Walk with God, Dream with Grace

Follow your bliss. Let yourself feel alive.
This is always good.
But without the grounding of commitment,
the coordination of real action,
and the freedom of not clinging to the outcome,
creation often falls short of its potential.
True manifestation is a balance -
the will to act, the passion to feel,
and the wisdom to let go.

If money feels scarce,
practice the sacred key of giving.
Tithe or give to what stirs your soul.
Let your offering be personal and meaningful.
Those who struggle with finances need this most.
Consistent giving opens a steady channel

for grace to flow.
It is how God enters your economic life
and begins to turn it from within.

Manifestation is not about stirring up
a storm of emotion.
It is about the stillness of accepting
what is already yours.
Let it enter your life in peace.

Pursuing a passion can uplift your world
when it teaches you to stay the course -
to act, to trust,
to rise with courage and steady hands.
It brings confidence, vision,
and a sense of Divine partnership.

But chasing a passion without grounding
can also pull you away -
leave you scattered, isolated,
adrift from your needs and responsibilities.
Passion must be rooted,
or it may become an escape instead of a calling.

Dreaming big is always welcome.
It is joy itself to imagine
a life renewed, a new adventure.
But never forget the quiet miracle
of steady growth,
of small insights,
of loving without needing to possess.

Fear of what others might think
can collapse your whole world inward.
But you are a child of God.
You are already perfect in God's eyes.
And in your moments of doubt,
let God catch you.
Let God walk beside you
in every step, every effort,
every beginning and ending.

Samadhi is Equal-Mindedness

The experience of that bliss has been referred to as the state of samadhi. What is the meaning of samadhi? Samadhi is ordinarily mistaken to be an emotional state in which a person acts abnormally, as if in a state of high excitement or trance. You may think that samadhi is something different from the waking, dream or deep-sleep states. But, truly, samadhi is something common to all three states. The meaning of samadhi is inherent in the word itself. Its root syllables sama or equal, and dhi or mind, together mean equal-mindedness. To be equal-minded in cold or in heat, in profit or in loss, in praise or in censure... that is samadhi. Therefore, a person who is immersed in samadhi, whose mind is in equanimity, will always be in a state of bliss, whether he is in the waking state immersed in his every-day life, or whether he is in the dream-state or in the deep-sleep state. Everyone yearns for such a beatific state. To attain it, a great deal of spiritual practice is necessary. You also have to earn the grace of the Lord by living a life replete with the virtuous qualities that are pleasing to him.

Who will be surprised to hear that fire is accompanied by heat? Burning is the natural state of fire, just as cold is the natural state of ice. So also, everyone who is born will die. This should be considered as totally natural. Anyone who recognizes this truth will not be subjected to sorrow. In all places and in all circumstances, develop an equal-mindedness. Whatever happens, always keep your mind firmly fixed on the divinity, which is your true self.

Excerpt: Sai Baba Gita
Link: http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/index.html

Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching)

World Peace version

This is the most clear and beautiful translation of Dao De Jing.
Please enjoy.

Manifestation: Expectation

With Love, I expect the highest and the best
Beyond my wildest dream

Hope is whishing for things uncertain.
Belief is conviction in qualities.
Expectation is welcoming of things physical already owned.

Every seconds of every day
You are manifesting by your expectations
With or without your conscious consent.

Would you take charge to manage your expectations
And manifest Heaven on Earth?
Or would you let unwholesome expectations
Dictate the details of your life?

You have the right to give more,
So you have the right to expect more.
In order to give better,
Expect to receive the best.

Without abundant expectations,
You expect scarcity.
In scarcity, you act with fears,
Troubling yourself and others,
Wounding the environment and the earth.
For the sake of everything and everyone,
Expect abundantly and manifest accordingly.

At this moment, what do you expect?

With Love, I expect the highest and the best
Beyond my wildest dream

Do I Love Myself?

Q: I asked myself, “do I love myself?” Yet I do not know the answer.

A: Perhaps your real question is: "Who am I?"

Am I the body?
Am I the mind?
Am I the son?
Am I the husband?
Am I the friend?
Am I a man?
Am I the fluctuating emotions?
Am I the wondering mind?
Am I the seeker of Truth?
Am I the soul, the Higher Self?
Am I the Sacred Heart, the Spirit, God?

Spiritual growth is a process of redefining oneself.
Each definition entails different embodiment of love and insight about love.
Decide who you are first, and you will love yourself accordingly.

