Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 31-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 31-01-2013
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How Often And Why Do I Need To Meditate – cont.?

As explained yesterday, we regularly and quite easily slip into four main negative habits. So meditation is not only sitting in a quiet corner, and connecting with the self and the Supreme, at a couple of fixed times during the day, but it is also the way to gently remember and remind ourselves, many times in a day, that we as well as others, are souls or spiritual beings not physical beings, by detaching ourselves from actions and also while being involved in actions. These reminders given to the self over a period of time become natural and prevent us from succumbing to these four habits. Given below is a basic meditation, which you could use to remind yourself regularly during the day:

I have a body but this body is not me…
I have thoughts but these thoughts are not me …
I have feelings but these feelings are not me …
I have attitudes but these attitudes are not me …
I have emotions but these emotions are not me …
I have beliefs but these beliefs are not me …
I perform many actions through my sense organs, but these sense organs are not me…
I play many roles but I am not my roles…
I experience joy or sorrow through my sense organs, but these experiences are not me …
I am a soul – a being of energy, which is neither created nor can be destroyed, and my original and true nature is one of peace, love, joy and power…

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Message for the day 31-01-2013
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True detachment is to be a master of all things that we use.

Projection: Detachment is usually mistaken as being away from things because usually while using the facilities available we tend to get dependent on them. Such dependency is troublesome and so we sometimes give up using these facilities thinking that this is detachment which helps us to be free from their control.

Solution: The solution lies in mentally detaching ourselves from the facilities we are using. That means we use them but we are not dependent on them. For this we need to remind ourselves that we are the creator and whatever facilities are available to us are the creation. This enables us to develop mastery and control over everything.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 30-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 30-01-2013
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How Often And Why Do I Need To Meditate?

As with anything else, the more we practice meditation, the more we feel the benefit of what we are doing. We do need to practice meditation regularly because the habits of:

i. identifying with our physical form,

ii. succumbing to mental and emotional negativity (in the form of waste and negative thoughts) along with negativity in words and actions,

iii. becoming attached to the physical as well as the non-physical, and

iv. being dependent upon the experience of physical stimulation of any sort (from e.g. food, movies, people, sports etc.) for happiness are extremely deep.

These habits have deepened over a period of many many births, because of repeating them regularly, due to a lack of spiritual awareness. As a result, in the present moment also we regularly and quite easily slip into these four habits.

(To be continued tomorrow…)

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Message for the day 30-01-2013
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To be prepared for obstacles is to remain cheerful under all circumstances.

Projection: Generally there is always a wish not to have to face any obstacles. When we begin something new we usually have a thought to have things going perfectly well. So when obstacles do come we are not prepared and we experience dissatisfaction and sorrow.

Solution: Whenever we start something new we need to prepare our mind that we are sure to be faced with obstacles. Along with it we also need to understand that these obstacles actually teach us something new and it is only with such situations we can learn and progress. When we have such thoughts we will be able to remain cheerful under all circumstances.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 29-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 29-01-2013
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Harmonizing The Mind And The Intellect

The intellect is the faculty of the soul that judges thought and determines its quality, its ethical purity, its truthfulness, its usefulness, its appropriateness, whether it is necessary, right or wrong. The intellect is backed by the conscience. In fact, the conscience expresses itself through the intellect. If you have a positive thought, the intellect should approve it and allow it to be put into practice. If a feeling of doubt accompanies the positive thought, the intellect should take it into account and remove that doubt, before the thought gets converted into action. When the faculties of the mind and intellect are pure and strong, and they cooperate in harmony; they support one another and there is no inner conflict. If the intellect is weak, the mind feels confused and it will generate many unproductive thoughts. There will be an inner conflict and in the end the intellect will lose, because the power of influence of the intellect is less. Then, the intellect will not have the power to prevent them from going into action. Actions will be performed that are negative or unproductive, in opposition to the conscience, and they will as a result create negative habits.

The intellect is the most important faculty of human consciousness to bring about personality change. If the quality of the intellect is good, the capacity and quality of the intellectual processes through which you perceive and live reality will be higher. If the intellect is clean and pure, you will differentiate what is real and authentic from what is unreal and false. You will be able to judge if a situation is beneficial or wasteful, useful or useless.

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Message for the day 29-01-2013
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To have true faith in oneself is to attain success.

Projection: Sometimes false courage is mistaken as faith. When we take up some task we might be deceived into a feeling of having a lot of courage which makes us over-confident. Then instead of putting in effort to give our best we tend to become careless. Such carelessness will not enable us to achieve easy success.

Solution: We need to check within ourselves and see if we have true faith in ourselves or not. Faith always comes with the recognition of our own specialities. We also need to pay special attention to work towards something that we can achieve. When we do this we will find ourselves succeeding naturally.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 28-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 28-01-2013
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Understanding What Are ‘Karmic Accounts’

We are not individuals acting alone in this world drama; we act in this extraordinary drama or play of life with other actors or souls who (along with us) play their different roles with different physical costumes at different times in the drama. During the process of interaction with other actors (souls) and according to the type of interaction with them, we create accounts of debit or credit that become the basis of our connections with others. The reasons for which a specific relationship goes well or not are in the so called ‘karmic account’ that I have accumulated with the other person in the past. The past could be in this birth alone or in one or many previous births. The souls that play the parts of parents, children, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends, office colleagues and others whom I know form a network for the giving and receiving of happiness and sorrow from accounts established in the past or being created in the present.

The strongest relationships that I have now were established previously. We knew each other in other lives and but in different roles. The daughter of some births ago returns now as the father, the best friend comes back as the sister etc. As long as the account exists, the interchange of actions between two souls continues. When there is nothing more to give or receive, the paths between the two souls separate by death, a break-up, a divorce or simply by the loss of contact. An e.g. of this is our school friends. Many of our friends whom we were close to in our school days, we are not in touch with today. Another e.g. is when we change jobs; we might lose complete contact with our old colleagues.

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Message for the day 28-01-2013
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The wings of courage and enthusiasm enable one to fly forward.

Projection: While moving forward we sometimes find ourselves in a position where there seems to be no progress. We don't seem to understand the reason for this and we find success eluding us. We try different methods for success but if we look within we find that either we have no courage or no enthusiasm, which prevents us from giving our best to the task.

Solution: We need to have both the wings of courage and enthusiasm in order to succeed. If there is no courage we give up trying. On the other hand, if there is no enthusiasm we get tired and tiredness never lets us work towards success. So before we take up any task we should make sure we fill both these wings with such power that we will be able to work constantly till we succeed.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 27-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 27-01-2013
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Effects Of Anger On The Human Body

In numerous studies, anger has been found to have a completely negative effect on our physical well-being. In one such study, reported at a recent conference on forgiveness and peace in the US, it was demonstrated that letting go of negative feelings that we have for someone due to his/her negative actions relieved and reduced chronic back pain.

It seems we have been conditioned to treat any tension-triggering event, be it a small accident or a conflict with a partner or colleague, as a big problem or crisis. At these moments our bodies generate and release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. Our heart accelerates, our breath quickens and our mind races. It's all harmless if the tension or fright is brief and once in a while, like a near miss while driving, but the emotional disturbances of anger and hatred are like accidents that don't end, and hormones turn into toxins. The depressive effect of cortisol upon the immune system has been linked to serious diseases and disorders. According to a recent medical research, "Cortisol wears down the brain, leading to cell degeneration and memory loss. It also raises blood pressure and blood sugar, hardening the arteries, leading to heart disease."

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Message for the day 27-01-2013
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To have knowledge in the intellect is to be constantly cheerful.

Projection: When something negative happens, we find that there are only negative or waste thoughts about the situation or people. We try hard not to think about it but we find only those thoughts coming to our mind. With such thoughts the situation seems worse than it is and we find it difficult to remain cheerful.

Solution: In such situations instead of trying to cut out waste we need to give ourselves something positive to think about. When the intellect is busy thinking about the positive, there'll be no room for negativity. In this way we will be able to remain constantly cheerful even in the most negative situations.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 26-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 26-01-2013
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The Benefits Of Soul Consciousness (cont.)

The following differences between body consciousness and soul consciousness, will make you realize the benefits of soul consciousness (the practice of meditation make us soul conscious):

In Body Consciousness: I am disturbed by feelings of false attractions.
In Soul Consciousness: I am attracted by the qualities of the Supreme Soul only.

In Body Consciousness: I give sorrow, like a thorn hurting everyone.
In Soul Consciousness: I spread the fragrance of virtues like a flower.

In Body Consciousness: I see everyone relative to my individual identity, my life revolving around "me"... this is arrogance (ego).
In Soul Consciousness: I respect each individual and relate to them with humility (egolessness).

In Body Consciousness: I am tense and tired.
In Soul Consciousness: I am alert and relaxed.

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Message for the day 26-01-2013
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A practical example is one whose every action inspires others.

Projection: When we want to start off something new and different we look for role models or inspiration, which we rarely get. We usually never think of being an inspiration for others. So we begin to lose enthusiasm to the extent that we might even give up what we started.

Solution: For whatever we do, we need to have the aim of becoming an example, an inspiration for others. The more we have this in our mind, we will never be discouraged by others' actions. Instead we will be able to perform each action with such enthusiasm and such perfection that our each action becomes an inspiration for others.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 25-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 25-01-2013
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The Benefits Of Soul Consciousness (cont.)

The following differences between body consciousness and soul consciousness, will make you realize the benefits of soul consciousness (the practice of meditation make us soul conscious):

In Body Consciousness: I become bored and depressed easily.
In Soul Consciousness: I understand situations and overcome them easily. I am able to maintain enthusiasm.

In Body Consciousness: The wings of the soul are clipped (cut).
In Soul Consciousness: I have wings of thought to fly beyond the body.

In Body Consciousness: The intellect is dull. I am limited to the perception (way of looking at things) of this physical world only.
In Soul Consciousness: The intellect is sharp. I can travel, with the power of the intellect, to my original home – “paramdham” or “shantidham”.

In Body Consciousness: I see a distorted (misunderstood) past and have no aim for the future.
In Soul Consciousness: The past, present and future of my part are seen clearly.

(To be continued tomorrow ….)

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Message for the day 25-01-2013
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To be experienced means not to be deceived by anything.

Projection: There are so many times when a situation takes us by surprise and we make the same mistake that we had made before. It is only when the situation has passed that we realise that we have actually repeated that mistake. What then remains is only repentance as the time has passed where we could have done something.

Solution: Whenever there is a mistake, we need to take care that we learn from whatever has happened. When we continue to move forward in this way there will be no repentance for the mistakes made but there will be learning that'll make us experienced. And when we are experienced we'll never be deceived by situations which make us commit mistakes.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 24-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 24-01-2013
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The Benefits Of Soul Consciousness

The following differences between body consciousness and soul consciousness, will make you realize the benefits of soul consciousness (the practice of meditation make us soul conscious):

In Body Consciousness: I am in bondage (not free).
In Soul Consciousness: There are no bondages, I am free.

In Body Consciousness: I have many questions and few answers.
In Soul Consciousness: I understand everything that I do.

In Body Consciousness: I am afraid of dying (losing the body).
In Soul Consciousness: I know I am eternal (the soul is beyond birth and death) and there is no fear of death.

In Body Consciousness: I have no control over sense organs e.g. eyes, ears, tongue, etc..
In Soul Consciousness: I am able to practice self-control.

(To be continued tomorrow ….)

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Message for the day 24-01-2013
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To be seated on the seat of self-respect is to use virtues in life.

Projection: It usually seems very difficult to use the virtues within us when the people around are not doing so. At such times using negativity seems much easier. In spite of not having that particular weakness predominantly, say of anger, when there is provocation from the outside we tend to react with that weakness.

Solution: In order to free ourselves from weaknesses and work with the virtues within us we need to make sure we are seated on the seat of self-respect. For this we need to recognise and appreciate some speciality within us. When we are in the awareness of this speciality of ours, we will be able to stabilize ourselves in the state of our self-respect.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 23-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 23-01-2013
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Thought Energy

Our thoughts are always there, whatever age we are. Their content may change but our ability to think does not. First of all, I am a thinking, experiencing being or soul. Thoughts are not something physical which l can experience with the physical sense organs. I cannot see, taste or touch a thought. Thoughts are not made up of matter or even brain cells. I am a non-physical or spiritual being (soul), which creates thoughts. My form, a point of energy, situated in the centre of the forehead is the only form that cannot be destroyed. It is something so small that it cannot be divided. My identity is a soul, and all the other identities - teacher, student, man, woman, father, mother, friend, relation and so on - are simply different roles which I, the soul, play.

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Message for the day 23-01-2013
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The more we experience peace within the more there will be positivity in our life.

Projection: We usually try to change ourselves and our negativities by working on each of them separately. We might be able to overcome them also but being connected to the other weaknesses we find that they reemerge again. Then we find that the negativity remains in our life influencing all our thoughts, words and actions.

Solution: We first need to make a promise to ourselves to maintain our own inner positivity. Once we do that we also need to make an attempt to practice relaxing our mind and remaining calm before we do any important thing. When we practice in this way we will be able to keep our mind calm and this calmness will bring contentment through which there will be positivity in all we do.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 22-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 22-01-2013
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The Power To Transform Emotions (cont.)

Thoughts may be temporary. Feelings (either positive or negative), accompanying repeated thought-patterns, stay a bit longer inside us. But when a soul suffers a major setback, loss or failure in life that it is not able to deal with, it becomes emotionally damaged and the results of that can be extreme.

Suppose I lose a loved one all of a sudden. If the feelings that come to me because of this loss can be taken care of at that time, through any means like the remembrance of God, meditation, developing a positive hobby to divert my mind, spending more time in the positive company of other family members, etc.; I will deal with the feelings and move on. If however, I am unable to deal with my feelings through any of the means mentioned, the experience of loss I feel is going to cause a lot of deep damage on the emotional level. Then it will not just be a feeling of loss, but it will actually have wounded the soul emotionally. Until that wound has healed, I'll carry it with me long after the loss has suffered. The emotions linked to it will come to the surface repeatedly, though I may have no idea where my sorrow is coming from. Due to the emotional wound, I'll be unable to stay happy, no matter how positive my circumstances may be today.

Meditation does not require me to go into the subconscious roots of my pain. Instead, through thought, meditation enables me to take conscious control of my feelings and emotions, so as to displace the negative, which brings sorrow; with positive, which brings happiness. It helps me experience pure, powerful emotions and loveful feelings to such an extent that the wounds left by past experiences are healed. Raja Yoga means 'royal union’ - it means having a loveful relationship with God. The experience of God’s love is a soothing balm for my emotions, and a remedy for the emotional pain the soul feels.

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Message for the day 22-01-2013
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To keep the aim in front of us is to move forward with contentment.

Projection: Several times there are situations that are negative where we have to face things that are not really what we are expecting or wanting. At such times we tend to get disheartened and experience discontentment. Our state of mind becomes such that we can no longer experience peace.

Solution: The solution at such times is to keep our vision clear on our aim. When all our thoughts and energy are concentrated on our aim, we will be able to consider any negative scene that comes our way as only a side-scene. We can easily ignore all such situations and so our mind is at rest or peace.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 21-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 21-01-2013
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The Power To Transform Emotions

As with feelings, when emotions are aroused, there are physical changes inside the body in the form of chemical and electrical activity. In fact, strong emotions don’t just affect the body; they also have an impact on the soul. When the soul suffers emotional trauma, from which there is lasting impact, the emotional trauma brings about an immense strain on the brain and body. Brain chemical production is likely to be affected, and there may also be feelings of depression and tiredness. But the real trauma at the root of these physical effects is at a deeper level within the soul itself, and the resulting emotional sensitivity will also arise from the soul.

e.g. I suffer a series of losses or setbacks in my business that causes a lack of confidence and self-respect inside me. A ‘sanskara’ of low self-esteem is created inside. As a result I become emotionally unstable and sensitive. I'll show a tendency to react emotionally with extreme sorrow (may be in the form of depression) or extreme anger (sometimes in the form of an outburst) whenever there is a similar setback that touches this sensitivity. A person who has not suffered similarly in the past and does not have a ‘sanskara’ of low self esteem, and as a result does not have this tendency, will not react in a similar fashion under similar circumstances.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

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Message for the day 21-01-2013
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To be a donor means to give at each step and increase one's own stock.

Projection: Usually it seems very difficult to be a donor - to give from whatever resources we have. The thought often arises in the mind that we cannot give because we are ourselves not complete or full. We find ourselves constantly trying to fill ourselves and we then have no time or thought for giving to those around us.

Solution: We have a lot of treasures within us which we can give to those around us, our virtues, our specialities etc. Even if we have just a little and give to the others, we will find ourselves benefitting. For having given from whatever we have, we find that these treasures begin to increase within ourselves too.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 20-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 20-01-2013
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Simple Exercise To Identify Your Hidden Fears

If you want to overcome and overpower fears that exist inside you, you have to first take a look at your feelings and hidden emotions. After realizing your feelings and emotions, you have to know how to manage them and finally correct or overcome them. Given below is a simple exercise that will help you to achieve that. This exercise will help you identify the conscious and sometimes sub-conscious (very subtle) fears that lie inside you.
Choose an area of your life that you feel is negative and needs some improvement. Now, ask yourself these three questions:

1. What do I really want, what is my aim and objective?
2. What obstacle/obstacles are stopping me from achieving my objectives?
3. What prevents me from dealing with or overcoming that obstacle?

For each fear that comes to you in response to the question no. 3, ask yourself the following questions:
A. What is the worst that can happen, if what I fear occurs?
B. What is the best possible result for me and for others, if I do it even though I feel afraid of doing it?
C. Keeping in front of you the answer to question B and comparing it with the answer to question A will inspire you to overcome the fears that lie inside you.

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Message for the day 20-01-2013
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True progress brings progress in others as much as for the self.

Projection: It is usually believed that self-progress and progress of others are totally separate. It is believed that where there is thought for the progress of the self, there is selfishness and there is no benefit for those around. In fact, selfishness in an extreme form can also have a negative influence on those around.

