Guru Vakyam: Habits And Vows

Monday, 13 July 2009

Habits And Vows

July 30, 1995 Connecticut, U.S.A. HABITS AND VOWS How to get rid of vasanas (impressions)? This is a question for all those who want to come out of habits. You want to get rid of habits because they give pain and restrict you. The nature of vasana is to bother you, or bind you, and wanting to be free is the nature of life. Life wants to be free and when a soul doesn't know how to be free, it wanders through lifetimes wanting freedom. The way to come out of habits is vows. This is samyama. Everybody is endowed with a little samyama. A vow should be time bound. This would bring good conduct and save you from being wayward. Consider the time and place for vows to be taken. When the mind dwells on useless thoughts, then two things happen. One is that all those old patterns come up and you feel discouraged by them. You blame yourself and feel that you have not made any progress. The second thing is that you see it as an opportunity for samyama and feel happy about it. Without samyama, life will not be happy and diseases arise. For example, you know you should not eat three servings of ice cream, or eat ice cream every day, or otherwise you will get sick. Habits will clog you when there is no liveliness or juice in life. When there is a direction for life force, you can rise above habits through samyama. Take vows according to time and place. For example, suppose someone has a habit of smoking cigarettes and says, "I will quit smoking," but cannot do it. They can take a vow, three months or 90 days; a time-bound vow. If someone is used to cursing and swearing, take a vow not to use bad language for ten days. Don't take it for a lifetime; you will break it immediately. If you happen to break it in between, don't worry. Just begin again. Slowly increase the duration until it becomes your nature. All those habits which bother you, bind them in vows, in samyama. So all those who are in Satsang, take a time-bound vow today and make a note of it. If you break a vow, make a note of it and share the time and date at the next Satsang. Continue it again. Tie those habits which bring you pain in samyama. Jai Guru Dev!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Daily Sutra

Meditation is very similar to this experience of void. In meditation you realize you are not just the body, but you are more than the body. That annihilates the fear of death.

Tuning in a guitar, all the six strings have to be tuned; a drum needs to be tuned. Similarly, the various aspects of life have to be tuned. Our relationship with our Self, the people in our family, in the work-place, in society - all these need to be tuned. The nurturing of the physical, social and spiritual aspects is called the Art of Living.

To be Spiritual you don't need to believe in God, but you do need to believe in something, even belief in yourself is good enough!
Spirituality brings you the awareness that everything is just the play and display of consciousness and people have called this consciousness, God -

Dealing with people
They may be saying that but they realize when they have taken a wrong step. They
cannot justify that they took a wrong turn but they know it. They don’t have
courage to admit the wrong thing. So you be compassionate to those who say that
they are right all the time.

“The whole world is made up of love and everyone is made up of love. All is God. All is love. But then what is the purpose? Where is life heading? Life is heading towards perfection. Why? Is it not already perfect? No! Because love has six distortions - anger, lust, greed, jealousy, arrogance and delusion”…

Keep someone who criticizes you close by, that will keep your house and your mind clean without soap and water. If everybody around keeps praising,they may not keep all the facts in front of you. Someone who is criticizing you, will show your pitfalls. Welcome criticism. Don't shy away from criticism. You should be able to give constructive criticism and also take criticism. That is the strength. And there is no good critique or bad
critique - Guruji

Satvva:

The more sattva/purity rises in your life, the more easily your tasks get accomplished. The amount of sattva/ purity in us decides the productivity of our input. If you put in a lot of effort and the result turns out to be less or below your expectations, it means that there is a lack of sattva/ purity in life. When we meditate, then our work happens easily. People are unaware of this secret. It is very important to meditate whenever we get time, so that you accomplish your tasks more efficiently and with ease.

Misery:

Misery simply means you are stuck to the outside. Joy means you are in your element which is inside. If you depend on others for your comfort, you lose your joy. First, have this faith that nature will provide whatever I need or I deserve, it will never happen that nature doesn’t provide you with what you need. Secondly, I want nothing from anybody. And third whatever I have, it is only for others and I will serve others as much as I can. Finish! Where is the misery then?

A state in which you feel absolutely comfortable, 100% comfort, that is meditation

Lust:

When there is no joy in life then lust increases in you because then you get joy in that only. But when you find joy in life otherwise also, then the frequency of such desires starts reducing. When you start finding joy in sadhana (spiritual practices), joy in service, joy in satsang, joy in devotion, joy in surrender - that is the only way to come out of lust. No other way exists. When all are done together slowly, you come out of lust.

FeelingsPeople say knowledgeable is one who kills oneâ€™s feelings. No, itâ€™s not like that. Sadbhav, saintly feelings continue to exist. Lord Krishna also said in the Bhagwad Geeta â€˜One who is not tied to me - the Consciousness, Higher Self - neither has intellect nor feelings. Without feelings and intellect, there is no question of peace or happiness.

Bubbles on the Surface of the Infinite.

Rise above the dualities, the opposites. See this whole world as the bubbles on the surface of water. See people as bubbles on the surface of the Brahman, of the Infinity...Water bubbles up, rises up. Like that, everybody is rising and having their own games and plays and dissolving back into the Infinite

Anything but the Present Man finds comfort in the past or in the future, never looks into the present. It has been an old habit, very old habit, of the human mind. Either it glorifies the past and relishes itself in the memory of past, or it builds castles in dreams, in clouds, for the future.

Divinity is everywhere!'Vasudeva Sarvatra iti' - Divinity is everywhere. If everything is God, then it is not difficult to see God. The one who recognizes the divinity in everything and everybody, is enlightened! !

Disagreements!

Just look at yourself. Have you always agreed with yourself? You had some idea yesterday; today you may have a different idea. Five years back you had other ideas - that do not necessarily agree with the ideas that you have today. So when you have disagreement with yourself, why should it not happen with someone else? The ‘someone’ you have a disagreement with -is just a photocopy of your old or the new self.

Atheism:

When you say that something does not exist in this creation, you need to know everything about the creation. Who knows everything about this creation now? You can only say, “I don’t know whether it exists or not”. An atheist claims that something doesn’t exist. That is very difficult to say when you don’t know the entire time and space. Do you know everything in this time and space, in this creation??

Compassion is better than forgiveness. The very word "forgiveness" implies that there is an intention in somebody's mistake. Somebody is bad so you are going to "forgive" them. Peep into their heart. Go beyond their words, beyond their behavior---you will see, they need compassion, they need help.

God loves you. That is enough. And, you *are* love. That is enough!

This feverishness of fame, of pride, of social recognition is immaturity. Just wake up and see there is nothing much in it. Its an empty bowl.

Guru Vakyam

Monday, 13 July 2009

Habits And Vows

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

Followers