Two Paths to God

Letting Go

The sadhu let go of everything,
His belongings and relationships,
His desires and attachments,
His pleasures and pains,
And the roles he played.
He forcefully chooses God over everything else.
For it’s either God, or no God at all.
He purges his subconscious and meditates only on God.
By and by, he has nothing left except his self.
By and by, he even let go of his self.
By and by, he has nothing except God.
Then by the grace of God,
Self made His Presence known.
He sees Self in the self,
And then Self in all.

Sublime Taste

He follows his bliss.
He follows his heart.
He follows the path of joy and the feelings of love.
In all possible situations and relationships,
He contemplates scenarios and follows complete satisfaction.
He aims to choose the best and experience the most aliveness.
By and by, he passes from experience to experience.
By and by, his taste becomes subtle and sublime.
By and by, only God satisfies him.
At the perfection of his taste,
He naturally chooses only God and nothing else,
And then God appears everywhere,
And he sees the Self.

Ownership

To truly own is to be One.

To Love is to become One.
Love determines ownership.

Effortlessness

There are two phases in one’s life: inward and outward, subjective and objective, one’s direct relationship with God, and one’s relationship and service to all of God’s creatures. These two must be in balance. When there seems to be no obvious next step to take based on one’s inner prompting, then slow down, relax, and be in tune with God. If the occasion calls for outward service, then go forth freely without hesitation.

Do not dwell pointlessly upon the past and future. Remain constantly in tune with your indwelling spirit. Thinking about the “futility” of past effort and the long road ahead and dreading it is not a positive use of your energy. Thinking that you are not “special” to God is also futile because you and God are one. You are already in him.

In moments of mistaken perception, be still, and be with God. Regroup all your scattered energies back to the centre, and be in peace. Listen to and behold God, and lay aside this material world.

You were in pain because you yearned to know yourself deeper and to be the highest you can be. It was a time of growing and it was the right time for new experience, and that employment was no longer conducive to your spiritual unfoldment. Your staying there out of fear was conflicting with the Divine Will of spiritual evolution, and you suffered because of this. Your struggle and pain were not due to the perceived difficult task itself; it was never about the particular task itself.

Your lesson is not to be so attached to the form. Flow and trust and surrender to God’s Will, no matter where it leads you. The lesson to be learned is to trust in Divine Will, and flow where you are led. In a way, you did not have to suffer had you had sufficient trust in God and Divine Will. You suffered because of your lack of trust.

Have trust that when God’s Will led you away from your work despite of your fear and mistrust, it will unfailingly lead you to your next destined point again when the time is right, and hopefully, with your fuller cooperation and deeper trust. For in trust and conscious cooperation lies your peace of mind.

With a mind in peace, knowing no lack and with the deepest trust in God, all you do would be a praise and prayer to the Lord. In so doing, you will not find unrest. So fear not. Trust that you will be taken where the Plan meant to take you. Surrender and trust. We are all One, and God is you. You just have to become aware and be able to see with God’s vision, and then you will see that there is neither contradiction nor exaggeration.

As long as other’s freedom, rights, and life are not taken away by you, and as long as your mind and heart are on God and doing God’s Will, you need not worry about any ungodly opportunities. You will not experience them in your life because there are no ungodly will in your mind.

Your job there was neither to save nor to teach, but it was to make peace. Whom had you not forgiven there? Whom did you still hold a grudge? With whom did you not have free flowing feeling of love and brotherhood? You were there to make peace with each and everyone of them. While being there, your job was to realize the love again with all whom you had met, and to reestablish your own place in the Kingdom of God.

Until you have erased all attacks from within, you cannot see with the eye of God or know Oneness. You know whom you needed to forgive, and you know what you needed to forgive. You have to forgive the atmosphere, the organization, the structure, the building, and the world. You cannot blame the world for your feeling of entrapment. You have to forgive them all, and when you leave the place physically behind, you will leave them filled with love within your heart. That is your mission and task and lesson. Heed it well, and fulfill your part. All experiences are indeed appropriate for the current phase of learning.

It’s best if you focus first on the issue of love and trust. Once they are mastered, others will swiftly follow. As you have learned to go where you are invited, you should also learn to leave when you are released. These are two sides of the same expression of Divine Will in practical life. By doing so, you will always ride on the current of Divine Will, and will not be in struggle and pain.

There is no battle for you here. You need not fight or struggle to prove anything to anyone including yourself. Your place in God’s kingdom is secure, and your only duty and right is to maintain your own sense of peace and joy. When you are rejected by a situation, if you decide to stay, then you are choosing to learn the lesson of conflict and struggle, and eventually to see their futility. If you no longer desire conflict and struggle in life, then you only have to walk away in peace from the rejecting situation, and have trust that a new invitation will be forthcoming. It is as easy and simple as that. With these two processes in place, life could indeed be lived in trust and without effort.

Give All

Q: How can people be practical and realistic when you ask them to give all?

A: For people whose faith is not yet strong and stable, and whose bodies are not yet totally aligned, they must proceed with “practicality”, so that they would not overwhelm their personality, which will be in a state of shock and agitation. Such condition of non-equilibrium is to be avoided, since it will only further confuse the life of the disciple. For those who are ready and quite aligned, and are ready to take full advantage of the law of supply and demand, and who has their fear under control, it is quite safe for them to “give all”, since by doing so, they do not go into emotional turmoil, and will see the law of supply and demand work out beautifully.

The advice of being practical and realistic has also to do with the “skillful use” of resources. Even though it is quite safe for the aligned personality to “give all”, the personality should still do it with good common sense and practicality, which will result in the skillful use of the resources at hand. We are not encouraging the disciple to throw out all the resources at hand for the sake of unrealistic emotionalism or glamour or fanatic devotion. Again, the sense of proportion and timing must be there; hence the need to cultivate oneself diligently through meditation and such devices, so that right action may be undertaken at the right time and with right attitude.

When encountering the atmosphere of fear, do not attempt to fight it by brute force. Simply close your eyes and become totally aware of it. Be not afraid of it. Analyze it and be familiar with it. Soon it will change its shape and become something else. But you must have the courage and balanced attitude of an open-minded scientist to do such a research.

Pleasure and Pain

Q: What was that? I got such a dirty feeling in my gut; it’s a kind of dirty and disgusting feeling. I feel as if my astral sensory has been opened more, and I’m sensing more clearly about the emotions of others. What’s the point of such unpleasant energetic experience? I do not know her nor can I help her much. Also, she did not ask for help.

A: This is the way of the world. All people are at different stages of understanding and mastery. When people are not happy about their lives, and think they are the victims of circumstances, they could do nothing but react thusly. For one could not dispense happiness, when one feels victimized and trapped. To her, you are just one difficult customer, who is there to make her already boring and painful day more annoying. You mean nothing else to her. Under such circumstance, what can you expect from her?

Q: What does it mean to me then?

A: To make your life easier, you can consciously choose to only associate and work with people who are happy or who has already found their own bliss. Do this as much as you can, then you will have less to worry about in your life. Know that life is a big duality school. See it as such, know it as such, and do not swing your emotions strongly between the two poles. Learn to remain centered, and know that everyone has to go through her own process of growing. You must have the responsibility to make your own life work. So it is your responsibility to associate with people of like vibration. For the sake of specific aid to be rendered and sanctioned by your higher self, you then must carry on the work without regard to other people’s level of spiritual understanding. For then your feeling of pleasantness is not the point. Yet, when you are just doing your daily business, you do have the right to associate with blissful people. For in the encountering with no specific mission or task outlined, you serve nothing by spending energy counteracting negative people and energy. Your strength must be saved and carefully used on people to make an important shift in their consciousness. Also, the banding together of many positive people will give a more potent opportunity to change the world positively on a larger scale. So do so with these in mind.

Above all else, remain connected to your highest self at any moment to give yourself the benefit of clear vision and understanding.

Q: Thanks. Also, I am recalling the experience at the restaurant back in July. That also gave me a bad feeling in my whole being. Guidance please.

A: It is not important to know why others react in a certain way mentally, emotionally, or physically, when you are not directly involved in their spiritual guidance. So your responsibility is to work on your own astral field, and to remain in deep connection with your highest self, in order to carry out the Divine Will the best you can, and to grow the fastest you can. That’s all.

Take this as an opportunity to go beyond the swing between emotional pleasure and pain.

Manifestation

Q: There is this question in my mind about manifestation. Some people say that the intensity of one’s emotion is helpful in bringing forth the manifestation, but then I read somewhere else, which says that during the process, one should remain impersonal. Which one is correct?

A: When you have a strong intention to have the object, you are in fact identified with the object, and therefore at the same level as the object. Since you are vibrating at the same rate, you would not be able to do anything to affect it, and hence, ineffective. To be a true creator, you must be at least somewhat higher than the object you are creating. That is why to be an impersonal witness will ensure that you are not entangled with the object of your potential creation.

Q: What about feeling oneness and know that I and the object of my desire are in fact one? Would this attitude not help in the manifestation process? If it does, then how can I remain impersonal, which indicate a sense of separateness?

A: In so far as making you understand that you have the creative potential within you to achieve such a choice in experience, the sense of oneness is helpful. Should you truly feel the oneness, there is then really no point for you to talk about bringing it into manifestation. Hence, since you are not truly feeling a state of oneness, you desire to experience something other than yourself in order to know yourself. Under such a paradigm, it would be helpful to think of yourself as an impersonal witness, whereby you can act effectively as a creator, and yet know that you possess the creative ability as endowed within all the One’s in the world.

Last Choice

Our future is very much in our hands. Your every decision will change your future instantly, and that is the gift from God and the “sweet sorrow” we have. We must experience the result of our choosing in life. Until one day, we understand the Will of God, and then we will understand that there is really -- no choice at all.

Until the day when you finally choose God, you must make the best effort and learn to enjoy the process of choosing in your life. For a life shy of choosing would cause inertia and implosion. That is also why it is so important to know what is your priority in life. If you are to die tomorrow, what do you must do today? Do them now, and leave no regret when leaving this physical life.

As for the general direction of your life, you must learn to enjoy and exercise the process of designing one for yourself. So I’ll not intervene in your learning experience. You can only feel the empowerment afterward if you have done so yourself. However, should you have specific decisions that require insight, I’ll be able to help.

God

I Am God

To reach the principle of Godhead, which is the goal supreme, you have to start your journey with the first stage of the path, wherein you consider yourself to be the servant or the messenger of God. This is the stage of dualism. Gradually you enter the stage of qualified non-dualism, the second major step on the spiritual path. Here you experience the divinity within yourself, in your own heart. At this stage you identify yourself very closely with the Lord. You will have the feeling, "God is within me. He is the one I truly am. I am he. I am he." Then, as you continue still further on the spiritual path, all duality will disappear completely and you will be left with only the I, the pure self, without any modifications or limitations.

If you develop within yourself the sacred and lofty idea, "I am God", you will not be bothered by anything; nothing can come in your way. Of course, it is of no use to merely utter these words. You must first overcome your body consciousness and maintain a firm control over your senses. At the same time, you must develop an intense love for God and live it by continuously identifying yourself with the divine. This will lead you to the supreme wisdom. Or, you can express your love for God by following the path of the servant. This will quickly remove the egoism from your heart and fill you with bliss.

Wherever you look you see your One Self

When you declare, "I am he, I am God," there is still some duality, because there are still two entities, I and God. So, this is still not complete non-dualism. At the very beginning, when you say, "O Lord, I am your servant," the Lord is separate and the servant is separate, and their status is clearly different. On the other hand, when you say, "I am God," although there is still a trace of duality, the distinction is not one of separate subject and object but more like seeing the reflection or image of yourself in a mirror.

Whenever people are different, when there are many separate entities, then there will also be many different images or reflections. But in the stage of qualified non-dualism, you see only your own image everywhere, because you are all there is. You are the one self being reflected as many images, just like the one sun is seen as separate images in a number of different water-filled pots. So, in the stage of qualified non-dualism, you are alone; there is none other. The only thing that still comes between you and the divinity is the mirror. You constantly perceive your own reflection, and so you see yourself as very near and very dear to the Lord - face to face with him.

But when you perceive only the one God who is all-pervasive, then where is the need for any image or mirror at all? Can there be a place where he is not? When the entire world is the mansion of the omnipresent Lord, then where should you look to find the door to enter his mansion? If there were a separate street and a separate house then there would have to be a door which opens onto the street; but in truth, there is no street at all. When the all-pervasive Lord is everywhere, how can there be any special place where you must seek him to find him? No, there is no special place where he resides.

Once you realize that he is everywhere at all times, then the true perception of the divinity is not that of an object whose reflection is seen in various places but the realization that there is only you, the one immortal self, abiding everywhere, present in everything in all its fullness. This all-pervasive perception of the divinity as the one without a second, is called non-dualism.

Excerpt: Sai Baba Gita

Link: http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/index.html

God Within

The Indwelling God

From time immemorial, the inquiry has been going on whether or not God exists. Once you have convinced yourself that he exists, the next step is to find the way to reach him. Just as was true in ancient times, this problem of how and where to find God has become a perplexing question for mankind today. To solve this problem, numerous sages made a determined effort to use all their skills and their penance to find the solution. These sages revealed where they searched and how they came to know about the existence of the effulgent Lord. They declared to the world at large:

"O citizens, we have been able to perceive the transcendental principle which exists beyond this visible and created world. It will not be found in the external world or in outer space, but only within your own inner self. It is there in your inner vision within your soul, in the sacred heart inside your deepest self. It is there that the blissful Lord resides."

This was their great discovery, that God dwells within the body itself. God is the imperishable one who lives within the perishable body. The body is inert; it does not know itself. God has been called the knower of the body and the one who gives consciousness to the body. To penetrate through the veils of ignorance that hide your truth, you must make a determined effort to discover the immortal Lord residing resplendently in your mortal body. Not only must you find the Lord installed in your own body and the bodies of other creatures, but you must also find him installed in every object, in every thing. He is the indweller of all the five elements, space, air, fire, water and earth. He is the very basis of the creation.

To find a diamond you must dig deep within the earth. You will not find it hanging outside on a tree. In the same way, you will not find this most valuable diamond which is the Lord, lying around somewhere outside, easily visible to all. With the help of the teachings of great souls you will have to make the effort to find God within. The body is not an ordinary thing. It is the temple of God, it is a chariot which carries the Lord. In the world, which can be thought of as a grand village, the Lord is being taken in procession everywhere in this chariot called the body.

Seek the Lord inside your own Body

All spiritual practices can only be done with the help of the body. All the education that you have acquired has been obtained by means of the body. The magnificence and extraordinary characteristics of God have been learned through the facility of the body. Taking the body as the basis, you have to make an all-out effort to see the Lord inside it. Do not keep thinking that God resides somewhere, in another world. He actually is present in the body itself. Sin does not exist in some distant world far away; it depends upon the actions that you perform with your body. Both your merit and demerit are the result of the actions you performed with the help of your body. You have to make an incessant search, a serious attempt, to find God inside your own body.

Only when you knock at the door will the master inside open it. Even your own mother will serve you food only when you ask her for it. Therefore, you will have to ask and go on asking, knock on the door and go on knocking, search and go on searching, seek and go on seeking. If you search for God within you, with all earnestness, you will surely be able to find him. If you go to a room where a great number of articles are stored, it is only if you search carefully that you will be able to find the particular article for which you are looking. Without searching you will never find the article you want. Therefore, it is said, 'Seek, seek, and it shall be found; knock, knock, and the door shall be opened.'

Perhaps you feel that you have already been knocking at the door for a long time and it has not opened for you. But find out if you have been knocking at the right door. Are you knocking at the door of liberation, or are you knocking at the door of attachment? Whom are you approaching? In whom are you taking shelter?

No doubt, you are praying to God, but you are asking for petty material things and worldly things. You have to pray for transcendental principle which will fill you forever with eternal bliss.

Your devotion must go on increasing and progressing, keeping in mind the firm belief that God is residing inside your own body. If you want to seek and search for the Lord who is residing inside you, you have to turn your vision inwards. This is how you should pray to the Lord, full of devotion, longing to realize his presence within you.

Your Body

In your day-to-day life, you refer to your body as my body. In other words, you acknowledge that you are not the body, but that this body is yours; it belongs to you. When you say, "this is mine", then you are declaring that you and the object are different. When you state, "this is my handkerchief", you are asserting your separateness from the handkerchief; it is something different from you. When you say, "this is my body", it means that you are distinct from your body.

The body is given to you in order that you may realize who you truly are, in order that you may recognize its indweller. Without a body you would not be able to know him; you would not be able to perform any activity and follow any spiritual path. All your work, both worldly and spiritual, can only be performed with the help of the body.

You can experience God through Love alone

If you want God, you will have to realize this sacred quality of love. Only through love will you be able to experience him, who is love itself.

In order to see the moon, there is no need for you to shine a flashlight on it. By the light of the moon itself you can see the moon. If you want to see and perceive God who is always love itself, then only through love will you be able to see him. Fill yourself with love and you will surely succeed in acquiring God. But as long as this love has not yet become clearly established, there is a need for spiritual practices such as devotional singing, repetition of the name of God, and other forms of worship. Once pure love has developed these spiritual practices are no longer necessary.

Yet, even when the moon shines brightly, you will not be able to see it if your eyes are closed. In the same way, if your eyes are still closed to the loving presence of God within you, then good actions, including the various spiritual exercises, will help open your eyes and clarify your vision, so that you can see and enjoy the Lord.

However powerful a light you shine on a blind man, he will not be able to see the light. As long as you have bad qualities, the divinity which is very near will not be perceived. When you are free of jealousy, when you are free of egoism and hatred, you will be able to directly experience the effulgence of the divinity. A person who has opened his eye of wisdom will shine with the God-presence. A person who has closed his eyes with ignorance will not be aware of God. By closing your eyes you will have to search all over for a towel which may be directly above you on a shelf, very close by. If you open your eyes you will be able to place your hand right on it. The wise person whose eyes are open to the divinity and who is not beclouded by ignorance, directly perceives God and reaches him.

Only when you listen to great teachings, and only when you understand them clearly, and only when you practice them, will you be able to reach your divine goal. Set aside at least one hour per day to study these teachings and incorporate them in all your daily activities. In so doing you will be using your time wisely and you will be sanctifying your life.

Fill your Heart with Love and Faith

God is always full and complete; to reach such infinite fullness you must have full faith. When God is full and complete and you are not full and complete, there cannot develop the necessary vision that will allow you to experience God. To reach the full and complete love that is God, you must also have a full heart, full of love and faith. If, instead, you are filled with doubts, you will undermine this pure principle of love which is your true nature; your doubts will blemish your heart and blind your view from the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent Lord, who is aware of your every thought.

Whatever thoughts you have, fill them with him. Think of him with a full heart saturated with love and faith.

All the noble human qualities are already there in their fullness in every human being, but very few people are making any effort to become aware of them. They are wasting their time in pursuing only outer activities in the world. But you must also engage in inner activities which will help you to reach your goal. For example, you perform your worship using external rituals, but you must perform your worship internally, as well, offering God the flowers of your heart. Then there will be unity and harmony in your life. Once you achieve such unity in all your activities, both inner and outer, your life becomes sanctified and you will experience fulfillment in whatever you do.

Excerpt: Sai Baba Gita
Link: http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/index.html

God Without

True Renunciation is Turning your Mind towards God

When you let your vision roam in the temporary and transient world, your spiritual path spirals downward into inertia and stasis. When you concentrate your vision and your awareness on the permanent God, then your spiritual progress leaps ahead. If a door is locked and you want to open it, you must put the key inside the lock and turn it towards the right. Then it will open. But if you turn the key to the left, the lock remains closed. It is the same lock and the same key. The difference is in the way you turn the key. Your heart is that lock and your mind the key. If you turn your mind towards God, you get liberation. If you turn it towards the objective world, you remain in bondage. It is the same mind that is responsible for both liberation and bondage.

True renunciation is turning your mind towards God. It means constantly bringing your mind back from other thoughts to dwell on the permanent entity. Such mental detachment and sacrifice must be developed into a very intense feeling. You should not keep on postponing the practice to the next day, and then the day following that, and so on.

Suppose you expect to go to a marriage; you would keep certain clothes ready several days before the occasion. Or suppose you had a chance to go to the movies; then you will get ready very fast. Even for just going for a walk you make yourself ready in a trice. Well, if you cannot go to the cinema today you can easily postpone it to another day. If you do not go for a walk now you can always go another time. But the Lord's journey cannot be postponed or canceled. You must always be ready to accept whatever comes your way. Time waits for no one. Time does not follow man. Man has to follow time. Time flows on continuously and takes everything with it.

You may enjoy the various objects of the world, but while enjoying them you should not get yourself attached to them, thinking that you possess them. This feeling of renunciation or detachment is one of the most essential aspects of the spiritual philosophy.

Constant Practice

Detachment or non-attachment is the first important discipline that should be undertaken. The second is constant practice. What kind of practice can be called constant? One kind is austerity or penance. The moment people hear this word austerity they get a little frightened. They inevitably associate austerity with going into the forest, eating whatever fruits and roots are available there and exposing themselves to all kinds of risks and sufferings. Truly speaking, that is not austerity; that is just putting the body through some suffering and punishment.

It is not the body that must undergo the suffering, but the mind. The mind tends towards either sloth and chaos or endless activity, and is filled with the sense of doership and possessiveness. Austerity is putting such a mind with all these negative tendencies that cling to it, through real torture, until all these tendencies let go their hold. Austerity also means removing the defects that are inherent in the sense organs. This is the real austerity. There are three types of austerity. One is the physical austerity of the body, the second one is the vocal austerity of the tongue and the third is mental austerity of the mind.

Keep your Concentration unwaveringly on God

Many of you are following a meaningless path and living a meaningless life. You cry when you are born and you cry when you die. In between, through your whole span of life, you go on crying for useless things. Do you cry when you see the decline of righteousness? That is what you should cry for, that is what you should use your strength and abilities for, to correct the decline of righteousness and to help heal the wounds that follow its decline. What is right living? It is the constant remembrance and uninterrupted contemplation of the Lord. It is discharging your daily duties thinking of the Lord. You are not taught that you should give up your family, that you should give up your wealth and property, and then go to the forest. No! Take care of your family. Do your duty. But keep your concentration constantly on the Lord. Whatever you do, do not forget your goal. If you give it up, you will get lost and stray onto the wrong path. Your divine goal must be solidly set in your mind. Keeping your goal in view, perform your daily duties.

Excerpt: Sai Baba Gita
Link: http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/index.html

Three Kinds of Vision

External Vision

Mankind today has three types of vision. The first is body oriented vision, which is totally superficial. When you have this kind of vision you see only the external appearance of others, such as the clothes and the ornaments they wear, their facial features, their body characteristics, their peculiarities of speech, etc. This type of vision is oriented only towards the phenomenal world.

Inner Vision

The second kind of vision is insightful vision. Instead of focusing on the external characteristics of others, you focus on their inner feelings, particularly as it is reflected in their behavior and expressions. You gauge the thoughts in another's mind and the feelings in their hearts by carefully watching what they say and do. When you have this kind of vision, you become concerned primarily with the deeper feelings and motivations of the other person.

Sacred Vision

The third kind of vision is integral vision. With this kind of vision, you do not concentrate on another's external features or even their inner feelings. When you have integral vision you see the divine consciousness that pervades everyone, the inner unity that prevails everywhere despite body differences and differences in expression and emotional makeup. You realize that feelings, thoughts and behavioral characteristics all undergo change and transformation. But, you are not interested in characteristics that change with time. With integral vision you are wholly oriented towards the unchanging, indwelling divinity. Such a deep inner vision is a sacred vision. When you have this you are in the hands of God. More than that, not only are you in the hands of God, but verily you become God himself.

The truly wise say that one who knows God becomes God. As you perceive so you become. Therefore, when you gain integral vision, you take on the sacred nature of the divinity itself. To become a person of the highest wisdom, you must develop integral vision. You must steadily abide in the inner unity that is at the core of all the outer diversity. It is for this reason that you should maintain this vision at all times, under all circumstances.

Excerpt: Sai Baba Gita
Link: http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/index.html

Three Kinds of Actions

Transform all Self-serving Actions into Selfless Actions

You must first remove the negative tendencies which have driven all your ordinary, self-serving actions that have kept you bound, and replace these negative tendencies with positive, noble qualities which are associated with beneficial and selfless actions. Then, when you are firmly established in the stage of selfless service, wherein you perform only good actions, you can go on to the higher stage where you renounce the fruits of all your actions. From there, you will naturally rise to the stage of totally selfless, impersonal yoga. At that stage, you make sure that all your actions are of the highest purity and then you offer them all up to the divinity, to do with as the divinity wishes.

What is the inner secret of performing work? Only through positive, laudable activities can the negative tendencies be removed. Engage only in good actions so that you will steadily purify your heart. But it goes further than that. True purity of heart can be achieved only by dedicating all your actions to the Lord. Every action that you perform must be offered to God; only then can your heart be fully cleansed.

All the many activities performed by you during the day fall into the category of ordinary actions. But when you perform these same actions, even if they are just little acts, with the intention of making them an offering to God, devoting their results not to your own pleasure but for the pleasure of the Lord, then your actions become sacred actions. In other words, your karma becomes karma yoga. It is only through such karma yoga that you will be able to rid yourself of all evil tendencies and make your heart pure.

Ordinary Actions, Detached Actions and Sacred Actions

Compared to ordinary actions which are done by thinking of yourself as the doer, actions done without any sense of doership will be much greater. It is an action that is done with complete selflessness, performed impersonally with total indifference and without any attachment. But greater still is when the action is entirely offered to the Lord, and when it becomes a holy sacrifice; it is then sacred.

In the primary stage, every human being has to perform actions and be actively employed in the tasks for which he is suited. One needs to perform action in order not to develop laziness. A lazy person is absolutely useless to the world. First, you must perform ordinary actions. Then you should enter into the stage where you perform all your actions without any self-interest. Gradually you transform these actions into yoga, you transform work into worship.

Purify your Actions before Offering them to God

What should be the qualities of the actions you offer at the feet of the Lord? How sacred should they be? Before an object is offered to an ordinary individual, you see to it that it has some utility, that it has some value, that it is pure and that it will be cherished. In other words, that it will be received with joy. That being the case in offering something to another individual, then how much more care should you take in making an offering to the Lord! How very pure and extremely fulfilling it must be! One must not offer all types of objects and all types of actions to the Lord. Before you offer anything to the Lord, you must first make it pure, you must make it sacred and great. Then it will be a fit offering for the Lord.

