universe, as it expresses itself through creativity.
Morality is the domain of hypocrites and self-righteous morality is just jealousy with a halo. It has nothing to do with spirituality.
I listen to my inner silence in waking, dreaming and sleeping. By and large, religious institutions are quarrelsome, divisive, and sometimes idiotic in their behaviour. The moment of truth is a moment of self referred consciousness, where one is independent of the good and bad opinions of others, and therefore immune to criticism and flattery. I am not here yet. I feel amulets and bracelets and photographs of God are cover-ups for insecurity, and so are Roberto Cavalli designs, innerwear with pictures of gods. They are a particular "brand" of god, and have nothing to do with infinite awareness. To be identified with any brand, whether marketed by a temple or a designer, is to dis-empower yourself and lose your authenticity.
Deepak Chopra
Since the infinite being is infinite by definition, it expresses itself through maximum diversity. To a spiritual person, nothing human is foreign. In other words, the measure of your enlightenment is the degree to which you are comfortable with contradiction, paradox, and ambiguity. The nature of reality is that nothing can be put on pause. Change is the only change. There is nothing to pursue in a constantly evolving universe. Spirituality is a letting go, in which you join the ecstatic evolutionary impulse of the universe, as it expresses itself through creativity.
Morality is the domain of hypocrites and self-righteous morality is just jealousy with a halo. It has nothing to do with spirituality.
I listen to my inner silence in waking, dreaming and sleeping. By and large, religious institutions are quarrelsome, divisive, and sometimes idiotic in their behaviour. The moment of truth is a moment of self referred consciousness, where one is independent of the good and bad opinions of others, and therefore immune to criticism and flattery. I am not here yet. I feel amulets and bracelets and photographs of God are cover-ups for insecurity, and so are Roberto Cavalli designs, innerwear with pictures of gods. They are a particular "brand" of god, and have nothing to do with infinite awareness. To be identified with any brand, whether marketed by a temple or a designer, is to dis-empower yourself and lose your authenticity.
Deepak Chopra
Surrender to God
Total surrender to the Almighty is the highest form of bhakti. It stands for accepting every situation as a gift or prasad from God. It means living every moment to perfection by using all your mental, physical and spiritual potential to the maximum.
Spirituality means doing things in the right spirit and with complete faith. No situation is frivolous or insignificant because it always contains a hidden message. There are no flaws in the Divine's design, this is what we all must be aware of just like one dev-doot, or angel, did when he was banished from the heaven to lead a life as a cobbler to make him realize the consequence of questioning the wisdom of the Almighty.
This angel had become so evolved spiritually that he was just one step away from becoming one with the Supreme. Pointing to a young woman on Earth, God asked him to take away her soul as it was time for her to die. When the angel reached the woman's house, he witnessed a heart-rending scene. Dressed in rags, the woman was cradling a three-month-old baby in her arms and was trying to pacify her two other children, aged two and four, who were crying with hunger. All looked malnourished and pale. There was not a morsel in the house. The woman had lost her husband, their sole breadwinner, a few months ago. With three little children to take care, she was unable to make ends meet. Now she was running high fever and was wondering what was to become of her and her children.
The sight of the poor family living in such trying circumstances brought tears to the angel's eyes. He could not be so unkind and deprive the helpless kids of their only living parent! His compassion and benevolence got the better of him so he decided to return to the Heaven empty handed. His disobedience earned him the Almighty's displeasure.
Since every act of the divine is guided by divine love and benevolence, God decided to make him realize his folly of interfering with the Supreme Law or design by banishing him to Earth for a lifetime as a cobbler. The only way he could return and be with the Almighty once again was by laughing at his plight three times.
Thus the angel was born on Earth into a family of cobblers. He grew up beating smelly hides into smooth leather to make footwear. One day as he sat making footwear, the irony of it all dawned on him and he laughed at his situation -- once a Dev-dhoot, God's chosen one, was now on Earth working with animal skins, making footwear for mortals.
