YOUR HEART IS THE BEST OFFER TO THE LORD

You must offer the Lord not the flowers that plants grow; they will reward the plant, not you.

The Lord wants you to offer the lotus that blooms in the Lake of your Heart, the fruit that ripens on the tree of your earthly career, not the lotus and the fruit available in the market place.

You may ask, "Where can we find the Lord?" Well, He gives you His address. He says "I reside in the heart of all beings."

Knowing that, how can you look down on any being in contempt or how can you revel in hating or indulge in the pastime of ridiculing?

Every individual is charged with the Divine Presence, moved by the Divine attributes.

Love, honor, friendliness, that is what each one deserves from you. Give these in full measure.

SriSathyasai

RELY ON GRACE, SHED ALL FEAR

As the carpenter shapes the wood, the blacksmith shapes the iron, the goldsmith shapes the gold, so the Lord shapes in His own way, the World, woven of Space and Time.

Know that the Lord is the basis and shed all fear.

The tiny sparrow sits on the storm-tossed bough, because it knows its wings are strong; it does not depend upon the tossing bough to sustain it.

So too, rely on the Grace of God, earn it and keep it. Then, whatever be the strength of the storm, you can survive it without harm.

SRISATHYASAI

'TAPAS' ( PENANCE )

Truth can reflect itself in the intellect only when it is clarified by 'Tapas' (penance). Tapas means all acts undertaken with noble motives and all acts indicating yearning for the spirit, repenting for past mistakes, staunch determination to adhere to virtue, self-control and unyielding adherence to equanimity in the face of success or failure. 'Taapam' means heat, burning intensity and earnestness of endeavour. It is Tapas that fosters renunciation and discipline.

SRISATHYASAI

GOD REALISATION IS NOT THAT DIFFICULT AS PEOPLE IMAGINE IT TO BE

Everyone thinks that God Realisation is very difficult and it requires a lot of effort. This is not wrong also because this is what we have heard from most saints and read in most of the books.

Now listen - there are two things. 1) Turning towards God and 2) Turning away from the world.

Now God is naturally attained - He is ever attained and the world is always moving away from us.

Be silent. Remain in God, let there be no other thought (Gita 6:25). Do nothing and think of nothing - God is naturally attained. The attainment of the ever attained.No thought, no thinking. If a thought comes - it will go.

Keep three things in mind - (1) the thought is neither good, (2) the thought is neither bad and (3) the thought is not in me. Be indifferent to it.Remaining in God, become silent. If we think we will use nature (prakriti) and then it will assume importance. Thoughts just come and go. Do not give them any importance. By doing this, new thoughts do not come - old thoughts that are inside are going away. The door through which they come and go are same.

From the time we have been spiritually inclined, have the thoughts not reduced? This shows that they are going - not coming. Do not oppose the thoughts. If we oppose them, we will strengthen them. Just ignore them. They have no power to control us.

We are their master. If a dog enters our house, it does not become the master of the house.

Accept that Paramatma (Supreme Consciousness, God) IS. The body and world are NOT. Union with Paramatma is permanent and disunion with the body and world is constant. Remove what is NOT - Remove what is naturally being removed. And be in the IS, as this IS-ness is natural.

Now, where is the problem? Natural is what needs no effort.Only the real IS and the unreal IS NOT (Gita 2:16). Paramatma IS, and is naturally and ever attained. Be Still ! Paramatma has no power to leave us. Be situate in the IS.

SWAMI RAMSUKHDASJI

DO NOT SEE FAULTS IN OTHERS

Do Not See Faults in Others It is because of pride in our own qualities that we see faults in others. And by noticing faults in others, our pride gets more grounded and becomes even stronger. A Spiritual aspirant who desires to remove his faults, must not look at the faults of others. By seeing other's faults, he thus reinforces his own faults, and by associating with those faults, new faults start to arise. By seeing faults in others, neither we will be benefited, nor the other. The more impure our inner faculties are, the more we notice the faults of others. Just like a radio tunes to a particular frequency, so the impurities in the inner senses, tunes into and catches the frequency of more faults. If we desire that no one should think of us as bad, then we have no right to think of others as bad. By not thinking of the others as bad, goodness arises from within. That goodness which arises from within, is solid and pervasive. If we wish to protect our innocence, we should not see faults in any one, neither in ourselves, nor in others.

From "Drops of Nectar" in English by Swami Ramsukhdasji

ACHIEVE HARMONY THROUGH YOGA

Unlock Your Energies Through Yoga

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

When we say yoga , for many of you it might mean some impossible physical postures. Yoga means to be in perfect tune. When you are in yoga, your body, mind and spirit, and existence, are in absolute harmony. When you fine-tune yourself to a point where everything functions beautifully within you, the best of your abilities will just flow out of you. When you are happy, your energies function better. Have you noticed that when you are happy you have endless energy Even if you dont eat or sleep, you can go on and on. So, just a little happiness liberates you from your normal limitations of energy and capability. Yoga is the science of activating your inner energies in such a way that your body, mind and emotions function at their highest peak. When your body and mind function in a completely different state of relaxation and a certain level of blissfulness, you can be released from so much suffering. Right now, you come and sit in your office, and you have a nagging headache. Your headache is not a major disease, but it takes away your capability for the day. With the practice of yoga , your body and mind will be at their highest possible peak. There are other dimensions to yoga. When you activate your energies, you can function in a different way. As you are sitting here right now, you consider yourself to be a person. You are identified with many things, but what you call myself is actually just a certain amount of energy. Modern science says that the whole of existence is energy manifesting itself in different ways. If this is so, then you are also a little bit of energy functioning in a particular way. As far as science is concerned , this same energy which you call myself can be a rock, mud, tree, dog, or you. Everything is the same energy, functioning at different levels of capability. Similarly, among human beings, though we are all made of the same energy, we still do not function at the same level of capability. What you call capability or talent, your creativity, is a certain way your energy functions. This energy, in one plant it functions to create roses, in another it functions to create jasmine, but it is the same energy manifesting itself. If you gain some mastery over your own energies, things that you never imagined possible you will do simply and naturally. This is the experience of people who have started doing these yogic practices. It is the inner technology of creating situations the way you want them. We thought we could only dig mud and make pots or bricks. Now we dig the same earth and make computers, cars, and even spacecrafts. It is the same energy; we have just started using it for higher possibilities. Our inner energies are like that. There is a technology as to how to use this energy for higher possibilities. Every human being must explore and know this. Otherwise, life becomes limited and accidental . Once you activate your inner energies, your capabilities happen in a different sphere altogether . Yoga is a tool to find ultimate expression to life.

COURTESY : Times of India 18th Nov 2009

With love and Guru's blessings

SMRITI -- SPIRITUAL MEMORY--GURU GRANTS IT TO THE ASPIRING SISHYA

Random Access Memory, RAM in short, is a feature that makes computers meaningful. It is hard to imagine a PC functioning minus RAM. Computers without RAM are like people with dysfunctional memory, who live a life divorced from reality. On coming across such people, we realise how blessed we are to have our memory alive and in order. Sages, however, might beg to differ. In Indian spiritual lexicon, memory (smriti) is more than just remembering telephone numbers and bank balances. Memory connotes an evolved state of being. Success and failure in life, in the ultimate sense, depend upon how active and functional ones memory is. An illustration from the Bhagavad Gita might help clarify this point. The forces are positioned on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, ready for war. Arjuna, a key player in the Pandava team, finds his brethren and revered seniors before him. His emotions suddenly get the better of him. He realises the futility of war. He sees before his minds eye death and disaster on a large scale. He turns spiritual and resolves to renounce the contest. His mentor, Krishna, pities Arjuna and gives the message of the Gita, ending it with, Reflect upon it and act as you choose. What is the effect of the Gita, coming straight from Krishnas mouth, on Arjuna, the ardent disciple He says, My delusion is destroyed. I have regained my memory smritilabdha through Your grace! Tracing the sequence of self-ruin , the Gita states, Brooding over the objects of sense, man develops attachment to them; from attachment comes desire; from desire anger sprouts forth. From anger proceeds delusion; from delusion, confused memory or smritibhransh , from confused memory the ruin of reason, due to ruin of reason he perishes. Recovery of memory motivates Arjuna to engage in battle, but he fights in the dispassionate mode of action, the mode of Karma Yoga. He fights in Krishnas shadow of grace, acting solely as a blessed instrument of God to reset a disturbed cosmic order, dharmasansthapanarthaya . What is that ultimate memory that Krishna quickened in Arjuna to inspire him towards right action In the typical paradox of cosmic truth, ultimate memory is the same as original memory which, in turn, is the same as eternal memory. This relates to the truth of the essential unity of creation, non-duality , advaita. Sustenance , guidance and positive energy flow from the renewal of the memory of oneness and unity. All belong to the One, not as its parts, but rather as the One. Each of us, jointly and severally, is the One. The prelude to the Upanishads enunciates the absurd equation of Vedanta: One minus one equals one. That is a whole, this is a whole, from that whole has this issued. When this whole issues from that, what remains is a whole. Maya blurs the memory of oneness; it inspires notions of difference, self-interest and rival interest. The spiritual journey consists of constantly renewing this memory until it firmly lodges in the mind. This is called sumiran, a corruption of the term smaran , or remembrance. Sages across religions have hailed its value. Steeped in sumiran one gets established in bhakti or devotion, because the point of bhakti is ananyata, non-another-ness .

COURTESY: TIMES OF INDIA , 14th Nov 2009