Tuesday 31 January 2012

THE PATH OF THE MYSTICS

The recorded experiences of the many mystics in all religions is of particular interest because we can learn from these what the spiritual path looks like when it is not guided by specific verbal or written teachings. Most of these individuals in past centuries did not know that there was such a thing as a spiritual path and that others had travelled the same or a similar route. They just felt a longing to come closer to God and to feel at one with Him, to melt into Divinity like a drop of water becomes one with the ocean. Each of them had different experiences and many of them walked only part of the way, but by constructing a composite picture from a large number of their writings we can discern a distinct pattern of the typical mystical path. Few mystics seem to have travelled all of this 'typical' path, but this may be because we can see only one life-time of a multiple-life-time journey. This typical mystical path may best be described as a five-stage journey and we may easily see its relationship to contemporary spiritual practises.

1. The Awakening

The spiritual awakening is the beginning of the mystical path and also of the spiritual path in general. It may be sudden or gradual. Often it comes as an emotionally overwhelming 'mystical experience', possibly ending a period of great emotional torment and suffering. Another frequent setting is during a spiritual initiation ceremony, such as presently during water baptism for 'Born-Again Christians'. Others may have this awakening experience during an especially intense prayer or meditation or drift gradually onto the path by attending workshops or reading spiritual books. The latter as well as others coming to the path because of philosophical considerations turn out to become like the 'mental mystics' as compared to the 'emotional mystics' who had their mystical experiences mainly at the emotional level. This initial peak experience may last for hours or days with gradually declining intensity. Commonly it is a combination of deep feelings, such as universal love, with profound spiritual intuition or insight, although depending on the personality traits the emotional or the mental component may dominate. Also psychic phenomena are frequently involved in the form of visions and voices.

2. Purification

After the awakening the individual does not only want to repeat the mystical experience but really wants to live in a permanent state of grace close to God. However, the aspiring mystic realises that he is not yet worthy, he becomes acutely aware of his imperfections, of the impurity of his thoughts and feelings. He starts to cleanse himself of all selfish or impure desires. Commonly this is combined with periods of fasting or food denial. Medieval mystics tended to be very severe with themselves in order to 'mortify' the body and with it the unruly senses and the desires of the flesh. Worldly pursuits no longer hold any interest. Periods of prayer and meditation are greatly extended. While this process of purification requires strong willpower and causes much self-inflicted pain, it is also increasingly interspersed with beautiful and uplifting mystical experiences that spurn the seeker on to greater sacrifices for the sake of more rapturous experiences. This purification process continues for many years. Instead of turning the spiritual energies released by the awakening experience inward to purify, it may also be directed outwards. These individuals then become religious fanatics and may remain at this level for the rest of their lives.

3. Illumination

After the Self has been sufficiently cleansed or purified and the mind remains fully focused on the presence and the qualities of the Divine, a state of illumination may unexpectedly arise. This will be similar to the experience of awakening but even more intense and longer lasting. Again, it may be predominantly emotional with feelings of indescribable Divine love, being at one with 'All That Is' and combined with visions and voices, or it may be predominantly mental with profound insights and states of pure knowing. Commonly the initial peak experience is combined with perceiving an intense or blinding inner white light. For many months these deep feelings and insights will keep flowing in, but gradually settle into a state of a permanently raised and more intuitive consciousness. The illuminated mystic will now always remain aware of the Divine presence in everyone and everything and radiate a presence of love and goodwill. Intuitive abilities will be greatly increased. Commonly, one will receive a spiritual gift with the illumination. This may be the ability to heal or to see or to know. By developing this ability one will become a great healer, seer or spiritual teacher. The perception of mysticism as being incomprehensible to normal, unenlightened humans is due to the fact that most mystical writings were composed by the emotional type of mystics. They focused on emotional states of being and perceived and described their visions and experiences with emotional metaphors that remained incomprehensible to the uninitiated. This is similar to the present descriptions of reality given by quantum physicists. Life in this state of illumination is easy and full of joy, a permanent state of great happiness and contentment. It is like living in a state of grace that can never be lost again. But sometimes it is being lost.

