Every Particle has Life

From Words of Wisdom: Swami Satchidananda

“There are single atoms and, when they move close to each other, they become molecules, then tissues and then cells. The atoms develop one by one and, as more of them gather together, they get awakened. That’s why we say that everything has life. There is nothing inanimate, nothing lifeless in this world. Everywhere, every particle has life. The life in so-called inanimate objects is not manifested, not seen by our ordinary eye. But everything is full of life, and that life force is the vital energy, which we call prana. Prana is in everything. Once we understand prana and become masters of it, we are able to control it. Then we can then direct that prana any way we choose.

“God bless you. OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.”

TAKE YOUR SEAT

From Ocean of Dharma: Chogyam Trungpa

The practice of meditation is taking your seat in the warrior’s world. Then, throughout your life, meditative awareness shows you how to regain your balance when you lose it, and how to use the messages from the phenomenal world to further your discipline. The practice of meditation also allows you to be completely grounded in reality. Then, if someone asks, “How do I know that you are not overreacting to situations?” you simply reply, “My posture in the sadde, my seat on the earth, speaks for itself.”

See the Good in All

From Words of Wisdom: Swami Satchidananda

“Smile at everybody, think well of everyone, speak well of everybody, don’t talk about the bad things or the bad sides of people. Know that, the more you think of the bad side of others, the more you think of the bad side within you. You may be talking about somebody saying, ‘Oh, he is bad that way, or she did that bad thing,’ but it is you who are thinking of those bad ideas in his or her name. Your mind will get spoiled because it invites the bad thoughts. Before you make the other person a bad person, you become the bad one. So don’t ever invite bad thoughts; think good ideas. Rather, think good ideas, speak good words; do something good. Then you will really enjoy the supreme joy.

“God bless you. OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.”

My Own Experience

From Words of Wisdom:Swami Satchidananda

“What is the goal of Yoga? Serenity of mind—but you can’t keep the mind serene just by sitting and meditating an hour, then going out and doing anything you want with all selfish and greedy intentions. I would say that you don’t even need to meditate. My own experience is this: I don’t do asanas, I don’t meditate, I don’t do anything that I ask you to do. All I do is to just live for the sake of others. I do everything for the benefit of the humanity, for the benefit of the people. And so, I am young, I am happy, I am peaceful. That’s my secret.

“God bless you. OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.”

OVERCOMING GUILT

From Ocean of Dharma: Chogyam Trungpa

Guilt is not fundamentally healthy, because it has the quality of condemning whatever happens and not seeing the inspiration or positive aspect in things. Often a guilty conscience comes from self-hatred, constantly condemning oneself.  The only way to overcome guilt is by seeing that there is nobody to blame for the chaos or the difficulties in life. Chaotic situations are not punishment, but they are steppingstones. Then you can see the positive within the negative.

DAILY LIFE BECOMES THE TEACHING

From Ocean of Dharma: Chogyam Trunga

There’s no need to philosophize your work in order to make it spiritual. It has spiritual bearing anyway. If you regard yourself as a person on the spiritual path, then whatever you do is part of the path, an expression of the path. Decentralization, the absence of ego, the lack of searching for happiness, and not avoiding pain — all of that brings us into the reality of dealing with things directly and thoroughly. Dealing with things in this decentralized, egoless manner is known in the Buddhist tradition as  upaya, or skillful means. Without that, there is no means of discovering the inner guru, or inner teacher, as one might call it, which is the constant instruction that you begin to receive on the path. The daily living situation becomes the teaching; it becomes a constant learning process. There’s no way of developing that sense of inner teacher if you fail to relate with daily living situations directly, because without that, there’s no interchange with your world.

Constant Change

From Words of Wisdom: Swami Satchidannda

“Things change constantly. What are birth and death? They’re simply the changing of things. The plant changes into a flower, the flower changes into a garland and, eventually, the garland will change into dust. It is the same for the body also, as the body is composed of elements. We say the body is born and that the elements are constantly changing. So, one day, when the body decomposes, it will be dead, but you, the owner of the body, will always remain the same. This understanding, or the realization of immortality, is possible only when you free yourself from wrong identification. It is only by this proper realization that you can be permanently happy. All other kinds of happiness that seem to be coming from your possessions are false happiness, or, in other words, reflected happiness.

“God bless you. OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.”

PROBLEMS ARE CREATIVE OPPORTUNITIES

From Ocean of Dharma: Chogyam Trungpa

Once a person is involved with meditation practice and with working on the spiritual path, then the problems encountered in engaging with society are not hang-ups anymore. They are creative opportunities. Those everyday-life situations become part of meditation practice. The situation slows you down, or the situation pushes you. It depends on how much you engage. If you are too engaged, then something will slow you down. If you are not involved enough, there will be some reminder that pushes you to get more involved.

God Can Show You the Way

From Words of Wisdom: Swami Satchidananda

“If you really want God to show you the way, then pray and God will show you the way. Prayer is the only way. Tell God: ‘God, I don’t know what to do. Please guide me, please guide me.’ And God will guide you, through someone or through your dreams. God’s ways are mysterious. For example, somebody will come and tell you what to do. So, leave it to God, and God will guide you. All you can do is pray, pray, pray, but know that whatever happens, it’s for our own benefit—because God loves us more than we love God. To God, everything and everybody is God’s child, God’s creation. The entire globe is God’s creation. How can our Father-Mother-God ignore us or do something wrong to us? God does always good to us.

“God bless you. OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.”

Make Yourself Strong

From Words of Wisdom by Swami Satchidananda

“Make yourself strong before you go to help somebody. Suppose a house is on fire and you are supposed to go there to pour water. You say you don’t have time to find water and all you have is a gallon of gas. Would you want to pour gas on the fire? When you want something to happen, you should make sure that you have what is necessary to do the job. In the same way, you are using your mind and body to go and serve others, so take care of your mind and body first. There’s no rush to go there and add more problems. We are all interested in helping others, but we can’t help others unless we have the capacity to do that.

“God bless you. OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.”

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