Solution: In whatever we do we have to check and see if there is any benefit for others along with whatever benefit we are getting. If there isn't we can check to see if there is a better way of doing what we are doing which could have a positive influence on at least one person. Then we will find ourselves benefitting doubly. We will get the blessings from others along with the personal benefit we get.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 19-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 19-01-2013
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World Transformation (Change)

As we activate our subtle (non-physical) energy field (aura) that surrounds us through conscious positive thought, we carry it with us wherever we go. Then we can positively influence those who come into contact with us in our office or at home. The positive vibrations influence those who interact within our energy field very powerfully and on an unlimited level.

If you know somebody who might need a little bit of help, support or guidance experiment by going into silence and sending out your positive thought energy to him/her. As a first step, practice with the following positive thoughts:

Let me adopt the consciousness of a conscient (living) being, a soul, full of light, love and energy, situated at the centre of the forehead.

Now I send a very powerful protective light to my friend or to my family.

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Message for the day 19-01-2013
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Patience brings harmony in relationships.

Projection: When there is a misunderstanding in a relationship we hardly put in any effort in order to understand the other person. We tend to become impatient and we don't listen to the other person to understand them. Because of which we start inventing things about them. This only further increases the misunderstanding.

Solution: When we have a difference of opinion with someone, we need to give some time to understand and listen to the other person. Only then will we be able to understand the other person's point of view. This practice will enable us to finish any misunderstanding we have with others and brings harmony in relationships.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 18-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 18-01-2013
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Moving From ‘Action’ Consciousness To ‘Spiritual’ Consciousness

As the name suggests, to be a ‘rajayogi’ means to be a practitioner of meditation, who with the practice of meditation is able become a ruler of the self. But on the other hand, ‘rajayoga’ is not restricted to learning to discipline the physical sense organs only but more importantly, of redirecting the energy of my thoughts, feelings, emotions, intellect and ‘sanskaras’ in a positive and constructive way. When these energies become positive, my ‘karmas’ start becoming elevated. And how do I make these energies positive? By performing actions while having a mental connection with the Supreme Being or by having a meditative consciousness while walking, interacting, cooking, driving or working - in fact, while doing anything. After all, meditation is specifically related to the use of the mind and intellect and does not require the use of the physical sense organs and so can be done alongside each ‘karma’ in the day – only the form of meditation changes depending on the ‘karma’ being performed. Just as we can remember other things and people while being involved in various activities throughout the day, we can keep our minds on our true spiritual self, the Supreme Being, churn different aspects of spiritual knowledge, remain focused on a single aspect of spiritual knowledge, etc. while performing’ karmas’ – these are all some of the different forms of meditation – there are more that can be practiced. Thus, ‘rajayoga’ can also be called ‘karmayoga’. ‘Karmayoga’ meaning the one who maintains the balance of meditation and ‘karmas’ while being involved or busy in ‘karmas’.

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Message for the day 18-01-2013
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Where there is humility there is the give and take of love.

Expression: Usually we don't even know when we are working with our ego because it is deeply concealed. Even when someone points out our ego, we don't want to accept it and we continue to work with it. Ego finishes the ability to learn and negatively effects our relationships because there is no give and take of love.

Experience: The method to overcome ego is to develop humility. Humility means to be strong within yet to be gentle and flexible. This enables us to bend i.e., to bow. When we bow it doesn't mean we are defeated, but it reveals our own victory. It is only when we bend and forgive will we be able to allow the flow of love in relationships.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 17-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 17-01-2013
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Factors that Bring Us Closer To Failure

Given below are ‘some’ factors that bring us closer to failure:

• Dejection and Disillusion.
• Fear.
• Ignorance.
• Confusion.
• Influences.
• Mental weakness.
• Insecurity.
• Inexperience.
• Ego, arrogance.
• Mistrust.
• Attachment, dependencies.
• Excuses, laziness, putting off.
• Excess of acceptance with submission.
• Fear of being yourself.
• Making judgements without an objective vision.
• Nervousness.
• Not taking on limits.
• Low self-esteem.
• Blockages. Not going forward.
• Intolerance.
• Rigidity – inability to adapt to different situations.

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Message for the day 17-01-2013
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The one with true mercy fills hope even in the ones who are hopeless.

Expression: When we see someone who is in need or who is totally negative, a case that is totally hopeless, there are a lot of feelings aroused within us. What we feel is pity or hatred, which are only negative feelings. Such negative thoughts don't help in anyway and the people remains as they are, unable to take any benefit from us.

Experience: Instead of having pity or hatred we need to develop true mercy for others. To have mercy means to have good wishes with love - combined with hope for them. It is our hope that enables them to develop faith in themselves too. This is the method to bring progress even in the most hopeless case.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 16-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 16-01-2013
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Defining Failure

Given below are ‘some’ definitions of failure:

• Depending on your perception: failure actually does not exist.
• Staying stuck in what you could have done and haven't done. Letting your though patterns to be influence by the same.
• Experiencing emotions of frustration, pain, suffering.
• Losing your notion (idea) of the dream, of the ideal life you want to lead.
• Not fulfilling set expectations.
• Not having enough courage and bravery to walk through life.
• Not being the ruler of your thoughts, feelings, actions and life in general.
• Allowing yourself to be led by something negative that a particular situation causes.
• Distancing yourself from your values.
• Not being in harmony with your inner conscience (while performing actions).
• When the self does not accept what life brings it.
• Putting your life in the hands of, and blaming, others and circumstances with feelings of emptiness and confusion.
• False expectations.
• Excessive attachment.
• Excessive materialism.

Tomorrow we shall discuss some factors that bring us closer to failure.

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Message for the day 16-01-2013
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Pure feelings reach out and bring benefit to others.

Expression: When there is someone who is being negative, we tend to think or speak about the negativity we perceive at that time. To think about negativity is to imbibe a little of that negativity within our mind. Then our mind is no more pure and so whatever thoughts we have for that person don't have any positive influence and there is no benefit for them.

Experience: If we see someone using some weakness, we need to pay special attention not to think or speak about it. Instead we need to concentrate on some speciality of the other person. This gives them the encouragement to use it. The more we see negative, the more negative they will be with us and the more we see positive the more positive they'll be with us.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 15-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 15-01-2013
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The Source Of Pure Love

The highest love is the Supreme Being’s (Supreme Soul’s) love. This is the love of the perfect spiritual being (soul), the perfect parent towards the imperfect child where the parent does not see the child’s weaknesses. Just as the flower turns each morning to absorb the light and warmth of the sun we too need to turn each day to absorb the light of truth and warmth of pure love from the Supreme Being, from the Source. This is not the God of a religious belief system, but the personal god that we all share, the one parent and friend that we all share. This is not a God as a concept, nor is God a belief. If we hold God just as a concept or belief in our minds, which is perhaps what we learned as children, we will never know him, never experience the greatest and deepest love. We cannot receive love from a belief just and we cannot have a real relationship with a concept. Instead, it is necessary to establish a personal relationship with God through a silent conversation of thoughts and feelings (to begin with). Hence the need to practice quietening a busy mind, the need to free our feelings from emotional disturbance. The Supreme Being is available to everyone but few of us know how or where to direct our attention. The connecting and absorbing of the love of God is a personal process called meditation, that never costs anything and can finally become a natural part of living each day.

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Message for the day 15-01-2013
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To say yes is to have regard for all.

Expression: When someone expects us to do something that we don't like our usual reaction is to say no and give reasons why we don't want to do it or why we don't agree with what the other person is saying. But it usually happens that once we say no, the other person is no longer able to listen to what we have to say.

Experience: Instead of saying 'no', we need to practice saying 'yes'. To say yes means to try to understand what the other person is saying. Only after that can we put forth our argument. And then the other person will also give regard to our opinion. This practice will enable us to get good wishes from others and increase our chance for success.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 14-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 14-01-2013
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Am I Creating Negative ‘Karma’ – Guilt As An Indicator (cont.)

An angerholic (one who gets angry repeatedly) hears the internal voice telling him to stop creating mental unrest, harming his body, hurting others and being addicted to the habit and the hormones that get created inside the body due to the habit, but then ignores the voice or drowns it out. This only adds to the inner disharmony (peacelessness) already present and both self-respect and self-esteem are slowly reduced. Any action we do which springs from forgetfulness (body-consciousness) will trigger this inner, spiritual discomfort. Following the action, we might feel guilty for doing something we internally knew was wrong. Any form of guilt except the one that is caused by another person i.e. except the case when guilt is caused inside you because another person is emotionally blackmailing you, is the voice of our conscience calling to say that we are acting against the essence, something is out of sync. Our level of guilt acts like a thermometer (an indicator). It shows us when and to what extent we are not aligned to truth. If we learn to pay attention, listen closely to this inner discomfort and the message it conveys, we will also hear why and how to make corrections, so that we no longer create negative ‘karma’.

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Message for the day 14-01-2013
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Determination enables us to overcome our weaknesses.

Expression: When we recognize any weakness of ours, we want to make effort to remove it. But usually we work on it for a few days with great attention. After some time, we find ourselves losing interest and the weakness gets stronger taking hold of us once again. We find ourselves exactly where we had started having no further enthusiasm to work on ourselves.

Experience: In order to overcome any weakness of ours, we need to have a strong aim in our mind to remove it. With this comes the determination to work on it without losing hope. Even if we find ourselves becoming slack, we need to remind ourselves that we don't want that particular weakness in our life. Then we will be able to work at removing the weakness fully.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 13-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 13-01-2013
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Am I Creating Negative ‘Karma’ – Guilt As An Indicator

At the heart of our consciousness, we have a conscience. Our conscience is essentially our basic awareness of truth. From a spiritual point of view, the truth of who we are as spiritual beings is core and eternal truth. If we consider ourselves to be anything other than soul or spirit then we will be thinking and acting against our conscience, against our truth, which is like going against the essence of spirit. We will feel something is not quite right. If one of the pistons in our car engine is out of sync with the others, the engine will sound slightly different from normal. We immediately have it fixed, because we know that if it continues it may destroy the engine. If we do something that is out of sync with the truth, the voice of our conscience speaks to us. But we tend to ignore or suppress it, especially if we are having a seemingly pleasurable experience - we then create the ‘sanskars’ or habit of ignoring our own conscience. As a result we keep repeating the negative ‘karma’ and the ‘sanskars’ of the negative ‘karma’ are deepened, further ignoring the voice of our conscience. It is a vicious cycle, to come out of which is extremely difficult.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

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Message for the day 13-01-2013
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To experience newness each day is to be creative.

Expression: Sometimes we find things to be very monotonous. There seems to be nothing new that is happening. Days pass on and we tend to become action-conscious only trying to finish the tasks at hand. We feel caught up in the routine not able to enjoy anything anymore.

Experience: Instead of just doing what has to be done in a monotonous way, we need to take a thought each day to experience something new. There is such a variety in each day, we only have to discover ways of experiencing it. When we learn this creative art, we'll never be bored, but will be able to enjoy everything that comes our way.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 12-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 12-01-2013
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The Role Of Emotions In The Functioning Of The Soul

Inside the soul, there are four components – thoughts, feelings, emotions and ‘sanskaras’. Thoughts and feelings are present more on the surface of the soul in the conscious. Emotions and ‘sanskaras’ on the other hand are less easily perceived and lie below thoughts and feelings.

‘Sanskaras’ can be defined as the traces left on the soul due to actions performed by it and also due to its interactions with others in relationships.

Emotions, on the other hand, are impulses associated with the ‘sanskaras’ and are very close to these traces.

The internal functioning of the soul is cyclic - ‘thoughts gives rise to actions, actions give rise to ‘sanskaras’, and ‘sanskaras’ give rise to further thoughts’. This description becomes complete, when we add an additional component – emotions. The deepest component inside the soul is the ‘sanskaras’. Next up from ‘sanskaras’ are the emotions, above that are feelings and then finally the uppermost component inside the soul is the thoughts.

Thoughts can be caught instantly. Feelings can be seen and perceived if I stop for a moment and check. Emotions are deeper than both of them and are very close to the ‘sanskaras’, and just as its difficult to see all the ‘sanskaras’ of an individual, we can't always see their emotions. Feelings, being more towards the surface, can be clearly identified, but you have to go deeper to see the quality of emotions a person is creating and the quality of his/her ‘sanskaras’.

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Message for the day 12-01-2013
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The fire of anger can be cooled with the sprinkling of the cool water of virtues.

Expression: When someone is angry, we come under the influence of the situation and we too get angry. It seems very difficult at that moment to remain cool. With our own anger we find that the other person's anger also increases. But we find that this is not the solution because it doesn't help either of us in anyway.

Experience: Instead of getting angry and aggravating the anger of the other person, we need to instead emerge our qualities or virtues of coolness and peace. We will then find that where anger doesn't work, only the cool water of virtues will help us put off the fire of anger.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 11-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 11-01-2013
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Understanding The Quality of Peace (cont.)

To experience true inner peace take the following thoughts into your mind. Then experience each thought by holding it in your awareness.

Let us now move away from the demands and the needs of our noisy world, and slip into our inner world, into the quiet, still room of the mind........
It is a place, a space of calm, stillness and peace........
Here, I can let go of my concerns, worries and constant fears........
In this dimension of silence, in this plain of peace, voices grow distant (faraway) and quiet........
And in this arena (space) of inner calm and soft peacefulness, my racing thoughts begin to slow down, begin to lose momentum and are absorbed into that inner peace........
I am surrounded by silence, by peace........
And that soft vibration soothes (relaxes) my mind and calms my thoughts and I am held in that spell of tranquility (peacefulness)........
I bath in the inner light of the inner self........
And I float and drift in this sea of silence, in this sea of peace........
For here the waves of the world cannot come and I feel light and free and calm........

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Message for the day 11-01-2013
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Our words are effective only when we combine them with pure thoughts and inspirational actions.

Expression: As soon as we find someone's mistake it is natural for us to give correction through our words. We tend to explain to others using a lot of words. Yet we find that inspite of saying the right thing we are not being listened to and our words are just wasted away. We don't understand at such times where the problem lies.

Experience: To enable our corrections to others to be effective, we have to combine our thoughts, words and actions. There need to be good wishes in our thoughts which also brings sweetness in our words. We also need to take care that we are putting into action all that we are talking. When we do this we will find that our words are really effective.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 10-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 10-01-2013
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Understanding The Quality of Peace

Inner peace is inner power. But before you start walking the path of relaxation and meditation to create a life, which is free from anger, and based on peaceful living, it is important to clear some misunderstandings we hold in our mind about mental peace.

1. Peace means nothing is happening; it’s a state of inaction.
Fact: By practicing meditation for a few minutes everyday, very soon you can experience a stage in which you are physically active yet mentally peaceful, when the mind is active but nothing negative happens inside it. Nothing and no one can irritate or upset you, irrespective of what they say or do.

2. Living a peaceful life is being submissive (bowing down) or defensive.
Fact: Inner peace is not submissiveness or defensiveness. The power of peace that you acquire through the practice of meditation makes you assertive and confident. Emotions like anger and fear show in our behaviour in the form of aggression and defensiveness respectively and make you emotionally weak. Peace is strength.

3. To remain in an inner peace experience, you have to disconnect yourself from the world.
Fact: For a long time you have used the world to stimulate (energize) yourself mentally and emotionally. If at the beginning of your meditation practice, you suddenly disconnect yourself from the world you will experience an increase in your attractions towards it. Thus, initially it is wiser to include only short spells of meditation in your daily routine, otherwise the meditation practice can do more harm than benefit.

(To be continued tomorrow….)

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Message for the day 10-01-2013
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To spread the light of happiness is to become a spiritual lighthouse.

Expression: When we are in situations where there is negativity around or there seems to be no source of happiness, we too naturally tend to feel low and negative. We are totally under the influence of the situation and we can't seem to overcome the feeling at that time. Nothing actually inspires us to make effort to come out of such a feeling.

Experience: We need to remind ourselves that we are a lighthouse, a source of light to all those around us. This thought will give us the inspiration to remain stable and strong even when we are amidst chaos or difficult situations. We will be able to spread our light across and show everyone the right direction by becoming an inspiration to those around us.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 09-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 09-01-2013
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Living With A Purpose

How can we define heaven? Heaven could simply be described as the place to experience peace, joy and happiness. So, what is our heaven in our practical life? How can we experience it? Fulfilling our dream or true purpose or experiencing it being fulfilled is our heaven. Living out our dream and purpose is to live in our personal space of heaven here and right now.

If everything that we do during the day and in life is directed at fulfilling our purpose - our reason for being, for existing and for living - we will be much happier in everything we do, because everything will be channeled or focused towards what we really want. On the other hand, if we do a little bit of everything, but without knowing where we are going or what our true destination is, we will be like a ship that has lost its way in the ocean. The ship’s crew steers the ship – it now goes towards the left, now to the right, goes backwards, then forwards towards the north, towards the south and in the end stays in the same place and gets nowhere, although it’s crew is busy or is working all the time. The crew lets itself be carried by the currents, the tides, the waves in the ocean and the winds above the ocean. It has lost its bearings and doesn't know how to be guided by the stars, which would show the crew the right way. In our case, the stars being our intuition. Without our life’s course dictated by a true purpose, we let our consciousness asleep and don't listen to our intuition, which will reveal to us our purpose.

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Message for the day 09-01-2013
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To share virtues along with knowledge is to encourage transformation in others.

Expression: When we have to give a suggestion/advise to someone we tend to share a lot of points of knowledge in order to make them understand. We try to prove logically why they have to change. Although the reasoning is right most of the time, the others don't seem to change either because they don't understand or because they don't want to understand.

Experience: When we want to bring transformation in others we need to make sure to share our own virtues along with the points of knowledge. To share virtues means to give them an experience of our love, peace, good wishes etc. When they experience our virtues, they'll be willing to bring about change quickly.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 08-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 08-01-2013
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Meditation For Personality Transformation (cont.)

Decide on a habit that you want to change e.g. impatience. We will focus this meditation on changing impatience. You can apply it to other habits also:


I relax and prepare to look inwards…
I am aware of the unwanted habit of becoming impatient...
As I sit in meditation, I relax my body.
I become the observer of my own thoughts and feelings...
Realizing my true identity as soul – a subtle point of light situated at the center of my forehead, just above my eyebrows, I remember my real nature is one of calmness, peace and power...
I focus on the power of peace, inviting it in and welcoming it into my thoughts and feelings from deep within.... enjoying the calm contentment which it brings...
On the screen of my mind, I begin to visualize patience...
I see myself in a situation where I normally become impatient…
I now see myself as being completely full with the virtue of patience...
I shape my feelings around the idea and image of patience.... unhurried and relaxed... calm and watchful...
If necessary, I can wait... forever.... with patience
I am free of the desire for certain outcomes...
I see how I respond with patience...
I see the effect of my patience in others within the situation...
I now know how I will speak with patience, walk with patience and act patiently in the real life situations...
I maintain this peace, which generates serenity and patience in me…

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Message for the day 08-01-2013
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When we are in the elevated company of the One God, no bad company will influence us.