4. The Dark Night of the Soul

There is a saying that he whom God loves most, will be given the severest tests. This certainly seems to be true of the few mystics who continue to travel further along the spiritual path even after illumination. During the long and difficult purification process the aspiring mystic gave up most of his sense attachments, the pleasure of eating, of sexual union, of bodily comfort and of pleasant company. Instead all the energies were focused only on what was perceived to be transcendental and divine. But there was still one thing left that had not been surrendered, that is the will, the central part of the Self. To give up the will, the innate instinct for personal happiness had to be surrendered. This is called the 'mystical death' or the spiritual crucifixion. During illumination the mystic seemed to walk hand in hand with God and sunned himself in eternal Divine bliss. This makes the contrast even greater to the feeling of having lost all the former grace and glory and being totally abandoned by God to a life in abject misery. However, gradually the Self begins to accept total surrender. It gives up itself, its personality and individuality, asks for nothing and desires nothing. Now there is total passivity and acceptance of whatever God has ordained or whatever comes. Now the mystic is finally ready for the last stage of his earthly journey.

5. The Unitive Life

Finally, by giving up everything, the mystic has gained everything. By being completely passive, he is able to be filled with the Divine Spirit. No longer does he experience the strong mood swings between divine bliss and utter desolation, he has now settled into a feeling of constant peaceful and love-filled union with the Divine. However, this is not the goal of his long journey, just a by-product. The real achievement is that the mystic is now an ideal tool or instrument of the Divine Will to be used for manifesting the Great Plan on earth. While now the mystic still lives in the world, he is no longer of the world. He may be a great reformer, healer, inventor, statesman, educator or spiritual teacher but whatever he does is never for any small or selfish interests, instead it is always for the greater good of All That Is. He now lives a life of service. Whatever he does, he is now a spiritual master, even if that is not always apparent to the outside world. After his passing, he will be an ascended being, not needing to return to earth.

VARIETIES OF SPIRITUAL PATHS

While the real goal of the spiritual path is the same for all, there are many different roads that one can travel and one may even travel without a road. Also the goal may be described in different terms without always recognising that it is the same goal. This is so because we all have different starting points and different preferences and opportunities. Many spiritual travellers will not expect to reach their goal in their present lifetime, while others may realise that they do not really need to travel anywhere.
Some of the better-defined roads are the different forms of Yoga, the Tao, the Gnostic teachings, the Rosicrucians and various ancient and modern Mystery Schools. While the Mystics are generally regarded as a distinct group, they really travelled each on his or her own individual path. At present Ascension teachings through books and channelled guidance attract many followers. These teachings are largely individualised outgrowths from the writings of the Theosophical Society since the end of the nineteenth century.
Looked at from a different perspective, we may say that there are two different approaches that often intermingle in each individual spiritual path. One is the path of the Doer or the Magus, while the other is the path of the Knower or the Mystic. The Doer mainly works in the world as a healer, alchemist or white magician, trying to master the non-physical energies and forces. The Mystic, on the other hand, follows mainly the inner path, seeking Union with the Divine Self and in the process becomes a Knower and a teacher. However, ultimately Knower and Doer both become one.

Walter Last

SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

The evolution of consciousness normally is a slow process and most personalities are not aware that they are part of an evolutionary growth. However, as the personality comes closer to perfection, it does become aware of its purpose and it begins to long for spiritual unfoldment. Before this spiritual awakening, the personality may already have believed in God and followed a religious faith in the traditional way. But there is a difference. In the traditional religious life the believer may try to follow the doctrines of his faith the best he can, but he basically remains on the same slow evolutionary path of consciousness. With the spiritual awakening, spiritual growth becomes the main focus of this personality. The slow evolutionary process now becomes a spiritual revolution, not only in regard to the speed of the growth of consciousness but also in regard to the overthrow of established values. This spiritual revolution may take place within the confines of an established religion or it may happen outside a religious faith. Within a religion, these awakening spirits will sooner or later come in conflict with established doctrines. They may try to revolutionise or restore their church to its highest ideals and eventually become mystics or saints or martyrs or just start their own church or sect. Most established religions had at best an uneasy relationship with their mystics and (later) saints.
In any way, whether the awakening and subsequent spiritual growth takes place within or without an established religion, the awakening personality will begin to follow the spiritual guidance that comes from within rather than the established rules and doctrines of church and society. Spirituality is no longer something that one does on Sunday mornings or other established times and according to established rules, but rather it becomes the central purpose and focus of life. With this, we may say that the personality is now on the spiritual path.


