THOUGHT FOR THE DAY FEBRUARY 2011

[V2K]

1st February 2011

Everyone should firmly believe that they are the Atma, Embodiment of Divine Self. They must be aware that the Atma cannot be cut in twain by the sword, that fire cannot burn It, that water cannot wet It, and that the wind cannot dry It. The Atma has no bounds. Its centre is in the body, but its circumference is unbounded. Death means the Atma has shifted from one body to another. This is the belief that you must firmly have in mind. The Atma is not subject to material or worldly limitations or laws. By its very nature, it is free. It is unbounded. It is purity. It is holiness. It is fullness.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

2nd February 2011

Once you have learnt to ride a motorcycle, you can ride on any road and under all conditions. But when you are just learning to ride, for your own safety and for the safety of those around you, you have to select an open ground and you have to follow certain principles of balance; this is essential. So too, those who engage in practice of meditation and Sadhana (spiritual exercises) have to follow a certain course of training. No change should be made in this routine. Until the goal of meditation or your spiritual practice is achieved, the well-established discipline of sitting postures (Asanas) or the practices you follow must be adhered to. After attainment of the goal, that is, after the mind (Manas) and the intellect (Buddhi) have been conquered and brought under control — you can be immersed in meditation wherever you find yourself: in a chair, on a rock, or in a car!
     
- BABA

[V2K]

3rd February 2011

The person bound by objective desire will try in various ways to fulfill them. They will be a slave to their senses and their pursuits. But if you withdraw the senses from the world and get control over their master, the mind, and engage that mind in Thapas (penance), then you can establish Swaa-rajya or Self-mastery or independence over yourself. To allow the senses to attach themselves to objects — that is bondage. When the mind that flows through the senses towards the outer world is turned inwards and is made to contemplate on the Atma, it attains Liberation or Moksha.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

4th February 2011

To describe anything in words is difficult; it might even cause boredom. But to demonstrate it by deed is easier and more pleasant! Through meditation, spiritual aspirants are able to cast off sheaths of ignorance, layer after layer. They withdraw their sense perceptions from contact with worldly experiences. The process that aims at this holy consummation alone deserves to be called meditation. For this process, you must be equipped with good habits, discipline, and high ideals. You must be full of renunciation towards worldly things and their attractions. Whatever the situation, you should conduct yourself with enthusiasm and joy. Whatever is done must be dedicated not to eke out a livelihood but for earning Atmic bliss (Atma-ananda). You should train yourself to adopt a good sitting pose (Asana) to avoid tension of the body, and to ease the mind from the weight and pressure of the body. If you thus truly meditate, you will achieve oneness with the Divine and experience the joy of realizing the Atma within yourself.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

6th February 2011

The troubles and tribulations that come in the wake of an attempt to destroy the undesirable activities of the mind will disappear through the strict course and rules. What remains is only putting them into actual practice by the spiritual aspirant. Even the most powerful drug cannot effect a cure when it is just brought to the bedside of the patient. The patient has to take it in, little by little, as per schedule, with all the attendant care, and try to assimilate it into the system. The healing effects of the drug must pervade the entire body; the body must be suffused with the drug. If you desire full results from your spiritual practices, then you must give up all false and low feelings and act according to the true teachings. If you do it sincerely, you will certainly attain the fruit. The secret of success is proportionate to the importance you, the spiritual aspirant, give to right conduct (Sanmarga).
     
- BABA

[V2K]

7th February 2011

Living is either pleasant or unpleasant depending upon your basic attitude towards life. See how the same object becomes pleasant once and unpleasant on another occasion? The thing welcomed with great fondness at one time becomes hateful at another time and there is not even the desire to see it. The condition of the mind at those times is the cause of this state. Therefore, it is necessary to train the mind to be always pleasant.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

8th February 2011

To help you to give up fear and doubt, keep the Name of the Lord always on your tongue and in your mind. Dwell on the endless forms of the Lord, His limitless glory, while you repeat the Name. Attach yourself to Him; then your attachment for these temporary objects will fall off or at least you will start seeing them in their proper proportion as having only relative reality. When the tiny little ego assumes enormous importance, it causes many problems! That is the root of all the travails and miseries.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

9th February 2011

The waters of a river leap from mountains, fall into valleys, and rush through gorges; tributaries join at various stages, and the waters become turbid and unclean. So too, in the flood of human life, speed and power increase and decrease. These ups and downs might happen at any moment during one’s life. No one can escape them. They may come at the beginning of life, at the end, or perhaps in the middle. So, one has to convince oneself firmly that life is necessarily full of ups and downs and that, far from being afraid and worried over them, one should welcome them as adding to one’s experience. One should not only feel like this, but one should be happy and glad whatever happens! Then all troubles, whatever their nature, will pass away lightly and quickly. For this, the temper of the mind is essential.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

10th February 2011

Diversities in attitudes and practices are natural and ought to be welcomed. There is no need for an ironclad hard faith. Rivalry among those following different paths cannot bring peace and prosperity to any country. Without the freedom to adopt faith, the world cannot progress. Bharath (India) taught that a small group can never command the inexhaustible resources of the world and that for the effective functioning of the community it is necessary to divide the work of the community among sections of the people, and allot the task of contributing its share of the common good to each section of the community. The key that the ancient sages visualized is the ONE that underlies the many. This is the most precious revelation: “Ekam sath, vipraah bahudha vadanthi” (The One alone exists; wise men describe that in manifold ways).
     
- BABA

[V2K]

11th February 2011

Every minute, from inside and outside, promptings and temptations arise and accumulate in people. One cannot attend to all of them at the same time, so one fixes attention on only the most important one. This is called concentration (Avadhana). Concentration is needed to grasp any subject well. Purposefully directing one’s attention to a subject and fixing it there is called one-pointedness (Ekagratha). This is also a condition of the mind. Concentration and one-pointedness help to focus our effort on any selected task. Concentration is essential for all. It is the foundation of all successful endeavours.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

12th February 2011

When we shelter factionalism and fanaticism in our hearts in relation to our own specific faith or the faith of others, we are bringing disgrace on ourselves. You should not insist that everyone has to be bound to one attitude, or that everyone must abide by one interpretation or commentary only to the exclusion of other possible explanations or points of view, or that the way of life with all its implications has to be the one approved by some one individual or group. The Bharathiya (Indian) culture lays down that it is a heinous sin to exercise force upon anyone, especially in matters of the Spirit.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

13th February 2011

Whatever the task one is engaged in, doing it with concentration will develop both self-confidence and self respect, for they are the result of the attitude of one’s mind. The mind may lean on either the bad or the good, and concentrated attention must be employed to keep the mind attached only to good promptings. Success or failure in the good task depends upon one-pointedness. One-pointedness will increase one's power and skill. But it cannot be won without conquering the worldly cravings that distract the mind. This one-pointedness, this conquest of the mind, is acquired through the exercise of meditation.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

14th February 2011

Everyone believes that there is undoubtedly One Transcendent Eternal Power, and that all this has originated from It, and that all this has to merge in It again. This belief is the hallmark of a true devotee. The question regarding the nature and characteristics of God that we believe in is irrelevant; it is not so important. Let us not dispute about the various points of view that divide people. It is enough for us if God is accepted and emphasized. This is the reason why God confers His grace on all those who preach any Name and any Form that can attract and inspire man, as sacred and valid. May this faith grow more. For, it brings more spiritual progress the more it is acted upon. Only, the aspiration must be related to God.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

15th February 2011

There are two types of people: one set on accusing themselves as sinners and the other flattering themselves as great. Both types are being worried by their own mental aberrations! What they both need is mental satisfaction, and this can be obtained by meditation. Through meditation, understanding will increase and wisdom will grow. To reach this stage, you should develop interest in and a taste for meditation — that is to say, you must have a yearning that admits of no other step and that will not tolerate any obstacle. Yearning must have the strength to inspire endeavour. In fact, yearning is but dormant endeavour; endeavour is yearning in action. When yearning is weak, endeavour declines; when one is strong, the other is also active.
     
- BABA

[V2K]

16th February 2011

Many people go on pilgrimage in search of God. They foolishly think that they can find God at such places. God is not present somewhere else. In fact, you are yourself God. God is present in all. God is only one and He is present wherever you look for Him. He is in you, with you, above you, below you. God is beyond birth and death and dwells in every being in the form of the Divine Self. He is present in all human beings, be it a child or an old man. The same God is present in insects, birds and beasts. He is also present in whomsoever you meet. Remember that.
     
- BABA