Strength lies within

Was very busy at work since sometime. More than the work the politics and blame games and cunningness drains my energy so much. When all this was going on around suddenly there was a inward pull, this slipping within refreshes me. In within there is serenity, peace, joy and harmony. Outside makes me feel exhausted whatever we do there will always be a need for more, the sense of satisfaction and peace surely comes only from within, all strength and source lies within. To worry is like banging our head on a wall which is like a dead end in a cave, one has to take a turn from dead end and move towards the light. Turn the mind of the worries and keep moving, there is infinite potential which lies within waiting to be unleashed. 

Good quotes which I read

Forgiveness is the fragrance which flowers give when they are crushed.

Innocence is the mind which never gets hurt.

Replace

Replace desires with duty
Replace excitements with gratitude
Replace disappointments with faith
Replace the self with God

Desire the root of all

When our desires gets fulfilled, the ego level goes high, excitement comes in. when desires become unfulfilled anger creeps in. The idea of retaining what we have got brings with it the fear of loosing. Looks like one who is free from desires of this world and the other world is the one who is really free.

Lack of desires should not lead to inaction and boredom, it should be duty for dutys sake. 

Recent thoughts

Well in the end it does not even matter,
But of course it matters now!!!

This moment is the reality I perceive,
Living in the present is living with God.

For spiritual progress subtract the prejudices and
Add the acceptance

Divinity and humanity should be integrated for permanency because nature does not allow imbalance.

For the one who loves is there any greater gift than love and for one who Hates is there any greater punishment than hatred so behave with everyone as per your nature and not their nature.

Gratitude is a important quality for spiritual journey.

World always looks at rewards in tangible measures, but when our consciousness elevates the elevated consciousness is itself a gift just as a ignorant mind is itself a barrier.

Trinity of doing

World is a karma boomi, a dimension to act. There is so much action in materialism, we keep on acting without knowing the reality or towards goals which are not worth until one day when we learn that these are not worth we may start observing and get into a inactive state of being, after a point of time our mind awakens to the fact that being and  doing should be amalgamated but how is this amalgamation possible, it's possible by allowing the divine spirit and the divine will act through us,where we no more act towards achieving our pleasures or mundane goals but let his spirit and will act through us when we still remain in a state of being.  Individual action, inaction, divine action through individual. 

External and internal

A ashram, a retreat centre or a satsang place is no doubt charged and helps us to get into subtle realms but irrespective of wherever we may be physically present, our reality is our inner condition. It is the state of our consciousness. But many a times we forget to keep our condition good and try to run here and there in search of that which lies actually within.
Same way at times we feel there are multivarious external triggers to loose our inner condition, we keep pointing this and that until we realise the real culprit namely ego and ignorance lies within.
God is within so is our ego.
Strength lies within so is weakness. Internal can always empower external but we make it week, it becomes rusty and useless because of being left unused.
In external help we can get dots but it is internal willingness to decide whether to draw lines across the dots or not.
Let's used our internal will for our welfare and welfare of all. 

Freedom from idea of freedom

Freedom is what everyone of us wants, freedom in all walks of life to live life the way we want. To do things which we love to do and stay away from what we don't like. At times we may be lucky if our likes and external matches with each other and when there is a mismatch we want freedom. Sometimes we give up to our ideas and surrender to the external circumstances and sometimes we fight to make our ideas a reality. Attachment is bondage and detachment is freedom. Be it khalil gibran or my master Chariji they say that true freedom is freedom from idea of freedom. As of today my understanding of this is mind does not want what it has, we always want that which we don't have. And our thoughts goes towards what we don't have. When freedom becomes our nature why would we think of it, we might loose awareness of that idea so when we are really free we enjoy it, live in the condition of freedom and get freed from the idea of freedom 

Love as a feeling

Lalaji says that love for God is a state where the trinity of lover, beloved and love itself is lost. Which means in a state of real love we journey from self love and live for beloved and then reach a state where we loose awareness in love which is the final stage. But that does not mean that we are prohibited to enjoy love as a feeling.