Walter Last

Evolution of consciousness

The purpose of life, including our human life, is the evolution of consciousness. The aim of our human existence is to become as fully human as possible, to realise or make real the full potential inherent in the human condition. This applies to all levels of being human, to the biological, the emotional as well as the mental level. Instead of seeing yourself as just a personality with a mind and a body, imagine yourself as part of an individualised life-stream that flows eternally towards increasingly higher levels of consciousness. This life-stream builds itself different personalities as vehicles for its flow of consciousness. You are one of these temporary vehicles. Your personality is temporary, the present cutting edge of your life-stream as perceived in our space-time. The aim of your life-stream at this level is to develop a vehicle that allows the full expression of your soul suitable for travel beyond the human condition. When this is accomplished, no further personalities are needed. As an ascended being the life-stream can now traverse the trans-human conditions of consciousness.

Walter Last

You cannot become a master by remaining a follower.


 

Take the time to connect with the silence within yourself


We attach ourselves to our physical world intensely. We have hypnotised ourselves into believing that being busy all the time is puposeful and noble. The busier we are the more important we feel about ourselves. We forgot that the material world is only one part of our reality. We are multidimensional beings who also live in the invisible and spiritual dimensions. Just by watching our thoughts we know that there is a being who watches the thougths. Just by watching the body perform its actions we know that there is a being who works the body. Our dreamtime feels so real that it makes us wonder if we were in another place at another time. Every religion talks about a day of rest, a Sabbath. Living in our minds we believe that it is a day to keep sacred. But what I notice from the many explanations from different scriptures is that 'a Sabbath' or 'a day of rest or sacredness', is actually a practice to move into a STATE OF MIND, or a state of being, a state of rest, renewal and conscious connection to the Divine. It is a spiritual practice to regain our birthright to inner peace. By ignoring this practice, we have started to define ourselves and others by what we produce. We stress ourselves out with achievements and productions. The result is our hearts harden, and in a world of overwork our illness and pain becomes our 'sabbath'. When we take time to anchor our Spiritual Energy, it balances our life and we find our way back. This is because we become our wholesome selves, we come into our power. A sabbath can be a moment, a day, a week, or a month. It is a time of silence, a time of connecting with the silence within, a connection with our sacred Presence. It may be taking in a deep conscious breath anytime during the day, or it may be meditation or contemplation, or it may even be singing, dancing, laughing and celebrating with pure gratitude. At the deepest level we are pure consciousness beyond form and content. This pure consciousness is the love that we are, the moment we connect to it, it embraces everything within and around us. Mysteriously our body feels embraced, healed, and comforted by this love, and every situation on the outside is also set right.
Let us choose to connect with our wholesome power, let us take time to laugh more, to play more, to celebrate life so that we move from the love of power to the power of love.

~Premlatha Rajkumar~

The positive side

Your attitude may be the biggest thing holding you back. And that’s great news, because you can change it very quickly. Other challenges and limitations can take much time and energy to overcome. Yet if your attitude is what’s limiting you, then you have the key right here and now to break free. Your attitude does not define you and it doesn’t really control you. It does, however, exert a powerful influence on the way you see the world. The simple fact is that with a positive, purposeful and loving attitude, you are able to see and to connect with life’s best possibilities. And simply by deciding to choose it, you can immediately benefit from such an attitude. You don’t have to let your attitude be held hostage by negative people, events or circumstances. You can choose whatever attitude you wish, no matter what may be going on around you. So give yourself a powerful advantage. Choose an attitude, right now, that will illuminate the positive side of life, and begin right away to reap the great rewards of your empowering focus.


Monday 30 January 2012

Get out of the mind

Get out of the mind if you want to live. Get out of the mind if you want to live this moment. The mind cannot live in this moment, because first it has to decide, and the moment is lost in thinking. And by the time the mind has decided -- if it ever decides --that moment is gone already. You are always lagging behind. Mind is always running after life, and lagging behind and missing it continuously.

You never have two moments together in your hands, only one single moment. It is such a small moment that there is no space for thinking to move, no space for thoughts to exist. Either you can live it, or you can think. To live it is to be enlightened, to think is to miss.



