Tagged: remembrance
To “practice” is to remember
Jack told Betty: “I am meeting with some friends to talk about spiritual matters.”
Betty replied: “The challenge is to practice it. Anyone can talk.”
In our society, to say: “Practice what you preach,” it is the “wisdom” used to look intelligent on “spiritual things.”
When we approach that saying with further depth, we may discover another story.
Betty IS an angry person. Anger is within her. She hears a “spiritual talk” that preaches: “Anger is bad. You should never get angry. Practice being cool at every time.”
In Betty’s mind she found the “cure” in the opposite of anger. That is to be “cool.” Betty IS not cool, but she will practice it. Betty will practice the idea of “coolness” that she has in her mind. She will practice what she has heard or seen or read from others. Her extent of “coolness” will be only that. She will recognize the situation and she will try to remember to practice “coolness.” When a different situation which is not in her experience comes up, it will lead her into anger. She will not be able to recognize that anger until it is too late, until it comes out; for after all… She IS anger.
Then, Betty will feel guilty, for she has failed the “test.”
In “Spirituality 101” for the masses; DOING is preached over BEING.
The “I” has to DO something to change things. Nevertheless, as shared many times, DOING cannot change BEING. As a matter of fact, that is how inner dishonesty appears for we pretend to BE someone who we AREn’t.
That is why the importance of OBSERVATION and AWARENESS is being shared. Those 2 things which are really one; cannot be “graded” by the external world. The external world can only judge us for the action, the DOING they see which complies to some standard. That is why, dishonesty appears in the world. Many are just acting out a commandment, a moral standard but that is not who they ARE.
Thus, AWARENESS is forgotten. We are no longer aware when all we need to DO is to comply with a sacred text, a moral code, a paragraph written by someone holy.
Remember the state of coolness. Feel it. Don’t use words or descriptions, for then the mind will engage and then further dishonesty will appear as the mind will try to comply with past experiences.
If coolness is within you, it will emerge. Remember it. That is the “practice.” In the meantime, observe that anger, acknowledge it; let it teach you what is truly there, in that way you will have the chance to know its origin. It may be in your childhood, due to a traumatic experience; observe your triggers; become a “scientist of yourself.”
Once that energy is released, (Life will provide the method) then the energy of anger will not be there as a “ruler,” but it could be still accessed when necessary.
If there is anger, there is coolness as well; for one cannot be without the other.
Remembrance is always of the self.
Question for May 26, 2103
Om Shanti Bhaiya.. I would like to know, what is the meaning of yog, especially when Baba says, you children have to do yog for 6 hours, 8 hours. Does that mean, we need to sit separately for 6 – 8 hours and be in remembrance of Baba “only” or these 6 – 8 hours could include like listening to Babas songs, class, reading your blog, muralis, or even talking about Baba to someone? Thank you, and many good wishes for you, for this wonderful blog.
Dear soul,
Thank you for your great question! and your kind words… 🙂
Yog or Yoga is an experience. That experience is personal. In my experience, what you hear in the Sakar Murlis about yoga is an invitation to express feelings from the heart by having God as the receiver of those feelings. For me it has always been about feelings and not thoughts.
Many have taken remembrance or “yog” literally as remembering Brahma Baba’s face or a point of light or some animated “visualization;” those things are fine but they cannot be applied for everyone to follow the same way.
Yog is an invitation to be connected with spirituality, to experience the inner self, first and foremost.
This is something that you will need to discover for yourself. Let me just share that in my BK career, it has changed from the above description into “remembering the inner self,” that is complete awareness of “I” the soul, while walking and moving around and the experience of that serene feeling while doing “normal tasks.” This is not about using the mind to recall a figure or a picture, or talking words internally; but is about being aware of that which is us and that we could experience.
Many may disagree with me, but this is what currently works for me and has given me a different appreciation of Spirituality as the way for self discovery. Even Sakar Murlis have mentioned: “Be soul conscious and remember the Father.” In my experience, in that soul consciousness there is automatic remembrance of the the Father as we share the basic quality of being souls and there is no separation at that level as we know it at the corporeal level.
There are many articles in this blog about remembrance, which I would suggest for you to read; but bear in mind, that it is your own discovery what is important.
Let us know what you find out.
Best wishes!
It finally happened! – Time to forget
During Amrit vela today, the mind was throwing its usual thoughts about “me in relationship with others.” As the realization came that “the movie must continue,” a sense of easiness came, a sense of letting everything go.
Magically, the heart opened and feelings started emerging. I was sending those feelings to those souls in my thoughts. That created the space for the heart to be clear and thoughts to go away… 🙂
The mind was at ease. It allowed me to connect just with the heart.
No more thoughts, just pure feelings which brought that experience into a blissful one. I was centered, in the moment; aware of just feeling. It was the “being” the soul feeling.
I went for a walk.
The feeling of self-less love was there. A sense of communion with Nature, as I was looking at the trees and hearing the birds, the mind wasn’t thinking. It was quiet.
The mind was out. I wasn’t counting birds nor reading any labels or signs in my path. Nothing which will make the mind to appear.
I was looking, but I wasn’t there for a few seconds. In that realization, a smile turned into giggles.
I saw beauty without a name. I felt part of it without “I” being there.
The heart started sending feelings of bliss, which were overwhelming. In my elation I just uttered: “It is boundless.”
Don’t know what that meant.
It was at that moment when I thanked God. It came naturally. At that point to say “Baba, Baba” was truly sweet. Those words just enhanced those indescribable feelings… tears almost started to come out but my smile kept those tears from flowing out.
Finally it happened… it happened… then… I thought.. 😦 going back home.
Some may call it “remembrance,” others may call it, “self awareness,” others may call it “yoga,” others may call it a “Godly experience,” others may call it just a “blissful” experience. Others, may say that it wasn’t real…Many names one experience.
I cannot deny the experience, but I am uncertain of the source. No more naming.
I just know that I found it.
I decided to write this and share before I start to forget it… because “that” needs to be forgotten so something new can appear.
Will not make the “effort” to have it again. That is the opportunity the mind wishes to have. Then, everything will be about attaining this again… and the pain of not attaining it… That is the duality of the mind. I will let it happen, at its own time.
I would like to call that experience “communion.”
Finding that… is the time for celebration.
Holding on to sanity through meditation
Probably we have heard how meditation is important to bring relaxation to our lives. To feel “stress free,” to “unwind and relax.”
Also, for those in a spiritual path, that meditation becomes concentration to a flame, visualization of the ocean, the sunset, concentration on something, and also feelings to God. For others, it is about “saying” a mental prayer to God or just to “stop thoughts.”
Yet for others, it could be all of the above but with an experience of bliss and peace which comes in the most unexpected moments and which cannot be brought to our awareness at will.
Moreover, some of us are willing to pay for someone to “teach us” how to meditate as if, we have asked for someone to teach us how to breath. Meditation is like breathing. It is a necessary part of being which at this time, is clouded by a continuous flow of insane thoughts, bringing the past or the future to our awareness and we are constantly identifying with it.
I wanted to share, the latest “experiment” on meditation: Observing the self. – I know, it may not be that “new.”
How is that?
As I am writing this, I am waiting in a car dealership for my car to be repaired. The “waiting room” is an ample room where there are 2 huge TVs. One with sports, where all I hear is “important stuff” about how this basketball player is doing this rather than that. All about his injuries and how he is “heroically” overcoming them, then is about all the machines that I can purchase to get “fit.” I decided to tune out of it.
On the other TV, there is a movie going on. “Transformers.” 🙂 You hear the shooting, screaming, the emotional rush going on with “Dolby” surround sound which gets the viewers in the dealership hooked into the TV. You know, all the fast talk, “cool” tough talk and lots of action. Then we see these robots “human-like” destroying stuff around them and people begging for their lives to be spared..Important stuff, for these aliens are “protecting us” from evil.:-) Great breakfast starter! Let us not forget the background music as well.. It is playing the “best of the 70’s”.. 🙂 All of that is going on at the same time.
Why give the customers only one “noise” at the time, when you can give them 3 things to choose from! It is all about choices…
That is called “Entertainment” after all, and it is “normal”… 🙂
So, where is the meditation in all of that “madness”? Sorry, I mean.. “Entertainment.”
Meditation resides into being to look at myself (emotions, feelings, breathing, thoughts) and see how everything around me, could have the power to get me out of my own “peace.” Just to be aware of the process is to be “safe” from it. My meditation resides in going beyond the layers of the mind, the unnecessary thoughts, by being aware of them. My meditation resides in being AWARE of all of those changes so I can maintain what I know to be the “self” out of experience of it. To tune in into it, is my meditation, to feel that inner power by being AWARE of it. If there is one word to describe this meditation, that will be AWARENESS.
Can anyone teach me that? No. Just as someone cannot teach me how to breath, but once I know how to breath, I can improve it through further info to experience with. All I can have is information, but without an experience, there is no knowing. I need to do it. Experience it.
Being aware of my breath, in and out at this moment is to practice that remembrance at “every breath.” When I remember the self, the soul, when I am aware of it at every breath, when I experience it… I am “equal to the Father.”
In that experience, everything changes, transforms little by little. The “rust” goes away.
I could be sitting in a nice meditation place, with all the “vibes,” the nice lights and the soft music or I could be in this car dealership. The only difference is my own consciousness.
The good news is, that I can take meditation with me. I can become meditation.
“To forget your body and to stay in remembrance of the Father are the same thing.”
The above line comes from the Sakar Murli of last Saturday, March 16, 2013. (line 11, page 2) It also adds: “You have to consider yourself to be a bodiless soul.”
I took a break from my “vacation,” just to post this; for I was wondering how many Bks were able to pick up that line? 🙂
It is indeed a very IMPORTANT line.
Why?
Because remembrance is an experience. It is the experience of being body-less. That experience is not related with “seeing the body from the outside,” but it is related with the experience of recognition that we are not the body. That experience comes through being absorbed in concentration so thoughts are not there but the experience of bliss which “shows” the soul.
In this experience, we can recognize what “remembrance of the Father is.”
I thought it was very important to share this, due this paragraph coming to my awareness: ” However, God Shiva point of light remembrance was not part of PBKIVV practise or culture until at least the 1960’s, as we know from recently discovered documents, and personal reminiscences.
Which leads to the question: ‘How did the early adherents of Brahma Baba, (the Dadi’s included), in the Karachi days and early Madhuban days, gain spiritual power, and absolvement of sins, given God Shiva point of light meditation was not practised?’
I am sure one of you bright young sparks will have the answer.”
The answer is clear. For some the picture of the point of light will be needed. For some, the idea of the “Father” will be needed to trigger feelings of love; but the experience of being body-less is the important experience to know “remembrance.” We are numberwise. Some may need “training wheels,” before riding the bicycle.
The above is congruent with many other excerpts from avyakt Murlis which were shared here, about remembrance of the “Father.”
Of course, without EXPERIENCE, all we have is just history and analysis to understand. “True” understanding comes when there is no need for intellectual understanding.
Question: If one do not remember god in the end then also he will be liberated,will not take rebirth due to that “last thought” because new age will start then.Also it is mentioned in murli if one atleast know this knowledge / read murli then he will come into golden age,then how come it is so important to b aware about last thought to decide where to go next..as many time we hear from murli “Ant gati so mati”.
Thank you for your good question!
Dear soul,
Please remember the first “rule of thumb” in understanding Sakar Murlis at this time:
“You shall not take things literally.”
Sakar Murlis had a purpose. That was to “pep talk” (instill enthusiasm/ bolster morale)to the “little children.” For that Baba’s methodology was to “make the children tough,” in preparation of the experience of “destruction.” ( This is a “dirty, old, impure body;” this is hell, a tasteless world, you just have to tolerate a few more days of this, before you rule in the Golden age, etc, etc.) As we know, even though in those times, it looked like a “third world war,” was coming; it did not. Brahma Baba had visions, but certainly he didn’t know when they were going to happen. Many assumed that to be “soon.”
It is believed that the “children” could make “more efforts,” if they knew about “destruction being just ahead.” That has been BapDada’s training line as well due to his role as the “Father,” for otherwise (as the Murli stated a few days before) we have very lazy sanskaras in us. As stated many times, the number 1 role of BapDada is not to allow lethargy, laziness and lack of enthusiasm to overtake us. For that He has a “bag full of tricks.” 🙂
Destruction will happen. It is a law in Nature. Every culture has reached a pinnacle and then disappeared. Nevertheless, we know that it is a cycle which is eternally repeating.
Unfortunately, many souls are “terrified” by the thought of “destruction,” letting us know how much they have really imbibed the knowledge. At the same time, those souls looking for “life insurance” have searched for ways to live in India or around Mt. Abu, just in case and they feel “safe” there.
I guess they do not realize that they are eternal. That it is a repetitive cycle and that this birth is one among many others. It is about saving this “old skin” after all.
Similarly, Brahma Baba wanted for the children to “do service,” by letting everyone know about this “destruction,” which was near; because Baba wanted for everyone to know about “salvation” through this knowledge. That was his selfless motivation to serve and to spread this knowledge based on the divine experiences that he had. Then, if everyone at least heard this knowledge once, or if they heard a Murli once; that meant that these souls had some interest in Gyan due to the “doings” of a serviceable child. At the same time, if a “child” remembered God at the end “accurately,” that meant that this soul could go to “heaven,” after going through the soul world also dearly known as “home.”
However, to “remember God accurately at the end” it is not a “child’s play.” To get to that point, there has to be previous inner work, when we will not be affected by nothing externally or internally.
Therefore, hopefully in this long explanation your question was answered. We need to be aware of the reasons as why Brahma Baba related Gyan the way he did and have understanding of the “times,” and “circumstances,” and his own experiences.
Best wishes!
Question: Love is the basic character of pure soul them why Baba always says that “always remember me and do not remember any other soul”.Is unconditional love with any other soul is wrong according to Baba`s shrimat.
Thank you for your great question!
Dear soul,
Today in the avyakt Murli (2-24-13) BapDada mentioned:
” In the Murli of this particular date, Baba said this, and I am doing this according to that direction.” They don’t consider the time or the particular circumstances, but they hold on to the words. Because of making this one mistake, they continue to make many more mistakes.”
As mentioned many times, that sanskara of taking things literally without further thought is truly making us be closed down into the world of a “shoe box,” which we consider to be Shrimat. If there are 2 Shrimats which may look different, then we will pick the one which is more “radical,” the “tougher one” just in case.
In your question, there is one important aspect that we need to consider: Remembering Baba alone is the same EXPERIENCE as soul consciousness. In other words, when you are in the consciousness of “you” the soul not as a thought but as an EXPERIENCE, you are remembering Baba alone. Those “radical” (remember me alone) words do not mean not to love anyone else, for then we are cutting off the nature of soul consciousness which is love. Love is not directed to a “particular” being even if that is God. That thought is pure and simple bhakti, devotion; romantic idealistic “pink love” for little girls…
In soul consciousness there is love and the expression of it. Unfortunately, our “idea” of love is tinted with “iron age sanskaras” which translate to “possession,” “uniqueness,” “attachment,” “neediness,” “fulfillment through another,” etc. Those things are not love at any moment.
Please do not be trapped into “more words” anymore. Go into the experience. Experience soul consciousness. Experience love, let that love be unrestricted, let it flow. Soul consciousness is the aim and objective. That is it.
Best wishes!
Exploring the Depth of Living 