We travel from ignorance, knowledge to total ignorance but knowledge is important to make us understand the difference between ignorance and total ignorance. 

What Master's tell is the ultimate reality from the level they are, but we can't jump we walk through steps slowly and steadily achieve permanency and reach their level. So I think it is not a mistake to enjoy love as a feeling with a awareness that there is a next stage to reach. 

Every purpose under heaven has a time

At times I have felt my near and dear ones should experience the inner  joys produced by meditation. Though I don't force anyone, I offer subtle suggestion once in a while with purely good intentions. Of course be it meditation oror conscious expansion there are multivarious stages and levels and each of us travel at our own speed. We cannot rush or stay where we don't belong. That does not mean that we are worthless, it only means this point of time we are not willing or not yet prepared. There is a time for everything. Remember my school hymn :

In His time, in His time,
He makes all things beautiful in His time,
Lord please show me everyday,
As your teaching me your wayway,
That you do just what you say,
In your time.

Both for sowing and for reaping there's a time,
Time for loosing, time for gain
Time for joy and time for pain,
Every purpose under heaven has a time.

There are times, there are days,
Weeks and months we cannot understand God's ways,
If for years we fail to scan
What is His eternal plan
We will remember that He can
All the time

Tribute to chariji

I was wondering of this mahatma pujya Chariji Maharaj. At times when I think  why am I in Sahaj Marg, I feel it's only because of Him.
Dear master,
I merely trusted you
You induced love in my little heart,
Because of that I started falling in love with you,
Ever since then  I was not the same me,
Success, happiness, peace,
Condition, consciousness or experiences,
All seems mere nothing compared to your love,
I wondered what is this love,
Love is dependency,
Love is unbreaking trust,
Love is total freedom,
Love is utmost acceptance,
Love is encouraging,
Love is hope,
You were all the above without any intention
Because love is your very nature
My journey started by falling in love with you
Later realised I was only falling in love with love,
Master my only prayer is let the flame of love which you lit in my heart glow eternally
Let the flame of love be stable, permanent and eternal withstanding all tests and glow in all circumstances.

Thin layer between grossnes and subtlety

It sometimes looks like getting into a subtle condition is easy with the help of a guru but staying there and achieving permanency is difficult. When we live in this world there are thousands of loop holes by which we can be triggered and slip out of subtle state in no time. But what to do when we have fallen into the gross state, first and foremost thing is awareness of our own condition. When we are aware of our condition then we can take necessary steps. My personal feeling in my spiritual journey is catching hold of the master is the key to enter into subtle realms. In that way if we get habituated to eternally catching hold of the guru we can attain permanency in the subtle state instead of frequent fluctuations. At times we unnecessarily go into high level intellectual things in spirituality also, which is not at all required. Awareness of condition to get back when we deviate and constant remembrance to get there is more than enough of course backed up with love and faith in the guide. 

Guru and prana

There was sudden early morning thought today about the similarities between guru and prana. First and foremost is that both are idespensible needs for our survival. The second similarity is the guru and prana are embodiments of equality. Every living thing utilises prana for its survival. Prana offers itself to one and all, it has no differences between good, bad, rich, poor, male, female, nationality or religion or even a Saint and sinner. Same way Guru has no priorities or restrictions among living things. He just offers himself for one and all, it is only the people who assume differences and consider oneself as more important but guru himself is eternally unbiased in his nature. 

Absolute and relative

Suddenly a question flashed in my mind about the measurement of progress. Spiritual progress cannot be measured as a journey from one point to another point, considering a starting time and ending time because where is relative things like low and high, start and end when we are journeying towards the absolute.