Make use

You don’t have to keep running to catch up. You can make use of the opportunity of today to get out in front of life. You don’t have to settle for less than the best. You can make use of your unique perspective, skills, knowledge, experience and passions to make life outstanding. You don’t have to waste any more time. You can make use of each precious moment to bring beautiful, meaningful and satisfying fulfillment. There are valuable possibilities stretching out in every direction. There is great abundance in this life and you are exquisitely equipped to tap into it. Lovingly dive deep into your essence and feel your authentic passion. Make use of the energy of that passion to make a difference wherever you are, with whatever you have. Make use of the immense and magnificent opportunity that is your life in this moment. Make use, and make life even more beautiful by the way you live it.


Your skills

There are many things you do very well. It pays to remind yourself often of how skillful and successful you’ve already been. No, you don’t want to adopt an attitude of arrogance or superiority, because that doesn’t do anyone any good. What’s important, though, is that you foster a strong and growing sense of authentic confidence in your abilities. Everything you do well, you’ve learned how to do and you’ve learned how to improve. The powerful thing is, there is no limit to the new and valuable things you can learn. Though you may not be celebrated as a success in the world’s eye, you are indeed absolutely successful in your own unique ways. Each day, each challenge, each experience, each encounter has made you more knowledgeable, more capable, and more effective. You already have accumulated all sorts of useful skills. And one of the most powerful skills you have is the ability to learn and to perfect even more skills. Consider your skills, make good use of your skills, and grow them into even more skills. Never forget that you are skilled at being skillful, and you can use that skill to successfully follow any purpose that has real meaning for you.

Plan to succeed

Success comes from taking one step after another, with purpose, focus, discipline and persistence. To make your efforts their most effective, put together a plan. To get where you choose to go, you must know clearly where that is. The more precisely you can envision and anticipate the steps along the way, the more successful you’ll be. There are many factors working against you when taking each step along the path to success. One powerful way to facilitate taking the next step is to know what precisely it is. When you have a good, solid plan, the distractions are not as distracting. When you are following your plan, you can more quickly recover from the setbacks. Your plan keeps you focused and connected with your purpose. Having a plan enables you to build powerful, positive momentum in your efforts. Anything that’s worth doing is also worth the time and effort spent to establish a workable plan. Plan to succeed, and you will.

Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.


Jump out of the cocoon

The choice is to be free, to believe in life, to expand beyond the limited aspects that we have created for thousands and thousands, some people say millions of years and to jump out of the cocoon and to trust. The butterfly has to trust, it has never, ever experienced what it's like to fly. It's always been supported in a cocoon. Everything is nice and cozy and there it has to jump out into something that it doesn't know. That's what we are being asked to do. To jump out into the unknown. Not with fear, not with limited, negative thoughts but with beauty, with trust.

~ Tony Samara

Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world. It beats money, power, and influence.
 
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
 
 

Thursday 26 January 2012

THE JOY OF GIVING TO THE SELF




Joy is a state of Mind. Prime Creator who is ever new joy (Sadasiva in Sanskrit -which means -sada -ever, siva- joy) created us in joy. And who we are is joy.  Hence we need nothing to be in joy, for we are joy itself. When we realize that joy is not created as a result of certain conditions, then we understand that when we choose to live from the state of Joy, joyous conditions are created around us! Thus the secret to create joyous conditions around us is to be in the state of joy that the creator made us to be. And never ever loose our joy for anything. Since God is "All that Is", no human is separate from God, and humans are not and cannot be separate from each other. When deep within ourselves we come to this understanding, we know that there is enough for everyone, that everyone is precious and equally blessed. This stops us from competing with one another for love, money or power or anything that we felt that was not enough.
I am reminded of the Native American saying, "In'Lakesh" which means "I am You"!!! This point of understanding changes everything. Instead of competing with others to get what we want, we begin to give what we want away, instead of grasping for power we begin empowering others, instead of struggling for success we make sure that everyone else comes into success. Instead of searching for affection, attention, satisfaction, we find ourselves being the source of these things. And the wonder of it all is that, as we give - so do we receive, the Law of the Universe makes sure that we have more of whatever we are giving away!!! This has to do with the simple truth "In'Lakesh - I am You". The reason that I am in joy and loving and giving has nothing to do with being "Morally right", or " the will of God", but it has everything to do with the truth that "there is Only ONE of Us here".!!! 

