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Click on the Index Page to read more of Sri Vasudeva's Inspirational
Talks: * INDEX
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Topics:
God is Within
Spiritual People
Managing Thoughts...
A Deeper Space of Depth Inside
Keeping Positive Thoughts
Meditation
God is Within You
Satsang is a meeting place with the Divine and this meeting place is not an external place but an internal place. You have been hearing that the Kingdom of heaven lies within you; that God is omnipresent; that God is in you and God is around you; it is important to feel, not just to sing, say or listen. When you come to satsang this is what I try to get you to experience. That God would not be something outside of you but God would be within your grasp and your experience.
God is nothing else but your greater self. I say ‘greater self’ because when you feel you are a human being only then you miss your larger identity because you are connected to the entire Universe. Your being is in contact with the Universe, if only you can become aware of that. Sometimes you get a glimpse of the experience when you feel an expansion of being, you may feel in your meditation that you are alone in the room or you may listening to music and feel your whole being has opened or you may sharing a conversation with someone and feel the space is larger than you and you feel a sense of oneness with the other person; those are experiences of the larger self. When you connect with the Greater Power within you, you are experiencing what we call your larger self. You are not just an individual human body; you are much more than that.
An analogy is that the electricity that flows through the bulb also flows through other things in the circuit, so they are all connected. If the bulb thinks it is isolated, it is not, it is connected to other parts of the circuit. You are connected to the Universe. When you can feel that, there is a sense of freedom, greatness and power.
The important thing in life is getting to know yourself. You are very curious on knowing things about you but wouldn’t it be curious to know what happens behind your mind, who lives behind your mind, who powers you up, who energizes you beyond food and beyond the physical energy?
You have a chance to touch that power this evening. You have a chance to go deeper within yourself and touch something greater. Whenever you are in the company of those who live in a higher state of consciousness or a more expanded state of consciousness, you have an opportunity to experience it. We touch each other, we influence each other, and we impact upon each other.
No matter how many times you have sat or listened to me, if you feel you are listening to me for the first time then you are living in the present. That is how I feel about you, no matter how many times I have seen you before, this moment is the now, and it is the reality. Can you be in the now? Can you strive to be in this moment fully? The past is gone, it is only a memory. This is the moment of our reality now. This is what the future is and this is what the now is and this is the future as well that is changing to the now and the future. If you hold on to this moment, you are in the future and the past. The future is a now and the now is the now. When you are in that kind of experience, time disappears.
Let us try to go beyond the mind, don’t be caught in the mind. Try to stay in a state of calmness and watchfulness and allow yourself to experience what is happening in the room. This is not an ordinary meeting. Allow yourself to experience the depth that is present.
The saying is, if you want to know who God is, try to know yourself because you exist in God. If you want to know who God is, try to know what lies within you. Let us do that this evening.”
Spiritual People
I do believe that the presence of those who are very spiritual or enlightened is what makes a difference in any place or environment or in our interaction. When I walk into a group of people, I can immediately tell the quality of the people who are there. It is always a joy for me when I walk into a group to find someone spiritual, the whole atmosphere feels different. If it is in a business place, you can feel the lightness of the place; if it is in a home, you can feel it and you want to stay longer in the home or you want to go back to that business place. Spirituality has a way of transforming the atmosphere and bringing light to the place.
The more we can associate with those who live in the light, the more we too can live in the light. Darkness is never a desirable place to be. A home that has lots of arguments, conflicts and undesirable emotions is not a home of good energy; you cannot rest comfortably in such a place. But a home where there is prayer, noble thoughts and where there is an atmosphere of peace, feels different. I can tell immediately when I sit on a seat, when I lie on a bed or when I hold an object; I can actually tell what kind of energy has been there. I love the company of those who are spiritual. I wish you can see that value. When you come to the centre here, this is what we try to create. This is what we try to create in satsang that the two hours will go away and it will feel like ten minutes and there is a craving for more. The atmosphere has so much ease, comfort, positive energy that your tiredness goes away and your mind becomes peaceful. The presence of those who are spiritual is an invaluable and precious presence.
My wish is that more and more people in this world would become more spiritually evolved. This is why I have given my life to the spiritual evolution to humanity to touch as many people as I can. Sometimes I may want to take a little break and then someone comes and my thought is if I spend two minutes with this person, I can change the life of this person, so I allow the contact with the person. Everyone is important to me. We need the presence of people who live in the spirit.
