Saturday, July 07, 2012

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

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Soul Sustenance 07-07-2012
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Simplifying The Union With The Spiritual Parent

The easiest definition of the word ‘yoga’ is union. When you unite with someone or something, you keep thinking about that someone or something and keep visualizing the same. It is as if you experience a union with the object or the person in your mind. In this way, there is a subtle (non-physical) communication with them which, when you meet, will turn into a form of words (physical communication).

We communicate with others mostly through physical means, but we cannot do the same with our spiritual Father and Mother - God, as He does not take a physical form. Our communication or union has to be subtle (non-physical), through the vibrations that we radiate as souls or life energies. There is deeply rooted belief in many – a belief that goes back to many centuries, that this union takes many births of effort to become a master at, but that’s not true, it just takes a little practice and patience. The reason why it may seem difficult, at first, is that our mind tends to be filled with thoughts, feelings and images related to other people, friends, family members with whom we have interacted or will be interacting, our workplace, the past, the future, unnecessary anxieties and many more issues. We need to learn to drop these 'thought conversations' with others and ‘creation of subtle images’ of other people and situations so that we can redirect our mind and vibrations to the Supreme. This also means learning how to make our mind and intellect quiet enough, and as a result, receptive enough, to receive, listen and feel His vibrations and His thoughts, and to experience His subtle presence. Ultimately it is an exchange of the energy of pure love between the soul and its Parent.

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Message for the day 07-07-2012
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To spread the rays of happiness is to be optimistic.

Expression: The one who is optimistic is able to spread the rays of happiness all around. Never does he stop or move back with life's challenges. On the other hand, he has the courage and determination to move on making the best out of the situation. Others too are encouraged seeing his faith.

Experience: When I am optimistic I am able to understand that there is something good that is hidden in everything that happens. I am able to enjoy seeing only this positive aspect, filling me with positivity. So my happiness spreads around and touches the lives of those around me.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Friday, July 06, 2012

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

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Soul Sustenance 06-07-2012
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Understanding Anger And Its Many Forms

It is easy to understand how anger is one of the greatest fires in the human mind. Anger may take the form of yelling, shouting and verbal abuse, such as threatening, accusing, demanding, giving ultimatums: 'Do it or else!' But anger is also seen in the irritation when we do not speak: it is that silent smouldering (burning) where we emit fumes and fires of stored resentments (anger) and hatred, which effectively cuts real communication with others and ultimately ruins relationships. We get angry because we expect a certain type of behaviour from someone and when the behavior is not according to our expectations we become violent, convincing ourselves that others deserve to be punished. However, this result is an unresolved violence, which keeps emerging according to time and circumstance. Angry people feel too self-justified to even think about forgiveness, or letting go, in order make a person or situation peaceful - they are too attached to the fact that they are right and the other is wrong.

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Message for the day 06-07-2012
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Easy nature makes tasks easy.

Expression: The ones with an easy nature constantly think of solutions instead of problems. So such individuals are free from the burden of problems and are constantly contributing to make things easy for themselves and others too. The right environment to bring out the best result is naturally created by them.

Experience: When I have an easy nature, I am able to put a full stop in a second with great ease. I am not caught with the waste questions and exclamations. So I am able to enjoy everything that comes my way and move forward constantly with lightness.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 05-07-2012

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Soul Sustenance 05-07-2012
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Going Beyond False Identifications

The more I identify with the physical factors of my life, the more I become a prisoner to my destiny or the various up and downs of my life. E.g. if my self-respect is attached to my beautiful new car, how will I feel about myself when the car becomes old and its beauty and shine reduce? Or if I my car is stolen or gets immensely damaged in a road accident? Then, I shall find myself in an identity crisis. The same will be true if my business or job is everything to me. If one day, I am in a good financial state and I enjoy a very respectable and dominant position, and the next day I find myself in a dispute in my profession and I suddenly lose all of that, and nobody wants to know me, I will feel as if I have lost my soul and have almost died. The problem is sometimes so great that people do, literally, lose their desire to live. It happens, too, in relationships, when your partner leaves you either due to a separation, a divorce or even death - a partner in whom you have invested all your love and emotions. Or if my identity is tied to my back balance or property, and suddenly I am broke.

