Life 36 (May 20 - Sep 20)

[winston]

Let Solutions Arise from Emptiness

To help focus one’s attention ... it is necessary to find, in your mind, a blankness or emptiness and let the solution arise from that emptiness.

—Interview with Christopher Alexander by Katy Butler,“Nature Unfolding”

[winston]

What is the litmus test for a true spiritual seeker?

The student seeking spiritual knowledge must possess kindness, compassion and love toward all living beings.

Kindness to all beings should be the students' very nature. If it is absent, the student becomes a boor.

More than anything else, spirituality is being compassionate toward living beings. If a person bears ill will against any being, his or her education has no meaning.

The advice given in the Scriptures - bear no ill-will toward any or all beings, conveys this message.

In the same manner, the Scriptures warns that any insult or injury or even neglect directed against any living being is an act that insults, injures or neglects the Divine.

The narrow vision that is limited to one’s family or community must be given up.

Uniform compassion shown in this manner transforms itself into well-being for all the recipients.

Wishing well for all is the sign of one who has earned spiritual knowledge.

- Ch 16, Vidya Vahini.

If there is no transformation of the heart, of what avail are spiritual practices?

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Is the Divine partial, being good to some and harsh with some others?

The Divine, it was said, punishes some and favours others. Let Me tell you, He does neither.

He is like the current in this electric wire. It rotates the fan and makes one’s life cooled; it operates the electric chair and makes one’s life shorter. It has no wish to allay the warmth of the atmosphere; it has no eagerness to kill.

His grace is like the wind that blows. Roll up your sails, and the boat lies limp and lame; unfurl them, and it moves faster and faster.

It is like light: One person does good using the illumination; another executes an evil plan with its help.

Have an “inner day” (let the light shine within like it is during the day) but an “outer night” (let the world outside be dark for you).

The Scriptures teach you this truth and impart the discipline needed to attain this fortune.

- Divine Discourse, Jan 25, 1963.

Look upon the body as a shrine in which the divine is installed. Dedicate all actions to the Divine.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why Joy Is a Radical Act

Innate joy is a radical act because once we learn to recognize it, we can begin to toss aside the everyday understanding of happiness at the heart of our culture.

—Scott Tusa,“Joy Is a Radical Act”

[winston]

Transforming Emotions into Guidance

Only when emotions are truly attended to, can they be endured and transformed into useful energies, that express our needs and help guide us through life.

—Josh Korda,“A Safe Container for Fear”

[winston]

Why should we discriminate and be careful with our feelings and not be influenced by negative emotions of others?

The ideas and pronouncements of others may often be personal, or they may induce feelings of hatred between people. Why should we accept them as ours and mould our feelings accordingly?

We should not try to shape our feelings and patterns of behaviour to conform to those of others. We should not relinquish our faith, our experience, and our innate holiness.

We may not always be able to know the reasons for our faith. It originates and is shaped by our own personal likes and dislikes, our own dominant feelings. But we must not become the target for anger, hatred and jealousy and the evil deeds into which they lead us.

Cultivate wide and inclusive feelings. Only then the aspirant is entitled to acquire higher learning. Only then you will earn respect in society. Keep far away from narrow, selfish thoughts, feelings, and plans.

- Ch 16, Vidya Vahini.

You worship with faith and you experience Grace. Faith results in Grace, without your being aware of it.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How should we benefit from the scriptures?

It may take many lives for a man or a woman to prove that they know what is best for them, that they are able to chalk out their own future without harming themselves or others, that they are aware of the pitfalls on the way.

So it is best to trust the experience of sages, who were filled with compassion and who were moved by that compassion to illumine the path of liberation.

This experience is enshrined in the Scriptures. Faith in them irrigates the heart and makes it yield the harvest of universal love.

The Scriptutes warn you of false steps, they console you in times of stress, they strengthen you in distress, and they give correct interpretations of moral dilemmas.

They prescribe the dress, the food, the manner of speech, the methods of social conduct, the mode of mutual behaviour, and the lines of onward march. They are the conscience of society.

- Divine Discourse, Jan 25, 1963.

True Morality is adherence to the straight and sacred path of right conduct.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Pay Attention to Your Movement

When we pay attention to our movement, our minds and bodies become integrated. ...

We relax. We become calm, concentrated, and as a result, joyful.

It makes us happy to pay attention when we move.

—Cator Shachoy,“A Real Pain in the Butt”

[winston]

Deepen Your Understanding of Existence

“Just sit” doesn’t mean to sit passively; it is sitting based on deepening both your intellectual and experiential understanding of your existence.

—Dainin Katagiri Roshi,“You Are Already Here”

[winston]

Why should we not be carried away by the happenings around us?

Your time must be used not only in the task of collecting information and earning certain skills that will give you an income on which you can live; it must also be used to acquire the art of being content and calm, collected and courageous.

You must also cultivate an ardent thirst for knowing the truth of the world and of your own Self.

Let your words be like honey; your hearts be as soft as butter! Your outlook must be like the lamp - illumining, not confusing. Be like the umpire on the football field, watching the game, judging the play according to the rules laid down, unaffected by success or reverse of one team vs another!

Remember, you are all pilgrims, moving along this land of action to the goal of land of righteousness.

Be humble and strong to resist temptation. Do not yield like cowards to the sly insinuations of the senses.

- Divine Discourse, Mar 13, 1964.

Consider all your acts as worship. Duty is Divine, Work is Worship. Whatever happens
accept it gladly as His handiwork, a sign of His compassion.

Source: radiosai.org