Life 31 (Oct 18 - Jan 19)

Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Wed Dec 12, 2018 1:50 pm

Can a human being change?

One must have asked oneself, I’m quite sure, whether one changes at all.

I know that outward circumstances change; we marry, divorce, have children; there is death, a better job, the pressure of new inventions, and so on.

Outwardly, there is a tremendous revolution going on in cybernetics and automation. One must have asked oneself whether it is at all possible for one to change at all, not in relation to outward events, not a change that is a mere repetition or a modified continuity, but a radical revolution, a total mutation of the mind.

When one realizes, as one must have noticed within oneself, that actually one doesn’t change, one gets terribly depressed, or one escapes from oneself.

So the inevitable question arises, can there be change at all?

We go back to a period when we were young, and that comes back to us again. Is there change at all in human beings? Have you changed at all?

Perhaps there has been a modification on the periphery. But deeply, radically, have you changed? Perhaps we do not want to change, because we are fairly comfortable...

I want to change. I see that I am terribly unhappy, depressed, ugly, violent, with an occasional flash of something other than the mere result of a motive; and I exercise my will to do something about it.

I say I must be different, I must drop this habit, that habit; I must think differently; I must act in a different way; I must be more this and less that.

One makes a tremendous effort and at the end of it one is still shoddy, depressed, ugly, brutal, without any sense of quality. So one then asks oneself if there is change at all. Can a human being change?

The Book of Life, October 29, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Wed Dec 12, 2018 2:01 pm

Which class of devotion do we belong to?

How long can you stagnate in the same class of devotion? Have you no wish to get promoted to the next higher class?

In devotion (Bhakti), there are two classes, Sahaja-bhakti and Vishesha-bhakti.

Sahaja-bhakti is satisfied with puja (worship), vrata (observing ritual worship), bhajan, namasmaran, (group singing, remembrance of Divine), pilgrimage, etc.

Visesha-bhakti craves for purity of character, suppression of impulses, control of the mind, practice of daya, prema, shanti, ahimsa (compassion, love, peace and nonviolence), etc., and inquiry into the why and wherefore of man.

It is a matter of shame that people stick to the same class of sahaja-bhakti year in and year out.

When you clear these two, there is another higher class named Para Bhakti (Seeing Divine everywhere), too.

Cleverness can correct and solve external problems; concentrated sadhana alone can correct and solve the internal crisis fuming within.

- Divine Discourse, Jan 14, 1967.

Be like the tongue in the midst of the teeth which carefully, confidently and courageously goes about its task, without getting bitten.

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Thu Dec 13, 2018 9:26 am

Free at the beginning

If we can understand the compulsion behind our desire to dominate or to be dominated, then perhaps we can be free from the crippling effects of authority.

We crave to be certain, to be right, to be successful, to now; and this desire for certainty, for permanence, builds up within ourselves the authority of personal experience, while outwardly it creates the authority of society, of the family, of religion, and so on. But merely to ignore authority, to shake off its outward symbols, is of very little significance.

To break away from one tradition and conform to another, to leave this leader and follow that, is but a superficial gesture.

If we are to be aware of the whole process of authority, if we are to see the inwardness of it, if we are to understand and transcend the desire for certainty, then we must have extensive awareness and insight, we must be free, not at the end, but at the beginning.

The Book of Life, January 18, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Thu Dec 13, 2018 9:48 am

What is the surest way to overcome enmity, hatred and jealousy?

When you step into a house and on the walls of the shrine room you see a picture of the Divine, do you not feel a wave of reverence and kinship surging within you?

You may not like that person for any other reason, but this picture will bring them closer to you though the owner of the house may be your rival in the professional field.

Even the person, whom you were treating as your worst adversary, has the same self light in their innermost heart as yours.

Know that every other person has in their heart of hearts a picture of the Divine you revere. Recognise it and reconcile your misunderstandings; close up all gaps and be brothers and sisters in pilgrimage, encouraging and inspiring each other along the arduous road.

In the glory of that all-enveloping Light, all hate and envy, which are the evil progeny of darkness, will vanish. Know that the same light is in all.

- Divine Discourse, Jan 22, 1967.

All are One, Be alike to Everyone.

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:18 am

You should not limit your meditation to only in the morning or only in the evening: you should do it any time, all the time.

Practice time is always now—it’s never in the future.

—Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, “Do Nothing”
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:19 am

Preoccupations

What’s the world? [It’s] any preoccupation that gets you stirred up, that disturbs you right now…

If it arises in the mind, make yourself understand: The world is nothing but a preoccupation. Preoccupations obscure the mind so that it can’t see itself.

—Ajahn Chah, “The Last Gift”
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:20 am

Perhaps the greatest irony of healing is that it occurs when we accept our felt experience, rather than rely on willpower or focused effort to get rid of the unwanted.

—Josh Korda, “A Safe Container for Fear”
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:37 am

The Buddha taught that true happiness, or fulfillment, is independent of outer causes and conditions.

So for Buddhists, the pursuit of happiness involves training in looking inward.

—Pamela Gayle White, “The Pursuit of Happiness”
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Fri Dec 14, 2018 8:27 am

Why isn’t our spiritual practices helping us raise ourselves spiritually?

You engage in Bhajan (congregational chant), puja (worship) and dhyana (meditation) - these are but physical exercises.

Ask yourself - Am I able to sublimate my small sadhana (spiritual effort) for a higher purpose? Is my heart vibrating in them?

If not, you remain at the human level and are not rising to the state of the Divine.

‘Can the lake be filled when there is only a sprinkle of rain? Can thirst be relieved, when saliva gets in? Can the belly be full, if one’s breath is held tight? Can live cinders be secured by the burning of blades of grass?’ - asks a poet.

Logs have to be burned if charcoal is needed; only sheets of rain can fill a lake to the brim; a glass of cold water alone can cure a person of thirst, nothing less.

Offer your heart in full. Devotion must fill and overflow from the heart.

- Divine Discourse, Jan 8, 1983.

Wear the garland of gems of devotion around your neck and saturate your thought, word and deed with pure Love.

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Fri Dec 14, 2018 8:31 am

Understanding suffering

Why do we enquire “what is happiness?” Is that the right approach? Is that the right probing?

We are not happy. If we were happy, our world would be entirely different; our civilization, our culture would be wholly, radically different.

We are unhappy human beings, petty, miserable, struggling, vain, surrounding ourselves with useless, futile things, satisfied with petty ambitions, with money, and position.

We are unhappy beings, though we may have knowledge, though we may have money, rich houses, plenty of children, cars, experience.

We are unhappy, suffering, human beings, and because we are suffering, we want happiness, and so we are led away by those who promise this happiness, social, economic or spiritual...

What is the good of my asking if there is happiness when I am suffering? Can I understand suffering? That is my problem, not how to be happy.

I am happy when I am not suffering, but the moment I am conscious of it, it is not happiness... So, I must understand what is suffering.

Can I understand what is suffering when a part of my mind is running away seeking happiness, seeking a way out of this misery?

So must I not, if I am to understand suffering, be completely one with it, not reject it, not justify it, not condemn it, not compare it, but completely be with it and understand it?

The truth of what is happiness will come if I know how to listen. I must know how to listen to suffering; if I can listen to suffering I can listen to happiness because that is what I am.

The Book of Life, July 7, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
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