Life 31 (Oct 18 - Jan 19)

Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:02 am

We’ve often seen some people being very active and spiritually oriented, who later lose their way. Why does it happen and how should we do avoid such pitfalls?

In order to live up to the high standards of morality, you must cultivate love, nonviolence, fortitude and equanimity.

The last three guard and foster the first. Many people have succeeded with the help of the latter three qualities, to get their minds established in Universal love!

Indeed, quite a large number of spiritual aspirants have also given up their spiritual ascent midway because they lose confidence in their true selves.

The first faint whisper of doubt disheartens them and they slide back into a life of sensual satisfactions. They lose faith in the Divine who is the Embodiment of Love and is their real sustenance.

Spiritual Practices alone can steel people to forge ahead on the spiritual path. The wise are buoyed up by the bliss of their genuine awareness.

Hang on, persist in your sadhana, have faith in yourself and derive strength and joy only from the Divine!

- Divine Discourse, Jun 6, 1978 (SSS Vol 14, Ch 4).

Depression, doubt, conceit - these are obstacles to the spiritual aspirant.

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

Postby winston » Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:04 am

Beyond all experiencing

Understanding of the self requires a great deal of intelligence, a great deal of watchfulness, alertness, watching ceaselessly, so that it does not slip away.

I, who am very earnest, want to dissolve the self. When I say that, I know it is possible to dissolve the self.

Please be patient. The moment I say “I want to dissolve this,” and in the process I follow for the dissolution of that, there is the experiencing of the self; and so, the self is strengthened.

So, how is it possible for the self not to experience? One can see that creation is not at all the experience of the self.

Creation is when the self is not there, because creation is not intellectual, is not of the mind, is not self-projected, is something beyond all experiencing, as we know it.

Is it possible for the mind to be quite still, in a state of non-recognition, which is, non-experiencing, to be in a state in which creation can take place—which means, when the self is not there, when the self is absent? Am I making myself clear or not?...

The problem is this, is it not? Any movement of the mind, positive or negative, is an experience which actually strengthens the “me”. Is it possible for the mind not to recognize?

That can only take place when there is complete silence, but not the silence which is an experience of the self and which therefore strengthens the self.

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

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:30 am

Perception of truth is immediate

The verbal state has been carefully built up through centuries, in relation between the individual and society; so the word, the verbal state is a social state as well as an individual state.

To communicate as we are doing, I need memory, I need words, I must know English, and you must know English; it has been acquired through centuries upon centuries.

The word is not only being developed in social relationships, but also as a reaction in that social relationship to the individual; the word is necessary.

The question is: it has taken so long, centuries upon centuries, to build up the symbolical, the verbal state, and can that be wiped away immediately?...

Through time are we going to get rid of the verbal imprisonment of the mind, which has been built up for centuries? Or must it break immediately?

Now, you may say, “It must take time, I can’t do it immediately.” This means that you must have many days, this means a continuity of what has been, though it is modified in the process, till you reach a stage where there is no further to go.

Can you do that? Because we are afraid, we are lazy, we are indolent, we say “Why bother about all this? It is too difficult”; or “I do not know what to do”—so you postpone, postpone, postpone.

But you have to see the truth of the continuation and the modification of the word. The perception of the truth of anything is immediate—not in time.

Can the mind break through instantly, on the very questioning? Can the mind see the barrier of the word, understand the significance of the word in a flash and be in that state when the mind is no longer caught in time? You must have experienced this; only it is a very rare thing for most of us.

The Book of Life, May 20, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Thu Jan 10, 2019 4:27 pm

Why is it supremely important to develop forbearance and remove the pest of envy from our minds and hearts?

Forbearance endows you with strength to face the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

A person without forbearance, easily succumbs to reverses and difficulties.

Together with truth and forbearance, you must cultivate freedom from jealousy too.

Envy is like the pest that attacks the root of a tree. Envy can destroy your entire life.

We enjoy many things in life - knowledge, wealth, position, power, etc. But if the virus of envy enters our minds, it will pollute everything.

Never give place to envy even in the smallest matter. If a fellow-student scores more marks than you, do not feel envious. If others do better than you, feel happy for them, rather than allow yourself to be consumed by envy.

If someone is better dressed than yourself or is more wealthy, you should feel that they are enjoying what they have and you should be content and happy with what you have.

To be free from envy is truly divine.

- Divine Discourse, Dec 30, 1983.

To resurrect love and compassion, you must kill jealousy and selfishness and purify your heart.

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

Postby winston » Thu Jan 10, 2019 4:30 pm

A passionate mind is inquiring

Obviously there must be passion, and the question is how to revive that passion.

Do not let us misunderstand each other. I mean passion in every sense, not merely sexual passion which is a very small thing.

And most of us are satisfied with that because every other passion has been destroyed—in the office, in the factory, through following a certain job, routine, learning techniques—so there is no passion left; there is no creative sense of urgency and release.

Therefore, sex becomes important to us, and there we get lost in petty passion which becomes an enormous problem to the narrow, virtuous mind, or else it soon becomes a habit and dies.

I am using the word passion as a total thing. A passionate man who feels strongly is not satisfied merely with some little job—whether it be the job of a prime minister, or of a cook, or what you will.

A mind that is passionate is inquiring, searching, looking, asking, demanding, not merely trying to find for its discontent some object in which it can fulfill itself and go to sleep.

A passionate mind is groping, seeking, breaking through, not accepting any tradition; it is not a decided mind, not a mind that has arrived, but it is a young mind that is ever arriving.

