Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Fri Mar 22, 2019 7:45 am

How can we communicate with the Divine when in need?

Ask the Divine for the removal of your earthly troubles; there is no mistake in that.

It is much better than asking other men or women, and losing self-respect and honour.

For the sake of votes, people catch hold of the feet of all and sundry; if they fall at the feet of the Divine, that will bring them more votes, for the people will plead with Him to be led by a servant of the Lord.

You can call the Divine but he will not be available for all those who do not have the sincere and steady yearning for the Divine.

- Divine Discourse, Jul 29, 1964.

The spiritual path is the path of detachment, of sense control, and of rigorous mind training.

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 23, 2019 12:19 pm

What are the prerequisites to achieve pure devotion?

For treading the path of devotion, one needs no scholarship, nor wealth nor riches, nor ascetic rigours.

Tell Me, what was the lineage, wealth, scholarship, status and the attainments of the various pure beings? Pure Love (Prema) — that was all they had, and that was all they needed.

The grace of the Divine is as the ocean - vast and limitless. By your spiritual disciplines, your repetition of a name of the Divine, meditation, and systematic cultivation of virtue, this grace is converted into clouds of truth.

This cloud rains on humanity as showers of pure love, which collect and flow as the flood of bliss (ananda) back again into the ocean of the Divine’s grace.

When prema embraces humanity, we call it compassion, the quality not of pity but of sympathy — sympathy that makes one happy when others are happy and miserable when others are unhappy.

- Divine Discourse, Mar 24, 1958.

Devotion calls for utilizing the mind, speech and body to worship the Divine.

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

Postby winston » Sat Mar 23, 2019 2:06 pm

Truth comes in a flash

Truth or understanding comes in a flash, and that flash has no continuity; it is not within the field of time.

Do see this for yourself. Understanding is fresh, instantaneous; it is not the continuity of something that has been.

What has been, cannot bring you understanding. As long as one is seeking a continuity—wanting permanency in relationship, in love, longing to find peace everlasting, and all the rest of it—one is pursuing something which is within the field of time and therefore does not belong to the timeless.

The Book of Life, October 6, HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

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

Postby winston » Sun Mar 24, 2019 9:08 am

At times, we may feel that our trials, tribulations and tests, are increasing more intently, despite our sincere efforts. What should we do then?

Many grieve: “It is said that getting the opportunity to see a holy person is destruction of sin. Well, I have had prayer sessions not once but many times, and yet my evil fate has not left me and I am suffering even more than I did before.”

True, you may have come and had prayer sessions and you have sown fresh seeds secured from then onwards - seeds of love, faith, devotion, good company, holy thoughts, remembering His name and so on, and you have learnt the art of intensive cultivation and soil preparation.

So you have now sown the seeds in a well-prepared field of cleansed hearts. Don’t you have to wait for the harvest? Until the new harvest comes in, like you consume the grain already stored from previous harvests, the troubles and anxieties are the crops you collected in previous harvests! Hence do not grieve and lose your heart. Persist in your spiritual activities!

- Discourse, March 1963.

Whatever the trouble, however great the sorrow, persist and win by recollecting the Divine.

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

Postby winston » Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:53 am

How should we tame the mind?

The nature of mind is pure. Sensory impressions colour and soil it with likes and dislikes.

The mind of the animal is unaffected by the many attachments and attractions, aversions and dislikes that hamper and haunt the human mind.

The latent impressions warp the mind that is already bent by blows and buffetings suffered, birth after birth.

There is no use laying all the blame on the mind. It is a mere watchman. Impress upon the watchman that the Divine is your master, then it will obey not only the Him, who is your master but even His friends and companions.

Join meetings with good people and see whether the mind continues to be stubborn. It will not disobey you then.

It is all about training; if the watchman comes to know that you are unrelated to the Divine, he will disobey you and take to his own misadventures!

If you are on the Divine side, the watchman becomes your aide!

- Divine Discourse, Oct 24, 1961.

Devotion calls for utilizing the mind, speech and body to worship the Divine.

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 » Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:55 am

The interval between thoughts

Now, I say it is definitely possible for the mind to be free from all conditioning—not that you should accept my authority. If you accept it on authority, you will never discover, it will be another substitution and that will have no significance…

The understanding of the whole process of conditioning does not come to you through analysis or introspection, because the moment you have the analyzer that very analyzer himself is part of the background and therefore his analysis is of no significance...

How is it possible for the mind to be free? To be free, the mind must not only see and understand its pendulum-like swing between the past and the future but also be aware of the interval between thoughts...

