All are One in the Self

 Two directions - unbound by form or form-bound

One can subdue the mind through concentration. The process can be practised in either of two directions - A-rupa or Sa-rupa. A-rupa means 'unbound' by form. One feels that he is not the doer or enjoyer; he is only an agent of God, an instrument, and therefore one is unaffected, well or ill, when the act results in good or bad! One has no identity with the rupa (form or body). Sa-rupa meditation gets lost in dualities of pleasure and pain, profit and loss, for it considers the name and form, the body and its activities as valid. Similarly, man has the choice of two paths - the Pravritti Marga (the path of involvement) or the Nivritti Marga (the path of non-involvement). When involved, man is confronted with the six internal foes - lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and hatred. When non-involved, man is helped by six internal friends - sense control, mind control, fortitude, contentment, faith and equanimity.

 

Here in this thought for the day Swami talks about concentration and how it can be practiced. A-rupa or Sa-rupa. And what is unbound?

If we focus on the self, we are all the same, there is no form, we are all the same, the self, and we merge in that focus,  it is like with a mantra, it keeps us focused and we surf on the sound waves, all focused on the same divine truth and light only, and there can only be pure love, how can it not be pure if there is only one?

As well during singing of devotional song, if all sing and even if we are not singing, we are still one and singing, because we are one, we are the self, instruments and in that sense singing as well for the self. 

We have to keep the oneness in focus and when we notice that we are in thoughts or somewhere else, we come back to the self. It is like meditation practice with a mantra, only the focus is the self and oneness. There is only one self. The self reflects in all of us the same way as pure white light. It is the reflection of the highest self, the Paramatma, the self we can experience as reflection of white light is the Atma and the self we project in the body is the ego, but it is always the self. The Paramatma is too big to be experienced. It is the entire universe.   

Focus on oneness has to be an effortless process, like with meditation, we do not worry about thoughts, but when we realize that we are not in our focus on the self being one with the other singers, we come back to the self and we remember that we are one only.

Chanting is not enough

Offer your love to Him 

Mere chanting of Lord’s name is not enough. Offer your love to God. Love is not your property. In fact, it is God’s property. Surrender to God what is His. What is the use of a long life without this offering? You have no right to offer your love to anyone other than God! When you offer all your love to God, He will look after all your needs. There is nothing that He cannot do in this world. In city or in hamlet, in forest or in sky, on the high peak or in the deep ocean, God is everywhere. He pervades space and time. All beings are His forms. Realise this truth, transform it into practice and enjoy bliss. This is true devotion. Embodiments of Love! These days, wherever we go there is unrest, ego, and conflicts. You should develop love and share it with all relatives, friends, and even enemies. Then, everything will be enveloped in love!

 (Thought for the day)

 

Swami is making us aware that chanting the name of God alone is not enough. We have to offer our love to God.

That is what we do in thinking over his words, we do it because it is a service to him. In the Sai center I had been before, often the fear was in people that by thinking over Swami's words, we could change the meaning. But that is not possible, we do not change the meaning in thinking it over, but by not thinking it over we do change the meaning. Swami's words we have to think over, it is the Atma and that is not just obvious and understood by the mind. Whatever is coming up in our mind when thinking over as we can only see it in our own life, we have no other instrument of experience but that, it is the means to realize it. We follow his words and someone told me it is like surfing on the waves of the ocean, that is great picture. 

We follow his words, we try to understand it right, not wrong and we try to make the best out of it. That is all we can do, there is nothing more we can do, but if we do it regularly we find a way and the wisdom grows on us. He is present in dreams and we follow the master. He said in an interview in words to us: "Follow the master. Fight to the end. Finish the game." 

And then I wondered, how am I going to do that, how can I follow the master? When do we know that it is the master and when it is not the master? And the answer was in doing it. He is and was in dreams and in following that and questioning it we got aware that we follow the master, it is that inner challenge of questioning and getting answers that we follow the master. 

We meditate in the morning with a mantra to purify the mind, we practice for over forty years already.

Mere chanting of Lord’s name is not enough. Offer your love to God. Love is not your property. In fact, it is God’s property.

What Swami is telling us here that love is not ours, but Gods. If we feel love, we offer it to him. It is his love. 

The basic principle - Soham

 The "I know" has to go

The body is bound to perish one day or another. The body may die, but
not the mind. Such a mind must be controlled. That is true sadhana. You will not have any trouble if you offer your mind to God. The mind is very fickle; not steady even for a minute. So it should be ever engaged in work. Only then it can be brought under control. What work should you assign to the mind? The mind is like a mad monkey. Unless kept busy, it will go according to whims and fancies. The only way to keep a monkey busy is to make it go up and down a pole repeatedly! Let the mind be a watchman at the gate of your nostrils. Let it observe what is going in and coming out. ‘So’ is inhaled and ‘Ham’ is exhaled. ‘So’ symbolises good (Divinity) and ‘Ham’ stands for that which is bad (ego). Then, the mind will understand that Divinity must be taken in and the ego must be given up! (Baba - thought for the day)

This I a thought for the day. We think it over to make sure we do understand it right. What do we have to do to be able to listen, think it over and absorb. 

It is a spiritual practice, known as 

Sravana – Manana – Nididhyasana

It means listen, then think it over to be able to absorb. 

We start with a thought for the day. We listen to his words. 

Thought for the day is a quote from a Baba speech, but it is not that much text that we feel overwhelmed by it. If we think it over it is better to take only a thought for the day. It is more text than just a quote and it is enough to think it over to get the message in it and not too much so that we are not able to think it over anymore as it would be too much to absorb. It is more important that we do it regularly.  

The body is bound to perish one day or another. The body may die, but not the mind.