The Book of Life, April 27, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:29 am

What is the benefit that can be drawn from participation in sports?

The observance of morality in daily life, the divinisation of all actions and thoughts, and adherence to ideals - all these constitute culture.

Indian Culture is a combination of purity, divinity, sublimity and beauty. This combination is best reflected in sports and games.

Although there may be differences among nations in their food and recreational habits, the spirit of harmony and unity displayed in sports is a gratifying example to all.

It is a distinctive quality of sports that differences are forgotten and persons engage in games in a divine spirit of friendliness and camaraderie.

Sports help the players not only to improve their health but also to experience joy. Students must not be content with realising these benefits alone.

Equally essential, is to promote purity of the mind and develop large heartedness.

True humanness blossoms only when your body, mind and spirit are developed harmoniously.

Reflect the enthusiasm and effort you display in sports in the spheres of morality and spirituality as well.

- Divine Discourse, Jan 14, 1990.

The spirit of unity and harmony displayed in sports and games is a gratifying example to all.

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

Postby winston » Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:16 am

Love, I assure you, is passion

You cannot be sensitive if you are not passionate. Do not be afraid of that word passion.

Most religious books, most gurus, swamis, leaders, and all the rest of them, say, “Don’t have passion.”

But if you have no passion, how can you be sensitive to the ugly, to the beautiful, to the whispering leaves, to the sunset, to a smile, to a cry?

How can you be sensitive without a sense of passion in which there is abandonment?

Sirs, please listen to me, and do not ask how to acquire passion. I know you are all passionate enough in getting a good job, or hating some poor chap, or being jealous of someone; but I am talking of something entirely different—a passion that loves.

Love is a state in which there is no “me”; love is a state in which there is no condemnation, no saying that sex is right or wrong, that this is good and something else is bad. Love is none of these contradictory things.

Contradiction does not exist in love. And how can one love if one is not passionate? Without passion, how can one be sensitive?

To be sensitive is to feel your neighbor sitting next to you; it is to see the ugliness of the town with its squalor, its filth, its poverty, and to see the beauty of the river, the sea, the sky.

If you are not passionate, how can you be sensitive to all that? How can you feel a smile, a tear? Love, I assure you, is passion.

The Book of Life, April 26, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Sun Jan 13, 2019 7:55 am

What is an important lesson that young men and women must learn?

Youth today are in great need of good company. By associating with people who use bad language and indulge in unholy deeds, youth take to bad ways.

You should totally eschew bad company of every kind. You need a lamp to find a way through a dark jungle.

Likewise, in the jungle of life, you need the light and guidance of good individuals to keep you company on the right path and to lead you to the right goal.

Even a bad person, in association with the good, gets reformed. But a good person, falling into bad company, becomes bad.

If you add one litre of milk to ten litres of water, milk is so diluted that it becomes valueless. But one litre of water added to ten litres of milk acquires higher value.

When you cultivate friendship, ensure that you join a group of those who are good in their speech, behaviour and actions. Maintain only normal relations with others.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 19, 1987.

Youth is the stage in life when the slightest turn towards wrong will spell disaster.

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

Postby winston » Sun Jan 13, 2019 7:59 am

Cessation of anger

We have all, I am sure, tried to subdue anger but somehow that does not seem to dissolve it. Is there a different approach to dissipate anger?...

Anger may spring from physical or psychological causes. One is angry, perhaps, because one is thwarted, one’s defensive reactions are being broken down, or one’s security which has been carefully built up is being threatened, and so on.

We are all familiar with anger. How is one to understand and dissolve anger? If you consider that your beliefs, concepts, opinions, are of the greatest importance, then you are bound to react violently when questioned.

Instead of clinging to beliefs, opinions, if you begin to question whether they are essential to one’s comprehension of life, then through the understanding of its causes there is the cessation of anger.

Thus, one begins to dissolve one’s own resistances which cause conflict and pain. This again requires earnestness. We are used to controlling ourselves for sociological or religious reasons or for convenience, but to uproot anger requires deep awareness...

You say you are angry when you hear of injustice. Is it because you love humanity, because you are compassionate? Do compassion and anger dwell together?

Can there be justice when there is anger, hatred? You are perhaps angry at the thought of general injustice, cruelty, but your anger does not alter injustice or cruelty; it can only do harm.

To bring about order, you yourself have to be thoughtful, compassionate. Action born of hatred can only create further hatred. There can be no righteousness where there is anger. Righteousness and anger cannot dwell together.

The Book of Life, July 19, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
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Re: Life 31 (Oct 18 - Feb 19)

Postby winston » Mon Jan 14, 2019 8:22 am

As the Sun starts the journey towards North from tomorrow, what is the important lesson we must introspect upon?

The northward movement of the Sun is considered highly significant, both spiritually and scientifically.

The significant inner spiritual meaning of the Sun's northward journey must be properly understood.

North is represented by the Himachalas (Himalayas). Hima means snow. It is pure, untainted and extremely cool. Achala means that which is steady and unshakeable.

Himachala does not refer to the physical Himalayan region. It represents that which is cool, peaceful and steady. All these endows one with the quality of perfect peace.

From today the Sun is moving towards such a state. The Sun symbolizes the vision of man. The northward movement of the Sun is a call to human beings to turn their vision towards that which is cool, peaceful and unchanging.

The lesson you must learn is that you should direct your vision inwards.

- Divine Discourse, Jan 14, 1994.

The best spiritual discipline is: strengthen the inward vision.

Source: radiosai.org
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