Life 41 (Oct 21 - Jan 22)

[winston]

Know Your Scars

By looking at our own old wounds, by identifying them, by being with them with compassion, we can all find healing and contribute to our world in a meaningful way.

- Radhule Weininger, “A Practice for Breathing Through Pain”

[winston]

What should we pray from the Divine and why should we seek from Him?

When you are immersed in the ananda (bliss) of the Divine, you are master of all the lesser anandas also.

When you dive in the sea, you must seek pearls; when you go to the "the wish-fulfilling tree", ask for the Highest Bliss. Do not crave for the smaller when the vastest is available, for just a little more effort.

There is a natural craving in man to become one with the vast, the supreme, the limitless, for, in the cave of his heart, there resides the self-same Supreme.

It is like the young calf pining for the cow. Each calf knows its mother.

You may have a thousand calves and a thousand cows. Let loose the calves and each will find its own mother.

So too, you must know where you get your native sustenance and support - that is the Divine, from whom you came.

- Divine Discourse, Feb 20, 1966.

The Name has to be repeated with the heart yearning for the ‘Named’.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

The Right Attachments

There’s no need to banish our longings or our aspirations because we can recognize the gold and the beauty at the center of them.

When we relate to them wisely, they can fuel our practice.

- Dawn Scott, “Overcoming the Inner Critic”

[winston]

What technique should we learn to overcome depressive thoughts and feelings?

Whatever you learn or don’t learn, equip yourself with the strength that’s necessary to be virtuous, to resist temptation and lures of the objective world.

Discrimination is not the cleverness that is given inordinate value today but the capacity to see things in their proper proportion, to evaluate the temporary and the lasting, the particular and universal, the shallow and the deep.

You must also have an attitude of reverence towards the past and also towards elders who are repositories of saintly spiritual wisdom as well as much needed experience that you have to acquire.

Have faith — faith in your own essential Divinity, faith in higher values attainable by earnest practise and the exercise of detachment.

Life becomes sweeter with a little dose of denial too; if you get all your desires, it begins to cloy.

Deny yourselves many of the things your mind runs after, and you will find that you become tough enough to bear both good fortune and bad.

- Divine Discourse, Sep 12, 1963.

Education that doesn’t confer modesty and wisdom is a sheer waste of precious time.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Look Beneath the Surface

If an emotion or a disturbing state of mind, is too painful to look at directly, seek the underlying condition that holds it in place.

You may be surprised at what you discover.

- Yongey Mingyur, “The Aim of Attention”

[winston]

What is an effective strategy to live in peace with oneself and with everyone around?

The tongue is the armour of the heart; it guards one's life.

Loud talk, long talk, wild talk, talk full of anger and hate - all these affect the health of man.

They breed anger and hate in others; they wound, they excite, they enrage, and they estrange.

Why is silence said to be golden? The silent man has no enemies, though he may not have friends.

He has the leisure and the chance to dive within himself and examine his own faults and failings. He has no more inclination to seek them in others.

If your foot slips, you earn a fracture; if your tongue slips, you fracture someone’s faith or joy. That fracture can never be set right; that wound will fester forever.

Therefore, use the tongue with great care. The softer you talk, the less you talk, and the sweeter you talk - the better for you and the world.

- Divine Discourse, Mar 29, 1965.

Be silent yourself, that will induce silence in others.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Bringing Teachings to Life

No one can ever explain to us how to have an experience. If they could, we would all be enlightened by now.

Our task as practitioners is to bring the teachings to life in a personal way.

Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, “The Power of an Open Question”

https://tricycle.org/magazine/power-ope ... -308285249

[winston]

Which path should we choose to discover the fountain of bliss?

It is only when man discovers the ultimate unchanging base that he can derive permanent peace; until then, he too will have to swing and sway in the changing world, between joy and grief.

Like the sages, people must be urged by the thirst to know the Creator behind Creation, the Person behind the puppets.

A Sage started from the attitude of Dasoham (I am the servant) and made himself so small by shrinking his individuality that he was able to wriggle out of the shackles of delusion and escape into the Universal Eternal Truth.

Another Sage, started from the attitude of Soham (I am He); he made himself so vast and grand, that he broke the shackles and merged with the Supreme Sovereign Truth.

When you have earned that jnana of identity of your reality with the Reality behind the Universe, maya (illusion) cannot affect you.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 04, 1965.

Have firm faith in your heart and fill your life with love. There is no path better than this. -

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Becoming Immoveable

Every challenge we encounter is an opportunity to learn to stand on our own again, grounded and immoveable by any external force, unperturbed by inner grasping or turmoil.

This is the final truth of being human, even if we can't see it yet.

Cristina Moon, “Look Beneath Your Feet”

https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/thomas- ... -308285249

[winston]

As we near the time of the year when the Sun begins its northward journey, what is the message we must internalise from the Sun?

The Sun's northward journey is a pointer to the path man should take to realise the Divine.

The Sun is the supreme example of selfless and tireless service. The world cannot survive without the Sun.

Life on earth is possible only because of the Sun. The Sun teaches man the lesson of humble devotion to duty, without any conceit.

The Sun is the supreme example for everyone that one should do one's duty with devotion and dedication. Doing one's duty is the greatest Yoga, as pointed out in the Scriptures.

Let your actions and thoughts be good. You will then experience the Bliss Divine.

Sankranti (transmigration of the sun) is intended to bring about various changes in man's attitude so that one may sanctify one’s life.

It is a festival not intended for Bharathiyas alone. Its message has a meaning for everyone in the world. It has a message for people of all climes, creeds and countries.

- Divine Discourse, Jan 15, 1992.

When our thoughts are purified, our lives will be transformed into ideal ones.

Source: radiosai.org