Life 30 (Jun 18 - Oct 18)

[winston]

Faith

Do not argue and quarrel amongst yourselves. Examine, experience! Then you will know the truth.

Do not proclaim before you are convinced. Be silent when you are undecided or evaluating.

Of course, you must discard all evil in you before you can attempt to evaluate the mystery.

And when faith dawns, fence it around with discipline and self-control, so that the tender shoot might be guarded against the goats and cattle - the motley crowd of cynics and unbelievers.

When your faith grows into a big tree, those very cattle can lie down in the shade that it will offer!

- Divine Discourse, Feb 23, 1958.

Engage yourselves in good deeds, good company, and good thoughts. Fix your attention on the goal.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why shouldn’t one have pleasure?

You see a beautiful sunset, a lovely tree, a river that has a wide, curving movement, or a beautiful face, and to look at it gives great pleasure, delight.

What is wrong with that? It seems to me the confusion and the misery begin when that face, that river, that cloud, that mountain becomes a memory, and this memory then demands a greater continuity of pleasure; we want such things repeated.

We all know this. I have had a certain pleasure, or you have had a certain delight in something, and we want it repeated. Whether it be sexual, artistic, intellectual, or something not quite of this character, we want it repeated—and I think that is where pleasure begins to darken the mind and create values which are false, not actual.

What matters is to understand pleasure, not try to get rid of it—that is too stupid. Nobody can get rid of pleasure. But to understand the nature and the structure of pleasure is essential; because if life is only pleasure, and if that is what one wants, then with pleasure go the misery, the confusion, the illusions, the false values which we create, and therefore there is no clarity.

The Book of Life, April 5, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Out of perception comes energy

The problem is, surely, to free the mind totally, so that it is in a state of awareness which has no border, no frontier. And how is the mind to discover that state? How is it to come to that freedom?

I hope you are seriously putting this question to yourselves because I am not putting it to you. I am not trying to influence you; I am merely pointing out the importance of asking oneself this question.

The verbal asking of the question by another has no meaning if you don’t put it to yourself with instance, with urgency.

The margin of freedom is growing narrower every day, as you must know if you are at all observant.

The politicians, the leaders, the priests, the newspapers and books you read, the knowledge you acquire, the beliefs you cling to—all this is making the margin of freedom more and more narrow.

If you are aware of this process going on, if you actually perceive the narrowness of the spirit, the increasing slavery of the mind, then you will find that out of perception comes energy; and it is this energy born of perception that is going to shatter the petty mind, the respectable mind, the mind that goes to the temple, the mind that is afraid.

So perception is the way of truth.

The Book of Life, October 12, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Why should we persist in our spiritual practices without giving up?

Do not get discouraged that you are not able to concentrate for long when you meditate, or progress much spiritually.

When you learn to ride a bicycle, you do not get the skill of keeping the balance immediately.

You push the cycle along to an open ground, hop and skip, leaning now to one side and now to the other, and even terribly failing with the cycle falling upon you on many an attempt, before you are able to ride with skill.

But once you get it, you never again have to worry about the balance. Automatically, you are able to make the necessary adjustments to correct the balance, is it not?

After getting this skill, you can ride even through narrow streets and lanes; you do not need an open road. You can negotiate your vehicle through the most crowded thoroughfares.

So too, consistent and steady practice will equip you with a concentration that will sustain you in the densest of surroundings and the most difficult situations.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 23, 1958.

Service broadens your vision, widens your awareness and deepens your compassion.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why should we care for the physical body even though we know we are not the body?

Be careful about your physical health too. Satisfy the demands of nature; the car must be given the petrol that it needs. Otherwise, your head might reel and your eyes might get blurred through sheer exhaustion.

How can thoughts of the Divine be stabilised in a weak frame? Only, do not forget the purpose of this body when you are tending to it.

A road-roller is fed with oil, coal and other types of fuel. But why is it kept in good trim? In order to mend the road, is it not?

Similarly, remember that you have come embodied so that you might realise the end of this cycle of birth and death. For that sake, use the body as an instrument.

Flying hither and thither, higher and higher, the bird has at last to perch on a tree for rest. So too, even the richest and the most powerful seek rest and peace (shanti). Peace can be got only in one shop - inner reality.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 23, 1958.

The Divine is Love, Peace and Strength.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Reality is in what is

Instead of asking who has realized or what God is, why not give your whole attention and awareness to what is? Then you will find the unknown, or rather it will come to you.

If you understand what is the known, you will experience that extraordinary silence which is not induced, not enforced, that creative emptiness in which alone reality can enter.

It cannot come to that which is becoming, which is striving; it can only come to that which is being, which understands what is. Then you will see that reality is not in the distance; the unknown is not far off; it is in what is.

As the answer to a problem is in the problem, so reality is in what is; if we can understand it, then we shall know truth.

The Book of Life, August 22, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Mahatma Gandhi is remembered for his practice of Truth and Non-Violence. What is another important lesson we can learn from him and what was the source of that virtue?

Gandhi’s mother was a strict disciplinarian and very pure hearted. As the saying goes, “As is the king, so are the subjects".

She had a maidservant named Rambha, who followed her values and looked after the children with love and care.

One day, little Gandhi came running to Rambha and told that he was haunted by fear. Rambha told him, “My dear one, where is the need to fear when the all-protecting Divine is with us always. Recite the Divine's name whenever you are fear- stricken.”

From then onwards, Gandhi chanted the name of the Divine and as you all know, he chanted it until his last breath.

Can we ever find such noble-hearted women today? See the impact she had on the little child! It is because of such noble hearted women and mothers that young children took to the path of righteousness.

- Divine Discourse, Nov 19, 2000.

Source: radiosai.org

[behappyalways]

2018.09.29【文茜世界周報】寒門出才女　北大學霸「感謝貧窮」引論戰
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDkbt0n ... -pKgdwMSAU

3 months homeless, 7 years as single mom living in rental flat, S’porean lady is now her own boss
https://mothership.sg/2018/09/liyana-dh ... interview/

[winston]

What causes suffering in an individual?

People suffer because they have unreasonable desires, they pine to fulfill them, and they fail.

They attach too much value to the objective world. It is only when attachment increases that you suffer pain and grief.

If you look upon nature and all created objects with the insight derived from the Inner Vision, then attachment will slide away, though effort will remain; you will also see everything much clearer and with a glory suffused with Divinity and splendour.

Attachment to nature has limits, but attachment to the Divine that you develop when the inner eye opens, has no limit. Enjoy that Reality.

The Divine is the Immanent Power in everything. The moon is reflected in a pot, provided it has water; so too, the Divine can be clearly seen in your heart, provided you have the water of love (prema) in it.

When the Divine is not reflected in your heart, it only means you don’t love him enough.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 2, 1958.

The soul is not the object of intellect; it is the very source and spring of the intellect.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Happiness vs. gratification

What is it that most of us are seeking? What is it that each one of us wants?

Especially in this restless world, where everybody is trying to find some kind of peace, some kind of happiness, a refuge, surely it is important to find out, isn’t it?, what it is that we are trying to seek, what it is that we are trying to discover?

Probably most of us are seeking some kind of happiness, some kind of peace; in a world that is ridden with turmoil, wars, contention, strife, we want a refuge where there can be some peace. I think that is what most of us want.

So we pursue, go from one leader to another, from one religious organization to another, from one teacher to another.

Now, is it that we are seeking happiness or is it that we are seeking gratification of some kind from which we hope to derive happiness? There is a difference between happiness and gratification.

Can you seek happiness? Perhaps you can find gratification but surely you cannot find happiness. Happiness is derivative; it is a by-product of something else. So, before we give our minds and hearts to something which demands a great deal of earnestness, attention, thought, care, we must find out, must we not?, what it is that we are seeking; whether it is happiness, or gratification?

The Book of Life, July 1, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com