Brahma Kumaris

Friday, August 04, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 04-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 04-08-2017
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Wearing The Crown Of Servant Leadership Gracefully (Part 2)

A good leader, before orchestrating (controlling) his team members will learn to orchestrate (control) his inner orchestra of thoughts, feelings, attitudes, emotions, moods and perceptions to create the desired tune or team result. When leaders become dictators or start orchestrating (controlling) their team members first, the fall of the team gets certain. A good leader is characterized by the way he makes his fellow members work as a team with him being a part of it. Misuse of leader power has a negative effect on team members' perceptions of the leader's ability and desire to engage in open communication. Because open communication is vital to any project, these perceptions can hurt team performance. These negative effects of leader power can be virtually eliminated simply by clearly communicating the idea that every team member is individually instrumental for any given task at hand.

Traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the top of the pyramid. By comparison, the servant leader shares power and puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. Servant leaders spread an energy of trust in the group, which catalyzes higher levels of engagement of team members, greater involvement of their effort and ideas and greater speed in change and creation of the new, which is the objective of every team. As a result, an excellent team culture is developed.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

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Message for the day 04-08-2017
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To pay constant attention towards positivity is to be free from tension.

Expression:To pay attention means not to think, speak or do anything waste, negative or even ordinary. The one who keeps attention in this way and also allows no negativity from outside to go within, is always free from tension. There is also the proper use of everything that is available.

Experience: When I am able to pay constant attention and also use the inner treasures within for a positive purpose, there is the use of the inner potential. When there is the recognition and use of this potential within in this way, negativity finishes; just as sunshine finishes darkness.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Thursday, August 03, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 03-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 03-08-2017
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Wearing The Crown Of Servant Leadership Gracefully (Part 1)

Very often in a group or team, while moving towards a common goal or objective or purpose, the leader of the group or gathering is required to give his opinion to make the objective of the team possible. Servant leaders are extremely active, positive and authoritative in giving their ideas, when they are required to do so, but are able to keep a relationship of detachment with their ideas. They maintain a right balance of authority (while giving the idea) and humility (while accepting the result of the idea, the result could be rejection or even acceptance of the idea). Also servant leaders are detached when accepting or receiving or listening to ideas from team members. The more the attachment to one’s own ideas, the more will be the tendency to resist or reject the others’ ideas, which they do not do.

Also, when a leader starts misusing his leadership for his own good and greed, and becomes egoistic, his team members start staying away. Servant leaders, through their humility, become an inspiration for others. Experiencing power and autonomy is healthy, but when a false sense of ownership sets up in leadership and the leader starts taking his role for granted, it is the time when a leader will experience great downfall in his role as a leader.

Altogether, a good leader is one who uses his mind or law to handle himself and his heart or love to handle others which ultimately brings justice to his role. Such a leader who maintains this balance of love and law wears the crown of servant leadership gracefully through various stages of life, enjoying the respect and earning the good wishes of all whom he comes into contact with.

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Message for the day 03-08-2017
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The virtues of honesty and courage bring success.

Expression:The one who is courageous is never deterred by challenges, but moves on towards success. Combined with courage, is the virtue of honesty which allows one to be consistent, sincere and true in the efforts put in. So success comes with proper effort and there is also humility visible in such a person.

Experience: When I am courageous, but at the same time honest in my efforts that I put in for achieving success, I'll never have ego. I will be able to get the cooperation and good will of all, and especially the protection and the help of God. I will find myself moving slowly towards success with everything I do.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Wednesday, August 02, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 02-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 02-08-2017
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Wearing The Crown Of Servant Leadership Gracefully (Part 1)

A good leader, before orchestrating (controlling) his team members will learn to orchestrate (control) his inner orchestra of thoughts, feelings, attitudes, emotions, moods and perceptions to create the desired tune or team result. When leaders become dictators or start orchestrating (controlling) their team members first, the fall of the team gets certain. A good leader is characterized by the way he makes his fellow members work as a team with him being a part of it. Misuse of leader power has a negative effect on team members' perceptions of the leader's ability and desire to engage in open communication. Because open communication is vital to any project, these perceptions can hurt team performance. These negative effects of leader power can be virtually eliminated simply by clearly communicating the idea that every team member is individually instrumental for any given task at hand.

Traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the top of the pyramid. By comparison, the servant leader shares power and puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. Servant leaders spread an energy of trust in the group, which catalyzes higher levels of engagement of team members, greater involvement of their effort and ideas and greater speed in change and creation of the new, which is the objective of every team. As a result, an excellent team culture is developed.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

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Message for the day 02-08-2017
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The one who is open to learning always finds an opportunity to learn and change.

Expression:Life has plenty of opportunities for the one who wants to learn. Each situation and person that comes one's way is an instrument for a new learning. Constant learning brings about a deep internal change and progress in one's life.

Experience: When I am able to learn from all that happens, I am able to be content for both what I have learnt and the change that I have been able to bring about. This contentment also keeps me enthusiastic and my mind open for further learning. I naturally become an embodiment of what I have learnt.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Tuesday, August 01, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 01-08-2017

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Soul Sustenance 01-08-2017
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Wearing The Crown Of Servant Leadership Gracefully (Part 1)

It is commonly stated that perhaps those who are best suited to leadership power are those who never seek it. On the other hand, those who have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, find to their own surprise that they wear it well. This process starts as early as our school life, when we become monitors and prefects and are granted significant responsibilities. We learn leadership at a young age. The type of leadership skills we inculcate at that age are important.

Importantly, a good leader, starting at an early age, should inspire and not aspire. Personal aspirations that are regardless (irrelevant) to others always convert a humble and successful leader into a failed one. A good leader should influence, not control - controlling i.e. passing orders, policies, rules, goals, targets, reports, visions and changes to force team members to work the way they believe it should be done; failing to listen or listening with little interest; exhibiting the Do as I say, not as I do mentality and providing inadequate support. Negative thoughts, words, actions or inactions expressing emotions like:

Why aren’t they performing better?
What’s wrong with that person?
Why don’t they know their job?
They should know their job!

lead team members to believe that leaders disrespect them and do not care for them at all. It results in failure of an organization or the task in hand.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

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Message for the day 01-08-2017
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The one who is responsible is the one who is always light.

Expression:To be resposnsible means to do everything with the best of one's ability. It comes with the recognition and the understanding of the importance of the task. No action is wasted, but everything meaningfully connects to the fulfillment of the task. So there are not even ordinary actions, but only those that are meaningful.

Experience: When I take up every task that I need to do with full responsibility, I am able to give my best. Then I will be able to be light having done my task well and in time. There is never the pressure of work, but there is plenty of time for the self and for others. I also find my inner resources being used to the fullest extent.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Monday, July 31, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 31-07-2017

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Soul Sustenance 31-07-2017
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Radiating The Right Energy (Part 3)

The beautiful aspect of each one of our lives is that we all know what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong but when it comes to implementing that in actual action, we find it difficult. What stops us from living according to what we know is lack of spiritual power, which is hidden inside us? So whenever you are about to perform an action, think twice whether you should perform the action or not. The same applies to your thoughts and words also. Don’t perform the action without thinking about the result of the action. After all, everything you do will come back to you one day, whether negative or positive. Also, remember that we not only send out energy to others, but we also receive energy from others. Here we are not talking about physical energy, but the non-physical energy which our mind radiates. The energy that we receive from others is largely dependent on what we have sent to others over many births and it keeps getting accumulated. All the energy, whether positive or negative, which we have radiated to others, does not come back to us at one time. It can take many years, even many births. Karma keeps getting accumulated and keeps coming back and there is no end to this invisible process.

The beautiful thing though is that we get a chance from God at the end of the world time cycle, when it is the end of the Iron Age or Kaliyuga, to improve our karmas, based on the understanding that He gives us. And this change in destiny that we experience goes with us in the complete cycle after that. The spiritual knowledge which is given by God has immense power that it can destroy all our negative karmas of the past and also help us perform positive karmas. Both of these help us create a positive future. And that time in the world cycle is now, when the Golden Age of complete happiness or Satyuga is being established by God. In the Golden Age everyone enjoys a positive destiny based on the good karmas performed now when God is amongst us and is giving us the knowledge of good and bad karma.

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Message for the day 31-07-2017
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To do what is right for all is to remain happy.

Expression:The one who is always concerned for others is the one who can do right for others. There is constant benefit for others merged in every action of such a person. Because of having given without expectation, there is happiness in everything that is done. There is also uniqueness and speciality revealed in every action.