If you watch very carefully, you will see that though the response, the movement of thought, seems so swift, there are gaps, there are intervals between thoughts.

Between two thoughts there is a period of silence which is not related to the thought process. If you observe you will see that that period of silence, that interval, is not of time and the discovery of that interval, the full experiencing of that interval, liberates you from conditioning—or rather it does not liberate “you” but there is liberation from conditioning...

It is only when the mind is not giving continuity to thought, when it is still with a stillness that is not induced, that is without any causation—it is only then that there can be freedom from the background.

The Book of Life, May 30, HarperSanFrancisco, 1995
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Re: Life 32 (Jan 19 - May 19)

Postby winston » Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:00 am

Why should we practice renunciation from now?

The eagle is pestered by crows so long as it has a fish in its beak. They swish past that so they could steal the fish out of its mouth, pursuing the bird wherever it sits for a little rest. Finally, when the eagle gives up the attachment to the fish and drops it from its beak, the crows fly away, leaving the eagle free.

So leave off sense pleasures and the crows of pride, envy, malice, and hatred will fly away, for they want only carrion.

The snake moves in curves and not in a straight line. Individuals too move in a crooked path when they follow the senses.

Practise renunciation from now on, so that you may set out on the journey when the call comes; you don't know when. Else at that moment, you will be in tears, when you think of the house you have built, the property you have accumulated, the fame you have amassed, and the trifles you have won.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 10, 1964.

So long as one is dominated by sense pleasures, it cannot be said that their spiritual life has begun.

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

Postby winston » Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:15 am

Integrated understanding

What do we mean by “grief”? Is it something apart from you?

Is it something outside of you, inwardly or outwardly, which you are observing, which you are experiencing? Are you merely the observer experiencing? Or, is it something different?

Surely that is an important point, is it not? When I say “I suffer,” what do I mean by it? Am I different from the suffering? Surely that is the question, is it not? Let us find out.

There is sorrow —I am not loved, my son dies, what you will. There is one part of me that is demanding why, demanding the explanation, the reasons, the causes.

The other part of me is in agony for various reasons. And there is also another part of me which wants to be free from the sorrow, which wants to go beyond it.

We are all these things, are we not? So, if one part of me is rejecting, resisting sorrow, another part of me is seeking an explanation, is caught up in theories, and another part of me is escaping from the fact—how then can I understand it totally?

It is only when I am capable of integrated understanding, that there is a possibility of freedom from sorrow. But if I am torn in different directions, then I do not see the truth of it...

Now, please listen carefully; and you will see that when there is a fact, a truth, there is understanding of it only when I can experience the whole thing without division—and not when there is the separation of the “me” observing suffering. That is the truth.

The Book of Life, July 11, HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

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

Postby winston » Wed Mar 27, 2019 10:55 am

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

Now, engage yourself in spiritual discipline, spiritual thoughts and spiritual company.

Forget the past. At least from now on, seek to save yourself.

Never yield to doubt or unsteadiness. That is a sign of ignorance.

Have faith in any one name and the form indicated by that name. If you revere a certain Divine and hate another, the plus and the minus cancel out and the net result is zero.

We should not tolerate the slightest hatred of any Name or Form. The wife has to revere the husband, but that does not mean that she has to hate his parents, brothers or sisters.

You can never attain the Divine through hatred of one or more of His many Forms and Names. If you throw contempt at the Divine that another reveres, the contempt falls on your own Divine.

Avoid factions, quarrelling, hating, scorning and fault-finding; they recoil on you. Remember, everyone is a pilgrim towards the same goal; some travel by one road, some by another.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 10, 1964.

All are One, Be alike to everyone.

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

Postby winston » Thu Mar 28, 2019 11:13 am

Why are self-control and struggle important in life?

Everyone is now seeking comfort and pleasure; that is the be-all and end-all of all efforts.

If you tell a person that he can eat whatever he likes and as much as he likes, he will be delighted; but if you add that, as a consequence, he might develop some illness or other, he will treat you as an enemy.

Control or regimen is never popular. But strength is derived only from control, restraint, and regulation.

You become tough and capable of endurance only if you welcome hardships. Struggle, and you get the strength to succeed.

Seek the basis for the seen, in the unseen. The tall skyscraper has a deep base reaching into the earth. This seen world has, as its base, the unseen Divine; your body is but the vehicle through which you can search, investigate, and discover that base.

- Divine Discourse, Nov 23, 1964.

Test all your thoughts, words and actions on this touchstone: “Will this be approved by the Divine? Will this rebound to His renown?”

Source: radiosai.org
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