1/31/2017
1/30/2017
1/23/2017
Self
ANNAMALAI SWAMI REMEMBERED
After a few months in Palakottu I noticed that my mind was beginning to get quieter and quieter. During my working days my mind had been constantly occupied with thoughts about building matters. The mind would continue its incessant activities even after the end of each day’s work. Plans, problems, and theoretical solutions to problems, would continue to fill my mind long after the actual work was over. I found it very hard to meditate under such circumstances.
Bhagavan had told me, ‘You are not the body, you are not the mind. You are the pure consciousness, the Self. You are all-pervasive. Be aware of this at all times, even while you are working.’
I tried very hard to put this upadesa into practice while I was working, but I cannot say that I had much of a success.
When I moved to Palakottu I found it far easier to practice Bhagavan’s teachings. My mind became much quieter and even my body began to change. While I had been working in Ramanasramam there had always been a lot of heat in my body. Working with lime had made the body feel very hot and I compounded the problem by spending a large part of each day out in the sun.
After a few months of meditation in Palakottu my mind became relatively quiet and still and a wonderful coolness pervaded my body. In the course of time, after many years of practice, both of these conditions became permanent.
- LWB
1/22/2017
Even mindedness
Learn to laugh at difficulties by remembering that you are immortal: "Killed many times, I yet live, born many times, I am yet changeless." Whether you are suffering in this life, or smiling with opulence and power, your consciousness should remain unchanged. If you can accomplish evenmindedness, nothing can ever hurt you. The lives of all great masters show that they have achieved this blessed state.
Paramahansa Yogananda
Reality
We should not be frightened by nightmares of pain nor unduly elated by dreams of beautiful experiences. By dwelling on these inevitable dualities or "pairs of opposites" of maya, the cosmic delusion of incessant change, we lose the awareness of God, the Changeless Abode of Bliss. When we awaken in Him we shall realize that mortal life is only a picture made of shadows and light, cast on a cosmic movie screen. You are not here to become mixed up with the movies and cry when there is a tragedy or smile when there is comedy. You should know that you are watching movies of life and death but that you are apart from them. You must get away from the hypnotizing dance of the senses. You must wake up. You must not waste time. Soon the show will be over, and where will you be then?
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
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