Experience: I experience double benefit, because there is happiness in the effort as well as in the result of that effort. There is constant success experienced by me. I am also able to receive the good wishes and blessings from others and I further get encouraged to use my speciality. So I constantly experience progress in my life.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 30-07-2017

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Soul Sustenance 30-07-2017
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Radiating The Right Energy (Part 2)

Whenever we perform an action, we carry an intention, which is behind the action. This intention as well as the action itself decides what the result of the action will be. E.g. You are on a train journey and you meet five different people on the journey and with everyone you have a different experience. It’s like we pass positive or negative energy to them and they take the energy with them even after the journey is over. In the same way, we come across different people in all our lives in different births. Some people we spend more time with and some people we just meet for a few minutes and after that we don’t even see them. All of them receive a certain quality of energy from us which gets stored in their consciousness. Even if they change physical bodies they do not forget what they have received from you on a sub-conscious level and at some point of time they will return what you have given them. This is the law of karma which applies to all our births.

No one can run away from this law and it does not require God’s intervention also. God is a silent spectator to this law. But what He does do is teach us how to live life and perform good actions and it is upto us as to how much we follow what He teaches. A basic and fundamental principle of what God teaches is that we are all souls and our original qualities are of peace, love, happiness, purity and power. All actions performed in the consciousness of the soul and by being full of these original qualities are positive actions. On the other hand, negative actions are actions performed in the consciousness of the body and under the influence of the many vices and weaknesses that arise out of body consciousness like anger, ego, lust, greed and attachment.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

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Message for the day 30-07-2017
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To be a teacher means to touch the heart rather than the head.

Expression:Teaching others means being subtle and explaining in such a way that the mind opens because the heart has understood. The one who truly teaches inspires rather than just becoming the one who teaches others. There is a recognition of the positivity that is in each one and so no comparisions are made with others.

Experience: Once I am able to look at the positivity in another individual and have the pure desire of enabling progress within that person, I am able to feel the love for him. This is like a parent's love whose love for the child is that which makes him grow. So I become a teacher who inspires rather than the one who teaches.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Soul Sustenance & Message for the day 29-07-2017

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Soul Sustenance 29-07-2017
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Radiating The Right Energy (Part 1)

A very important feature of our life is building a strong relationship with God, in such a way so as to be able to live our life complete with trust and understanding and without any doubts in the help that God is ready to give us. God is awake every moment of our complete 24 hour day ready to provide us protection and care. All we need to do is remain connected with Him on a subtle level and never leave His protection of love and power. The moment we lack trust in God, God also distances himself from us and becomes unavailable to us. So it is upto us to reach out to God in a natural way throughout the day by talking to Him and keeping Him in a powerful bond with us and not letting Him go away at any moment. Although God can help us even if we do not keep Him with us in every action of the day, but this is not how God’s personality is. He is the one Father and we are all His children and if He wants He can be with each one of us at one time and help us. But the law of the world and its Father (God) is that if I remember Him, He offers help in return.

That does not mean God is not unconditional but we have to understand that God is our parent and for a parent, all children are equal. But He also observes their actions and how much are they like His actions and then offers His help. This is the reason why so many souls in the world are in pain today and yet God is not always helping them or removing the sorrow from their life. A beggar on the street is also God’s child, but he is in sorrow. So can’t God send someone for his help and bring lots of money to the beggar, so that he could live life in happiness. Why does the beggar continue to be in sorrow? Because he has performed some negative actions in this or a previous life and as a result of the actions, today he is in sorrow. But if in the present, he remembered God a lot and continued to perform good actions, slowly over a period of time, God would help him and he would overcome the sorrow in his life. Also, by remembering God and performing positive actions, the influence of his past actions on his present would be reduced, so as to bring a positive change of events on his life which would make him happier. This is true for all of us.

(To be continued tomorrow …)

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Message for the day 29-07-2017
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God's love brings out the perfection from within.

Expression:The power of God's love brings about change internally. Through His love everything old and unwanted finishes. There is the natural tendency to bring about such perfection that the one who loves Him and gets His love becomes like a mirror - a mirror in which perfection of others too is visible.

Experience: There is such inner strength that I get because of God's love that even if somebody does something to hurt me, I don't allow myself to get hurt. Even if people are saying negative things, they don't influence or touch me in a negative way. I am so full with God's love that it naturally flows out to those around me.

In Spiritual Service,
Brahma Kumaris