Life's lessons

Experiencing all the miseries of what material possessions can offer. Everything is temporary. Everything gives a temporary kick. Then after a few days the feeling of emptyness is back.

The mind is just not happy. It Feels lost. Nothing excites it anymore. It doesnt change. It has its own addictions. It has fear it has anger it has the desire to enjoy and continue its existence. It seeks continuity through ramification and seeking new goals and trying to convince itself of why the next carrot is better.

The mind got a lot of new seasons episodes, a beautiful LED TV 40 inch, new furniture, lots of new stuff. Yet after a few days the sense of unfulfilled feeling is back. Mind is after something else. After new goals. After new desires. After new carrots.

When it doesn't have something it seeks for it. When it does have something it forgets to appreciate the blessing and it is after something else.

Gurudeva states "A life of discipline is not an easy life, but it is a joyous one, with many soul satisfying rewards. Monastics follow their rigorous 24 hour protocol even in their dreams."

He further states "young souls merge with each other. Intermediate souls merge with projects & learning new things, merging with the mind & the intellect. Older souls Seeking the Self beyond the mind, merge with the Spirit & with the things spiritual. For them a pure and nearly perfect life calls. They intuitively know that the profound merger of Jiva in Siva is no easy task, to be accomplished in a weekend seminar or yoga class. So they go farther,they renounce, they take up the ideals of the four Vedas. Not to parrot them but to live them, just as did the Rishis of yore. That leads to the path of the renouncer, to the Sannyasin in the Indian tradition.

Excerpt from "living with Siva" from Satguru Sivaya Subramuniya Swami.

Be detached. Renounce. Live life like a drop of water on a lotus leaf.....

Let even one second be that of vigil and contemplation.

Goal of the sadhana : master course study

The thrust of The Master Course Correspondence Study is to improve all aspects of one’s life.

Step one is for the student to prove to himself that he can work positively in the world, performing his duties with full energy, intuiting how the whole mechanism of life is constructed -- the exterior world, his mind, himself.

Then ten, fifteen or twenty minutes of good, dynamic meditation a day and The Master Course studies to guide the mind along in a step-by-step manner are more than sufficient.

It comes down to readjusting our thinking and making our point of reference the reality within ourselves instead of the reality and permanence of the external world of things, forms and fancy.

Once our whole philosophical structure is in line with Saiva Siddhanta thinking, it is easy to throw the mind into meditation. Then when we are working in our daily life, involved in external things and material affairs, the point of reference is that the energy within and the core of the energy and the Self itself are real.

My Aphorisms

 

• You and you alone give permanence to a thought and protect it by thinking about it.

• Neither are you the body, the mind, the breath , the ears or the eyes, these are different manifestations of the mind.

• The motivation thought strata is the first thought to sub-consciously arrive when you want to do or say anything to anybody. The same can be observed when others are doing something or talking

• When you have stopped thinking and started "knowing" - Intuition works best and you are perceiving. It is also one way to realize that you are in a meditative state and functioning in higher chakras. Life and its experiences then become a study.

• The "I" thought itself is another thought isnt it ? It was programmed since childhood, is there something called "I" ? Whats the "I", its not my hand, legs, heart, brain, or mind? Its just another thought created in the mind dammit :-)

• Am I one or two ? There is an Observer and then a Thinker/Talker within me. The observer uses physical eyes to see the world and the mental eye (third eye) to observe thoughts.

• The underlying reason for anger is fear.

• The underlying reason for fear is attachment

• When in an argument in a conversation realize that you have gone down to the Svadhistana chakras which are of the odic nature. Self doubt, limitations about ones capability comes only when one hits the lower three chakras - Svadhistana, Muladhara and manipura.

• Know that you are an actinic being with infinite willpower and live in contemplation in the upper chakras namely - anahat, visuddha and ajna

• When you "know" you need to do something soon and don’t do it because you "think" of various reasons why you cant do it - you are repeating mistakes and progress will be decelerated.

Renewed Goals

These three directives will have the Highest Priority in my life going fwd

TODO
-------
1. Trilogy Study and Meditation
2. Stay contemplative by observing the "I". knowing that you are not the mind and observing the motivation thought strata during conversations.
3. Posture and execution of work with full energy and clarity of cognition.

NOT TODO
--------------
1. Avoid dissipation of mental and bodily energies by over indulging in TV and Internet.
2. Clever Avoidance of Mental arguments / debates
3. Not going back to sleep immediately if half awake.

Path of perfection

Gurudeva says the we should strive to be perfect if we need to attain the self which is often called the path of perfection in the east.

What should one do to attain the self?

1. Gain Clarity of cognition
2. Better your contemplative lifestyle everyday.
3. Develop a Bursting actinic love for fellow men.
4. Mastering yoga disciplines set by your guru.
5. Hold responsibility and yet have the mobile quality of doing something different without losing continuity of already performing karma yoga and responsibility.
6. Be ready to serve and fit in any capacity.

New Observations in Life

 

I meditate intensely and after half an hour – I see the mind for what it is – a “self created principle”  to put it in my gurudevas words. Thoughts come and go, then mind is still, yet the stillness is also a state of mind for a good observant ‘third’ eye. The thoughts are due to unresolved karmas and I observe them as they are being worked out by the soul. What is it that prevents me to realize Parasiva from this point?

Gurudeva answers

It is karma that keeps us from knowing of and reaching life's final goal, yet it is wrong to even call it a goal. It is what is known by the knower to have always existed. It is not a matter of becoming the Self, but of realizing that you never were not the Self.

Daily I observe behind every conversation with family and friends – the mind working out its karma. It is the cause for ‘pleasant’ or ‘heated’ conversations. Then I observe that a dominant karmic desire that has dominated the mind – the desire to be better / improve. It is this desire to improve which is present in every human being that takes the soul finally towards the self.

But Gurudeva says

Prior to that, it is a goal. After realization, one thing is lost, the desire for the Self.

After self realization the desire for the self is also lost because the ego which “houses” the desire is dead. This is the reason gurudeva asks people in general

Are we ready for the final journey life has to offer? Are we prepared to endure the hardships of sadhana, to suffer the death of the ego? Or would we prefer more pleasures in the world of "I" and "mine"?

My Immediate Goal : Maintain the meditation consistency in mornings. The thing to be practiced now is maintaining awareness over the object of concentration for a greater amount of time at will until effortless concentration is achieved.

Are you really ready for it?

 

Every time I read about gurudeva’s teachings, it gives me a new insight about life. I often wonder why only few realize the Self much earlier than most of the Hindus like me who continue having the 4 goals of life – Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Moksha is the last goal that few Hindus attain. Most of us are busy in fulfilling the first three and spend many lifetimes in order to perpetuate the pattern – often repeating the same mistakes at times and creating new karmas. Most of us are only doing whats mentioned below by gurudeva:

In fulfillment of our duties to parents, relations and the community at large, become a good householder, be a good citizen, live a rewarding physical, emotional and intellectual existence. These are the natural goals of many. Once this is accomplished in a lifetime, it is easy in future lives to perpetuate this pattern and evolve toward more refined and more difficult goals.

All Hindus without exception believe in reincarnation. In each birth we must fulfill more goals leading to the one ultimate goal (of self realization) which after many births well lived will loom before us as the only goal worthy of striving for in this lifetime. All other desires, all other aims and ambitions pale under the brilliance of even the thought of realization of Satchidananda and Parasiva.

Excerpt from Merging with Siva:

Defining the Destination

How can we know when we're ready to know the Self? How do we know when the soul is spiritually mature? When we begin a journey and clearly define our destination, then we must begin from where we are, not elsewhere. Clearly defining our destination requires knowing where we are, requires determining whether or not we want to go there at this time. We must ask whether we have the means, the willpower, to get there. Are we ready to leave the world, or must we fulfill further obligations in the world and to the world? Have we paid all of our debts? We cannot leave the world with karmas still unresolved. Perhaps we desire something more, some further human fulfillment of affection, creativity, wealth, professional accomplishment, name and fame. In other words, do we still have worldly involvements and attachments? Are we ready for the final journey life has to offer? Are we prepared to endure the hardships of sadhana, to suffer the death of the ego? Or would we prefer more pleasures in the world of "I" and "mine"? It is a matter of evolution, of what stage of life we have entered in this incarnation -- is it charya, kriya, yoga or jnana? When the soul is spiritually mature, we know when we're ready to know the Self.

Aum Namasivaya

Contentment (Santosha)

 

Learnt this excellent information from my guru which is very relevant for many of us :-

The rich seeking more riches are not content. The famous seeking more fame are not content. The learned seeking more knowledge are not content. Being content with what you have does not mean you cannot discriminate and seek to progress in life. It doesn't mean you should not use your willpower and fulfill your plans.

It does mean you should not become upset while you are striving toward your goals, frustrated or unhappy if you do not get what you want. The best striving is to keep pushing along the natural unfoldment of positive trends and events in your life, your family life and your business. Contentment is working within your means with what is available to you, living within your income, being grateful for what you have, and not unhappy over what you lack.

Life is meant to be lived joyously. There is in much of the world the belief that life is a burden, a feeling of penitence, that it is good to suffer, good for the soul. In fact, spiritual life is not that way at all. The existentialist would have you believe that depression, rage, fear and anguish are the foremost qualities of the human temper and expression. The communists used to have us believe that joy and serenity as the outgrowth of religion are just an opiate of the people, a narcotic of unreality. The Semitic religions of the Near East would have us believe that suffering is good for the soul, and there is not much you can do about it. The Saivite Hindu perspective is that contentment is a reflection of centeredness, and discontentment is a reflection of externalized consciousness and ramified desire.

Related posts :

• Scared of Life
• Life in 2009

LiveJournal Tags: contentment

The need for planning

 

Today i read about Gurudevas speech on Planning : the Key to success and have set out some goals to myself accordingly.

The Nandinatha sutra states

"Siva's devotees approach each enterprise with deliberate thoughtfulness, and act only after careful consideration. They succeed in every undertaking by having a clear purpose, a wise plan, persistence and push."

I have set goals along the following categories and intend to be persistent in achieving them.

1) spiritual goals
2) social goals
3) cultural goals
4) economic goals
5) educational/career goals
6) physical and health goals

Aum Namasivaya

Water drop on a lotus leaf

 

There is one song from a Tamil movie “Baba” which captured my attention after my mom casually explains its meaning while watching it on TV. Its a beautiful music composed by AR Rahman and the song lyrics go like this

“santoshi santoshi santoshi nee santosham kondadu sanyasi santoshi santoshi santoshi un santosham un kayill nee yosi.”

Meaning : Cherish the happiness which is inside you, No matter what happens – your happiness is in your hands – think about that. Its so very true that no matter how miserable the experiences are which are given by life – if the awareness is transferred to a pleasant experience – say a beautiful scenery from nature – you are still happy.

Example: Imagine you are in a dark prison alone with no one to speak/interact around. Now imagine that while sitting there you are totally in control of your mind and you imagine a beautiful beach in Hawaii. You imagine it so perfectly that you can see the waves coming and washing your feet, the slippery sand pulling your feet inside, the beautiful trees on the coast etc – And guess what – you are actually happy as long as you continue to imagine it and the dark cell does not exist.

The above is just a small example which summarizes that your happiness is in your hands. There are many people today who even though in a beautiful beach – instead of enjoying the beach – they are actually thinking of some depressing event that happened in their life in the past.

The next important lines of the same song which gives a much important message goes like this.

“maya maya ella maya, chaya chaya chaya ella chaya, pattum padamaley tottum todamaley, tamare eley tannir pol nee votthi votthamalliru”

Meaning : Everything around is an illusion, everything around is just your own (mind’s) reflection. Like a drop of water on top of a lotus plant leaf – which is Touching the leaf and yet staying untouched, live your life in (actinic) love yet free of attachments.

 

Illustration: A drop of water on a lotus plant leaf which is touching the leaf yet remains untouched as it does not leave any traces of itself when it moves around on the leaf.

Various coverings

The goal of every aspirant on the spiritual path must be to identify and remain as “Awareness”. Gurudeva states that this is the the most basic aspect which one should strive for. There are many coverings around awareness which we end up identifying in life during the experiences that it offers. Where awareness flows – energy goes. The practice is to try to remain as awareness.
When awareness becomes conscious of the body, and identifies itself with it – all the instinctive tendencies such as survival, mate, sensual pleasure, reactions such self defense are alive.
When awareness becomes conscious of the Mental/Emotional body we identify ourselves with emotions such as anger, sadness, happiness, depression, loneliness, pride, arrogance, jealousy, revenge etc and they appear very real.
When awareness becomes conscious of the Intellect – we are aware of science, problem solving, scheming, politics, stock market, investing, reasoning, world affairs, management etc. People in this state of conscious believe “reasoning” is the only God. If its not reasonable its not acceptable. They are of the probing nature and most of it is induced by fear and insecurity. The intellectual world is never ending as it keeps adding onto itself. In the corporate world the better the reasoning capabilities and intellect of the person the more valuable he is deemed by the organization which hires him. Higher the intellect greater the paycheck.
When awareness becomes conscious in the Super-conscious regions – fine arts, music, creativity, soothsaying, intuitional-problem solving instead of reasoning-problem solving, dance, instrumental music, breakthrough inventions in science and technology comes naturally to a person. For those mystics who live in these areas every day and night – the world looks like a playground. Awareness seems to expand rapidly in these areas of super-consciousness and man feels one with the world. Everything falls under the right perspective. Everyone enters these areas during deep sleep but only mystics know to enter these areas consciously.
Simply put when awareness is not conscious/attached to any particular area of mind and free to travel to any area of the mind can enter the super-conscious regions.
When awareness is only aware of itself, by consciously being directed on itself – it dissolves in its own essence my guru says. God Siva's all-knowingness may be experienced for brief periods by the meditator who turns within to his own essence. The Tirumantiram explains, "When the soul attains Self-knowledge, then it becomes one with Siva. The malas perish, birth's cycle ends and the lustrous light of wisdom dawns." Aum Namah Sivaya.
So the first step is to identify and stay as awareness before we realize Lord Siva – my guru says. Its a pre-requisite to knowing Lord Siva. A mental picture which guru describes for awareness is a golden ball having 4 eyes in 4 directions.

What is Sadhana?

"Sadhana is performing the same discipline over and over and over again. Just as we methodically exercise the physical body to build up its muscles, we perform spiritual disciplines over and over again to strengthen our spiritual, inner bodies."

- Gurudeva

http://gurudeva.org/taka/past/2008/February/February_08_2008/

The Donkey and the Carrot

The title describes the way we live life daily in the conscious mind. We get an experience, feel it for a while and wait for the next. We believe the next emotion / experience experienced will be the highest in our life. No matter how many emotions we experience, the next set of those emotional experiences will be the high point of our entire life, and we are sure of it! That is the conscious mind.

This way the conscious mind carries us minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day, year after year, life after life. Novelty is its nature and ramification is its result. We can always find in the conscious mind some distraction to please us, to intrigue us, to dominate our awareness of other states of consciousness. And we don't have to look very hard to find it.

When we are in the conscious mind, we are like a donkey with a carrot in front of our nose. We are always walking to try to get that carrot. We are never satisfied, and we are never happy. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

While in the conscious mind -- We see people, we reason and relate our own condition with theirs, we feel sad when we find them to be in a better state "relatively". "Relative agony" is the key word which we follow unknowingly in our conscious mind. No matter how fortunate we have been, we feel unlucky when we discover that we find someone who is "relatively" more fortunate than ourselves, we feel ourselves as unlucky when we discover that we find a friend marry someone who is "relatively" well off or if we never got one, we say "they are so lucky -- wish i had that kind of luck too", no matter how much we earn we feel unlucky when we learn about "relatively" better hikes to a friend in a neighboring company. When we live in the conscious mind, we only surmise. We make guesses. We are never quite sure if we are right. That is the conscious mind, the part of you which you dare to think is real. It leads us on and on and on, life after life after life after life after life after life after life.




The mystic's goal is to control awareness while he is in the conscious mind -- to know where he is in consciousness. When he finds he is aware in the conscious mind, and the five senses have become his ruler, he then controls his awareness within the conscious mind itself. There are many way he does this -- breath control, enquiry, remembering and pondering on a chosen ishta devata (diety) etc.

A beautiful method below from my guru about how to control mind on the conscious plane.

There is a Saivite hermit, the venerable Markanduswami, living in a humble mud hut in Sri Lanka. He is very old, and was for many years a disciple of Jnanaguru Yogaswami. In fact, his every utterance is a quote from his guru. One afternoon at his hut he described Yogaswami's approach to dealing with thought during meditation. He said, "Yogaswami said, 'Realize Self by self. You want to read this book, that book and all these books. The Book of Infinite Knowledge is here (pointing to his chest). You'd better open your own book.' The prescription he gave me to open that book is this: 'When you are in meditation, you watch the mind. Here and there the mind is hopping. One, two, three,...a hundred. In a few seconds the mind goes to a hundred places. Let him be. You also watch very carefully. Here and there this mind is running. Don't forget Self for a second. Let him go anywhere, but if he goes to a hundred places, you must follow him to a hundred places. You must not miss even a single one. Follow him and note, He is going here. Now he is going there.' You must not miss even a single one. That is the prescription Satguru Yogaswami gave me to open this inner book. He said, 'Watch very attentively and learn to pick up things coming from within. Those messages are very valuable. You can't value them. Realize Self by self and open this inner book. Why don't you open your own book? Why don't you make use of it? Why don't you open your own book? What an easy path I am prescribing for you!' "

Perceiving vs. Judging

There are a few people whom i have come across in my experiences of life -- who prefer perceiving to judgment. When someone comes to us with a problem or when life offers problems -- there are two classes of people classified based on how they respond to the circumstance

• Those who use the intellect and 'known' ways of man to tackle the issue. When the problem is being explained or showing up they go to the past/history to find out if they know how to solve it based on past experience.
  
• The creative souls, who look at the problem like a baby looking at the piece of plaything for the first time. They talk less inside them and outside to the world, they perceive and don't judge. The intellect is present but takes a back seat. Intuition takes the front seat.

The people who belong to the latter are the ones who can come out with creative - out-of-the-box solutions. They are not at majority in the society - but they do exist. People like Albert Einstein, Lalu Prasad Yadav are some examples.

Why Lalu Prasad Yadav? -- Well i was watching this show on TV sometime back -- "Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hain" hosted by Shahrukh Khan. Shahrukh is by default a very intellectual well read guy, and when he tends to do the show there is a lot of talking he does and quick witted responses from him to entertain people. But on the last day of the show -- Lalu was supposed to be on the hot seat. A sense of calm prevailed as soon as Lalu started answering Shahrukh's questions. It was like Shahrukh frames a question and explains it for like 2 minutes and Lalu answers it after a few seconds of pause in a short answer lasting less than 5 seconds. Lalu won around 50,00,000 Rupees from the show answering every answer correct. Its not by surprise that he has become the most preferred Railway minister and converted the industry into profit making machine from a loss making one. Various Top IIM institutes and B-schools today take Lalu's Railway management system as a case study in their MBA programs. Lalu according to me is a creative and evolved soul. One of those few fellows who has tuned himself to the river of life. He just really doesn't care if people make fun of him, he attends all the shows he is called to without a sense of superiority or ego and manages to win them and hearts of the people in his own style. He is an example of those rare folks who take life as it comes and face difficult experiences positively. My mom later told me that she has read somewhere that Lalu had once proclaimed to few of his friends and close associates that Lord Siva gave him His vision once. Whether this is true or not - but lalu definitely is an evolved soul from the point of view of my perception.

Another Lady who i know to have this sense of intuition / calmness of mind is Sai Mata of Nooliveedu Village -- a staunch devotee of Sathya Sai / Shirdi Sai Baba.

People who function in the intuitive states of mind, who live two thirds within are closer to the perfection, the lifes goal -- Self realization than those who are not.

Persevering through terrible experiences

The worst experiences are the ones which bring about the best strengths and character.

Once a man prayed god to give him strength, God responded by keeping a huge heavy rock blocking him. The man had to struggle to push it out of his way. It took many days. But at the end of it he got what he wanted - Strength. Due to the constant pushing of the rocks he had a well developed musculature, and his arms had become strong - This is how God answers prayers.


Some experiences in my life are so strong and so terrible - that i end up completely identifying myself with the mind. It happens within a flash of a second. one thought leads to the other ultimately resulting in a miserable state of mind with all the emotions surging like a volcano eruption.

On the goal to the merger with Siva there are many many pitfalls - major one being how we respond to the experiences in life. As long as we react, these miserable experiences keep repeating. The experiences stop when we have understood them and stop reacting to them. End of the day it was an experience - neither favorable or unfavorable, but a result of some past karma carrying some lesson and necessary for the evolution of the soul.

The spiritual path is a long, enduring process. It does not reach fruition in a year or two years.

The spiritual path brings lots of ups and downs, and the greatest challenges will come to the greatest souls. With this in mind, it becomes clear that steadiness and perseverance are absolutely essential on the spiritual path.
- Gurudeva

In the Shandilya Upanishad (upm, p. 173-174, dhriti (steadfastness)) has been described as preserving firmness of mind during the period of gain or loss of relatives/friends/a loved one. This implies that during times of sorrow, difficult karmas, loss and temptation, when in mental pain and anguish, being misunderstood by a loved one, while suffering a heart-break, feeling alone and neglected, we can persevere, be decisive and bring forth the dhriti or steadfastness strength within us and thus prevail.

Life has been providing these experiences to me lately, probably due to my own past karma, however the good part is it is giving me a chance to exhibit the quality of dhriti. My guru was tru when He said that the world is our university and each experiences is there to test us. From past 2 days, i can say that i have got a some amount of success in being steadfast and im happy about it. Going forward it will be the way i live my life.

One translator of the Varuha Upanishad used the word courage to translate dhriti. Courageous and fearless people who are just and honest prevail over all karmas--benevolent, terrible and confused. This virtue is much like the monk's vow of humility, part of which is enduring hardship with equanimity, ease of mind, which means not panicking.

The Tirukural reminds us, "It is the nature of asceticism to patiently endure hardship and to not harm living creatures" (261). And we can say that dhriti itself is a "hard ship"--a ship that can endure and persevere on its course even when tossed about on the waves of a turbulent sea.

Many a times I wonder why it is good to passively endure hardship. To persevere through hardship one must understand, as all Hindus do, that any hardship coming to us we ourselves participated in setting into motion in the past. To endure hardship and rise above it in consciousness is to overcome that karma forever. To resent hardship, to fight it, is to have it return later at a most inconvenient time.

The following steps will be put into effect from this day in order to express the quality of dhriti - steadfastness more effectively:

• An essential part of steadfastness is overcoming changeableness. Changeableness means indecision, not being decisive, changing one's mind after making a deliberate, positive decision. Changing one's mind can be a positive thing, but making a firm, well-considered decision and not following it through would gain one the reputation of not being dependable, even of being weak-minded. No one wants a reputation like this.

• To be steadfast, you have to use your willpower. Willpower is developed easily in a person who has an adequate memory and good reasoning faculties. To be steadfast as we go through life, we must have a purpose, a plan, persistence and push. Then nothing is impossible within the circumference of our prarabdha karmas.

• It is impossible to be steadfast if we are not obeying the other restraints that the rishis of the Himalayas laid down for us as the fruits of their wisdom. All of these restraints build character, and dhriti, steadfastness, rests on the foundation of good character. Character--the ability to "act with care"--is built slowly, over time, with the help of relatives, preceptors and good-hearted friends.
  

• Observe those who are steadfast. You will learn from them. Observe those who are not, and they, too, will teach you. They will teach what you should not do. To be indecisive and changeable is not how you should be on the path to enlightenment, nor to be successful in any other pursuit.

• Surrender all resistances unto Him - know thats All is Siva, everything is His will, and He is the ultimate well wisher of the soul.

Bhagwan Baba - a perfect example of steadfastness gave me a good darshan at whitefield yesterday for more than half an hour. He has a major backbone problem and a deteriorating physical condition - yet He arrives for darshan regularly everyday to bless His devotees. His projects that were discussed during a speech yesterday - are a perfect example of how seemingly impossible things are made possible by power of will and steadfastness. Sri Sathya Sai Water supply project which supplies drinking water to the whole of Godavari district, Sri Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital - providing free health care to all people including the tribal people who have no money - Shame on all the so called great countries like USA, UK, Australia and the whole of Europe for these countries cannot even think of something even close to "free" health care despite their technological advancements !

Thank you Baba for all the things you have done selflessly to mankind and for answering my prayer yesterday regarding Mr Manjunath and family, and for calling me for your darshan. I dedicate this blog post to You.

Obstacles for willpower

Personal problems, minor/major setbacks in life, minor failures, inferiority complex, health problems and most importantly getting side-tracked to accomplish many goals at the same time will lead to diversification of will. When will becomes diversified there isnt enough energy to drive the job to completion and we end up identifying ourselves with the subconscious mind because of our being disappointed with ourselves.

Then we forget our inner goal of Self Realization because the subconscious becomes too ramified with, basically, our being disappointed in ourselves, or the willpower being so diversified, or awareness being so divided in many different ways that whatever we want to do never works out because there is not enough will, or shove, or centralization of energy, or awareness is not at attention over the project enough, to make it come into completion.

Make it a habit of finishing each job that you start and doing it well beyond your expectations. When this is done the inner scrutiny of the inner being gets satisfied. Will is the spiritual quality that makes all inner goals a reality.

When awareness becomes diversified, renew it. Discover the will. Back to the spine. Feel the energy in the spine. There is no lack of it, is there? The more you use of it, the more you have to use of it. It is tuned right into the central source. When you become aware of the energy within your spine and within your head, you have separated awareness from that which it is aware of, for that is awareness itself, and that is will. Feel and Concentrate on the energy within the spine.

Come slowly out again and you have all the willpower you need to finish any job that you've ever started, to make decisions, to do things and handle your external life in a very positive way, so that it does not capture awareness and hold it steadfast for a period of time, deterring you on the path of enlightenment.

Discipline is the next goal to be attained. When you go into a meditation, decide first what you are going to meditate upon and then stick with it. So, you have to be very, very firm with yourself when you begin a meditation so that you stay with it the way you originally intended to do and perform each meditation the way you intended to perform it. This brings us into discipline. By not seeking or responding to discipline, you can learn to meditate fairly well, just as you can learn to play the vina fairly well, but you will never go much farther than that.

My Goals

Most important message from Sai baba – These MUST be followed even if none of the others are followed

• Pray for others, Be kind and caring for parents. Don’t be money minded
• Chant gayatri, Aditya hrudayam regularly.
• Give importance to things that matter most to you, work on those goals.
• To attain Brahman, one has to do great sacrifice, control the 5 senses, the mind and the intelligence. One who isn’t willing to donate 5 Rs to the poor, how will he ever attain control over the 5 indriyas?
• Meditate on the region in between the eyes, where you will get My vision.
• Develop divine thinking and look at the world through My eyes. See Me in everyone you interact.

* Live like on the top of a tree, when the tree leans to the front – u r thinking of future, when the tree leans to your back – u r falling to the past. Always stay balancing on the top.

* Goal is to make mind 1 pointed so that we live in present

* On an avg. we get 60,000 thoughts per day, Reduce the thoughts by setting Goals.

* While living in the present, don’t let the mind carried away by distractions, Focus on the goals instead.

* Don’t worry about future, just see the goal and execute and focus fully on the present, future will b taken care of.

* Look for the source of I and find I-I that is continuous and unbroken, with a mild light and a high pitch sound, attain and maintain this state.