All of these are actually false identifications, and the crazy part of living this way is that I can never be satisfied, even if I succeed in maintaining my false identity. These kind of false identifications do not keep me placed stably on my seat of self-respect and either bring about an inferiority complex or a superiority complex - both of which are false, so both bring insecurity. Even while I am externally successful, having my identity based on that success means I am a slave to them. I've handed over my self-esteem to them. I become addicted to it.

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Message for the day 05-07-2012
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There is victory for the person who opposes the weaknesses instead of the person.

Expression: Instead of trying to win over a person who displays any negative qualities, one needs to oppose the negativity itself. The one who knows the art of doing this will never do anything to encourage the weakness in the other person but will provide all help to finish it fully.

Experience: Since I am able to look at the weakness only and am trying to finish it, I will be free from negative feelings of dislike and hatred. There would be a genuine feeling of love, which in turn provides the right environment for the other person's growth.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 04-07-2012

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Soul Sustenance 04-07-2012
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Understanding And Overcoming Repetitive Thoughts

Repetitive thoughts are mental dependences that arise due to a badly channeled imagination, false beliefs or mental weakness. For example, this happens when the pattern of negative repetitive thoughts makes us experience continuous feelings of guilt. Or we think, almost obsessively and continuously, that someone wants to hurt us or are after us. Or we create continuous thoughts of jealousy, hatred and violence with regards to another individual. They are negative and self-destructive habits. We fall into repetitive thoughts, which make us live in constant unhappiness.

We spend a lot of time during the day with these types of unnecessary thoughts. They are leaks of energy that weaken us. We have created the habit of thinking like that and, therefore, it is in our hands to learn to change it. We can free ourselves of these dependencies and the result is to be freer, mentally, of negative and repetitive thoughts, which are like a constant hammering. It is a question of learning to control what we think, thinking positively and in a focused manner, meditating and exercising the mind. We exercise to keep the body healthy and strong; in order to have a healthy and strong mind we have to learn exercises like meditation and relaxation that help us to free ourselves from repetitive thoughts which are nothing but bad positions or postures of the mind.

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Message for the day 04-07-2012
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Faith is the key to the best use of one's fortune.

Expression: For the one who has faith, in the self and in things, there is only positivity. Under all circumstances, there are only opportunities and treasures seen. Each moment is an inner urge to discover these hidden treasures and make the best use of them. So the one who has faith draws out the best from each and every situation.

Experience: When I am able to move forward with faith, I am encouraged to give my best under all circumstances and am able to enjoy the best fruit of the effort that I put in. Faith gives me the courage to go on even during difficult times and so I have the satisfaction of bringing about constant change and progress in my life.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 03-07-2012

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Soul Sustenance 03-07-2012
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The Journey Of Time (cont.)

In yesterday’s message, we had explained how the Law of Entropy works on a physical level. When the Law of Entropy is applied to spiritual energy, our virtues, to the quality our thoughts, words and actions, we can perhaps begin to see why, as individuals, we feel tired and old in virtues, irrespective of whether we are young or old physically. We can also understand why we succumb to negative thoughts, words and actions more easily than being influenced by the positive. In fact, the entropy of our virtues i.e. the spiritual entropy has followed the same pattern as the entropy of the physical world or the physical entropy (explained yesterday) i.e. the spiritual energy or the energy of the virtues of the world has been reducing (as the world has become older and older) because it has not been renewed or re-energized from a source outside the system. When we accept this movement from new to old, we understand the journey of time in a completely different way. As we look backwards into the journey of time, we find that although there have been very important scientific discoveries and global communication has improved immensely, which have all contributed to the give everyone an illusion of progress, everyone accepts that we are not enjoying healthier, more loving and peaceful relationships with ourselves, each other or the planet Earth. The reason for this is understood easily by applying the second law of time i.e. everything new becomes old. At the present moment, the source from outside the world system (on a spiritual level) which is required to re-energize it and restore it to its original new stage is the Supreme Soul or God or the Spiritual Sun, who is an ocean of spiritual energy and divine values or virtues. In meditation we, as living beings, who are part of the world system, can absorb this energy or divinity from him and contribute to this process.