~Premlatha Rajkumar~

Acceptance of Earthly life to blend body and soul

Our body is a separate entity, it is not who we are, it is a beautiful priceless tool and a wonderful partner with us on this material plane. It has feelings and it is very very human. Kindness towards our body is very important, every cell of the body is a universe of wisdom . It is true that we all are ascending but our body also comes along with the ascension, because it is with the body that we are going to ground our Spirituality. If we forget to provide sufficiently for the body's needs, we fail to reach the level of compassion for ourself and for others. We need to really help our body to connect with the earth and manifest itself outwardly in a satisfying job, a stable loving human relationship, and material abundance. The worldly job is not mundane; this is the place where we can shine our light, where we can find people, and where people can find us.
Human relationship is the only way through which we evolve as souls; only with normal relationships of the earth can we connect our body and fully anchor our spirituality. Many of us think that money binds us to the lower essence, no it is the one that brings comfort to the earthly body, and only when the body is satisfied and the emotional body healed can the spiritual energy be really anchored in the physical reality! Getting ourselves balanced is very necessary for our Spiritual evolvement. Our body says I must work on this human job, our soul says I want to finish the job I came here to do, and hence there is always a conflict with the body and the soul. It is always wise to provide the comfort of rest and nourishment for the body so that it may blend with the soul and help the soul to fulfill its purpose. The union of body and soul is the holy experience of being the light that we are. All that is on the earth is a manifestation of Mother Earth, and we have come for balance, our acceptance of earthly life will bring healing because as pure souls we know how to bring compassion and non-judgment. When there is non-judgment there is no more dark, everything is a cycle of joyous becoming. For we already know that the light absorbs darkness, there is never a case where light was absorbed by the dark. The true work of Christ is to embrace both the light and dark (earthly joy and heavenly joy), which is pure compassion and transformation in itself. Yes, we have come here to live a wonderful life. As we become kind and loving to our body, our body will work with us to provide all that we need at this time.

THE MIRACLE OF MOTHER CONSCIOUSNESS

I trust in this Truth, that 'every man, woman, and child is the Mother of all Creation'. I discovered this truth as I entered into the journey of ascension.
When I was a child, my playmates were not only other children in the neighborhood but also the rocks, plants, animals and the very ground I walked on. And I loved to carry on a one sided dialogue with everything I came across, for I knew in my heart that everything had life and spirit. It felt good to imagine them talking back to me and imagining their emotions also!

Somewhere in the journey of growing up and absorbing the teachings from outside, and experiencing negativity, pushed this imaginative play out of my space and the moment it left, which I now understand was the beginning of fear. I lived in fear and uncertainty. Then came the time when I married and had my own children, my fear for my loved ones became so intense that every time the children were sick or if my husband was late coming home, my fear-induced mind imagined the worst possible outcomes. I was totally making myself a nervous wreck and at one point when I could take this no more was when I realized that I had to let go my attachment and surrender to God to make myself free from this bondage of fear! That day I understood two powerful things; I came into the knowing that in this world I am just a guardian for my children and their original parent is God, I realized that even though their body came from my womb, their Spirit came from God. I also came to know that God has through Grace given me this position of being a Mother for not only extending it to my children but to all creation!!!The moment I realized these things, the things of my childhood came back to me in a powerful way, my heart started awakening and exploding with the feeling of compassionate love, not the love from fear, but love full of the knowing of well being for all creation. I powerfully felt that I was the mother for every plant, animal, rock, mineral and human!!! Every moment of every day automatically my heart started blessing everything my hands and feet touched, everything my eyes made contact with!!! The experienced was so amazing! Spirit made me come into the understanding that every Man, Woman and Child are given the gift of this Mother Consciousness! As I practiced this my family also practiced and we understood that we are now in a place not as a physical man, woman or child, but as the powerful love beings that have come to love the earth!!! And when we practice this state of being, we come into the total freedom from Fear! Because this State of Being makes us to let go our attachments, help us to fully surrender to the Goodness of God, to trust in the birthright of well being for all, and makes us visionaries of the Highest and Grandest visions for ourselves and for the planet! This feeling simply makes one feel so happy and good all over that love naturally and effortlessly flows, and when we direct this love to the objects or individuals a doorway opens to the infinite power of Spirit. And we find miracles and magic happening, which make the laws of physics seem unnatural. The State of Mother consciousness literally makes you the Magic makers!!! As time went on in the process of practicing this truth, Spirit made me understand this in a very powerful way; this was actually a change in perspective because due to the expansion of consciousness, my brain was connecting more to the heart than to the mind, and I realized that the Mother consciousness is not about the human view of 'Mother-Child', but the Consciousness of 'All is One', which means that everything is an extension of one's own self. I came into the total feeling that there is actually no separateness, every plant, animal, rock, mineral, and human are actually me myself!!! And the more I loved myself and started living in gratitude every moment the meaning of this Truth became more profound in my life! The truth made me understand that I need not be the 'doer from the mind" any more, because the moment we start to do we go into tension and loose our joy which is our birthright as children of God, we just need to let go the attachment to doing, get out of our minds, so to speak, and shift to the place of "being in the State of this Mother consciousness" that is total trust that All is well, and we can see that matter or things arrange themselves wonderfully and fall into place exactly the way we want. If we walk through life with gratitude and the knowledge that 'all is well, all the time' we raise our energy, align and harmonize ourselves with Divinity in the most wonderful and grandest way possible! This state of Oneness or Motherhood towards all of creation makes goodness and harmony to flow spontaneously and effortlessly because we are allowing Divine love and life to flow through our very being and thus to the All!

Premlatha Rajkumar




Energy Awareness Technique

There is a simple technique for bringing your awareness to and releasing some of these energies. Find a quiet place. Turn off the phone, close your door with orders not to be disturbed, lie down and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and locate that tightness, feeling or pain that you have. Really focus on that spot. Just sit with it and try to visualize it. What color would it be? What shape is it? Imagine yourself finding an opening in that colored shape and go inside. What does it feel like. What emotion is in there? Then imagine it talking to you, telling you all about this emotion. Don’t try fixing it or changing it, just listen. Then notice what happens. The color and shape will shift. You are shifting this energy by bringing your awareness to this area of your body. If you still have any pain, stay with the new color. Brownish or muddy colors indicate disharmony. Bright clear colors indicate harmony. By listening to our body and honoring the incredible information that is available, we can really begin to open up to the beautiful souls that we are really meant to be.



Inner being

There is an Inner being whom we can call as the inner Buddha, the inner Christ, or the inner Krishna. This being is pure innocence and the knower of all knowledge. This being resides within each and every one of us. We can never find this being with our logical mind or our five senses. When we shut down the senses and connect with the stillness within, we can feel, hear, and see this being. Following the still voice of this being we embark on our journey into freedom, peace, joy, and wisdom. Taking time to connect with the inner stillness is a powerful practice.


Wednesday 25 January 2012

Live with substance

Make your life mean something. Make your moments count. Don’t merely get by, and don’t just settle for keeping up appearances. Live with substance and live with meaning. It’s easy to get caught up in being trendy and popular, and to think that those things are all that matter. Yet you are capable of so very much more. It’s easy to get discouraged when the little things don’t go your way. But remind yourself that the little disappointments will soon pass, and you’ll have new opportunities for real fulfillment. What you can do with this moment is far more important than the little distractions that come your way. What you can do with your life is far more important than the pains and disappointments that occasionally trouble you. Remember often how truly unique you are, and how precious and powerful your life is. Then, easily, naturally, and joyfully, fill each day and live each moment with meaning and purpose.

Listen to your heart

Listen to your heart, move according to your heart, whatsoever the stake: A condition of complete simplicity costing not less than everything.... To be simple is arduous, because to be simple costs everything that you have. You have to lose all to be simple.That's why people have chosen to be complex and they have forgotten how to be simple. But only a simple heart throbs with God, hand in hand. Only a simple heart sings with God in deep harmony. To reach to that point you will have to find your heart, your own throb, your own beat.
 
 

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Inspire others

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

The greatest good

The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own.

Change and growth

Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.

Enjoy every minute of your life

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savoured.