For example, if you want to offer a rose to the Lord, you first select a beautiful, fragrant bloom. Then you remove the insects from the flower. Next you remove the thorns and any imperfect leaves from the stem; and in a number of other ways you make your offering as beautiful and as pure as possible. Only then do you offer it to the Lord. Every action you perform should be like this flower which you offer to the Lord. Just as a fine fragrance is inherent in the flower you offer, so also your actions must be saturated with the fragrance of love and sacredness. Just as the flower that you offer is beautiful and pure, so also your actions must be good and pure. Such is true karma yoga.

You must be able to distinguish between wise action and unwise action, and for that you must understand the difference between wisdom and ignorance. You must develop your wisdom until it expands and merges with the cosmic wisdom, the divine wisdom. Anyone who wants to directly experience the Lord must develop this wisdom.

Excerpt: Sai Baba Gita
Link: http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/index.html

Four Types of Anger

There are four types of people. The anger of a person who is of a serene nature will be very short-lived; it recedes immediately. The second type will have this anger for a number of minutes, but it will soon fade away. The third category of person will have this anger continuously, all day long. The one in the lowest category will have this anger throughout his life.

The anger of a good person is like writing on water; it is not at all permanent. The anger of the second category of person is like writing on sand, it will be washed away, one moment or another. The third type of person's anger is something like writing on stone. Over a long period of time it too will be eroded away. But the anger of the fourth type of person is like writing on a steel plate, it will never go away unless you melt it and cast it anew. Only when you put it into the fire will it get destroyed. Only through intense transformation is there any possibility of changing it.

Excerpt: Sai Baba Gita

Link: http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/index.html

A Feather and a Heart

There is a precious story from Egypt about the Goddess Ma’at, who is the Goddess of truth, balance, justice, and order. Upon leaving this physical world, Ma’at will take a feather from her headdress and weight it against your heart. If your heart weighs more than the feather, then it means your heart is heavy with sorrow, anger, regret, hatred, jealousy, doubts, sadness, worry, fear, and such, so the entrance to heaven is impossible. If the heart weighs less than the feather, then it means that your heart is pure and innocent, and is light enough to reach heaven.

We sincerely hope that you would cast off any unnecessary burdens in your heart and become lighter than a feather, not prior to the moment of departing this physical world, but in every moment of your life. Light up your own heart and the hearts of others, so that you may all float upward lighter than a feather and higher into heaven’s bosom without any effort at all. Truly, is there any other way to enter heaven?

The Four Types of Devotees

True devotion does not merely refer to the performance of various religious rituals like singing devotional songs, repeating incantations, engaging in silent or communal prayers or sitting for meditation. Devotion refers to this deep unshakable faith in the Lord. There are four types of devotees: the seekers of boons to relieve their suffering, the seekers of blessings for a full and happy life, the inquirers into the deeper meaning of life, and the knowers of the highest spiritual wisdom.

The first type is one who prays to the Lord when he is in difficulty or undergoing trials and tribulations. It is only at such times that he thinks of the Lord and worships him.

The second type is one who entreats the Lord for the blessings of wealth, position and power. He prays to the Lord for progeny and long life and yearns to gain houses, property, cattle, gold, jewels and such things to serve his fellow man. Most people hanker after worldly boons, not realizing that true wealth is wisdom, that real property is a noble character, that the most valuable jewel is to be immersed in God's love. They are anxious to acquire worldly objects, but do not understand the subtle meaning and deeper significance of all these outer symbols of worldly wealth.

The third type of devotee is ever engaged in inquiry into truth. He constantly seeks to know, 'Where is God? Who is God? How can I reach God? What is my relationship to God? Who am I?' When you enter this stage, you become engaged in all these inquiries in order to gain spiritual knowledge. In the first place, you must try to find out, 'Who am I? Where did this world come from? What is my goal?' You puzzle over these three important queries and try to gain some understanding. You approach great people, listen to their teachings, serve them, and study the sacred scriptures. Through this process, indirect knowledge gets turned into direct knowledge, as the teachings you have heard and studied become your direct inner experience.

Finally, when you have fully absorbed the teachings within yourself, you leave this stage behind and become the fourth type of devotee, the highest knower of truth, the one of abiding wisdom. This wisdom is true spiritual knowledge, the transcendental knowledge. It refers to the experience of unity, the experience of the One without a second.

Excerpt: Sai Baba Gita
Link: http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/index.html