 Absolute is eternal beyond past, present and future. Absolute is neither low, medium or high. Absolute cannot be perceived by the senses which always uses relative measures of understanding. This absolute is not somewhere in space for us to move from earth to there and compare how far we have reached. Absolute is both STILL as well as infinitely expanding ON and ON. Absolute is amalgamation of stillness and infinite expansion. Absolute is not situated somewhere, nor is absolute pointing to any person. But every person who keeps expanding in stillness is part of that absolute stillness and absolute infinite expansion. This absolute is not a single entity but a collection of all entities or souls that are still and infinitely expanding.

Only God is absolute. 

Between towards and away

Human mind always seems busy in running towards something or running away from something. In middle of this running towards and running away it misses something called "The Moment". It run towards what? The DESIRES of all nature personal, material, spiritual and emotional and the ego. It runs away from the Fear, the fear of loosing what it already has achieved or the fear of insecurity. The MOMENT  which lies in middle of this running towards and running away is nothing but STILLNESS  and in this stillness we are close to the creator.
As great Master's say it's important to be outwardly active with a state of this inner stillness. Maintaining a moderation between outward activity and inner stillness is an art but we can tame it with practice. 

Condition consciousness and character

This spiritual condition, consciousness and character all seems to be interlinked. There cannot be big difference between these. When spiritual condition elevates then automatically consciousness is pulled up and as vivekananda rightly said "Darma depends on our level of consciousness", so it becomes ones duty to ensure a good character.

In the same way when there is a sudden fall in character or consciousness level the spiritual condition gets affected. Maintaining a good moderate character is a far most important thing in the souls journey.

Weird hypothesis

"Solitude and introspection are the two legs of a yogi " this is a weird random thought which came to my mind.

Any day which we don't spend aa few minutes on solitude is the day we missed talking to our best friend. In Sahaj Marg spiritual sadhana we are always asked to write diary. That is my favourite aspect of sadhana :-)  Whatever be my mood or condition this diary writing has always been magical transformer of my state of mind. But itit took me 13 years to realise that it was not the external guru with whom I was speaking but the process of diary writing is to connect to the God within. They say prayer is speaking to God, meditation is listening to God. I feel diary writing is like a two edged knife and helps in both speaking to God and listening to God. Writing is souls food :-) It connects us to the divine within. 

Guru's role in souls journey

The soul journeys across so many multivarious experiences in different dimensions. What is the role of Guru or master in the journey of a soul? He looks like a middleware in this Holy trinity of creation. He is a transformer who brings about this transformation from,  me (self) - > beloved (Guru) - >ME (SELF)
He takes our lower self to our higher self.
So the journey begins and ends in the self, from self (i)  to the SELF (which encompasses the entire universe).
He is the middleware in ignorance - >knowledge - >total ignorance.

It's all about living

I used to read a lot some years back, then I started writing and later spoke a little bit now i feel reading, writing and speaking are child's play. The real challenge is to live the spiritual way, in every moment of choice. To live Heartfullness as a way of life, "Be courageous, be loving, be peaceful, be less inviting to desires that is the heartfulness way". What is the use of speaking something and doing some other thing. Words have no effect unless the speaker lives in resonance with the words coming out of him. So its not about reading, writing or speaking. Life is all about living the heartfulness way. 

Duty

Nowadays I feel that DUTY, is the highest penance. Our Salvation lies in fulfilling our duties in every dimension. Meditation is just a tool to motivate us and keep us going. What do I mean by duties here? Our duty is to fit in with the nature's plan, to let the flow happen without offering personal resistance. Our duty is to maintain the ORDER. Our tiny selves should be in order with the mighty universe. Duties towards ourselves, spouse, family, friends and society, duties towards humanity, duties towards all of God's creation everything should be fulfilled without personal interference and resistance.
But of course no one is going to acknowledge what one does, still one should keep on going on and on because DUTY is eternal meditation and the highesthighest penance. Duty for duty sake should be our motto. 

Energy levels

 May be we all have the same energy levels but each of us direct it in different areas. In creativity, work, thinking, games, art, service prayer. I don't know what determines where our energy flows but I learnt one thing is that it is important that energy flows somewhere instead of being stuck.  Being stuck in blows, failures, hardships or disappointments is surely not constructiveconstructive.

How we prioritise our energy flow determines the output in that particular area. So its wise not to judge anyone because we never know where each person's energy flow based on  thier choices and priorities and situations. From individual perspective it's important to have an awareness on where our energy is flowing and in striking a balance.

Strong souls

Yesterday I was a little upset with some people who expect a lot from me, remind me of my duties but let me down during moments of choices, irrespective of all the good which was done toto them. During moments of choices the prioritiespriorities which humans take show thier degree of commitment and affection. To give and do when all is well is a different thing and to take responsibility in hand and push ourselves to reach out to others is a trait which only few souls pocess. And that too keep on doing for people who never reciprocate at all is love in its highest form. It's sad that in today's world there are times when these kinds of genuine souls are just being used. But still forgiveness is the greatest punishment which could be given for people who failed to reciprocate.
When I personally feel demotivated to carry on I take some inspiration from such strong souls who do thier duty to the fullest without getting any material or emotional reciprocation and am happy my husband is one such strong soul who inspires me. 

Completion

What is your idea of completion? Each person tries to find completion in something or other. Nothing can give me the satisfaction which solitude and deep connection to within gives me. Of course I don't deny the happiness which outside world give me in the form of success or pleasure or friendship or kindness but those things fade away with time. Every time I am really broken I feel I have to go back deep within me to partake of God's love to build me back again.

Explore the inner realms of your self

When we go to a tourist place, watch a mind blowing movie or enjoy a lunch in a beautiful restaurant don't we think our near and dear ones should undergo the nice experience.
How beautiful is this inner journey, from where it all started to where the path leads me today, I feel sad I could not capture a photograph to show how beautiful it is so that my brothers and sisters will also like to visit it. I only pray that all people start exploring the inner realms of their self because the beauty of it is unsurpassable. Yes it takes time, effort and willingness but it is worth a try! Though I started walking the path without the awareness of the beauty lying on the way, today I fee every step I took was worth the effort and I benefitted a million times more than what I gave in to it,if only we could understand that benefits are not quantitative, benefits are not physically measurable. This subtlety makes it difficult to invite others to the journey. 

Food for thought

Well I was wondering about this condition and consciousness,i.e the spiritual condition best way Guru and the expanded consciousness of any human being.
Which comes first, the condition or consciousness and how do they complement each other.
What limits our consciousness?
First and foremost our belief system which has its roots from family, religion and culture.
We are conditioned to think in a particular way.
Thinking and acting out of rules was never easily  accepted in the society, still there were people who broke the rules and bought about reformation.
Reformers might probably have born with that special responsibility to bring about change.
What about the rest of us. What is our purpose?
In what lies our salvation?
Is condition and consciousness just meant for us. What is the use of it if it does not extend like the ripples, a centre and the waves, the waves may or may not produce another.
I think may be no reformer wanted to change the world, the change in themselves just produced waves outside automatically.
What are the other things which limit our expansion of consciousness?
May be we are happy with the present state of mind and don't want to explore and go further.
Contentment now looks to me like both a blessing and a curse, blessing as it leads to mental satisfaction but contentment probably retards growth. This lack of willingness to go further is a veil to our expansion. This not only applies to consciousness but to any aspect of life. Be it wealth, knowledge, creativity, beauty, spirituality or philosophy without willingness nothing is possible. So I now see contentment as a hidden veil to our expansion.
The third limiting factor could be our sensitivity. This is my recent feeling with myself. By nature I am very shy and introverted and can't socialize much but I love truly and deeply. Sensitivity can be of help in condition but could be a veil in expansion of consciousness. A sensitive person just gets drained.
To live in the norms of society culture, rules, sensitivity, contentment, willingness all is necessary.
So the higher state of conscious expansion is really the flexibility to expand and contract as and when needed.
To live like water which takes the shape of container, not the rigid solid or the air which cannot  be caught in end.
I would personally prefer this state of moderation of water and totally accept the solids, liquids and gas are all indispensable and complement each other.

Amalgamation

Being-The characteristic of the soul.
Doing - The law of physical existence
I wondered how would it be if I could amalgamate "Doing" from a state of "Being"
Doing and being would no longer be thought of as opposites but states commenting each other 

Do your best

Swami vivekananda has spoken extensively about karma Yoga. Even my Master's emphasise on balancing the spiritual and material aspects of existence. We live on earth, the physical plane and actions are the very foundations of physical existence. Sluggishness should never be confused with holy inactivity.
Till the very end one has to discharge thier duties, what are the barriers which prevents us from doing the best? 1.Sloth 2.Judgement 3.Expectation and attachments on fruits of labour.
At times even if we begin well wet get demotivated due to our own attitude.

I would like to shareshare a small story which I read recently.
Once God told a person to push a rock. The person obeyed God's instructions and did his best. He kept on pushing for around seven or eight years until one day the devil came and raised some negative thoughts in his mind such as why are pushing the rock for years it has not even moved a single inch. So the man waswas confused and took the idea to God. God replied him "My dear son, I asked you to push the rock and you did. Did you notice that in this process your muscles got strengthened and your will increased. Pushing alone is your job and you did it, it is me who moves the rock when the time comes".
This story beautifully explains Vivekananda's karma Yoga or Krishna's Nishkama karma.
So let us do our work without attachment or expectations or judgement."Duty for duty's sake should be the motto "says Babuji Maharaj.

As the saying goes Do your best and God will do the rest"

Learning through experience

Not all knowledge can be taught or got from book, at times in life we learn through experiences, at times experiences comes before knowledge I feel in these cases we learn all the more better and deeper.
When we make mistakes ourselves out of our weakness it's easy to forgive others. In relation to this I remember a episode of Mahabaratha where there is a brief conversation between Bishma and his mother Ganga. Bishma tells his mother that he sticks to justice and it was difficult for him to oversee the fault of others, for which his mother replies that it is because I have not inflicted any weakness in you.
Same way empathy develops when we experience sufferings. Kindness develops when someone helps us in critical situations then we learn to help a lending hand.
So mostly in life we give what we have or what we have experienced.

States of consciousness

Consciousness is a vast topic... I have just started taking my babby steps in understanding it..
The conscious, sub conscious and the super conscious mind. Perfection or mastery of our mind should mean it's mastery in all the different states.
How are we going into different states of consciousness every day.
When we are SENSIBLE we are in the conscious frame of mind, when we are INTUTIVE we are with the sub conscious mind and when we PERCEIVE we are with the super conscious mind.
The universal fact is every trinity originates from  or culminates to unity.
So in a way instead of being sensible only with facts and data we need to use. Intuition and perception to achieve refined sensibility. 

Sacred mirror

Just like we use the mirror every day to check our face and make adjustments if require so to we must use the mirror of mind to look at ourselves(MIND)  as we are without the interference of ego.
Mirror reflects truth and 100%.
So we must look at our real self and make corrections or adjustments as required until we admire the truth which we look at!

If this exercise is carried out every day it will be very beneficial. 

Be yourself, respond but don't react

At times even if we are forgiving in nature if someone gives us stress repeatedly it's natural to go for a tit for tat,if not the first time then at least the fifth time.
I came across this recently, not all people react the way we do. When we are empathetic with someone but they are judgmental and critical when we make some mistake it's really annoying and next time we want to pin point them though that may not be our nature.
But it is important to think over it, it's not good to reflect other people's behaviour. If that was not our nature but only a reflection then we are making a mistake. Instead of correcting our mistakes we are letting our ego to do as it pleases and find satisfaction. It's not easy to identify this kind of subtle ego, so in simple terms we should be ourselves and not stoop down in behaviour just to find ego satisfaction,if we fail we would only make more and more Mistakes.

Let's be ourselves irrespective of what others are to us.We should respond and not react. 

Fellow beings

When dealing with fellow beings it's worth remembering that "Nothing is done by others, everything is done through others that which we deserve as decided by call it karma/nature /God"

So its wise not to form chains of anger or gratitude for others because both are binding in nature! 

Life is not a one time process

I wanted to go and sit in a beautiful garden with pond and swans and get Lost in it.
I took efforts to reach there and I had to cross hard stones and thorns to get there. But still the beauty of the pond and garden motivated me to cross the hurdles, some one created a mess and in my garden and I had to clear it up to maintain the beauty of the garden. But when the mess was repeated I started getting annoyed and lost the happiness in my dream garden. I was having so much resistance to clean the mess again and again, so I started to accept the mess and enjoy the garden for my own peace. Though this acceptance gave me peace it did not clear my mess. I was not willing to clean the mess again and again and hence the resistance, but after prolonged period of resistance I found that the mess was outside the boundary of my garden and every time I clean it I am only expanding my garden, without knowing this I was offering resistance.

Same way in life at times we offer resistance to expansion with our limited view! There is no sitting down and resting here, we build constantly it's not once and for all. It's until we have reached the level of expertise as nature demands. Trials and turbulences purify us and every other step only elevates our consciousness, we have to come to terms with reality and face it sooner or later, we can't escape or resist or avoid for long, we have to do it ourselves.. That's life!

If Joy be our aim!!!!!

Work can be thought of as a task or activity performed to achieve a end result.
May be the end result is our survival need or emotional need or our dream or aim!
What should be our approach to work?
Nishkama karma (You are bound to do the work without thinking of the results, at the same time don't be inclined to inaction tlk)  as Krishna says.
How could we make it say interesting or perfect?
If we work for the joy of it!  When the journey becomes a joy and not a rush through to our destination.

If we cook let's enjoy the process, if we do a piece of code let's enjoy it, if we meditate let's enjoy the different states and conditions instead of wanting to hurry for the destination.
I don't mean to say that we need to be aimless, in fact if we have no aim there will be no action. Because the second part of Nishkama karma emphasises not to stick to inaction.

One way to achieve this is to make the joy of work our aim. Be it cooking, coding, meditating or even a piece of blog let's do it for the joy of it!

Working for the joy of it also has other benefits, we cut ourselves from the approvals which has to come from outside, we live in the present, we follow Nishkama karma without our knowledge. 

Simplicity

One of the maxim given by shri Ramachandra maharaj  is "Be plain and simple to be identical with nature".
God is simple, Truth is simple and nature is simple.
It is the modern day approach to complicatecomplicate a simple thing. A tea is a tea whether had in a road side shop or had in seven star hotel, the difference is only the presentation.
It's sad to notice that simplicity is misunderstood for deception. It can never be, but simplicity is truth itself and the very nature of God and existence.

When the complexities are blowed away simplicity will remain still!
Christianity is today a world religion because of the simplicity in its teaching. The simplicity reaches out to larger audience.

Simplicity is a virtue attribute worth striving for.
Let's try to develop it if we are not simple minded or simple in our lifestyle.
In case we are already simple let's continue happily.

Beloved master P. Rajagopalachari says we need to be simple in our thoughts, words and deeds.
We should remain simple even in our approach to practice ".

Live your way but don't think it's the only way!

Well each of us have our own way or idea of life either from parents, religion, society or in rare cases by ourselves!
One might chase money, another success some one else health, fitness, beauty, some technology, sports, fine arts,  knowledge, some chase God, religions, spirituality. We go behind that which we like. In this journey let's remember never to think ours is the only way nor condemn the likes of another person.
Perfect harmony lies when we appreciate the fact that "In this universe there is diversity, everything special in its own way. Let's learn to embrace everything and condemn nothing" 

Everything has it's Raison detre

Babuji always says everything has it's Raison detre.
When things are easy to our liking we never question why but when things go wrong we resist and panic so much in ignorance.
It was wonderful to experience my Master as a beloved, to feel His love. It was nice to experience Him as truth to be overwhelmed with multi various experiences, To witness Him as a Alchemist who brings about elevation of ideas. But how easy was it to experience Him as a healer? To experience the wounds and the scars and the pain. The process was very painful and it was a severe test but I would not have felt the healing touch if there were no wounds at all. When I witnessed Him as my protector I had lost it all! But unless I reached that stage I could not have fully perceived His Protection.

So let's learn to have Faith in Him and be Patient free and learn the lessons which life has to offer. After all everything has it'sit's Raison detre (Reason for Existence).

I remember a hymn from my school song.
In His time...
Time for loosing
Time for gain
Time for joy and
Time for pain
Every purpose under heaven has a time!

Guru

Call it guru or master or protector, it's a blessing to find one. By destiny or chance or choice I found my real guru.
Nothing did I know about him or about spirituality when I trusted him, but much did I learn, realise and experience in this journey.
1.  Master is love was my first learning.
I witnessed true love in His eyes and in His presence. He has shown me love and taken the role of my Beloved.
2. Master is Truth was my second learning. He speaks of many things and many a times I have experienced all those things. Then I have realised the meaning of his words. He has shown me the Truth and taken the role of Guru.
3.Master is a Protector. In the moments when I was left with absolutely nothing, I found him standing by my side. He has protected me and taken the role of my father.
4.Master is a Healer. In the journey of life at times we find wounds in our heart created by our own self or by others, but whatever it is I found master forgiving and healing not only the wounds but also the scars with his tender love.
5.Master is a Alchemist - Transformer of human tendencies. He has completely changed my ideas and approach to life. He has moulded me and taken the role of my mother.
6.Master is my best friend. When I wanted empathy and understanding he was there for me.
He has taken the roles of Father, Mother, Best Friend, Beloved and that of a Guru.
My Master completes me.

Lotus

The lotus petals have a greatgreat spiritual significance. In Hinduism and Buddhism there is so much significance to lotus.
What does lotus have to telltell man?
Though lotus comes from dirty, mushy pond it raises above it and blooms wide.
So too in our life whatever be our struggles or situations we need to raise above it and bloom wide. Lotus symbolises spiritual rebirth, faith and purification of spirit.
The great tamil poet thiruvalluvar says
"vella tanayadu malar neettam mandar tam ulla tanayadu uyarvu".
This means the level of success of a man depends on his level of confidence.

Blinkers

I think to succeed in life, we need to wear blinkers and walk ahead. It's not about not being open minded to what comes from outside,its about taking instructions from within and moving on.
It's important to understand that ours is not the only way to lead life,this kind of attitude is ego based. Also if we try to follow another person's way it might not work for us. So it's better to wear blinkers, take the instructions from within and keep walking ahead without the ego that our way is the best or the immaturity to try leading our life in another person views.

No distractions, wear blinkers and walk ahead! 

Associate with good people

Once I thought that the human mind is like the pitcher plant nepenthes. It has glue which attracts insects, same way mind takes from the atmosphere.
We can also compare the mind with sponge. It absorbs the liquid in which it is put, be it water, milk or oil.
Same way consciously or unconsciously our mind absorbs many things from people around us, at times even without our knowledge.
So it's always important to associate with people with positive energy andand mindset. 

Good video

Last week I was listening to William Bulhman's talk at Monroe institute. I enjoyed it and some of the Important highlights of the talk are

1. We are not biological human beings but consciousness currently in human form.
2.It is not enough to read or believe in consciousness, explore and expand.
3. Every dimension is thought responsive. We are in earth here the process is little slow.
4.There is no luck or chance we create our destiny with our own thoughts.
5.Out of body experience, lucid dreams and deep meditation are some methods to expand our consciousness.
5.The earth is just a training ground. The other dimensions are instantly thought responsive so we should be fit enough to go there.

Solitude

Well few months back I was wondering about what does solitude do to us.
Does solitude nourishes or kills or heals or rejoices?
When we use our solitude to dive into the depths of ourselves it heals.
When in solitude when thoughts overpowers  us it kills.
So whenever life puts us in moments of solitude let's remember that instead of making it as a boring phase we can make it as a healing, rejoicing and a nourishing phase.

Just Be

Sometimes it's wonderful to just be!
Live in the present moment, without any thoughts or worries or dreams.
I used to be lost in thoughts of past or future or my own imagination.
Nowadays everything seems like heaviness to my mind. May be am becoming aimless....

Whatever I just want to be... Joy lies in being.
At times even when you think about it, talk about it or write about it, the state is gone. 

Heart chakra

There are seven main chakras in the human being. 

Heart chakra is the fourth chakra and is located in middle of the spine. 

When the heart chakra is open we would be able to experience infinite universal love. We would be open for the infinite love to flow through us. 

What of our actions /reactions  block the heart chakra 

1.anger

2 . inability to forgive 

3.grudges or resentment 

4.feelling of victim 

5.unable to let go of the past 

With all these tendencies we block the heart chakra iI. E We ourselves build a block to experience infinite love. 

lessons learnt...

1. Learn to trust yourself and God; all the help comes from within.

2. Act out of love and not out of fear or compulsion.

3.Education or knowledge is useless unless applied in life. Wisdom is application.

4. When we believe and envision and want something the whole universe co operates with us to make it happen. That's why its important to think right. When we don't know what is right the best is to surrender to higher force.

5. No need to follow or believe in any rigid rules of ourselves or family or society or religion or even spirituality.Don't limit the mind the universe is limitless.Learn to let go of your pre conceived ideas and prejudices and judgments only then we can live in the present and be exposed to the infinite. Our ideas limit us.

6. Everything is possible in prayer and surrender. Prayer transcends logic; reasoning;rules and laws.

7. Aspiring and striving to reach somewhere and the ability to let go of it and keep walking beyond makes the journey interesting. 

watch your thoughts

If we believe he or she is messy then that person will be messy at least to us!

We have thousands of thoughts good; bad ; weird... We think knowingly or unknowingly and we experience it at times without being able to handle the experiences created by our own thoughts.

So what do we do? How to control our thoughts. The only way is to live in the present. Just Be! Just Do !

Flame of love

Don't walk towards the flame of love for the mere warmth of the flame;
Be prepared to dissolve in it and never return again.

justice or forgiveness ?

A couple of days back had a feeling that in evolution there would be certain periods when nature bestows its mercy on all of God's creation. Its during these period of mercy many great beings come down to the earth to uplift people spiritually; just like a prisoner who is undergoing punishment for his mistakes at times is forgiven and set free during certain occasions like.Gandhi Jayanthi or independence day if his conduct was good enough. Same way nature too has certain periods of mercy.

But is not this idea of mercy or forgiveness contradicting to the law of justice or karma. How can karma be nullified and a person be elevated ? Also who are the ones on whom this mercy will fall upon ? Is it a random choice ?

Well i dont know if it may sound logical to you; but my answer to my question was it is we who choose wwhether we want mercy or justice. Our laws are made by our thoughts. What we believe so it is ; at least for us ! You act the way you believe and your life depends on how you are dealing with others. May be that is why it is said " Forgive others the way you want to be forgiven by the Lord
"
We make our own laws by our own thoughts. Love and forgive . Believe in divine mercy.