Expression: Sometimes when we are working for our self- development we sometimes wish for support or understanding from others which we don't always get. We actually look for a role model, whom we could follow or who could be an inspiration for us. When we don't find anyone like that we tend to get disheartened and continue to justify ourselves for not bringing any change in ourselves.

Experience: The solution lies in becoming a role model and a source of support for others instead of expecting others to do so. For this we need to pay extra attention to the kind of company we keep. Under all circumstances, if we keep God as our companion we will not be influenced by any other company, however strong they might be. We will then be able to bring about change in ourselves.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 07-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 07-01-2013
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Meditation For Personality Transformation

At the heart of every human being or soul there is a spiritual energy, pure, of peace, love, truth and happiness without dependence. Being aware and experiencing this energy provides you with the inner strength necessary for change. Meditation is the method of access in order to allow that energy to come to the surface of your consciousness and in your mind in order to color your thoughts and feelings. In a way very similar to that of a volcano whose melted lava, hot, flows from the centre of the Earth to the surface, we, on meditating, can create volcanoes of power (which emerge in our conscious minds) required for personality transformation.

You can do an exercise, a meditation whereby you choose a habit or ‘sanskar’ that you don't want, and you will replace it with a characteristic that you would like to incorporate, like a thread, into the cloth of your personality. For example, replace impatience with patience.

Tomorrow we shall explain a meditation with this theme: changing a habit or ‘sanskar’.

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Message for the day 07-01-2013
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To celebrate means to finish all trace of the old.

Expression: We find that whenever there is an occasion, we are full of zeal and enthusiasm for that day. However this doesn't continue for long and we find ourselves getting caught with our old nature. We then give the excuse to ourselves saying, 'this is how we are, and this is our nature' etc. Once we start working with our old nature we cannot be enthusiastic anymore.

Experience: Each new festival is an occasion for us to finish something of the old. We only need to take a determined thought to remove something of our old nature. We no longer need to give excuses, but make the firm promise to ourselves to transform. Our zeal and enthusiasm will then never lessen and we will continue to celebrate with constant enthusiasm.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 06-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 06-01-2013
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Understanding What Is ‘Time’

We created the concept of time to measure our experience of the space between events. Time passes only because we experience change. What is change? Change is only a series of events. So time is our experience of the speed of events. This explains why time seems to be moving faster today, because both the speed and the number of events are increasing. And it seems even faster if we participate in those events. If the speed and number of events was less, we would experience time to be moving slowly, as it used to be a little earlier in the history of mankind.

Today, sitting in our living rooms and offices, electronic, print and other media allows us to observe hundreds of events from all over the world, every day. To observe them actively is to participate in them. If you want to slow time down, learn to be a detached observer of the thousands of events around you – participate or observe actively only when necessary. If you want to stop time, meditate and be in your original, timeless, eternal consciousness. Meditation is after all an art of shutting down your senses and slowing down. Today, we fear time, as a result we hear ourselves saying many a times, "Hurry up, time is running out!" or "I hope to have more time tomorrow!' or "I need to save time!” Ultimately time, is our life: it cannot be saved or lost, but must be lived now. This is where your will-power is important - we can choose exactly how we spend our time at any moment.

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Message for the day 06-01-2013
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To work with the inner happiness is to move forward with lightness.

Expression: Usually we do take care not to give sorrow to others, but we sometimes do take sorrow from the words and behaviour of others. This disturbs our own inner state and we are not able to work with lightness. Then we find that we are not able to be effective in our work and this further effects our inner state.

Experience: We need to pay special attention not to take sorrow from anyone. As much as we are careful not to give sorrow to others, we need to make sure we don't take any sorrow too. That means we need to remain light by keeping ourselves open to criticism. We need to take any criticism that comes our way in the right spirit and see that we learn from it without having any negative thoughts.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 05-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 05-01-2013
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Communication (cont.)

Here are some more common reasons for blocks to communication:

* Lack of sincerity. When our thoughts and feelings are honest and respectful, then the hearts of others will open to us. A positive highway of trust is built and communication flows positively.

* Creating negative perceptions (understandings) and emotions about others i.e. how we visualize or label them. Such emotions, no matter how well hidden, are finally always communicated to others on a subtle (non-physical), non-verbal level, and create an atmosphere of tension and unease.

* Not letting go of negative perceptions (understandings) and emotions. The only method to revive our relationship with others is to let go of negativity on a daily basis, to prevent it from building up. Far too often, the build-up happens without us even noticing it and, we wonder why positive feedback is not coming from the other side.

* Lack of silence. To go deep into the self and put our thoughts and feelings into silence enables them to become positive. The silent relaxation defuses (reduces) anger and the blame and complaints that often go with it.

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Message for the day 05-01-2013
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To remain alert means to ensure our success.

Expression: Inspite of putting in our best efforts we do find ourselves taken by surprise in certain situations and we experience failure. We often do not understand why we are experiencing failure even though we have put in our best efforts. At such times just blaming our fate will not help but what we need to do is to check within ourselves to see if we have something to change.

Experience: If we experience failure, it means some or the other weakness of ours is definitely working at that time. We need to check and recognise our weakness and be constantly alert to it. Since it might start working at any time we need to be totally alert and then we will find that the weakness will not take us by surprise. We will then be able to attain total success.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 04-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 04-01-2013
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Communication

A great deal of our communication is non-verbal and we rarely realize the effect that it has on others. Our tone of voice, our body language (particularly our eyes and face), our attitudes and our feelings, are constantly in communication with others, expressing anger, fear, love, trust, rejection - in fact, all our feelings and emotions. We cannot hide what we mean; we may do so for a while, but finally the truth emerges.

Communication is not just with others, but also with the self, with the Supreme Being and even nature. Being still, focused and open enables us to tune in to others so that we can respond in an appropriate and meaningful way, not simply in a mechanical way.

