Life 41 (Oct 21 - Jan 22)

[winston]

How to earn the Divine’s grace in full measure? Is it through acts of worship or service?

Do as much as you can, as quickly as you can. If you cannot do any good, at least desist from doing harm; or from finding fault with those who serve you.

Know that seva 9service) is a better form of sadhana (spiritual effort) than even dhyana (meditation);

How can the Divine appreciate the dhyana (meditation) you do, when adjacent to you, you have someone in agony, whom you do not treat kindly, for whom you do not make all efforts to help?

Do not keep yourself apart, intent on your own salvation, through japa (repetition of a mantra) or dhyana (meditation).

Move among people, looking for opportunities to help but have the name of the Divine on the tongue and the form of the Divine before the eye of the mind. That is the highest sadhana (spiritual practice).

Divine in the heart! Work in hand! Proceed in that spirit. The Divine's Grace will be showered on you, in full measure.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 01, 1970.

The best way to love the Divine is to love all, serve all.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Revealing Your Heart

No one faces your past for you or makes your choices for you.

It is not always easy—but if what we really want is deep understanding, we have to go there, into our own struggle.

No one can reveal my heart to myself but myself.

— Sallie Jiko Tisdale, “Alone on the Bodhisattva Path”

[winston]

What should a sincere seeker do with trained eyes, to discover the Divine through His footprints?

Outwardly, verses that describe the gambols of the child Divine appear to picture objective thing but they have a deep subjective value.

You must use the objective picture as a flame to light the subjective emotion of devotion.

For example, there is a description about the child Divine overturning the pot of curds and running away with the ball of butter and his Mother discovering His hiding place, by means of the footprints impressed on the floor by the curd smeared soles.

The butter the Divine covets is the fruit of yoga, the final product of the churning of the mind by viveka (discrimination).

He loves to feast upon it; and He moves away with it into the solitude of self-realisation.

We too can discover the Divine through His Footprints, which can be discovered everywhere, provided sincere search is made with trained eyes.

You can find the footprints wherever there is beauty, virtue, humility, justice, truth, love and peace.

The eye has to be trained to discover the footprints of the Divine; this is how the mind has to be mastered.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 25, 1966.

Train the mind strictly to turn inward, towards the Divine, its source; He will look after all your needs.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What is the expedition worthy of dedicating our lives to?

Life is a short play on the stage. This body is like a bubble.

The mind is always fickle. In the Scriptures, it was mentioned that the mind, which is constantly vacillating, is difficult to control. Nevertheless, man has to concentrate on his true destination.

What is this destination, the goal and the aim of life? The Scriptures have made this clear. Our destination is the source from which we came.

As long as the individual is caught up in the phenomenal world, his mind will be unsteady and vacillating.

The Vedic declaration, "He is I" is demonstrated by the inhaling done during breathing. When you exhale and utter "I am He", you are giving up the "I".

This identity will not be understood as long as one is caught up in the tentacles of the material world.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 11, 1983.

Man must turn away from the material to the Divine. Involvement with the mundane should yield place to the quest for Self- realisation.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

You Deserve to Love Yourself

Many of us have complicated and often negative, feelings about ourselves. . . .

When we can see ourselves as just another imperfect human, equally deserving of love as anyone else, it becomes easier to offer love to ourselves.

Kevin Griffin, “May All Beings Be Happy”

[winston]

Be Your Own Boss

If you want to make your own internal experience more hospitable, only you can do that work.

Others can always support and guide you and spark insights but ultimately you are your own boss and the agent of understanding your mind and opening your heart.

Ethan Nichtern, “Awake with Others”

[winston]

As we prepare ourselves for another year, what is the perspective we must arm ourselves with?

Your troubles are often self-created. If you develop firm faith in the Divine and surrender to His Will, He will not fail you. This is the concept of Sharanagati (submission to the Will of the Divine).

The bliss that can be derived from this surrender to the Divine, cannot be got through any other means.

Regard whatever happens to you as something intended for your good. Discover the bliss that can be derived from trials and tribulations.

It is not a sign of true devotion to expect that life should be one unbroken chain of happiness and comfort. Is that true happiness at all?

A sage asked whether happiness lay in the possession of wealth or in the service of the Divine? He found no joy in the acquisition of wealth. He experienced the greatest joy in recognising the omnipresence of the Divine.

Similarly, all devotees should be conscious of the immanence of the Divine in everything and carry on their daily duties as a consecration to the Divine!

- Divine Discourse, Jul 14, 1984.

As close as you are to Him, so close is He to you. If you understand this truth,
then you will realise that He is everywhere.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Let the Present Be Enough

A wonderful result of letting go, is experiencing each moment as being enough, just as it is.

- Gil Fronsdal, “What We Gain When We Learn to Let Go”

[winston]

What must we let go of and what must we develop?

The "I-am-body" consciousness must go, if the "I-am-embodied" consciousness, must emerge.

So long as you are in the dehi (I-am-embodied) consciousness, no pain or grief, pride or egoism can tarnish you.

It is like seawater. Take a small quantity of seawater and keep it separate in a bottle; it will get foul in a few days. But, so long as it was in the sea, nothing could befoul it.

Be in the sea, as part of it; do not separate yourself, do not individualise yourself, do not feel that you are the deha (body), apart from the dehi ('I').

This must be your diksha (steady pursuit). And, the diksha must express itself in actual practice, as nishtha and sikshana.

Nishtha means discipline, control; sikshana means training of the senses, the emotions, etc.

Nashta (food) should be subordinated to Nishtha. The body (deha) is but an instrument to realise the Indweller (dehi).

- Divine Discourse, Jan 29, 1965.

It is only those who identify themselves with the body, that exult or feel pained!

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Feed Your Practice With Joy

Without joy there is no enlightenment. Joy is the fuel, the nourishment, which helps our practice grow strong and stable.

- Pema Düddul, “Awakening to Joy”