Thought of the Day

"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him." -- Martin Luther King Jr

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Something to Ponder upon

Hi,

I received this beautiful forward from my good forward, thought of publishing it here.

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Once upon a time in China , a girl named Li-Li got married & went to live with her husband and mother-in-law.

In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn't get along with her mother-in-law at all. Their personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law's habits. In addition, she criticized Li-Li constantly.

Days passed, and weeks passed. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the situation even worse was that, according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing Li-Li's poor husband great distress.

Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law's bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something about it. Li-Li went to see her father's good friend, Mr. Huang,
who sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all.

Mr. Huang thought for awhile, and finally said, "Li-iL, I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you."

Li-Li said,"Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do. "Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs. He told Li-Li, "You can't use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause people to become suspicious. Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspect you, when she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her. "Don't argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen." Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.
Weeks went by, and months went by, and every other day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother.

After six months had passed, the whole household had changed. Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost
never got mad or upset.. She hadn't had an argument with her mother-in-law in six months because she now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.

The mother-in-law's attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she began to love Li-Li like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find. Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter. Li-Li's husband was very happy to see what was happening.
One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help again She said, "Dear Mr. Huang, please help me to keep off the poison from killing my mother-in-law. She's changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her."

Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. "Li-Li, there's nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to
improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her."

HAVE YOU REALIZED that how you treat others is exactly how they will treat you? There is a wise Chinese saying: "The person who loves others will also be loved in return." God might be trying to work in another person's life through you.

Thank you

A Darbha

(For more such articles, you can read through "Thought Provoking Articles")

What exactly is love, Bhagavan? Is love also an emotion like anger, like jealousy or is it a power that is hidden within man?

Seekers from all countries come and meet Sri Bhagavan, The Founder of Oneness Univercity. These are excerpts taken from those meetings.

Q: What exactly is love, Bhagavan? Is love also an emotion like anger, like jealousy or is it a power that is hidden within man? Would love lead to suffering or to joy?

Bhagavan answers:

"The love that we are talking about is not an emotion, nor some power, as you say. It is none of these things. This love cannot be spoken about. We can tell you what it is not. The love of a parent for the child is not this love. The love between a man and a woman is not this love.

Your love of your friend is not this love. It is not attachment, it is not possession, it is not concern, it is not caring, it is none of these things. It is the stuff with which this universe is created. It is the stuff of the universe. It is your true nature. It is that which is there. If you go deeper and deeper into reality what there is, it is emptiness (The state of containing nothing). It is all emptiness.

That emptiness is love. That is the love we are talking about. It has to be experienced. At the first level you have to become enlightened, at the second level a divine being must come into you, only then you will know what it is. Otherwise it is beyond your grasp. We are not condemning the love you are experiencing now. This kind of love is perfectly fine.

What we are telling is, `that' love has no cause. If you see somebody, there will be `that' love. If you see an ant there will be `that' love. There is no cause for `that' love. For the love that you know there must be a cause. It must be your child, wife, friend, then there is love. On the other hand, when you experience causeless Love, you are in Oneness. You are no more separate from the dog, the leper, the beggar, or the rich.nobody is separate from you. There is complete Oneness. It is a love born of Oneness. So, It has no cause."

Thank you Sri Bhagavan for the Knowledge shared.

At the Lotus Feet of Sri Bhagavan

A Darbha

(You can find more Excerpts of Sri Bhagavan in "Bhagavan Bhashya")

Is praying to you (Bhagavan) or Jesus the same as praying to God?

Seekers from all countries come and meet Sri Bhagavan, The Founder of Oneness Univercity. These are excerpts taken from those meetings.

Question: Can you tell us Bhagavan about prayer? How should we pray? Is praying to you or Jesus the same as praying to God?

Sri Bhagavan:

If you ask, 'Who is God?' the antaryamin is God. As you grow, the way the antaryamin appears to you will also grow. It can be outside you also, and can take any form – Buddha, Christ, etc. It is the antaryamin who does everything. If you are waiting by the bus stop and want the bus to stop, you can ask your antaryamin. The antaryamin is also the bus driver! For Jesus or Bhagavan to pick up your prayer you must have a bond with them, an emotional connection, and clarity. Unless it is going to harm somebody most prayers will be answered.

Question: When we ask Bhagavan a question, how do we know if the answer is from Bhagavan or from our subconscious?

Bhagavan: you must ask Bhagavan to prove to you that it is the antaryamin and not just the subconscious. If it is the antaryamin there is a very nice feeling in the chest region.

Question: Can an ordinary devotee become one with God?

Bhagavan: Anybody can become one with God as long as you have a divine being within oneself and you have melted with that and it merges with your antaryamin. You yourself cannot become one with God.

Question: You say we can choose to be filled with divine entities.. How can we be a help to the world if we are just a container for divine beings?

Bhagavan: If you are enlightened you can be a help to mankind. If you are filled with divine beings you can be a great help. You become a divine being, not just a container for them! When you talk of divine beings taking over, it is the descent of higher consciousness, not like a spirit possession. You experience life as Christ experienced life, not as one possessed by a spirit.

Question: How many divine beings can come through in one body?

Bhagavan: There is no limit. In the course of time, perhaps a few weeks, one being could become more dominant. But it is not like we think. They do not fight like us!

Question: Will enlightenment allow me to feel a connection with you all my life or will doubts still come and go?

Bhagavan: Enlightenment will not help much with this. Only a divine being will relate that way. A mere enlightened person will not do that.

Thank you Sri Bhagavan.
At the lotus feet of Sri Bhagavan.

A Darbha

(For more such FAQs, you can go through Bhagavan Bhashya)

How to Discover Causeless Love and Limitless Joy? What should I do in order to discover?

Qs. Bhagavan, how to discover Causeless Love and Limitless Joy? What should I do to discover Causeless Love and Limitless Joy?

Ans:

One of the most important teachings of the dharma is that the content is not important. How you experience the Content that is important. What ever is happening in your life, you must learn the art of experiencing it. That is the true 'art of living'. The true art of living is to experience fully, totally and completely whatever is going on.

So, mostly what is going on is human interactions, your friends, your relatives, your boss, your children and your family. You are all the time interacting with them because life is relationship. Without relationship you don't exist. So,in this relationship you are transacting some kind of interaction. You may get hurt, you may get provoked, and you may get back some memories, all these are happening.

Whatever is happening, if you can experience fully, as I was speaking earlier, then you will find there is limitless joy. Now, what happens when there is so much joy? It doesn't stop there. It becomes love. Only a happy and joyous person can truly love. An unhappy person cannot love. That love is nothing but attachment, possession...true love comes only when there is true joy and true joy comes only when you experience what ever is going on inside. It is not very difficult.

Practice this for 21 days, if you keep trying it will become natural. What is not natural, what is not easy, I don't teach. There is no point in teaching that. Only what you can do I am teaching. The brain must learn a new pattern of functioning. It takes 21 days for that. After 21 days of practice you will find it becomes easy. It becomes like alcoholic addiction or drug addiction. Why are you addicted? Because it gives you so much joy or happiness or freedom. Same thing happens here also. Only thing is there are no negative side effects. There are very good effects on the other hand. You discover love, compassion. All these things happen.

So basically you must start with pain. You hold that pain like you hold a newborn baby. So carefully you must hold that pain you must know that it is a blessing. You must hold it, you must not condemn or judge it and strangely you'll find it is very painful. It will become pain in the chest region but slowly you'll find, you'll discover a freedom, joy and that will become love.

That is the way to get this causeless love and limitless joy.

Experience Sharing - On the Sutra of Seeing

As contributed by Geetha Subharam


My Recent Experience
>
I would like to share one of my recent exprience
> Bhagavan has been teaching me the sutra of
> "Seeing". Every time i get
> hurt/anger/jealousy/judgment He tells me to see........ see
> that you are hurt/angry/jealousy. Everytime i see i feel
> more free from within. Sometimes when i start
> seeing.........it will tell me stories, sometimes the anger
> just dissolves. I could feel that "SEEING IS FREEING
> ME'. Sometimes i see the stories goes on for a day or
> two. Most of the time the awarness takes over and it melts
> away. After doing this for a few days bhagvan tells me that
> after seeing accept it without judging who is right or who
> is wrong. So everytime i get hurt/anger or irritation i
> started to see and then accept. I felt this is still
> powerful. The moment i see and accept i felt more and more
> free. Exprienced lots of peace from within. As bhagvan made
> me do all the time and with his divine grace seeing and
> accepting became a happening. Accepting is nothing but no
> conflict state.I started to enjoy "seeing
> and
> accepting".
> I remember Bhagvan always tells us "WHEN
> EVERYTHING EXPRIENCED TURNS INTO JOY'. I didn't know
> how to exprience. But after seeing and accepting i prayed
> Bhagvan please make me exprience. Recently i was fortunate
> to attend one of Krishnaraj dasaji's tel conference
> about "Experiencing" and got more clarity. I
> started sit in one place and pray and see the
> feeling,thoughts going on,and the body sensations. When i
> started to experience the feeling i realised if i am
> irritated , same thoughts keep coming and i could see the
> irritation is changing into anger and then changing into
> hatred on that person. As i started to exprience i could see
> the anger just dissolves and feel peaceful. i often
> watch the thoughts and listen to the stories. Then i started
> to focus on the breathing. I could see the breathing rhythem
> changes.slow and fast and faster. Then i was watching the
> body, felt lots of energy in the head,throat and
> stomach. I was also able to observe more
> energy
> in some parts of the body. As i was watching the
> body, could feel the thoughts are slowing down and the
> breathing is also becoming slow. Whole body there was only
> energy flow and i started to search for Geetha and
> couldn't find anyone inisde. This gave me a big blow,
> when there is nobody inside and when i get angry or hurt how
> i connect it with the SELF(Geetha). I started to sit and
> watch this inner movie, the awarness increased and as i was
> expriencing i felt the energy is nothing but the PRESENCE.
> Another realization i got that
> BEING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT IS BEING IN THE PRESENCE. All
> my seeking to become Enlightened ceased. For me
> Enlightenment = Free from suffering.
> when i see,accept and experience i am free from suffering.
>
> Nothing has changed, everything is the same. I still get
> irritated,anger and even jealousy...............but the
> awarness takes over me. So
> AWARNESS
> IS THE PRESENCE. AWARNESS IS THE KEY TO HAPPINESS.
> Thanks Amma and Bhagvan for everything...........my heart
> is filled with gratitude.