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Message for the day 03-07-2012
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To recognise one's own uniqueness is to respect oneself.

Expression: To have respect for oneself based on other people's opinion or situational achievements is to have respect temporarily. True respect for the self is based on the recognition of the fact that every individual is unique with its own set of unique capabilities. This understanding enables one to see one's own uniqueness without being influenced or without comparing with others.

Experience: When I know to recognise and appreciate my own uniqueness and respect myself on this basis, I am able to be free from ego or a feeling of inferiority. I am also able to recognise naturally the uniqueness of the other person and respect him for it. Thus I am able to win the love and respect of others too.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Monday, July 02, 2012

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 02-07-2012

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Soul Sustenance 02-07-2012
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The Journey Of Time (cont.)

We also see in nature that everything new becomes old. Nothing ever starts old and becomes new. All material possessions including the human body, all political movements, religious movements, different philosophies etc. move from a state of newness to a state of oldness or decay. This is on a micro level. When we apply this principle and process on a macro level to the world as a whole, we can then easily understand why we live in an 'old world' – a world with scientific progress but overused, misused, tired and where many sectors are simply worn out. This process is sometimes known as entropy. The Law of Entropy states that a closed system moves from order to disorder or chaos, when the energy inside it reduces because it is not renewed or re-energized from a source outside that system. On a physical level, the sun sustains and re-energizes the systems of nature on the physical Earth every day. But in the recent past our exploitation of the world has started to become faster than the world’s ability to renew or re-energize. We now use the trapped energy in our physical world much faster than the sun can replace it.

Tomorrow, we shall explain how the Law of Entropy can be applied to spiritual energy and our virtues.

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Message for the day 02-07-2012
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The one who is the master of the self is able to master situations and control people.

Expression: If there is an attempt to control situations and people without trying to control the self it becomes impossible. It only takes things more out of control and leads to extreme emotions like anger. To be a master means to be a master of one's own feelings and emotions under all circumstances. It means to have the reins in one's own hands.

Experience: When I am able to be a master of my own thoughts, feelings and emotions I am able to deal effectively with situations and people. I never go out of control or lose my cool however difficult the situation or person may be. This enables me to be aware of my own inner resources and use it to be the best of my ability.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 01-07-2012

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Soul Sustenance 01-07-2012
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The Journey Of Time

There are two laws governing the journey of time in this world.

• Firstly, the movement of time is cyclic i.e. without a beginning or an end. It is not linear i.e. a straight line with a beginning and an end, and
• Secondly, everything new undergoes degradation and becomes old at some point of time.


These two laws help us to understand the journey of time and why the world is in its present state.

We use time to attempt to measure change. One day is measured by the time taken by the earth to rotate around its axis. One day is our basic unit of measurement of time. One year is measured by the time taken by the earth to revolve around the sun. So the movement of time in our physical world is always cyclical. The cycle of the day, from dawn to daylight to dusk to night, is a movement that repeats with absolute constancy. A larger cycle is that of the seasons - from spring to summer to autumn to winter - which also repeat in the same way. When we become a detached observer and look at the 'big picture' of human history, we see an even larger cycle, the eternal world cycle of time – a cycle that moves from the day of humanity (where everything is positive on a physical as well as spiritual level) to the night of humanity and then back to the day of humanity to repeat again. But to believe and understand that picture completely, we first need to understand the second law of time and also connect it with the first law.

Tomorrow we shall explain the second law of time.

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Message for the day 01-07-2012
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The one who serves others is the richest.

Expression: To be in a position to serve others means to be aware of the resources and treasures within. When all the powers that are within are used for the benefit of the self and others they tend to multiply and increase. So the one who continues to serve others continues to become richer.

Experience: When I serve, not only do I become richer with what I use, but for having served unselfishly I also become richer with the blessings and good wishes that emerge from the hearts of others. I am able to experience the real richness and beauty of life as there is a lot of love, happiness and joy in my life.


In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris