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Monthly Archives: December 2010
This is the noblest path
Bhajan is very necessary to melt the heart of God. When you do Nagar Sankirtan early in the morning, everybody will get up and listen to the Divine Name.
Hearing the name of God as soon as they wake up will fill them with great bliss and enthusiasm. Constantly remember the name of God; never forget it. This is the noblest path. This is true spiritual practice. When you do this, you will be immensely blessed.
- Baba
 Thought for the day as written at Prasanthi Nilayam today
12th November 2010
If you can laugh at yourself, seriousness is already gone
If you can laugh at yourself, everything is okay. People laugh at others, but never laugh at themselves. It has to be learned. If you can laugh at yourself, seriousness is already gone. It cannot make its abode within you if you are capable of laughing at yourself.
In Zen monasteries every monk has to laugh. The first thing in the morning to do is to laugh, the very first thing. The moment the monk becomes aware that he is no longer asleep, he has to jump out of bed, stand in a posture like a buffoon, like a circus joker, and start laughing, laughing at himself. There cannot be any better beginning of the day.
Laughing at oneself kills the ego and you are more transparent, more light, when you move in the world. And if you have laughed at yourself, then others’ laughter toward you won’t disturb you. In fact they are simply cooperating, they are doing the same thing that you were doing. You will feel happy.
To laugh at others is egoistic; to laugh at oneself is very humble. Learn to laugh at yourself–about your seriousness and things like that….
Let the laughter be a belly laughter, not a head-thing. One can laugh from the head: then it is dead. From the head everything is dead; the head is absolutely mechanical. You can laugh from the head: then your head will create the laughter, but it will not go deep in the belly to the hara. It will not go to your toes, it will not go to your whole body. A real laugh is just like a small child laughs. Watch his belly shaking, his whole body throbbing with it–he wants to roll on the floor. It is a question of totality. He laughs so much that he starts crying; he laughs so deeply that the laughter becomes tears, tears come out of him. A laughter should be deep and total. This is the medicine that I prescribe for seriousness….
Osho
Awareness reveals the problem completely
Awareness is from moment to moment, it is not the cumulative effect of self protective memories. Awareness is not determination nor is it the action of will. Awareness is the complete and unconditional surrender to what is, without rationalization, without the division of the observer and the observed. As awareness is non-accumulative, non-residual, it does not build up the self, positively or negatively. Awareness is ever in the present and so, non-identifying and non repetitive; nor does it create habit. Take, for instance, the habit of smoking and experiment with it in awareness. Be aware of smoking, do not condemn, rationalize or accept, simply be aware. If you are so aware there is the cessation of the habit; if you are so aware there will be no recurrence of it but if you are not aware the habit will persist. This awareness is not the determination to cease or to indulge. Be aware; there is a fundamental difference between being and becoming. To become aware you make effort and effort implies resistance and time, and leads to conflict. If you are aware in the moment there is no effort, no continuance of the self-protective intelligence. You are aware or you are not; the desire to be aware is only the activity of the sleeper, the dreamer. Awareness reveals the problem completely, fully, without denial or acceptance, justification or identification, and it is freedom which quickens understanding. Awareness is a unitary process of the observer and the observed. – J. Krishnamurti, The Collected Works Volume IV Ojai 4th Public Talk 1946
Meditation on the Door-Keepers, 2
That which is the southern gate is the vyana-that is the ear, that is Chandrama (the moon). One should meditate on that as prosperity and fame. He who knows this becomes prosperous and famous.
- Sama Veda, Chandogya Upanishad III, XIII – Meditation on the Door-Keepers, 2
Relative Aspects of Brahman, 7
Gargya said: This being (purusha) who is in fire, I meditate upon as
Brahman. Ajatasatru said: No, no! Please do not talk about him. I
meditate upon him as forbearing. Whosoever thus meditates upon him becomes forbearing and his progeny becomes forbearing.
- Yajur Veda, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad II, I-Relative Aspects of Brahman, 7
Destiny is what we are making
It is said in the Gayan, ‘The present is the reflection of the past, and the future is the re-echo of the present.’ Destiny is not what is already made. Destiny is what we are making. Very often fatalists 
think that we are in the hands of destiny, driven in whatever direction in life destiny wills; but in point of fact we are the masters of our destiny, especially from the moment we begin to realize this fact. … destiny means the materialization of man’s own thought. Man is responsible for his success and failure, for his rise and fall. And it is man who brings these about either knowingly or unknowingly.
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan: from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/VI/VI_31.htm
For yoga is perfect evenness of mind.
You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction. Perform work in this world, Arjuna, as a man established within himself—without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat. For yoga is perfect evenness of mind.
- Bhagavad Gita
HOW IMPRESSIONS ARE FORMED
An experience in the sense plane sinks into the depths of the subconscious mind. There it becomes a samskara (an impression). The impression of an experience is formed in the citta (subconscious mind), at the very moment that the mind experiences it. There is no gap between the present experience and the formation of the samskara in the subconscious mind.
One specific experience leaves one specific samskara and the memory of this specific experience springs from that particular samskara only, which was formed out of that particular experience.
When you first perceive an orange and taste it, you get knowledge of an orange. A samskara is formed in the subconscious mind at once. At any time this samskara can generate a memory of the object, the orange, and knowledge of the orange. Though the object and the act of knowing are distinguishable, yet they are inseparable.
Samskara is also known as `residual potency’. When all vrttis or thoughts die away, the frame of the mind remains with the samskaras. This is termed the `potential mind’. All samskaras co-exist in the mind. Vrttis slowly subside, leaving traces in the mind. These traces are samskaras. From them springs memory.
If you have yogic vision, you can vividly notice the marvels that take place in the mental factory of an individual. You can see how the vrtti arises in the mind-lake. You can see how it subsides. And you can see how a samskara is formed. You will be struck with wonder. Samskaras are like forces – they either aid or inhibit one another.
The sum total of all samskaras is known as karmasaya (receptacle of works) and this is called sancita karma (accumulated works). When a man leaves the physical body he carries with him his astral body of seventeen tatvas (elements) and the karmasaya, to the mental plane. Karmasaya is burnt in toto by the highest knowledge, obtained through asamprajnata samadhi (the non-dual super-conscious state). – Swami Sivananda
God responds to the prayers of all.
Adored by the Muslims as Allah, as Jehovah by the Christians, as the lotus-eyed Lord Vishnu by the Vaishnavites (worshippers of Lord Vishnu), and as Shambhu by the Shaivites (worshippers of Lord Shiva), God is worshipped as the One Supreme Self, who confers health and wealth. People may worship God in various names and forms, but the very same God responds to the prayers of all.
- Baba
Thought for the day as written at Prasanthi Nilayam today
23rd December 2010