Life 6 (Jan 10 - Mar 10)

[winston]

You are valuable. You are loved. You are enough.

You are VALUABLE. You are LOVED. You are ENOUGH.

Have you felt this today?
Have you told yourself this today?
Has anyone told you this today?

Do you know this?

You ARE valuable. You ARE loved. You ARE enough.

How can you NOT know this?

Just close your eyes for a moment, go within and find that place within you that knows this is true. If it doesn't come to you immediately, feel for it. Sit in the silence and feel around for this truth. It's only because you haven't been practicing the feeling place of this that it seems difficult to find. It's only because you have been denying this about yourself, not listening to the voice within, that it seems difficult to believe.

You don't have to be, do or have anything more in order for this to be true. It is enough that you are YOU.

YOU are valuable. YOU are loved. YOU are enough.

Exactly as you are, right here, right now.

Sit and ponder those statements. Simply repeat them in your mind, in your body, in your being. Let them sink deeper into your knowing. If you listen, you may hear the thunderous roar of your inner being shouting back at you, "YES! YES! YES!" or you may feel a subtle urge, a gentle tap of knowing that whispers, "Yes, of course you are, of course you are."

YOU ARE VALUABLE.
YOU ARE LOVED.
YOU ARE ENOUGH.

Source: followyoursoul.com

[winston]

Why should we focus fully in transforming ourselves and not have a half-hearted approach?

If a tree has to be destroyed, there is no use trying to kill it by plucking its leaves one by one. It takes too long a time and, besides, it may not work.

The ancient seers realized that this was true even with respect to eliminating bad qualities within us and hence focused their spiritual practices and energies to transform themselves completely.

They also won the grace of the Divine. If intelligence alone is sharpened without the cultivation and practice of virtues and the brain becomes a mere storehouse of information, the world cannot progress; its welfare will be in jeopardy.

That education alone is beneficial which gives full scope for the blossoming of all virtues that distinguish a human from an animal.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

what is it that makes the mind superficial?

Now, what is it that makes the mind superficial? Please don't merely listen to me, but observe, be aware of your own thinking when a question like that is put to you.

What makes the mind superficial? Why cannot the mind experience something that is true, beyond its own projections? Is it not primarily the gratification that each one is seeking that makes the mind superficial?

We want at any price to be gratified, to find satisfaction, so we seek methods to achieve that end. And is there such a thing as gratification, ever? Though we may be temporarily satisfied, and change the object of our satisfaction depending on our age, is there satisfaction at any time?

Desire is constantly seeking to fulfill itself, so we go from one satisfaction to another, and getting caught in each new satisfaction, with all its complications, we again become dissatisfied and try to disentangle ourselves.

We cling to persons, pursue teachers, join groups, read books, take up one philosophy after another, but the central desire is always the same: to be satisfied, to be secure, to become somebody, to achieve a result, to gain an end.

Is not that whole process one of the primary causes of the mind's superficiality?

The Collected Works "Krishnamurti" by Pupul Jayakar

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Life itself has no system

Life itself has no system, for it is always in movement; always growing and striving. To systemize it, therefore, is to bind it and so negate its vital quality.

For this reason pure reason can never understand; nor can its anti-thesis, which is pure sentiment, ever understand.

Strength is needed for understanding, but sentimentality is always weak.

J. Krishnamurti Early Works, circa 1930

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Change

Change offers us the opportunity to get out of our old routines and to re-invent ourselves and our lives.

Here are some helpful tips for riding the waves of change:

* Maintain healthy habits like working out, to help you feel centered and grounded.
* Journal every day to assist with processing and integrating your feelings and experiences.
* Allow yourself time and space to grieve so you can let go and move forward.
* Ask for support. You don’t have to do it alone!
* Create intentions for your new life. What do you want to experience? How do you want to feel? Write your intentions down and review them periodically.
* Be gentle, compassionate, loving and patient with yourself during the process, as it takes time to adjust to change!


Change, when initiated as a means of improving our lives, can be very gratifying opening new doors and possibilities. The key to allowing change to elevate us is in being totally present and fully engaged during the process, while also relaxing, letting go and going with the flow.

Source: Creative Transformation

[winston]

Can we ever overcome the baggage of grief that we carry and experience every single day?

Clay alone is real. How can a pot exist without clay? How can an effect exist separate from its cause?

To the wise, it is the Divine Self that permeates everything and everyone. When such wisdom dawns, the darks shadows of the three types of Karma namely: Agama Karma (the consequences of our actions which are yet to come), Prarabdha Karma (the consequences of our current actions) and Sanchitha Karma (consequences of cumulative actions from the past) will flee away from you, making you pure and free!

For, the will of the Divine has no limits or exceptions. Resolve through your spiritual practices that you must win the Grace of the Divine. Do not be discouraged on any score.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

The one to be scrutinised is yourself.

It is futile to waste time over what another is thinking, or what you imagine he is thinking - because you can never know. The one to be scrutinised is yourself.

J. Krishnamurti Early Works, circa 1930


Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Why should we persist on our spiritual practices, every single day, and work on improving ourselves?

If you try to bring back to your memory at bedtime, the events of the day, everything that happened, you will recall only those events, which are meaningful, those that are deeply embedded within you.

The rest of the insignificant events turn hazy, recede and disappear from memory.

Be comforted with the firm faith that the suffering and travails of this world are illusory and transitory.

Fix your mind firmly on this great fact and set out bravely on the path of spiritual practice, on a continuous journey of devotion to the Divine.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

A different mind

In the confusion and turmoil of life, in its continual bustle and conflict, every individual is caught.

To understand the meaning of it, one must first grapple with it intellectually and afterwards put one's intellectual theories into practice...

And since thought comes first, it very necessary that it should be true thought.

Therefore you must approach the problem with a clear synthetic mind, free from prejudice, vanity and superstition - a mind that is willing to probe to the real root of things and not merely to skim the surface.

J. Krishnamurti Early Works, circa 1930

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

What is the purpose of "Holy Night"? What should we do on this special occasion?

Every night is marked by darkness. But tonight it is the holy night.

What is the difference between night and "holy night"? For the man who has recognized his divinity, every night is "holy night". For the man immersed in worldly concerns, all nights are the same. That night is marked by darkness. Anyway, this night is marked by light.

Spirituality is the lighthouse that spreads light for the man who is full of despair, immersed in insatiable desires. The name of the Divine is the lighthouse. By chanting the name, the bearer of the name can be realized.

To recognize the omnipresence of the Divine is the purpose of observing "holy night". This purpose is not served by fasting and keeping awake through the night. These are mere auxiliaries to what is considered the ultimate goal.

But Divine-realization should not be put off to some distant future. It has to be taken up here and now. That is the purpose of "holy-night".

Source: radiosai.org