I hope all of you who listen to me will strive to stay in that kind of state and touch those around you. This is my wish. The peace that you feel when you are here with me that you would take that peace back with you and hold it and share it with those around you. We need to create a better world. We need to let this energy spread. We don’t have to keep this only when we come and sit in satsang with our kurtas, shalwars or special satsang garments but even when you are in your work garments, the feelings should be the same. The joy is when you can carry this feeling in every moment.
Please keep your connection with spiritual people, keep remembering them. Wherever you find noble teachings, read them, contemplate them. Wherever you find noble souls, keep their company and remember them - your day would be different and your thoughts will be different.
These souls who live in the light, let us bring their energies into our being. Let us become souls who live in the light. Enlightened beings do not want to be praised, they want us to become like them. The Buddha said ‘Don’t rely on others but be a light unto yourself’. The Bhagawad Gita said ‘Lift yourself by yourself, don’t degrade yourself’. Jesus said ‘Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect’. What are they trying to tell us? - To become the light.
Managing Thoughts, Emotions and Desires
If you have been following what is happening in the satsang, you would actually feel as you listen and sing, you are going into a deeper place inside. We call that space a secret space because it is like a sanctuary. As you go deeper inside, you feel your peace becomes greater. That is the magic of being in an atmosphere where there are souls in that sacred space. As you go deeper inside yourself, you have greater objectivity; you don’t react or respond impulsively, you are able to see your own response when it becomes reactive. You see when anger, jealousy, pride and fear are coming inside of you when you begin to look from a deeper space. In satsang as you go inside, that is the space you are going into.
It is extremely important in life as it is fundamental to our growth and education that we need to learn how to manage thoughts, emotions and desires. This is fundamental to the education of a human being. I will go in schools and say that our education system is inadequate because we are not being taught how to manage emotions, thoughts and intentions. Teachers will look at me and shake their heads (yes), the principals too would shake their heads and I also think the directors of education will shake their heads. So, where are we headed?
Thank God for these spiritual institutions that gives us these teachings. Someone may want to put us into their religion and say you have to join their religion. But, do we have to join a religion to know God? Do we have to join a religion to be able to manage our minds and emotions? Do you have to join a religion to go into that sacred space? No, we don’t.
It is very important to manage thoughts. You may not give this attention but I hope you will. When you allow restless thoughts in your mind, when you allow your mind to shift from one thought to another, when you allow your mind to move, you are actually burning vital energy away. When you fight with your thoughts, you are burning vital energies away. You are weaker at the end of the day. A mind that is divided is not a powerful mind. If you are able to be directed in your thoughts, if you are able to be focused, you will find your mind becomes more and more powerful. Hence the reason for keeping a mantra or an affirmation in the mind or keeping a noble thought in the mind and holding it their, give us power.
Do you know what an athlete has to say if they are running, ‘I am going to win, I am going to win, I am going to win’. They may take a little glance back to see where the other person is but they keep saying, ‘I am going to win, I am going to be in front’. And if any little thought comes up and say ‘No’; they will say ‘No, I am going to be in front, I am going to be there’. And even if they fall back, they are constantly thinking, ‘I am going to go, I am going to go, I am going to go’. Do you know how a successful business person thinks? No matter where they are, they are going to make a profit, no matter what they sell, they are going to make a profit. They see only profit and only opportunities. Anywhere they go they will find an opportunity.
If you keep that one thought in the mind, it can take you any and everywhere. Your energy seems to increase. It is the same as you say ‘I am going to get better, I am going to stay healthy’ and you keep on saying it over and over. Now, do you see the value of a mantra? When you leave and go outside into your car, if you are not strong enough, your conversation is going to change and your mind is going to say, ‘Oh he gave a good lecture, what are we going to eat now, what are we going to do tomorrow?’ Or, are you going to silently contemplate to keep the mantra in the mind as you leave and when you go on your bed? Your dreams will be better, your thoughts will be better, your energies will be better, your health will be better, your peace of mind will be better, your well-being will be better. It is all in the mind.
I like to believe that all is possible for us. We can choose in this moment what we want to choose. I can choose to be happy in this moment; I can choose to be loving in this moment; I can choose to be peaceful in this moment. I can choose that because it is my possibility. My greater self allows me that possibility.
A Deeper Space of Depth Inside
The joy of life is when you can begin to express this in your daily lives: in your conversations and in your actions when you can express this peacefulness, joyfulness and the love that you feel inside of you. That is the greater challenge but also the greater joy.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we have a world where people act from a deeper space with greater consciousness, greater love, greater compassion, greater kindness, and greater humility? We have to create that world. We need to create that world. And we do it by living in the now, not waiting to practice tomorrow but doing it now.
We are all divine beings. Are you are aware that you are divine? Are you still caught in the body consciousness that you are affected by everything that happens to your body? Or can you feel you are something more than just the body? When you sit in satsang do you feel that there are something more in you, that there is a place of peace in you or a place of love within you or a place of joy within you or a place of wisdom within you? Do you feel there is a place of depth inside of you? Do you feel there is a place when you go your boundary seems to shift, your peace seems to have no end, your love seems to grow, and your joy seems to be flowing? Do you feel such a place inside of you? It is there. It is for you to become familiar with it. That is the space where God is within you. That is the space where I invite you to go when you are with me. I say ‘look there is a space inside of you, feel it, God is with you, His peace is with you, His love is with you, you are in His love, you are in His peace’. Do you feel cleansed by it? Do you feel sanctified by it?
Keeping Positive Thoughts
I have been speaking to you about the need to keep very positive thoughts in the mind. There is a story that I love to tell young people about how the mind is like a wish fulfilling tree. Whatever thoughts you think about strongly, would turn into your reality.
This story carries such great meaning. This person is seeking in the forest and eventually he found a tree which was the Wish Fulfilling Tree. His first wish he made was not for wealth, it was for food. Lo and behold the food appeared but he was so tired to eat, he wished that someone will come to serve him so a wonderful lady came to serve him. He had eaten a full stomach and he lay down to sleep. When he woke up it was late evening in the forest and he was hearing all the noises. Then he heard the noise of a tiger. He was so afraid of tigers so he was wondering, what if this tiger come towards him. His thought was so strong and he was under the tree that could fulfil all thoughts. When he was wondering if the tiger would come towards him there was so much fear in him for the tiger. He was obsessed by the thought of the tiger. As the thought became stronger in his mind and his fear became stronger, the tiger appeared because he was under the special wish fulfilling tree that could materialize all thoughts, feelings and intentions. His next thought, is this tiger is going to eat me? He was sure in his mind that the tiger was going to eat him and you know what tree he was sitting below, a tree that can make all his thoughts a reality. So, the tiger ate him and so the story ends.
I am saying this to you because sometimes you think in this way. ‘I am going to get sick, I am going to fail, this is going to happen’ and you think in a fatalistic way and when you think strongly about it, you make it happen. When you say ‘I told you this would happen, I knew it would happen’, you made it happen because it became your reality and it was real in your mind that it will happen.
You need to protect your mind from negative thoughts that can be so strong that they can turn into your reality. You need to protect yourself from these negative thoughts and that is why meditation is important. That is why mind training is important. That is why these sessions I am having with you are important. That is why keeping the thoughts focused as you chant and remembering the mantras in your mind are important.
When you are with me, you are in an exercise of training your mind and learning to keep noble thoughts in your mind. You need to keep the reality you want to create and not become a victim to a reality that you fear that your fear is so strong that you make it happen. There is a saying ‘Be careful of what you wish for’ and I will say ‘Be careful of what you fear’ because you may make it happen. Join me as we hold the mind in a very powerful space.
Meditation
Let us go within and centre ourselves in that sacred space inside that space of infinite peace, divine and selfless love and that space of joy. Let us contemplate our existence in God. We exist in God. As you go to the deepest space within you, you will begin to feel your divine nature that you exist in God. God is infinite peace. Centre yourself into that space. Bring your mind into a space of calmness and hold yourself in that sacred space.
Focus on your breathing by breathing in and out slowly and each time you breathe out you are letting go, you are emptying. Each time you breathe in, feel you are breathing in peace and you are revitalizing your body with the subtle energy of the breath, slowly breathe in and slowly breathe out. Repeat your sacred words to hold yourself in that sacred space. (Silence)…
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