Any way, instead of whining, the Dev-dhoot accepted his situation and continued leading his life in total surrender to the Almighty, giving his whole being to what ever work that came in front of him, whether it was beating leather into shape or making footwear. Soon he became so good at his work that his masters and customers started praising his work. And one day he was asked to make shoes for none other than the king himself!
The angel put his mind, heart and soul into his work and before he could realize, he had created the most beautiful pair of chappals ever. But his masters were livid with him for being so careless, wasting raw material and time on a pair of chappals instead of the shoes that the king's men had ordered.
Soon they arrived but much to everybody's surprise, the king's men asked for a pair of chappals instead of shoes. The king had just died and they wanted chappals to the fit the corpse before it could be cremated. It was a ritual in those days that the body of the king was adorned with chappals rather than shoes on his final journey. The dev-doot was speechless. Nothing seemed frivolous or meaningless in the Almighty's scheme of things, he thought and laughed to himself the second time.
As days passed by, the angel became increasingly well known for his fabulous footwear. One day, a rich elderly lady escorting three pretty girls came to his shop to place a huge order for fancy footwear for the girls as they were all of marriageable age. When the angel asked her whether the girls were her daughters, the lady shook her head and replied that she was a rich businessman's wife but could never have any children. But one day her neighbours told her about three helpless orphans who had lost their parents. She felt the Almighty had answered her prayers and she adopted the three kids. The lady was in fact talking about the same children whose mother the Almighty had once ordered him to take away! Marveling at the Divine's design, the angel laughed to himself the third time. It was all about surrender and accepting every situation as a gift from God, to be lived through with all our potential. He had been banished to Earth in the first place because he had failed to do so, but later he got the opportunities to laugh his way out of this human life because of his surrender. His life's mission was now complete. He was ready to leave for his heavenly abode where the Almighty was waiting for him with open arms. He knew it well that now he would be with the Supreme forever. He had learnt the ultimate message meant for all humans on Earth that the only way to cut our Karma Cycle, the cause of birth and death, for total liberation and merging with the Supreme is to perform every given act, whether in thought, word or deed, as an offering to the Lord in total surrender, without doubting or questioning the purpose behind it.
This is true realisation. This is the essence of life.
Meena Om
Spirituality means doing things in the right spirit and with complete faith. No situation is frivolous or insignificant because it always contains a hidden message. There are no flaws in the Divine's design, this is what we all must be aware of just like one dev-doot, or angel, did when he was banished from the heaven to lead a life as a cobbler to make him realize the consequence of questioning the wisdom of the Almighty.
This angel had become so evolved spiritually that he was just one step away from becoming one with the Supreme. Pointing to a young woman on Earth, God asked him to take away her soul as it was time for her to die. When the angel reached the woman's house, he witnessed a heart-rending scene. Dressed in rags, the woman was cradling a three-month-old baby in her arms and was trying to pacify her two other children, aged two and four, who were crying with hunger. All looked malnourished and pale. There was not a morsel in the house. The woman had lost her husband, their sole breadwinner, a few months ago. With three little children to take care, she was unable to make ends meet. Now she was running high fever and was wondering what was to become of her and her children.
The sight of the poor family living in such trying circumstances brought tears to the angel's eyes. He could not be so unkind and deprive the helpless kids of their only living parent! His compassion and benevolence got the better of him so he decided to return to the Heaven empty handed. His disobedience earned him the Almighty's displeasure.
Since every act of the divine is guided by divine love and benevolence, God decided to make him realize his folly of interfering with the Supreme Law or design by banishing him to Earth for a lifetime as a cobbler. The only way he could return and be with the Almighty once again was by laughing at his plight three times.
Thus the angel was born on Earth into a family of cobblers. He grew up beating smelly hides into smooth leather to make footwear. One day as he sat making footwear, the irony of it all dawned on him and he laughed at his situation -- once a Dev-dhoot, God's chosen one, was now on Earth working with animal skins, making footwear for mortals.
