Tame Your Thoughts

Monday, 30 April 2018

Tame Your Thoughts

Editorial by Yogacharya Surakshit Goswami

If you can control your mind,  your speech will be immaculate. To avoid unbridled speech first learn to control your mind. The spiritual path demands a disciplined mind. So you have to learn to master the mind. When you are able to do that you gain greater mastery over your speech. These two things happen simultaneously — by controlling your speech,  the mind comes under check,  and by reining in the mind,  you avoid heedless speech.  All spiritual people share this quality.  When people discuss truth and Paramatman,  the mind is controlled. 

Politicians,  diplomats and advocates are able to ace their speech,  but they are unable to rule their mind which is governed by personal gain and self-interest.  In principle, when the speech is under control the mind should also be under control, but that is not the case here. Over the years, they have been using their speech to lie repeatedly, to acquire wealth, fame and position. Thus the mind engrossed in maya,  reaches the pinnacle of falsehood. 

Such calculated control over speech,  is not favourable to the mind. Instead, it only gets tangled further, because the basis of falsehood,  namely ignorance,  only magnifies and then the speech is affected by the charade.  However,  there are some people who do not allow any falsehood to breach their conscience. They do not undertake any act which goes against their integrity. Often, falsehood is employed to make more wealth. 

If a lawyer is taking recourse to articulation and lies to win a case, it only means that he must have taken an exorbitant fee for the same. The bigger the lie, the higher the fee.  Often, lawyers can be heard discussing their cases in the court canteen,  where one remarks: ‘I have a murder case. ’The other responds, ‘I have a case of mass murders’, the third adds, ‘I am handling a multi-crore scam’. Hence, taking up cases of those who may have committed grievous crimes is considered a matter of pride. In this way, lawyers who win case after case by lying repeatedly,  develop a different kind of ego

Quote from the True charm and Power of Vedanta

Sadhana enlightens

 Economic Times in The Speaking Tree | India, Spirituality | ET

By Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Enlightenment never happens. It is always there. The sadhana that you do is just to see it is there. You are not doing sadhana to construct divinity within you.

All you will construct is only ego. Everybody in the US is talking of self-development. How to develop the self ? You can develop the body; that is fine. You can develop the mind; that is fine. You can develop the ego, which everybody does anyway. How can you develop the self ?

And if you could develop the self, better discard it, because it is incomplete stuff. If something is already all-pervading, eternal, how to develop that?

Self is one thing that you cannot develop. And if it can be developed, it is better you put it in the store room like everything else. That is why Gautama said, “You are non-self. You are Anatma.” People were talking too much about atma, and then slowly it took the egg shape. So, now he knew a chick will come. People will sit on it and make it hatch also.

Initially they said, hell and heaven. To which he said, “There is no hell and heaven.” That we also know, but it is about reaching the Divine, God. He said, “There is no God.” That we also know. Our Upanishads also say we are Atma. He said, “There is no Atma.” Then they said, no, no, no, the consciousness! He said, “There is no consciousness.” It is just that you are conscious that there is no consciousness; that is all. See, everything he demolished because everything that can be demolished must be demolished. That is the whole sadhana.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Psychic equilibrium is necessary for peace

Psychic equilibrium is necessary for peace

Editorial by Shrii Shrii Anandamurtijii

Psychic equilibrium is peace. What brings about psychic equilibrium and what disturbs it? Spiritual practices will bring psychic equilibrium, and belief in superstition will disturb it. Hence, we need to follow spiritual practices and fight against superstition.

Spiritual practices: Relief from dukha, suffering, is the main desire, and without fulfilment of this desire, peace is not possible. Nivritti, end of suffering, is of two types: samayiki nivritti, temporary cessation of suffering, and atyantiki nivritti, permanent cessation of suffering. That which helps in getting nivritti, is called artha, but artha is purely physical, so it can bring only physical and temporary remission. Paramarta brings not only temporary remission, but everlasting freedom as well, from dukha. Atyantiki nivritti can be obtained only by Paramarta which relieves one of all dukha -- physical, mental and spiritual.

Paramarta can only be obtained by sadhana, spiritual practices. Freedom from dukha, atyantiki nivritti, can be obtained only from Paramarta, and Paramarta can be achieved only by sadhana.

In Ananda Marga, spiritual practices begin when the child reaches the age of five. From the very beginning of a child’s life, he is initiated into spiritual practices. With the advance of the child’s life, spiritual practices also advance, bringing within their scope both mental and physical spheres.

Spiritual practices of Ananda Marga do not teach forsaking the world. They teach the right and correct use of all property, crude or subtle. Our sadhana is a systematic and scientific method for physical, mental and spiritual progress and advancement by which permanent psychic equilibrium, and thus everlasting peace, is established.

Fight against superstition: The natural tendency of the mind is to become like its object. Superstition of any kind – social, psychic or spiritual – influences the mind to such an extent that the mind, due to its worries, leads a person into trouble. The mental equilibrium of one believing in superstition is disturbed, and the result is that one not only loses peace, but one is also led to do some action detrimental to oneself. This only further strengthens belief in superstition. Any ordinary incident is magnified and attributed to some bad omen, by believers of superstition.

In the social sphere there is no dearth of superstitions. Witchcraft, discrimination against widows, etc., are curses in society only due to such superstitions. In the psychic sphere, there are deep-rooted superstitions such as belief in ghosts. Not only this, but superstitions related to shraddha, funeral ceremonies, have also bound down even the progeny of a person. In the spiritual field, also, ignorant people have been forced to do many things only because of the deep-rooted superstition of heaven and hell. For the preservation of peace, the fight against superstition is of prime importance.

The spiritual superstitions of heaven and hell and fear of God make individuals suppressed, and they lose their peace. Not infrequently due to fear, such superstitions create an undesirable reaction in people, and thereby cause loss of peace.

In Ananda Marga, spiritual practices are based on rationality. Fear and superstition have no part in them. A systematic and scientific method of spiritual practices in the Marga, path, leaves no place for these superstitions.

Unity in Ananda Marga is secured by evolving a casteless society where capital punishment is prohibited, and all take part unitedly in social functions, irrespective of caste, creed or race. In such a society, there can be no discrimination.

Qoute from the True Charm and Power of Vednata

In love with the divine

The sole purpose of life is Self realisation; transformation of ego into divine Self with cosmic consciousness, amidst all transient transactions of life.

Human life must not be spent in vain pursuit of mundane desires. Instead, we should aspire to experience the joy of becoming one with the Infinite.

Unconditional love for the Absolute or the Divine bridges the gap between mortals and immortality. The keynote of Sri Ramakrishna’s cosmic symphony begins, spreads and ends with love for the Divine.

This is beyond any rituals and radiates a magnetic pull to attract the Divine within and without. The same divine love must be showered without egoistic sympathy or superiority on all creatures as they are the myriad manifestations of the Divine.

The greatest impediment in practising this is our earth-bound ego that is saturated with selfishness. Since ego is the nucleus of existence of the fragmented sense of self, it cannot be annihilated from the bodymind complex.

The best course, therefore, is to surrender it with divine servitude so that, instead of hindrance, it may work like an aid. But absolute surrender is difficult for human beings enslaved by the five senses. The most effective spiritual tool to be used to overcome this is prayer.

The Divine Mother is bound to respond to the call of her children. Renunciation of worldly matters may depend on circumstances, but inward renunciation is an essential part of the process. Whether one is a monk or householder, divine grace alone can save us from being deluded.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

Economic Times in The Speaking Tree | Spirituality  

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Corporate excellence and work ethics

Monday, 16 April 2018

Corporate excellence and work ethics

Talk: Swami Sukhabodhananda

Life has become one gigantic game. To succeed in this game, we have to struggle. This struggle is consuming our life silently.

Do not discard success because of the simple reason that the creative process which is installed in your DNA, has to be allowed to express itself. Creativity has to be encouraged. But in this process, if you are not alert, your inner joy will be destroyed. Hence, make sure that your commitment for corporate excellence is based on the foundation of work ethics.

Ethics is not some set of rules based on laws. Ethics is based on goodness. Goodness is not bound by one’s definition; it is like intelligence; it is free flowing, but has its intrinsic wisdom. Ethics is order and action born out of goodness. Goodness in action mode is ethics. It is an indicator of health to be ethical in an unethical society.

An ethical process is order in motion and hence immensely crucial in the corporate world. An important aspect of being altruistic is a high degree of integrity. From a spiritual dimension, it is integrating the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual aspects. Abusing the body is unethical. Abusing it through wrong behaviour, junk food … is to harm the body. When the body is abused, it affects the mind. When one drinks alcohol, one is damaging not only the body but also the mind, is it not? Once the mind is affected one’s perception is also affected. So handling one’s body involves right food and right posture.

Right posture is keeping one’s body alive and vibrant. Good body energy has the power to do right things. Like in sports, a right posture will help one to perform.

Next is emotional health. Enthusiasm brings you alive and that power enables you to do the right things. Next is intellectual health, which means being part of a solution and not victim to a problem. Lastly, the focus should be on spiritual health, which involves operating from right values. This involves self-discipline. A value is a value if the value of the value is valuable to one. So, let ethical values be terribly dear and valuable to one.

Operating as a team and not as an individual should be a corporate value; this is corporate ethics. TEAM means Together, Empowering to Achieve More. One has to learn to drop self-love and love one’s organisation, and hence the team. Self-love is the mother of all conflicts.

Reflect on this.

“Who is flying the kite?”

The egoistic person says, “I am flying the kite.”

The breeze says, “I am flying the kite.”

The tail of the kite says, “I am flying the kite.”

The string says, “I am flying the kite.”

Existence says, “O child, we are flying the kite.”

The value of the team is supremely beneficial, and that is possible if one’s love is not restricted to the self but to the whole. This ethical mode, apart from felicitating those who reach and/or surpass their targets, should be valued and respected in the organisation.

Such a value, spontaneously brings in, the power to give, the power to contribute and the power to serve. One should not only contribute to each other in a team but also to the customer. This customer care is not just in manipulative words and smiles, but stems from the value of truly contributing.

Qoute from the True Charm and Power of Vednata

Strength of mind for spiritual awareness

 Speaking Tree in TOI 

By Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Cultivate spiritual awareness. Swami Sivananda has said, “The aim of human life is not God-realisation; rather, it is the cultivation of spiritual awareness.” How far you are able to go, does not matter. Do not think about one hundred per cent; try to obtain even half a per cent of spiritual awareness in your life and you will have obtained everything. When the mind is free from its sensorial, mundane and external attachments, then, it cultivates its own strength.

Three strengths

There  are three strengths of the mind: iccha shakti, will power; jnana shakti, knowledge power; kriya shakti, creative power. Even now you have these three within you; however, you are not utilising them, as there is a dissipation of mental faculties and energies. Similarly, for example, when a bulb is turned on, the light spreads in all directions, it is dissipated. The light is there, no doubt, but there is no force in that light.

But, if you were able to focus the power of light to a single point, it becomes a laser beam and thus gains in strength. You can apply that laser beam to cut through metal, perform optical nerve surgery, and so on. It is this focussing of mental perceptions that you attain in dharana, which leads to the development of willpower, iccha shakti, and the mind gains its true strength and its true character.

How the mind, the ego or intellect works, we do not know, and we should not bother about it. We must know how we can handle the situations, circumstances and conditions that alter our perspective of ourselves.

Once the mind becomes as powerful as a laser beam, knowledge also becomes focussed. Right now all the knowledge that you have acquired is dissipated, but when it is focussed, it becomes jnana shakti. The simplest way to understand jnana shakti is as the quality of understanding. I believe the greatest strength in the world is not love, as many people say. Love is not a strength, nor is compassion or sympathy. The highest quality of life is understanding.

Root of life

If you can understand situations, if you can understand life, then all the best qualities flower spontaneously within you without any effort. Understanding is the root of life that has to be watered daily. Love, compassion and the other sattvic qualities are flowers and fruit of the tree of life, which you can admire and enjoy, but understanding is the root of the tree of life. Therefore, ensure that you give water and compost to that root of life on a regular basis. Protect the root of life from the insects and rodents that nibble away at it, which are not visible, being underground.

Highest quality

The highest quality that anyone can have in life is understanding. Everything else falls into place after that. If there is no understanding, you can be going gaga with love and that will not help at all. That love will have no meaning for you, that compassion will have no meaning for you.

Cultivate understanding. With the cultivation of understanding, that is, with jnana shakti, kriya shakti becomes predominant. And with that kriya shakti, creative and harmonious interaction between the individual and the world arises

But, if He exists?

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.

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