The World Renewal From the Mighty Pen of Sanjay
CONTENTS
WHO IS HE THAT LOVES US SO MUCH?
Who is He that loves us so much? (From the Mighty Pen of Sanjay) ......... 3
he whole of The Shrimad Bhagwad Gita is full of wisdom par-excellence. But, one misses its real meaning if one does not know whom does the word Bhagwan in The Gita, refer to. The collection of divine orations (Mahavakyas) implicates it in very clear terms that these are the utterings of God Himself (Bhagwan Uvach). It is, really, an unparalleled and a great claim. No one else, delivering a discourse, has ever said that He, the speaker, is God and none else but God. It, therefore, places a great responsibility on every sane and sensible person to go into the credibility of this greatest claim by someone who, in human form, makes this pronouncement: “It is God speaking”, like some saying: “It is All India Radio” or “Please listen to what our Prime Minister says on this day of Indian Independence.” He, who does not pay any attention to these words of God Himself, is, really, the unluckiest, for this is a Divine Invitation to receive God’s greatest gifts and to earn an eternal fortune. This concerns us individually as it concerns all the people on the globe collectively as well.
Food Habits Play a Vital Role in maintaining Physical and Mental Balance ........................................... 7
The Greatest Negligence
Inculcation of Values can make Human Life and World Better .. 30
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People, who say that they have no time to apply their mind to this greatest of announcements ever made, are the most negligent because this announcement is followed by a set of revelations about our own past, our living present and our awaiting future. The whole dialogue, which follows, reveals to us a great many real secrets that anyone would miss at his or her own peril; because the Song Divine (The Bhagwad Gita) also gives a clear warning of the impending danger as also of a great fortune. This Song celestial has the greatest message, the best news, the most wonderful advice, the sure prescription for peace and the ‘mantra’ for salvation, the spiritual solution to our problems and forecasts of the end of all our troubles if we follow Him. He, who has made this pronouncement, is, really, the Most Beloved of our Heart. It is He, who is speaking to us in words and tone of endearment, affection and the purest sentiments of love. He is whispering to us: “Wake up, My dear, come to Me! Do not waste time but make hurry! The meeting with the Supreme, fills us with love and bliss, and is the culmination of all unions and meetings.” And, if we say that we have no time or that all this does not matter to us, can there be any greater April, 2019 (Contd. ..... on page no. 34)
Political Elections vs Godly Selection (Editorial) ......... 4
Wishing You A Happy Rama Navami .......................................... 10 Spiritual Knowledge and Rajyoga Meditation can Control Psychological Problems .......... 13 Inner Resources for Happy Living ............................................ 15 Urgent Need of Spiritual Transformation of People, Society and World ..................... 19 The Confluence Age is the only Auspicious Time to take the Journey for Higher Life ........... 21 God Father Shiva & The Grand Festival of Shiva Jayanti .......... 23 The New Scientific Theory “Biocentrism” Proves .............. 27
Equipoise comes with stability ......................................... 32 Morning Musings & Night Notions ......................................... 33
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4Editorial
The World Renewal
POLITICAL ELECTIONS vs GODLY SELECTION
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e keep witnessing new scenes in the world drama every now and then. Recently, residents of Bharat faced ups and downs during the elections of four States, where the Ruling Party lost the elections in three big States of India. The atmosphere had become quiet for a few weeks until the dates of General Elections were announced. Unlike the United States of America, Europe or other countries, where the elections are held mainly on one day, this year the elections will start in April, 2019 and continue until the second week of May, 2019 since Bharat is famous for big celebrations! So, it’s going to be a month-long extravaganza during which, undoubtedly, we’ll be presented with very interesting scenes, occasionally pertaining to the style of the extremities of Kaliyuga. Our very dear and respected senior politicians express themselves in their own ways as if they are the only saviours
of the people of Bharat. Further, some of them also never fail to criticise their opponents. It is felt as though the level of political debate has not really reached the issues affecting the masses, in connection with economy or their security. Every day, we hear of the unrelenting war of words during the political rallies taking place all over Bharat. There is so much unnecessary brick batting that the image of our leaders, once painted so bright and beautiful, keeps getting tarnished more and more with these verbal conflicts. Five years ago, one national party emerged victorious with two-third majority and formed a government in coalition with a few other parties. Over these years, they have done a considerable amount of good things for the rural population, the middle class and of course the elite, so that the latter can keep contributing towards improvements in society. And, yet, ever since the dates for the impending Elections were
2019heard announced,April, we’ve different voices from the Opposition Leaders, maligning each other by name. I wonder what message is being conveyed to the citizens of this nation, in the name of bringing short-term economic benefits if they are voted to power. How can we call these elections ‘fair’ if the public is being cheated into believing that their economic wellbeing is going to improve through the distribution of cash (national wealth)?! The government schemes need to be designed for generating better economy, providing more work opportunities to the poor and middle class, thereby alleviating health concerns of our citizens and ensuring more security for women and children. For this, the National Parties need to reflect on new and practical schemes for fulfilling their promises to the people of Bharat. How can a country progress if there are 2,500 political groups running (or rather fighting) the elections with their own agenda or objectives?! Many chaotic and degrading means of influencing the voters are coming to the fore: some leaders are using human weaknesses of greed,
April, 2019
addiction and temptation as weapons to influence the voters with attractions such as cash, alcohol, beer and other intoxicants. What kind of panacea is this for the betterment of health and wellbeing of the people of Bharat?! The political speeches of the leaders filled with much criticism and maligning of each other and one another, with no regard to their own positions and accomplishments or that of their opponents, have brought down all healthy and noble principles and standards of Democracy to a very degrading and ignoble level leading to confusing state of affairs. The desire to serve the people is put aside by some, and replaced with the desire of shifting from one party to another and, sometimes, even back to the original party for their own gains! We are very thankful to certain sources of the Media for exposing the greed for power and other narrow and limited motives of the so-called servers of Bharat, the mother country. Let it be clear that all politicians are not the same. There are definitely a large number of political leaders with
The World Renewal
clean images and clear conscience, who are always dedicated to the welfare of the people and security of the country. As the educational standards have improved in all parts of Bharat, the voters can use their authentic understanding to choose which leaders are worthy of receiving their votes. With this happy breeze in the political arena, let’s hope that our next Parliament will be the best one ever since Independence. While observing the variety of political events leading to the final date of election in every part of Bharat, we can only send powerful thoughts to the Almighty that even at the end of Kaliyuga, may the voters elect leaders, who are devoted to serve with dignity, humility and a pure conscience as men and women of principle. When we look back to the days of the Swadeshi Movement as visualised by the Father of the Nation, our beloved Bapu Gandhiji, we notice that the principles and practices of those olden times were very different. The
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Swadeshi Movement, which includes Khadi, Organic Farming, etc. had helped the poor as well as the rich to improve the conditions of their health and happiness. I recall the beauty of Panchayati Raj (local self-government), which was witnessed during the 40s and 50s: every Panchayat had only 5 members, who were elected, unanimously, by the villagers on the basis of the strength of their characters. Even the Chairman of the Panchayats was elected, unanimously, keeping the vastness of experience in view. However, the influence of Kaliyuga again eroded those practices over time, as the vices of greed and corruption penetrated into the village systems. The canvas of Bharat painted by God Father Shiva, the Supreme Artist, is very picturesque, dotted with thousands of thousands of castes and sub-castes with their respective customs, festivals and unique social practices. Presently, it has widely been experienced that the people of Bharat are attempting to return to their ancestral values, filled with moral strength and spiritual
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wisdom because we cannot experience inner strength in life without enhancing our sense of morality and the conviction of living by our conscience. Here, lies the reason why Bharat has lived forever. Many civilisations have come and ruled over Bharat, but the best among them that continues to be remembered was the golden era of Shree Lakshmi and Shree Narayan, who were the upkeepers of the original eternal deity religion of the Golden Age (Satyuga). It’s only because of the deeprooted faith of the inhabitants of Bharat that they have remained connected in some way or the other with that civilisation of the Golden Age, Paradise or Swarg when Shree Lakshmi and Shree Narayan were the World Sovereigns. Their sovereignty spread all over the globe and was based on the highest moral and spiritual values. Every citizen lived a very comfortable life of richness in values and prosperity alike. As per the promise of the Sermonizer of The Gita, and of the advent of the auspicious time within the World Drama Cycle, we are very fortunate to be receiving the Almighty
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Supreme Father’s blessings in the form of Spiritual Knowledge to reestablish righteousness in life, and secondly, the gift of Sahaj Rajyoga Meditation as taught in The Shrimad Bhagwad Gita that ensures the rejuvenation of the human soul and evolvement back to its pristine state of purity, power and virtuous lifestyle. The people of Bharat as well as other nations have been receiving God’s blessings in the form of regular Elevated Spiritual Study and directions for self-empowerment so that the crisis of character can be conquered individually as well as collectively. The models of such human habitat have been created all over the world where people of different backgrounds, religions, languages, nationalities and colours have recognised the beauty of re-discovering their own selves with complete purity and virtues and also sharing the same with other fellow citizens of the world. It’s, indeed, a silent, global spiritual revolution, which is governed by the direct
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blessings of the Merciful, Knowledgeful, Almighty, Ocean of Knowledge, and will continue to progress towards the ultimate goal of world-transformation. The leadership for this great cause is being shared by women and men, as per their personal spiritual evolvement. There are no elections held but the spiritual leaders command love and respect from their Elders, Equals and other Sisters and Brothers without having to ask or use external pressure. This model of Global Divine Family can inspire the humanity at large to live lives of excellence, positive consciousness, attitude, dignity and, most importantly, and also appreciate the divine qualities of each other and one another. This is in total contrast to the presentday scenario of Political Elections in which people rarely appreciate each other from the heart; but, most of them choose to put down those in higher or lower positions at free will. May God’s power of enlightenment guide our great leaders in all fields of human endeavour for re-establishment of a New Age, the Golden Era!!! Om Shanti
– B.K. Nirwair
World Renewal FOOD HABITS PLAY ATheVITAL ROLE IN MAINTAINING PHYSICAL AND MENTAL BALANCE
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–B. K. Subramanian, Avadi
hen a person finds out that within him his/her spiritual nature is awakening, he/she starts experiencing many changes; one of them is the change of food habit that leads to achieving development of a sensitivity with regard to what he eats. Diet is an essential component of value-based spiritual lifestyle and plays a major role in maintaining both the physical and mental health, thereby leading to achievement of the inner tranquility and calmness. It is beneficial at physical, emotional, spiritual and ecological levels. It is, therefore, aptly said, ‘‘We are what we eat.’’ For thousands of years, the people of different cultures have been quite aware that the types of food they eat have subtle effects on both the body and mind. Herodotus, the Greek historian, reported that graineating vegetarian cultures surpassed meat-eating cultures in art, science and spiritual development. It was his view that meat-eating nations tended to be more warlike and more focused on expression of anger and April, 2019
sensual passions. In India, even the Brahmin priests would be on a vegetarian diet that aimed at enhancing the subtle spiritual qualities of the mind. Sattvik, Rajasik and Tamsik Foods & States of Mind The Ayurvedic physicians and yogis have been aware for thousands of years that a dietary pattern specifically affects the state of a person’s mind. They divided the types of foods and the states of mind into three categories (gunas): sattvik, rajasik and tamasik. A sattvik state of mind is clear, peaceful, harmonious and interested in spiritual life. Sattvik foods help to create this state. A rajasik state of mind is active, restless, worldly, and aggressive. Rajasik food creates this mental state. A tamasik mental state is lethargic, impulsive, cruel, violent, and morally and physically degenerate. Tamasik foods help to create this state of mind.A sattvik diet, which is made of pure foods, keep the body-mind complex clear, balanced, harmonious, peaceful and strong. These sattvik foods include all fruits, vegetables, edible greens, grasses, beans,
raw milk, honey and small quantities of rice and/or bread preparations. It is basically a vegetarian diet. Rajasik foods are more stimulating to the nervous system. They include tobacco, fresh meats and large amounts of stimulating spices such as garlic, onion and peppers. The unbalanced stimulating effects on activity level may propel the eater of rajasik foods into a state of agitation, restlessness and eventual burnout as these foods push the mind and body beyond their natural limits. Tamasik foods are stale, decayed, decomposed, spoiled, overcooked, left-over, heavily processed and fast foods including non-vegetarian diet. Alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and other drugs, which people of today’s addicted society take, fall into the category of tamasik foods. These foods accelerate premature aging and chronic degenerative diseases. They tend to bring out the worst psychological characteristics because of the irritable, negative, lethargic state they create in us. In this unbalanced energy condition, it is very difficult for a person to meditate and be in harmony with one’s own self, others and the environment. If the internal workings of the soul are disturbed by eating the wrong type of food; then, the individual is not able to
Change the angle of your thought; the sun of hope and bliss will rise for you.
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The World Renewal
experience and enjoy meditative serenity and also to remain in a state of peacefulness. With a pure (Sattvik) diet, the transforming and purifying action of the spiritual energy takes place faster and more easily. Impact of Food on Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Level Also as a matter of fact, the human physical body with its digestive system has been naturally designed in such a way that the villus inducts, which form part of the large and small intestines and absorb the energy squarely from the food intake of vegetarian items such as fruits, vegetables, greens, cereals, etc., but not from non-vegetarian items such as flesh and meat of animals and birds. The intake of non-vegetarian food, gradually, develops bad cholesterol, bad glucose, blood pressure, unwanted growth like fibroid, tumors, etc. in human body that ultimately shortens the span of human life due to psychological stress. The overall functional ability of both the mind and the body lessens and gives room to many health hazards. This does not mean that all vegetarian people are free from stress and attack of diseases. Nowadays, they too suffer because of malnutrition, imbalanced diet and other bad habits. Taking vegetarian food at Hotels and 8
Restaurants is also not guaranteed against food safety as many ingredients, which are added for flavour and taste, are not conducive to health. That is why preparation of vegetarian food at home in the loving remembrance of God through Rajyoga meditation is advised. In such a state of rememberance, we can experience the magic of a wonderful mental stage while preparing the food as a peaceful being. When we maintain the physical and mntal balance by intake of vegetarian food and by feeding the mind with divine love and remembrance, the world in which we live and share with others will also become peaceful and loving. Of course, from the spiritual point of view, killing the animals and birds having blood vessels, veins and blood containers and also eating their flesh and meat, are sinful acts on the part of human beings, because the men and women, who have the sixth sense of reasoning power, do not have any ethical or religious (dharmic) right to kill the animals and birds with lesser sense. When the human beings are bound to claim human rights over several humanitarian issues, other creatures have also the right to live in God’s Creation. Who did confer the right on human beings to kill the other
harmless creatures living in this world and that too to use their flesh as food when Nature has blessed them with abundant alternatives of grains, fresh fruits and vegetables? Eating non-vegetarian food that is obtained through acts of killing and violence to animals has a very negative impact on emotional and spiritual level also. Various negative emotions like fear, anger and anxiety are inherently carried through such food to human beings. Unless we refrain from eating such food, we cannot achieve complete freedom from such negative emotions and evil tendencies. The creatures like animals and birds irrespective of their different nature and behaviour pattern have been created as such and introduced in different scenes and sceneries of the world according to the scheme of the Eternal World Drama (EWD) to make the human life and life of other living beings on earth more interesting and joyful. Such creations exist in the Nature exclusively for the mental pleasures of human beings but not to be used as part of food for the humans. Are we not amazed and internally become joyful to see the variety of species in the Nature with their distinct features such as size, colour, style of behaviour/deportment, etc.? Is not man in human form
Find out opportunity in every inconvenience to get the success you want.
April, 2019
The World Renewal
quite cruel and thankless towards such creations of God and Nature when he kills other creatures? Rajyoga meditation taught by Incorporeal God Father Shiva in Brahma Kumaris Organization and also under the guidance of Brahma Kumaris, empowers the human beings to transform themselves and to live a peaceful life with correct standard of living by following the Divine Directions (Shreemat) introduced by the God Himself through His Murlis. He explains that human souls by nature are nonviolent. The essence and fundamental qualities of the human soul are love, peace, purity, happiness, tranquility, bliss and calmness; and our spiritual energy accumulate when we practise the value or quality of non-violence. Hence, intake of Sattvik vegetarian diet is recommended as one of the main pillars of a Yogic lifestyle as taught by Brahma Kumaris. It increases clarity, concentration and subtle planning for a value-based spiritual life. In this world, there is so much anxiety, tension, irritability, injustice, and, mainly, the reason is the intake of nonvegetarian diet, because in the food all these vibrations of violent and negativity are ingested. So, let us look at a more value-based spiritual and holistic perspective of life and take care of what we eat and also see for ourselves how the food’s energy can touch, heal and nourish the soul as well.
THE SOLUTION FOCUS Making things positive doesn’t mean a sunny outlook; it means making the choice to see problems as opportunities. All problems and difficult situations are embedded with a solution - the adventure lies in finding out the solution. April, 2019
CONNECTING WITH THE QUALITIES OF OTHERS Meditation adds immense value and depth to my relationships. It also brings closeness in them. Many obstacles and barriers, both on a physical as well as a subtle level, come between me and others when my consciousness and as a result, my perception are struck primarily in the physical dimension. If I hardly know five to ten per cent of myself, and that too mostly on the surface, my relationships are going to be similarly superficial. With my self-respect built on very weak foundations, it will tend to be delicate and I’ll be prone to trying to maintain it by thinking about and focusing my energies on others’ weaknesses, sometimes real and sometimes even imagined. I’ll also find it hard to realize and appreciate their qualities. Such is the state of so many human relationships today. In meditation, I go into the depths of myself, and deep within my inner being, I find the beauty of peace, love and happiness that is there inside me. I also realize that this same beauty lies inside each soul. Then, naturally and very easily, without any effort, I get connected with the same qualities in others. I also find the strength to do the same. I am no longer judgmental by seeing others’ temporary sanskaras of negativity. I find qualities that are basically there inside every soul: the original qualities or sanskaras of each spiritual being. It’s like a basic prototype for the whole of humanity, which I deeply see and realize. – Awakening With Brahma Kumaris
Every change may not turn to development, but without change there is no development. 9
WISHING YOU A HAPPY RAMA NAVAMI The World Renewal
–B. K. Viral, Mumbai
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e’ll be celebrating Rama Navami this month, the birthanniversary of Shree Rama, who was one of the deities of the Heavenly Bharat; hence, today, let’s understand the spiritual truths symbolized in the story of The Ramayana. King Dashrath, the father of Lord Rama, denotes a soul, who’s the master (king) of his body (rath) and the sense organs (both physical and subtle). We need to become a ruler of the self, by always remembering the fact that Lord Rama is called Maryada Purushottam, and selfdiscipline (Maryaada) is needed for success in every aspect of life. So, let’s live a disciplined life by doing the following: Limiting the amount of time on social media and electronic gadgets, since over-loading of information destroys the inner peace. Avoiding gossiping about others’ weaknesses, since this only creates negative energy for us and others around. Taking out time to meditate for 20-25 minutes daily. Hanuman, Sita, Lakshman 10
and Bharat are shown to have deep faith in Shree Rama. Similarly, let us always remain faithful to God by doing the following: Keeping God only and none else in our heart like Hanuman. Surrendering our mind, body and wealth to God like Sita. Keeping a clear aim (Lakshya) in mind of becoming a helper in God’s divine task. This one act is enough to transform us from being like a monkey (i.e., Vanar, who’s full of vices and weaknesses) to a worshipworthy deity. Performing actions in the awareness of being God’s instrument like Bharat, who performed all duties of a king but always kept Rama’s slippers on the throne, which is symbolic of the fact that he considered Rama but not himself as the true king. Giving full regard to God’s elevated directions (Shreemat). Rama was always shown to be an obedient son of his father. We also need to obey our Supreme Father’s elevated and loving directions, as follows: See only the virtues and
specialties of others. Remain in the awareness of elevated points of self-respect such as: I’m God’s child; I am completely pure & divine; I’m a donor of good wishes and blessings; I’m an angel, sharing happiness with all. It’s shown in The Ramayan that the poor old-aged Shabri tasted the berries herself before offering them to Shree Rama in order to ensure that they’re sweet and delicious enough to be offered to her Lord, thereby showing such a great regard for him. Similarly, before eating or drinking anything, we need to first offer it to God with a true heart and only, then, we should proceed to eat. Scientifically, this radiates powerful, divine and pure vibrations, which get absorbed in the food, and thereby help us to heal our mind and body. It’s also shown that the female saint Ahilya got transformed from a stone to human, just with one touch of Rama. Similarly, let’s raise our stage so high that our interaction (of a few seconds) with others is enough to fill them with a lifetime of happiness. King Janak (father-in-law of Shree Rama) had the speciality of living as being liberated-in-life (Jeevanmukt). This means the state of practical living in dayto-day life, yet being liberated from all kinds of sorrow, pain, suffering and bondage.
People feel your impact as you stop feeling the impact of their words upon you.
April, 2019
The World Renewal
It’s further shown that Shree Rama invoked the powers (Shaktis) in order to gain victory over Ravan. This denotes that we need to connect to our inner powers through meditation in order to become victorious over the weaknesses (Ravan) residing within us. Further, the temple in Rameshwaram shows Rama worshipping the Shiv Linga. This denotes that when we, the souls, connect ourselves with God, the Incorporeal Supreme Soul (as per His accurate introduction), we transform ourselves into pure deities again. Even after winning over the kingdom of Lanka, Rama handed over the same kingdom to Vibhishan, the brother of Ravan. This denotes that although God makes us completely pure, divine and also the emperors of the new world of Heaven in the Golden Age (Satyuga), yet He Himself doesn’t come in Satyuga. God reveals that the souls take eight births in Satyuga; hence, there are eight dynasties in Satyuga followed by Tretayuga, where Shree Rama becomes the king, i.e., the 9th king; hence, this day is called Rama Navami, representing thereby the 9th day. The best way to celebrate Rama Navami is to be immersed in his divine love and April, 2019
remembrance. His powers help us to finish off our old sanskars and re-emerge in us the divine traits of deities.
SPIRITUAL INSPIRATIONS FROM DANCE The return of Shree Rama after 14 years of exile to the kingdom was celebrated by people with dance, joy, music and merriment and devotion for him. 29th April is also International Dance Day. Hence, let’s take some wonderful spiritual inspirations from dance! Dance is a profession today. Similarly, let’s also become a professional in maintaining an elevated state of mind always. Dance is very graceful. Similarly, let’s become so full of the experience of our original virtues inside that our every action outside becomes an act of grace. Indian classical dance is a wonderful symphony of expressions, gestures and body movements. Similarly, let’s make our life a perfect balance between our works and relationships, self-service and serving others, etc. With this art of balance, we can earn a lot of blessings, thereby keep us in a state of bliss always. Most group dances like the Dandiya Raas of Gujarat are very harmonious, requiring full coordination among the
participants involved. Similarly, let’s play the sanskar harmonizing dance (sanskar milan raas) for harmonizing or adjusting with everyone’s sanskars in order to enjoy a very harmonious, peaceful and beautiful life always. Dance is also a form of art. Similarly, let’s adopt the art of right living by cultivating the following arts: The art of speaking, which just means speaking less, slow, sweet and truthful. The art of eating, which just means eating food silently in God’s remembrance. The art of waking up, which just means wishing Good Morning (i.e., connecting) to God immediately on waking up, and filling ourselves with all His powers. The art of sleeping, which just means making our mind slow and silent before sleeping (by sharing all our day’s news with God and reading spiritual knowledge for a few minutes) in order to enjoy the bestquality sleep. Dance is always done in symphony with music; hence, let’s also take some spiritual inspirations from music, as follows: Music is loved by many. Similarly, let’s become so virtuous that everyone likes us.
People praise the intellectuals but only believe in men of good character.
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Although each musical tone (Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, etc.) is different, they result in beautiful music when played harmoniously together. Similarly, even though everyone around may be different, let’s live in harmony and unity with all in order to enjoy a melodious life always. Similarly, even though the musical instruments are different, they sound beautiful when played harmoniously together. Hence, even whilst associating or mingling with the souls of different ages, genders, languages, religions, cultures, castes, creeds, etc, let’s keep serving them and learning from all. This becomes very easy by considering them and ourselves as pure souls, the children of One Incorporeal God, the Supreme Spiritual Father of all souls of the humanity. Dance is a full-bodied exercise. Similarly, let’s also perform the exercise of mind, intellect and sanskars through practice of Rajyoga meditation daily. Indeed, let’s keep dancing in supersensuous joy and happiness always. Hence, as the partiridge (Chakor) dances on seeing the moon and the 12
peacock dances on seeing the rain, let’s remain lost deeply in God’s love and remembrance. The physical dance uses up a lot of energy; so, it can be practised only for a limited time. But, this spiritual and, meditative dance of remembrance of God increases our energy and can be practised 24x7! Keeping in view the sanctity and divinity of dance, let’s adopt purity in dance in terms of maintaining purity in our clothes, lyrics, expressions and of the places we visit for dance. Dance is an expression of happiness. In Satyuga, the souls were naturally happy and dance was an expression of this inner happiness. Now, in Kaliyuga, we’re completely discharged; hence, many of us have become dependent on/ addicted to dance for feeling good. Hence, let’s realize again that while external things may give temporary pleasure, the true and permanent happiness, really, lies in the right way of thinking, which is possible only by listening to spiritual knowledge and practising Rajyoga meditation daily. This awareness is the most important step in bringing the ever-happy era of Satyuga once again. Therefore, let’s make God
our Supreme Guide and Choreographer, thereby performing our every action based on His guided elevated directions. This ensures that our whole life becomes a dance of supersensuous joy and celebration. So, this time, on the International Dance Day, let’s keep listening to God’s divine song of spiritual knowledge and keep dancing in supersensuous joy to remain ever-happy and thereby become instrumental in ushering in the ever-happy Satyuga once again upon this earth.
DETACHED LIKE A STAR At the end of the day, with the wings of your thoughts, go beyond the cares and troubles of the world. Remove your mind from everything and everyone to become blissfully detached like a star. Like a star, be free to radiate light, for your essence is light and peace. Enjoy the simplicity of the night sky and its serenity. And, then, when you want you can shoot down to earth.
Change the attitude of perceiving the situations, they will change for you.
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My Personal Experiences
The World Renewal
SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE AND RAJYOGA MEDITATION CAN CONTROL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS – G. M. Deshpande, Barshi, (Mah.)
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am in touch with Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Spiritual Organization since 2011. I was invited as a Chief Guest for Maha Shivratri function at its Barshi Centre. At that time, I was the President of Lions Club International, Barshi branch. I experienced peace in that function. Those were the days when I faced tremendous mental pressure while working in the social organization. I compared Lions Club to Prajapita Brahma Kumaris and noticed that something is different in this organization: the former is social and the latter is spiritual. But, conducting public function was not easy for any organization. It requires a lot of man power, money and management. I saw that even very well-known people of my organization did not recognize the people associated with the Brahma Kumaris Organization. But, I was quite impressed to see how nicely and smoothly this organization conducted the function, that too, with wonderful discipline. Frankly speaking, I had no idea of the inner strength of April, 2019
Brahma Kumaris and also did not know that like Lions Club, Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Organization, too, is spread in more than 140 countries in the world. I was working as a Tax Consultant and Insurance Advisor at Barshi, (Mah.) and facing various types of mental problems at work place and also in my family. To avoid those problems, I joined the Lion’s Club for reducing my stress and mental problems; but, instead of reducing, it increased my mental problems because I had to organize social programmes and manage them without any body’s help. I felt it a great responsibility on my shoulders, which stressed me very much. At that time, I needed mental peace for all these issues and, fortunately, I experienced mental peace in that function organized by Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Spiritual University. And, thereafter, I was associated with this organization very closely. I am sharing my experience of Spiritual Knowledge and Rajyoga Menditation to control
various psychological problems. In those days, I was feeling the state of anxiety and panic attacks while handling the work load in my professional work. For that, I was taking psychological treatment and medication from psychiatrist and doing my work instead of changing the way of working; so, the problems were intact. Then, I started watching “Awakening with Brahma Kumaris Programme’ daily on Sanskar Channel from 10:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily and was attracted by the spiritual knowledge. After some times, I took the 7-day course from a local Brahma Kumaris Centre and started attending daily Murli Classes and its other functions and I felt that recovery from my mental problem started. My panic attacks got minimized and I started experiencing calm and peaceful sleep; so, I continued attending its all functions and programmes. Gradually, my lifestyle changed. I stopped eating at hotels and also controlled spending a lot of time on internet and mobile also. I
Self-inspiration gives birth to action; and action gives birth to satisfaction.
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realized that spending 3-4 hours daily on mobile and internet was sucking my energy, which disturbed my mental peace. I started living a simple life economically and began to utilize my savings in Brahma Kumaris Organization and realized how much of my valuable time I was wasting on useless things like internet and mobile, which had made me an addict; and there is no tablet to cure this disease. When I started attending daily Murli classes at the centre, I felt that this spiritual knowledge is working as an Anti-Virus on me and discouraged me to spend much time on internet and mobile. After some months, I experienced that, automatically, I stopped consumption of onion and garlic in my diet and changed my lifestyle in a few years. Though some people misguided me about Brahma Kumaris Organization; yet, I had regained my psychological health and I was able to do all my works very peacefully and without much expectations. Now, I have controlled the anxieties, problems of panic attacks, insomnia, depression, Obsessive Compulsory Disorder (OCD), psychosis and phobia. These eight psychological problems or diseases are very difficult to handle at once; but, with the blessings of Incorporeal God, Shiva Baba, His Spiritual Knowledge and practice of Rajyoga Meditation, they are very much in control. I started living my life in the present and without much expectation from others. My psychatrist was also surprised to see how I was able to cope up with my problems very easily. Thereafter, I faced family problems and also financial crises by blocking huge amount of money in residential property; but, in spite of these problems, I am still stable. I felt that all these situations are my Karmic Accounts and I must settle them happily just as we do with regard to bank loan, and after making repayments we become happy and relaxed. My personal experiences gave me the inner feeling that this miracle was possible by the blessings of God Shiva, acquisition of Spiritual Knowledge and practice of Rajyoga Meditation. 14
FORGIVE TO FORGET A key principle to remain light and stable in relationships is – forgive and forget. It’s a well-known principle – one that we sometimes find difficult to practise. It can be modified to ‘forgive to forget’. Sometimes, we spend many years with so much bitterness inside us for a particular person, with an inner violence of wanting to make the other pay (emotions of revenge), the one, who has supposedly hurt you. If you don’t strike back immediately, you at least want to keep this guilt card in your pocket, to be pulled out at a later date: “Oh! Yes, well what about the time when you…” We keep this bitterness inside us because we haven’t forgiven. It does not resolve the situation; the only thing it does is increase our pain, makes us heavy and does not let us remain in peace. So, the key is that if we do not forgive, we cannot forget. When someone has offended or insulted us, the last thing we want to do is to let it go. And, yet, if our desire is to have a healthy and lasting relationship, that is exactly what we’ve got to do. Sometimes, when it is a question of a broken relationship, it is not only a matter of forgiving the other, but of forgiving yourself for having allowed yourself to enter that experience. It was you that took the step to allow that experience to be entered into. If you hadn’t taken that step, you wouldn’t have had that experience. You accepted that challenge, that relationship, and what might happen in it – you were aware of the possibilities when you entered in the relationship. So, not only do you need to learn to forgive the other, but also to forgive yourself in such situations. Only then you will be able to forget.
Opportunity is like sunrise; if you can’t avail it in time, you may lose it.
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The World Renewal
INNER RESOURCES FOR HAPPY LIVING
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– B. K. Surendran, Bengaluru
e all know that people, in general, like the qualities of purity, peace, sweetness, love, etc., because these are the natural virtues of the self. There is happiness in what is natural. We have a bank of experiences, a store house of experiences - Smriti Bank’ – which activates when we hear something, see something, or when we interact with others and the impressions in the store house rush to associate our thinking process instantly. Since the upper layer of the bank of experiences is full of negative qualities and negative values, normally, a reaction on something heard or seen or acted upon is handled on negative lines, thereby resulting in our dissatisfaction and disquiet. When we understand that there is an inner layer of pleasant experiences and stable axiomatic human quality level, it should be our endeavour to lead a life based on that human quality level to upgrade the quality of life, not in terms of comforts and conveniences on gross level, but in terms of April, 2019
injecting inner values to make the life qualitative. When we realize that our consciousness, our vision and our activities are actively influenced by the upper layers of our bank of experiences resulting in our own detriment and to the detriment of the people we come in contact with during the course of management of our affairs, it becomes very necessary for us to seriously consider the need of undergoing a course of training for ourselves to plough up the human values and virtues from the bottom of the self. Let us swim to the deeper sea of experiences to search out the matching qualities, values and virtues to combat the seven principal acquired vices such as sex lust, anger, greed, attachment, ego, jealousy and sloth and get rid of them through our goodness. Some of the resources are briefly discussed below:
Purity and SelfConfidence We like purity, because lust is ugly. When we are under the influence of lust, our understanding is clouded and intellect perverted. If lust were to be so natural, there would not
have been any kind of adverse effects. Common experience shows that the people, who are taken to lustful life, accepting it to be natural, age faster than usual and get afflicted with various diseases. We can compare the difference between purity and lust. We like the purity or cleanliness of our body, our dress and the place we live in. We like pure food. We like pure strength giving, happy and peaceful thoughts. We like straightforwardness and pure actions. When we are physically and mentally pure and our activities are pure, we gain self confidence and there is initiative and enthusiasm in our each and every transaction. It enables us to consider a mountain of problems as a mole hill. Therefore, whenever we get time, let us emerge an image of purity in our mind. Let us imagine that we are purity personified and radiating the golden rays of purity in different directions, in our surroundings, far and near, and everywhere. Let us, thus, enjoy the peace and happiness springing forth from the rays of purity. We know that pure thought can give us happiness and impure thought can give us sorrow. Therefore, when a lustful thought emerges in the mind, it is necessary to drive it away by remembering our natural trait of purity; this is the opposing
Our defeat takes root in our mind when we personally prompt ourselves about it. 15
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mental process (pratipaksha bhavana); thus, in course of time, purity will emerge in us.
Love and Service Our experience shows that when the desire for the vice of lust is not satisfied, anger appears on the mental frame. It manifests in different costumes and colours such as irritation, frowning, resentment, indignation, rage, fury, wrath, injustice, rashness, persecution, harsh words, cruelty, coveting others property, etc. The vice of anger robs us of our happiness and peace. We are also prone to many kinds of physical and mental diseases. Therefore, we lose our mental balance and our resistance power is depleted. To avoid the negative and harmful influence of vices, let us transport ourselves to the pleasant scene of loveful gathering, loving situation and be in that loving state of existence for sometime and enjoy those joyous and liberating moments. Tell yourself that you love every beings and things – the animals, the plants and this beautiful earth. As we love them, we like to serve them. The quality of life and service will increase. When our quality of love blossoms, anger cannot overtake us. We should observe silence of mind for at least half an hour every day and try to increase it gradually.
Generosity and Contentment
Detachment and Introversion
It rightly said that there is enough to feed man’s needs but not to feed man’s greed. Man is not able to understand the fact that he came to this world with empty hands and will go empty handed. Whatever available here is only changing hands. Things, which are here, are absolutely going to remain here. Whatever is available here, seems to belong to everybody, but does not belong to anybody. We may make better use of the things available, by sharing with and caring for others. Let us be generous because we are going to attain contentment in being generous. A person, who is contented, is richer than the wealthiest person in the world. What we give to this world, comes back to us like a boomerang. Let us emerge in our mind the scene of our being generous and the effect of generosity, the smiling and happy faces of the people and be in that state of existence for 5-10 minutes. Let us always make sure that anybody who comes to us, never goes empty handed. We should give something – some words of courage, hope, solace, peace and so on. Let us tell ourselves that we are generosity and contentment personified and practise this every day.
The ‘I and mine’ attitude binds us to persons, places and things. This kind of attachment is due to the wrong belief that pleasure can be achieved from them; but, experience has shown that the pleasure obtained from them is momentary and short-lived. Our dependence on them is slavery. If we do not get the person or thing we long for, we feel dissatisfied, disappointed and gloomy. Our life becomes burdensome; hence, attachment is the root cause of all human sufferings. It is due to nescience or ignorance. Everything on this earth is transitory and subject to change. Let us, therefore, go inside and see what is our real existence, our personality, what relationship we have with these people whom we call our people. We come alone and go alone. Let us appreciate the reality of existence and be introvert and detached. Let us practise detachment by becoming a spectator and actor in the stage of life. Let us practise the role of a ‘witness’ in our day-to-day interactions. We should tell ourselves that we are actors, playing a definite role on the world drama stage of life. Let us carry out a stocktaking every night before going
16 Think like one among the intelllectuals, but speak like one among the common.
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The World Renewal
to bed as to what extent we have maintained the stage of attachment, detachment and introversion. Let us practise for sometime the introverted stage and stabilize ourselves so as to keep the mental balance in every situation.
Humility and Tolerance We must know that the real greatness lies in humility and patience. A king wearing the crown rules over his kingdom only whereas a man with humility has no boundary, for he rules over the hearts of men of all ages. A great person is one, who is humble and patient even when his position of authority increases. One should know how to behave and adjust with others. Talk sweetly and gently. Be polite, civil and courteous. Give respect and be considerate. Humility brings the respect by itself, it subdues the hearts of others. A knowledgeful person is the one, who is humble as his knowledge increases. Success in life is not possible without humility and patience. There may be many incidents where we have displayed the quality of humility and simplicity. Call up such incident in your life where humility and patience were displayed and remember its benefits you experienced and convince yourselves of the need to keep these qualities in your life. If there are no such incidents April, 2019
in our life, we can bring in our mind the incidents we have read in the life of great men like Mahatma Gandhi, Buddha, Swami Vivekananda, etc., and thereby create a vision of those incidents for our motivation. When a situation arises, keep an eye on this aspect and proceed. Certainly, we will prefer humility and patience.
Cheerfulness and Sweetness Beware and keep away from the people who are given to sloth and slumber. It is a contagious disease. Life is a burden for them. They postpone every thing for tomorrow, which never comes. In contrast, cheerfulness and sweetness bring beauty and fragrance to our life. A person with pleasant and cheerful nature can influence millions. Just as bees come and perch as soon as flowers blossom, people are also attracted towards a cheerful and sweet person. Keep smiling, recall the pleasant, cheerful and sweet moments in your life and enjoy those moments. Emerge a picture of yourselves in front of your eyes, look at yourselves as an embodiment of that quality, radiating vibrations of cheerfulness and sweetness in your surroundings . In the beginning, it may be for 2 minutes but, gradually, it may increase up to half an hour. As a bee collects honey from
flowers, we should also keep an eye on the merits of others and gather good points to become a honeycomb of sweetness.
Nobility and Serenity Jealousy is a fire, which consumes its master. It is pentup anger. A person is envious of the achievements of his neighbors, his friends and relatives. It brings in its fold many other mental miseries, which may lead even to physical diseases. It pollutes our mental frame, robs us of peace and happiness. There is no substitute for hard work. We must put in best efforts to attain success in life. Jealousy can only degrade us and downgrade the standard of living externally. We have to develop charitable nature and imbibe the quality of magnanimity and serenity. Watch how noble are the parts and objects Nature, the sky, sun, moon, stars, rivers, trees, flowers, creatures. They are at the service of all without distinction. Let us be broadminded and serene. Courage and Maturity Fear psychosis can lead to many physical and mental diseases. A fearful person cannot think properly; hence, he/she develops inferiority complex. It leads to tension and stress in his/her life. Fear is the result of ignorance. One has to
Focus not on ‘what is done to you’ but on ‘what you are doing’ in response.
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understand that problems crop up in life to make us learn new lessons and to increase our experience and strength. The problems of life will not remain for ever. Everything in the world is subject to change. Even our body is subject to change and decay. It is prudent to accept this reality and face the life as a challenge. Always find a solution to the problem without wasting your time and energy in knowing the reason of the problem. Courage is our inborn quality because we, the souls, are immortal and imperishable. We are spiritual beings with tremendous spiritual energy in regulating the life situations and world conditions. We must bring before our mental frame the valorous acts of great men and, then, look at us in that frame of mind. From maturity, courage develops. We must observe our thoughts every day for sometime to know the origin of negative thoughts in the form of fear trickling down, and practise ‘pratipakshabhavana’ telling that “I am courage personified, I am immortal, I have a lot of strength” and count our blessings and other plus points and thereby stamp out negative thoughts. We must be optimist and practise positive thinking. As we think, so shall we become. Courage is not explosive, it is not bombarding, 18
shouting or brick batting but absolute stability, inner stability and a deep peace inside. This is our real nature. Peacefulness and Stability Anxiety is another acquired vice like fear. Anxiety undermines the virtues of peace and happiness. Such a person is always on a frying pan, burning. He fabricates all sorts of imaginary negative things happening to his own self and to the people whom he thinks his own. In fact, basically, we are peaceful beings. When there is peace, we are stable. He must know that even our own life is not in our hands, let alone the life of others. Let us recall the moments in which we had enjoyed inner peace and peaceful conditions. Let us emerge ourselves as star of peace radiating the rays of peace in all directions. Practise this by sitting at the same place, same time, everyday, for 5 minutes, 10 minutes initially and increase the duration gradually until you restore your original nature of peace. We must see that we are peaceful while dealing with others everywhere whether at home or at workplace. When a situation arises, compare the benefits that will arise in being peaceful, in contrast to being rough and tough. Always practise to wear a peaceful countenance
Rajyoga Meditation: The Effective Way to Tap Inner Human Resources Rajyoga meditation teaches us how to bring up our virtues, which manifest in our life in terms of seven core values of the soul, namely knowledge, purity, peace, love, happiness, bliss and power, as we all know that we are spiritual beings in the garb of body - our physical costume. When we become aware of our real nature and learn how to mentally connect ourselves with God, the Supreme Source of all the virtues, our core virtues come up to the surface and manifest in our behavior and dealings. Thus, we can revive our original qualities and enjoy life. We must practise Rajyoga Meditation by attending the Meditation Centre of the Brahma Kumaris Organization situated in our lacality.
SPIRITUAL IDENTITY I am a pure, peaceful, powerful, loveful and blissful soul. This is the original spiritual identity of every human being. Let me sit with this thought for a few moments every day and experience my true spiritual identity.
The term PAINS stands for ‘Positive Attitude in Nagative Situations’.
April, 2019
The World URGENT NEED OF Renewal SPIRITUALTRANSFORMATION OF PEOPLE, SOCIETY AND WORLD
–B.K. Dr. Swapan Rudra, Durgapur (W.B.)
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pirituality means acquisition of spiritual knowledge, inculcation of spiritual principles, value and qualities and moving forward in course of life’s journey with the help of meditation practice and application of the same in practical life amidst a variety situations. We all want to progress in our own lives in any way sometimes we get success, sometimes failure. As success is our all time target, we become morose in failure. As life continues and time goes on, majority of us try to get the required things by different means, bad or good, unknowingly. Some deliberately adopt the illegal and unethical means for achieving their materialistic progress; few try to follow the honest way of living. Consequently, as a whole, the society is running in a number of ways reflecting the corrupt, unethical, illegal and complicated nature of human beings since a long time. Always the concept of win-win approach in life increases the pain of April, 2019
defeat as no one is willing to accept the defeat. Thereby, all the time, we notice a spirit of competition everywhere in life’s activities starting from school admission to IAS examination, and we all remain involved in this competition in our respective fields or areas of activities. But, we cannot witness the same spirit of competition while facing various situations in life. Present success rate to win the game by managing the situation is somehow very high, but actual success rate by establishing the spiritual principle of truth is not up to the mark. As we all are in the same boat, we cannot see the things differently in the mirror of purity and perfection. By our nature, we continuously blame each other, which is not the right thing. Unless and until we will be able to discover spirituality within us, we cannot take part in healthy process and thereby avoid the unhealthy competition or race. But, the big question is: how to find this spirituality and tread on the path of spirituality in life
leading to inner fulfilment? Ignorantly, we do many things, which are not to be done, perform many activities, which should not be performed; and think many evil, bad, immoral, negative and harmful thoughts that are not to be kept in mind. No one can judge others and none is to be labelled as wrong or right. Even when situation becomes worse, we seldom notice our doings or actions and try to change our mindset in order to check and change our thought patterns that build or form our personality. We are, now, passing through the period and state of darkness of ignorance throughout the globe by being inflicted with thoughts and acts of evil, immorality, injustice, unrighteousness, irreligiousness and violence. Our wrong attitudinal change to the path of evil, unethicality and immorality has brought us into such a state in which our desperateness wrongly lead us to the means of evil, illegality and corruption, which are, now, reflected throughout the society. Man is very busy, now, to accumulate and protect the materialistic things like land and buildings, other valuable assets, liquid properties, etc. and to secure anyhow his own life and family. No one is ready to save the society and the state. As a result, what happens, actually,
The term EGO stands for ‘Edging God Out’ from one’s mind, heart and life.
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is: the more he is trying to save himself from doing evil and unethical works, the more he is losing himself; and the society is going to be degraded as no one is ready to understand the the meaning, importance of spirituality and truth, their inculcation, implementation; and to realize the outcomes in life. Whatever extra things the human beings store in their lifetime through evil, illegal, immoral and dishonest means cannot be, actually, saved even though they take thousand measures to save them. But, still we try to get more and more due to our inner emptiness, insecurity and total ignorance about the spiritual, moral and ethical side of life. One day, extra and unjust enrichment will become the cause of pain and suffering. The mental state of majority people is not tuned to receive the importance and implications truth in life in spite of a long time effort of creating awareness in people by saints, religion and science. The nature of human being is just to see and listen to things outwardly, but not to see the truth in its true perspective, to know, understand and realize his spiritual identity, and to listen to the moral voice of inner spirit/ soul/self and conscience; and, finally, to apply truth and spirituality in practical life. 20
Man does not know what he is losing everyday and is, therefore, being enmeshed in the trap of falsehood and unrighteousness. In any type of job, service and business, people are adopting the corrupt means in a number of ways; but, still they think themselves alright. Due to this solitary cause, no one can detect his/ her own fault; and, hence, we all are always busy to find fault in others. As a whole, the people, society and world are being deteriorated thereby turning the world into a hell. Though all are responsible for today’s hell-like situation, but none is willing to take the responsibility for this situation. Few dedicated, strong and courageous personalities come up in front to shoulder the huge load of misdeeds of people as a result of which the hellish activities still continue for a prolonged period. This world stage is, actually, a platform for playing each one’s role with perfection. The act of understanding, realization and elevation of the self is the first need without which one cannot think of self-progress and try to help in other’s progress. Leadership quality is necessary to spread spiritual awareness in the whole society and, then, only the actual development in
various fields is possible; this only can balance the society. Now, it’s the real time to accomplish all the pending works by knowing oneself as an ‘eternal soul’ first and, then, spreading the same vibrations to others. When a critical mass of people will urgently realize their spiritual identity and will be soul-conscious by regaining their original qualities, the people and society will transform in a spiritual way, and the world will change from hell to heaven and enter into the next phase of absolute peace, purity and happiness in the Golden Age.
MEDITATION Meditation is the process of getting to know yourself completely, both who you are inside and how you react to what is outside. Above all, meditation is enjoying yourself in the literal sense of the word. Through meditation, you discover a very different “me” from, perhaps, the stressed or troubled person, who may seem superficially to be “me”. You realize that your true nature, the real you, is, actually, very positive. You begin to discover an ocean of peace right at your doorstep.
The ego of one’s own goodness is as harmful as the ego of one’s evil.
April, 2019
WorldIS Renewal THE CONFLUENCE The AGE THE ONLY AUSPICIOUS TIME TO TAKE THE JOURNEY FOR HIGHER LIFE
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–B.K. Prabir Kumar Bose, Jharpada, Bhubaneswar
ife has different definitions according to different people. There is no particular clear-cut definition of it. For some, life is all about building a family and leading life as it is. For some others, life is all about accumulating wealth. For many, life is all about love. For a few, life is all about religious practices. For philosophers like Aristotle, life was about happiness – ‘happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence’. Everywhere people are working in their own capacity in different fields with sincerity, yet they are not self-content; as if something is lacking somewhere, something is missing within. It appears as if we are living in a dream of illusion and ignorance. Only a few of us know how much a life can offer and how to use it properly, wisely and judiciously in order to be blissful and happy. Majority of us emphasize on the material aspect of life, ignoring the spiritual aspect. The desire to fulfill the present and future April, 2019
wants gives rise to attachments, leading to vicious and complicated results. To be happy and blissful, we must differentiate between wants and needs. In general, our needs are limited but wants are unlimited. To achieve a peaceful living, one needs to develop a sense of detachment from worldly wants. Most of us believe that our life and fortune are controlled rather influenced and governed by some unknown and unseen power, which is called God. Though we know well that we are neither the creator nor the controller of things around us, we still remain attached to most of them and more so to our own life. These attachments, in turn, lead to unnecessary accumulation of wealth and property which in return gives rise to ego. Material desire and body-consciousness, which give rise to ego, go together. Material desires arise not only due to bad habits but also due to the attachment to the body. This trap of attachment not only gets thickened but also becomes vicious and complicated. The
body-consciousness including ego can be conquered and material desires can be slain by following the principles and techniques of the Brahma Kumaris. Rajyogini Brahma Kumari Dadi Janki’s statement about the secret of higher life is quite justfied and appropriate: “The secret is to be free from ego and attachment. You will, then, really feel that everything is good and there is no need to be concerned about anything. You will really feel that you are a child of God. Ego and attachment destroy one’s life. It doesn’t matter how big a business you may have, or how wealthy you are, ego will destroy you so, remain free from ego and attachment and fill yourself with the nourishment of happiness.” The Brahma Kumaris is a unique spiritual organization with a network of four thousand plus centres in India and overseas, practising moral, ethical spiritual principles, values and virtues for higher life. Here, we learn how to make body, mind and soul pure. This is a unique place where the Incorporeal Supreme Soul, God Shiva, directly teaches us the eternal secrets of life through Gyan Murli. He teaches us to become soulconscious and renounce bodyconsciousness, thereby becoming free from the vice of body-consciousness and our
Too much dependence on a person may destroy your mutual relationship.
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attachments to body, relationships and worldly belongings. He says that the world is a Drama and all the souls in different body-costumes are acting on the world stage playing different characters. God Shiva directs us not to be bound to the material desires and attachments as overclouding of spirit/soul – the consciousness – by material desires is detrimental to our spiritual welfare. We should learn how to enjoy good things in life without becoming attached to any thing and being. Too much of attachment or binding to any thing and being, will cause one’s downfall from the state of soulconsciousness, which is our original, essential and real nature and religion. Shiva Baba says through Murli, “Sweet children, become bodiless and remember the Father. Remain stable in your original religion and you will receive strength, you will remain happy and healthy and your battery will continue to be full.” Further Baba says, “This is eternally fixed in the drama. Everyone has to die. You have the happiness that you will shed your old bodies and take birth in a new kingdom. Watch the drama as a detached observer. There is no question of fluctuating. There is no need to cry.” The Confluence Age is the only auspicious time when God 22
Shiva Himself is explaining this invaluable knowledge to the souls, His prodigal spiritual children, who were long -lost but are, now, found by Him. He directs His children to take the journey for higher life in this auspicious time only. Attachment to the body, desires and the material world stagnates and prevents the soul from flowering into immortality. While it is good to enjoy the good things of life, we should not become so much attached to these that we suffer if they are taken away from us. Nothing is permanent; so, it is unwise to keep all sorts of attachment that breeds fear, jealousy, competition, etc., and thereby prevents us from enjoying our life to the fullest. This is the reason why Shiva Baba teaches us to renounce body-consciousness and free the self from bodily attachment and relationships in order to achieve eternal peace and happiness. Shiva Baba says, “Manmanabhav”, which means ‘think of Me and remember Me only’ in soulconscious state and leave all worldly attachments. In the soulconscious state, as the seekers go deeper and deeper into meditation experience, God moves closer and closer to them. There develops a pure and divine love, which removes the barriers between the seeker and God,
the Creator, thereby generating boundless inner peace and inner power in the seeking souls. Dadi Janki very often asks, “Have you become free from the attitude of ‘I and mine?’ To be free from the attitude of ‘I and mine’ means to be free from the pulls and attachments. The ‘I and mine’ attitude pulls the intellect.” Further she says, “When we connect with Baba, on the one side, He is the One, the Supreme Soul, the Doer; and, on the other side, are we, the souls. He becomes our Companion, our Guide and our Protector.” Bodily attachment will never allow one to remember Him in true sense of the term. One can’t feel the love of the Supreme or experience His loving companionship. To experience a higher and beautiful life, one has to carry out one’s responsibilities of life in the world while remaining detached from bodily bondages. It is rightly said, “Live in the world but don’t allow the world to live in you.”
TOLERANCE If you realise that everyone is an individual with his/her own unique part to play; then, it is easy to develop the power of tolerance.
Be soul-conscious to feel the company of the Benevolent God Father Shiva.
April, 2019
Contd. from March 2019 issue The World Renewal
GOD FATHER SHIVA & THE GRAND FESTIVAL OF SHIVA RATRI/JAYANTI: THEIR UNIQUE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE AND UTMOST IMPORTANCE – Dr. Brahma Kumar Yudhishthir, Ph.D., Shantivan, Associate Editor
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he praises and glories of the Incorporeal God Father Shiva are ever unique, grand and unending. It is rightly said, “If one turns the whole expanse of the surface of the earth into paper, all trees of the forest regions of the earth into pens, and all seas and oceans into ink; even then all these will be inadequate to describe His complete praises and glories.” People of various categories like devotees, sages, saints, writers, poets, dramatists, philosophers, singers, dancers, painters, etc. describe, depict and delineate His praises and glories in their own specific ways; but, still their attempts fall short of their resources to give full vent to the feelings and emotions of their love, adoration and devotion towards Him. The author in this article continues highlighting His other praises and glories.
Names and Symbols of God Shiva in the World God, the Supreme Soul Shiva, is forever in the state of embodiment of TruthConsciousness-Bliss (Sat-ChitAnanda) and Truth-BenevolenceBeauty (Satyam-ShivamApril, 2019
Sundaram). Anyone can remember the Supreme Soul Shiva as Truth-ConsciousnessBliss and Truth-BenevolenceBeauty and experience these attributes of Him through yoga or meditation, and imbibe and absorb His these divine attributes in oneself and in one’s life; and this task is called the yoga of the self/soul with the Supreme Soul, the Yogeshwar – the Supreme Teacher of Yoga of the ancient Indian Adi Sanatan spiritual tradition. The one and same God, the Supreme Soul, Supreme Light, has been identified by different symbols in different religions of the world. History and historians opine that the Western countries are of recent origin; the religious beliefs, customs and cultures of the East have reached the West. The collected geo-historical facts state that during the passage of time different religious leaders have uttered the name of the same One Supreme Light, God, differently. In India, traditionally, people worship the Supreme Soul Shiva in the form of idols or images of Jyotirlinga, though the name Shiva has a bit of
variation in some parts as ‘Param Shiva’ in Sanskrit, ‘Paramatma Shiva’ in Kannada, ‘Shiva Paramatma’ in Hindi, ‘Shivudu’ in Telugu, and ‘Shiva’ in Tamil and Marathi just as the same name of deity Shreekrishna is spelt differently as ‘Krishna’ and ‘Krushna’ and uttered with a little variation in some parts as ‘Kishna’ in Sindh and Gujarat, ‘Kanhaiya’ in Uttar Pradesh, ‘Kannan’ in Tamil Nadu. A ‘Mercury Shivalinga’ is worshipped in Coimbatore; there are twelve Jyotirlingas, which are found to be worshipped in various parts of India. The point-of-light or dot form of the Supreme Soul, God Shiva, is represented in a medium of stone image, called ‘Jyotirlinga’ or ‘Shivalinga.’ But, actually, His real name is Shiva; form is incorporeal, luminous, conscient point-of-divine-light; abode is metaphysical Soul World, called Nirvandham/ Paramdham/Shantidham; the time of His descent/ reincarnation is the Age of Transition/Confluence (Sangam Yuga), the meeting point of time at the fag-end of the Iron Age
Waters of troubles come as tides not to drown you but to cleanse you.
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(Kaliyuga) and beginning of the advent of the Golden Age (Satyuga); His qualities/ attributes are knowledge, peace, love, happiness, purity, power and bliss, of which He is called the Ocean as He is the complete embodiment of all these. Awareness of the ‘real’ self/ soul/spirit and the knowledge of God’s real name, form, abode, time of His descent/ reincarnation, His qualities/ attributes and tasks/duties, and the practice of Rajyoga meditation lead the human souls towards attaining the stage of soul-consciousness.
Difference between Shiva and Shankar The difference between the dot form of the Incorporeal Supreme Soul, God Shiva, represented in ‘Jyotirlinga’ or ‘Shivalinga’ and the subtle angelic form of Shankar needs to be understood. The Supreme Soul God Shiva is the Creator of the three subtle deities, called Divine Triad or Trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar – through whom He performs the tasks of Generation/Creation, Operation/ Sustenance and Destruction respectively. He is, therefore, called Trimurti Shiva. “One Baba has three special workers through whom He carries out His world tasks.” (AvyaktMurli: 4.1.1980). As people do not know this recondite truth, they mistakenly 24
took for granted that Shiva and Shankar are one and same person or being. But, in reality, ‘Shiva’ means ‘doer of good’ whereas ‘Shankar’ being the instrument of destruction of the old Kaliyugi world represents how it gets destroyed. Shiva, who is incorporeal and bodiless, has a point-of-light or dot form, which is shown in an oval-shaped or thumb-shaped stone-linga for the worshipping purpose, but Shankar has an angelic subtlebody form. Shiva is the Yogeshwar, the Lord of Yoga and Yogis, whereas Shankar is a yogi or an ascetic, who is shown to be meditating on Shiva. According to Hindu mythological/legendary stories, Shankar, who is described as Lord of Kailash (Kailashpati), has married Parvati. According to The Gita, the differences between Shiva and Shankar are as follows: God Shiva is the Creator; He is Incorporeal without any physical or subtle body whereas Shankar is His creation and a deity with subtle body. Shiva is a self-luminous point-of-light or dot in form whereas Shankar is angelic and subtle in form. The former is the Creator, the latter is His Creation; the former is the Lord of the Universe/Three Worlds, the latter is the Lord of Kailash; the former is Yogeshwar, Lord of Yoga and Yogis, and the latter is a Yogi/
Ascetic; the former is Unborn (Ajanma) or Self-born (Swayambhu), the latter has subtle birth as a deity; the former is a permanent resident of Paramdham (Soul World), the latter is a resident of Kailash; the former is ever pure, non-violent and benevolent Creator, the latter is shown as the destroyer; the former the Supreme Father of all souls, the latter is the father of his children; the former is Absolute and pure white light in colour, the latter is bluish subtlecoloured/featured; the former is Unmanifest (Avyakta), Incorporeal and Incognito, the latter is manifest (Vyakta), subtle and cognito; the former has Supreme, Eternal (Anadi), Imperishable (Avyaya) and timeless existence, the latter has legendary existence; the former is the Supreme Soul, the latter is a deity soul. It is due to these differences, as The Gita does not accept Shankar as God; no other being, incarnated in human form like Shree Krishna and Shree Rama or in subtle form like Brahma and Vishnu, can also be called God. By giving their obeisance to gods, especially the Hindu Trinities (Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar), the devotees say: “Salutation to Brahma (Brahma Devataya Namah), Salutation to Vishnu (Vishnu Devataya Namah) and Salutation to Shankar (Shankar Devataya
If you have self-confidence, you can win the game of life everywhere.
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Namah).” But, while paying obeisance to Shiva, who is the One and Only God, the Father of all souls and creations including gods, the devotees consciously and invariably say: “Salutation to Shiva, the Supreme Soul (Shiva Paramatmaya Namah)”, thereby signifying the fact that it is only Shiva and none else who is unquestionably and exclusively the God – Creator, Director and Principal Actor, and also the true Sermonizer of The Gita instead of Shree Krishna.
Leading from Untruth to Truth The human souls, at present, are blinded and misguided by false and untruthful beliefs, reasoning and ideas about the interpretation of the concepts of Salvation (Moksha), Omnipresence of God, the real God of The Gita, Transmigration of souls, Philosophy of Action, etc. He leads them from all sorts of untruth, misconception and misinterpretation to truth (Asatoma Sadgamaya) by enlightening them with their real, just and appropriate meaning, interpretation and sound justification with logical and righteous explanations, proper reasoning, syllogisms, examples and illustrations.
Leading from Death to Immortality The soul, which is a nonphysical, non-material and April, 2019
spiritual entity, never dies. All souls including the human souls are immortal. The body, which is composed of five elements of Nature, is mortal and susceptible to the onslaught of Time and Death; hence, it ever dies. God Shiva leads the human souls, who are afraid of death, from Death to Immortality (Mrtyurma Amrutogamaya) by explaining them about the components [mind, intellect and impressions (Sanskars)], true nature and qualities of soul, revealing its form and unfolding them the process of its realization and also its relationships with Him for its ultimate spiritual enlightenment, empowerment and elevation from the current human stage in the Iron Age to deity stage in the forthcoming Golden Age.
Three Divine Tasks of God Shiva The acronym GOD signifies the three Divine Tasks Generation, Operation and Destruction - of God Shiva. The Incorporeal Supreme Soul God Father Shiva, who has no body of His own, performs His three major activities of Generation or Creation (Sthapana), Operation or Sustenance (Palana) and Destruction (Vinash) through Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar – the Hindu Trinity - who as the most befitting instruments supplement and implement God’s these noble tasks as
Generator or Creator, Operator or Sustainer and Destroyer respectively, and that is why the acronym GOD stands for Generator, Operator and Destroyer. They perform the roles of creation of a new world order, destruction of the old world order and sustenance of the newly established world of a perfect divine order. That is why as the Creator of the Trinity He is justifiably called Trimurti Shiva.
True Shiva and True Parvati True Shiva is the Point-of-Light Supreme Soul, who is the only Incorporeal and Bodiless Being of the Metaphysical world of souls but not Shankar, who is the subtle-bodied being and wrongly construed and interpreted as Shiva by the ignorant people. They mistakenly equate the Incorporeal Being and the subtle being as one and the same by understanding the term ‘Shivashankar’ as one name. In mythology, Parvati is said to be a devoted woman, who meditates Shivashankar to be His consort or spouse. But, symbolically, the true Parvati is the devoted human soul(s), who seeks the Incorporeal God Shiva through her/their devotion and penance in the cult of devotion (Bhakti Marga) and to whom God Shiva offers the fruits of their devotion by narrating the
You have to find out your own real self, everything else is found in google today.
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esoteric spiritual knowledge, called immortal anecdote (Amarkatha), and Rajayoga meditation after descending in the body-chariot of Prajapita Brahma for transforming them from their present human stage to the divine deity stage.
Shiva is True Rama and Soul is True Sita The term ‘Rama’ in Sanskrit means ‘Ramaniya’, which in English means ‘handsome’. The Incorporeal and Bodiless God Shiva is described as Truth (Satya), Benevolent (Shiva) and Beautiful/Handsome (Sundar). Usually, the concept of beauty is identified, related and construed with physical body. But, God Shiva has no physical body; even then He is called Beautiful/Handsome because His beauty has nothing to do with physical beauty that is perishable; His beauty is eternal and imperishable because His beauty is significantly related with His noble, divine, benevolent, handsome and sustainable action. That is why the saying - “Handsome is that handsome does.” – is truly and specifically applied to Him only in true sense of the terms. John Keats, the famous English Romantic poet, has equated truth and beauty when he said, “Truth is beauty; beauty is truth; a thing of beauty is joy for ever.” His noble, divine, benevolent, handsome and sustainable 26
action of liberation, redemption, purification and elevation of the impure human souls leading to complete and holistic transformation of human souls, five elements of Nature and the whole world is sustainable for a duration 2,500 years, a period of half a Kalpa continuing from the commencement of the Golden Age (Satyuga) to the end of the Silver Age (Treta Yuga) when the human souls were purest in the form of deities, who are the pure, divine and virtuous beings. In mythology, Sita is said to be the daughter of Janak, the king of Videha kingdom; thus, etymologically, Sita is called in Sanskrit as Viadehi (the daughter of Videh king), as the term is derived from the word ‘Videha’. It is also described that Sita was abducted by the king of Lanka Ravan, the ten-headed body-conscious and vicious demon, who subjected Sita to mental torture and exploitation. The ten-heads of Ravan are symbolic of the five vices such as lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego, which are present in both men and women, who are, actually, Jeevatma [Jeeva (body)+Atma (soul)] – the combination of body and soul. Thus, symbolically, the true Sita is the human soul(s), who is/are, now, completely body-conscious and quite subjected to domination and exploitation these vices, thereby resulting
unprecedented sorrows and sufferings in life. The Incorporeal God Shiva, who is the True Rama, delivers and liberates these human souls, the symbolic Sitas, from the grips of these five vices through imparting of spiritual knowledge and training of Rajayoga meditation.
Shiva Ratri/Jayanti Marks a Spiritual Revolution Shiva Ratri/Jayanti marks an unprecedented Spiritual Revolution, which brings about a complete worldtransformation including holistic spiritual transformation and empowerment of human souls and race through spiritual renaissance and practice of Rajayoga meditation taught by God Shiva, the Yogeshwar, and also effects the change, renewal and refurbishment of the five elements of Nature due to achievement of zero entropy with instillation or injection of yogic powers. In order to enable ourselves and others to reach the soulconscious stage and participate in God’s noble task of worldtransformation, we have to dedicate ourselves to this this Spiritual Revolution launched by the Supreme Father, God Shiva, for the benefit and divine service of the mankind and world at large. * (Concluded)
None can love the person, who generates fear psychosis in others.
April, 2019
TheTHEORY World Renewal THE NEW SCIENTIFIC “BIOCENTRISM” PROVES THE FACT: INFORMATION IN SOUL NEVER FADES
–Dr. Veena Mani, Principal Scientist ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India
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he current worldview is a world of objectivity, which seems to be primitive lacking depth to answer the questions of basic eternal truths; thus, showing its discrepancy. The current scientific paradigm doesn’t recognize the spiritual dimension of life, and this scientific knowledge is restricted to physical plan only, thereby stating that we’re just the activity of carbon and some proteins; and we live for a short period and die. The terms “life” and “death”, thus, relates only to the common concepts of “biological life” and “biological death”. The underlying principle is simply based on the laws of chemistry and physics; and no evidences have been cited in literature for elucidating the existence of soul. The recent studies in quantum physics are helpful in unravelling universal concepts about ‘consciousness’. One of the greatest examples of how quantum physics and ancient spiritual concepts are wound together can be seen from the works of Nikola Tesla, the well April, 2019
known scientist, who had a number of inventions including the ‘alternating current concept of electricity’. Besides the knowledge in his area of specialization, he had subtle the knowledge of the working of the universe. He quoted, “If you wish to understand universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibrations;” and said this knowlegde will help in resolving some the eternal truths about life. However, research advancement in neuroscience, which has shown functioning of the brain, is also inadequate in answering the question: “Why do we have a subjective experience?” and this question still remains mysterious. The importance or need of the soul lies exactly here, in understanding the nature of the self, the “I” in existence that feels and lives life. There is discrepancy of current scientific perspectives to explain these eternal facts as the soul is dismissed as an object of human belief, or reduced to a mere psychological concept that
shapes our cognition and understanding of the observable natural world. However, we’re now observing a merging of both science and spirituality through quantum physics and the study of consciousness, thereby shattering the old thought patterns and putting an end to the previous “tug of war” between these two subjects. We have quantum physics verifying what spiritual practitioners have been saying for years and helping people to accept their inherent spiritual nature all around the world. We are, fundamentally, connected to everything around us, and science is finally proving that. Recently, a new theory called Biocentrism – ‘Theory of Everything’ – was proposed by American scientist Robert Lanza (who worked on stem cells and was included in a list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” by the TIME Magazine in year 2014). He published article in “The American Scholar,” in the year 2007 to show how biology could build upon quantum physics. Subsequently, in the year 2009, Dr. Lanza published a book entitled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe”, which was co-authored by Bob Berman, an astronomer. The information contained
Doing good for one, who doesn’t do good for you, is a great act of charity.
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therein challenges this traditional, materialistic model of reality. The researcher explains that biology (the study of life sciences) is the central driving science in the universe while the other basic sciences like physics and chemistry rely on the deeper understanding of biology. Dr. Lanza believes that life and biology are central to being, reality and the cosmos: consciousness creates the universe rather than the other way around. Though, presently, physics is considered fundamental to the study of the universe, and chemistry fundamental to the study of life, Dr. Lanza claims that scientists will need to place biology before the other sciences to produce a “Theory of Everything”, leading to seek answers to some of the difficult questions about life, i.e., existence of soul, life and consciousness are central to this new view of being, reality and the cosmos. Otherwise, the concepts of human soul or afterlife like God, are not observable – that is, they cannot be analyzed empirically – it derives that they belong to metaphysics. Deeper interpretation does not discard such assumption outrightly. He believes that life must be considered the central feature of the universe, what explains the 28
very existence of the universe in the form we know. If our universe would host no life (and intelligent life especially), the universe simply would not exist and this makes the essence of the Biocentrism. According to the first principle of Biocentrism, “what we perceive as reality is a process that involves our consciousness”, which is closer to Eastern philosophies. Thereafter, He discussed the concept of “death” questioning that “If time is an illusion, if reality is created by our own consciousness, can this consciousness ever truly be extinguished?” Consciousness cannot be destroyed since the law of conservation energy says, “Energy can never be destroyed, but only subjected to transformation.” Therefore, the amount of electricity produced by our body and mind (what we call ‘consciousness’) cannot disappear after death and is conserved in some way, thereby suggesting that the dissolution of the physical body does not relate with death of consciousness or soul because from the point of view of consciousness the universe is timeless and not subject to change. Dr. Lanza further researched and documented the detailed findings in another book entitled
Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death (2016). It was also co-authored by Bob Berman. He explained the phenomenon of consciousness (the reality), from the information theory point of view and says, “If information is defined as everything involved in cause-andeffect exchanges; then, information interactions are continuous and omnipresent on all levels.” Thus, the principle of energy transformation is also applicable for exchange of information. He redefines consciousness as certain quantity of information instead of energy but still following the basic law of conservation of energy, which, now, can be reframed that information can be changed never be destroyed. Therefore, putting the concept of information at the center of his theory of Biocentrism, Dr. Lanza concludes, “All we know and can know is contained within our mind/the information processed in our brains. We are, ultimately, “machines with awareness”, to use its expression.” He, further, beautifully clears the concept about the self-identification and says, “That it is necessary to get rid of the body identification, in order to get rid of the false conception of death. It is not true that when we see a dead body,
Through continuous efforts one can make one’s personality great.
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the person who owned that body no longer exists. This is because, above all, since time is a construct of our mind, they cannot be thought of as “going away”, which requires the temporal concepts of before and after. But then how is it possible that we can no longer interact with the consciousness that was inside that body?” Returning to the idea of conservation of energy and information, Dr. Lanza argues that the consciousness of the “dead” person has entered a state of quantum superposition: it exists, but in an indeterminate state that is incomprehensible to our senses, exactly as all the possibilities of a quantum system exist when they are entangled, before the observation is made. From the standpoint of the one who died, the consciousness remains unaltered and he experiences the true timeless structure of the universe, just as an entangled quantum system experiences it. The scientific studies discussed above indicate that information stored in mind can never be destroyed but can only be transformed, thus, obeying the principles of conservation of energy. These facts have been told in a very simple way by our Beloved Shiva Baba - the Supreme Soul - who is the Ocean of Knowledge, so that even an illiterate can understand. He has revealed the truth that we are souls, invisible subtle energies having a physical body to experience life. The inner soul never dies and only change its outer physical costume - the body. This is a mega shift from body-consciousness to soul-consciousness. This realization is helpful in proving continuity of life (in the form of sanskars) even after death of one physical body, which can be further related with other natural laws, i.e., karmic account, destiny and purpose of life. Thus, solving of this thread resolves many issues like universe and life, which are interrelated. April, 2019
WHAT ARE THOUGHT VIBRATIONS? The word atmosphere has two meanings. One refers to the physical air around us and the other to the more subtle effect that thought vibrations create in a particular space. No one can deny that the atmosphere of a crowded restaurant is different from that of a temple. This is so mainly because of the effect of different types of thoughts and feelings created in that space. Even someone, who is deaf and blind, would have the ability to pick up the difference. Sound vibrations are invisible but their impact isn’t. A pneumatic drill or a jet breaking the sound barrier jolt both our minds (non-physical effect) and the walls of our houses (physical effect). Thought vibrations can’t be seen but their nonphysical as well as physical impact is even more powerful and influential. The panic that people generate during a stampede or an earthquake and the euphoria (absolute joy) of victory in a World Cup final cricket game are examples of how thoughts create an atmosphere. On a subtler level, many of us have the experience of basic telepathy, for example: I was just thinking of you and you called. Thoughts connect individuals over large distances. Doctors inform us that over 90% of the physical body’s illnesses have a psychosomatic ( physical-mental) origin, i.e., they are a direct or indirect result of our state of mind. That makes the human body the prime example of how thoughts affect matter. Since the world is made up of the collective and personal worlds of all individuals; then, it’s easy to see how the international political, economic and social atmospheres are nothing more than the collective effects of all our collective thoughts.
Without inspiration from others, be self-inspired to perform any action.
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INCULCATION OF VALUES CAN MAKE HUMAN LIFE AND WORLD BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE –T.V. Jayaprakash, Palakkad
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T.V. Jayaprakash
alues are the noble principles and ideals, which we like to inculcate in life and stick to without being influenced by outside fear, threat and influence in order to live a value-based, spiritual happy and peaaceful life. They are unique, intangible and internal. These could not be measured numerically. In the ‘universe of values’, one has to act with great care, caution, patience and perseverance in order to inculcate values in practical life and share them with others, and thereby transform the self and world and also make the human life and world better than ever before. Purity is an affirmation of life’s original dignity and worth. The values of peace, love, truth and happiness are those aspects of our life experience we, obviously, value above all. Truth is the harmony of ideas and judgments with facts and relations of facts in the environment. Peace is stillness of mind and an inner silence filled with the power of truth. It is a silent, solemn and qualitative energy, and also our 30
original, essential and natural state. Inner peace is a conscious creativity. Caring and sharing refers to love. Purity brings peace, happiness, prosperity and brilliance. When the idea of ‘value’ is mixed with the concepts such as need, desire, attachment and belief, ‘confusion in values’ emerge in the individual mind. This creates clashes in a collective context and the ‘crisis in values’ is perceived within the society. Therefore, understanding and inculcation of values need a clear perspective. The discrepancy between one’s current decandent state of self and prospective ideal state is identified as the need for urgent self-transformation. Transformation happens within the inner individual soul or self, one step at a time. Worldtransformation happens through individual self-transformation of all human souls. The world will become a better place when each individual human soul becomes better. The core values are already in permanent residence within our own soul,
the inner spiritual consciousness. Value is a virtue used for the upliftment of the lives of others. Our values are based on our qualities. Purity, patience and perseverance are the three essential values for success. As a human being, let us love the mankind and the earth, our only habitat. Indentify with them to sympathise and empathise. Make progress and also help others to make progress. With the light of spiritual knowledge, you are at light. Others are in the darkness of ignorance, just light a candle or lamp of such knowledge for them. Making changes in the self and others means you are becoming better and making others and the world also better. Refine, reorient and reinvent the self to adopt changing environment. Rights are to be balanced with responsibilities, and choice is to be balanced with conscience. Stand up for what you believe is right and live by your highest values. “If each before his/her own door sweeps, the village will be clean.” Keep changing for the
Successful people change their ways of working but never their aim.
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better. The more one gives the more one has. ‘Hurt’ feelings are entirely our own creation but not of the other person or the situation. Honour yourself and others, and, simultaneously, respect and care about other’s rights. Make life more peaceful and orderly for every one. Respect and understand each other. Be free from prejudice or favouritism. Obedience brings success and safety. Follow what is right. Play by the rules. Be trustworthy. Cheerfulness refers to charm and cheer that touch our heart and gladden our spirit. A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. Everybody smiles in the same language. Humour is an internal jogging. In a smiling and humorous spirit, consider the ups and downs of life as opportunities in disguise. Trust yourself, you will, then, know how to live. Do something that will help you in the future. See the end in the beginning and be calm and tolerant. Hope, trust and wait expecting things to turn out alright. Patience and perseverance jointly make difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. Be introspective, be an observer and be optimistic. Concentrate on listening to the speaker during dialogues and conversations and be a good April, 2019
listener. Thinking of the good qualities of others make us feel light and easy. Thoughts are like elevators. They take us up, and they bring us down. Think positively and see the shining light even in the darkness. When we are positive we generate energy; but, when we are negative the energy is drained. An obstacle in our mind is worse than an obstacle on our path. Be present in the present and be aware of the present moment. If you are not so and, instead, you are trapped in the past by regrets that are impossible to repair, or trapped in the future by imaginations that are impossible to fulfill; then, you lose the oportunities in the present. It is ’here and now’ at present, around which our life revolves perfectly, even amidst all its apparent imperfections. Be ‘in the moment’. Be ‘at the centre’. Always look at the bright side of things and life. The process of adopting and inculcating more and more values opens the way to a beautiful world of harmonious relationships, mutual trust and love. Let us acquire this valuable quality as soon as we need it, and thereby be valuable. Values and qualities that are followed and demonstrated inspire positive change. Values can be powers, qualities and virtues
depending on how they are used. Strong will power and determination are necessary to do the right thing, to be moral and powerful, while it is easy to be immoral. Let us, repeatedly, face the situations boldly and shun away weaknesses, and be qualified. Apply the values regularly and frequently in life and be virtuous. Higher consciousness, which is soul-consciousness, refers to knowing, understanding and realization of oneself and others as souls, the spiritual children of one and same Incorporeal God Father, the Supreme Soul. This consciousness gives a greater awareness and a refined perspective of the worldview – the world as a vast global family – of the meaning of life and of our own spiritual identity. Inside yourself is a place where you live all alone and that is where you renew your springs that never dries up. That place is the locus of the immortal, spiritual soul, which animates the body and acts with the help of physical sense organs. Soulconsciousness makes inculcation of values easy, simple and possible, thereby making human life and world better through selftransformation and worldtransformation.
Keep faith in God; never ask for more, He will never give you less.
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EQUIPOISE COMES WITH STABILITY
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–B. K. Sujoy, Durgapur (W.B.)
o continue to progress towards the aim of attaining constant peace of mind, the most important thing is equipoise or balance. If a car is too heavily weighted on one side, the driver will find it difficult to control or manoeuvre. Problems will arise with tyres, suspension and so on. The same can happen with us if we pay too much attention to the physical practice of sitting in meditation, and not enough attention to relating peacefully with others. We may become withdrawn, living in our own ‘inner world’, instead of living in ‘real world’ outside. We may find that our relationships with others have become difficult. We always want God to do things that we think are good for us. Whatever we expect in life, we want that to happen; otherwise, we become disappointed. When what we want does not happen, or the unexpected happens, we find it difficult to fathom why it happened. At that stage, we forget to think that maybe this was supposed to happen. So, we are caught up in the why and wherefores of what happened. 32
We feel as though we had lost the connection with God. Losing connection with Him means instability. And when we are instable from inside, we cannot maintain the equipose or balance outside. So, what is important to recognize is: Why do we feel that we have lost our connections? If our connection with the Divine is strong and stable, nothing should make that connection weak. If our faith is great and we recognize that it is He who is guiding us; then, irrespective of what happens to us, we will recognize that whatever happened was for our good. Then, the next time if something happens, we will not be so affected by the moments of sorrow as well as those of happiness. We will cultivate equipoise that keeps us steady despite the highs and lows happening in our life. Equipoise comes with stability. For example, when we go to buy a car, we want the most stable car that will not turn over. Stability of a car comes from the condition of how strong its connection is with the ground. Similarly, our spiritual
stability depends on how strong our connection is with the Supreme. If our connection with Him is strong, nothing can pull us apart and we will always remain stable. This stable state comes as we meditate and experience the light and might of God. If we sit in silence and focus our attention on our inner self, we will find the manifestation of God in the form of inner light and might. Inner journey through practice of Rajyoga meditation will lead us to realization of God and we will experience an allembracing love enveloping us. Once, we truly live like that, we are able to deal in the best manner possible with any situation that comes before us; so, the strength of our Divine connection is important. In Rajyoga, we are taught four important aspects to maintain equipoise in any upheaval. If equal weight or importance is given to all the four, we can remain balanced while making natural and easy progress. These four aspects are knowing, being, becoming and giving. ‘Knowing’ refers to the understanding of knowledge. Here, the knowledge means the knowledge of our true form and relation with the Supreme. ‘Being’ refers to Yoga, the experience of self-realization and God-realization through
Pain in life comes to go; but if you lose courage it will linger longer.
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practice of meditation, the experience of peace. The experience of peace makes ‘peace’ a reality in our life. It also gives us a basis of trust and faith. ‘Becoming’ refers to our actions. Sitting in meditation and experiencing ourselves as a peaceful soul; and, then, immediately afterwards becoming angry with someone, renders the peaceful experience meaningless; and, thus, the soul feels lost and confused. Meditation must be made practical; its positive power must be reflected in our actions. We should, actually, become in outer world what we experience in meditation in our inner world. ‘Giving’ refers to harmonious and altruistic relationships with others. We cannot give and receive at the same time; so, having the thought to spread only peace and good wishes means there is no room for fear, resentment or anger within us. When all these four aspects of knowing, being, becoming and giving are in harmonious balance, the soul will be at peace with itself and in harmony with others. This state of practical soul-consciousness has been termed as ‘Equipoise in Life’. April, 2019
Morning Musings & Night Notions
“The world is full magic things,joy.” patiently “Do anything, butoflet it produce -Walt waiting Whitman “Letour thesenses measure of time be spiritual, not– W.B. Yeats for to grow sharper.” mechanical.” R W Emerson “Be tolerant of- those, who are lost on their path. “Be guided by spirit and not driven by ego.” Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem Anonymous from a lost soul. Pray theypardoned.” will find guidance.” “It is in pardoning thatthat we are - St. Francis of Assisi – Elder Wisdom “Everything the world was my Guru.” - Ramana “Be not afraidinof anything. You will do marvellous Maharshi work. It is fearlessness that brings Heaven even in “Quiet the mind and the soul will speak.” - Jaya Sati aBhagavati moment.” – Swami Vivekananda “One of the most spiritual you can do is “Spiritual progress is like athings detoxification.” - Marianne Williamson embrace your humanity. Connect with those “Reachyou for atoday.” thought that feels better.”–-Steve Abraham around Maraboli Hicks “You and your purpose in life are the same thing. “Your thoughts become things. Your thoughts are the Your purpose be you.” - Rhonda – George primary causeisoftoeverything.” Byrne Alexiou “Be here, - Ram Dass power within you, “Bring intonow!” play the almighty “When youthe make a choice, youcan change so that on stage of life you fulfill the yourfuture.” Deepak Chopra high – Paramahansa Yogananda “Youdestined must notrole.” let your life run in the ordinary way; “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God’s – creative really are.” Carl Jung principle works inisyou.” - Paramahansa “If your intention powerful, your actionYogananda will be “God findsIfHimself by creating.” -Rabindranath powerful. your action is powerful, your resultsTagore “When a man is willing and eager, the gods join in.”will be powerful.” – Anonymous Aeschylus “Sweet children! You are the destroyer of troubles “Arise, awake, stop not till the goal is reached.” Swami Vivekananda of the souls of the world and the bestower of boons of liberation upon them. Spread your spiritual vibrations for making their ultimate welfare.” – God Father Shiva
Doing work being self-inspired is one of the qualities of the intellectual.
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The World Renewal (.....Contd. from page no. 3)
carelessness or cruelty to our own selves?
It is a Great Promise “You are dear to Me; I, really, love you”, He says. “I assure you that I will free you of all your sins and your misdoings, done in utter ignorance or misunderstanding. Come and take refuge in Me; surrender to Me alone and I promise that I will liberate you,” He, thus, speaks to us as the only One, who knows us intimately and loves us more than we love ourselves. Who is He that loves us so much and offers us so much? If we do not listen to Him, how will we know Him? If we do not know Him, how will we surrender to Him? And, if we do not surrender, what is our plan for salvation, purification or perfection?
Knowledge of the Creator and Time Not only is the true Knowledge of His identity necessary but also the knowledge of whether His utterances relate to some particular time in History is also essential, for it speaks of an impending Great Destruction and of His form as the Great Destroyer (Mahakala). It speaks of a period in human history when people have deviated extremely from the sane path of Dharma, morality or divine qualities and have lost all touch with their own
real self and God, the Supreme Self. They have taken to a lifestyle, based on hatred, anger, violence, sex-lust, greed, exploitation, injustice, pride and all that is devilish. The Bhagwad Gita seems to speak of such a time as the present phase of history when there is all-time highest degeneration of morals.
Drama, for they themselves are caught up in the wheel of the births and deaths. Therefore, I have to descend to reveal the truth. You just listen to Me. Free your mind of all that you have packed it with and let My Light enter. You are vainly proud of your bookish knowledge or what you have learnt from humans. New Knowledge, Free And, yet, you do not know even from all Bonds and a tangible fraction of truth.” Blemishes The esateric spiritual There have been many knowledge that He gives is new. attempts by scholars and saints The words, used to express, might to solve the riddle of His identity be old but their meaning is new, and also of the time when The for the real meaning had been lost. Gita was revealed. There are God’s dictionary and grammar are millions, who have read The Gita different from that of human or its translations. But, all have beings; because God’s Wisdom only added to the confusion. The is without any bias, without any spiritual knowledge has, now, touch of any of the vices or without become like an extremely any limitation, imposed by bodytangled thread. They have tried consciousness, bondages and their utmost to crack the hard blemishes of the differences in knot, to untangle the thread of castes, countries, cults, creeds this spiritual knowledge but have or communities. He is totally free failed miserably; because their and absolutely true and fair. His minds dwell on grammar or knowledge is not bounded by any lexicon or some particular “ism” cut-off mark of time or space. So, such as Vaishnavism or Veda He alone can give knowledge in (Philosophical Theory), and words and in manner which are Advaitvad (Monistic school of best-suited. It is, therefore, the thought). They have all rarest of opportunity, that we have, overlooked God’s own assertion: of listening to His voice - the “No one, not even the gods, Supreme Master’s voice - that is know Me truly as I am and what so enchanting, enthralling and I am. So, no one can tell you the ennobling. This opportunity truth about Me, the Creator, nor knocks at our door only once in can they tell you of the World the four Ages!
Edited and published by B.K. Atam Prakash for Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, Mount Abu and printed at: Om Shanti Printing Press, New Gyanamrit Bhawan, Om Shanti Nagar, Bhujela, PO: Bharja 307032, Dist.: Sirohi.(Rajasthan). Chief Editor: B.K. Nirwair, Pandav Bhawan, Mount Abu. Associate Editors: Dr. B.K. Ranjit Fuliya, Delhi and Dr. B.K. Yudhishthir, Shantivan.
Phone: (0091) 02974-228125 E-mail: worldrenewal@bkivv.org, omshantipress@bkivv.org Alighthouse, true renunciate uses all facilities being completely from them. have mercy on try toone accept yourself as you are and love yourself. Control your tongue; the caravan ofoftroubles will vanish from your path. One, who does good to others, draws goodness from God. 34 One, who isyourself, under canopy God’s grace, isdetached the luckiest. Give fragrant flowers tothe those who pierce you with pricking thorns. April, 2019 In order to claim the number status, transform the waste into best. A soul, who is To a can dispel the darkness of ignorance of all.