Any way, instead of whining, the Dev-dhoot accepted his situation and continued leading his life in total surrender to the Almighty, giving his whole being to what ever work that came in front of him, whether it was beating leather into shape or making footwear. Soon he became so good at his work that his masters and customers started praising his work. And one day he was asked to make shoes for none other than the king himself!
The angel put his mind, heart and soul into his work and before he could realize, he had created the most beautiful pair of chappals ever. But his masters were livid with him for being so careless, wasting raw material and time on a pair of chappals instead of the shoes that the king's men had ordered.
Soon they arrived but much to everybody's surprise, the king's men asked for a pair of chappals instead of shoes. The king had just died and they wanted chappals to the fit the corpse before it could be cremated. It was a ritual in those days that the body of the king was adorned with chappals rather than shoes on his final journey. The dev-doot was speechless. Nothing seemed frivolous or meaningless in the Almighty's scheme of things, he thought and laughed to himself the second time.
As days passed by, the angel became increasingly well known for his fabulous footwear. One day, a rich elderly lady escorting three pretty girls came to his shop to place a huge order for fancy footwear for the girls as they were all of marriageable age. When the angel asked her whether the girls were her daughters, the lady shook her head and replied that she was a rich businessman's wife but could never have any children. But one day her neighbours told her about three helpless orphans who had lost their parents. She felt the Almighty had answered her prayers and she adopted the three kids. The lady was in fact talking about the same children whose mother the Almighty had once ordered him to take away! Marveling at the Divine's design, the angel laughed to himself the third time. It was all about surrender and accepting every situation as a gift from God, to be lived through with all our potential. He had been banished to Earth in the first place because he had failed to do so, but later he got the opportunities to laugh his way out of this human life because of his surrender. His life's mission was now complete. He was ready to leave for his heavenly abode where the Almighty was waiting for him with open arms. He knew it well that now he would be with the Supreme forever. He had learnt the ultimate message meant for all humans on Earth that the only way to cut our Karma Cycle, the cause of birth and death, for total liberation and merging with the Supreme is to perform every given act, whether in thought, word or deed, as an offering to the Lord in total surrender, without doubting or questioning the purpose behind it.
This is true realisation. This is the essence of life.
Meena Om
Sense and Spirituality
Being spiritual or not spiritual isn't an option. You were born spiritual and everything you do is spiritual. So what is the deal with trying to be spiritual, trying to find your path of enlightenment? I believe we are programmed to believe we are not spiritual unless we have a religious belief. For centuries believers in organised religion have been trying to recruit non believers and convert them to their faith.
The bottom line for them is it's simply good business and nothing else. Long before there were institutions of worship, there were millions of people who were very aware of their own spirituality and they understood the connection between themselves, others and their environment.
Although many of us are not aware of our spirituality it doesn't mean we are not spiritual. It is spirit which moves the body, that knows it's alive and its connection to the environment. Awareness of this is what most people are lacking. The benefits of knowing ones true nature or spiritual connection are many.
If you lived in a dry land and everyday was a great effort to find and gather water, would it not benefit you to know that by digging below your feet you would find all the water you could use?
If you were homeless and you spent your days sitting on the same corner begging for food, would it not benefit you to know that there is a free soup kitchen only two blocks away?
If you were in the market for a new car and your local dealer did not have what you were looking for, would it not benefit you to know that in the next town, they have the exact model you're looking for?
Knowledge is power; the awareness of one's own spiritual nature is power. The most amazing thing is we do not have to do anything or look anywhere to be spiritual.
We simply have to know we are already there. The benefits of this knowledge are infinite opportunity to experience anything we desire. Would this knowledge serve you to know you can have abundance, good relationships, love, or anything you desire simply by knowing that you can?
The knowledge of your own spirituality can open doors to places you never thought were possible. The big difference between believing and knowing is in knowing you already have it, you are already experiencing it.
In believing or having faith that you will have a thing, it is something that may occur in the future. In knowing you are the spiritual one who will create what you wish to experience, you have access to immediate delivery and it is not incumbent upon the whims of someone or something else.
The greatest secret to the benefits of spiritual awareness is the power that it holds.
Thinking, believing, trusting or having faith that you are spiritual does not take you there-it is the awareness of being spiritual which makes it so.
It's within the acceptance of being this power that you are able to use it. Humanity knew this a very long time ago, but gave up the responsibility for it because it feared its own imagination and the awesome limitlessness of its capabilities. Power is non-power unless it's used. The responsibility for this power was too much for primitive man. Instinctively man still knows his connection to this power that never went away. He chose a life of limited power and a lifetime of trying to find it. Man generally fears to think too big. He is still very primitive in his thinking and his concerns are with himself and his little empire.
There are other places, other realms yet to be discovered that will require him to be more powerful. Until he is ready to claim back his spirituality and power he will never leave this earth.
The good news is that you can have it all now through complete acceptance of what you truly are. Spirituality is worthless until you know its value and place in your own awareness.
As you read this, you would have a greater understanding of why you do not have complete authority over your life or have limited power.
You would know why things do not always work out the way you want them to that you have accepted less because you are not ready to accept what is already yours.
Roy E Klienwachter
The bottom line for them is it's simply good business and nothing else. Long before there were institutions of worship, there were millions of people who were very aware of their own spirituality and they understood the connection between themselves, others and their environment.
Although many of us are not aware of our spirituality it doesn't mean we are not spiritual. It is spirit which moves the body, that knows it's alive and its connection to the environment. Awareness of this is what most people are lacking. The benefits of knowing ones true nature or spiritual connection are many.
If you lived in a dry land and everyday was a great effort to find and gather water, would it not benefit you to know that by digging below your feet you would find all the water you could use?
If you were homeless and you spent your days sitting on the same corner begging for food, would it not benefit you to know that there is a free soup kitchen only two blocks away?
If you were in the market for a new car and your local dealer did not have what you were looking for, would it not benefit you to know that in the next town, they have the exact model you're looking for?
Knowledge is power; the awareness of one's own spiritual nature is power. The most amazing thing is we do not have to do anything or look anywhere to be spiritual.
We simply have to know we are already there. The benefits of this knowledge are infinite opportunity to experience anything we desire. Would this knowledge serve you to know you can have abundance, good relationships, love, or anything you desire simply by knowing that you can?
The knowledge of your own spirituality can open doors to places you never thought were possible. The big difference between believing and knowing is in knowing you already have it, you are already experiencing it.
In believing or having faith that you will have a thing, it is something that may occur in the future. In knowing you are the spiritual one who will create what you wish to experience, you have access to immediate delivery and it is not incumbent upon the whims of someone or something else.
The greatest secret to the benefits of spiritual awareness is the power that it holds.
Thinking, believing, trusting or having faith that you are spiritual does not take you there-it is the awareness of being spiritual which makes it so.
It's within the acceptance of being this power that you are able to use it. Humanity knew this a very long time ago, but gave up the responsibility for it because it feared its own imagination and the awesome limitlessness of its capabilities. Power is non-power unless it's used. The responsibility for this power was too much for primitive man. Instinctively man still knows his connection to this power that never went away. He chose a life of limited power and a lifetime of trying to find it. Man generally fears to think too big. He is still very primitive in his thinking and his concerns are with himself and his little empire.
There are other places, other realms yet to be discovered that will require him to be more powerful. Until he is ready to claim back his spirituality and power he will never leave this earth.
The good news is that you can have it all now through complete acceptance of what you truly are. Spirituality is worthless until you know its value and place in your own awareness.
As you read this, you would have a greater understanding of why you do not have complete authority over your life or have limited power.
You would know why things do not always work out the way you want them to that you have accepted less because you are not ready to accept what is already yours.
Roy E Klienwachter
For a healthy mind & body
According to ayurveda and yoga, both mind and the body are made up of five elements, the Panchabhutas of earth (prithvi), water (jal), fire (agni or tej), air (vayu) and ether or space (akash). While the body is made up of the heavier elements of earth and water (the kapha type), it functions through the lighter elements of fire (pitta or fire type) and air (vata or vital energy type). The pitta, fire or heat of the body controls all digestive processes and the vata, air or vital energy lends its spark to the nervous system. The mind, one of subtlest parts of our being is composed of air and ether, the lightest elements.