Being in silence with the self


When you are in silence, being still, in companionship with the Self, then you are in meditation. Meditation is a most powerful, transforming process because it takes you to the place of becoming conscious of being unconscious. We live in extreme unconsciousness, we are triggered by the slightest touch of discord, we immediately react, we lose consciousness when someone irritates us, or when some...one's opinion is not matching our beliefs, or when someone does not do things the way we want them done, we fall into the deep unconsciousness of anger, sadness, depression, darkness.... goes on and on.
Meditation helps us to observe our body and our mind, and it brings the light of knowing that we are neither the body nor the mind and that we are observers of these tools. The more we practice being in silence with the self, the more the light of the Conscious Self shines through. The moment the Conscious Self is born our reality changes. We start responding to life instead of reacting. We then live every moment completely.


The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.

Pure love

Contrary to willpower, which brings into play the ego, intention is animated by the heart and our inner being. It is simply an expression of the pure love we have for all things and for all people. Its reference is not the past or future rather a deep presence to the fullness of life itself. When the ego does not have anything to want, there is no more situation of stress. When there is pure intention, the mind, the body and the breath are released. The more this intention relaxes us, the more we are present to the pure joy and happiness which is a part of all Life and which we should not be seeking outside of ourselves.

Keep going

When you have a long way to go, keep going. When you’ve almost reached the goal, keep going. Success is achieved by those who simply do whatever it takes to keep going. All it ever takes, is taking the next step. When you’re frustrated, make note of your frustration and keep going. When you’re tired and weary, take time out for a little rest, and then keep going. The real joy is in the journey, so give yourself the joy of making that journey. Pick yourself up, again and again, and keep going. You know full well that you can do it, so do it. Remind yourself why you’ve chosen to get there, and keep going. You are a bundle of beautiful and unique possibilities. Keep going, and bring the best of them to life.

What you dislike in another take care to correct in yourself.

Patience

Remain joyous, wait with great love. Everything takes its own time, impatience makes no sense. Patience is the way of existence. Remain relaxed, because the more excited you become the farther away is the goal. The experience is going to happen only when you are utterly silent, just a pool of silence… your whole energy so relaxed, as if it is absent. When you have become just a zero you become a womb. And out of this nothingness is born your original, your authentic reality.

Bliss

Bliss is always something that comes from the beyond; it is always a gift, never an achievement. You cannot be ambitious for it; you can only pray. You cannot desire it; you can only wait. If your waiting is total and your patience is infinite it comes in its own time. And when it comes of its own accord it transforms your whole being. When somehow you manage to bring it, it never comes in the first place, and what comes in its place is something false, manufactured by the mind. Apparently it is bliss, but only apparently: deep inside the torment continues, the nightmare continues. You remain sitting on the volcano; it can empty any moment. But when real peace, real bliss, real silence, descends from the beyond — not that you bring it, but when it comes, showers on you, slowly slowly penetrates and permeates your whole being — you are transformed, you are no more the same person. The old is gone and gone forever. The new has come, and the new knows no death, the new is eternal.

Be in a state of receptivity

The whole emphasis is to remain in a state of receptivity for the unknown to happen to you. Be sensitive, fluid, impressionable, as if some guest is to come and you are waiting. The door is open. Even the breeze passing through the trees or the breeze passing through the dead leaves… you jump to the door. The guest may have come; you are alert. The guest has not come yet. You are simply waiting. In this alertness, one comes to know the ultimate core of reality. The guest never comes really. He is always coming, he is always coming — coming and coming and coming. He is always nearer and nearer and nearer, closer and closer, but he never really comes. You always remain in waiting. This waiting is beautiful. It is bliss — if you can wait. But then you need a very sensitive mind. Mediocre, stupid minds won’t be of any help there. A stupid mind will say, “Now come in; otherwise I am going to close the door and rest. I have waited long.”

Meditation is a state of total relaxation

Meditation is a state of total relaxation; not of concentration, not of contemplation, but of relaxation. When one is so absolutely relaxed that there is no tension either in the body or in the mind, then suddenly there is an opening of the heart. Only in total relaxation does the heart open, it becomes a flower. Without its opening one remains unfulfilled, discontented.

