Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:29 am

Why should we welcome difficulties and tests?

Look with an equal mind on good fortune and misfortune, on happiness and sorrow, loss and gain.

These are products of nature like heat and cold, summer and winter. They have their purposes to serve.

Similarly the ups and downs of life have lessons to teach us. In fact, without reverses in life, we shall not be able to experience Divinity.

Without darkness, we cannot value light. Without experiencing difficulties, we will not enjoy benefits. It is the lack of peace of mind which compels us to seek the means to realise enduring peace.

The Scriptures have declared that through renunciation alone, is immortality to be attained. You should learn to practise renunciation so that you may discover the secret of enduring peace and bliss.

- Divine Discourse, Apr 06, 1983.

There is no greater quality in you than selfless love, which expresses itself in service to others. Selfless love is the source of real bliss.

Source: radiosai.org
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 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Sat Mar 16, 2019 10:32 am

We may claim to be highly educated, but what is it that we must ensure we cultivate even as we gather secular knowledge?

Educated people do not seem to have any regard for moral values. They have no gratitude for those who helped them in times of need.

They have no consideration for their kith and kin, and do not hesitate to inflict harm on them.

Students who have gone through years of higher education are reported to have behaved in an unworthy manner. Many lead miserable lives.

What is the value of an education which does not enable one to do one’s duty towards one’s spouse and children?

The first requisite is the elimination of the bad qualities prevailing among educated persons. They have to return to the path of morality and right conduct. Many educated people have neither fear of sin nor love of the Divine.

Those who appear to be pious also have no genuine good qualities. Such hypocritical behaviour is vitiating the atmosphere everywhere and promoting disorder and confusion. Everyone should therefore embark upon getting rid of bad traits and implanting divine qualities.

- Divine Discourse, Apr 2, 1984.

Everyone must walk the talk of morality and right conduct.

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Sun Mar 17, 2019 8:31 am

What must we do to lead a life that reflects our innate Divinity?

It is your duty to see that your conduct is right and you lead a righteous life, regardless of circumstances!

Transform your heart by making it pure and sacred. Purity is the true characteristic of every human being.

Purity should be manifested in everything one does: in your thoughts, in what you see or say, and in all that you do.

It is only when you display such purity that you truly can become embodiments of the Divine Inner Self, that you really are! Then the distinction between the Divine and the mundane disappears and everything is Divinised.

The difference between the object and the subject will also go. Everything then becomes the whole. Resolve today to turn your thoughts to the Divine, to strive to purify your heart and senses, so that you can attain Self-realisation.

- Divine Discourse, Jul 13, 1984.

When the heart is filled with good thoughts and feelings, all that comes out of the senses
- your speech, your vision, your action - will all be pure.

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Sun Mar 17, 2019 8:37 am

Face the fact

I’m in sorrow. Psychologically I’m terribly disturbed; and I have an idea about it: what I should do, what I should not do, how it should be changed.

That idea, that formula, that concept prevents me from looking at the fact of what is. Ideation and the formula are escapes from what is.

There is immediate action when there is great danger. Then you have no idea. You don’t formulate an idea and then act according to that idea.

The mind has become lazy, indolent through a formula which has given it a means of escape from action with regard to what is.

Seeing for ourselves the whole structure of what has been said, not because it has been pointed out to us, is it possible to face the fact: the fact that we are violent, as an example?

We are violent human beings, and we have chosen violence as the way of life—war and all the rest of it.

Though we talk everlastingly, especially in the East, of non-violence, we are not non-violent people; we are violent people.

The idea of non-violence is an idea, which can be used politically. That’s a different meaning, but it is an idea, and not a fact. Because the human being is incapable of meeting the fact of violence, he has invented the ideal of non-violence, which prevents him from dealing with the fact.

After all, the fact is that I’m violent; I’m angry. What is the need of an idea? It is not the idea of being angry; it’s the actual fact of being angry that is important, like the actual fact of being hungry.

There’s no idea about being hungry. The idea then comes as to what you should eat, and then according to the dictates of pleasure, you eat. There is only action with regard to what is when there is no idea of what should be done about that which confronts you, which is what is.

The Book of Life, August 23, HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
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Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Mon Mar 18, 2019 10:11 am

Why should we face trials and tribulations confidently?

Do not grieve that the Divine is testing you and putting you through the ordeal of undergoing tests, for it is only when you are tested that you can assure yourself of success or become aware of your limitations.

You can then concentrate on the subjects in which you are deficient and pay more intensive attention, so that you can pass in them too when you are tested again.

Don’t study for the examination at the last moment; study well in advance and be ready with the needed knowledge and the courage and confidence born out of that knowledge and skill.

What you have studied well in advance must be rehearsed over and over in the mind, just previous to the examination; that is all that needs to be done. You will certainly emerge victorious - this is the pathway to victory.

- Divine Discourse, Jul 13, 1984.

To gain liberation, to win the Divine’s grace, it is not enough to just repeat His name;
you must also practice His teachings.

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Tue Mar 19, 2019 6:50 am

How can we be truly blissful?