In substance our minds resemble ether formless and all pervading and in motion, it resembles air-penetrating, constantly in flux. Just as the right type of food and right amount of food is necessary for a healthy digestive system, the right type of thoughts and the right amount of thoughts are essential for a healthy mind.
Therefore, the simple formula for a healthy mind is allowing only positive thoughts to come, having just enough thoughts in the mind, and finally, being without any thoughts for at least some time, that is, meditating. Meditation is not only extremely conducive to mental well being and peace; it is also the first step towards self transformation and spirituality.
Posture:
Sit erect in a comfortable position preferably on the floor. The important factor is keeping the spine absolutely straight.
Environment:
Sit in a well ventilated place that is quiet and receives natural light. Set up a meditating room with soothing music and aroma in order to infuse the atmosphere with spiritual energy.
Time:
Meditate at the same time daily, twice a day for best results. Beginners are recommended to meditate for about half an hour daily.
Attitude & Technique:
Be a receptive observer while meditating. Try to observe the mind, the breath or the immediate physical environment without thinking anything in particular, watching the mind slowly empty itself out.
In substance our minds resemble ether formless and all pervading and in motion, it resembles air-penetrating, constantly in flux. Just as the right type of food and right amount of food is necessary for a healthy digestive system, the right type of thoughts and the right amount of thoughts are essential for a healthy mind.
Therefore, the simple formula for a healthy mind is allowing only positive thoughts to come, having just enough thoughts in the mind, and finally, being without any thoughts for at least some time, that is, meditating. Meditation is not only extremely conducive to mental well being and peace; it is also the first step towards self transformation and spirituality.
Posture:
Sit erect in a comfortable position preferably on the floor. The important factor is keeping the spine absolutely straight.
Environment:
Sit in a well ventilated place that is quiet and receives natural light. Set up a meditating room with soothing music and aroma in order to infuse the atmosphere with spiritual energy.
Time:
Meditate at the same time daily, twice a day for best results. Beginners are recommended to meditate for about half an hour daily.
Attitude & Technique:
Be a receptive observer while meditating. Try to observe the mind, the breath or the immediate physical environment without thinking anything in particular, watching the mind slowly empty itself out.
Letting go of the past
Our lives are weighed down with past memories and expectations from the future. How can we let go of all that clutter and live life spontaneously? We feel burdened not because of our present but because of the past hanging around our neck like a heavy stone.
Osho gives some useful tips for separating psychological memories from the factual ones. It is good to remember that mere facts never burden us. The memory of our name or phone number is not a burden but a psychological memory of an insult or even a felicitation can become a hang up.
Interestingly, many of us tend to forget facts but we tend to remember and dwell upon psychological memories.
Osho points out, "Memory has technical uses. You have to know how to drive, you have to know where your home is, and you have to recognise your wife and your children. But those are not psychological hang-ups. Factual memory is useful. It enhances life, facilitates it. But if you come home and you look at your wife and think of all your past experiences with her then that is a psychological hang-up. If she was angry with you in the recent past, then that memory can cloud your eyes. If she was nasty or sad, then it too can colour your perception. Psychological impressions change your way of looking and perceiving her as she is standing in front of you at this moment. You are no longer looking at her but at someone who doesn't exist. You are looking at a ghost, not at your wife. And she may also be looking at you in the same way. Drop the past each moment. Just as you clean your house, clean your inner house of the past. All psychological memories have to be dropped. Just keep factual things and your mind will be very clean and clear."
Soon you will find that there is a new light in your life - the light of here-now, the Present.
Amrit Sadhana
Osho gives some useful tips for separating psychological memories from the factual ones. It is good to remember that mere facts never burden us. The memory of our name or phone number is not a burden but a psychological memory of an insult or even a felicitation can become a hang up.
Interestingly, many of us tend to forget facts but we tend to remember and dwell upon psychological memories.
Osho points out, "Memory has technical uses. You have to know how to drive, you have to know where your home is, and you have to recognise your wife and your children. But those are not psychological hang-ups. Factual memory is useful. It enhances life, facilitates it. But if you come home and you look at your wife and think of all your past experiences with her then that is a psychological hang-up. If she was angry with you in the recent past, then that memory can cloud your eyes. If she was nasty or sad, then it too can colour your perception. Psychological impressions change your way of looking and perceiving her as she is standing in front of you at this moment. You are no longer looking at her but at someone who doesn't exist. You are looking at a ghost, not at your wife. And she may also be looking at you in the same way. Drop the past each moment. Just as you clean your house, clean your inner house of the past. All psychological memories have to be dropped. Just keep factual things and your mind will be very clean and clear."
Soon you will find that there is a new light in your life - the light of here-now, the Present.
Amrit Sadhana
Monday, October 15, 2007
Detach your service from expectation
The karma yogi avoids the chaotic activity of selfish desires; he also avoids the apparent inaction of total non-wanting. He leads a life of selfless service, in which there is not the slightest alloy of any personal motive and which furthers the release of divinity in all phases of life.
Service, even when it is utterly selfless, ought to be guided by spiritual understanding; for selfless service, when unintelligently handled, often creates chaos and complications. It could even be the opposite of the desired effect.
The real danger in service lies more in the possibility of your rendering it from a false motive than in making a mistake about the spiritual demands of the situation. If you render service in order to oblige a person and if you feel proud of doing it, you are not only doing spiritual harm to the recipient of your service but also to yourself.
The consciousness that 'I am obliging someone' is the first to occur during the process of serving; but it can be annulled by the contrary thought, 'I am obliged by being given this opportunity of serving'. This latter thought facilitates the attitude of detachment and secures freedom from the bondage of good actions. Service based upon comprehensive understanding is not only selfless and adjusted to the spiritual demands of the recipient but is rendered with complete detachment. Such service takes the aspirant to the goal most rapidly.
For most people the idea of service is inextricably bound with securing certain definite results in the objective world. For them service consists of removal of human suffering or illiteracy or other difficulties and handicaps that thwart the flourishing of individual or social life. This is the type of service rendered by aspirants, politicians, social reformers and other good people. Though this type of service is of immense spiritual importance, it is in its very nature unending. Therefore, as long as the idea of service is tied to the idea of results, it is inevitably fraught with a sense of incompleteness.
There can be no realisation of Infinity through the pursuit of a never-ending series of consequences. On the other hand, service that comes after truth realisation is spontaneous expression of spiritual understanding of the true nature of the Self. And though it also brings about important results in the objective world, it is in no way complicated by any longing for them.
The sun shines and the rain falls. In the same way the God-realised person also lives a life of self-offering because of the basic structure of divine life that is at the heart of Reality and not because he longs to achieve anything. His life is not a reaching out towards something with the hope of some kind of attainment. He is already established in the fullness of the realisation of the Infinite. The overflow of the God-realised being is a blessing to life in other forms and actually brings about their uplift from the material as well as spiritual point of view. There is a vast gulf between service before truth realisation and service after realising it.
byAvatar Meher
Service, even when it is utterly selfless, ought to be guided by spiritual understanding; for selfless service, when unintelligently handled, often creates chaos and complications. It could even be the opposite of the desired effect.
The real danger in service lies more in the possibility of your rendering it from a false motive than in making a mistake about the spiritual demands of the situation. If you render service in order to oblige a person and if you feel proud of doing it, you are not only doing spiritual harm to the recipient of your service but also to yourself.
The consciousness that 'I am obliging someone' is the first to occur during the process of serving; but it can be annulled by the contrary thought, 'I am obliged by being given this opportunity of serving'. This latter thought facilitates the attitude of detachment and secures freedom from the bondage of good actions. Service based upon comprehensive understanding is not only selfless and adjusted to the spiritual demands of the recipient but is rendered with complete detachment. Such service takes the aspirant to the goal most rapidly.
For most people the idea of service is inextricably bound with securing certain definite results in the objective world. For them service consists of removal of human suffering or illiteracy or other difficulties and handicaps that thwart the flourishing of individual or social life. This is the type of service rendered by aspirants, politicians, social reformers and other good people. Though this type of service is of immense spiritual importance, it is in its very nature unending. Therefore, as long as the idea of service is tied to the idea of results, it is inevitably fraught with a sense of incompleteness.
There can be no realisation of Infinity through the pursuit of a never-ending series of consequences. On the other hand, service that comes after truth realisation is spontaneous expression of spiritual understanding of the true nature of the Self. And though it also brings about important results in the objective world, it is in no way complicated by any longing for them.
The sun shines and the rain falls. In the same way the God-realised person also lives a life of self-offering because of the basic structure of divine life that is at the heart of Reality and not because he longs to achieve anything. His life is not a reaching out towards something with the hope of some kind of attainment. He is already established in the fullness of the realisation of the Infinite. The overflow of the God-realised being is a blessing to life in other forms and actually brings about their uplift from the material as well as spiritual point of view. There is a vast gulf between service before truth realisation and service after realising it.
byAvatar Meher
Use your power of making choices
The human body-mind is part of a conscious thinking field of intelligence. In every second of our existence, the body-mind exchanges energy and information with the universe and this happens on a subconscious level. The average person thinks about sixty thousand thoughts a day. This is not surprising. But it's a little disconcerting that 95% of the thoughts we have today are the same ones we had yesterday. Every day we subconsciously create the same energy patterns that give rise to the same physical expressions of the body.
Imagine that you could change the bricks of a building once a year, but through force of habit or because you didn't know any better, you were stuck with the notion that there was only one way to create the building. So you'd put the bricks in the same places year after year and you'd get the same kind of building. So if you have the notion that the body is supposed to weaken, age, or become ill with the passing of time, this notion is translated into those energy patterns.
Every interpretation we make in every moment has an effect on the energy patterns of our body. And we can change our interpretations because we made them in the first place. We have the power to make choices. But most people are victims of societal thinking; they are under the hypnosis of social conditioning. Our senses take in less than one billionth of the stimuli available to us, and our social conditioning reinforces what we think is possible. We have to wake up and go beyond social conditioning to a deeper level. How can we do this? By witnessing the whole process and becoming conscious of it. Then we realise that there are choices.
Imagine your nervous system is the hardware, and all the chemical changes that occur in your body are the software. The software changes according to your thoughts, feelings, interpretations, and desires. But there is a programmer. Who is the programmer? The programmer is the inner self, the silent witness, the ever-present awareness that witnesses everything. And when you get in touch with the silent witness, this gives you the ability to rewrite the program.
by Deepak Chopra
Imagine that you could change the bricks of a building once a year, but through force of habit or because you didn't know any better, you were stuck with the notion that there was only one way to create the building. So you'd put the bricks in the same places year after year and you'd get the same kind of building. So if you have the notion that the body is supposed to weaken, age, or become ill with the passing of time, this notion is translated into those energy patterns.
Every interpretation we make in every moment has an effect on the energy patterns of our body. And we can change our interpretations because we made them in the first place. We have the power to make choices. But most people are victims of societal thinking; they are under the hypnosis of social conditioning. Our senses take in less than one billionth of the stimuli available to us, and our social conditioning reinforces what we think is possible. We have to wake up and go beyond social conditioning to a deeper level. How can we do this? By witnessing the whole process and becoming conscious of it. Then we realise that there are choices.
Imagine your nervous system is the hardware, and all the chemical changes that occur in your body are the software. The software changes according to your thoughts, feelings, interpretations, and desires. But there is a programmer. Who is the programmer? The programmer is the inner self, the silent witness, the ever-present awareness that witnesses everything. And when you get in touch with the silent witness, this gives you the ability to rewrite the program.
by Deepak Chopra
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