The opening of the heart as a flower is the ultimate ecstasy; there is nothing more than that. One has come to the highest peak, one’s life has blossomed. And that is the meaning of Teresa. Teresa means a reaper, a harvester. When one has come to the blossoming, the flowering, the ripening, then one can reap the crop. Then life is tremendously significant, a gift of god. Otherwise it is just a possibility, and nobody can be blissful with only a possibility. It has to become actual, it has to become a realisation. Being with me means only one thing: learning how to relax. The moment you relax you are in the present. The past is a tension. Relaxation is going beyond time — no past, no future. One simply disappears into the infinity of the now and the here. And that is springtime as far as the inner ripening, flowering, is concerned.

Monday 23 January 2012

Renew your determination

Anyone who has ever made a resolution discovers that the strength of that determination fades in time. The moment you feel that is when you should make a fresh determination. Tell yourself, “OK! I will start again from now!” If you fall down seven times, get up an eighth. Don’t give up when you feel discouraged—just pick yourself up and renew your determination each time.

Hardships polish our life

The important thing is to firmly fix our gaze on our own weaknesses, not run away from them, but to battle them head-on and establish a solid self that nothing can sway. Hardships forge and polish our lives, so that eventually they shine with brilliant fortune and benefit. If left in its raw, unpolished form, even the most magnificent gem will not sparkle. The same applies to our lives.
 

Keep your desires under control

Many people today do not see anything wrong about the strong winning over the weak. This is the Law of the Jungle, but I think such an attitude is foolish because it is mindless. It involves no wisdom, no reasoning, no will. Those who can do no more than follow their instincts have no control over their fate. Along with instinctive desire, we have intelligence, conscience, the ability to love, and a sense of compassion. It is the ability to use these powers to satisfy our instinctive desires, while yet keeping them under control, that distinguishes us as human beings.

Desires

We are born with many instinctive desires, including the most vital one, which is the basic desire to live. Since desires are necessary to the maintenance of human life, they are in that sense beneficial. But simply to pursue desires with no higher aim is to become a slave to desire, and this can lead only to misfortune for oneself and others.

Attachments

The fundamental cause of people’s unhappiness lies in their tendency to develop attachments of various kinds. Attachments are fetters on one’s heart—earthly desires, cravings and so on. In the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings, Shakyamuni taught people the path for freeing themselves from such attachments. The spirit of the Lotus Sutra, however, is not to eradicate earthly desires. When we base ourselves on the Buddhist Law, we can transform earthly desires—just as they are—into enlightenment. This is the principle of “earthly desires are enlightenment.” It’s not a matter of eradicating attachments but of seeing them clearly. Rather than causing us to abandon our earthly desires and attachments, our Buddhist practice enables us to discern their true nature and utilize them as the driving force to become happy. The truth is that we could not in fact eradicate our attachments even if we so wished.

Create

From the possibilities, you can create. From those things you create, come many more possibilities. You can take what is, and make it into what has never been before. Starting with just an idea, you can create objects, expressions, and experiences that flow from that idea. With what you are able to create, you can make a positive and meaningful difference in the world. With what you create, you can bring great fulfillment to your own life and to the lives of those around you. The amazing ability to create is an ability that has no limit. No matter how much value you’ve already created, there is always more for you to create. In an endless process of creation, life is always renewing itself. With your life, you can do the same. With your time, with your thoughts, with your efforts and resources, create. There’s always a way to bring more meaning and richness to life.

The Buddha nature


If you want to catch a rat
You don't need a fancy cat
If you want to learn the principles
Don't study fine bound books
The True Pearl's in a hemp sack
The Buddha nature rests in huts
Many grasp the sack
But few open it.

Sunday 22 January 2012

You are unique!

Make today blossom in the manner most appropriate to the person you uniquely are!

Viewing life with our heart

Unless we view things with our heart, we can see nothing. If we look at the world with a love of life, the world will reveal its beauty to us.

Weakness

Ultimately, it is not difficult circumstances that defeat one, but one’s own weakness.

Envy

So many of life’s conflicts find their origin and cause in envy. Envy ruins and destroys people’s hearts.
 

A joyful challenge

Those who face adversity with hope and the willingness to try their very best don’t consider the process painful. People who exert themselves to the fullest and tackle each problem as it arises don’t really experience hardships as such; they instead see everything as a joyful challenge.

Take the first step

Everything begins with the resolve to take the first step. From that action, wisdom arises and change begins. Without action, nothing changes.


Strive to win

If you failed yesterday, strive to win today. If you were defeated today, strive to win tomorrow.