You can give Ananda (bliss) by your speech, only if you have attained the state of Ananda yourself.

A lamp burning under a pot with five holes: that is the symbol of a person who has the flame of wisdom shining through the five senses.

Cover the pot with a thick cloth and no light emerges. The cloth is the cover of ignorance, slothfulness and dullness.

Remove it; it shines feebly through the senses - that is the symbol of passion and activity.

Remove the pot itself, that is to say, remove the identification with the body then the "light of the Self" shines full and bright.

The Divine light or Divine Bliss is ever there but it was obstructed by the pot and the cloth. Bliss is your native character, your real stamp, your very reality.

- Divine Discourse, Jul 29, 1964.

The ornaments everyone should cherish are truthfulness in speech, charity by your hands,
and lovingly listening to sacred scriptures through the ears.

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Tue Mar 19, 2019 6:59 am

To climb high one must begin low

Religious organizations become as fixed and as rigid, as the thoughts of those who belong to them.

Life is a constant change, a continual becoming, a ceaseless revolution, and because an organization can never be pliable, it stands in the way of change; it becomes reactionary to protect itself.

The search for truth is individual, not congregational. To commune with the real, there must be aloneness, not isolation but freedom from all influence and opinion. Organizations of thought inevitably become hindrances to thought.

As you yourself are aware, the greed for power is almost inexhaustible in a so-called spiritual organization; this greed is covered over by all kinds of sweet and official-sounding words, but the canker of avariciousness, pride and antagonism is nourished and shared. From this grow conflict, intolerance, sectarianism and other ugly manifestations.

Would it not be wiser to have small informed groups of twenty or twenty-five persons, without dues or membership, meeting where it is convenient to discuss gently the approach to reality?

To prevent any group from becoming exclusive, each member could from time to time encourage and perhaps join another small group; thus it would be extensive, not narrow and parochial.

To climb high one must begin low. Out of this small beginning one may help to create a more sane and happy world.

The Book of Life, December 14, HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
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Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:33 am

What is the importance of reciting the Holy Name of the Divine and persisting in our spiritual practices?

The divine name saves and liberates! It is the armour against the onslaughts of pride and self-pity.

When you start pious repetition of a holy name or sacred formula in a systematic manner and fix your inner eye on the form that illustrates the name, you will meet with many obstacles, disquieting thoughts, and enticements. They should be ignored, bypassed and treated lightly.

Strengthen your habits, stick to your discipline, and improve your inner administration. Mix more in the company of the good and the godly.

The unruly bull has to be roped and tamed, its nose bored and ringed; it has to be yoked and trained to drag heavy loads and become the docile servant of its master.

Some people condemn the six passions as dire enemies and advise you to eject them outright. But I would advise you to keep them with you as docile servants, and redirect them to be useful for your noble purposes.

- Divine Discourse, Nov 21, 1962.

Virtuous conduct also ensures mental peace and that in turn saves you from many a physical and mental illness.

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:19 am

Why should we deeply reflect and fine tune our speech?

The Divine’s name has much efficacy. By repeating His name, His attributes can be easily recalled. Sanctify your tongue by the repetition of His name.

It must also use sweet expressions which will spread contentment and joy. Be very careful about your speech.

Animals have horns, insects have stings, beasts have claws and fangs, but your biggest weapon of offence is your tongue.

The wounds that your tongue inflicts can scarcely be healed; they fester in the heart for long. They are capable of more damage than even an atom bomb. Speak so that your language is as sweet as your feelings are.

Make the words true and pleasing. But for the sake of pleasing another, do not speak falsehood or exaggerate.

Cynicism which leads you to speak about a thing in a carping manner to bring it disrepute, is as bad as flattery which makes you exaggerate and cross the boundaries of truth.

- Divine Discourse, Jul 29, 1964.

Soft, sweet and truthful speech is the expression of genuine love.

Source: radiosai.org
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Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:01 pm

Complete attention

What do we mean by attention? Is there attention when I am forcing my mind to attend? When I say to myself, “I must pay attention, I must control my mind and push aside all other thoughts,” would you call that attention?

Surely that is not attention. What happens when the mind forces itself to pay attention? It creates a resistance to prevent other thoughts from seeping in; it is concerned with resistance, with pushing away; therefore it is incapable of attention. That is true, is it not?

To understand something totally you must give your complete attention to it. But you will soon find out how extraordinarily difficult that is, because your mind is used to being distracted, so you say, “By Jove, it is good to pay attention, but how am I to do it?” That is, you are back again with the desire to get something, so you will never pay complete attention. ...

When you see a tree or a bird, for example, to pay complete attention is not to say, ”That is an oak,” or, “That is a parrot,” and walk by. In giving it a name you have already ceased to pay attention...

Whereas, if you are wholly aware, totally attentive when you look at something, then you will find that a complete transformation takes place, and that total attention is the good. There is no other, and you cannot get total attention by practice.

With practice you get concentration, that is, you build up walls of resistance, and within those walls of resistance is the concentrator, but that is not attention, it is exclusion.

The Book of Life, June 12, HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

Source: jkrishnamurthi.com
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