Here are some common reasons for blocks to communication:

* Too many thoughts, and an overload of words and actions, results in us being unable to think clearly. We lose the essence of what is trying to be conveyed (transmitted) by the other.

* Being lost in our own feelings or ideas. In such a state we do not listen attentively to others.

* Remembering the past in a negative way. This does not allow us to tune in properly to our present and future. When we do not communicate properly with the needs of the present time, we loose opportunities.

(To be continued tomorrow….)

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Message for the day 04-01-2013
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The one who is free from wasteful words is the one who can be light.

Expression: Sometimes when something only needs a few words to explain, we continue to speak and expand on it for a long time. We actually use more words than necessary thinking we are clarifying things. We give the justification to ourselves that it is necessary or the other person does not understand. These words sometimes disturb the other person and spoil our relationships too.

Experience: We constantly need to pay attention to the words that we speak. We need to check if we are using any more words than we actually need to. When we remind ourselves of a simple slogan, "speak less, speak softly and speak sweetly", our words will never be those that disturb others. We will then be able to maintain our own lightness and that of others too.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 03-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 03-01-2013
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Opening The Third Eye

The concept of the third eye has always interested people. What is the third eye? Can it be opened during an operation, or by going on a journey to a religious or sacred destination? In meditation, we understand that the third eye means the ability to understand and to perceive (realize) correctly. Then, on the basis of that perception (realization) or insight (understanding); to act and behave accordingly. In other words, on the basis of spiritual truths, we think, speak and act so that peace and well-being become natural in our life.

Spiritual values, or truths, are necessary for genuine improvement of the human condition and life.

The third eye is the intellect of the soul - when it is open, there is realization of the need to improve, change and/or create something that will help the self and others to make the quality of life better.

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Message for the day 03-01-2013
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The one who experiences freedom in the mind is the one who can bring benefit to others.

Expression: There is usually the feeling that there is not enough time for the self. And so there is no time to spare for others too. The more we think about ourselves only, we don't seem to be able to be free for anyone else. Then we find our days just pass by without being able to bring any benefit to others or ourselves.

Experience: Instead of taking out time separately for bringing benefit to others, we only need to see how we can help others wherever we are. We would be able to do this only when we are free from the weaknesses in our own mind. This will help us to be available to everyone around. If we are mentally preoccupied with our own weaknesses we will not be able to free to bring benefit to anyone.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 02-01-2013

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Soul Sustenance 02-01-2013
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Keeping The Watchman Of Attention Alert

All the religions and spiritual groups place a lot of importance on the virtue of discipline. Without discipline you do not manage to transform negative habits and you do not create a new state of awareness where the self is nourished through the experience of spirituality. Every day you eat, you brush your teeth, bathe, drink water and breathe, and all of this you do not consider a discipline; you have adopted them as something natural in order for your body to continue working. On a spiritual level you also need to nourish yourself and to have a discipline that, with practice, a time comes when it becomes natural because you incorporate it into your life. In the process of change you need to discipline yourself in order not to let old habits come to the forefront. Until you have burnt them and they have died, you should keep the watchman of attention alert in order to maintain your self-control, given that each time you use a negative habit in action, you strengthen it. When you do not use it, you allow it to die.

The path of the spiritual traveler is therefore one of waking (awareness of self as soul) and sleeping (under the illusion that we are our body), waking and sleeping. We tend to fluctuate between the two (like dawn and dusk) until we find stability in soul-consciousness. This is why it is important to awaken and stay awake, and why it's important to give our mind and intellect good spiritual food (knowledge) and exercise (meditation) every day to keep them fresh and alert. Being conscious of the soul, acting from that consciousness, the scars (habits and tendencies) left by past actions based on illusions of bodily awareness are healed. Discipline is necessary for growth and personal transformation if you want to obtain satisfying and permanent results. If not, the old habits continue to rule in your life. The evidence that our discipline in the practice of meditation is working is mental lightness and an increasing easiness in our interactions with others.

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Message for the day 02-01-2013
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To have knowledge in the intellect is to be constantly cheerful.

Expression: When something negative happens, we find that there are only negative or waste thoughts about the situation or people. We try hard not to think about it but we find only those thoughts coming to our mind. With such thoughts the situation seems worse than it is and we find it difficult to remain cheerful.

Experience: In such situations instead of trying to cut out waste we need to give ourselves something positive to think about. When the intellect is busy thinking about the positive, there'll be no room for negativity. In this way we will be able to remain constantly cheerful even in the most negative situations.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 01-01-2013

Wish you and your families a Prosperous & Happy New Year 2013

May this New Year brings lots of Fun, Health, Wealth and Happiness

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Soul Sustenance 01-01-2013
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The Functioning Of My Internal Processor

The body consists of physical limbs to move around and carry out its tasks in the physical world. So too, the soul has the subtle limbs – the limb possessing the power to think (mind), the limb possessing the power to reason and make decisions (intellect) and limb of its own unique personality. These three subtle limbs are used to maneuver, control and carry out tasks in the inner subtle (non-physical) world of thoughts, feelings, emotions, decisions, mental images and nature characteristics (or commonly called habits). I need to understand completely how these limbs work individually and also how they function together in conjunction as a team. This understanding helps me immensely in putting my personal mental and emotional world in order.

If the processor of my computer develops a problem, my computer comes to a standstill. I will be able to fix it only if I know how it works. In the same way, I have an internal processor which has three processes going on inside it continuously right through the day - the processes of thinking (mind), deciding (intellect) and becoming (sanskaras) – which affect my complete functioning as a human being. Only if I understand completely the functioning of this internal processor, can I start to correct myself and function well.

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Message for the day 01-01-2013
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To be experienced means not to be deceived by anything.

Expression: There are so many times when a situation takes us by surprise and we make the same mistake that we had made before. It is only when the situation has passed that we realise that we have actually repeated that mistake. What then remains is only repentance as the time has passed where we could have done something.

Experience: Whenever there is a mistake, we need to take care that we learn from whatever has happened. When we continue to move forward in this way there will be no repentance for the mistakes made but there will be learning that'll make us experienced. And when we are experienced we'll never be deceived by situations which make us commit mistakes.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris