Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 07-06-2012

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Soul Sustenance 07-06-2012
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Internal And External Attachments (cont.)

Each time we attach ourselves to anything which is external or internal (we have mentioned some common examples of both types of attachments in the last two days’ messages), we create fears, amongst which the main one is the fear of loss of what I am attached to. The attachment not only gives rise to fear but also brings with it emotions like anger, ego, sadness, jealousy, greed, comparisons, hatred etc. All these emotions have their roots in attachment, which gives rise to insecurity.

Any type of attachment out of the ones mentioned in the last two days’ messages or some other is a sanskar that is so deeply embedded inside us that it seems normal to us. It is just a sanskar but it has immense amount of power and it manages to imprison us completely, but most of the time we do not even realize we are imprisoned. The negative emotional states connected with this kind of attachment create a state of internal mental pressure or an inner emptiness and make us feel absolutely helpless at times. Over a period of many births, we have become so accustomed to these attachments and the various forms of suffering connected with it that we have started believing that these are an integral part of the human personality and human life since the beginning and are, therefore, natural. And so we continue with the sanskar and even keep strengthening it, never ever thinking that it should be removed. We do this with internal stress and unhappiness to the point that even our health gets affected adversely. The natural state of the self is free and not attached in this way to anything. Attachments, whether external or internal, are acquired at different points of time in birth-rebirth cycle and are not natural or there from the beginning. All the things mentioned in the last two days’ messages have existed from the beginning but attachment to them has not. The present suffering indicates to us that these types of attachments are something abnormal or not natural.

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Message for the day 07-06-2012
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To be free from waste words is to ensure easy success.

Expression: The one who wastes time and energy in gossip or slander has no time for success. All attention is focussed on picking out the mistakes and the negativity of others and so there is no attention on learning new things or picking out the positive. So there is negativity visible in one's own attitude, words and actions.

Experience: When I am able to free myself from waste and negative words, I am able to use the resource of my words in a positive and useful way. My words will be for the benefit of all. I would also notice that my words would be filled with the power of positivity and faith, faith in the self and faith in others.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 06-06-2012

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Soul Sustenance 06-06-2012
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Internal And External Attachments (cont.)

We had explained some common examples of external attachments yesterday.

Some common examples of internal attachments are attachments to:

* your ideas,
* your beliefs,
* your opinions or viewpoints,
* your memories,
* a certain way of thinking
* a particular virtue/virtues or specialty/specialties,
* a particular power/powers,
* a particular sanskar/sanskars - either positive or negative, etc.

Whether the attachment is external or internal, the act of attaching is always internal. e.g. if you attach yourself to your job, you will say "my job". Your job is something external, but you hold on to it inside you - inside your consciousness.
(To be continued tomorrow...)

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Message for the day 06-06-2012
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Bringing newness in dealing with life's situations brings happiness.

Expression: When there is the desire to find new ways of responding to life's challenges, unhappiness ends which in turn helps to fulfill one's highest potential. All it needs is the determination to adopt a fresh awareness. Thus burdensome thoughts that drain out positive energy are set aside. The quality of life itself becomes better.

Experience: I experience a lot of happiness when there is newness brought in responding to situations. The potential and the energy of the mind is channelised in a positive way so there is an experience of fulfillment and satisfaction. The mind is not caught up with negative or waste but is busy trying for the best solutions in all situations.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 05-06-2012

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Soul Sustenance 05-06-2012
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Internal And External Attachments

Attachment can be on two levels - either internal or external.

Some common examples of external attachments are attachments to:

* people,
* objects,
* your physical body,
* your position or role in your family, society or in your professional field,
* money,
* places,
* physical comfort/comforts,
* the way you look or dress up or carry yourself or your physical personality in general,
* a particular skill/skills,
* a particular interest or hobby like watching movies, online social networking, etc.
* your routine or a certain way of working at home or at the workplace,
* respect from others,
* how people see you or behave with you or what they think of you, etc.

(To be continued tomorrow...)

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Message for the day 05-06-2012
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To be healthy internally is to make the best use of all treasures.

Expression: A healthy intellect acts like a mother, always showing the right path. When internally one is strong, there is the natural ability to treat the mind with love and guide it towards the right direction. Such a healthy state of mind naturally enables the recognition and the proper utilisation of everything available.

Experience: Once I have learnt the art of guiding my mind in the right direction with love, I then never experience the difficulty of having to bring back the mind to the right thinking. Because the mind is totally under control in a very easy and natural way and I don't have to control it or force it to think or not to think in a particular way.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 04-06-2012

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Soul Sustenance 04-06-2012
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The Power To Accommodate

Closely linked to the power of tolerance, the power to accommodate means having a heart so big and generous that I am able to rise above all differences of character and personality while interacting with other soul actors, knowing that every actor in the enormous drama of existence has a unique personality, contribution and role to play. Whereas tolerance heals wounds and removes hurt, accommodation accepts and values differences, observing them and ultimately absorbing them in my love, as an ocean absorbs the rivers that flow into it. While completing my own part as a river, I also need to be aware of God as the Ocean of Love and the Ocean of Wisdom and I as the master Ocean of Love. When I enter this consciousness through meditation, the goodness of all other soul actors becomes clear to me very naturally, and it is no effort for me to go beyond conflict and clashes of opinion.

I become like my father, the Supreme Soul who is an Ocean of Love. My father sees every actor in this world drama as his child and his love is the same for each one of them (even though they have different personalities and roles) because he has the spiritual knowledge that every soul's original nature is loveful and the present nature is just an artificial one which has been acquired while coming into the process of birth and rebirth. In the same way, I too, experience myself to be a master Ocean Of Love and see all souls as my brothers and absorb their different natures. This is the power to accommodate which I can inculcate inside me through the practice of meditation.

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Message for the day 04-06-2012
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To remain happy is to truly live life.

Expression: Life has meaning when there is the happiness of living. Everything that happens brings something new. The more the mind is tuned to see and appreciate this truth, there is the happiness that lasts - whatever the situations may be. The one who is constantly happy is able to creatively use all the resources in the right way and also makes others happy.

Experience: When I am able to maintain my internal state of happiness under all circumstances, I am able to enjoy the beauty of life. I am only able to see the positive in each and everything and also only the specialities and goodness in everyone. I am never let down by situations, people or their reactions, but enjoy everything.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 03-06-2012

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Soul Sustenance 03-06-2012
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Understanding The Birth-Life-Death-Rebirth Cycle (cont.)

We subconsciously know that we are souls. Birth, life and death are just stages in existence. In fact all natural processes can be found to have a beginning, a middle, an end and a new beginning to continue the cycle. The soul takes a bodily form, gives life to it and after a period of time, long or short, leaves it and takes another suited to the continuation of its role. As long as the soul is in the body, the body grows like a plant from baby to child, youth to maturity. It then begins to decay and finally becomes unusable. The moment the soul leaves the body, the body becomes like a dead log of a tree. It immediately starts to decompose and eventually goes back "to dust”.

Again the soul moves into a foetus inside the womb of a mother. After time it emerges as a newborn baby and immediately begins to show the “sanskars” it had developed in its previous life. It is the same soul but in a new physical situation. Thus death is merely the means by which a complete change of circumstances and environment for the soul takes place. Time never kills the soul, but the body, being a part of nature or matter, obeys the law of decay that everything new becomes old and eventually finishes. The molecular components of this body disintegrate only to re-integrate as another form (body) some time later.

The process of birth-life-death-rebirth is also eternal (without a beginning or an end). It has always been going on and will continue. The soul comes into the body, expresses a role and experiences the results of that for a certain time, then leaves it, and the process starts again. Similarly, souls come into this world, remain here as actors for a number of births and then return to the region from which they come, for rest. This process also starts again. The pattern is a cyclic one. This is called the eternal world cycle.

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Message for the day 03-06-2012
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To forgive is to give correction.

Expression: When there is forgiveness, the harm of the mistake is forgotten. The mistake itself is remembered only to the extent that the correction is to be given. So there are no negative feelings expressed even while giving correction. And the words that are used are few but prove to be very effective.

Experience: When I learn the art of forgiving I am able to be free from the burden of negative and waste thinking. So there is never any difficulty in giving correction when necessary. The mind is free from the attitudes of the past and it creates harmony in relationships even if the opinions or personalities don't match.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 02-06-2012

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Soul Sustenance 02-06-2012
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Understanding The Birth-Life-Death-Rebirth Cycle

The realization of the self as a soul, an eternal (always existing) energy, naturally leads to the following questions:

• Where is the soul before it comes into a physical body?
• Where does the soul go after it leaves it?
• What is the purpose of the world drama?

These are questions that deeply concern human beings, yet until now there isn’t 100% conclusive proof of life after death.

The images of "fires of hell" and a heavenly world beyond the clouds are talked about in the world's religions. Yet to the rational and logical minded, the states of living forever tortured in holes of fire (hell) or on the other hand relaxing in complete happiness in a fairy-tale kingdom (heaven), seem far away from the reality of the present.

Most accept that there is some order to the world creation, but viewing our drama through spectacles of body-consciousness it is impossible to see it, as the soul is imprisoned by bodily needs and sensual desires. In body-consciousness the soul is unable to see anything clearly. Only when we are at the point of death does one think about "life after death". At funerals, everyone faces the new absence of a loved person, the departure of the personality and the temporary nature of the physical body. Everyone wishes that the person who has died will go to "heaven" and not to “hell”.

(To be continued tomorrow ….)

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Message for the day 02-06-2012
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Good wishes and pure feelings bring easy success while working at a task.

Expression: If there are good feelings for both the task and the one who is carrying out the task, then the result attained by those feelings is automatically special. The feeling of giving love and cooperation, no matter what anyone is like gives good wishes and pure feelings. There is a deep impact of such good feelings which transforms others too.

Experience: When I am able to maintain my own good feelings for others, I am able to enjoy the fruit of my own pure thoughts. I am not disturbed by temporary clashes that I have because of the different nature of the person I am working with, but enjoy working together. So there is also good feelings from the other person too and so there is easy success experienced.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 01-06-2012

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Soul Sustenance 01-06-2012
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What Is Consciousness?

The soul is conscient energy, aware of its own existence. Consciousness can be described as the feeling "I am" or "I exist". If you examine any thought-decision-action process, you will find that behind it, there is always the feeling: "I am something or the other". Consciousness is thus the springboard for thought, decisions and actions. In other words, the soul reacts to external circumstances according to how it regards itself at that particular moment.

e.g. a doctor is able to perform an operation when there is the consciousness of being a doctor. That very consciousness unlocks or gives the soul access to all the information and experience related to being a doctor. The soul when it has the consciousness of being a soul is able to have instant access to its own original qualities. As we have discussed, there are two different basic levels of consciousness; "I am a body" or “I am a soul," the former, illusory (false) and the latter, real. When the feeling is "I am a body," the thought process is trapped in the limitations, problems and vision of the physical identity. Its reaction to others is on the same level.

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Message for the day 01-06-2012
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Mercy means to give support to the ones who are helpless.

Expression: A negative situation or a person who is in need and is helpless usually stimulates feelings of unhappiness or sorrow. At such a time it becomes very difficult to maintain a positive state of mind. But real mercy is that which gives support through the positive state of one's mind. The more there is the feeling of happiness, others too can be brought to that state of happiness and joy.

Experience: When I am able to remain happy even in negative situations, I am able to maintain my internal state of calm. And this is the best frame of mind where I am able to see things objectively and in a detached way and I am able to make the right decisions. So I find myself becoming a source of support.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris